Last Movie You Watched

[snyprrr]

but Smith seems to always do well enough to save any film that he's in.

uh, 'After Earth'??

[Wakefield]

They needed to give Christopher Walken more to do: but maybe his growing girth prevented a more action-oriented role.

[asin]B00005JN0W[/asin]

It seems like the movie tries to imitate the intensity of Kiefer Sutherland and company in 24...not on the same level as the TV series.

I never was a Denzel Washington fan until this movie. He and the little Dakota are simply an outstanding duo....

BTW, I believe I haven't never seen a more accomplished child actress than her. 

[Bogey]

Spoiler Alerts

Man of Steel

Trying to make Superman a brooding character because it works for Batman does not work for me.  So many things wrong with this film, I do not know where to start.  However, I'll throw out a few....and I mean, a few.

1. I tire of the origin reboots.  Stop the madness.

2. Why was I looking for Vulcans on Krypton?  Oh, because that is what it looked like.

3. Dad dies saving a dog and Supe chooses now to hold back his powers, though he showed them to part of the town in an earlier sequence.  Really?!

4. Costume design: sucked.

5. No humor in any of the film.  Since when did Superman become Batman....oh.....as soon as Batman became a cash cow for WB.  Answered my own question.

6. In the final action sequence did anyone else find it odd that as buildings collapsed, and collapsed, and collapsed, and collapsed, ...... and collapsed some more, that our hero did not take a second to try and save anyone.  And when he does have a chance to pull off some rubble he spends time hanging with Lois....who just so happened to be the only citizen he saved besides one family (at the tale end) in the entire battle sequence.

7.  He ends up breaking his mortal enemies neck.  Superman never kills anyone in the comics.  Not even the bad guys.  He's a boy scout for crying out loud.  (At least the Iron Giant understood this )

Give me the Chris Reeves films (first two) or the somewhat recent WB animated series or even the old radio show.  This tripe was hard to take.

[Bogey]

Now this one worked on many levels:

[modUltralaser]

uh, 'After Earth'??

I've not seen anything beyond the trailer.

The Bourne Supremacy


While the third is the most action-packed, and the rooftop chase scene is one of the most exciting things I've seen filmed. I prefer this one to that or the first. I feel that the story is the most cohesive here. Although, the loss of Chris Cooper is noticeable because Joan Allen is a poor replacement. Karl Urban is good foil for Matt Damon, and the pace is ready... steady...

[TheGSMoeller]

Now this one worked on many levels:

"He's not Judge Judy and executioner!"

Great film, really anxious for their new one, The World's End.

[Karl Henning]

Spoiler Alerts

Man of Steel

Trying to make Superman a brooding character because it works for Batman does not work for me.

This must be in the air, like the pouty Aragorn make-over.

[Todd]

3. Dad dies saving a dog and Supe chooses now to hold back his powers, though he showed them to part of the town in an earlier sequence.  Really?!

6. In the final action sequence did anyone else find it odd that as buildings collapsed, and collapsed, and collapsed, and collapsed, ...... and collapsed some more, that our hero did not take a second to try and save anyone.  And when he does have a chance to pull off some rubble he spends time hanging with Lois....who just so happened to be the only citizen he saved besides one family (at the tale end) in the entire battle sequence.

To be fair on these points, Clark didn't save Jonathan because the latter specifically motioned to him not too, and this was after the lecture about saving the kids earlier - from a narrative standpoint it is sound.  For the other item, Kal-El couldn't really save people from the collapsing buildings since he was on the other side of the world destroying the gravity weapon, or whatever it was called.  The dude is super, but he doesn't have clones.

I grew up with the Reeves & Reeve takes on Superman, and I must say that I vastly prefer the darker world of the new one, and wish it could have been darker yet.  Killing Zod fits in nicely with the new take; forget the boy scout, kick some ass, I say.  Alas, Warner's decision to add Batman to the next Superman movie almost certainly spells doom (and not Legion of Doom) for that film.

[DavidW]

I found Man of Steel to be entertaining, but the exposition was terrible.  It's just speech after speech after speech with no attempt at characterization.  If you didn't already know these characters, how would one describe them? 

I agree with you Bill.  Superman is a symbol of moral goodness, the ending is a rejection of the character.  The only ones that will give that thumbs up are people that don't know or don't like Superman.  And in fact it denigrates him to a generic superhero without that trait (and how many superheroes can fly around and punch people?)

I hate it when people call this movie more "realistic."  Actually Superman 1 was much more mature, he deals with issues that any adult can face.  Not emo brooding.  But being awesome he faces a very understandable problem of being vane.  He falls in love and abuses his power to save Lois.  In fact, he abuses his power to impress her in the first place. 

Now I've heard people say that having Costner teach Clark paranoia and distrust is commentary on our post 9/11 culture but (a) what did New Yorkers do after 9/11? they came together as a people, and (b) Snyder is not that smart.  This is the guy that didn't stop and think about how out of place a cold war paranoia driven story is today when adopting the Watchmen.

It is one of the best action movies of the summer no doubt, but Bill do yourself a favor and rewatch Superman The Movie to see a real superhero handled maturely, intelligently who uses his powers to save people instead of just punch people through buildings and violently murder people.

I enjoy the Man of Steel the same way I do the new Star Trek.  I pretend it's not Star Trek and just an action movie.  For Man of Steel I pretend that it's not a superman movie.

[DavidW]

I will say in defense of that ending I just scathingly criticized, Superman killed General Zod in the comics.  Bumbumbum!!!

Also Bill, look at the deep crimson instead of bright red on the new Superman's outfit... that is the evil Superman's costume! (from Superman 3)

And both Superman Returns and Man of Steel are far superior to Superman 4, which is terrible. I don't know though which is worse making Superman a dead beat dad or a murderer.

