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I had high hopes for the latest Superman. Had a miserable rotten no-good past couple of days and feeling pretty bad about it, so I thought I'd get some cheering up.
This was Gunn's dark, angry, overtly political statement that was far too in alignment with our current bullshit in America. Rather than escaping all this <waves arms wildly around> for a minute, I was forced to watch it all shoved in my face.
Folks that are so heavily in the leftist cult (that is, unable to enjoy life because they are SO committed) are gushing about the film and, if you don't like that Superman is woke then you're a fascist, they are really wrong about if it's a good Superman movie or not. But heaven forbid you say anything negative because...fascist.
There was a brilliant opportunity to introduce Bizarro Superman, but no. Lovely to see one of my favorites show up in a prison cell but the plot around him is horrible. The dog is very cute but very annoying and very much pooch ex machina. The Ma/Pa sequences were nice but the callback to his Krypton parents' message was wrong and unnecessary. And, the number of swear words was far too many for a kids' movie - which it should be. Batman is dark; Superman is fun.
We left discouraged, angry, and very very aware that Christopher Reeve left us with such an indelible impression of how the Man of Steel should be.
IMHO, all the "it's too woke & political" talk is greatly overblown. I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. Maybe Superman is supposed to wear a red MAGA hat? That said, it was an okay-sorta-fun movie, featuring a silly Superdog, a Supergirl cameo/advertisement, and a Lois Lane who could "intuitively" know how to fly a spaceship thingy. All degestable with a large buttered popcorn & Milk Duds. Lower your expectations & your political radar (whatever your leanings might be), and enjoy a couple hours in an airconditioned theater of your choice.
I had high hopes for the latest Superman. Had a miserable rotten no-good past couple of days and feeling pretty bad about it, so I thought I'd get some cheering up.
This was Gunn's dark, angry, overtly political statement that was far too in alignment with our current bullshit in America. Rather than escaping all this <waves arms wildly around> for a minute, I was forced to watch it all shoved in my face.
Folks that are so heavily in the leftist cult (that is, unable to enjoy life because they are SO committed) are gushing about the film and, if you don't like that Superman is woke then you're a fascist, they are really wrong about if it's a good Superman movie or not. But heaven forbid you say anything negative because...fascist.
There was a brilliant opportunity to introduce Bizarro Superman, but no. Lovely to see one of my favorites show up in a prison cell but the plot around him is horrible. The dog is very cute but very annoying and very much pooch ex machina. The Ma/Pa sequences were nice but the callback to his Krypton parents' message was wrong and unnecessary. And, the number of swear words was far too many for a kids' movie - which it should be. Batman is dark; Superman is fun.
We left discouraged, angry, and very very aware that Christopher Reeve left us with such an indelible impression of how the Man of Steel should be.
Location: At the dude ranch / above the sea Gender:
Posted:
Jul 16, 2025 - 6:57pm
I had high hopes for the latest Superman. Had a miserable rotten no-good past couple of days and feeling pretty bad about it, so I thought I'd get some cheering up.
This was Gunn's dark, angry, overtly political statement that was far too in alignment with our current bullshit in America. Rather than escaping all this <waves arms wildly around> for a minute, I was forced to watch it all shoved in my face.
Folks that are so heavily in the leftist cult (that is, unable to enjoy life because they are SO committed) are gushing about the film and, if you don't like that Superman is woke then you're a fascist, they are really wrong about if it's a good Superman movie or not. But heaven forbid you say anything negative because...fascist.
There was a brilliant opportunity to introduce Bizarro Superman, but no. Lovely to see one of my favorites show up in a prison cell but the plot around him is horrible. The dog is very cute but very annoying and very much pooch ex machina. The Ma/Pa sequences were nice but the callback to his Krypton parents' message was wrong and unnecessary. And, the number of swear words was far too many for a kids' movie - which it should be. Batman is dark; Superman is fun.
We left discouraged, angry, and very very aware that Christopher Reeve left us with such an indelible impression of how the Man of Steel should be.
John Waters' "Pink Flamingoes". I've only seen bits of it but they were weird, dumb, amateurish and gross. His films got better and remarkably more coherent over time, but "Pink Flamingoes" really set the bar very low.
Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" was another stinker.
Location: At the dude ranch / above the sea Gender:
Posted:
Nov 23, 2015 - 8:17pm
islander wrote:
I generally agree. I liked Fury Road and it did have an epic kind of feel to it. I think it was because most of it was real effects instead of CG. But the story was definitely lacking. Not much understanding of character motivation or understanding of why people are good or bad. It was entertaining though, and was no where near walking out (or taking a nap). It was not up to the hype, but most major movies aren't.
A friend went on and on about how great it was, and I was in college with Mad Max/Road Warrior, so I was very interested - but instead it just left me confuzzled. Maybe (definitely) I'm getting old, but the hyperkineticism made it impossible to track. The argument was that the backstory existed, but wasn't handed to us explicitly and so I had to understand it by inference. You know, I'm damned good at that (I knew about Willis in the middle of 6th Sense, but didn't spoil it for the wife). But if I can't follow it, I suspect a good portion of the audience can't - which is bad storytelling.
It was pretty, and the effects were probably very good. But it was ultimately unsatisfying. My friends say they watch it repeatedly, but I was relieved when it stopped.
Thanks, I had a lot of time to think about the first two movies while I watched this thing. This isn't as big a come-down as "Crystal Skull" was from the first couple of Indiana Jones movies, but I was surprised at how much I failed to like it considering the fact that critics and other viewers everywhere raved about it. I feel like I missed out on a joke, as if the whole world decided "let's pretend the new Transformers movie is the second coming of Citizen Kane, and see what happens."
