Movie Review

Movie Review: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)

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THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, 1980
Movie Review
Directed by Irvin Kershner
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing
Review by Andrew Kosarko

SYNOPSIS:

THE EMPIRE STRIKE BACK continues creator George Lucas’s epic saga where STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE left off. The Rebel Forces–which include young adventurer Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), rogue pilot Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and the beautiful but seemingly humorless Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher)–have been successful in destroying the Evil Empire’s Death Star. However, the Empire’s top commander, the terrifying Lord Darth Vader (played by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), is scanning the galaxy for the Rebels’ secret location. After a visually stunning showdown on the ice planet Hoth, the Rebels are forced to flee, and Luke separates from Han and Leia. Masterful storytelling weaves multiple, archetypal plotlines that pit Vader against Han and Leia as he desperately attempts to capture Luke for political–and, secretly, personal–reasons. Luke, meanwhile, finds himself under the tutelage of the tiny but powerful old Jedi Master Yoda, who teaches him the ways of the Force and warns the impatient but talented student against the threat of the Dark Side.

REVIEW:

The movie that redefined sequels, franchises and “dark” movies in general. This movie changed the way we see and make films. It is complex and fun. It’s dark and emotionally tearing. It’s innovate, fresh and original, yet still loyal to the archetypes of old. It’s also proof that other people do a better job filming George Lucas’ ideas than Mr. Lucas himself.

The Story: What can I say? The movie has a narrative outline that has you guessing from the start. Until this point, sequels (sans Godfather pt. 2) really just followed the same outline as the first installment, with writers playing Mad Libs in their creation. This film takes place shortly after a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Our characters have moved on a bit from when we last left them so we’re already hooked to catch up with them before they take off for their newest arcs. Luke is kicking ass as the leader of the rebels, Han Solo is sticking around to do what he feels is right, and Leia is keeping her mouth shut about something.

After the end of A New Hope………who the hell saw all that coming? Well, don’t worry, cuz we’re running past that right away. Han decides he’s gonna blow town and get Jabba off his back so he can….well we never do find out where he’d go after that. I, personally, always believed that he just did that little song and dance to get Leia to out herself and her feelings for him. Space pirates need lovin too. And our boy Luke? Well, when he’s not being used as a pawn in Han and Leia’s love games (which is really sick if you think about it), he’s right back to disobeying his mentors. In this case, the amazing Yoda. And no kiddies, this was before talking in backwards fragments was cool. Obi Wan is ghosting around on occasion, but the real haunting presence comes from Darth Vader, looking for the young rebel who screwed up their plans in the first movie, seeking his revenge. Err….so we think.

Then we find out that Vader is actually after him to try and give him a sales pitch to join the bad guy club. Uh…wait…nope, we’re wrong again. And then we get hit with the biggest and greatest twist in movie history (The 6th sense can kiss Empire’s ass). Oh, and did a mention we get Billy Dee Williams as a Diet Han Solo? Well…..when you have someone as badass as Billy Dee in a side role, you gotta water him down so not to steal the sun from Harrison. All that leads to a culmination of ends for all the characters. You never guess how Luke will end his training, how Han pays his debt to Jabba, Darth’s sales pitch to Luke. All the stories going on are incredibly impossible to predict, which, in my opinion, is what makes a great movie. In this case, one of the absolute undisputed BEST of all time.

Acting: Everyone really steps up here. Maybe it’s because Kershner gave them something past “Faster and more intense.” Hamill is able to play the whiney and emotional character that Hayden Christianson wishes he could have been allowed to hit. Harrison Ford really understands what Han Solo is all about. Not that he didn’t in the first, but you can just really feel the pirate badass in him this go around. Carrie Fisher does a fantastic job as well. For once I have a female lead who is a badass fighter…..and it doesn’t feel forced or “in the movie to have an independent woman.” She’s not trying to be any of those, she just is. Which is what makes her the best female heroin I believe I’ve ever seen. Her emotions are real, she’s still a woman, but still holds a sense of reason and accountability.Directing: Irvin Kershner is my hero. Character directing is what I love the most, favoring it over plot directing. Kershner knows how to blend the characterization with the plot and doesn’t over do it the way Lucas does in the prequels. The story moves through them and we actually care about the characters in a way we never thought we could. We really feel like we’re in it with them and at the end of the first time you see this movie, you’re pretty flabbergasted at what the hell just happened. The mark of great directing if you ask me.

Cinematography: Well done for what it was. I know that filming in snow is a ridiculous and very ambitious job, but I love them for it. The sets of Hoth are beautifully photographed and really open up the worlds. It doesn’t feel like we’re in the arctic. We’re on another world. And that all subtlety comes through the way it’s shot.

