It’s been a couple of days since I saw it, and I have some thoughts. I’ll start with the non-spoiler things, then I’ll mark where I’m getting into spoilers. There are a lot of other reviews out there for this movie, so I’m going to try and keep to things that are relevant to my perspective.

Non-Spoiler Stuff

TL;DR — It is excellent! You should see it in the theaters.

James Gunn had one assignment many things he needed to accomplish in this movie, but the most important was getting Superman himself right. With an excellent performance by David Corenswet, this was the Superman many of us were hoping to see.

From the trailers, the movie looked like it could be bloated with too many characters. While all of the characters were present and had their moments to shine, this centered on Superman, Lex, and Lois. This is their movie, and while Mr. Terrific stole a few scenes, James Gunn balanced this movie as well as he balanced Guardians of the Galaxy.

Nicholas Hoult is a stand-out Lex Luthor. He is smart, driven, and evil. You’ll hate him just right, if that makes sense.

Rachel Brosnahan is a stand-out Lois Lane. She’s strong and witty in the way that Lois is supposed to be. She’s an actual journalist in this movie, and it is relevant to the plot.

The casting was perfect. The writing is great. The pacing is just right. I can’t think of any moments that dragged, or anything that felt like it could be cut. And the entire thing looks and sounds beautiful.

And then there was Krypto.

That’s all the non-spoiler stuff I can think of without repeating myself. I love this movie. I’m probably going to grab either my kids or friends or both and go see it again.

Spoiler Stuff

At this point, if you’re still reading this and you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend you either delete the email, close the browser tab, click onto something else… whatever. I’m going to talk about stuff that happens in the movie, and I’m not sure if it will detract from your viewing experience or not. Rather than risk it, just leave this post until after you’ve seen the movie.

This is your last warning. Spoilers beyond this point.

Okay, let’s get into it. I’m going to start by addressing some of the criticisms I’ve seen online. Then I’m going to talk about how I see this movie and this character from the perspective of someone that was adopted at (or near to) birth.

There’s been a lot of bullshit online about this movie being “woke,” but I don’t want to give those criticisms or those people too much of my time or attention. Superman has been “woke” since literally his first appearance in the comics. And, people that use “woke” as a criticism are stupid mouth-breathers that should always be ignored.

I saw one person post something about Superman being an orphan, not an immigrant, and… look. If your understanding of the character is that deeply flawed, maybe sit this one out. You’re just making yourself a target for scorn and mockery, and I don’t have time for that. I’ve got better things to do.

I’ve seen a couple of criticisms floating around that the plot of the movie is sloppy. To that, I have two things to say. First, I don’t agree with the criticism in general, in that I was able to follow everything that happened in the movie without external guidance. Second, even if it was a little sloppy… this is a superhero movie. It’s supposed to be popcorn fun with heart. It achieves this and more, and while there are a couple of things that happen that seem a little convenient, easy, or fast… it’s fine. The plot of this movie is fine.

Let’s talk about a couple of those plot points that are fast. That is, when the message from Superman’s birth-parents goes out on the news and the world immediately turns on him, and when the details of Lex’s plan goes out on the news and the world immediately turns on him.

In both cases, the reaction is very fast. Too fast for realism, because there would be people that question the truth and stick with the people they are rooting for. People don’t change sides that quickly. However, this is a movie with aliens, power rings, screaming hawk girls, and metahumans. For the sake of the movie and pacing, it’s fine and forgivable. This is a case where dedication to realism would have made the movie a slog.

A lot of what I’ve said so far are things you could have read anywhere. While I occasionally do movie and book reviews, that’s not what you’re here for. Let’s get personal. Let’s talk about the moment I related to Superman more than I’ve ever related to him before.

The news goes out, and Superman hears for the first time the rest of the message from his birth-parents. He was sent to conquer Earth and rule it, creating a new Krypton. It’s a moment that shocks him to his core, because it goes against everything he believed about why he was sent to Earth. He knew in his heart that he was supposed to serve humanity and do good, and learning the truth of his heritage made him question everything he knew about himself.

You could see it in his face as he walked away from the crowd to catch a moment and recover. I recognized the look in his eye, because I felt it when I learned the truth about my parentage.

I knew I was adopted from the beginning, but I didn’t know who my birth-parents were. Until I learned, I saw myself as someone chosen by my parents. And, I thought that I could be anyone, because I was born from strangers. I had unlimited potential, and I was special because I was adopted.

The truth shrank my world. It called into question… everything. It reduced me in ways I wasn’t prepared for.

