"Supergirl" - Short skirt, long jacket.

One of the posters for Supergirl features the titular character in her Supergirl suit, very stylish trench coat, and oversized sunglasses. I can't take my eyes off it and not because I want to ogle Milly Alcock, who plays Supergirl. At first glance, it's a wink at the classic image of Superman pulling his shirt apart and revealing his super-suit underneath, just before rescuing someone in need. Except, her sunglasses give off a tone that she's hedging on doing the rescue. As do her hands in her pockets, like she's in no hurry to remove the jacket and get down to business. And she's looking off to the side rather than at us, possibly considering choices. Is someone really in need of assistance or is that a fresh churro she smells? It's the kind of poster that dares you not to watch the movie.

When we left the Superman film, we got a glimpse of Superman's cousin, Kara (Supergirl), stumbling drunkenly into Superman's fortress of solitude looking for her dog Krypto. Supergirl picks up with a montage of Kara getting drunk, waking up hung-over in her spaceship, and repeating this cycle over and over again. Much to my delight, we quickly learn that Kara is not on Earth, but is barhopping from planet to planet. Each planet she visits orbits a red star, whose light renders her superpowers inert, allowing her to get absolutely sloshed. My delight is that the audience isn't stuck with another Earth-bound movie.

By the end of this prologue, Kara ends up agreeing to assist a young girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley) on Ruthye's quest to avenge the death of her family. Ruthye wants to kill Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts), the leader of a band of space pirates called the Brigands who is responsible for orphaning Ruthye. Kara's motivation isn't one of altruism - she accepts that the universe sucks. But Krem poisoned Krypto and Kara has three days to get the antidote from Krem to save Krypto. If you're wondering why Kara doesn't just fly Krypto to a yellow star, it's because the healer looking after Krypto says if they try to move Krypto, it might speed up the poison. Don't think too hard about very obvious solutions to transporting Krypto without "moving" him (they have interstellar spaceships but not levitating gurneys?), the healer said what she said.

On top of the delight of this being essentially a space movie, it's refreshing that stakes in this film are simply saving a dog and maybe killing a space pirate. No sky beams. No cities, planets, or universes about to be destroyed. No supervillains trying to take over everything. Not even a kidnapped princess being forced to marry some evil fiend. With stakes so low and simple, the audience is free to enjoy the rest of the movie without having to absorb the weight and morality that tend to come with all those higher stakes. Instead, we get to enjoy the movie for what it is - a fun, entertaining, summer blockbuster.

Those lower stakes also leave room for a ton of character and world-building for this fledgling DC franchise. If you aren't a Superman or Supergirl nerd, you probably have no idea about the different effects of different colored stars on Kryptonians. I sure didn't. I knew from past movies that yellow stars gave them superpowers, but I had no idea that red stars made them normal or that green stars slowly killed them. Yeah, there are green stars in Kara's universe. Now I'm excited to find out what purple, pink, and silver stars do. The possibilities are endless.

We also get what is easily the best film version of the destruction of Krypton. This time, instead of just Kal-El (Superman), Kara, a dog, and a couple of criminals surviving, an entire city survives. For a while, at least. Kara is in that city, but eventually has to leave to survive and it breaks her. Suddenly, all of the drinking and shrugging off her concerned cousin's calls makes a lot more sense. As does her fierce, if not suicidal, determination to save Krypto. It's a lot like John Wick, but without a stupid car attached...and the dog is still alive.

It might sound like the story leans a little too heavily into two orphaned ladies looking for revenge, which is why they cast Jason Momoa as Lobo, an alien bounty hunter. This is a fantastic casting decision for two reasons. One - now they can't resurrect Momoa's Aquaman from the thank-you-for-putting-it-out-of-its-misery DC Extended Universe that preceded Warner Brothers hiring James Gunn to turn DC Studios around. Two - Momoa was as born to play Lobo as Ryan Reynolds was to play Deadpool. I had never heard of Lobo until seeing this movie and I am instantly a fan now. If Lobo in the comic book is a massive humanoid, dressed like a Kiss groupie, and lobbing snark with a no-fucks-to-give aura, then the movie (and Momoa) nailed it.