Production Design: Once again, excellent. This is before George Lucas was able to go CGI crazy on the film and take the realism out of them.

Editing: Bar far, absolutely great. The dogfights, the chases, the lightsaber duel. All of the above are just so well handled and paced. The movie never really lags sans a couple bits with C3PO, but it flows very well. It’s in, tells ya what you need to know and makes you feel what you need, and then moves on.

Score: John Williams is film composer God. Need I say anymore?

Special Effects: Impressive. Most impressive. A step up from the original, the colors of the lightsabers are better maintained this go around. The Imperial walkers are very realistic, as are the speeders and other ships within the film. All well designed and shot.

In closing: “In every great story, you know that when you launch into the second act, everything goes to hell. And that’s usually the best part of any story.” That’s a loosely paraphrased quote from Lawrence Kasdan, one of the producers, during Empire of Dreams. I live my screenwriting life off that quote because it’s so true. It’s very much echoed in the superhero films of modern day – because they’re franchises. Spider-man 2, Superman II, The Dark Knight and no doubt countless more to come. There’s a great quote from Spider-man in which the Green Goblin explains to Peter, “The one thing people love more than a hero is to see a hero fail. Fall. Die trying.” The epitome of drama is in the fall from heaven and this movie makes you realize how hard you can fall. George Lucas is a master architect of story plot, just not always the best person to tell them. The Empire Strikes Back is a sci-fi epic tragedy that connects us closer to the characters that we thought were just “really cool” at one point. But now we hate them, love them, feel for them. Because of this movie, we’re in it with them. We’re ready to embrace our destinies and do what needs to be done in the next go around……

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Movie Review: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

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STAR WARS, 1977
Movie Review
Directed by George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford
Review by Andrew Kosarko

Read Interview with Star Wars Storyboard Artist Kurt Van der Basch

SYNOPSIS:

As the adventure begins, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), an impulsive but goodhearted young man who lives on the dusty planet of Tatooine with his aunt and uncle, longs for the exciting life of a Rebel soldier. The Rebels, led by the headstrong Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), are fighting against the evil Empire, which has set about destroying planets inhabited by innocent citizens with the Death Star, a fearsome planetlike craft commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) and the eternally frightful Darth Vader (David Prowse, with the voice of James Earl Jones). When Luke’s aunt and uncle are murdered by the Empire’s imperial stormtroopers and he mysteriously finds a distress message from Princess Leia in one of his androids, R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), he must set out to find Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), a mysterious old hermit with incredible powers. On his journey, Luke is aided by the roguish, sarcastic mercenary Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his towering furry sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) as they run into a host of perilous situations while trying to rescue the princess–and the entire galaxy.

REVIEW:

A long time ago, in a Hollywood far, far away…..George Lucas was an innovative film maker. Well, I’m a little shocked. I can’t believe this film series has been reviewed yet. So I’m doing it before anyone else beats me to the punch. I also think it’s kind of interesting seeing as I’m one of the few people to “review the first Star Wars Film” after the prequels have come out. So lets get into it, shall we?

The Story: The perfect depiction of “the heroes’ journey.” Anyone who has an interest in storytelling should study this film along with the ideals of the Heroes’ Journey. The structure is perfect. There’s never a boring moment, the story is always pushing forward and revealing more and more about our characters. Those characters are also, near perfect with defining attributes that you would never question their purpose of involvement. Luke Skywalker is at the start of his journey under the guidance of Obi-wan Kenobi. Accompanied by our outside eyes and ears, the druids of C3PO and R2D2, they join forced with the rugged pirate Han Solo and his furry side kick, Chewbacca. Not only does Lucas have excellent stories to tell, but he tells it in a masterful of ways. Chewbacca never speaks a word of English, nor has subtitles and yet we understand everything he’s saying by others’ retorts. Same with R2D2. Obi-wan is wise and mysterious, teaching without teaching. Han Solo, well, one of my favorite words in my reviews is “badass.” And there is no other word that can describe him. And last but not least, we have our strong heroin who is just as tough, if not stronger, than her farm boy brother. The real strength in this film is the story. Luke progresses from farm boy, to new adventurer to growing hero, to a savior of the rebellion. And of course, no one can forget the greatest villain of all time, Darth Vader. It just doesn’t get more evil and sinister than him.

Acting: In the documentary, “Empire of Dreams” which I would suggest to anyone after they’ve seen the Original Trilogy, Carrie Fisher speaks of George Lucas’ dialogue; “You can write this stuff but you can’t speak it.” Which is why the acting is so extraordinary in this film. It’s the same dialogue in the new prequels, but notice how it’s not hard to listen to when Luke or Leia speak it, opposed to Hayden Christianson.

