MAN OF STEEL - Grading & Discussion

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Agent Richard07, Jun 11, 2013.

?

Grade the movie...

  1. A+

    10.9%
  2. A

    20.8%
  3. A-

    18.1%
  4. B+

    9.8%
  5. B

    11.3%
  6. B-

    4.2%
  7. C+

    4.9%
  8. C

    4.9%
  9. C-

    3.8%
  10. D+

    3.4%
  11. D

    3.8%
  12. D-

    2.6%
  13. F

    1.5%
  1. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    And Real Estate Luthor buys low and sells high.
     
  2. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Like it or not Lex in the next movie could have a monopoly on real estate and housing due to so much damage.

    He'll rebuild the skyscrapers and high rise apartments.....but at a steep cost and higher rent payments.
     
  3. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It made perfect sense to me. Just because you don't like something doesn't make it "poor screenwriting."

    With this, I hope Goyer writes every fucking DC Comics movie from here on out. :techman:
     
  4. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Nah, Wayne Enterprises outbids LexCorp for the reconstruction contracts. (Synergy!) Luthor's too busy telling people Superman can't be trusted while developing weapons to destroy him.
     
  5. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
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    But Luthor could be the "man of tomorrow" by getting on peoples good side and helping with the reconstruction.

    Lex- Where was this superman when I was lifting rubble to help this little old lady out? He was hiding!

    He helps the public and works with the government to make weapons to control this alien.

    Might even get him elected president if they go that route.
     
  6. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Kal would have done search and rescue, X-Ray vision superburrowing, deaths would have been minimalised and no one would have been in a 132 Hours situation.

    Even if he cleared away a lot of the debris, judging from his efforts on the rig, I don't think he could lift a chunk of Kryptonite the size of Manhattan into orbit. This Superman is barely stronger than a locomotive.

    If they really wanted to pose a shout out... One of the companies bankrolling the rebuild should be queen industries... When abouts Arrow should be starting season 5 bu the time Man of Steel II comes out.
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2013
  7. judgeroy

    judgeroy Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    If they do Lex in the next movie, the only thing I would like to see from it is that they don't over act him like they have done in the past. The old dime store novel evil genius is old. Bring his to reality like they have Superman and it'll be good. I would really rather they stay away from Lex, he has been overdone in the movies.
     
  8. Lapis Exilis

    Lapis Exilis Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Get ready, boys - feminist treatise on Lois Lane coming up...

    It's hard to sell any superhero movie/ comic/ story where the superhero isn't the main character. Such things are mostly deep riffs on established franchises and only work in the original format - i.e. the Astro City and Gotham Central comics. They have a niche appeal so I'm not sure it'd work for a summer blockbuster tentpole reboot of a character like Superman.

    That said, I've always thought that Superman's is a very romantic story and that Lois is essentially as important to the mythos as Supes himself. If you don't buy that she's the equal of this god-like being, so challenging to him that she, alone among mortals, could be his partner in life - then the whole thing falls apart. In other words, I'd go see it - I just don't know if anyone else would.

    Believe it or not, women aren't exactly looking for warrior chicks as evidence of the gender equality creds of a movie. A female character built on a male ideal (badass fearless warrior) is fine and all, but it's still a female character built to please men, not one designed to represent the strengths of women as women. However, a great deal has been said about the smart, capable Lois Lane presented in this film, who is an active player in the saving of humanity, rather than a passive damsel in distress.

    Bosworth was horrible. She was entirely unbelievable as a tough and effective reporter - she projected absolutely no strength, no courage, no intelligence.

    Not that anyone in this crowd is the slightest bit interested, but as a woman, every time any portrayal of Lois is praised as "spunky" I want to throw up. "Spunky" is how you describe a precocious seven year old girl and it's insulting to see it applied to an adult woman as if it's a compliment. Lois is supposed to be an intelligent, effective, tough professional who can get stories through tenacity and ingenuity that no one else has. She's courageous enough to print things that are so challenging that the powers that be would like to see her dead - and she prints them anyway. That is not "spunky" - it's a person of such moral integrity that we might all wish we had her strength of character. The entire problem with Bosworth's portrayal is that the best that can be said of it was that she was "spunky".
     
  9. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    The greatest criminal mind of our time, over done?????!!!!!
     
  10. judgeroy

    judgeroy Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Nerys, over used is a better term, particularly as they have played him as a dime store novel evil genius every time. IMO, your use may vary. Look, I cringed when they said Zod was going to be the villain in this one, due to Superman II, but, they did him right. If Lex is done, I just ask to make him more "real" like the other characters.
     
  11. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    Campy Lex was fine in the Reeve Superman movies since they were going for silver age Superman for those movies.

    But it is time to move on to more modern badass Lex. I really enjoyed John Shea's Lex from Lois and Clark, Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville, and the best portrayal of Lex is still by Clancy Brown in the DCAU. I would prefer a mix of businessman/inventor Luthor.
     