The resolution for Superman in this movie is the same resolution I found. I had to learn it on my own, but Pa Kent put it this way: We are the choices and decisions we make. We are more than the complexities of our genes.

Let’s talk about Ma and Pa Kent real quick, and then I’ll wrap this up. Melissa did not like the choices James Gunn made depicting Martha and John Kent the way he did. They talked slow, with southern accents, and didn’t seem particularly comfortable with technology, like cellphones. Melissa said they were portrayed as idiots, and I think she was going a little too far.

The Kents were depicted as Kansas farmers. Simple folk of the Earth. Human. They had a folksy wisdom about them, and they are exactly the kind of people that would love and raise an alien baby to grow up to be Superman.

Superman himself is a reflection of those kind of parents. He’s clever, but also naive in a way. He sees the beauty in everyone, cherishes life, and acts in a way that reflects the hope inside him. A big blue boy scout that saves lives because it’s the right thing to do. Any other consideration is secondary to doing what is right. That’s Superman.

There really is more I can say about the movie, but I’ll stop here. This is my favorite Superman movie, and my favorite depiction of Superman.

Let me know what you think of it.

I came into this convention a bit rattled, and with lower expectations than usual. I wasn’t on a lot of programming, and I heard they misspelled my name in a few key places. Plus, with everything else going on in the world, my heart felt heavy before we even arrived.

With just a little bit of the con left tomorrow, I feel like I can sum up some of what I’ve felt the last few days.

I’ve spent a lot of time with people living in the same world as me, with their own problems and struggles, some of which are much greater than my own. We are all feeling the weight of the world right now, but we’re still coming together to celebrate each other and our shared love of fantasy and SciFi. Art, culture, stories, and a shared love for the strange. That’s what Baycon is about, more than anything else. That’s something to be celebrated.

While at the convention, I had the opportunity to interview many people for the Small Publishing in a Big Universe podcast. I’ve done many of these Live From X events before, but there was something special about the interviews this year. With Charlotte, I felt like she had an opportunity to really open up about something that was important to her, and I’m not sure she’s had a chance to talk with anyone about her craft in the way we talked. With Kim, we got into a spirited debate, and while we were very much on opposite sides of a hot topic, we were able to be respectful in our disagreement.

People I’ve enjoyed for years have sought me out. People I don’t know, but that have read my work, also sought me out and asked when the next book will be out. Coming to Baycon has been a continuous reuniting with friends, and constant stream of moments to meet new people that are becoming my friends.

For me, Baycon has been sharing meals, stories, laughter, and space with people I see infrequently. Last night, we hosted a party on the 14th floor, celebrating 10 years of Paper Angel/Water Dragon Publishing. I expected only a handful of people to show up, but we filled the room. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

It hasn’t been purely escapism. Though I didn’t seek out conversations about current events and politics, I found myself in several. As much as we may have shielded ourselves from the outside world, we couldn’t get away from our feelings about what is going on, and how things could have been better if we’d collectively made the better choice last November. A couple people voiced conspiracy theories about the election, but I did not entertain them. I know in my heart that it wasn’t a matter of cheating or discarding votes — the same claims Trump still makes about the 2020 election — but a matter of evil winning. But good will triumph again, and spending a weekend with good people reminded me of that.

I listened to someone today talk about losing his wife. They’d been married almost 40 years. She was his best friend, truly his other half, and the pain was still fresh and present with him. He needed to talk and, more importantly, he needed someone to listen. So I did. All of us are going through something, and the least we can do for each other is just stop for a moment and listen. A little while after the man and I finished our conversation, I stood next to Melissa and held her hand for a while.

This weekend, I felt blessed. I’m truly fortunate in so many ways. This weekend reminded me of what we have to live for, and that to keep what we love the most, we have to truly live.

It’s still early on a Friday. I’m sitting outside at the Santa Clara Marriott. Baycon is about to begin. As of today, The Repossessed Ghost, my first novel, has been out for 2 years.

The beginning of last year, we published One For the Road, which I wrote for Melissa in 2017. At Baycon 2024, one year ago, we published The Psychic on the Jury, a Mel Walker novelette finished early last year.

I have Scrivener open right now, near the end of another chapter of The Psychic Out of Time, and I’m having a hard time focusing on the story.

There’s too much going on in the world right now, and submerging into the story feels like escapism. It feels like privilege.

As I’m sitting outside in comfort, the first group of detainees are experiencing a new reality in America’s newest concentration camp in Florida. Last night, the Republicans in The House passed the big, terrible bill which increases ICE’s budget while at the same time decimating Medicaid.