Mark Hamill / Luke Skywalker – Now, Star Wars, in a sense, is “before my time.” I know absolutely nothing of Mark Hamill’s early work. All I know is he did a Christmas episode with the muppets and later went on to portray the voice of the Joker on Batman the animated series. Nevertheless, Hamill is the perfect casting for the young farm boy with a heart of gold and the naïve courage to march into a detention center.

Carrie Fisher / Princess Leia Organa – Now I wasn’t around during the feminist era, but I’m sure this was a product or lightning rod of it. Fisher plays the role strong and intelligent. She’s a damsel in distress, but she fights back instead of waiting for the hero to come save her. She is the personification of the Rebellion.

Harrison Ford / Han Solo – I know this role has lead to so many other things for Ford, but I don’t think he’s had a better role. Blade Runner comes close, but still. Han Solo is his defining role. He’s smart, charming, clever, bold, head strong and selfish. I can’t think of a more enjoyable role to play without being a bad guy.

Alec Guinness / Obi Wan Kenobi – The man delivers every line like it’s Shakespeare, and it was just what was needed seeing as these films are the closest we’ve gotten since Billy-Bob Shakespeare put his pen down. Guinness is strikes us as honorable, wise and trustworthy from the second he shows up. Although, to this day I still wonder how he made that weird ass whistling noise to scare off the sand people.

Directing: “Faster and more intense” was Lucas’ main direction to his cast. Which I wish he could have resurrected that phrase when directing the slow prequels. He’s at his best here with the limitations that he had to deal with. This was hard, dirty, gritty rough hands work. Which is one of the strengths of the film. It’s realism in it’s production design and even in the visual and special effects. Lucas did the best he could with what he had.

Cinematography: Old school 70’s cinematography. While there isn’t any really ground breaking shots or techniques in the realistic shots, it’s still well covered.

Production Design: Very strong. It’s futuristic, er, well, in this case, historic. Well, it’s far more advanced than what we ever, at the time of it’s release, thought possible. Or even dreamed. Yet it has a slightly gritty look to it. Not a Bladerunner look per say, but still, not sterile either. It really helps establish the world(s) that we’re playing in as believable.

Editing: For the most part it’s sufficient for what it does. I still don’t know how the shot of the storm trooper bumping his head on the door when they bust in and find C3PO and R2D2 was left in, but ok, whatever. Where I do have to give it some credit is covering the lightsaber duel between Vader and Kenobi. Guinness being his age and only instructed in proper swordsman ship was limited in what he could do (Check out some of the special features and the footage from it all). The edit makes it look like he still has some fight in him.

STAR WARS IMAGESScore: One of the truly remarkable aspects of the entire film. It lifts the material from the scale of amazing to epic. John Williams hit two big scores (no pun intended) in this era with both Star Wars and Jaws. He establishes himself as one who doesn’t resort to gimmicks and remains with the classical approach to music writing, while keeping in tune with the emotional context of the story.

Special Effects: Now this is what’s groundbreaking. There’s a great collaboration between the production team and the visual effects team. The ships combined with the green screens and compilations of layers create some of the most realistic and invigorating elements in the film. The shots and editing can’t really be complimented, seeing as most of them are ripped off from old stock footage of dog fights.

In closing: The beginning of great film making starts here, and ends in the same place. George Lucas both created the most amazing aspects of the film world and then bastardized them by abusing them too much. Letting them spew out into other films and basically demolishing the “aww factor” in movies. The work done in this film was earned and hard done. Lately the cinema business has become lazy and cheaper with the same mind set. Sadly, it takes all the fun out of the movies. Regardless of it’s lasting effects in movies, this film still stands the test of time. It’s engaging, entertaining, interesting and fun. And it’s got a little bit, ok, a LOT of moral lesson whipped into it. But it’s neither preachy nor too subtle. Star Wars is the movie of our century. It still effects film making today, and will remain to for many years to come.

 

 

 

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Movie Review: MAN OF STEEL (2013)

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MOVIE POSTERMAN OF STEEL, 2013
Movie Reviews

Director: Zack Snyder

Stars: Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon

Review by Joshua Starnes

SYNOPSIS:

An alien infant is raised on Earth, and grows up with superhuman abilities. He sets out to use these abilities to guard his adopted world.

REVIEW:

Superman may be the most difficult of all the iconic superheroes to tell stories about. He is so powerful he defies the ability to fall into peril or crisis; he is so upstanding he defies the likelihood of meeting challenges with the darker sides of human nature. He defies all of the usual milestones storytellers use for creating conflict and drama.

Because of that many writers are unsure of what to do with him — do they play him straight, risking making him humorless and dull, or do they mock how straight he is and risk making him a joke.

In theory some sort of middle ground is the best way to go, but that is easier said than done and director Zack Snyder’s (“Watchmen”) has come down more or less on the straight side for “Man of Steel,” his reboot of the Superman franchise.

Unlike “Spiderman” it’s been long enough since Richard Donner first took the character on in the late 70s that a reboot is not a bad idea. And it’s been said that Superman is so plot-breakingly powerful the only real story he has is his origin, his decision to become Superman in the first place.

The basic story should be familiar even to non-fans. With the destruction of his planet Krypton eminent, scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) hastily builds a ship to send his only son (Henry Cavill) away, where he will eventually land in Kansas, planet Earth. There the unique atmosphere and solar radiation gives him power like no man has had before and with it a question he doesn’t even know how to begin answering; what to do with all that power?

It’s a good way to approach the character, but if Snyder’s film is anything to go by the answer mainly seems to be ‘beating up other superpeople and destroying lots of stuff.’ If that is the end all and be all of what you want from a superhero movie then “Man of Steel” is going to be all that you’re looking for. If you want any more than that, particularly in the character and story department, you might be in for a little disappointment.

Not that it is completely absent in that regard. Screenwriter David Goyer (working from a story with his old “Dark Knight” co-hort Christopher Nolan) does seem to have actually thought long and hard about what growing up with Superman’s powers would be like, how that would affect the individual dealing with them, and how the world would react to discovering such a person living in their midst.

They’ve come up with several different answers to that, from Kal-El’s adopted Earth parents (Kevin Costner & Debra Winger) telling him to hide what he can do, to his own sense of moral questioning about his place in the world and whether or not he can actually refrain from having a simple human reaction to some normal human provocation.

But that sort of intelligent examination of character takes up a lot of time if done right, which would take away from time being devoted to superstrong people trying to bash each other’s brains in. We can’t have that, so character and thematic development have to be squashed to quick flash backs (devoted as much to showing young Kal/Clark using his super gifts as anything else) and short interludes to make certain this two and a half hour movie never suffers from a lack of action.

The result, besides some often abbreviated character work (it’s unclear, for instance, why Perry White is even in the film) is an extremely uneven pace particularly the beginning which must rush through an extremely quick and not entirely clear opening sequence on Krypton through Clark’s early childhood so that by the end of the first hour he has already grown up, traveled to the far north, met the ghost of his father, saved intrepid reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams) from an alien security robot and decided to become Superman. Complete with red boots.

And, oh yes, alerted his father’s age old enemy (Michael Shannon) to his whereabouts leaving the Earth with far more than just one alien to worry about.

Snyder has an excellent visual sense for action sequences and the unlimited power of Superman and unlimited budget of Warner Bros. create a great outlet for it — he has spent an in ordinate amount of time figuring out what these sort of action scenes would be like — the full scale of superman’s power is frequently on screen. And by frequently I mean more than half of the running time. Fully the entire last half of the film is given over to extended battles between Superman and Zod (or his lieutenants).

Individually each is fantastic in and of itself, particularly the extended battle against Faora (Antje Trau) in Smallville, who actually makes a far better villain than Shannon who seems to bounce continually from being very flat and very over the top and never with the gravitas required.

But barely is there any breathing room from that sequence before the next is getting underway. In their desire to make sure the audience gets what they want out of “Man of Steel” the filmmakers have ignored the most basic rules of story structure, skipping right over rising action in order to have a constant stream of climaxes, forgetting that without one the other doesn’t work. After a while it’s just overwhelming and a little over done.

There honestly is a lot to like about “Man of Steel.” It looks great and is technically resplendent. Snyder has put together an excellent ensemble and when he bothers to use them they shine. It’s just a little too rushed to make room for too many actions scenes which we are ultimately emotionally dislocated from due to the lack of developed story. It’s not a bad start but it could be better. On the optimistic side there is a lot of room to get better and hopefully, with the start out of the way, the next try will be better yet.

ACTORZack Snyder
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORHenry Cavill
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORAmy Adams
Best of the ARTIST
ACTORRussell Crowe
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORMichael Shannon Clark
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORKevin Costner
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORDiane Lane
Best of the ARTIST
ACTORLaurence Fishburne
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORChristopher Meloni
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORJadin Gould
Best of the ARTIST
ACTORAntje Traue
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORRichard Schiff
Best of the ARTIST		 ACTORAyelet Zurer
Best of the ARTIS

 

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Movie Review: SUPERMAN RETURNS, 2006

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SUPERMAN RETURNS MOVIE POSTER
SUPERMAN RETURNS, 2006
Classic Movie Review
Directed by Bryan Singer
Starring Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Parker Posey, James Marsden
Review by Andrew Kosarko

 

SYNOPSIS:

For five years, Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away from Earth, coaxed into space by a belief that Krypton may still exist. Finding nothing, he comes back to a changed world–not only has terrorism become rampant, but Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has married, started a family, and won the Pulitzer for her piece “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” After a stop in Smallville to see his adopted mother (Eva Marie Saint), Superman is back in Metropolis, and Clark Kent has his old job back at the Daily Planet, with everyone still incredibly oblivious to his alter ego. But where there’s Superman, there’s Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), and he is likely to be planning something dastardly–in this case, using a piece of pilfered kryptonite to grow an entirely new continent that he will control.

REVIEW:

This is not the Superman movie we all wanted. That’s pretty much a nutshell so you prepped for how the rest of this review is going to go. The ….well…..we’ll get to all of it as we go so I don’t harp over the same things repeatedly…..

The Story:

So Superman is homesick to a home he never knew and apparently, some NASA scientists think they found that his planet didn’t actually blow up and that it’s still there. That’s about as much of this movie that’s going to make sense for you until the ridiculousness butts in and overtakes it. Ignoring everything he’s learned from his dead father’s crystal in the fortress of solitude, Superman somehow fit himself into the tiny space ship he originally came to earth in and got it to fly again, piloted it back to where his home was supposed to be, found out NASA wasn’t on their game (anyone surprised? Anyone?) and now returns to earth after a long long time. Now all this takes place off screen, which in my opinion would have been pretty interesting to see him struggle with the decision of leaving and how the heck he did all the things I listed above.

But that’s neither here nor there. Let’s get to it. Lex got out of prison (because Superman violated his rights when he stopped him = aka a technicality let him loose. I buy it. Good job movie) and then swindled some old lady out of her fortune. So now he’s a clean slate with a boat load of money. Hey….wait a second….are we trying to get him back on track with the comics version of Lex Luthor? Maybe….or maybe not. He’s still after this whole “I want land and to kill tons of people” deal. Psssst….Lex just hates Superman. He’s not a mass murderer or money hungry. Lex Luthor’s hatred for Superman is based on the ideal that Superman restrains society from bettering themselves. A good metaphor is that Lex is the son of an overprotective parent, but he’s ready to move out of the house and be on his own. Make sense? Hopefully it does. But ok, so we need a villain for the movie. Lex wants land, I’ll take it. So in retrospect, this film is supposed to take place after Superman II (aka – Richard Pryor, Jacoby and Myers guy and Nuclear Man never happened), so Lex knows where and how the Fortress of solitude is. So with his new yacht and his criminal cronies, he sets forth on a venture to take some crystals from the Fortress to make his own weapons and…you guessed it, his own island (key part of that last word = land). Superman, however, returns to the world and finds out they don’t care about him anymore. That is, until Lois’ plane launches into space. How she survived that many years without him, I have no idea. But he saves her in the most thrilling movie scene I’ve ever witnessed. This scene was just so….Superman. I loved it. And then the movie dies and spirals downwards. Superstalking of Lois, Lois and Superman had a kid (how the hell the kid didn’t kill her when he was kicking in the womb is beyond me. Maybe because he hadn’t been exposed to sunlight – which is what gives Big Blue his power, but still at least they gave him asthma. A realistic effect of interbreeding two different species.) So after about an hour an a half of boring, the movie picks up with a glimmer of hope. Lex forges his new island, shanks Superman in the back with a jarred piece of kryptonite and throws him off a cliff. Ok, I’m awake again. Then Lois finds him in the water and pulls him out. Problem not so dramatically solved. Meanwhile, Lex and his crew are chilling on the island doing nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. And then there’s this whole forgotten part of the story. Lex outlined his evil plan to Lois on the boat about how the island would displace water and kill millions, err, BILLIONS of people. And yeah…no title wave. Not even high tide. In internet language, this would be called an “Epic Fail.” But we’re not done yet. Superman, now pissed and charged up in the sunlight decides that the same island, which in case you don’t remember is made partially of kryptonite, decides that the same island he was stabbed and beaten on before because he was too weak to walk on it, well he’s just going to go swimming and lift that sucker out of the ocean and throw it into space. Alright, I’ll grant him a little leniency. Willpower and adrenaline can make people do some crazy stuff. Then, after he plays island toss he falls to the ground (passing right by the sun mind you which would have re-powered him instantly) and is in a supercoma. Now the doctors easily rip off a costume that repels bullets, then try and poke him with needles like they think it’s going to work. But the biggest problem is, they know how he ticks. They know sunlight powers him and his skin is tough and all that. And so what do they do? They put him in a hospital room……and SHUT THE BLINDS. Are you freaking kidding me? And then Lois comes in and plants a magic wake up kiss on him and that’s that. He’s back to super stalking her and now his estranged child (who mind you threw a piano and killed a guy earlier. Very Super-man like. NOT.) And Lex is stuck on a desert island to munch on dogs. Do I need to backtrack and miss all the other points I missed? Nah, I think I hit the major ones here. Let’s move on shall we?