  12. M.A.C.O.

    M.A.C.O. Commodore Commodore

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    Clancy Brown? Yeah we got him. I think he's playing geskana with Trip and Archer in the desert atm.
     
  13. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah I'd love to see a Man of Steel comic (a new one, I mean), but it would probably be a bit tricky at the moment.
     
  14. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Sorry, no offense meant. I only used the word because I know it's a favorite one that's been used to describe the character for awhile now.

    Although I still disagree about Bosworth. Obviously she wouldn't pass muster as a reporter in the real world, but again, this was clearly intended to be a fairly romanticized comic book world (where everything is art deco and has a warm golden glow to it, and the actors look impossibly young), so I thought it actually made sense in that context.
     
  15. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Say the filming began in 2005, maybe 2004 for a 2006 release... Kate was born in 1983. Which made the actress playing the mother of a 7 year old only 21 or 22 years old. Which means that she gave birth to the kid at 14, and got knocked up at 13, and then had all her Donner era adventures, say between five and 12 years, but she was already the great Lois Lane when Clark showed up, which is three or 4 years on the staff pary roll and maybe an internship before that. So roughly... And I do mean roughly that Lois Lane must have got her journalism degree from college roughly at about the same point that she was being born.

    Lois in Superman Returns should have been played by a well preserved 40 year old. Brandon, young as he was could still play Superman, I like Brandon, but the script and direction, the poor boy, but between time dialation from the journey to krypton and back plus his solar charged immortality, Lois should be aging a lot faster than Clark. Earth II Superman used to have to wear make up to pretend he was as old as his wife.
     
  16. GalaxyX

    GalaxyX Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Canada
    Zoey Deschanel should have played Lois Lane in Superman Returns. Since they were going for a channeling of Christopher Reeves with Brandon Routh, I think Zoey Deschanel would have channeled Margot Kidder decently (before Zoey became this hipster chick icon that she is now)


    As for the new movie, I just came back from seeing it. I was going to write up a huge review, but instead I'll do a quick outline.

    I gave it a C. The movie felt wayyyyyyyyy too alien. From all the Krypton scenes (which were far longer than was necessary) to all the time spent aboard the alien ships, it just took away from the movie being a "Superman" movie, and turned it into "Independence Day" with Supes a minor character.

    My other gripe is that the trailers promised us a more grounded Superman, one that we would get to see a solid origin story. The actual movie touched on this, but only lightly skimmed thru it all. There needed to be more time spent in Smallville, fleshing out all of Clark's problems, as well as his human parents helping him overcome them. And there needed to be more fleshing out of Clark living as a nomad, unsure how to use his powers to help. Again, the movie only skimmed lightly thru these topics.

    I would have been perfectly fine if the first hour of the film focused on the humanization of Clark thru his earth parents, and his first few years of adult life. The movie was so desperate to get to the action, that it only skimmed these points, and in erratic flashbacks.

    And as for the action, wayyyyy too many special fx! Most of the movie was spent with Superman and Zod's baddies throwing each other around with no real damage to either one. Most of the fights happened in alien environments, like the Kryptonian ships. The fx themselves seemed reminiscent of Transformers. I kept waiting for Optimus Prime to show up and fight along Superman.

    There are other things that I didn't like, like the total absence of other human characters that weren't just cameos (Perry White could have been anybody, since he had like 3 scenes in the whole movie. Jenna Olsen's entire reason for existence was to get trapped under some rebar?)

    I liked Lois Lane's portrayal (except for the "are we measuring our dicks?" line. It totally went against character). I would have preferred to have her actually figure out about Clark without meeting him first.

    I liked Faora. I thought I was going to hate her character, but I loved how the actress portrayed it. I think she was better than Zod. Zod just came across as an automaton, bent on rebuilding Krypton like a programmed machine. Faora actually came across as feeling superior to humans, which Zod didn't really portray.

    I would have liked the military to fully distrust Superman at first, but realizing he's a friend, throw the full weight of military forces to aid Superman defeat Zod. What the movie portrays is a half assed attempt at showing distrust, then a half assed attempt at helping Supes.

    The music was completely uninspiring as well. There was no motif. No hook. It was background wallpaper, like practically all Star Trek after TNG S3.

    I was underwhelmed. I thought it was going to be a movie I'd be dying to own on Blu-Ray. As it stands it felt like watching an underdeveloped video game, and it saddens me. I agree with the Rotten Tomatoes score.
     
  17. Captrek

    Captrek Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Also The Green Hornet, where the title character is the protagonist but Kato is the real superhero.

    Has anyone ever really tried stepping out of this box? It's tough to say it never works if it's never been tried.

    ETA: It just occurred to me that it's kind of like E.T. with grownups. Elliott is now an adult woman and E.T. spends his time working and performing superheroics instead of scarfing Reese's Pieces and watching brain rot on TV.


    I saw the movie on Sunday and my ears are still ringing.


