Random Thoughts
Rocci Fisch
Rocci watches what's out there and has a lot to say about it. Random Thoughts and Random Tweets are quick-read, running commentaries featuring his observations about the news, pop culture and the media, zested up with Rocci's unique humor.
'"Man of Steel" Clenches Fists'
June 17, 2013
- . . . That’s what Superman (Henry Cavill, aka Kal-El) does before he takes off and while he’s zooming up into the stratosphere .
- . . . Maybe it’s for him to physically hold on to the wires in the studio while they prop him up for a special effect to get ready for whatever CGI it may turn out to be.
- . . . It reminded me of Tim Tebow when he gets down on the ground and prays.
- . . . Cavill is all hunked up.
- . . . He acting is all action.
- . . . They don’t even call him Superman --they almost do but not quite -- in the movie, for crissakes.
- . . . The movie did very well at the box office, as expected.
- . . . My coke and popcorn containers had “Man of Steel” advertising all over ‘em. And a large popcorn got you a free refill.
- . . . The blockbuster-ishness of the film got in the way of the plot.
- . . . Does everything have to be done on such a big scale now in order for it to qualify as a summer movie that young, demographically important young boys like to go see?
- . . . Superman’s standard beginnings are reenacted for the millionith time on planet Krypton. Up there the environment’s got an alien-like look.
- . . . He's an alien and is referred to as such.
- . . . He’s scurried off to another planet (Earth) in a hurry in order to avoid mass destruction.
- . . . Birth daddy Russell Crowe (Jor-El – overly serious) hastens his son’s departure with much grieving from the baby’s mother, Lara Lor-Van, as played by Ayelet Zurer.
- . . . So the baby and flying object that is his vessel travel to earth and crash land on a farm occupied by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, simple farm folk.
- . . . They’re his earth parents.
- . . . The movie switches back and forth in time and shows Clark Kent (his earth name) growing up and saving people from calamities with fearless feats of heroism.
- . . . Costner keeps his son at bay and advises him to hide his super strength secret, a moral lesson or some such thing.
- . . . In school the young Kent is bulliedbut it's overcome by the hero kid rescuinga sinking bus loaded with all the students.
- . . . The bad guy in the picture is Gen. Zod (Michael Shannon). God, do they fight a lot when Superman gets older, just like they do in “Iron Man 3,” when they’re jumping on platforms all over the place amidst fire and devastation.
- . . . There’s an explosion at the beginning of the movie which is Superman’s first rescue attempt.
- . . . It happens on an oil rig and later many more explo, explo explosions occur over the land and continue relentlessly through the whole movie – to the point of ridiculousness.
- . . . All the CGI effects get in the way of the story. Can’t they make a quiet movie anymore, like when Christopher Reeve took Margot Kidder on a sightseeing trip over New York City with his cape and her dress wisping in the night air with the skyline in the background and her voicing the words to the movie theme song, “Can You Read My Mind?”
- . . . That was nice, low-key and romantic.
- . . . I remember the disco version of “Mind” by a group called, appropriately, Krypton (A&M Records, 1978). I used to play it at the club I used to work at back in the day.
- . . . Amy Adams plays a modern-day Lois Lane (indefatigable, Pulizter Prize-winning journalist) -- yeah, sure -- at the famous Daily Planet newspaper.
- . . . This Lois is no-nonsense, plays the part well and figures out who Superman is pretty quickly in the game. No mystery there.
- . . . Laurence Fishburne plays a doubting Perry White as Planet editor.
- . . . There’s no mention of the Internet in the picture, as far as I could hear/see. Guess they didn’t need it.
- . . . The last shot in the movie is of a new employee joining the staff and guess who it is with those nerdy, Warby Parker glasses like Christopher Reeve wore back in “Superman”(1978).
- . . . UH . . . "Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" -- Stevie Wonder, 1972 on Tamla Records.