Rachel Brosnahan

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the first verse of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I weighed 87.15 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the second of two sessions and it stayed in tune most of the time. 

            Around midday I finished touching up the upper edges of my bathroom walls. All that’s left to touch up are the edges where the walls meet the shelves. I might not get to that for a week now.

            I weighed 88.3 kilos before lunch. I had a toasted sesame seed bagel with peanut butter, five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back stopped at Freshco where I made it about ten minutes before their Christmas Eve closing time. I bought five bags of green grapes and price matched them to the Food Basics price of $4.37 a kilo. Priscilla already knew the price match so I didn’t have to show her the flyer. The customer behind me who had hair and beard died red was impressed that I paid cash and said it was smart. Priscilla said she likes when people pay cash because it’s so quick. 

            I stopped at Mary Brown’s and bought six pieces of chicken. There was a twenty minute wait and so I rode to Popeyes to buy six biscuits. There was a five minute wait and so I went upstairs to put the grapes away. When I came back down the counter person didn’t recognize me and asked if I wanted to order. I had to wait another five minutes for my biscuits. I took them upstairs and then rode to Mary Brown’s where I still had to wait another five minutes. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos at 19:00. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:45. 

            I had three pieces of the chicken with oven fries, a biscuit and two glasses of Creemore while watching this year’s Superman movie. 

            Unlike previous Superman films they don’t begin with the origin story. It’s mentioned in brief text along with the fact that Superman recently stopped the country of Boravia from invading Jarhanpur. In response he was attacked and defeated by a super being known as The Hammer of Boravia. When we first see Superman it is after that battle as he falls from the sky and lands in Antarctica badly beaten externally and internally. He is incapacitated but is able to whistle at a high volume. This is followed by thunder in the distance and then we see the super dog Krypto charging at super speed across the snowy landscape. When it reaches Superman it just wants to play and it plays rough by jumping up and down on his battered body until Superman is able to hand Krypto the hem of his cape and tells him to take him home. Krypto drags him at hyper speed across the frozen wasteland until on Superman’s approach his fortress of solitude rises from the ice. It appears to be made from ice itself but it’s probably crystal. Superman’s robots emerge to care for him and expose him to the healing magnified rays of the yellow sun. When he is only at 85% capacity he returns to Metropolis to continue his fight with the Hammer. We see that all of the Hammer’s fighting moves are controlled by Lex Luthor who has studied Superman’s movements for years and Superman is defeated again. The Hammer leaves Metropolis, enters a dimensional portal, walks briefly through an alien dimension to another portal from which he emerges at Lex Luthor’s headquarters in Metropolis. There we learn he is not really the Hammer of Boravia but Luthorcorp employee Ultraman. 

           The next morning we see Clark Kent arrive at work and he talks with Lois Lane about his interview with Superman and what a great guy he is. She thinks it’s funny that he can get so many interviews with Superman. 

           Later Lois comes home and hears someone in her place. She grabs a baseball bat and makes her way to the kitchen to see Clark making her dinner. It’s clear that they’ve already been intimate as they begin kissing and it’s also clear that he’s shared with her that his secret identity is Superman. He lets Lois interview him as Superman but the questions are so tough he breaks it off. He admits to having flown the president of Boravia to the desert and placed him up against a cactus. Lois says, “So…torture…” He warned the president it would be worse if he invaded Jarhanpur again. Lois points out that Jarhanpur is not spotless but he argues that killing people is wrong and that’s what he stopped Boravia from doing. She thinks he should have consulted US officials but he says he was not representing the United States but rather doing the right thing. They argue and he leaves.

            As usual in movies and on TV the main characters have enormous apartments that probably don’t fit with their income. 

           Meanwhile Lex Luthor and his team Angela the Engineer, who is a nanotech derived shapeshifter and Ultraman, plus Lex’s girlfriend Eve arrive at the location of Superman’s Fortress and it rises from the ice because Lex fools it with Superman’s DNA. They destroy all of Superman’s robots and subdue and capture Krypto. Angela accesses the message that Superman’s (Kalel’s) parents sent with him in his ship aimed at the Earth. The message was corrupted in the journey and so Superman has only heard the first half which tells him to serve humanity, which he has always taken to heart as his life’s mission. But Angela manages to access the entire message which tells him to rule over humanity and to take as many wives as he can to populate the Earth with Kryptonian descendants. 

            Meanwhile to distract Superman, Lex lets loose an alien monster onto Metropolis. Superman gets help fighting it from the Justice Gang, consisting of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific. Only Lantern calls it the Justice Gang as the others don’t like it. Mr. Terrific’s power is a genius for invention and a lot of flying sphere drones that serve him. Superman wants to keep the monster alive but the others are okay with killing it, which they finally do after a long fight. Superman spends a lot of time just saving people and animals from the monster and from falling buildings. The Justice Gang is apparently employed by Lordtech Industries. 

            At this point Lex broadcasts the message from Superman’s parents and everyone begins to hate him. Even Green Lantern turns away. Superman returns to the fortress to find the destruction and learns of the abduction of Krypto. Superman turns himself in to the authorities because he figures they will lead him to where Krypto is being held. Because Lex has the facilities to contain super powered individuals he and his team are given custody of Superman. 

