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June 18, 2013 By iluvcinema 3 Comments

My Thoughts on “Man of Steel”

So, I am not a master of properly putting my ‘reviews’ (I use the term advisedly) into prose form; the write ups usually turn into a muddle of random thoughts and ramblings about a given cinematic experience. I say this as a means of forewarning you that this post, my ‘review’ of Man of Steel will probably meet this threshold.

Immediately after the screening I attended yesterday and going into today, there are an overabundance of thoughts, feelings and words, plenty of words circling my brain as I search for a way to coherently describe all that I feel about Man of Steel. Without further ado, I am going to jump right into it. Again bear with me as this is not going to have the most logical of flows.

MAN OF STEEL

So Much Story, So Little Time

There were a lot of things going on in this film and maybe they could have pared it down a bit, but who I am to judge? It feels like a case of one (or many) set pieces too many. I particularly felt that the “battle royale” between Superman and his nemeses dragged on a bit.

But it is likely that I am over critiquing this aspect because as we all know Nolan and Goyer are masters at creating cinematic puzzles. We are barely at the assembly stage – with Man of Steel the puzzle box has been opened and all the pieces dumped on the table. How it all comes together is something that we will have the pleasure of watching over the next several years.

 

Symbolism Everywhere

Tying into what I mentioned above, between the allusions to immigration, Jesus Christ, eugenics and fate/destiny (to name a few), my senses were on symbolism overload. Just wanted to put that out there.

 

The Darkness and the Light

From the outset, the lasting impression from Man of Steel was the weightiness of the material. This most certainly was not the Superman tale of my youth.  At times I was worried that the gravity with which the material was presented would was going to really drag the movie down. One especially dark turn took place during a shocking, unexpected denouement, at least by Superman standards. Yet in the end I felt there were enough moments of levity to balance this out.

 

Getting to Know You

This is a theme that you will notice I stick with throughout this post but I think that it is worth mentioning that Man of Steel, if nothing else focused heavily on character development. Of course at the center of it is Clark Kent/ Kal El/ Superman and his struggle for identity, understanding who he is and his purpose. The search easily parallels that struggle we all face in our own lives, but it clearly takes on a different tone in a universe where Krypton and Metropolis exist. One aspect of the character and relationship development that did not work for me as well was the relationship between Clark and Lois Lane. After some long thought on this subject I have come up with the following theory – that story-wise, the relationship is such because the filmmakers were attempting to solve the age-old “inside joke” concerning people’s knowledge/ignorance of our superhero’s true identity.

MOS-08233C

 

Which Leads Me to the Acting …

In particular, I think that Cavill did a very good job in his portrayal; he was able to convey someone who was both foreign and still in touch with an earthly humanity (a stranger in a strange land).

Bye, bye camp villain – Michael Shannon is so menacing as a screen presence; I found myself equally exhilarated and frightened his portrayal as General Zod.

I do not know what it is about the Lois Lane character, but it seems as equally difficult to cast as Superman himself. You need someone who can hold their own with the Man of Steel as a believably spunky, rebel of a reporter. Amy Adams does not knock it out of the park but hers is such an affable screen presence that I can go with it.

Equal props to Russell Crowe and a sagacious Kevin Costner as Clark’s / Kal’s two dads – very good performances, gentlemen. Heck, solid performances all around. I suspect that in future installments a couple of characters (looking to you Perry White) will be a little more fleshed out.

MAN OF STEEL

 

But I Feel for Those Folks Who Were Less Than Enthusiastic About MoS, Too

I can totally empathize with the detractors and those who were a bit disappointed by the film. I do not think there is any denying that this is a very well made film. But what it boils down to in my opinion, is expectation. As I have chronicled on this blog since the first teasers for this film were released, my anticipation for the film has gone from zero to a moderate level of excitement. Even with that growing eagerness to see the film, my expectations were still managed so that in the end, I think I could be no less that satisfied with what I would eventually see. I know that for many fans of Superman and the overall comic genre, a lot was riding on this film to deliver in a way that some other superhero predecessors have done. As I have learned, the game of expectation comes is high stakes for the moviegoer. Go back almost 12 months to the day to see what I mean.

Another mark against the film that I have heard or read about is that many people were looking for a little more balance in the portrayal of Clark and his alter ego. My response to that is:  Man of Steel is CLEARLY the opening act in a three part story, so there is no need to introduce all aspects of the character(s) just yet. Think of this first installment as Superman 101. In other words, do not fret dear viewer, let’s just wait and see what is to come. On a side note: one does not have to be a complete dork to be a mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper; trust me, it can work.

