#anyway i think if they do end up making a smallville animated series like michael and tom have mentioned

[luthwhore]

my hot take about the series finale of smallville, a decade too late, is that the character we are presented at the end of the show isn’t lex. and i don’t mean this in some tinhat conspiracy theory way or in a “the show writers ruined his characterization” way—i mean literally, on the page, the person we are presented with at the end of the show is a completely different person than the one who died.

like. lex died. the real lex dies. we know this is an objective fact within the smallville universe. after michael rosenbaum left the show, lex was killed off. the show runners could have chosen to leave him alive off-screen, but they did not. he died.

then the show decided to bring him back from the dead via cloning. except… that’s not how cloning works. they did not bring back the original lex luthor. they created a new person, via cloning, who had the same DNA as lex.

now briar, you may say, he has lex’s memories and personality! so doesn’t that mean he is lex? and i think that question is philosophically complicated, but if you look at it from a purely scientific point of view… no. the original lex is still dead. this new person may have all lex’s memories, and he may even believe he is lex, but critically—the original lex is still dead.

but even if you argue that having lex’s memories is enough—that even if the original lex is still dead, this still has all of his memories and personality (arguably), so even if he is not the original, he is still lex from a character perspective—he doesn’t even have that at the end of the show! they give him amnesia! he has no memories!

think of it this way (and i am showing my age with this metaphor, but bear with me): you buy a CD. then the CD gets lost, or stolen, or broken. you then burn a copy of that CD. it is not the original, but it still has all of the same songs on it. the sound quality is a little off, and you don’t have the case for it, but it’s still mostly the same. but then the CD gets corrupted somehow, and now none of the songs will play. do you still own that CD? i would say, definitively, no.

which means that at the end of the show, what we are left with is not the original lex returned from the grave. he isn’t even a copy of the original lex who is indistinguishable from the original. he may look like lex, he may sound like lex, he may even act a little like lex, but functionally? the character we are presented with is little more than a stranger with lex’s face.

[loisfreakinglane]

What are your oldest ships that are still active for you? Do you still read fic for them? And is your love them still as intense as it was before, or has it lessened over time?

omgggg HAPPY VALENTINES WEEK MY LOVE THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME THINK ABOUT ROMANCE!!!!!!!!!

gosh i'm trying to even think, what of my current otps are OOOOOOLD ASS OTPS. I'm only gonna say ones that I'm still hardcore for, and I am gonna exclusively point to OVER 20 YEARS OLD otps, to lol. keep this concise. THIS IS OFF THE CUFF ANYWAY I'M SO SORRY TO THE ONES THAT I'M SPACING ON

clark/lois, obvsly, since the 90s and lois&clark, superman, animated shows- i couldn't tell you which fried my clois4ever brain first, but one of my earliest memories is sitting on my dads lap while he tells me SUPERMANS ABOUT TO LOOK AT YOU!!! at the end of the first movie, so probably that one

gotta spare a moment for smallville's clark/lex, babys first slash otp. those first few seasons really weren't playing around! and much as i have an assortment of smallville otp's, clex is the one i will still occasionally check ao3 for- so many lies, so many secrets, so many potential SECRET AND FEELINGS REVEALS fic (tbh the fic that most lives in my brain is probs the rosetta au fic where clark finds himself incapable of speaking anything but kryptonian and is forced to play pictionary with lex in the caves)

max/liz, og roswell. this is one where i never really got into fic for it- my attempts over the years usually just turned up either a. michael/liz, which is not my thing but ya kno have fun friends, or b. LIZ IS A SECRET ALIEN TOO AND THEY WERE IN LOVE ON ANTAR which does not really do it for me personally. i will eternally tho cling to this one fic that still lives in my soul and i do revisit every so often, where liz fucked future max before he disappeared and wound up pregnant, leading to a lot of fun drama for all (i will say that i also am constantly badly ficcing at sara about a world where future liz used the granolith to time travel and fix everything but just got stuck in the past instead of disappearing like future max did- i'm not a writer but i AM a daydreamer)

BATCAT. animated series was my og love obvsly. the birds of prey show helped negl, even without seeing them onscreen together (and also gave me helena/jesse which i shipped like BURNING but i haven't revisited that show in many many years so i can't call that a current otp). gotham shockingly gave me a baby batcat i really appreciated. and then obviously the batman 2022 gave us theeeeeee greatest live action batcat I STAND BY THIS I'M SORRY

lmao can I say shawngela when my main emotion these days is rage and spite? WE DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE POST BMW CANON IN THESE HERE OTP PARTS

mai and i rewatch drive me crazy TOO OFTEN for me not to bring up chase/nicole, eternal otp from the most underrated teen romcom of all time. it also has at least one CRAZY GOOD postmovie fic on ao3 so like. that helps

I LOVE HOW MUCH TUMBLR STILL TALKS ABOUT BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM BC IT WILL TRULY NEVER EVER LEAVE MY BRAIN. babys first BUT WAIT AREN'T THEY GAY??? WHY IS THIS UGLY MAN HERE WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

(every iteration of cinderella and her prince...................)

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #467

Top Ten Romantic Couples in Superhero Movies (& TV)

It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend. Woo, I guess? I dunno. I’m not generally cynical about holidays but Valentine’s Day does seem to be entirely focused on selling cards without any of the associated pleasantries of, say, Christmas or Halloween. I’d rather just try to be nice to my wife all year round. At least because of the apocalypse all the restaurants are closed so we can’t be tempted to pay through the nose for a set menu. Anyway, it gives me a strained excuse to tie this week’s Top Ten to something vaguely romantic.

Superheroes are often horny. This seems to be a defining characteristic of the artform. Whether it’s their descent from ancient myths, or their creators’ origins in writing romance books, or just a function of genre storytelling in the mid-twentieth century, there’s quite a lot of romantic angst in superhero stories. Pretty much every superhero has a significant other; Lois Lane even got her own comic that was actually called Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. It’s hard to conceive of many heroes without their primary squeeze, and often – as we get multiple media adaptations of characters – we can add diversity or a twist to the proceedings by picking a lesser-known love interest, or one from earlier in the character’s fictional history; for instance, Smallville beginning with Cark Kent’s teenage crush Lana Lang, or The Amazing Spider-Man swapping out Mary Jane Watson for Gwen Stacey.

