Enjoyable review, Nabin. I don't partocularly have any opinions on Superman, but I hope this movie is reasonably good, as one hopes most things will be good. Maybe I'll see it and maybe I won't. I miss a lot of perfectly good movies.
At the risk of getting off on a rant and unfairly pitting people against one another, there's a reason I come here and read reviews moreso than any other site. As well-equipped as you are to tackle trash that wasn't going to be any good, you are uniquely in touch with what makes movies enjoyable and fun. You have a common touch that is increasingly rare in critical spaces (and I say this knowing -- hell, embracing -- the fact that you pepper reviews like this with sociopolitical clowning commentary that will inherently rankle people.)
I wished the movie had been about Mr. Terrific. Tampering with Superman lore by turning Jor-El into kind of a bad dude was totally unnecessary and unbelievable. This version of Superman was … fine, I guess. Certainly more enjoyable than the Snyderverse. I like your description of the Richard Donner film as the Big Bang of comic book movies. That one really seems to strike the perfect balance in terms of tone - just the right amount of goofy, just the right amount of romance, just the right amount of sincerity. And nearly 50 years later I don’t care that the special effects don’t hold up, because what matters to me is the wit of the screenplay and the chemistry between Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. Oh yeah, and probably the greatest film score ever composed.
::James Gunn enraged these irritable man-babies by making a Superman movie that’s goofy rather than grim, that sets out to entertain the masses rather than punish them for their sins.::
As MAGA have proven repeatedly over the last six months, they meant Those OTHER Irritable Man-Babies—not THEM!
NEVER THEM!
I really do think that ZackSnyder!* is one of the reasons we have Donald Trump now, because he gives Toxic Whinily-Entitled Straight White Male Incel fans something to adhere to. It's disgusting, it's repulsive, and it's All For Them.
That's how much I loathe ZackSnyder!, and think he should be making movies for North Korea or some other dictatorship that survives on the ugliest form of hero worship.
____
* I write his name that way in honor of UK Film Critic Mark Kermode, who runs Snyder's first and last names together and says it in parrot-croak to show just how childish and surface Snyder is as a creator and human being—https://youtu.be/FY-7jkbQcsU?si=Goq0vblSzK96A7sn
I was Superman comic book readers and viewer of the cheesy TV series and I was a Star Wars fan from the get go. But for me Superman was also this noble but humble hero and the series was based on a fun 40s and 50s optimistic view of technology but that also threw visual and scientific accuracy out the window. Christopher Reeve was a fine portrayal of the comic book hero and I never was quite as impressed by later actors in the role. I think that this latest version brings back a sense of fun! But Star Wars impressed viewers by deliberately making the viewer believe that they were watching a historical event. The space ships were beat up and we knew it was a time of conflict. Sure the cast, Especially Harrison Ford were out of a traditional good versus evil story but they literally were fighting an evil empire! The movies that followed were mainly good because they stuck to that premise. Well very good review and I’ll probably watch it at some point!
Enjoyable review, Nabin. I don't partocularly have any opinions on Superman, but I hope this movie is reasonably good, as one hopes most things will be good. Maybe I'll see it and maybe I won't. I miss a lot of perfectly good movies.
At the risk of getting off on a rant and unfairly pitting people against one another, there's a reason I come here and read reviews moreso than any other site. As well-equipped as you are to tackle trash that wasn't going to be any good, you are uniquely in touch with what makes movies enjoyable and fun. You have a common touch that is increasingly rare in critical spaces (and I say this knowing -- hell, embracing -- the fact that you pepper reviews like this with sociopolitical clowning commentary that will inherently rankle people.)
Thank you for doing what you do.
I'm only worried I'm hyping the film up too much in my mind because everyone I respect has told me the film is wonderful.
I wished the movie had been about Mr. Terrific. Tampering with Superman lore by turning Jor-El into kind of a bad dude was totally unnecessary and unbelievable. This version of Superman was … fine, I guess. Certainly more enjoyable than the Snyderverse. I like your description of the Richard Donner film as the Big Bang of comic book movies. That one really seems to strike the perfect balance in terms of tone - just the right amount of goofy, just the right amount of romance, just the right amount of sincerity. And nearly 50 years later I don’t care that the special effects don’t hold up, because what matters to me is the wit of the screenplay and the chemistry between Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. Oh yeah, and probably the greatest film score ever composed.
::James Gunn enraged these irritable man-babies by making a Superman movie that’s goofy rather than grim, that sets out to entertain the masses rather than punish them for their sins.::
As MAGA have proven repeatedly over the last six months, they meant Those OTHER Irritable Man-Babies—not THEM!
NEVER THEM!
I really do think that ZackSnyder!* is one of the reasons we have Donald Trump now, because he gives Toxic Whinily-Entitled Straight White Male Incel fans something to adhere to. It's disgusting, it's repulsive, and it's All For Them.
That's how much I loathe ZackSnyder!, and think he should be making movies for North Korea or some other dictatorship that survives on the ugliest form of hero worship.
____
* I write his name that way in honor of UK Film Critic Mark Kermode, who runs Snyder's first and last names together and says it in parrot-croak to show just how childish and surface Snyder is as a creator and human being—https://youtu.be/FY-7jkbQcsU?si=Goq0vblSzK96A7sn
I was Superman comic book readers and viewer of the cheesy TV series and I was a Star Wars fan from the get go. But for me Superman was also this noble but humble hero and the series was based on a fun 40s and 50s optimistic view of technology but that also threw visual and scientific accuracy out the window. Christopher Reeve was a fine portrayal of the comic book hero and I never was quite as impressed by later actors in the role. I think that this latest version brings back a sense of fun! But Star Wars impressed viewers by deliberately making the viewer believe that they were watching a historical event. The space ships were beat up and we knew it was a time of conflict. Sure the cast, Especially Harrison Ford were out of a traditional good versus evil story but they literally were fighting an evil empire! The movies that followed were mainly good because they stuck to that premise. Well very good review and I’ll probably watch it at some point!