    A complete list of overlaps, courtesy of IMDB:


    1. Amy Adams
    Actress, Enchanted
    2. Tahmoh Penikett
    Actor, Trick 'r Treat
    3. Mike Dopud
    Actor, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
    4. Mackenzie Gray
    Actor, Man of Steel
    5. David Paetkau
    Actor, Final Destination 2
    6. Alessandro Juliani
    Actor, Man of Steel
    7. Carmen Lavigne
    Actress, Watchmen
    8. Ian Tracey
    Actor, Insomnia
    9. Brad Kelly
    Actor, X-Men: The Last Stand
    10. Elizabeth Thai
    Actress, Man of Steel
    11. David Lewis
    Actor, Man of Steel
    12. Aaron Pearl
    Actor, X2
    13. Jerry Siegel
    Writer, Superman Returns
    14. Revard Dufresne
    Actor, Sucker Punch
    15. Chad Krowchuk
    Actor, Man of Steel
    16. Mark Gibbon
    Actor, The Chronicles of Riddick
    17. Joe Shuster
    Writer, Superman Returns
    18. Kwesi Ameyaw
    Actor, Capote
    19. Hugo Steele
    Stunts, Watchmen
    20. Wayne Dalglish
    Stunts, Alice in Wonderland
    21. Clint Carleton
    Stunts, 300
    22. Fraser Aitcheson
    Stunts, Watchmen
    23. Robert Moloney
    Actor, Man of Steel
    24. Raj Lal
    Actor, 2012
    25. Jackson Berlin
    Actor, Man of Steel
    26. Michele Cummins
    Actress, Grave Encounters
    27. Darryl Scheelar
    Stunts, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
    28. John MacDonald
    Stunts, The Incredible Hulk
    29. Rob Hayter
    Stunts, Watchmen
    30. Malcolm Scott
    Actor, Watchmen
    31. Howard Siegel
    Actor, Man of Steel
    32. Sabine Varnes
    Stunts, Live Free or Die Hard
    33. Brian Ho
    Stunts, X-Men: The Last Stand
    34. Adrian Hein
    Stunts, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
    35. Dan Rizzuto
    Stunts, Stargate SG-1
    36. Krista Bell
    Stunts, X-Men: The Last Stand
    37. Jason Bell
    Stunts, Man of Steel
    38. Matt Granger
    Miscellaneous Crew, X2
    39. David Goyer
    Camera and Electrical Department, X2
    40. Jim Rowe
    Production Manager, Watchmen
    41. Alexander Mandra
    Stunts, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
    42. Anji Bemben
    Make-Up Department, Watchmen
    43. CĂ©line Godeau
    Make-Up Department, Man of Steel
    44. John Dale
    Art Department, Watchmen
    45. Monte Thompson
    Stunts, I, Robot
    46. Kim Howey
    Stunts, Watchmen
    47. Joel Whist
    Special Effects, Watchmen
    48. Steve Au
    Visual Effects, Life of Pi
    49. David Rose
    Visual Effects, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
    50. Keith Woods
    Camera and Electrical Department, TRON: Legacy
    51. Dan Cervin
    Special Effects, Life of Pi
    52. Milena Zdravkovic
    Art Department, X2
    53. Ryan Cronin
    Visual Effects, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
    54. Kelvin Yee
    Visual Effects, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
    55. Scott Wallace
    Camera and Electrical Department, Watchmen
    56. Michael Aaron Keith
    Miscellaneous Crew, Man of Steel
    57. Scott Andrew Armstrong
    Camera and Electrical Department, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
    58. Gary Young
    Visual Effects, Titanic
    59. Ana Oparnica
    Miscellaneous Crew, Sucker Punch​
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2013
  18. cultcross

    cultcross Postponed for the snooker Moderator

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    I knew I recognised the Miscellaneous Crew!
     
  19. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    Something that has been bothering me.

    Kyptonians in MOS are bred for specific roles.
    Scientists will be the best scientists possible.
    Soldiers will be the best soldiers possible.

    What the hell is Jor-El bred for exactly? Being a superhero?

    How was scientist Jor-El kicking so much ass and killing the legions of bad guys? He even managed to fight off Zod, who should realistically be the deadliest man on the planet if he was bred for war and to be a General and the Defender of Krypton. It was poor/lazy writing to me.
     
  20. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Jor-El was the First Kryptonian in a hundred years to put his penis inside a real woman.

    He had broken his programming.

    There has to be more footage about the friendship between Jor-El and Zod.

    Talking Politics and sparring.

    Late at night, candle light.

    Maybe even making out a little?

    Can you imagine the homophobes?

    "LOOK! LOOK! Two men kissed and the planet blew up! God did that! God did That! God doesn't just hate Human fags! He hates Alien Fags too! You show'em God!"

    18 thousand years.

    Um?

    Did the kryptonians modify monkeys? Modify primates? Give culture to early man? Interbreed with early man or just outright replace the human population? Is man what happens to a Kryptonian Colony after 18 thousand years?