Date: 1/21/2021
On Hulu: ‘Supervised’
Hulu has recently included the 2019 comedy/drama “Supervised” to its line-up and it’s a good time to discover this modest but well-written take on super heroics considering we are in a basic drought of that genre, with the exception of the new Wonder Woman movie.
The premise is pretty straight-forward: superheroes can grow old just like the rest of us, but they clearly need a different kind of assisted living facility. In this case, its a government-run facility in a manor house in Ireland.
Just like any other nursing home there are people who are suffering from various ravages of time, but in this case, they have super powers. The home is clearly a place where these former heroes – and one slightly reformed villain – are watched carefully for fear their powers might be used the wrong way.
Among the residents are Ray (Tom Berenger), his former sidekick, Ted (Beau Bridges), his friend Pendle (Louis Gossett Jr.) and the one-time object of his affection, Madera (Fionnula Flanagan). Ray used to be known as Maximum Justice, but now he’s simply another old man with a pot belly and a difficulty to summon up the powers he once had.
Ray is seen as a bit of troublemaker and he becomes very annoying to the nursing home staff when another hero dies and he discovers some thugs in town apparently have the dead hero’s powers.
His friends just think he’s paranoid, but events prove otherwise.
There are certainly some laughs in the film. For instance, I loved the scene in which a human torch character, sitting in his wheelchair, ignites his head so Ray can light a cigarette.
And I thought Berenger was pretty brave in the opening scene. We see a figure standing naked in before a bathroom sink. His physique is far from impressive. He puts on a towel and turns around and we see it’s the leading man from the 1980s and ‘90s.
The tone of the film is comic but there are some sincere dramatic scenes as well. Director Steve Barron is no stranger to different concepts in superheroes as he directed the first “Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles,” back in the 1990s. While the climax of the film uses a fair amount of CGI effects, the movie is about the characters rather than special effects.
I really liked this offbeat entry into the super hero genre. Perhaps you will as well.
Plumbing the depths of Tubi
I’ve been taking another deep dive into the always-full-of-surprises streaming service Tubi.
For instance, the other day I found “The Bold Caballero,” a Zorro film from 1936. Produced by Republic Pictures, the print of the film offered on the service was gorgeous. Republic had shot it as a prestige production in Magnacolor.
As a Zorro film it’s a lot of fun and I appreciated watching it after having read about it.
Another film that I read about and saw recently on Tubi was “The Flying Saucer” (1950). This terrible cheapjack production was the very first film to feature a UFO and that is its only distinction. Is it worth watching? Only if you either a masochist or a very curious movie fan.
Tubi has quite a collection of documentaries and recently I watched a very good one about producer/director Roger Corman titled “Corman’s World.” Another fun watch was a documentary about the Tarzan movies, “Tarzan, the Man behind the Legend.”
“Double Dare” is a documentary about stunt performers Jeannie Epper and Zoe Bell, that sheds light on that aspect of the film business.
Tubi has become my go-to streaming service, when I want to explore.