You're probably going to see some poo-pooing over this film being another rote Superhero movie. I will readily agree that it's not mind-blowing. But much of that has to do with The Avengers setting an impossibly high standard. Deadpool as well. More importantly, Supergirl does everything we want a summer blockbuster to do. Great special effects. Lots of action. A whole lot of laughs. Fun characters that immediately draw us in. Solid storytelling. Hints at a what's coming in future movies (without even doing mid or post credit scenes). It allows us to escape for a couple of hours into a different world and enjoy a good time. Dares us, even.

Rating: Don't ask for any money back, but ask if they have any churros.

"The Death of Robin Hood" - What's the opposite of hitting a bullseye?

The more I think about The Death of Robin Hood, the more I realize it's not a good movie. Don't get me wrong; there are plenty of components that will at least make film nerds gush. The cinematography is good. The sound is good. The locations in Northern Ireland they used for filming are beautiful. The costume design is fantastic. And the performances from Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgard, and Murray Bartlett are great. As for the single most important reason a movie exists - the story - there will be no gushing.

The premise of the movie is simple...what if all the stories about Robin Hood were lies? What if Robin Hood was just a thief and murderer who just liked robbing and killing? The plot of the movie is to just show us the final days or weeks of Robin's life. It's right there in the title. And it's also a metaphorical title. With the revelation that all the heroic stories of Robin Hood and his merry men are lies (robbing the rich to give to the poor), we're getting the death of the legend of Robin Hood as well. Maybe there's an interesting story in there somewhere, but if writer/director Michael Sarnoski was aiming for it, he missed. Missed badly.

The biggest hurdle the movie has to clear is that the entire audience knows Robin Hood as a hero. It's a tall order to convince people that Robin is actually an evil brigand and make a compelling story about that version of Robin Hood. Which is probably why the movie didn't really try. Oh, it gives a token effort every now and then. But it becomes painfully clear midway through the film that not even Sarnoski has much interest in going down that road.

That token effort is most apparent in the first act of the film. When a young, freezing lady stumbles across Robin (Jackman) in the hills and tells him that Robin protects these hills, Robin responds by telling her he knows Robin and all of the stories are lies. Then, he kills her in defense when she tries to stab him in his sleep. Turns out Robin killed her family and she wanted revenge. The next morning as he is burying her body, the camera pans out to reveal a great many graves. Turns out quite a few people have attempted the same revenge and lost.

Sometime later, Little John (Skarsgard) shows up asking for Robin's help. Stay with me on this - John killed a man named Edward, assumed Edward's identity, has been living on Edward's farm with a wife and daughter, and the family of the real Edward has come back and taken his wife and daughter hostage. I think John's wife was actually Edward's wife, maybe the daughter as well? It's really murky, but John seems to be genuinely fond of them. Anyway, this leads to two brutal and grisly action scenes and Robin nearly being killed. The point of these scenes is to establish how many people want Robin and friends dead, but also to assure the audience that Robin (and John) isn't all bad. He's just trying to help his friend get his family back. Is that so wrong?

When Robin awakes, he finds himself in a priory on a remote island, his injuries being tended to by prioress Sister Brigid (Comer). This is where the movie and Robin get really introspective. The final two acts feature zero action scenes and a heaping pile of soul-searching. Robin makes some noise about being haunted by all the killings, though not to Brigid whom he's told his name is Randolph. A local leper (Bartlett) occasionally pops up to mildly taunt Robin with wise-sounding advice as Robin rehabilitates his injuries. Little Margaret (John's daughter) ends up on the island, further softening Robin's hardened demeanor. Brigid masturbates in a cave. Robin agrees to tend to the fruit trees on the island and hunt game to help feed the local residents. What's that - repeat that one before the fruit trees? Yeah, that happened. This is an A24 movie; of course there are weird scenes like that.

That cave scene is a good example of the myriad half-baked things the plot throws at the audience without ever going back to explain them. The unexplained part isn't the self-service part, it's why in a cave? We're told that Brigid is an almost magical healer, implying something supernatural. There's an object in the cave that could be an altar and that scene made me think we were going to find out Brigid is a witch. Then again, in another scene, we find out she's widowed and her children are dead, so maybe that object is her dead husband's grave? Or her childrens'? I told you - A24 movies are weird.