Acting:

Brandon Routh – Clark / Superman: Ok now this was good. He’s not boring. He’s not unbelievable. He’s the second best Superman we’ve got (tied with Tom Welling in this reviewers opinion.) Routh may look like Reeve, but he’s also got something there to back it up. He’s good at playing a double role and makes all the cheesy stuff funny, and not so cringe worthy. And I believe that this character is tortured emotionally when I watch him. Excellent job.

Kate Bosworth – Lois Lane: Not bad. Not great. She’s just ok. She’s better than Margot Kidder was, and not annoying like Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane in Spider-man. But she also isn’t exactly likable. For whatever reason a strong independent woman in a movie has to be somewhat of a bitch. There, I said it. And it bothers me. She doesn’t have to try so hard. Lois is tough skinned, sure. But she’s a little whiney in the film. If you had given me Katie Holmes’ “Rachel” from Batman Begins and put her in as Lois in this film, then it would have been perfect if you ask me. Even the casting I could have liked more. Nothing against Bosworth. But Lane should be likable to some extent.Kevin Spacey – Lex Luthor: Spacey toes the line of an amazing Lex. Which is needed. He’s not perfectly the comic book mythos and he’s not Gene Hackman either. I like to look at this film as a “transition” for Lex. It really is setting him up to be much darker for later on in the franchise. And I can deal with a little camp from him now if that means we’ll get rewarded later. Spacey has fun with the role as anyone would, but he needs to play it more of a “10 steps ahead of everyone but acting like he’s not” a little more. Then he’ll be right on the money.

James Marsden – Lois fiancé: I don’t even remember his name. I know he’s Perry’s nephew or something, but he’s just a throw away character so we can hear Lois’ feelings about Superman, a red herring for the boy’s father and also potential death bate for a later film. All while still being the ex-bf that Superman will have to overcome. Cuz yeah, we have a character with all these powers but we want that O.C. type drama. *Rolls eyes*

Parker Posey – Kitty: Funny, believable. But overall…not really needed. She’s a nice character for Lex to play off of but in the end she’s just another girl pining over the alien boy scout.Frank Langella – Perry White: Grumpy, yet not the kind of grumpy that we got from the Reeves’ movies. It’s just not as much fun. I did like how they’re hinting that Perry figured out Clark’s secret. I mean come on. Clark comes back to work the same day that Superman shows back up. Way to keep the coast clear on that one Clark. Kal Penn – Lex’s head goon: Yeah, all his lines were cut. So I can’t tell you how he did.

Sam Huntington – Jimmy Olsen: Ok as Clark’s confidant, but more like a tag along here. He really should be Lois’ side kick but I only remember one scene with them together. And it was a set up for a joke about the “it’s a bird, it’s a plane” line.

Cinematography:

One of the main thing I did love about this film is the crisp clear and beautiful shots. Everything is very nostalgic and romantic. It’s very nice to watch on blu-ray or high def. Especially some of the action scenes. The colors are vibrant and it’s a well done translation of a comic property to a film medium.

Production Design:

Also amazing. Everything is very noir and shiny and clean. The way it should be. Look at it like this: Superman is the opposite of Batman. In every way. Batman’s city should be grimy and gothic and nasty. Superman’s should be super clean and brand new. And it is. +2 points for that.

Editing:

For the most part, it just seems like the pacing of the movie is too slow. The writing is at the main fault for that with too much lulls in the action but the editing isn’t minimalist enough to make up for it and many people find themselves getting bored.Top of Form

Special Effects:

It’s pretty. But it ain’t no man on strings. Give me that over CGI any day of the week. Please. I beg you. Use strings. And don’t be lazy in the next film with a CGI cape. It’s just….annoying.

Score:

John Williams created the theme. So it always gives me goosebumps when I hear it. It encompasses Superman perfectly and is just as recognizable as Reeves, the “S” logo or anything else identifiying with Superman. John Ottman does a good job with what he has. And although I’m glad he gave Lex Luthor a new theme that doesn’t remind me of Ewoks, it’s also not that memorable either. But I give him credit for trying. In closing:

This movie is maddening to me. I have said before that Superman and his co-characters have the potential to making the greatest superhero film ever made….ever. This movie doesn’t even seem like it’s trying to me. Sure, it takes it a little more seriously. But when you’re playing with the possibilities that they are and you don’t take them as far as you can go with them, it’s a let down. It can be so much more than what it was. A note I would give to the film makers – it’s ok if Superman has too many problems. It’s even better if he can’t stop all of them. That’s what makes good drama. So my final consensus is that this movie is worth watching to see the Plane sequence alone. After that, if you need to mow the lawn, do the dishes, straighten out your taxes or sleep, by all means, feel free.

 

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Movie Review: SUPERMAN 2 (1980)

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SUPERMAN 2 MOVIE POSTER
SUPERMAN 2, 1980
Movie Reviews

Directed by Richard Lester, Richard Donner
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando and Terrance Stamp.
Review by Andrew Kosarko

SYNOPSIS:

Picks up where Superman 1 leaves off (kind of) and extends into the “I don’t want to be Superman” storyline right after he’s just become Superman.

REVIEW:

Now, I know that synopsis was a little weaker than usual, but that basic gist of both movies. And yes, I mean there’s two different versions of this and that’s whats kept me from writing this review for so long. But now I’ve seen both Lester and Donner’s versions. Despite what some may say, I prefer Lester’s version overall, but Donner definitely had the right mind going in.

The Story:

Both films deal with Clark’s decision to give up his powers in an attempt to live a normal life with Lois. My issue with this is only that it happens so soon in the franchise / continuity of the story since both films timelines are supposed to be set back to back – picking up where one left off. But that’s irrelevant at this point. Here’s the lowdown in the difference between the two films: Donner makes a better character arc for Clark in the discussions with Jor EL (Brando) and the laying down of the Superman mantle is much more interesting and explained. Furthermore, the love scenes between Clark/Superman and Lois Lane work so much better in this version. The very first scene with Lois and Clark in the Donner cut made me so happy. It was something I had always wanted to see. Oddly enough though, while the romance/revealing of Clark as Superman and the character transitions that are better handled in this film still leave Clark out as the main focus of the film. It’s very Dark-Knightish in the scene that the story is kind of all over the place and doesn’t necessarily stick with Superman most of the time. In fact, he really doesn’t show up for about an hour into the film – which for an origin is acceptable, but this is the sequel here; lets get shit moving can we? Now, here’s where Lester’s version comes in. While some of the ideas that are utilized in the action sequences are quite ridiculous (cellophane S’s thrown from Superman’s chest and this Vanishing act power that he seems to have) they are still far better than Donner’s cut. The pacing and excitement just aren’t in Donner’s cut as they are in Lesters. Not to mention, the single greatest line Superman has ever said on film, “General, would you care to step outside?” (which for those of you unfamiliar with the concept of subtext, this loosely translates into “General, would you care to get your ass whooping now?”). No, instead we get “General, haven’t you ever heard of the freedom of the press?” LAME. Overall, I think what my problem is with some of the Donner cut, is that he’s obviously quite bitter about Lester taking over and chooses to put his own footage back in for some scenes, even if it’s incomplete or doesn’t work as well.

Finally, the film ends with Superman spinning the world back again and completely un-doing all the events of the film from everyone’s mind, chalking it up to déjà vu. Not to mention he violates major comic book code when he KILLS LEX LUTHOR at the end. Hindsight is 20/20 Mr. Donner and a better approach should have been taken for this, not to mention blowing up the Fortress of Solitude for absolutely no reason. But don’t worry – it’s all undone in the backwards spinning world. Lester’s film, while campy and ridiculous at times seems to work better as a whole, while Donner’s film only just “has it’s moments.”

Acting:

For the most part, all of the actors hold their own. Reeves as Superman needs no comment. Even later in Superman 4 he still works that role better than anyone ever has or will. Margot kidder is much less annoying in Donner’s cut and much more believable. Gene Hackman – I apologize for my rant in my Superman 1 review. I recently watched the “Look! Up in the sky” documentary and was schooled on the history of Lex Luthor, who was a madman up until the 1980’s when they developed his

business man persona. Until then in the comics, Luthor was a crazed madman/scientist. So I apologize for the injustice I gave that performance and interpretation of the character. The real two characters that leap out are Terrance Stamp as General Zod, who’s quite a likable baddie in Lester’s cut (in a good way) and more of a dark sinister angel of death in Donner’s cut (also good) and Brando’s Jor-El. Zod’s performance can be attributed to Stamp’s ability to make the role work in whatever form and not violate the character. Brando as Superman’s father is incredible in the restored footage in Donner’s cut. It’s a shame they replaced him with his mother for Lester’s cut. Same dialogue and concepts, but come off completely different and much more powerful from Brando.