It’s all happening in real time, and it’s happening fast. America is falling. Trump brags (lies) about the economy doing great, while the facts show that the GDP shrank half a percentage last quarter. The dollar is weak. Our global alliances are in shambles.

And people are smiling. They’re going to let off fireworks tonight, as if millions of Americans hadn’t just been given a death sentence last night.

People are going to work, keeping their heads down, doing their jobs, because most people in this country can’t afford to take a break . Their rent is too damn high, their school debt is crippling, and they are one bad accident from medical bills destroying what little they may have saved.

I’ve been extremely fortunate. I’m lucky enough that I can afford to stop, look around, and see where things are going. It makes it that much harder to bury my head in my book — my fiction — and ignore the suffering of others and the destruction of American ideals.

It’s time for me to head to the dealer’s room. I will put a smile on my face, talk to people about books and nerdy shit, and try to help them have a good time. I’m not sure how much writing I’m going to get done this weekend, though.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re up to, I hope you get the July 4th you need and deserve.

It is important to find hope, wherever you can find it, and nurture it rather than crush it. Hope can carry you through the tough times. And we are going through some of the toughest I’ve ever seen.

There are quintessential virtues, load-bearing ideals that we can build upon. Build what? Everything. A person. A story. A society. Literally everything.

A partial list of these virtues includes: honesty, integrity, empathy, compassion, and generosity. There are more virtues, some more arguable than others, but the ones I’ve listed are the ones I hold dearest, and the ones most core to my personality.

Why am I talking about this?

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen terrible things. The murder of representatives by political activists. The arrest of elected officials, perpetrated by the new American Gestapo. Illegal, immoral actions involving the national guard and marines. Crushing, despotic behavior by a would-be tin-pot fascist, on the backs of greedy, opportunistic people that claim to love my country but demonstrate through their actions a profound hatred of the foundation and ideals that this country was built upon.

Maybe I’m naive, and this country was always built upon hatred and greed. But, there is an ideal I grew up accepting, which is better, more noble than the aspirations of the people in charge today. To that ideal, I will continue to hold true.

It’s through the quintessential virtues that we can look at the actions of those in charge and make our judgement. Is what they are saying true? Are they doing what they said they would do? Are they working for the interests of people other than themselves, and are their actions compassionate? Are they providing for those that cannot provide for themselves?

These are the questions you can use to judge your own actions, as well as the actions of those that are supposed to be working in the public interest.

Those that are operating without virtue are the villains of our story. They can easily be identified by what they are saying and doing.

And this is where hope comes in. My hope is in the belief that those acting for their own interests are not as powerful as those that band together for the common good. My hope is that this time of darkness and deceit will be vanquished by people waking up to a renewed appreciation for truth and goodness.

I attended the No Kings protest and saw a lot of people outside, raising their voice against the cartoonishly evil people in power. Those of us that favor a free and despot-free America outnumber those that wish to cosplay Nazi Germany.

Before Trump and Musk and RFK Jr and the rest of Trump’s junk-drawer-of-a-cabinet started dismantling the country, the system was broken to its foundation. Inequality is baked in. Perhaps the only way for us to build a better system is for things to get so bad that we break down the entire structure and rebuild from the ground up.

Do I believe that will happen? Not really. But I can hope and dream, and maybe if enough other people also wish for us to aspire to a better version of ourselves, one in which we invest in our people, use technology to prop people up instead of take advantage of them, and one in which the quintessential virtues illuminate the way in which we administrate and grow our country… maybe in my lifetime, we will make a better place for everyone.

But to get there, we have to support each other, stand up against the people that would oppress us, and remain hopeful as we hold ourselves to a higher standard.

That all sounds great, but what do actually do?

For my part, it means I need to keep writing, both my blogs and my fiction, and keep my eyes open for opportunities to help. It means attending protests. It means listening to people that are different to me. Maybe… just maybe… it means running for local office and getting directly involved in public service.

This is all I can do at the moment. Write the words, and put them out into the world. Try to make some sense of what is going on, and if I have the strength, find a way to hope.

Earlier today, dog murderer and director of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, gave a press conference in LA where she said that she and the Trump administration were not going anywhere, but would stay as long as they needed to in order to “liberate” the city from its socialist and “burdonsome” mayor and governor. You know, the people that were elected.

At that point, Alex Padilla, U.S. Senator from California and ranking member of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, raised his voice to ask a question. It was a disruption, certainly, but he didn’t shout, lunge, or incite violence. He called from across the room, and was then physically removed, thrown on the ground, and handcuffed.