There are several unanswered questions like that, but none of them lead to the audience becoming invested in the plot or the premise. We're just waiting to for the film's title to be fulfilled. You know - the death of Robin Hood. In a much smarter movie, Robin's past and lies converge in a climax that includes his mythical bow and arrow skills. That the leper plays a much more important role in the plot than faceless dispenser of proverbs and adages. That maybe John's daughter is the ultimate dispenser of justice instead of being a cheap plot device to manipulate the audience's view of Robin. That Brigid is far more than just a healer. Instead, we get an ending that isn't just unsatisfying, but an ending that undermines its own premise. If only it had just stuck with weird, we might have cared about the death of Robin Hood. Both literally and metaphorically.

Rating: Ask for twelve dollars back after you finish gushing over the film nerd stuff.

"Toy Story 5" - I knew it!

Remember when you cried at the end of Toy Story 4 and thought it was a really good way to end the franchise? You were right - it was a really good way to end the franchise. The problem is the movie grossed over $1 billion dollars at the box office and no way was Disney going to pass up another potential billion-dollar Toy Story sequel. They've got kids to feed.

What you didn't realize while you were drying your eyes was that it was really only the end of Woody's (Tom Hanks) story. Not that they can't go right back to that well; there are plenty of lost toys for Woody and Bo Peep to help find owners for over the course of a future full-length animated feature. And Woody does play a supporting role in Toy Story 5. Let's not get ridiculous thinking they put him on the Toy Story 5 movie poster for no reason. But rest assured, Woody is not the main character in Toy Story 5.

Jessie (Joan Cusack) is the main character, now the leader of the toys owned by eight-year-old Bonnie. And everything is going well. The toys are being played with, Bonnie is being creative, and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is trying to work up the courage to propose to Jessie. I know - I forgot that last one was a thing, too, even though it goes all the way back to Toy Story 2. I blame the Lightyear movie for erasing that plotline from my brain.

Jessie's chief concern is finding a way for Bonnie to make friends. Bonnie is really shy and "plays different" than other kids. Bonnie's parents recognize Bonnie's struggles and decide the answer is to get her a Lilypad (tablet computer) so she can more easily connect with other kids. Jessie becomes alarmed when some discarded toys in a backyard tell her that screens will be the end of Jessie's play time. That night, Jessie notices a screen glowing in the bedroom window of every house she can see and resolves to prevent Lily the Lilypad (Greta Lee) from taking over the room.

At this point, the story follows a similar path as Inside Out 2. A girl is trying to fit in with others by doing things that aren't necessarily healthy, but definitely familiar to every one of us who still remembers childhood. It also provides all parents with a bit of affirmation by showing typical behavior from kids when on their screens/devices. Kids staying up all hours of the night, can't leave a room without the device, have to answer text messages immediately, nodding that they heard you when you asked them a question. I looked directly into my son's eyes during this sequence and he looked right back, but with mischief in his eyes. Oh, he heard me alright. He heard me every...single...time.

In addition to the perceived evils of screentime, the movie also tackles a fear that we all can relate to - a fear of being useless or forgotten. This existential crisis drives Jessie to do risky things and causes her to get lost and end up at another girl's (Blaze) house. There, Jessie meets some discarded toys that she looks down upon because those toys are in fact devices. Just like Lilypad. Dun-dun-dun.

As a parent and former child, I can relate to all this and that is the power of the Toy Story franchise. In a word, nostalgia. In fact, that's what Taylor Swift wrote about in the film's featured song "I Knew It, I Knew You" (it plays when the end credits roll). It's not just about looking back and being afraid of being forgotten. It's about looking back and realizing you mattered to someone and they mattered to you. And boy does this song threaten to make you cry if the movie doesn't do it first.

Suffice it to say the storytelling is, once again, top notch, and that's not all. As with the entire franchise, the film delivers a ton of laughs, some fun action scenes, and sprinkles in toys we all remember or currently trip on in the backyard. There's also a new feature in the film that adds a fun dimension to the storytelling. When Bonnie or Blaze is playing with their toys, the animation style changes to the kind favored by the Spider-verse films. It looks like it's still sketchy, but also manages to be have some real depth and color to it. It's a great compliment to the typical animation that Pixar is known for. And all of which adds up to a movie that will definitely keep Disney's kids fed.

Rating: Don't ask for any money back, but maybe a tissue or three.