Anyway, I’m talking this week about my favourite superhero couples. I’ve decided to focus on superhero adaptations – that is, the characters from movies and films based on superhero comics or characters. I find this a little bit easier as I don’t have a phenomenal knowledge of sixty years of Avengers comics, but I have seen all the movies a bunch. As many comics as I’ve read, and as much as I love various ink-and-paper pairings, I can arguably talk more authoritatively about the fillums than the funny books. And let’s be real here, kids: my favourite comic book romantic couple is Chromedome and Rewind in Transformers. Also if I split them in two I can talk about comic couples next year. Woohoo!

It really is hard thinking of these things nearly nine years in, folks.

So! Here, then, are my favourite movie-TV Couples in Capes. Obviously there’s a fair bit of MCU in here. And I’ve been pretty specific about “superhero” romances: so no Hellboy and Liz Sherman, sadly (and I do really like them in the movies, of which they really need to make a third). Some are civvies-and-supes; some are capes-and-capes. You’ll work it out.

Superman & Lois Lane (Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, Superman, 1978): who else? The most famous romance in all of comics, a combo so strong it remains the focus of pretty much every interpretation of the character, but arguably never better than here; so good are Reeve and Kidder that their fast-talking banter and inherent goodness set the template for a huge swathe of other comic adaptations to follow. She’s sarky and streetwise; he’s gormless and good-hearted. She leaps in where angels fear to tread, he’s an invulnerable alien in disguise. They have buckets of chemistry and an utterly believable (tentative) romance. They’re perfect performances and the scenes of Clark in Metropolis for the first time (including Superman’s balcony interview with Lois) are the best bits of an already excellent film.

Raven & Beast Boy (Tara Strong & Greg Cipes, Teen Titans Go!, 2014): on a totally different register, we have the comedy stylings of the Teen Titans. Raven and Beast Boy had a flirtatious relationship on the original Titans series, but on this longer-running and much more demented comedy follow-up, they were allowed to make the romance more official (I nearly said “explicit” but, y’know… it’s not that). The jokes and banter – BB the love-struck, jealous suitor, Raven the too-cool partner who feigns nonchalance – build and build, but every now and again they’re allowed a moment of genuine heartfelt romance, and it hits all the more strongly amidst the ultra-violence and outrageous comedy.

Captain America & Agent Carter (Chris Evans & Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011): the premier couple of the MCU, Steve and Peggy spend a whole movie flirting (she sees the goodness of him even before he gets all hench) before finally arranging a date that, we all know, is very much postponed. Peggy casts a shadow over the rejuvenated Cap and the MCU as a whole, founding SHIELD, inspiring dozens of heroes, and counselling Steve to her dying days. She remains Steven’s true north (like Supes with Lois, Peggy’s an ordinary human who is the actual hero of an actual super-powered hero), guiding him through the chaos and tragedy of Endgame, until they both get to live happily ever after. Even though he snogged her niece.

Batman & Catwoman (Michael Keaton & Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns, 1992): Pfeiffer delivers a barnstorming performance as Selina Kyle, all barely-supressed mania and seductive feline charm. The chemistry between her and Keaton is electric, and propels the film forward even when the Penguin-runs-for-mayor stuff gets a bit daft and icky. There are beautiful moments of romantic comedy when they’re both trying to cover up injuries they gave each other, and of course there’s “mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it” – a line that runs a close second to “dance with the devil” when it comes to Burton-Batman quotations (just ahead of “never rub another man’s rhubarb”). Burton, generally favouring the macabre villains over the straighter edges of the heroic Batman, nevertheless makes great play of the duality of the character, and how this is something he and Catwoman can share – both “split right down the centre” – but also how this means a happy ending for either of them is impossible.

Spider-Man & Mary Jane (Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002): whilst a lot of this is really down to the sexiness of them kissing upside-down in the rain, there’s a nice duality to Peter and MJ seeing through each other too: he sees the wounded humane soul beneath her it-girl persona; she sees the kind, caring man underneath his geek baggage. This arc plays out beautifully across the first two films (ending in that wonderfully accepting “Go get ‘em, tiger”) before sadly getting all murky and unsatisfying in the murky and unsatisfying third film. Still: that kiss.

Wonder Woman & Steve Trevor (Gal Gadot & Chris Pine, Wonder Woman, 2017): probably the film that hews closest to the Clark-Lois dynamic of the original Superman, to the point where it includes an homage to the alleyway-mugging scene as Diana deflects a bullet. Steve is Diana’s window into man’s world, showing her the horror of the First World War but managing to also be a sympathetic ally and never talking down or mansplaining anything. He’s a hero in his own right – very similar to another wartime Steve on this list – and very much an ideal match to the demigod he’s showing round Europe. And, of course, Gadot’s Diana is incredible, both niaive and vulnerable whilst also an absolute badass. There is an enduring warm chemistry to the pair, with a relationship which we actually see consummated – relatively rare for superheroes! The inevitability of his heroic sacrifice does nothing to lessen the tragedy, and no I’ve not seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet.

Hawkeye & Laura Barton (Jeremy Renner & Linda Cardellini, Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015): I love these guys! I love that Hawkeye has a relatively normal, stable family life. He has a big old farmhouse that he wants to remodel, he’s got two kids and a third on the way… he’s got something to live for, something to lose. It humanises him amidst the literal and figurative gods of the Avengers. And they’re cute together, bickering and bantering, and of course she is supportive of his Avenging. I hope we get to see more of Laura and the kids in the Hawkeye series, and I hope nothing bad happens to them now they’ve all been brought back to life.

Wanda Maximoff & Vision (Elizabeth Olsen & Paul Bettany, Avengers: Infinity War, 2018): theirs is a difficult relationship to parse, because they’re together so briefly. They cook paprikash together in Civil War before having a bit of a bust-up, and by Infinity War they’re an official couple, albeit on the run (and on different sides). That movie does a great job in establishing their feelings for each other in very little screentime, with their heroic characteristics on full display, before the shockingly awful tragedy of Wanda killing Vision to save the galaxy, before Thanos rewinds time, brings him back to life, and kills him again, and then wins. Their relationship going forward, in WandaVision, is even trickier, because we don’t know what’s up yet, and at times they’re clearly not acting as “themselves”, defaulting to sitcom tropes and one-liners. Will Vision survive, and if he does, will their relationship? Who can say, but at least they’ll always have Edinburgh, deep-fried kebabs and all.

