Film reviews: Superman and Sorry, Baby

Superman

Directed by James Gunn (PG-13)

★★★

Superman movies "should always be fun," and the latest reboot for the DC Comics hero is at least that, said Maureen Lee Lenker in Entertainment Weekly. James Gunn, who directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, has restored "light, humor, and romance" to a fictional world that had become too serious in recent incarnations, and "a superb bunch of actors" fill the main roles. But while David Corenswet is "a marvel" as the new Man of Steel, capturing the superhero's earnestness, Gunn's "muddled mess" of a script prevents the film from soaring.

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Gunn jumps right into it, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. As the movie opens, Superman has already arrived in Metropolis, is working undercover at the Daily Planet, and is dating colleague Lois Lane. "What ensues is a two-hour battle between good and evil," with the latter personified by Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor, a tech bro bent on world domination. But while "Gunn's demopeification of Superman is undeniably welcome," he subjects viewers to so much zigging and zagging that it "begins to feel like being trapped in an Adderall-fueled pinball game." And even when Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan's Lois give the journey a dose of charm, "it's impossible to ignore that, somehow, it all feels rote, and regurgitated."

To me, it all succeeds, said Alissa Wilkinson in The New York Times. "Sincere but also goofy," this Superman "mixes big-hearted themes with a dash of real-world allusions and a good-natured understanding that all of this should be treated as a bit silly." And while it is "not technically about anything in our real world," it does have a few thoughts to share "about what freedom actually means and who the real heroes on Earth are."

Sorry, Baby

Directed by Eva Victor (R)

★★★★

Funny, poignant, and wise, Eva Victor's directorial debut is also "one of the year's best films," said Odie Henderson in The Boston Globe. Victor stars as Agnes, a newly hired English professor struggling to carry on in the wake of what the film refers to as "the bad thing," which we soon learn was sexual assault by her graduate school adviser. But Victor "isn't out to make Agnes a pitiable figure." Agnes is instead "the sort of multifaceted, beautifully drawn-out protagonist you rarely see in movies," said David Fear in Rolling Stone.

The violation is depicted elliptically, in a way that speaks to Victor's storytelling talent, and the movie as a whole comes across as "sorry/not sorry about calling out the manner in which so much of society is left unable to deal with the issue of trauma and treatment." Though building a "sort of" comedy about personal trauma is no easy feat, "Victor mostly pulls it off," said Stephanie Zacharek in Time. Victor the performer "at times makes Agnes' awkwardness a little too adorable," but Naomi Ackie is consistently terrific as Agnes' best friend, and Victor "sparkles" in scenes with Agnes' shy love interest, played by Lucas Hedges. Clearly "there's no facile way to 'get over' what happened to her, yet we can see her relearning, step by step, how to move through the world."