Man of Steel

Man of Steel (2013)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Story by David S. Goyer & Christopher Nolan

Screenplay by David S. Goyer

Based on the comic book series created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

Stars: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff

My feelings for reboots of reboots are that they are unnecessary filler to get butts in the seats. Man of Steel is no different. Everybody and their mama knows about Superman's origin. We don't need to have it retold for the the billionth time. This movie has been getting slammed in the reviews. I kinda understand where they are coming from. The common denominator is that telling a Superman story is boring.

As the planet Krypton is imploding, Jor-El (Crowe) sends his only son in a capsule to escape the planet's fate. At the same time, General Zod (Shannon) organizes a coup to get rid of the higher officials of the planet, including Jor-El. Zod and his army are tried and sent into The Phantom Zone. Over thirty years pass as the baby's capsule crash lands in Kansas, the baby is raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Costner, Lane) and the boy-- now named Clark (Cavill), has to hide his secret from the people of the planet. A nosy journalist, Lois Lane (Adams) tries to find the stranger that consists various acts of heroism.

I tried not to have too lofty of expectations with the film, because of my feelings of Superman in general. Superman is a boring character to bring to the comic books, video games, television or the big screen, because he is too powerful. He has heat vision, bulletproof, flame retardant, able to fly and has super strength. Nothing could harm him. That's the biggest flaw with the character. He could only be weakened when the story fits around the situation.

The angle of Clark being discovered as an alien amongst the people of Earth was a good idea, but it could have a gone further with it. If they did this with Lex Luthor, who is known to hate Superman, an alien, I would have got into the story more. I know that the makers of this movie wanted to make a grounded version of Superman that could be relatable to the masses. It felt that the idea of Clark not getting caught being superhuman was something lost in the film.

I felt bored with the movie some of the time. Other times the action felt like a Michael Bay movie one minute and the next it was like an episode of Dragonball Z with a bit of the "climatic" scene of Thor thrown in there. I don't think the movie is greatest movie ever, but it's not the steaming pile of shit that sent fanboys in a teezy online. It was passable.

My Rating

LAMBs in The Director's Chair Series Spotlight (Sam Raimi): For Love of the Game

For Love of the Game (1999)

Directed by Sam Raimi

Written by Dana Stevens

Based on the novel by Michael Shaara

Stars: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, Jena Malone, John C. Reilly, JK Simmons and Brian Cox

I have to admit when the LAMB announced that the next person in LAMB Director series was Sam Raimi, I only knew that he did the Spider-Man movies and the Evil Dead series. I was really surprised that he directed the 1999 release of For Love of the Game. This is the second of Kevin Coster's baseball trilogy which included Bull Durham and The Upside of Anger. I have to say that this is my least favorite of  them.

The movie is supposed to be a love letter to America favorite pastime: baseball. It deals with Billy Chapel (Costner), a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who is in the crossroads of career. He is 40 years old with a bum pitching arm, his mentor Gary Wheeler (Cox) has sold the team who has a decision to retire or be traded, also his girlfriend of five years, Jane (Preston) is leaving for London. The main action of picture deals with the seemingly the last game of his career. During the game, Chapel gets flashbacks of what lead him to this pivotal part of his career.

I thought that the movie was going to be about making people appreciate baseball, but the thrust of the movie meandered about Chapel's relationship with Jane and some random reconciliations that he had during the course of game. It was filler. Costner's characterization of Billy Chapel was very charismatic, but that doesn't get you anywhere with me. The dialogue felt like it was taken for a romance novel. It made me gag. I was not invested in the characters or the plot. I wish the movie ended differently, instead of a sickly sweet ending that we have seen a million times. I was bored. The movie should not have been two hours.

My Rating: