MAN OF STEEL

[Sailor Steve]

Just got back from seeing it. First showing, 11:30 in the morning on a work day, theater maybe 1/4 full if that. Nobody sat next to anybody they didn't come with. Here is my quickie review. Don't worry, there are no spoilers.

The Good: It's more down-to-earth than any previous version. No camp at all, not even any comedy, though there are a couple of minor scenes that made me chuckle. Very serious tone, and very realistic in that manner. Whereas Batman represents the dark side of the DC Universe, Superman is the light. They managed to keep that light despite all the seriousness.

The acting is uniformly good. This is the first time a non-American actor has played the role, and Henry Cavill (The Tudors) grew a great midwest accent. I love Amy Adams. I couldn't really see her as Lois Lane, but her talent made me believe. I was put off when I read Laurence Fishburne was playing Perry White, but then I remembered how much I liked Michael Clarke Duncan as marvel's Kingpin, and sure enough he was great. I'm not a big Kevin Costner fan, but he not only did a fantastic job as Jonathan Kent but he has one of the single most powerful scenes in the movie, and he does it without saying a word. Diane Lane as Martha - I can say no more. Russell Crowe does a bang-up job as Jor-el, and the rest of the cast is just fine.

The Bad: Action. Too much action. Way too much action, all at once and non-stop. It goes from being well-paced and personal to being cosmic. Nothing wrong with that, but once it's done it immediately starts up again. Then it ends. And starts again. By the end I was drained. One good note is that after all that the scene that ends the action is very small and personal. Maybe they planned it that way. Still, it was a bit much overall.

Minor spoilers: Product placement: You've seen the trailers. They blow up a 7-11. Lots of fun there. There is no Lex Luthor, but there is a double tractor-trailer tanker truck that gets wrecked in one scene, and on the side it says 'LEX-CORP', so there's hope for the sequel. That's it, unless I've forgotten something.

It was worth the $5.50 I paid for a matinee, but I doubt I'll see it again in the theater. Then again, I rarely do, unless it's with a friend who hasn't seen it.

Oh, yeah. Unless you like watching all the credits, don't bother staying 'til the very end. This isn't Marvel, and there's no cute scene after they're done rolling.

[Red October1984]

I was never a big fan of the Superman stuff...

I may rent this when it comes out. I don't know.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

I was never a big fan of the Superman stuff...

Different strokes for different folks. I personally own aroun 6,000 comics, 99% of them DC. Of course I was two years old when the George Reeves TV series made it's debut, so I kind of grew up with "Look! Up in the sky..."

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Different strokes for different folks. I personally own aroun 6,000 comics, 99% of them DC. Of course I was two years old when the George Reeves TV series made it's debut, so I kind of grew up with "Look! Up in the sky..."

I grew up with late 90's kids TV, Transformers (FTW!), Star Wars, and a crap-ton of Lego stuff (Slightly less FTW but still great).

I always was and still am a big fan of the original Transformers TV Series. Even last year I would get up at 0600 instead of 0700 just to watch it before going off to school...until the Hub Channel dropped it.

I can't wait for the next movie. I've seen the other 3 Transformers movies probably 30 times each.

I had an Army that would rival an infantry division of the toys...I had the T-Shirts....I read the comics....read the books.... I'll be a Transformers fan forever.

My childhood was awesome until I got to school age.

And there was also Lego.... I was hardcore lego... I probably had 200 sets of Legos that were mainly Star Wars. This was well before Lego went downhill and started all the video games and TV Shows and all that other crap. I've even got some Halo Legos up in my closet. Cybermat47 knows what I'm talking about.

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

And there was also Lego.... I was hardcore lego... I probably had 200 sets of Legos that were mainly Star Wars. This was well before Lego went downhill and started all the video games and TV Shows and all that other crap. I've even got some Halo Legos up in my closet. Cybermat47 knows what I'm talking about.

Lego went downhill about the time you where born if you ask the opinion of anyone who was a child in the late 70's through the 80's.They had awesome sets back in the day and they also used to have sets focused more on engineering they where called Lego Technic(not the joke new Technic line mind you) and each set had several plans for a machine that actually worked some even used pneumatics you constructed nearly every part now lots of moving parts are already in one piece.

Nothing was overly set specific so you could combine dozes of sets.My brothers and I we would take a huge pile of the old time Technic sets and see who could come up with the best working machine.Now adays though the sets are model specif and have molded parts for what ever the set is about hampering creativity.

Legos used to be more about you making something from the blocks in each set to the set just being another prefab toy that you sort of put together this change happened about 20 years ago in the mid 90's.I'll give you an example back in the 80's when I was around 10 they used to air reruns of the TV show "Black Sheep Squadron" a I freaking loved that show well actually I loved the F4U-1 Corsair in it so I made from Legos my own Corsair.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Lego went downhill about the time you where born if you ask the opinion of anyone who was a child in the late 70's through the 80's.They had awesome sets back in the day and they also used to have sets focused more on engineering they where called Lego Technic(not the joke new Technic line mind you) and each set had several plans for a machine that actually worked some even used pneumatics you constructed nearly every part now lots of moving parts are already in one piece.

Nothing was overly set specific so you could combine dozes of sets.My brothers and I we would take a huge pile of the old time Technic sets and see who could come up with the best working machine.Now adays though the sets are model specif and have modled parts for what ever the set is about hampering creativity.

I had some Technic models....Some pretty good ones at that.

Lego didn't go downhill for me til about 2005-6. I loved all those specific sets. I had a fleet of Star Wars stuff. I set up battles all the time.

I don't like the modeled parts....That's one thing I wish they'd stop doing.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

crap-ton

That's Krypton, you philistine!

I always was and still am a big fan of the original Transformers TV Series.

I was already well into adulthood when the first series came out. I thought it was awful then, and my opinion hasn't changed.

I can't wait for the next movie. I've seen the other 3 Transformers movies probably 30 times each.

Hated the first one. Didn't bother with the rest. As I said, though, different strokes...

I had an Army that would rival an infantry division of the toys...I had the T-Shirts....I read the comics....read the books.... I'll be a Transformers fan forever.

That's why they made the show in the first place - to sell the junk.

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Lego went downhill about the time you where born if you ask the opinion of anyone who was a child in the late 70's through the 80's.

And those of us who grew up in the '50s played with the bricks, and nothing else. The first sets came out in the '60s.

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

I can't wait for the next movie.

Wait, didn't all the Decepticons die in the last one? I honestly can't see how they can make a sequel... and yet they are. FFS.

Originally Posted by Red October1984

I've even got some Halo Legos up in my closet. Cybermat47 knows what I'm talking about.

I have no idea what you're talking about.[PEDANTMODE] I've only heard of Halo Mega Bloks.[/PEDANTMODE]

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

Wait, didn't all the Decepticons die in the last one? I honestly can't see how they can make a sequel... and yet they are. FFS.

It's an unrelated storyline I do believe. Shia Labeouf and all the characters from the last 3 aren't going to be in this movie. They've casted Mark Wahlberg as the lead character. It should be good even though a continuation of the last one would be so much better.

I have no idea what you're talking about.[PEDANTMODE] I've only heard of Halo Mega Bloks.[/PEDANTMODE]

Ah...they are Mega Bloks... But I've got a Banshee, Hornet, Hawk, Scorpion, Wolverine, Shade, Ghost and a bunch of little Spartans and Elites.

They're all in pieces from the last time I had them out. They kinda fell off the shelf and I never put them back up. Maybe I should just for old times' sake.