Batman & Andrea Beaumont (Kevin Conroy & Dana Delany, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1993): woah, Batman’s back but it’s a different Batman, say whaaaat. Animated Batman has had a few romances, from the great (Talia al-Ghul) to the disturbingly icky (Batgirl, ewwww), but his relationship with Andrea Beaumont is the best. Tweaking the Year One formula to give young Bruce a love interest that complicates his quest is a golden idea, and making her a part of the criminality and corruptiuon that he’s fighting is a suitably tragic part of the Batman origin story. Conroy and Delany give great performances, him wringing pathos out of Bruce, torn between heart and duty (“It just doesn’t hurt so bad anymore,” he wails to his parents’ grave, “I didn’t count on being happy”), her channelling golden age Hollywood glamour. The tragedy of them rekindling their relationship years later, only to wind up on different sides again, is – again – so very Batman. It’s a beautiful, earnest, very Batman relationship, a great titanic tragedy of human emotions and larger-than-life ideals. And they both look good in black.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy (Kaley Cuoco & Lake Bell, Harley Quinn, 2020): this one’s a little bit of a cheat, as I’ve only seen the first season of the show, where Harley and Ivy don’t even get together. But in the wider, non-canonical sense of these being characters who are part of the pop-cultural ether, Harley and Ivy will always be a couple, I feel; and there’s definitely enough in there already to see the affection between them, not yet consummated. They adore each other, are always there for each other, and as the season follows Harley getting out of her own way and acknowledging the abuse of her relationship with Joker – and finally getting over it in the healthiest way possible for a bleached-white manic pixie in roller derby gear. And all through this, holding her hand, is Ivy. They’re utterly made for each other, and I’m glad that they do get together in season two. I hope that Margot Robbie’s rendition of the character can likewise find happiness with a flesh-and-blood Ivy. Hell, just cast Lake Bell again. She’s great.

Just bubbling under – and I’m really gutted I couldn’t fit them in – was Spider-Man & M.J. from Spider-Man: Far From Home. Like Batman, I’m comfortable including multiple continuities here, and those cuties offer a different spin on a classic relationship.

[afaimsarrowverse]

Crisis on Infinite Earths

So given what I have been reading and watching lately, I just can’t anymore. What some self-promclaimed experts and people who should know better are claiming ist just so wrong, it hurts

So here is a short list of the most common misunderstandings concerning the future of the Arrowverse and “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.

(By the way, only ever believe stuff that comes from offical sources, take even the stuff Pagey and Ben say with a grain of salt, there sources may be reliable or may not be reliable, and in the time between production and transmission a lot can change (they same goes for canadagraphs). And please listen to their whole videos, they are going to tell you were they got something from and how believable they think it is most of the time. If they don’t name sources, they are probably just speculating, please keep that in mind).

* “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will be a five night event.

No, while there are five episodes, the last two parts will air on the same night. So it’s four nights: Three in december and one in january.

* It will be the crossover-event that imbebds “Black Lightning” into the Arrowverse.

Kind of true. Black Lightning played by Cress Williams is in the crossover-event. However there will be no tie-in episode in “Black Lightning” and it’s unconfirmed if any other BL-characters will show up in the crossover. Furthermore “Smallville” and “Birds of Prey” will also crossover in the Arrowverse with this event. Does this make them part of the Arrowverse? I guess, that’s up to debate.

* Tom Welling will be the third Superman in “Crisis”.

Kind of true. There are two important versions of Superman in the crossover: The Arrowverse-One played by Tyler Hochelin and an aged up version played by Brandon Routh. However Tom Welling is reprising his Smallville-Character in the crossover as well. And he will be in a scene with Tyler and Brandon. But he is not heavily involved in the crossover, and it’s unknown if he actually is going to be in suit or not.

* Erica Durance and Tom Welling will reprise their “Smallville”-Characters, but Michael Rosenberg will not.

Probably true. Michael Rosenbaum did post a rather long explanation for him not being in the crossover. This explanation is most likley true, but it could have been a calculated lie an/or a ploy to get more money for a cameo, or he could have changed his mind after all and now be in the crossover anyway. However, none of this is very likely.

*Justin Hartley is the Smallville Green Arrow in “Crisis.”

Unconfirmed and probably not happening due to “This is Us”. If he is in it, it would be a very small cameo.

* Helena Wayne is the only “Birds of Prey”-Character in “Crisis.”

She is the only confirmed character in “Crisis” as of now. It would be kind of strange to not use the Black Canary, whose actress is a regular on one of the Arrowverseshows, but somehow no one ever confirmed her for that part, so maybe it’s just Huntress.

* “Crisis on Infinite Earths” confirms that “Birds of Prey” takes place in the same timeline as Tim Burtons Batman-Movies.

I really don’t think so. There will be a nod to the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton-Batman-Movies, but I don’t think that there will be a connection to “Birds of Prey”. The newspaper of the Keaton-Verse shows an article about Bruce Waynes relationship with Selena Kyle, yes, but this takes place in the present and the picture they used shows a young Michael Keaton, so where should the grown-up daughter come in? As nice as this would be, explaining it would distract from the actual storyline.

* Michael Keaton will be in “Crisis”.

You wish. I wish. We wish. I really doubt it.

* Kevin Conroy is Old Man Bats.

Yes, he is. That’s literally all we know about his role though. He spoke about a Bat-suit, so at least it looks like we finally get a proper look at a version of Batman during Crisis.

*The Titans in the crossover are not the Titans from “Titans”.

Okay, so about that. There was a scene involving the Titans which was marked as filmed. We don’t know who was in that scene, but it was a cameo-moment. So, the only version of the Titans that was ever shown in a non-animated adaption of DC Comics was the version from the DC-App. Now, there is the rumor/claim that the actors refused to shoot said scene for various reasons and that the scene was scrapped. Of course one could do a scene involving alternate versions of Wally West und Roy Harper posing as the “Titans” from any odd Arroverse-Universe. But why should anyone bother to do this? Also, it’s very likely that those two are not even showing up in Crisis at all, so why bother doing this scene at all? So unless it turns out to be an unexpected animated scene, the only Titans making sense appearing in Crisis would be the current Titans from the DC-Show with the same name.

* Tom Ellis is playing Lucifer in Crisis.

Oh, boy, that one. We have photos. And denials. So, the mostly likely scenario is, that Tom Ellis is going to play an unnamed angel or demon who is going to be summoned by John Constantine in order to do something (probably bring back Oliver from the dead). While the character is dressed like Lucifer Morningstar in “Lucifer”, my guess it that he won’t be named that onscreen. So this is going to be an indirect crossover, where everyone knows it’s Lucifer, but no one says it. Unless the sequence gets scrapped, because it leaked. However given that it is a scene of plot-importance that probably won’t happen.

* Given that Brandon Routh is leaving “Legends” Ray Palmer will die in Crisis and stay dead.