Here’s video, from Fox no less, which shows exactly what I just described:

Fox, of course, puts their own spin on it, describing Padilla as screaming. And the Fox audience in the comments are eating it up.

Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives and grinning, professional Trump-ass-kisser, immediately called for Senator Padilla to be censured.

That’s bad. Everything about this is bad. The military should not be deployed on American soil to attack American citizens. ICE shouldn’t be allowed to kidnap people and violate their right to due process. The head of the Department of Homeland Security should not be threatening a continuous military invasion of a California city.

All of this makes me mad. All of this should make you mad.

A sitting Senator raised their voice to question a military coup and is violently thrown to the ground. The party that screams “state’s rights” is comfortable deploying military in defiance of the state’s elected officials. The administration that is comfortable putting stipulations on natural disaster relief has no problem spending $134 million deploying the military to a place where peaceful protests are going on.

They lie and say that L.A. is in chaos. It’s not. ICE and the military presence are escalating tensions.

Fucking ICE. It shouldn’t even exist.

This short sums up my feelings about immigration and illegal aliens perfectly.

ICE is a terrorist organization, running around with their faces covered and without uniforms. Taking people without due process is a terrorist act, to families and to communities. Standing against them is morally right and correct — and also scary as hell.

I read about what happened with Padilla and then struggled through the rest of my work day. It’s so hard to just go about my business as if everything is normal. I want to do something. But what? I can’t quit my job, buy a gun, and take matters into my own hands. I’m not a superhero in an action movie. I’m an old man, a little overweight, with high blood pressure, a broken tooth, and eyes that are starting to go bad.

I’ll go to the protest on Saturday, but what else can I do, really? Run for office? I can’t get more than 350 people to follow me on social media. I never have and never will win a popularity contest.

I struggled through the day, and just a little while ago, I read that Israel has begun air strikes in Iran. Israel tried to kill the entire Iranian leadership, and it sounds like they had some success. Iran will retaliate. This is not a situation where cooler heads will prevail.

It is not unlikely that nuclear weapons are going to go off in The Middle East.

This is… too much. It’s too much.

There is just under a dozen of you that see these posts of mine. You mostly see things the way I see them, but a handful of you are more conservative than I am.

We are more than our political parties. We are more than the color of our skin, the reproductive organs in our pants, the amount of dollars in our wallets. We are people, all of us, children of God, Whoever you imagine Them to be. We are made from stardust, we breathe the same air, and the same blood pumps through our veins.

If we are going to survive these times, it is together. We have to find the things we have in common, find the values that we share, and move together to create a future that we can all live in.

If you’re reading this, I ask that you do the following:

• Look at the news yourself. Maybe what I’ve said so far is hyperbolic, or maybe I’m misinterpreting what my eyes and ears are clearly telling me. Just look for yourself, without the spin, and try to come to your own conclusions. Try to do it without letting the political filter cloud your vision.
• Look at the people around you, specifically the ones you disagree with. Ask yourself what you and the other person might find in common. Find the common ground and hold onto it. If things get as bad as I fear they might, we all need to hold onto each other and lift each other up.
• Look into your heart and ask yourself what you’re willing to live with. Then ask yourself what you’re willing to do about these times we’re living through. I’m still planning on peacefully protesting in Sacramento this Saturday. If you’re disagree with the protests, so be it. But please consider why so many people are willing to go out in the streets, and what the alternatives to protest may be.

Melissa and I are sitting in the airport, about 5 hours early for our flight. We have our laptops setup near our gate, and a bit of time to either read some slush (Melissa) or poke at our next novel (me). Before I get to the fiction, I want to capture my closing thoughts and feelings on The Nebulas.

I think I connected with people at this event better than any event in recent memory. Several really cool people. I hope to see them again at future events. Maybe Worldcon? Who knows?

I moderated a panel yesterday morning. The panel was about perseverance as a writer, and I structured it so that we talked about both persevering in creativity as well as in our careers. I had some great panelists, and I listened and asked follow-up questions. It went very well, and several people offered me compliments.

People bought some of my books from the Book Depot, and a couple people bought my books at the book signing. I fully expected to be bringing all of them home today, but I only have about half what I arrived with.

I wrote while on this conference. I’ve been struggling to get into the next Mel Walker novel, for a variety of reasons, and I made progress this weekend. I’m almost to the parts I’m looking forward to the most.

We ate good food, met cool people, and napped every day. I remember struggling with the time difference at previous events. It turns out you can just take naps and be fine.

