Man of Steel (2013) (Spoilers on first page)

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

Better yet, we'll make Ceetar wear a redshirt

[MFS62]

Saw a long coming attraction for Man of Steel in the movies, so I didn't see if these trailers were different.
It takes Clark from a scruffy young man(stubble, backpack and all) to Superman.
I usually wouldn't want see it. But since I have a tough beard, I really want to know what kind of razor he used to cut his.

Late

[Vic Sage]

how does superman shave?
http://www.youtube.com/gillette?x=us-en_manofsteel

[MFS62]

Nice to know I'm not the only person who wondered about this.
Thanks,
Later

[Ceetar]

Wait, did no one actually see?

I enjoyed it. Wasn't "great" or anything, but fun. Amy Adams.

Origin bits were a bit long as it takes a while to actually get to the main plot. Quite a bit of action on Krypton to start the movie and then all of a sudden Clark's 33. (Hello Jesus?) And you skip all the good 'ole midwestern American values stuff except for a couple of flashbacks and some references. On one hand they overdo some of the origins stuff and then they skip some alltogether, but I guess the thought was a more casual audience probably doesn't really know who Zod is, so you have to develop that character a little bit.

So this movie is really about Cal-El taking the first steps along the legacy Jor-El wanted for him and really committing to the whole Human Champion thing.

Oh, and a whole lot of damage. They pretty much demolish Metropolis. Lots of fights and wreckage. fun stuff, that.

Plenty of silly easter eggs, just that I caught. From things like someone getting hit into a "108 days without an accident" sign and the 1 and 8 falling down, to plenty of Smallvile shots to make it clear they're near the farm I guess. One Lana sighting where she sorta stands up for him. A Lexcorp oil tanker gets used as a weapon.

Lois is pretty well done I thought. I've very used to Erica Durance in that role, but this was good too.

I really need to go back and watch the last couple of Smallville seasons I missed. they weren't as good as the early ones, but still.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Vic Sage wrote: how does superman shave? http://www.youtube.com/gillette?x=us-en_manofsteel

It's great to have Bill Nye answer my puzzler.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I thought it was okay. A little too long, but not nearly as much so as Superman Returns was. Michael Shannon made a good Zod (much better than that creepy guy they had on Smallville). I liked that they held off on introducing Lex Luthor, and that there was no mention of kryptonite. Kryptonite is as deadly to Superman stories (it so easily gets used as a crutch) as it is to Superman himself.

(I saw it the morning after I finally watched Amazing Spider-Man, so I'm doing a bit of conflating. I find myself wanting to comment about how I couldn't see Sally Field as Aunt May.)

I understand the need to revise the classic costume a bit, but I would have liked the colors to be a bit closer to primary than they were. Make the cape a little redder, brighten the yellow in the shield on the chest. I'm okay with the elimination of the red bathing suit.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I thought it was okay. A little too long, but not nearly as much so as Superman Returns was. Michael Shannon made a good Zod (much better than that creepy guy they had on Smallville). I liked that they held off on introducing Lex Luthor, and that there was no mention of kryptonite. Kryptonite is as deadly to Superman stories (it so easily gets used as a crutch) as it is to Superman himself.

Yeah, save that for later. Though they did make some allusions to it with the atmosphere on the ship stuff. They did a pretty good job of establishing the whole Superman world, Smallville, Lexcorp, Lana, etc were all there, in some part, without being explicitly mentioned. I wouldn't be surprised of there was a scene or two that seemed innocent enough but that they can flash back to in the future as foreshadowing.

I feel like I want to state this at every super hero movie reboot. (more applies to Spiderman than Superman here, but it's going to come up with Batman again too) I enjoyed this, but I really don't _need_ to be told the same Superman origin story he's the son of krypton bit every time. Is there really anyone that would be confused if they read a random comic arc and made that into a movie? Superman is iconic, we don't need long explanations about who he is. Restarting every time limits how far into the lore they can really get.

I'd love to see for instance, a Spiderman reboot that starts with his first encounter with the alien venom suit.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Ceetar wrote: I'd love to see for instance, a Spiderman reboot that starts with his first encounter with the alien venom suit.

Blah! No!

Actually, I'd rather not see any Spider-Man reboot at all until at least 20 years have passed.

Including the origin in the reboot is fine, as long as these reboots are well spaced. But the 2002 Spidey movie is still pretty fresh, and I agree, they could have made the recent movie without the spider bite, and Uncle Ben getting killed, etc.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Including the origin in the reboot may be fine, but it's almost never good; the origin of any superhero is generally the least interesting story you can tell about the hero.