Best part of the screening: There's a scene where two soldiers face each other down, foreheads almost touching, sort of an alpha-male stare-down. My 17-year-old stepson, on the verge of leaving the room for a more-amusing evening of homework, shouted "KISS already!" Somewhere, I swear I could feel the director muttering "That's not what I.... Dammit."
By contrast, I started to Netflix some spy thriller with Pierce Brosnan in it that nobody's ever heard of, and I found most of the characters really compelling and I want to see how that story ends.
This feels too negative. I don't normally enjoy slagging on the efforts of people who do a thing I cannot do. I'm going to go look at that "movies you should see" thread instead.
I generally agree. I liked Fury Road and it did have an epic kind of feel to it. I think it was because most of it was real effects instead of CG. But the story was definitely lacking. Not much understanding of character motivation or understanding of why people are good or bad. It was entertaining though, and was no where near walking out (or taking a nap). It was not up to the hype, but most major movies aren't.
On the topic, we tried to see bridge of spies on Saturday, but it was sold out. Found a great burger out and when we got home I was talked into watching the Lego movie. Don't make the same mistake I did.
I don't even remember the first two that well; so that was a good refresher ;-)
Thanks, I had a lot of time to think about the first two movies while I watched this thing. This isn't as big a come-down as "Crystal Skull" was from the first couple of Indiana Jones movies, but I was surprised at how much I failed to like it considering the fact that critics and other viewers everywhere raved about it. I feel like I missed out on a joke, as if the whole world decided "let's pretend the new Transformers movie is the second coming of Citizen Kane, and see what happens."
Best part of the screening: There's a scene where two soldiers face each other down, foreheads almost touching, sort of an alpha-male stare-down. My 17-year-old stepson, on the verge of leaving the room for a more-amusing evening of homework, shouted "KISS already!" Somewhere, I swear I could feel the director muttering "That's not what I.... Dammit."
By contrast, I started to Netflix some spy thriller with Pierce Brosnan in it that nobody's ever heard of, and I found most of the characters really compelling and I want to see how that story ends.
This feels too negative. I don't normally enjoy slagging on the efforts of people who do a thing I cannot do. I'm going to go look at that "movies you should see" thread instead.
I saw the original "Mad Max" and liked it a lot. I gather a lot of the reverence for the new one is that it was the same director. "You saw how awesome he was directing the first one, with some charismatic unknown actors and a budget of nine bucks. Now see what he can do with all this!"
I liked "Thunderdome" but in a completely different way. Bartertown was its own world in the exact way the Citadel in Fury Road wasn't.
To its credit, I thought this movie at least made sense in its chase scenes. (Example to the contrary: anything in the Transformers series; Michael Bay must look at MC Escher drawings and think "so? what's wrong with that?") When someone throws a flaming exploding harpoon at a target off to the left side of their vehicle, and both of them are going the same direction, of course the target vehicle gets hit in its right side. (Pay attention here, Bay!) And when a motorcycle hits a giant truck, of course it hardly affects the truck's course at all. The heavy things behaved like heavy things (mostly) in Fury Road, and getting hit seemed to have physical consequences.
But nothing in this movie had the gravity of a guy chained to a wrecked overturned gasoline-leaking vehicle, left with a hacksaw and the knowledge that he could saw through his ankle a lot faster than the chain, possibly even before time runs out and the whole thing explodes. Nothing in this movie had the gravity of "Two men enter, one man leaves!"
Actually, that would almost make a better title for this movie. "Anti-Gravity" would work better for a Michael Bay extravaganza (although it would be way too subtle; may I suggest "KaBOOM!!!1!" instead? That works for all of his since "The Rock") but this thing strikes me more and more as "Maximum Overdrive II."
I don't even remember the first two that well; so that was a good refresher ;-)
Not arguing, just curious (I haven't seen it) but did either of you see/like the originals?
I saw the original "Mad Max" and liked it a lot. I gather a lot of the reverence for the new one is that it was the same director. "You saw how awesome he was directing the first one, with some charismatic unknown actors and a budget of nine bucks. Now see what he can do with all this!"
I liked "Thunderdome" but in a completely different way. Bartertown was its own world in the exact way the Citadel in Fury Road wasn't.
To its credit, I thought this movie at least made sense in its chase scenes. (Example to the contrary: anything in the Transformers series; Michael Bay must look at MC Escher drawings and think "so? what's wrong with that?") When someone throws a flaming exploding harpoon at a target off to the left side of their vehicle, and both of them are going the same direction, of course the target vehicle gets hit in its right side. (Pay attention here, Bay!) And when a motorcycle hits a giant truck, of course it hardly affects the truck's course at all. The heavy things behaved like heavy things (mostly) in Fury Road, and getting hit seemed to have physical consequences.
But nothing in this movie had the gravity of a guy chained to a wrecked overturned gasoline-leaking vehicle, left with a hacksaw and the knowledge that he could saw through his ankle a lot faster than the chain, possibly even before time runs out and the whole thing explodes. Nothing in this movie had the gravity of "Two men enter, one man leaves!"
Actually, that would almost make a better title for this movie. "Anti-Gravity" would work better for a Michael Bay extravaganza (although it would be way too subtle; may I suggest "KaBOOM!!!1!" instead? That works for all of his since "The Rock") but this thing strikes me more and more as "Maximum Overdrive II."
Not arguing, just curious (I haven't seen it) but did either of you see/like the originals?
I thought the first two movies in the series ("Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior") were great. There were some impressive set pieces in the latest one, but I found the action scenes to be chaotic and a bit confusing to follow, and there was nothing in the story to pull me in. Maybe I should give it another chance, though - I watched it on a Friday night after I had a couple beers and I was tired.
I don't even remember the first two that well; so that was a good refresher ;-)