I’m coming down from a very joyful weekend. Tomorrow, Melissa and I get back to work. I was somewhat shielded from the atrocities of recent events. I heard about ICE plowing through protesters in LA, and firing gas canisters at a 13 year old girl. I heard about these events, but it seemed like those things were taking place in an entirely different world. The one we never left, but returning to nonetheless.

The world I want to live in includes stories and friendship and uplifting people that could use some help. The world we’re returning to is violent, greedy, and isolating. I hate it here, but the right thing to do is be brave, make art, stand firm, and uplift. That was the message and the call-to-action delivered during The Nebulas ceremony last night.

I had a really great time at The Nebulas. It’s painful to leave and come back to reality, but it’s what we’re called to do.

It’s Friday afternoon, so we’re almost halfway through the event. Yesterday was Melissa’s birthday. We went through registration easily, dropped off some books for the Book Depot, and mostly hung out. I’ll tell a story about going to a burger place in just a moment.

Today, I attended a career planning workshop, which was fine. I didn’t learn a ton, other than I just need to get off my butt and query my SciFi stories. I’m still not sure why I have such a difficult time writing and sending queries. I don’t think it’s purely fear of rejection at this point. I’ve received several rejections and it’s honestly not that bad. There’s something else going on in my head or my heart, and I need to work through it.

This afternoon, I was part of a lightly attended Author Meet and Greet. Again, it was fine. The whole event can be described as “lightly attended.” Some people I’ve talked to attribute the smaller size of the conference to the recent SFWA troubles, where all of the leadership quit. SFWA exploded, not quite as catastrophically as RWA, but some of the ripples can be felt this weekend.

The people running the conference are great, though. Friendly, on top of it, and really doing their best. I don’t think it’s their fault that there are so few attendees.

This is the second Nebulas I’ve attended, and it feels very different from the first time. I remember before feeling out of place. I remember having trouble meeting people and talking to them. Now? I’m making friends and chatting with people here easily. I feel like I belong here as much as the next person.

I actually paused writing this to see if I wrote something about my first Nebulas attendance. I did. I apparently didn’t have a very good time, and felt overwhelmed most of the time. I’m not feeling that now, and while I was afraid to talk about my stories back then, I have no problem in 2025. I’ve come a long way.

BRGR

In 2016, Melissa and I came to Worldcon in Kansas City. I remember us having a good time! One of the things that stands out in my memory is walking a short ways from the convention and eating the best burger I’d ever tasted.

It stood out in my memory as having blue cheese, but the flavor profile was perfectly balanced. It was soft and crunchy in just the right ways. I remember it being amazing, and I’ve been looking forward to finding that place and getting another taste of that burger ever since finding out we were coming to The Nebulas this year.

Melissa and I decided we would go to that burger place for lunch on her birthday. With some help from another person attending The Nebulas, we found the place online. I recognized the pictures of the interior and the menu. We found it! BRGR Kitchen + Bar, and the specific burger we wanted was called a Fast Cow.

We took an Uber to the place, which was about 4 or 5 miles away.

And…

It wasn’t that good.

The blue cheese was too strong, and the burger itself was too salty. I could eat it, but it didn’t delight me like it did 9 years ago. Very disappointing. The waiter said a lot has changed over the years, and that’s too bad.

Sometimes, you can’t go back. You can only go forward.

Today, we found an Irish “gastropub” that had a very tasty Reuban. Melissa tried the shepherd’s pie and said it was very good, too. The place is called O’Dowd’s, and maybe that’ll be the place I look forward to revisiting in another 9 years. Who knows?

Chances are, it won’t be the same. Nothing stays the same. Some things live best in our memories. Some conferences grow, or shrink. Some authors become better at talking to people. Everything changes.

It’s important to enjoy the ride.

I’m sitting in a Kansas City Marriott, about to launch into an adventure at the 2025 Nebulas. That all picks up and starts tomorrow. Today, I need to take a moment and talk about the Sacramento Book Festival and the Bay Area Book Festival that just transpired a few days ago.

Sacramento Book Festival

Going into this event, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The guys running the event did a fantastic job of promoting it, and I heard there would be around 140 local authors attending. But, it’s Sacramento. How big could the festival actually be?

It turns out, pretty big! It’s estimated that over 5000 people attended the event. And, the event made really good use the facilities, in spite them being somewhat small.

The Water Dragon table was in the smaller East room, which had air conditioning and lots of good natural light. The Graveside Press table was outside the East room, and in spite the hottest May 31st in Sacramento in 100 years, both tables did very well!

The parking was a bit of a pain. As I said before, the facilities were small. If you needed to go to the bathroom, you had to walk through the room used for presentations, which felt uncomfortable and weird. In spite that and a handful of other nuisances, the event was actually kind of amazing.