            He is taken to a pocket universe that was created when Lex replicated the Big Bang with a mega-collider tearing a tiny hole between the two universal fabrics. Superman is in a transparent cubic cell with Metamorpho the Element Man who is forced to work for Lex because Lex has kidnapped his son. Metamorpho can turn his body into any element, including kryptonite, which he does and Superman is incapacitated. He sees that Krypto is contained in a sphere with electrodes feeding him the images of squirrels that he is continuously flying and chasing without going anywhere as if he were treading water. Lex tells Superman he will eventually kill the dog. The pocket universe is stacked with other transparent cells with some prisoners sent by the government and others are just Lex’s ex girlfriends.

            Lex’s girlfriend is in love with Jimmy Olsen and she leaks the information to him that Superman is being held in a pocket universe even though he has no idea what that means. 

            Lois goes to the Justice Gang but Green Lantern doesn’t want to help Superman. Terrific is willing to try. He says he’s put nanobyte trackers in Superman’s bloodstream and in the rest of the Gang which they didn’t know. They are also aware of Superman’s secret identity. Lex puts Mali, one of Superman’s friends in a chair and plays Russian roulette while he asks Superman questions. He asks who Superman is working with and Superman says, “No one”. Lex pulls the trigger but there’s no bullet. He spins the revolver again aiming at Mali’s head when he asks, “Who raised you as a child?” Superman can’t answer, Lex pulls the trigger and this time there is a bullet so Mali dies. Metamorpho begins to cry. 

            Terrific tracks Superman to the dimensional portal and takes on a small army with his spheres. They enter the portal and arrive at the threshold of the pocket universe but they have no vehicle to go any further. Superman was taken in on a type of levitating boat. 

            Superman tells Metamorpho he can save his son and so he stops being kryptonite. Superman however needs healing and so Metamorpho simulates a yellow sun. Superman smashes the cube and flies to save Metamorpho’s son Joey. He’s just a baby but he is green with pointy ears. Terrific sends two of his speres into the pocket universe to look for Superman. Superman rescues Krypto. They all try to make it to a portal but they are attacked by Lex’s Raptors, which are an enhanced flying army. Superman has to carry Joey because Metamorpho can’t fly while holding him so Superman has to fight the Raptors while protecting Joey. Metamorpho sprays several Raptors with acid. Superman with Joey is caught in an antimatter river that is headed straight for a black hole. Metamorpho pulls them back. Terrific’s sphere guides them to the portal. 

           Superman has kryptonite poisoning and needs time to heal and so Terrific tells her to take his ship, which can be flown intuitively. Terrific stays to stabilize the portal and rescue the prisoners. The ship flies to the farm of Clark’s foster parents. 

            Eve sends Jimmy everything than can ruin Lex but is captured. At first it looks like a bunch of selfies but she is standing in front of important things like maps each time. They learn that Lex sold weapons to Belravia for almost nothing so he could become king of half of Jarhanpur. 

            There is a spreading rift between universes that is running through Metropolis and tearing it apart. Buildings are collapsing. Superman has to fly to save it but ends up in a battle with Angela and Ultraman on a football field. Angela invades the inside of Superman’s body with her nanobytes which look like black tar. As both Angela and Ultraman are holding him he flies them into the stratosphere and then plummets at super speed to crash into the Earth. Ultraman breaks free but Angela also hits the concrete and is knocked unconscious. Superman is able to recover and spit out the nanobytes. Ultraman staggers to his feet and it turns out he is a clone of Superman. They fight while Lex controls the clone’s movements and it is winning. But Superman whistles for Krypto and he knocks the clone away. Lex is watching with his drones but Superman tells Krypto to get the toys and he begins catching and chewing them to incapacity. 

            Meanwhile Boravia has started invading Jarhanpur but the Justice Gang intervenes with the help of Metamorpho. 

            The clone now has no guidance and is easier to defeat. The Raptors arrive in the hundreds but Superman takes them out in the fakest most videogame like looking part of the movie. The clone comes back but gets sucked into a blackhole. 

            Lex is about to escape through a portal when Superman arrives and stops him. Terrific takes control of Lex’s computers to close the rift. Krypto mauls Lex until Superman is finally able to stop him. The information that Jimmy got from Eve is broadcast and Lex is now revealed to be a criminal and a traitor and he’s taken into custody. Metamorpho likes the name Justice Gang so Lantern lets him join. 

            Superman is back at the fortress when his cousin Supergirl arrives drunk to get her dog. Apparently he’s such a poorly behaved pet and the best part of the movie because of her lack of discipline. She likes to party on planets with red suns where she’s not immune to alcohol like Superman is on Earth. The best thing about this movie was Krypto the good bad boy super dog. Krypto was way too well behaved in the comics. It was also an interesting twist to make him Super Girl’s dog. In the comics her pet was Comet the Wonder horse, which was really a magically transformed human who was in love with Supergirl. 

            Lois Lane was played by Rachel Brosnahan, who performed in musical theatre in junior high and high school. She was also on the wrestling team and a snowboard instructor. She’s a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her film debut was in The Unborn in 2009. She was nominated for an Emmy for her guest performance on House of Cards. She made her stage debut in Up and her Broadway debut in The Big Knife. She starred in the series Manhattan. She starred in all 43 episodes of the hit series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for which she won an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards. She starred in I’m Your Woman. She co-starred in The Amateur, Coming Up Roses, I’m Obsessed With You, Burn Country, Change in the Air, and Dead for a Dollar.