Man of Steel Post-Game

…and I'm back from the movie. Without getting too spoilery--

• This is a DARK movie. I was concerned about this months ago (as was the rest of the internet) when the trailers came out, and we were right to worry. The producers will need to lighten things up next time (they've already announced the sequel).
• Henry Cavill, when he's given a chance to do so, is as good as Reeve in his prime. Unfortunately, the script doesn't give him many opportunities to shine.
• Amy Adams handles Lois very well, although she's not given much to do.
• At one point in the movie, Zack Snyder was apparently kicked out of the director's chair and Michael Bay slipped in. Geez, how long does a fight scene with massive destruction need to run? I felt like I could have left to get a sandwich during the fight, returned, and missed nothing in terms of plot line.
• Did the editor leave as well?  This would have been a better film with 20-30 minutes chopped out.
• I heard there were a number of "easter eggs", although I only picked out a LexCorp truck and a Wayne Industries satellite (using the logo from The Dark Knight . I didn’t notice Carrie Farris as a military officer or that a bar was called "Ace O' Clubs". Actor Aaron Smolinski, who played another army officer, played baby Clark in Superman I and a boy at a photo booth in Superman III.

Overall, I liked the movie, but it was darker than I would like and a bit too long. Now that the continuity is established (again), let's hope the sequel does better.

Man of Steel Pre-Game

Finally going to see Man of Steel later today. I got out the Blu-Rays to watch a few scenes from the previous movies in order to get psyched up for it (I'm now worried that I've made a huge mistake).

Watched a few scenes from Superman I:

• Brando as Jor-El is simply over the top
• The special effects may have been groundbreaking in 1978, but they have not aged well
• Reeve is still the best Superman AND Clark--he has this twinkle in his eyes throughout the movie as if to say to the audience "do you believe I get to do this?"
• The best scene is the "you've got me-who's got you?" helicopter sequence. Would you get away with a stereotypical pimp in a movie today?
• There's far more swearing in this movie than I remember

Then I switched to Superman Returns:

• Singer worships the Richard Donner films so much--he crams so many references in that they are distracting
• I'm sorry, but Routh and Bosworth are simply too young, especially since we're supposed to believe this happened years after Superman I and II. This girl who looks 21 at most is a Pulitzer Prize winner?
• The best scene--and the best of all the films so far--is the "space plane" sequence. I have to say I tear up every time I see the plane saved and Superman takes the applause from the crowd.  If the rest of the movie had been 10% as good as that, I wouldn't bother going to the movie today.

I'll do another blog post-movie. I've shied away from spoilers, but the reviews are less than promising.