We outsold and outperformed the LA Book Festival from just a couple weeks ago. In LA, taking in the cost of the table, we lost money, even though there were over 180,000 people in attendance. In Sacramento, on the other hand, we made nearly $1,000. I think with a bigger space, the Sacramento Book Festival will be an even bigger success.

I’m looking forward to it next year. It was a lot of fun, and I was really happy to see so many familiar faces.

Bay Area Book Festival

The day after Sacramento, Melissa and I got up early and went to Berkley.

I did this event last year, in weather that was sunny and hot. I wound up severely burned last year, and so we armed ourselves with a hat, sunscreen, and attire that’s perfect to handle a really hot day. We had just had the hottest day on record for a May 31st, so this seemed reasonable. I should have looked at the weather for Berkely.

With the temperatures never really getting over 65F, and often being lower that, with lots of shade a breeze, I was not appropriately dressed for the area.

It wasn’t that bad. But as we setup, I looked around and had serious doubts about our prospects. Our space was on an off-street. The main event took place on the other side of a busy street. Given the geography, I really didn’t think we were going to get that much traffic.

Again, I was wrong. Plenty of people came by our booth, which had Graveside, Cupid’s Arrow, Water Dragon, Paper Angel, and Small Publishing in a Big Universe organized in a U shape beneath a canopy. Lots more books on display than in Sacramento. Much larger space, and easier for people to get in and look at everything.

In spite the easier access and plenty of traffic, sales were not as good as they’d been in Sacramento. We still made a profit, and Graveside Press was the big seller, but I continue to feel like the answer isn’t to put more books out on the table. I think a smaller, more focused offering is the way to get more sales. Feature the authors that are at the event, have backlog easily available on demand, and have really solid pitches and summaries for the books on the table. I think that’s the route to success.

A good time was had by all. I enjoyed promoting Arlo Z. Graves’ book, Black Rose, almost as much as I enjoyed promoting my own titles. The author attended the event, their first time doing something like that, and for their debut novel, and they were clearly having a great time. Also, Arlo Graves is a fantastic author. You should check out their book.

In Closing…

I like selling books from our table. I really like selling one of my books, because those sales carry the hope that I might entertain someone and improve their day. Mostly, I really enjoy talking with people at these events about books, stories, storytelling, the industry, and all of the other topics that come up when surrounded by so many books.

I don’t make a ton of money from these events. My writing career costs more money than it generates. But I love it, and I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can afford to do so.

Oh, and I broke a tooth while in Berkley. It doesn’t hurt at the moment. Haven’t had time to have it looked at, though. Hope that doesn’t come back to bite me. (Pun intended)

I think this is the third time I’ve talked about A.I. and writing. The first time, I concluded that the main problem with A.I. and writing is that we live in a Capitalist society which is always looking for the cheapest labor and a better bottom line. The second time, I came down harder and talked about how it is a machine designed to steal the voices and styles from artists and writers.

My day job is programming. I have an understanding of machine learning, and there are absolutely wonderful uses for A.I. that are not confined to large language models (LLMs) and art simulation. Seriously, when technology is used for good, it is great, and I’m always going to be a fan.

But, there are people using LLMs to write stories, and there are people using LLMs to write code. On the code-side, the term is “vibe coding.” A couple of decades ago, we called this “intentional programming,” in which a programmer uses tools to generate code based on their intentions, rather than having to roll up their sleaves and do all the plumbing themselves. We have frameworks and libraries and development environments dedicated to reducing the busy-work in programming.

I don’t blame anyone for wanting to make their life easier. As with all things in life, there is a balance. If you want to use an LLM in order to walk through a dataset or a database and create a bunch of standard plumbing code, go for it. Before you do, make sure you know how that plumbing code works. To gain that understanding, you’re probably going to have to write it yourself a time or two.

Don’t use an LLM in place of learning.

What about writing fiction? Is there a place for “vibe writing?”

No.

The most generous take I can give is that, there are visual artists that can take a squiggle on a piece of paper and turn it into art. It may be possible for a writer to take A.I. slop and turn it into something decent, but I can’t see a real writer doing that because they’re depriving themselves of the fun part.

Editing A.I. slop doesn’t save time. There is no such thing as “standard” fiction to tack onto your story. Writers create characters with voices, and they place those characters into situations baked from their imagination, which test truths that resonate in the writer’s soul.

How do you write a book? One word at a time.

Every word is a choice. Every verb and adjective. Every sentence fragment, every comma splice, every imperfection laced into the narrative, like the vocal fry of a singer as their belting out their biggest hit. Authorial voices are diamonds, given beauty by the flaws more than the perfection.