Okay, this is what prompted me to right this article. Yes, Brandon is leaving “Legends of Tomorrow” alongside his wife. He filmed his last scenes a short while ago (Probably). BUT THE LEGENDS TIE-IN EPISODE IS THE FIRST ONE OF SEASON 5 AND TAKES PLACE BEFORE THE REST OF THE SEASON. A SEASON THAT RAY PALMER IS VERY MUCH IN FOR THE FIRST HALF SO UNLESS HE IS UNDEAD FOR THE REST OF SEASON 5 HE CAN’T DIE FOR GOOD IN CRISIS! Rays last episode is most likely to either be 5.7 or 5.8 because “Crisis” is not even the official first episode of the season, but more like episode 5.0 or a special between seasons. Yes, they filmed it between the episodes 5.7. und 5.8 along the other shows for technical reasons, but it takes place before the events of season 5.

* Mick might die in Crisis.

Like I said, Dominic is very much in season 5. The Legends Tie-In of Crisis takes place before the events of season 5, even though it was filmed as episode 8.

* Zari Tomaz is in Crisis.

Again: Crisis takes place before the events of season 5. During the season finale of season 4 Zari was erased from the Legends-Timeline and her brother Behard took her place. The Legends can’t remember Zari, they think Behrad has been their teammate all along. There will be a new version of Zari in Season 5. But this version will under no circumstances debut during Crisis. However another version of Zari Tomaz from another universe could be in the crossover for a brief cameo.

*Behrad Tomaz is in Crisis.

I thought so too, because he is in the current Legends-Team. however the only Legends we know for sure to be in Crisis are Ray, Sara, Mick und John. It was pointed out to me that including Behrad could be to confusing for the general audience. So he might just sit this one out, like Evelyn did the Arrow-Tie-In of “Invasion!”.

* Batwoman ist the only Batwoman-Character in Crisis.

Possible, but unlikley.

*Batwoman will catch up to the other shows timeline-wise before Crisis

Not necessarily. Given the Waverider, Harbinger, and the Monitor and the events of Arrow 8.4 time travel is very much on the table. Batwoman could just be taken from her current late 2018/early 2019 timeline for the crossover. Or the Tie-In-Episode takes place later than the episodes after it.

* Crisis will end with all universes merging in one.

I hope not. It’s possible, but would be a very stupid move. As in any adaption this one will be very different from its source, so don’t bet on it.

* “Superman and Lois” und the Arrow Backdoor-Pilot will be the new Arrowverse Series for the next season.

At this point a pilot for “Superman and Lois” has been commissend and the Backdoor-Pilot for the Mia/Canaries-Show has been flimed and will be transmitted in January. Neither show has been picked up yet. This won’t happen before pilot-season, which means we won’t know for sure until mid 2020.

* “Supergirl” will be cancelled because of “Superman and Lois”.

While it is entirely possible that “Supergirl” will end after Season 6 (given that standart US-television-contracts run for six years), the show won’t be cancelled for a potential Superman-show, that might not even be picked up. If “Supergirl” ends, it will be because Melissa wants to move on, not because of Superman.

* Next season is going to bring a six part/ seven show crossover.

I have nightmares about this already. But we can’t know until we know the 2020/21 programm of The CW.

[canaryatlaw]

