The biggest party of the year is coming up this week! Comic-Con will take place on July 23-27, 2025 at the San Diego Convention Center, surrounding hotels and adjacent areas around Gaslamp Quarters.
No badge? No worries! You can still take advantage of all kinds of FREE activities outside. Events, activations, themed restaurant/bar crawl and costumed people-watching.
For a list of no-badge, FREE activities, click here.
For individual articles on free events and activations, click here.
For a blast from the past (stories and star sightings), click here.
Superman. A superhero with no need for introduction.
A story that has been told so many times yet there's always more to the story. A new creative direction. An origin, an alien in the real world, a team-up of superheroes, a superhero with a family of his own.
Although arguably, there's still unexplored story about Cavill's Superman and he could have carried on splendidly. Corenswet makes Superman his own, however, a brighter one brimming with warmth, humanity and humor, coming out of the darker, grittier superhero era.
Director James Gunn took a wise approach in not repeating Superman's origin story. Instead, the movie opens with a prologue that monsters and metahumans have been living among humans for three hundred years, although Superman has just made his appearance known three years ago.
What is Superman's true purpose on earth? Have you ever thought what actually would happen if Superman's life-saving business gets in the mix of political affairs?
For the first time, Superman has lost a fight. His nemesis is called the Hammer of Boravia and there's far more than meets the robotic eye. It's no secret that Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult; “The Menu,” “X-Men” series) has always been Superman's archenemy, but here he's utterly unhinged in his malicious masterminding mode.
You wouldn't guess how exactly the Hammer of Boravia has been able to beat Superman. Lex also has his powerful tentacles over international relations, national security and social media. His obsession in getting rid of Superman is breathtakingly brutal.
After Lex's vile media campaign going viral and his right-hand the Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria) and secret, masked meta-henchman are after Superman, the Justice Gang – Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabella Merced), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) – show up to lend their superpowered hands to Superman.
The best aspect here is the quixotic relationship between Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Not only Corenswet and Brosnahan have an electric chemistry, their characters' contrasting personalities make a lively dynamic. Brosnahan nails the role perfectly as the whip-smart, spitfire question-everything journalist, against Corenswet's trust-everyone, idealistic do-gooder. Lois's on-the-spot, challenging interview of Clark as Superman is argumentatively engaging.
The central conflict is Superman believes that he represents himself and himself only, and as a Godlike being, why couldn't he just use his superpowers for good, to stop wars and save people? We're talking about human lives here. Why should he consult with world leaders? Sounds simple, right?
Well, the world is not black or white. Beyond moral obligations, there's also politics. Simply stopping wars, while saving lives, will not stop the root cause of the escalated conflict. It may stop the loss of human lives in that point in time, but it will not stop people from killing one another in the future. And what if it's a war to defend one's country from being attacked or gaining independence? Who's to judge that country is wrong? Many nations were built on bloodshed.
The other theme explored is Superman's true purpose on earth. Is Superman the way he is because of his heritage, a baby alien sent to earth with a noble mission from his Kryptonian's patrician parents? Superman is Superman and all that is good because of his choices and actions. He may be an alien, but Superman's impassioned speech, heartfeltly delivered by Corenswet, is quintessentially human.
Gunn's version has a very busy story, often chaotic and overstuffed with all the metahumans (along with Krypto the super dog, Kaiju and robots), and thus lack of character development, but this version offers something new. It's got an intriguing premise, a central conflict and unexpected twists.
“Superman” is decidedly different from Zack Snyder's straightforward, dramatic version. It's somewhat too silly for my taste, especially as someone who absolutely adored “Man of Steel." But there's also something refreshing here. And it never gets old seeing Superman soaring into the skies and flying over icescapes. The iconic score soars with optimism.
"Superman" is unabashedly comic-booky. A colorful scattershot and entertainingly exuberant in its silliness, it also brings a renewed hope and joy for what's next.
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San Diego celebrated "Superman" in style... with a sandcastle, true to its beach roots, and complete with its own Superman and Krypto.
What is Superman's true purpose on earth? Have you ever thought what would happen if Superman's life-saving business get in the mix of political affairs? It's a busy story, often chaotic and overstuffed with all the metahumans, and James Gunn's style is typically a bit out there for me, but this version offers something new. It's got intriguing premise and central conflict, along with twists. Lex Luthor is terrifying in his masterminding mode. Superman remains all that is good because of his choices and actions.