Machines abhor imperfection.

A writer sees the world and then writes something to the world about the world. LLMs regurgitate the words from the stories they were trained on, using math and probability to generate something that looks like a statement, but isn’t.

Vibe coding is giving the idea to the machine to generate a solution to a problem. Vibe writing is giving an idea to the machine to generate a story, but as I have said before, ideas are cheap. The idea is usually the least interesting thing about a story.

Writers do not need a machine to give them ideas. They’re already drowning in ideas. And they don’t need a machine to do the writing for them, because it’s the writing itself that sustains them and gives them joy. That’s why we do it.

I will conclude with stating something that is obvious, but related to this topic. There is a difference between making something and having something. There are many people that want to have written a story without going through all of the work to write it themselves. Most people that set out to write a story do not finish.

If you have started a story and stopped before reaching the end, hold your head up high. You’re in good company. Try again, and keep trying until you finish, because one of the defining characteristics of a writer is perseverance.

Don’t be fooled or tempted by the plagiarism machine. If you whisper your idea into ChatGPT and it gives you “your book,” you didn’t write it. You didn’t create anything. You may have a story, but you didn’t make it, and you have my pity, because you deprived yourself of something you may not even understand.

I went with my kids to see Thunderbolts* Thursday evening. As a reminder, Chris turned 27 last month, and Bryanna turns 29 in August, so I wasn’t bringing small children to a Disney movie. I brought adult children to a bloodless but still violent Marvel movie.

My Bias:

I remain a Marvel fan boy. I don’t go out to the movies as much as I used to, but I still go to see the latest Marvel flick. I’m part their target audience.

I don’t really believe in “superhero fatigue.” I think that audiences want interesting stories that come from the heart, regardless of whether or not there are fantasy, SciFi, or superhero elements involved. They don’t want to be fed something generated from a formula. They like being forced to think, but they love being made to feel.

Computer generated eye candy is not a replacement for good storytelling. Special effects are not a good substitute for solid setups and payoffs.

Finally, Marvel movies suffer the same problem that other large franchises suffer, which is toxic fandom. These are fans that are looking for excuses to shit on movies. These are fans that are taking popcorn filler way too seriously.

I am a fan of good storytelling. I am a fan of giving artists and directors the freedom to make something unique, even if it must exist within a larger playground. I am also willing to turn my brain off for a few minutes and just have a good time for the sake of a good time. For me, the story does not have to adhere with maximum accuracy to the comics that may have preceded it.

That is my bias. I think every reviewer should state something like this before their review, because the consumer checking reviews may or may not be looking for something that the reviewer has to offer. I know a bit about the comics, but if you’re here to see if I will give an account to the “accuracy” of the movie, you’re in the wrong place.

My review will be from the perspective of a writer, and from someone that has watched all 36(!) of the preceding films.

Spoiler Free Review:

Thunderbolts* is a solid movie that relies more on good storytelling and excellent acting than special effects. It is emotional. It is thoughtful. It has humor without becoming a comedy. The stakes are high without becoming cosmic.

I had a good time with this one. Florence Pugh is the star and plays the main viewpoint character. She gives an outstanding, emotional performance. I enjoyed her in Black Widow and the Hawkeye series, but she really stands out in this movie. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her in future movies.

David Harbour plays a more comedic character in the scenes, but again, it isn’t treated like a comedy. He does and says things that are funny, but there is an earnestness to his performance that balances it out. An argument could be made that he steals every scene he is in. The scenes that involve him and Florence are great. They play off of each other perfectly.

Lewis Pullman also knocks this out of the park. He’s asked to do a lot and he delivers. He must be vulnerable, sympathetic, menacing, and powerful, and he succeeds at all of it. I hope we see more of him in the future, but given the nature of his character, I think this is probably the only time we’ll see his character in this way. I hope I’m wrong about that, but I think his character is difficult to write around. You either relegate him to the background and hope the audience forgets about him, or you center your story around him because he has that much gravity. Again, this is the spoiler-free section. I’ll talk more about him in the spoilers below.

I enjoyed seeing Wyatt Russell again. He and the rest of the cast didn’t have as much to do, but they all did their part, and they all had moments to shine.

I can’t think of any parts of the movie that felt slow or uninteresting. The pacing was fine. I can see people saying that the resolution was a little rushed, but I don’t agree with that. I’ll talk more about that in the spoiler section, but I think that people unsatisfied with the ending probably didn’t understand it.