okay. so. today was pretty fun. I had set my alarm for 10:30 as we’d agreed Jess would pick me up at 11. Well, I woke up to said alarm at 10:30 to a series of messages from Jess telling me to get up already because she wanted nuggets before we went to the con. I told her I’d be ready in 15 minutes, because I was being good and woke up half an hour beforehand when I knew it only really took me 15 minutes to get ready when I’m not doing my make up (doing it in the car here). So I got ready, doing Peter Pan today because I gotta take advantage of my short haired red headed cosplay options because I hate wigs and will be wearing them both Saturday and Sunday. Got picked up, went to Mcdonalds, drove to con, didn’t get stuck in ridiculous traffic like we did yesterday, so that’s a win. I’m trying to remember the details of how everything went down, when you’re there all day and you’re doing different things within a small space it can be hard to remember exactly what you did when. But I think we got there and went to find some people and talked with them for a while, then found Jess’ two friends (”friends”) who were running around doing different things, after waiting for them for a little bit. And I mean, for most of the day we just did different versions of walking around and finding people and looking at things? we’d hang out with a certain group of people for a while and then they’d go off and do a photo shoot or something and we’d migrate to a different group of people. At some point during the afternoon we decided to go through the whole show floor aisle by aisle to assess options before buying anything. I knew I wanted to get a t-shirt of some sort, and sadly there were very few legends-related items out there (I think the only places we really saw them were in the sections where you have the IDs from different shows) so I figured I’d either want something Wonder Woman or Superman related, since those are my other two faves. I was also potentially looking for a cool backpack that’s somewhat bigger than the one I have now because in two weekends we’re doing HVFF New Jersey/Rose City CC in Portland over two days and are just bringing backpacks, and since I decided tonight that I am going to cosplay both days (and the NJ one I am SO excited about!!) I’m gonna need something that can fit a lot of things. What’s annoying about the t-shirt thing is pretty much all of them at cons are only in unisex sizing, not women’s sizes, and I don’t really like how they fit me so I don’t end up wearing them as much as I do the Wonder Woman or Superman shirts I have in woman’s sizes. The other thing I might potentially buy is an Elektra from Daredevil funko pop because back when I was still looking for Katniss but was getting convinced I wouldn’t be able to find her (before I found her online) I was considering making Elektra my next one, and she would fit nicely on my stack of funkos in their boxes (that are literally in a stack on my dresser right now that consists of dark haired women who totally kick ass because apparently I am predictable like that (right now it’s Wonder Woman, Jessica Jones, and Katniss) (I do have three other funkos that are out of their boxes and placed elsewhere, which are my White Canary and Captain Cold, placed in conjunction of course, and Smallville Green Arrow played by Justin Hartley love of my life and the only actor to portray Green Arrow in live action as far as I’m concerned). So we set off to do that. A number of good Wonder Woman options I took note of, a few ones that are old comics styled, a few featuring other Justice League members like Superman and such (though I’m really not a Wonder Woman/Superman shipper like, at all, so not those because Clois is the only valid ship for Clark Kent, though I am open to WonderBat possibilities). There is also a very cool Wonder Woman backpack we were looking for that I’ll probably go back and get because it had a lot of places to put stuff and looked like it could fit everything nicely, it was just 60 bucks so I wanted to make sure it was definitely the best one before actually buying it. The Elektra pop has shown up a few places, cheapest so far for $10, so I’ll keep looking at those since there are of course a ton of places with pops. We kept getting stopped by random men that wanted to talk to us because Jess was being a fucking furry (she got asked to take a picture with two people in full on fur suits and I was dying laughing while also taking a picture of it). By the time it was like 5:30 or so we were pretty much done with everything, so we ended up meeting up with some people and heading to one of the restaurants over by the parking garage, because if you eat at one of the restaurants there they’ll validate your parking so you don’t have to fork over like $15 just for parking. So we ended up going to the German restaurant, which is always a bit of an adventure lol. The first time my family went to DisneyWorld when I was like 12 our restaurant reservations got messed up for one of the days and the only other place we could get in was the German restaurant in Epcot, and all I remember is there menu being like, essentially like three different types of hot dogs, so whenever I think of German food now that’s what I think of, and how I somehow managed to not barf it all up when my brothers and I ran (literally) from Epcot over to Animal Kingdom to get to our fast pass for Expedition Everest, which we made with like 4 minutes left on it and then went on the crazy roller coaster where I was sure I was gonna puke it all up (our restaurant reservation was for like, 4:40, and the fast pass was between 6 and 7, so we thought we’d be fine, but the restaurant got super backed up and didn’t seat us till like 6:15, so we basically ate like half a meal and then ran from the middle of the Epcot circle of nations through the rest of the park, onto the tram and then all the way through Animal Kingdom to Expedition Everest, making it at 6:56). But we got some super cute pictures of my darling baby sister who was 3 at the time and like at peak cuteness dancing to the polka in the German restaurant so that was definitely worth it. ANYWAY. this restaurant seemed somewhat similar in that there was a polka band and everything but thankfully had a larger menu selection. Jess and I ended up splitting some potato pancakes (sorry Germans, they weren’t as good as latkes) and a jumbo pretzel because she doesn’t eat red meat and I’ve been getting Meat Fatigue™ (which we’re still pretending is a real thing okay). We had an interesting conversation going on around us as the guy sitting next to me was trying to say it was bs that people were making excuses for James Gunn in that situation when strongly condemning Trump for making obscene comments, except he was not explaining it well at all and it was totally being lost in translation for everybody else until I was like okay, this is what you mean and explained it and he was like “yes, exactly! I like her” to which I was like 😂😂😂 understanding what people are saying pretty much all the time and explaining things happen to be two random talents of mine that come in handy a lot. So the meal was pretty good, one of the ladies we were with graciously picked up the tab so we were very thankful to her for that. At that point we were pretty beat so we walked back to the parking garage (after getting our parking validated) and drove home. I got dropped off and we planned to pick me up at 10 am tomorrow. I fumbled in the dark with my keys for a few minutes because somehow all the outdoor lights and the lights in the hallway of my building have gone out and not been replaced (yes I could’ve turned my flashlight on on my phone but I was being stubborn and wanted to do it myself) but eventually got it figured out. NICKZANO was very happy to see me, though I told her she’s gonna have to get used to being alone more once I get a job (at some point, anyway). I think I may actually be allergic to cats though, because my legs where I’d been letting her sit on are like hella itchy, but it’s obviously not a major issue at all and I’ll just like, put pants or longer shorts on from now on and that won't be a problem. I showered and changed into my pajamas, then watched a few episodes of 30 Rock, keeping it nice and light. I’m in their 5th season now out of 7 (which is kinda funny because I’m also on the 5th season out of 7 on GoT right now) so sooner or later I’m gonna have to find something else for funny filler episodes when I just want funny tv. And yeah, I did that for a while and then finished getting ready for bed and here we be now. So yeah, lots of fun, hopefully tomorrow will as well, I will be debuting my Ava Sharpe cosplay (who I was never really planning to cosplay but ended up needing to do so for our photo op with Matt Ryan which is gonna be fucking hilarious, just wait) and seeing Matt Ryan so that will be fun. I’ll probably wait till Sunday when I’m doing my also new (and pulled together exclusively of stuff I already owned because business wear) Lois Lane cosplay to see Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum. I was considering doing a photo op with them, but their joint one was $150 which is a tad excessive, and like, Tom alone was still $90 and I wouldn't even know what to do in a single one with him because I’d rather like, have one with both of them so Tom and I could look like we were fighting Michael, but also Michael has hair now so he doesn't even really look like Lex Luthor anymore, so given all of those factors I decided meeting them and getting selfies with them in my cosplay would be good enough. Okay, that’s all I got, it’s 1 am and I’m waking up at 9:30 and I like sleeping so I’m going to go to bed now. Goodnight peeps. Have a lovely weekend.

[wbwest]

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/14/17

So, I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming. Unlike most of you, I didn’t love it. I really liked it, but didn’t love it. Part of the issue stems from the legacy of Spider-Man films. I kinda hate how every star has delivered a great performance as Spider-Man, yet the minute the roll is recast, fans with short memories start saying the last guy was “shit”. People love ragging on Tobey Maguire, especially after Spider-Man 3, but he was really good in those first two movies. There’s a Spider-Man for every generation, and he was the Spider-Man we needed in 2002. Sure, he wouldn’t work so well now, but to compare his movies to Homecoming is basically apples to oranges. I also kinda hate when people say “They finally got Spider-Man right!” Um, Tobey already got him right. Andrew Garfield, in his own way, got him right. And Holland is getting him right. For now. They’ve all brought something special and unique to the table, and I think it’s unfair to discount that because there’s some new, shiny thing to take your attention.

All that’s to say that I liked Homecoming, but it didn’t really offer anything new to me. I felt the same wide-eyed wonder seeing Holland do the ferry rescue as I did when Maguire did the same thing with the train in Spider-Man 2. Some might call that an homage, but it just felt…familiar.

What did I love? I loved Tony being there. I felt like there was just enough Tony Stark without the film becoming Iron Man 3.5. It’s always good to see Happy, and this movie did more with him than most of the Iron Man films ever did. I especially love movie Happy since comic Happy is no longer with us (sad trombone). I loved sexy, younger Aunt May, but I’ve loved Marisa Tomei ever since she filled out her college application wrong and ended up at that Black college. I loved the running joke of all the guys commenting on how hot she was. It’s a new concept for May, but it works. I loved the Miles Morales Easter egg (I won’t spoil it here if you didn’t catch it). I loved Not-Ganke (For those not in the know, Ganke is the name of Miles Morales Spider-Man’s best friend, who looks EXACTLY like actor Jacob Batalon), even if I don’t know why they insisted on calling him “Ned Leeds”. I loved that Damage Control was officially revealed. Keaton was great, even if he’s not an Adrian Toomes that I recognize. The Liz Allen swerve was cool, ’cause I really didn’t see that coming.

