Look, Up in the Sky
2/7/06 08:54![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madrobinsYesterday we went, en famille, to see Superman Returns. It isn't perfect, but over all I thought it was smart about the right things, and made by people who were familiar with the canon (both the movie and comics).
* Contrary to the Chronicle's really harsh review of her, I found Kate Bosworth an acceptable Lois Lane. Of course I loathe the Margot Kidder Lois, all self-absorption and disorganization, taking Lucy-Ricardo-stupid risks. So Bosworth is okay in my book.
* I get teary at the beginning when Siegel and Shuster's creator credit comes up. I just do: these guys created one of the great icons of the modern world, and almost missed, not just the money (which they dearly needed) but the credit. It's an auctorial happy ending of sorts.
* They used John Williams's Superman theme and the Lois Lane motif reasonably well--better than WIlliams himself would have, I'm sure. There were a couple of moments where they could have reined the music back a notch, but on the whole it was okay.
* What is it with Lex Luthor and land? And tacky women with hearts of gold?
* Single best moment: the thug and Lois's kid at the piano. I totally didn't expect it. Nothing like evil that knows the accompaniment to "Heart and Soul"
* Lapses in logic? Oh, yeah, a few. I'm not going to name them all: you know which they are.
* Noel Neill, even at whatever-age-she-is, has a voice that I still recognized immediately. Did you?
* On the other hand, it took me two viewings to find Jack Larson. He looks like a jolly sort.
* Second best moment: Ma Kent joins all the world in a vigil outside the hospital where Superman is dying. She can't go in, of course, because she's nobody in the world's eyes, and her son may be dying in there, and all she can do is stand there among thousands of strangers. Eva Marie Saint, who plays Ma Kent, has a great face for this scene and doesn't over play it.
* I wish that they had done a little less of the Clark-is-a-dork shtick from Christopher Reeve's performance. I always hated that: you don't get to be a reporter at a major metropolitan daily newspaper by having the social skills of a stumbly ten year old.
* On the other hand, I did like Brandon Routh's performance. He's got the truth, justice, etc. thing down, but we get to see it cost him a little.
* The kid who plays Lois's son is wonderful--he's a very solemn little boy, with a stillness to his performance that I haven't seen since Haley Joel Osment in Sixth Sense. Really good.
* Kevin Spacey has that scarey dead eye thing going for him, but his Lex Luthor has a real sense of humor. On the other hand, his idea of what constitutes top-drawer snob appeal style is so...quotidian...that it's funny. I know nothing about opera, but I knew every single piece he listened to as he was plotting his evil doom.
* What is it about Lex Luthor and land? And how was he planning to terraform that chunk of rock he created in the Atlantic?
* The ending made me cry. Yes, I'm a complete wuss; my children adore to point this out. But I cried anyway. So there.
* I liked the way they did his cape.
* I really liked that they used the bit about Superman getting his power from our sun. Not just that it's a yellow sun and so his powers are massively enhanced here (say what? science much?) but that he can literally bathe in the sun for restoration.
* And: there are references all through the film to the comics and their continuity. My fave: when Superman rescues a woman from a car with cut brake lines, there's a second where his pose mirrors that of the cover of Action #1--the magazine in which Superman debuted.
Superman has always been the straight arrow of the comics universe. Batman is all dark and tortured, but Superman (as has been demonstrated ad nauseum in the comics since the 70s or 80s) is a boy scout. One thing I liked about this movie is that Superman retains his essential honor and optimism but has both a melancholy and a nobility that is not boy scoutish. If you are thinking of seeing it, go. It's fun.
* Contrary to the Chronicle's really harsh review of her, I found Kate Bosworth an acceptable Lois Lane. Of course I loathe the Margot Kidder Lois, all self-absorption and disorganization, taking Lucy-Ricardo-stupid risks. So Bosworth is okay in my book.
* I get teary at the beginning when Siegel and Shuster's creator credit comes up. I just do: these guys created one of the great icons of the modern world, and almost missed, not just the money (which they dearly needed) but the credit. It's an auctorial happy ending of sorts.
* They used John Williams's Superman theme and the Lois Lane motif reasonably well--better than WIlliams himself would have, I'm sure. There were a couple of moments where they could have reined the music back a notch, but on the whole it was okay.
* What is it with Lex Luthor and land? And tacky women with hearts of gold?
* Single best moment: the thug and Lois's kid at the piano. I totally didn't expect it. Nothing like evil that knows the accompaniment to "Heart and Soul"
* Lapses in logic? Oh, yeah, a few. I'm not going to name them all: you know which they are.
* Noel Neill, even at whatever-age-she-is, has a voice that I still recognized immediately. Did you?
* On the other hand, it took me two viewings to find Jack Larson. He looks like a jolly sort.
* Second best moment: Ma Kent joins all the world in a vigil outside the hospital where Superman is dying. She can't go in, of course, because she's nobody in the world's eyes, and her son may be dying in there, and all she can do is stand there among thousands of strangers. Eva Marie Saint, who plays Ma Kent, has a great face for this scene and doesn't over play it.
* I wish that they had done a little less of the Clark-is-a-dork shtick from Christopher Reeve's performance. I always hated that: you don't get to be a reporter at a major metropolitan daily newspaper by having the social skills of a stumbly ten year old.
* On the other hand, I did like Brandon Routh's performance. He's got the truth, justice, etc. thing down, but we get to see it cost him a little.
* The kid who plays Lois's son is wonderful--he's a very solemn little boy, with a stillness to his performance that I haven't seen since Haley Joel Osment in Sixth Sense. Really good.
* Kevin Spacey has that scarey dead eye thing going for him, but his Lex Luthor has a real sense of humor. On the other hand, his idea of what constitutes top-drawer snob appeal style is so...quotidian...that it's funny. I know nothing about opera, but I knew every single piece he listened to as he was plotting his evil doom.
* What is it about Lex Luthor and land? And how was he planning to terraform that chunk of rock he created in the Atlantic?
* The ending made me cry. Yes, I'm a complete wuss; my children adore to point this out. But I cried anyway. So there.
* I liked the way they did his cape.
* I really liked that they used the bit about Superman getting his power from our sun. Not just that it's a yellow sun and so his powers are massively enhanced here (say what? science much?) but that he can literally bathe in the sun for restoration.
* And: there are references all through the film to the comics and their continuity. My fave: when Superman rescues a woman from a car with cut brake lines, there's a second where his pose mirrors that of the cover of Action #1--the magazine in which Superman debuted.
Superman has always been the straight arrow of the comics universe. Batman is all dark and tortured, but Superman (as has been demonstrated ad nauseum in the comics since the 70s or 80s) is a boy scout. One thing I liked about this movie is that Superman retains his essential honor and optimism but has both a melancholy and a nobility that is not boy scoutish. If you are thinking of seeing it, go. It's fun.