At least one other reviewer has said “this is the best one since Endgame” and while I had a great time and highly recommend this movie, I’m not sure I like the comparison. I think it sets up an expectation that the movie will not quite meet.

Endgame gave us payoffs to story arcs that spanned about a decade of storytelling. There were moments in Endgame that got the audience jumping out of their seats, cheering. Thunderbolts* does not do that.

What Thunderbolts* does do is give an audience a chance to cheer for underdogs and misfits. It tells a story of hope and healing, which is exactly what we need right now. It sets things up rather than pay things off.

Thunderbolts* is better than Captain America 4. It is not as funny as Deadpool and Wolverine. It is not as exciting or as nostalgic as Spider-man: No Way Home. If you go into Thunderbolts* expecting to see something that will make you jump out of your seat, you will probably be disappointed.

However, if you’re looking for a really good movie that just happens to have superheroes in it, something heartfelt without being sappy, then this is the movie for you.

Spoiler Details:

This is a sentence to give people a chance to bail out because they do not want to read spoilers.

This is also a sentence that does that, while also setting up a lie/lame joke. That is, I couldn’t believe it when the film stopped part way through and just starting playing the first twenty minutes of James Gunn’s Superman movie. It was a crossover none of us expected!

Okay, that’s enough padding. If you’re still reading this and you don’t want spoilers, that’s a you-problem, not a me-problem. You’ve been warned.

Let’s talk about Lewis Pullman and Sentry.

I went into this movie with some knowledge of Sentry from the comics, and I’d seen just enough of the advertisements that I knew Sentry was going to be in the movie, which is a little bit of a bummer. I think my viewing experience would have been slightly improved to have Bob Reynolds/Sentry revealed, rather than spoiled.

Pullman knocked it out of the park. Seriously. I’m not sure another actor would have succeeded in making Bob Reynolds sympathetic. But Pullman did it. And then when Sentry is revealed in his costume and becomes terrifying, Pullman succeeds again. Florence Pugh and David Harbour deserve their flowers, but I think this movie wouldn’t have succeeded if Lewis Pullman hadn’t performed the way he did.

I didn’t talk about Julia Louis-Dreyfus, not because she did a poor job, but because I didn’t want to spoil things. We’ve seen her character in previous movies, and I think she subtly added more nuance to her character. On the surface, she’s a cartoonish villain, but there’s more to it, and not just because we got to see her father killed in front of her when she was a child. There’s something in her eyes, and the tightness of the way she holds her body.

I’m not a fan of flat, unmotivated villains. Her character could have been that, but I think her performance elevates into something I can respect.

Let’s talk about the ending.

The entire movie is about dealing with trauma and depression. From the opening dialog to the final conflict resolution, it treats the subject honestly and seriously. It doesn’t overstate or understate the themes. It is sincere.

Depression is the real villain in this movie. Trauma. Self-loathing. It is represented by The Void, but it is something everyone carries with them. The characters. The audience. Everyone.

And the answer to dealing with depression isn’t pushing it down and bottling it up. The answer also is not beating it down, because when you fight your depression, you fight yourself. It is part of you, and you deserve to be treated with care.

The answer to fighting depression isn’t to duke it out. It’s not punching and shooting your way out of the problem. The answer is to face the tragedy head on, with courage and without shame, and it is to face it together. Get help. Put away the violence and hold each other up. Which is exactly how the conflict was resolved.

Not only that, but it was a group of unlikely misfits that did it. The group had super powers, certainly, but it wasn’t through force of strength that they overcame the villain. It was by holding onto each other, defying the darkness, and giving each other light.

That’s good storytelling. It’s honest, true, and hopeful. Because if these not-quite-heroes can defeat The Void by banding together, what can we do?

From that perspective, maybe this is the best Marvel movie since Endgame. I’d rather not put it that way, though, because I’m not sure the average movie-goer is going to read into it as deeply as I have.

It’s popcorn fun, and it does have good special effects. I think the real beauty of the film is something that will ultimately go over the head of the average movie-goer. Maybe that’s me being cynical, but I haven’t seen much lately that would change my mind.

Final Thoughts on the After Credits Scene:

I think it was fine.

It was directed by The Russo brothers, and I enjoyed it for what it was. I’m also looking at it like it’s something completely separate from the movie that preceded it. You can skip it, if you like.

I’m excited to see The Fantastic Four, and seeing how it fits in with the rest of the stories that came before. This after credits scene gave us a hint how they’re going to do it, and I hope it wasn’t a spoiler for the movie coming out in a few months.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review! If you think I left anything out or just want to talk with me about the movie, let me know.