OK, now for the things I didn’t like. They introduced a good swath of Spidey’s rogue (Mac Gargan, Shocker), all at once as Vulture’s gang, only to be relegated to ancillary characters and henchmen. I know the MCU has a “Villain Problem” of wasting their villains, but this just takes the cake.

Now, this is gonna sound stupid, but I spent a good amount of time trying to reconcile the MCU timeline in my head. The movie starts immediately after Avengers, jumps 8 years to Captain America: Civil War, and then to the present day, which is shortly after the airport battle where Spidey debuted. Now, a big part of Act 3 is the fact that Vulture wants to steal a bunch of Avengers/Stark Tech on Moving Day – when everything was being moved from Avengers Tower to the upstate facility. Now, Tony’s rich, so it’s not like he can’t own multiple properties, but why is Moving Day happening NOW? I mean, the upstate facility debuted at the end of Age of Ultron, we saw it again in Ant-Man, and everyone seemed to be pretty moved in by Civil War. So, why the delay in moving everything up there? Does Homecoming maybe not take place when we think it does? Well, we know it’s post-Civil War because Cap’s hilariously referred to as a war criminal by gym teacher Hannibal Buress. If it were just a thrown away reference, I wouldn’t care, but the whole final action piece is based on this Moving Day concept. Anyway, I think it’s fair to say I probably wasn’t in the right headspace for this movie if that’s where my brain was going.

Oh, and the thing I hated most: that effing MJ reveal! First of all, it accomplished nothing. It was corny, and it was executed just as poorly as when The Dark Knight Rises did it. Secondly, at the end of the day, her name is MICHELLE, not MARY. You can call her “MJ”, but that does not make her Mary Jane. And to be honest, the movie would’ve been fine without her character. While she was funny, it seems like she was woven into the movie solely to make that hamfisted name reveal at the end.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll watch this movie a bunch more once it hits the premium channels, but I just didn’t fall in love with it as much as a lot of you did. I’m really sorry about that, too, ’cause I really wanted to love it. Something just didn’t work for me entirely, and I can’t put my finger on it exactly.

Things were heating up in the news world this week. Back when NBC announced they had hired Megyn Kelly from Fox News, Today co-anchor Tamron Hall abruptly quit, reportedly because her contract was about to expire. Industry insiders, however, believe it was because it was rumored that Kelly would be given the third hour of Today – where Hall was currently the co-anchor of Today’s Take. Well, that’s somewhat true, as this week it was revealed that Kelly’s show will premiere September 25th, and will feature a live studio audience, like a traditional talk show. It will, in fact, occupy the third hour of Today, sandwiched between the regular Today and the Kathie Lee & Hoda hour of Today. Not to be outdone, it was also announced that Tamron Hall is developing a daytime talk show with Weinstein Television. It’s also believed that, in several major markets, this talk show will go head to head with Kelly’s daytime show. Now the race is on to see which one of them earns the coveted “Fake News” label first!

In other television news, CBS announced an upcoming animated special called Michael Jackson’s Halloween, which sounds kinda sketchy. Apparently, it’s about two Millennials (there’s THAT buzzword), which is basically to say “two shits too young to appreciate the King of Pop’s music”. Anyway, they meet at a party, end up at a weird hotel, and crazy stuff happens – all capped off by a dance number by an animated Michael. If you ask me, he already contributed his greatest gift to the Halloween industry: “Thriller”! Unless this is just a one-hour animated version of “Thriller”, I don’t think the world needs this. Somebody tell his mama to stop letting his estate make crap like this.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

John Cho joins Fox’s The Exorcist next season. While some are all, “Yay, representation!”, I’m like “Why the F is Sulu doing television?!” Well, I guess since Kumar’s already doing television…

In a move that’s somewhat baffling to me, Lucy Liu will direct the season 2 premiere of Netflix’s Luke Cage

Speaking of Netflix, Bojack Horseman season 4 will premiere on September 8th.

Fresh of the Boat dad Randall Park has been cast as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man & The Wasp

Netflix has also renewed the Castlevania animated series for a second season

Jeremy Renner essentially broke both arms while filming the movie Tag, though it’s not expected to affect production on Avengers: Infinity War.

Smallville‘s Lois Lane, Erica Durance, is taking over the role of Alura from Laura Benanti on Supergirl.

Despite flopping in North America, the Baywatch film is on track to make $100 million overseas

Showtime is planning a sequel to the hit lesbian series The L Word. If it were up to me, it’d be called The K Word, and it would be about non-binary gender Millennials as they make their way through NYC, but nobody pays me for these ideas, so…

After 27 years of voicing Kermit the Frog, it was revealed that Steve Whitmire was fired back in October, and it currently lobbying to get his job back. Apparently, it’s not east being Steve.

In probably the biggest TV news this week (at least for the geek set), it was announced that AT&T Lily herself, Milana Vayntrub, has been cast as Squirrel Girl in Marvel’s New Warriors on Freeform. I cared NOTHING about this show until that announcement. It still doesn’t really inspire any confidence for me, as I don’t know if the superhero comedy genre works on television (see Powerless), but I’m definitely more inclined to check it out than I had been prior to the announcement. I mean, who doesn’t love that chick?! I love her in the commercials, I loved her in Other Space, and I even loved her as a bitchy ex-girlfriend in Love. Here’s hoping this leads to the big break she deserves. It was a slow entertainment news week so, ya know what, Milana Vayntrub had the Breas…I mean West Week Ever.

[zdbztumble]

“Man of Steel” review

My old review of this flick, written when it came out. I stand by it.

Let me get this out of the way up-front; on top of my local critic’s lack of discretion and my aesthetic tastes (more on that later), I am absolutely in love with the original Richard Donner Superman film, and with his cut of Superman II. I am aware that the comics and character have evolved since then, and I hardly consider that take on Superman the only valid one in cinema or television, or the only good one. I can’t honestly say that my affection for the Donner films - for their two romantic leads, their Kryptonians, and John Williams' score specifically - didn’t color my ultimate opinion on Man of Steel, but I was as open as I possibly could be, and I leave any comparisons out of this review. I also don’t feel that I would compare the two takes so much in my head if Man of Steel didn’t feel so much like a repeat.