“Jurassic World Dominion” did the impossible with dinosaurs co-living with humans in modern times and it’s as if all the stories have been told From the original invention birthed by “Jurassic Park” more than three decades ago to the opening of the surreal theme park in “Jurassic World." 'Dominion's' point-of-no-return didn't end things and there's more story to tell, which surprisingly seems plausible from a creative viewpoint.
Five years after ‘Dominion,’ the earth’s ecosystem has been largely inhospitable to the revived dinosaurs. Those who survive mostly remain near the equator, where the environment resembles the prehistoric period from 65 million years ago.
ParkerGenix, a pharmaceutical company hungry for unlimited profit recruits mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson; the “Avengers” series, “Hail, Caesar!,” “Her”) and paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey, “Wicked”) to collect DNA samples from the largest living dinosaurs in order to develop a cure for heart disease. The blood and muscle tissues need to come from the largest dinosaur, each living in the ocean, on land and in the skies.
Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) is the evil face of ParkerGenix, a man who puts profit above all else, including human lives around him, which is shown later in his abominable actions. Zora needs and wants money to secure her for life, but she has a good head on her shoulder. She connects with a longtime friend and boat captain Duncan Kinkaid (Mahershala Ali) and a few crew members.
Henry is a true dino-loving fan, who truly loves his work, and gets onboard to see these larger-than-life animals in the wild and for an expedition with an eventual life-saving mission. Although he's conflicted about the end goal. If it's truly a cure, shouldn't everyone have access to a life-saving medication and not a select few who can afford it?
Conveniently, all three largest dinosaurs are now living in the Ille Saint-Hubert island, where a large swath of the areas is forbidden and no longer patrolled by the government due to the extreme hazard.
Parallel to the dino-hunting boat trek, a family on a sailing vacation – sisters Theresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) with their dad, Reuben Delgado (Manel Garcia-Rulfo) and Theresa’s boyfriend, Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono) – gets stranded on water when their boat capsized. The ragtag team ends up rescuing the family, although their sense of safety is short-lived when they spot a monstrous Mosasaurus approaching, which is exactly what the team is looking for.
The extended action sequence begins on a splashy note. It’s thrilling to see the giant sea creature flipping through the air and seeing how exactly the sample extraction works. It’s not as breezy as throwing a dart gun and have it launched back into their hands. When a group of scary Spinosaurus circle the boat, the thrill turns into terror. Even crashing into the island doesn’t guarantee their safety either since they are amphibious. The group gets separated and there are multiple close calls and body counts.
Even more anxiety-inducing, the waterfall-filled jungle island turns out to be an experimental laboratory where InGen, the defunct theme park's former operator, experimented with cross-breeding dinosaurs for the park's newest attractions. Those genetically engineered that were malformed and most dangerous were abandoned on this island.
You’d never know what’s lurking behind those lush vegetations, in the river, up in the air, outside of the cave, or what could get inside the underground bunker or tunnel. It never gets old to jump scared or see hapless humans cornered in tight spaces with unpredictable danger all around. A mysterious movement could be a cute baby dino, menacing Mutadon, terrifying T-Rex or ravenous Raptor mutant.
The land mission is one moment of genuine amazement though. It pays homage to the first Jurassic where you looked up and saw the first, beautiful Brachiosaurus for the very first time. While the land portion is a walk in the park, the sky is trickier by nature.
Rappelling down sheer rock face where you could fall to your death or get snatched away at any point by flying, frightening predators while having to figure out how to get the DNA sample is no easy task.
Even after all the samples are collected, the group still needs to find ways to get off the island and fast. As in other Jurassic movies, there comes a moment where the biggest baddie shows up. If you think you've seen all the big bads, Distortus (aka D-Rex) is something else. Alien-like, distorted monster, it doesn't even look like a real dinosaur, and maybe that's the point, considering this is the most disastrous hybrid.
The original river raft scene, cut from “Jurassic Park” all those years ago appears here, and is excellently executed. Another standout scene with a kid in peril is situationally humorous. The movie milks the tension and emotional moments. There's one particular character where you feel they might die heroically. The ending, which doesn't exactly go out with a bang, may divide fans.
When movies typically go bigger with each sequel, 'Rebirth' goes small. It excels in the low and slow mode, predators quietly stalking and creeping up before the pursuits turn relentless and escapes may or may not be possible. While the movie is created as a standalone story, 'Rebirth' gives birth to another Jurassic world of possibilities.
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To learn more about all the dinosaurs and their mutated counterparts that appear on 'Rebirth,' check out:
