Posted on 06/28/2006 4:41:44 PM PDT by Para-Ord.45
So Lois Lane is a single mother . . . and a slut. That's the most disturbing part of "Superman Returns," heavily marketed to kids and in theaters tonight.
Or is that "Lois and Her Feelings," co-starring Supe? That's what this dull, 2-hour 33-minute long latest rendition in the Superman series seemed like.
A better version would have been more relevant. It's great that new Superman Brandon Routh saluted America's troops as "the real Super Heroes," a tie-in with Warner Brothers Pictures' effort to send a million plus postcards of support to troops overseas.
But put your money where your mouth is. In World War II, Superman's comic book inventors had him fighting the Nazis. Today, they won't dare show him fighting contemporary Nazis--Islamofascists. Lex Luthor working with Al-Qaeda terrorists, with both evil forces getting defeated--that would have been dynamic and exciting, a great plot. But, unfortunately, too politically incorrect, current, and exciting for the Hollywood culturatti.
Some have asked whether Superman is still relevant post-9/11. He would be . . . if he was fighting the post-9/11 enemy and being a man while doing so.
Instead, we got a dumbed down, girlie-man version of Superman in "Superman Returns." Like every sensitive, slacker metrosexual, Supe's gone off for five years to "discover himself." In the meantime, the dullest Lois Lane ever has a child out of wedlock. Nice message to send to your kids who will be begging to see this. No smoking lectures by Superman and plugs for tofu sandwiches got a lot of play though. Script-writers were more concerned with that kind of health than the splendid problems single motherhood brings.
In what is more reminiscent of a Maury Povich "Who's the Daddy?" show than a Superman plot, Lois apparently slept around and thinks the cutesy kid--very annoying and distracting in the film--is her fiance's child, not that of the other guy she was simultaneously sleeping with--the Man of Steel.
Hard to still call him that, because in this film he's far less muscular. Even the formerly bright red of his cape is now a muted, dingy brownish-burgundy. All masculinity is toned down, in favor of the testosterone of career woman Lois, who doesn't believe in marriage. Too busy riding the space shuttle.
That hardly makes her spectacular. Kate Bosworth has nothing on Margot Kidder (aside from her far-left wackoism) or even Terry Hatcher. Their renditions of Ms. Lane were far superior. Bosworth's is as ho-hum as the lady at the supermarket looking for her Clairol fix. The only thing that seems apropos is Lane's Pulitzer Prize for her "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." It's the work of unethical journalism--a "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" by a jilted lover against her boyfriend.
In the real world's Daily Planet a/k/a The New York Times, the "Pulitzer-level" stuff is "Why Al-Qaeda is Less Dangerous to the World Than President Bush."
And by the way, there's no Internet in this movie--a glaring absence when Lois' editor is lecturing about what sells newspapers. Uh, nothing sells newspapers these days. They're in rapid decline.
There are no memorable lines like the ones Margot Kidder's Lois uttered to Christopher Reeve's Supe: "You've got me? Who's got you?"
More like, who's got this movie?
With a $300 million budget, Warner Brothers must have a hit with this film. There's so much marketing hype and so many product tie-ins, it will be hard for it to fail. And with newcomer Brandon Routh's spot on impersonation of Christopher Reeve playing Clark Kent/Supe, he's not as difficult to adjust to as Bosworth's Lois. His imitation invites the comparison, and he doesn't live up to it. Christopher Reeve can smile from the grave that he died undefeated champion of Superman portrayals.
"Supe Returns" writers also paid too much attention to the accuracy of minute and unimportant details, such as the fact that Kryptonite was found in Addis Ababa. But who cares about those things?
Is that more important than the messages projected to America's kids--especially girls who may want to emulate Lois Lane? And is it more important than an exciting, believable, and relevant plot? Hardly.
Still, aside from it's dullness and the poor examples it sets for kids, "Superman Returns" is a fun, escapist film.
