Vic Sage

looks cool, but i don't get who (or what) the villain is. Darkness? Darkness is the villain? So can sunlight kick its ass?

hicks has no upside and Dykstra does. this is stupid. Put him in Vegas, Sandy!

There's a strange sweetness to this tale of over-the-hill agents taking on the agency trying to kill them. It's got humor and romance intertwined with the rising body count, not to mention some well-staged action sequences. I can see why this might not be everyone's cup of tea, but "deplorable"? It's better than average for what it is.

yeah, he just sort of dropped that little chestnut on us and rolled away.

Sorry to let you down, DG. To be fair, I didn't write a long, boring exegesis on this movie (as i would normally do for movies i either love or hate or i find interesting for some reason). I just said "Loved it". And I did acknowledge the film's senselessness (above). But that i enjoyed it nonetheless must be put into context...I love EVERY Star Trek movie, even the awful ones, like ST 1 (and the other odd-numbered ones). I have no excuse for that, but i make no apologies either. I yam whadiyam. But next time i'll put a warning label on my upturned thumb. "Caution: Nerd alert! Unwarranted Appreciation Ahead!" ... or something. My readers deserve the heads up.

Some absolutely stupid moments: The entire opening sequence. Lots of WTF, but the most obvious one was, have they lost remote control technology? We could send a drone into the volcano today. What exactly was the plan that Starfleet had to attack Khan? He's on the Klingon home world. Did he think they'd never notice a bomb going off? And who they'd immediately blame. Why send all 72 of the bombs when they only needed one? If the point was to get Khan to rescue his compatriots, why not make him come to them? How did Khan know they send those particular weapons after him? Did that ship have any sort of security at all? Scotty just lands at their base and is given full access. No one notices him? Did Starfleet know anything about security? Setting up a meeting room with glass windows (and not bulletproof glass) instead of in an underground bunker? Khan clearly read the script beforehand. His actions made little sense unless he knew exactly what was going to happen. That said, the movie had enough in the tank to make it a decent adventure flick, if you didn't think about things. That was true of the last one by Abrams, as well. His shit makes no sense. I never wanted to watch LOST, and this is why. Still, the performances by good actors in younger versions of characters we love, even retrofitting ST:II story points, makes it all more fun than it has any right to be.

[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.

Thanks for that Zvon. very helpful. The one song you listed that didn't make my list that i really considered and now regret leaving off is REMEMBER (XMAS). SON OF SCHMILLSON was the only Nillson record i had as a teen, and i wore it out, and this was one of my faves. I think you underrate PUSSYCATS. His rough vocals imbue all the songs with an aching melancholy. The record is like an over-the-hill heavyweight getting in the ring one more time, relying more on his grit and guts than his degraded skills, and you are impressed by his will to win. COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER and THE POINT, and the SON album, all combined to make Harry an important part of my adolescence. PUSSYCAT continued that into my college years (I bought it from a guy down the hall who was selling off all his records for pot money), and MIDNIGHT COWBOY, too. Later, listening to the original SCHMILLSON record and the NEWMAN covers maintained my affection for him, until POPEYE buried it for a good long while. But i rediscovered him when i showed THE POINT to my own son some years ago. Then there was a show on Broadway a few years ago called EVERYDAY RAPTURE, a 1-woman show with songs, and it featured a few of Harry's songs, which almost made me like the show... almost, but not quite. Anyway, it got me thinking about Harry again, and then i saw the documentary, which really brought it all back to me. You've given me some guidance on the rest of his output, and i'll try to check them out. Harry lives. Not like Elvis, but he lives.

is the misspelling of "meant" as "ment" (not to mention the misuse of commas) supposed to be ... ironic? Or just one more example of a culture in decline?

There are always reasons. But 1 hr in 118 ABs is shit unless your a slick-fielding SS.

1 HR? in how many ABs?

shut up.

i mentioned their screwing around with the origin story above. They're currently shooting the next installment, with Jamie Foxx as Electro.

not super-enhanced humans who they've already established as being superstrong.

My top 10 (in no order): Spaceman Best Friend Think About Your Troubles Old Forgotten Soldier You're breakin my heart I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear Without You Everybody's Talkin' One

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

his career numbers don't suggest a major league hitter, but what the hell. He's hot; maybe they catch lightning in a bottle while Ike rediscovers the strike zone in AAA.

loved it Edgy MD wrote: I like to think you could have somehow been briefer in your comments. love it

loved it

i'd take that rotation over the one we currently have.

they're more interested in the appearance of truth than truth itself. much like our justice system and political process.

well, i saw it. Feh. * why use the Mandarin, the original and quintessential IM villain, and then turn him into ... that? * AIM is really undeveloped as a concept, considering it's the real villain of the piece. * a plucky kid sidekick? really? REALLY? * what does it take to put down one of these Extremis soldiers? blowing out the heart? cutting off the head? total disintigration? They're pretty inconsistent about that. * The beautiful double-crossing scientist has been helping the homicidal nutball for a decade, but after one guilt-tripping speech from Stark, she's prepared to kill herself to stop everything she's worked on? Wow, that Stark sure has a magic tongue... and he's persuasive too; * Pepper is the only one more annoying than Tony; * If Stark had all those suits readly to launch, why does he wait so long to summon them while he's suitless and in the clutches of the bad guy? * And after showing how useful the multitude of suits were, and Pepper now grateful for their existence, he gets rid of them all? Why? Just to make a nice Xmas fireworks display? * If the iron in his heart was operable, why didn't he ever do it before? was there some medical breakthru that went unremarked upon? Or has he just cured himself of a deathwish? * Once he removes the power core from his chest, he's no longer Iron Man... he's a rich, drunken genius with daddy issues and a bunch of cool metal suits. I did like Ben Kingsley, and the post-credit bit with Bruce. But not much else. It did elevate my opinion of IM 2, however. so there's that.

i'm going Sunday eve with my family, for my Bday. So I say thee "nay" upon all naysayers. At least until i am one.

The Redford version is dreadful. The Alan Ladd version actually isn't bad. I read the book in HS and it has stayed with me like few other books ever have. In fact, I can still see that green light at the end of the dock as I "beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

well i watch MOULIN ROUGE at least once a year. so i'm going to see this.