[DavidW]

Anyway my favorite comic book movie this summer is Wolverine.  Which tells a personal story without end of the world stuff.  It reminds me of a western as Wolverine, a man who wants to just stop living, rides into town so to speak to save a damsel in distress and uncover a sordid web of deceit and treachery within her own family.  Stripped of his powers, the fights with ninjas, Yakuza and the Silver Samurai are exciting in a way seen in Batman movies but not usually in Marvel movies.  Haunted by the guilt and loneliness he feels at having killed Jean Grey, this story is about letting go and finding a new purpose in life.  I really enjoyed it, it has more heart than any of the other X-Men movies.

[Todd]

I will say in defense of that ending I just scathingly criticized, Superman killed General Zod in the comics.  Bumbumbum!!!

So is Superman in the new movie good or bad then? 

[DavidW]

So is Superman in the new movie good or bad then?

Good as a superhero action movie, bad as a Superman movie.  Just in the same way that Star Trek (reboot) is an exciting action movie, but a terrible Star Trek movie.  Anyone that loves Superman should avoid the movie, anyone else looking for mindless action will have fun which is not to say that I'm equating it with Transformers, it's not that stupid.

[Todd]

Good as a superhero action movie, bad as a Superman movie.

No, my question has to do with whether Superman the character is good or bad in the new film, given your prior diatribe about how Superman killed Zod and therefore sullied his moral goodness, even though he killed Zod in the comics. 

[DavidW]

No, my question has to do with whether Superman the character is good or bad in the new film, given your prior diatribe about how Superman killed Zod and therefore sullied his moral goodness, even though he killed Zod in the comics.

He is good, but not good enough. He should have outsmarted the baddies instead of ending up in the position that he was.  The thing is that the film goes out of its way to have this ham fisted Jesus imagery and then has Superman act immorally.  The cognitive dissonance is astonishing.  It's as if that ending was a last minute decision... oh wait it was.   But I don't see Superman in this movie as inherently bad or evil, but flawed.  The damaged goods, flawed superhero theme is trite and out of place for Superman.  But no I don't see him as bad.

[DavidW]

I watched Life of Pi last night and it was wow! I will read the novel now.

At first I went it was the second story that was real, and you can explain the first as an allegory for the second, and a fiction to escape the pain of reality... but then I thought about the dinner table conversation about logical reasoning vs religious belief.  The stories represent religion vs science.  Is religion a pleasant illusion to deal with the pain of reality?  Or is it the real truth that many disbelieve for the fantastical nature and lack of evidence?  These questions plague the mind of the audience choosing which story is the "real" one.  Ultimately it doesn't matter which one is true, only that we ask ourselves the question.

I really enjoyed the movie, it also is a beautiful movie, and has a few tearjerker moments.

[Todd]

The cognitive dissonance is astonishing.

I don't know if astonishing is the right word to use in describing pop pulp.  Amusing or silly, perhaps, but not astonishing.  (I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the Christ imagery.)  I generally don't put much mental effort into analyzing superhero films, because with Superman, in particular, it becomes clear that he is the lamest of heroes.  Basically indestructible and morally righteous - perfect little Kansas boy, and all that.  That he engages in righteous violence, including against lesser, mortal beings is perhaps a bit perplexing at times.  Just give me 'splosions and killing and chase scenes and hammy acting, with lots of monologuing and unnecessary yelling and distorted facial expressions. 

[snyprrr]

Mulholland Drive, apparently, is NOT the movie to see out of the corner of your eye as you're working at the desk. Could someone clue me in, is it just the good-girl-gone-bad-in-Hollywoord morality tale?

The blonde girl didn't get the role and became a meth head?

The 'devil of Hollywood' character... did I get that right?

The guy in the Howdy Doody outfit?, angel messenger of doom?


Typical Lynch: old men sitting around speaking strangely and acting odd. WTFFFF is this about?!?! aaahhhh

I really don't want to sit and watch it... tell me please please tell me what's in the box


Billy Ray Cyrus?? as?... Billy Ray Cyrus?

missed Michael Des Barres...

[Bogey]

To be fair on these points, Clark didn't save Jonathan because the latter specifically motioned to him not too, and this was after the lecture about saving the kids earlier - from a narrative standpoint it is sound.  For the other item, Kal-El couldn't really save people from the collapsing buildings since he was on the other side of the world destroying the gravity weapon, or whatever it was called.  The dude is super, but he doesn't have clones.

I grew up with the Reeves & Reeve takes on Superman, and I must say that I vastly prefer the darker world of the new one, and wish it could have been darker yet.  Killing Zod fits in nicely with the new take; forget the boy scout, kick some ass, I say.  Alas, Warner's decision to add Batman to the next Superman movie almost certainly spells doom (and not Legion of Doom) for that film.

Naw, that is Batman's shtick.  And we have had enough of that as well....for now. 

326. Zimmer's score not memorable.

327.  Oh, and then there is the point of him showing up at the paper for a job.  At least with previous Superman movies he tried to be is disguise.  The whole Lois "don't know" is blown way to early.

328.  Actually, here is Superman at his best.  This does in 10 minutes what the other film failed to do in over 2 hours.....tell a fun action packed story without the shoe leather (note the voice change):

http://archive.org/details/superman_the_mechanical_monsters

All these early cartoons are fantastic.  Check 'em out!

[Todd]

327.  Oh, and then there is the point of him showing up at the paper for a job.  At least with previous Superman movies he tried to be is disguise.  The whole Lois "don't know" is blown way to early.

That has always been a weakness of Superman stories, though.  Put on glasses, and maybe a jacket, and then no one recognizes you!