A common charge thrown at Superman Returns by its critics is that it was too close to the original Donner film; Luthor is the villain again and he has a real estate scheme, Brando was brought back from the dead, Superman takes Lois on a flight over the city, and so on. But Man of Steel feels much more like a retread to me – not just of Superman I and  II (though it shares so many of their basic plot points), but of other recent interpretations of the character, such as the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini animated series and “Smallville.” Compounding the problem, certain aspects of these previous adaptations have since been incorporated into the comics.

I rather liked Superman Returns, and have no problems with its close ties to the first two films. When no one involved in the production made any secret that that connection was intentional, it’s hard for me to understand why that became such an issue for others.  But Man of Steel, precisely because everyone involved with the picture was determined for this to be a fresh start, suffers much more from a sense of “been there, done that." Even worse, Man of Steel, if you were to look at it on paper, has far more potential than its predecessors; it creates more complicated motives, back stories, and feelings for the characters. But very little of that lived up to the potential in my eyes. In every area where Man of Steel shares plot or thematic material with a previous adaptation, I find the predecessor to be superior, often getting a richer stew out of simpler ingredients.

Setting that aside and taking this film on its own merits –I found Man of Steel to be visually bleak and tonally heavy. It has an uneven pace, severe editing issues, a tendency to tell rather than show when it came to anything emotional, a lack of real characterization for anyone outside our main hero and villain, too much crammed in to the ending, and some questionable choices made in that ending.

And yet…in some respects, I was pleasantly surprised.

My biggest concern going in, given what I had seen and read of the picture, was that Superman himself was going to end up a depressed, brooding figure devoid of the charm and confidence that the character typically exudes. Those fears were – partially –assuaged. I would not call Henry Cavill “perfect casting;” I cannot say I found his a stellar performance.  But he did give a very good one, and he did manage to capture that, for lack of a more appropriate term, Boy Scout quality that Clark Kent has. The moment where he comforts Lois as he treats her wounds in the Fortress of Solitude (in all but name) in particular stood out in my mind. It was also neat to see Superman, in costume, testing his powers. Though – and this is a nitpick, to be sure – wouldn’t you think that he would have found out that he could fly by age 33? In short, my biggest fear became my greatest pleasant shock, although I do wish he had more confidence in his interactions with Lois and the military, and I had issues with the depiction of his childhood.

The flashback structure, which has Superman recollecting childhood events out of order, is technically more realistic to how memory works, and for the most part it was effective. I do understand complaints I’ve read that having these flashbacks occur sequentially could have been easier to read. At least one instance towards the beginning saw the gap in the flashbacks last only a few seconds, a very awkward moment.

 I did enjoy the scene where a grade-school Clark has a panicked episode, struggling to control his powers. That one scene alone was all that was needed to sell the growing pains that would come with such abilities. It would have been nice to see a teenaged Clark getting some enjoyment out of his powers, but that’s a fairly minor point. I liked Ma Kent throughout the film. But I had a very hard time with this film’s Jonathan Kent. Part of this problem is just an issue with some technical matter of writing; like the Dark Knight Trilogy, the amount of exposition and theme-stating dialogue in Man of Steel wore me down pretty quick, and Jonathan was the mouth piece for much of it. But Jonathan’s character really bothered me. It’s one thing to advise your son with superpowers that it’s best for him to keep them hidden until the right time: it’s quite another to tell that same kid, since before he’s old enough for his voice to crack, that he will alter all religion, philosophy, and perceptions of man’s place in the universe, and that it was possibly OK to let a bus full of school children – his classmates – die. The amount of pressure he applies to this kid goes to the point where it should be causing some serious damage. This amount of concern – I’d go so far as to say paranoia – also seems to be at odds with the sort of upbringing and morals that the Kents are supposed to instill in Superman, according to the character's own backstory.

I’m going to have to echo every complaint and issue I’ve seen raised over Jonathan Kent’s death. As many have already noted before me, we’ve gone from “all these powers and I couldn’t save him” to “all these powers and I didn’t save him.” On top of the moral issues, which have been sufficiently covered by other reviewers, the set-up for the death feels very arbitrary. Jonathan handing off that little kid to Clark didn’t read as Jonathan trying to mask Clark’s powers; it read as him trying to shepard everyone else to safety before joining them. And if Jonathan could make it over to the car to let the dog out at normal human speeds, so could Clark, and with the other cars obscuring peoples’ vision and the general chaos caused by the tornado, there was no reason not to let Clark grab the dog. Thematically, the death doesn’t seem to accomplish much beyond emphasizing a theme that had already been stated in dialogue over and over; that Clark shouldn’t reveal his powers until the right time. And by “the right time,” Jonathan and Clark apparently didn’t consider anything short of “evildoers with the same sorts of powers as Clark coming to Earth and threatening to destroy it, creating a climate of panic in which no one has any reason to believe that Clark's on the level since he hasn’t revealed himself before now” to fit the bill.

I can’t be too hard on that last point though, because I didn’t feel the film really gave much of a sense of the world’s reaction to Superman. For all the dialogue and all the weight put on that point, the only people who are really shown reacting to the reveal are Lois and the military.

I love Amy Adams, and she’s an amazing actress, but I got very little sense of a personality from this Lois Lane. She and Henry Cavill have some chemistry, but I think the film would have been better served by saving their romantic turn for a sequel. Up until their first kiss, their relationship is one of mutual gratitude and a limited sort of affection; the sudden shift into romance at the end felt very forced. I was also confused as to why Lois needed to be around in the second half of the story. Zod didn’t need to take her along on his ship; he probed Superman’s mind anyway, and Superman's mind had to have contained the location of the pod, the bit of information that we're told Zod took from Lois. The plot demanded someone else be around in Zod’s ship to upload Jor-El and learn how to defeat the villains, but the way in which that figure - Lois - was placed in the ship felt very inorganic, rather like Jonathan’s death. The same applies for Lois being on the plane that flies the pod into Zod’s ship. When it turned out that she wasn’t even the one who activates the Phantom drive, it became really hard to find any sort of justification for her to be there other than to let Superman save her – a note they had already played twice.