 

In the End …

I could go on, but I won’t. Let me finish by saying the more I think about Man of Steel, the more I like it and what its creators were setting out to accomplish. It was an ambitious exercise to set about doing – taking a well loved set of characters and altering their universe in a way that may not be to everyone’s liking. Yes, there are pieces of the story and its delivery that work better than others, but in the end I can do nothing but recommend you see this film and judge for yourself.

 

 

Have you seen it? What do you think? Hit the comments section below.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: amy adams, christopher nolan, henry cavill, man of steel, michael shannon, russell crowe, superman, zack snyder

June 17, 2013 By iluvcinema Leave a Comment

Weekend Viewin’ Recap

This weekend saw a lot of movie-related activity on my part activity (see previous post), so I thought it right to provide a little recap for the events of the past couple of days.

NYCIFF, Night 1: As part of my coverage of this week long event, I attended my first screening, the World Premier of 10 Rules for Sleeping Around, a rather derivative ‘screwbally’ romantic comedy set in NYC (it gets props for that) whose highlight(?) for me was figuring out that at least some of what the “Brazilian Bombshell” was saying was actually Spanish.

This week, I have a few more screenings lined up; stay tuned to this space for my thoughts and reflections.

Man of Steel: The idea is that my thoughts will be posted in a separate and increasingly lengthy piece later today or early tomorrow (fingers crossed I can keep to that schedule).

MAN OF STEEL

Twenty Feet from Stardom: What more can I say? I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS FILM. I cannot begin to explain how well this documentary – that chronicles among other things, the evolution and career ups and downs the people (mostly women) who end vocal support to some of today’s top musical acts. At the center of the story is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (2011) Darlene Love. Born with a lead vocalist’s chops, her story is an amazing one, that by the time the closing credits roll at the end of the 90 minutes, you fully appreciate and understand why such an honor was given to perhaps one of the best known backup vocalists of her era.

Other highlights in the film included:

  • “Seeing” the voice behind the Rolling Stones classic Gimme Shelter, Merry Clayton and her story.
  • Rediscovering Lisa Fisher, former solo artist who was a backup to Luther Vandross (himself a backup artist to David Bowie on his Young Americans track).

twenty_two

On a side note (and a nice treat to boot) – although I did not attend the live Q&A screening at the film center, on my way into my screening, I saw Ms. Love leaving the theater.

 

How was your weekend at the movies? If you did not see Man of Steel, what did you see?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: man of steel, nyciff, recap, twenty feet from stardom

June 14, 2013 By iluvcinema 2 Comments

Weekend-ish Viewing

Well another Friday is upon us! For me this means a weekend spent mostly in the doors of various cinemas (including the home cinema) in the greater NYC area. Let me start with the …

1) 2013 New York City International Film Festival: This will be my first year covering the event. I am so excited! Starting this evening, I have a handful of screenings I will be attending over the course of the next week in addition to the Closing Night ceremony. Stay tuned for deets.

—-

2) Love Marilyn: This upcoming Monday night (6/17 @ 9:00PM EST) is the second installment of the HBO Documentary Summer Series, which brings to us the premier of Love, Marilyn. The documentary draws upon recently discovered personal effects from the star including papers, diaries and letters; read by an all-star cast that features F. Murray Abraham, Elizabeth Banks, Adrien Brody, Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close, Hope Davis, Viola Davis, Jennifer Ehle, Ben Foster, Paul Giamatti, Jack Huston, Stephen Lang, Lindsay Lohan, Janet McTeer, Jeremy Piven, Oliver Platt, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Uma Thurman, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.

I briefly mentioned my interest in seeing this doc in my June 2013 highlights, but allow me to go into further detail. I must admit, I never considered myself a HUGE Marilyn fan, but in recent years (in part due to tumblr of all things), I have become transfixed by her image and the mystique which surrounded her life and untimely death.

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3) Twenty Feet from Stardom: I became VERY interested in this film as a result of the trailer I saw which preceded the Whedonized Much Ado About Nothing (more on that later). Anyhoo, it is in limited NY/LA release for the next week and I will be headed to the Lincoln Center Film Center to catch this documentary about the singers behind legendary performers such as Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springteen, Mick Jagger and Sting (to name a few). It is nice to see them finally get some shine.

20ft

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4) Man of Steel last but certainly not least is the Nolan/Snyder imagining of the all-American (alien) superhero. I am going to see this with other paying customers on Sunday and YES in IMAX 3D. My justification is simple; it is likely the closest I will get to a three-dimensional Henry Cavill 🙂 Will report what I thoughts on the film next week.

MAN OF STEEL

Now it is you all’s turn – what are you tuning into this weekend? Hit the comments section below …

Filed Under: Fun Stuff Tagged With: man of steel, nyciff, twenty feet from stardom, weekend viewing, Well

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