But nothing to write home--or even, Krypton--about.
"I like remakes "
I keep hoping we'll get a Clint Eastwood remake but they'd probably only screw it up.
Which stories are made up?
They all are.
Yeah, but at the same time he also gave us Keyzer Soze and Verbal Kint.
What would you want to see remade?
On a related note, do you think Hugh Jackman looks a little like Clint Eastwood?
"What would you want to see remade?"
I dunno, there are several good ones but probably a western. There was a show that reviewed each of his movies and tried to assign a liberal agenda to each one. Almost ruined his movies for me.
"On a related note, do you think Hugh Jackman looks a little like Clint Eastwood?"
I guess, never thought about it.
Thats a line that Superman says in the Movie. I think it is the most important thing said much more important than what Perry says about truth justice and all that stuff
I think the problem is that we have some conservatives on this board that are as kneejerk prone and closeminded as the idiots on the left.
Bruce Lee will always be Kato.
That is FANTASTIC!!!
Your own creation?
I LOVE this one.
Hehehe yes. Thanks.
Umm I've been reading and colecting comics since I learned to read in 1964. This is (at the end of the day) escapist .
There is no particular wrongdoing in revising fiction. It isn't real. You can't infringe on another's copywrite without permission, but that is different. In the 1920s through the 1940s when Street and Smith produced The Shadow they made the character a brilliant detective for their magazine version, and a paranormal adventurer for their radio version at the same time. No harm was done.
This is make believe.
They did not tie in the continuity of tv, radio, cartoons, comics, or strips. That's fine. Separate continuities.
They are saying that films are all a series. This is like saying the second and third planet of the apes movies didn't count and neither did empire strikes back.
They are saying it IS the same franchise.
It jumped the shark and they are trying to recover.
I already posted that they are all made up. They ask me to suspend belief. Then they tell me "ignore those movies we made". I won't be returning.
The Bond series moved on. No need to pretend that View To A Kill wasn't made.
"Batman Returns" rewrote Dick Grayson's history.
Same community (movies). In fact I Love Lucy posits 2 different anniversary dates and I Dream Of Jeannie has 2 different birthdates.
I think we got spoiled by Star Trek which had full time "historians" who ensured everything was consistent.
Fagneto? Perhaps you accidentally stumbled onto some porno version called the Sex Men on an accidentally unscrambled channel. The X-Men mutants are meant to parallel blacks and the civil rights movement, not gays.
Maybe it would kill them overseas. Movies often gross more overseas than in the US. The Superman of the 1970's with him flying triumphantly with an American flag wouldn't play today not because its too un-PC but because they want foreign audiences to relate.
You can't have Superman going and catching Bin Laden. If he were real, he could go in and just find Bin Laden with his x-ray vision and tie all the terorists up with some pipe. It just wouldnt be interesting and an insult to the real heroes fighting terror.
I don't typically relate to movies made in East Timor (or elsewhere) about people from East Timor or their super heroes- so I don't see many of those types of movies. It would stand to reason then that someone in another country watches a movie set in the United States about an American comic book super hero known for his mantra of fighting for truth, justice, and the American way because they in some way relate to that type of movie. Foriegn audiences go to see Superman because they dig Superman. On the inital release date, audiences generally have no idea that the phrase "American way" is excluded from the character's lexicon. That is the icing on the cake that keeps audiences and the people they tell coming back for more. Loosely translated from East Timorese- "Hey have you seen the new Superman? Go see it, he's no longer for the American way... he's for 'all that stuff' now!"
Regarding your comment noted above, such a scene would not fly today because it IS too un-PC AND because the film makers want the foreign audiences to relate to the notion that Superman is not just an American, he's for all that stuff. The film makers do not want to alienate their foriegn audiences and risk losing foriegn money, so they go the PC route (because apparently American values are not something the world can relate to) and pander to these audiences by filtering or watering down the American values instilled in the main character.
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