My biggest problem with this film in terms of casting was Zod. If Richard Lester undermined the menace of Zod through sight gags and eye rolls, Michael Shannon undermines, not only Zod’s menace, but his believability as a commander through his performance. It’s the first time I can remember thinking an actor was wooden and hammy at the same time. This story has Kryptonian destinies set at birth, and Zod’s was that of the warrior, but I don’t remember anything that said he had to become the supreme general tasked with security of Krypton. Shannon’s Zod doesn’t seem to have any of the charm or commanding presence such a post would demand; he comes off as a foot-soldier, a rather insecure and mentally unstable one. Granted, that did seem to be the point, but Shannon’s performance creates a character who is so obviously off-balance that it’s hard to believe that no one would have suspected that maybe – just maybe – this guy shouldn’t be given the keys to the kingdom. For all the attempts in the dialogue to create moral ambiguity and nuance in our main villain, little to none of it was tangible as an organic, believable feeling; “tell, don’t show” at its most frustrating. This Zod also doesn’t seem to be the brightest tool in the shed: when I want to persuade the son of Jor-El to join me in planetary conquest while probing his mind, I tend not to show him images of his beloved childhood home aflame or oceans of human skulls.

The Codex didn’t seem to be much more than an excuse for the Kryptonians to come a-calling, and once it’s revealed that it’s inside Superman, there’s never any situation that pays that information off. Couldn’t they just decide that Earth was a suitable terraform candidate and move in? As for how their conquest goes; I thought Smallville, Metropolis, and the not-quite Fortress of Solitude getting destroyed all in one movie was too much, especially for a first entry in a new series. The shift in action from Smallville to Metropolis is rather abrupt. I also found the editing in the action sequences terrible. I had a very hard time following anything that happened. And I agree with all the complaints about Superman’s property damage; telling people “get inside” doesn’t do much good when you and the U.S. military end up destroying the whole town anyway (and shouldn’t the army have at least some qualms about launching an airstrike on a town not yet evacuated?) In the finale, the fight moves from the already-destroyed part of Metropolis to the thriving part that is clearly not evacuated, as we can see all the cars lining the streets. I realize Zod drove the fight there, but Superman does nothing to resist this and does nothing to take the fight away from the populated area. I don’t need Superman to fly around fixing and saving every last building and kitten, but shouldn’t he at least be a little bothered by it?

The ending, wherein Superman slays his nemesis, has caused considerable controversy. I read Goyer and Snyder’s explanation and defense of it, and in theory, I accept their decision. However, in execution, I had four big problems:

1.      I’m sorry, but those people in the museum  were the equivalent of the woman who thought throwing herself over her baby carriage was better than pushing it out of the way of the radio tower in Superman  II. If the idea was that the rubble of that pillar had them trapped, then the blocking and the shooting both dropped the ball, because it looked like all they had to do was run forward and to their left to get away from Zod, who was inexplicably holding the heat ray steady on the wall.

2.      Superman had Zod in a headlock, and he can fly; why not just lift Zod out of the museum?

3.      If Superman can snap Zod’s neck –a bit odd when they both can smash each other through buildings without a scratch – he can also break his arms, legs, and back. Leaving Zod a cripple in  prison is extreme, but it’s another choice besides killing him.

4.      The arc Snyder and Goyer described – that killing Zod and ending his race was enough to drive Superman to never kill again – gets no set-up or pay-off. The moral issue that is stated (and re-stated….and re-stated) prior to this is – should Clark expose himself to the world? How to use those powers, the rules and limitations Clark/Kal-El should set for himself, never comes up, nor does any sort of thought on the subject of killing people. And the scream of frustration did not feel like enough to sell the point Snyder and Goyer wanted. Of all the moments in the film that could have used some speechifying, this was a big one. That the loss of all things Kryptonian would be that much of a blow to Superman is a bit hard to swallow anyway when he has no qualms about taking out the Genesis ship – the ship that, as far as he knows at that point, is the only means he has of connecting with his father. There was a comic where Superman – speaking to Mr. Mxyzptlk, of all people – declares why he doesn’t kill, as plain as Batman’s declaration of his One Rule. That this got no mention in the film outside of statements by its makers is rather troubling, and I’m surprised by the defense that it’s gotten.

And while I don’t have a problem with Snyder and Goyer’s  reasoning on this scene, I read an interview with comic writer Mark Waid where he made a good case for not only not having this sort of scene to begin with, but not trying to play Superman as “one of us.” Superman, as a character, is designed to be inspirational, someone we'd like to be.

As I’ve said, I felt the pacing was uneven. For example, the Kryptonian sequence gets off to a very abrupt start, then drags on past its welcome. Tonally, the film doesn’t quite echo the sentiments that the dialogue tries to convey. I didn’t get a sense of “hope” so much as “extremely cautious first steps towards guarded optimism.” The one time I laughed, it was at an inappropriate time; something Zod said while being sentenced made me crack up, thanks to Shannon’s delivery.

 There were also two points about the Kryptonian technology that threw me. I won’t call them plot holes, because I had a hard time catching all the lines in the scenes where these issues came up, so if there’s an explanation, tell me. The two points are:

1.      If those suits of armour are blocking out the effects of Earth’s sun, how are the supervillains able to get super strength and speed?

2.      When Lois uploads Jor-El to Zod’s ship – he’s able to change the atmosphere, open doors, and activate escape pods. I don’t remember any moment where any of Zod’s crew wipe Jor-El from the ship, and the ability to do so isn’t established until Zod pulls out his crystal and commands the Genesis ship to get rid of Jor-El. If Jor-El wasn’t erased, couldn’t he have stopped the terraforming device?

As far as the aesthetics go, some might dismiss these matters as nitpicking; I wouldn’t, but I will concede that it is (mostly) a case of personal preference. The aesthetics of this film are almost completely opposite to my own tastes and instincts, particularly when it concerns a character like Superman. Be it the degree of desaturation in the image, the amount and type of handheld work in the cinematography, the style of editing, the design of anything Kryptonian, or the sort of musical score employed, Man of Steel is just not my cup of tea, and the trailers and previews I had seen were enough to tell me that going in. Again, for the most part this issue is a matter of personal taste rather than actual quality, although I do think the editing is a real problem in the film. I also think that the music is rather ineffective. I haven’t made much of a secret of the fact that I’m not a Zimmer fan, but I can at least recognize, recall, and hum a fair number of his themes from the Dark Knight Trilogy. I can’t recall a single theme from this film. Literally the only piece of music I remember is one note played by the horns in the trailer, and I remember that only because I was struck by how small the horn section of a major motion picture score sounded.

Now, this is a pretty negative review. On a numerical scale, I’d give this film 5 out of 10. Editing aside, I found the film technically well put-together. Despite my total lack of interest in seeing the origin story – again – I did enjoy certain aspects of it, and I enjoyed Russell Crowe as Jor-El. As I’ve already said, I liked the portrayal of Superman himself. This was far from a terrible film. But as a whole, the aspects that struck me most were those that rubbed me the wrong way.