[Vic Sage]

[u:13r4pbk4]Stuff I liked:[/u:13r4pbk4]

* This is the first guy to play superman who actually looks like a super man. When he holds up the girders on the oil rig, he reminds us of Hercules or Atlas, a figure out of myth. plus he's a pretty good actor to boot;

* Lois Lane is an investigative journalist -- question: why on earth would she find superman unrecognizable because he's not wearing Clark's glasses? Answer: she wouldn't. So this story happily dispenses with that hoary old subplot;

* Michael Shannon is a brilliant actor and his Zod is not a cardboard villain but a patriot, demanding Kal choose a side... is he human or kryptonian?

* Russell Crowe has displaced Brando as the definitive voice of Jor-El; his performance is moving and regal;

* Kevin Costner, and to a lesser extent Diane Lane, make an emotional impact in small roles as Pa and Ma Kent (particularly the moment when a young Clark, having learned of his extraterrestrial origin, looks up at his father and says "I just want to be your son again", and his father hugs him and says "you ARE my son", with just a hint of a catch in his throat);

* The extensive background about Krypton, and the alternative explanations for both "fortress of solitude" and even the "S", were all a geeky joy;

* Clark wanders the Earth to find himself, with Lois in pursuit of a story about a super samaritan... I've never seen this before. Usually, Kal just sits in the Fortress of Solitude until he's 30. This is better, and contributes to the basic theme of this version of the story, which is:

Is Superman someone who wears a costume to disguise his humanity, or an alien who pretends to be a bumbling mortal to disguise his superiority?

Both interpretations are valid and both have been used in comics and movies and tv. For a character who is essentially immortal and all-powerful (Kryptonite aside), it is the one real irreconcilable conflict in his life, and the one that makes him a compelling hero. And it is a conflict for many who are adopted, or who've emigrated, or have, in one way or another, had to move on in their lives and start over.

While of alien origin and DNA, Clark/Kal was raised as a mid-western farm by with all-American values (the good ones, anyway), so Zod's question resonates... is he with them or is he with us? But KalClark has made no attempt to disguise himself or his mission, and his Clark is no different than his Kal-El. He has clearly adopted his surrogate home and family, and doesn't seem particularly tempted by Zod's choice, though he sees the value in his native world and yearns to know more about it. But his Kyrptonian father sent him, his only son, here, to Earth, to redeem our sins and make us better, to be an example so that one day we may "join him in the sun." And he takes that legacy seriously.
[u:13r4pbk4]
Stuff I didn't like:[/u:13r4pbk4]

* The action: the last hour is a lot of punching each other through buildings. It's sound and fury, signifying a dearth of intelligence and creativity.

Good action sequences are marked by little narratives within each scene to show objectives met or frustrated and, in the process, allowing action to reveal character (e.g., films of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Whedon's AVENGERS). There is little of that here, although the final conflict between Kal and Zod, where Zod is about to kill some innocent bystanders forcing Kal into an unthinkable act, does reveal quite a bit about them both, and we learn that Superman is not Batman. And what does that choice do to Superman in the future? There is also some little bit of effort to develop a secondary conflict between the soldier (played by Detective Stabler) and Zod's hot chick/warrior sidekick, but it doesn't add up to much. Mostly its about gunfire, explosions, and punching through buildings. For about an hour. And there is no way Superman conducts a mega-punch-out in the heart of Metropolis; he would lead them out to the desert or into space so they could punch each other without collateral damage.

* The costume: i liked it (i don't need strong primary colors; that was a function of color printing in the 30s and 40s, not some aesthetic judgment), but I don't remember where it comes from in the movie. It sort of just shows up on that "fortress of solitude" scout ship -- what was it doing there for 20,000 years? Maybe they explained this, but i missed it.

* The plot: it was a confused and garbled mess about some kind of matrix that would restore Kryptonian race at the expense of humanity. I didn't get it, and i didn't want to.

Overall, I'd say i liked it much more than it didn't. And I particularly liked the tone, which treats the material like the iconic myth it is instead of a comic farce about a guy in colorful spandex.

But I liked SUPERMAN RETURNS, too, so what do I know.

[Edgy MD]

Congratulations as usual to the designers and photographers, but the film I saw was bloated and hamfisted.

[dgwphotography]

Vic Sage wrote: But I liked SUPERMAN RETURNS, too, so what do I know.

Yeah, me too.

I finally saw this, and I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. the only problems I had with the movie were the muted colors, and the fact that they basically nuked Metropolis without out a thought to the consequences and collateral damage.

Speaking of the muted colors - this is Superman, not Batman - I would like to see this movie with a restored color palette:

Du-eYiD9OfM