Directing:

I think I’ve touched enough on this in my story – but it’s simple, take the dramatic scenes from Donner, the action from Lester (sans a couple of moments ) and the movie would be phenomenal as a whole. I’m sure some fanboy somewhere has ripped both films and cut them together by now and I’m sure it’s a great thing to watch if it can be found…

Cinematography:

Same as always, although Donner’s cut has more of his personal stamp on it whereas Lester’s just seems more like cliché soft focus/fogged 80’s cinematography.

Production Design:

Good as always. A lot of projection backgrounds, but I can deal.

Editing:

Lester’s is much better edited because they had an opportunity to create pacing and emotion in the scenes. Donner’s completed scenes work phenomenally, however, the scenes that are incomplete and mixed with Lester’s footage fail miserably. Score: Here’s the shocker of the century. John Williams sucks. Yeah, I said it. Now, I don’t know if he was brought back to re-score Donner’s cut or if existing track music was selected by Donner to be placed over scenes but the music just does not work at all in Donners cut. The Superman theme is non-existant most of the time, especially in the fight scenes (where it’s needed most.) The score in Lester’s isn’t by Williams, but it works with that edit. There’s emotional justification in it and it just makes the film more exciting. So if Williams was brought in for Donner’s re-cut, then shame on him. But if he wasn’t, no ill will towards him, but someone should have told Mr. Donner you can’t cover up bad scenes with bland music.

Special Effects:

The 70’s effects of Lester’s film were better than most of the shoestring budget effects that were created for the Donner recut. But overall, it’s all forgivable given the dating of this film.

In closing:

Somewhere between these two films lies potentially a fantastic Superman film. Neither director, in my opinion, fully “got it” enough to hit that mark of potential that I still believe Superman has. If someone could really grasp the proper handling of these films, we’d have an epic film that would dwarf any comic book film. Sadly, ego’s, money and lazy storytelling stand in the way. Unlike Superman, not everyone believes enough to keep fighting till it’s done right.

PS: The worst part of the Donner cut is the removal of Bill Cosby from Perry White’s wall, but he makes it up with Super Copy teeshirts.

 

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Movie Review: SUPERMAN (1978)

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SUPERMAN MOVIE POSTER
SUPERMAN, 1978
Classic Movie Review
Directed by Richard Donner
Starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman
Review by Andrew Kosarko

SYNOPSIS:

A young boy is sent away from the planet Krypton before it’s destruction. He lands on Earth and is raised by a farm couple named the Kents to be an all American boy. Upon learning the lessons of life, he realizes his special abilities make him different. When his father passes away from a heart attack, Clark has a discovery that he must use his special talents to help pass on the values of his father. He journeys north and dawns the suit that will come to represent Earth’s greatest savior….

REVIEW:

So, let me start this review by saying that I’m a Batman fan first and foremost. And I’ve always been a Batman fan, even before the success of “The Dark Knight.” Now that being said, it is my belief, that Superman holds the potential for the having the title of “The Greatest Superhero Movie Ever Made.” Keyword in that sentence? “Potential.”Let me start by addressing…

The Story: The script moves very slow, steadily building towards Clark becoming Superman. It’s quite obvious that some of the roles from the comic book mythology are beefed up to support the actors playing the roles, such as Marlon Brando playing Jor-El, Superman’s biological father. A better part of the first act is based on planet Krypton before it’s destruction. This is, by far, the most interesting part of the movie simply because the “good parts” are not skimped over or rushed. The pacing is on beat and the story moves through character development. Once the film moves to Earth and we fast forward to Clark’s teen years, many important “Superman-necessary” elements are glimpsed over vaguely in exchange for the stereotypical “you’re alone” themes. The most disappointing scene is when Clark finally creates the Fortress of Solitude and dawns the suit for the first time. It has such great potential to be a goose bump raising moment and it passes over it. The script then because very repetitive and falls into a lull of random disasters that Superman must stop, including a half baked scheme to sink ½ of California by Lex Luthor.

Now that’s the plot. As far as characterization goes, Superman, Lois Lane, The Kents, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White are spot on. The relationship between Superman and the other characters hit spot on. Sometimes the film takes liberties with the subject matter to expose some exposition, such as the flying around of Superman and Lois and her “Can you read my mind?” monologue. These sequences are somewhat dated with the style of the 70’s, but can easily be enjoyed today once you look at it in perspective.

The only character that, sadly, is astray from his original comic book mythos, is Lex Luthor. Now many philosophers have said, “A hero is only as good as his villain.” This script demonstrates a maddening effect on the audience as Superman is easily built up to be a great hero, and Lex Luthor comes off like a second rate villain. His schemes and rationality are far fetched and “kiddy.” Never once during the film do you feel as though he is a threat against Superman, even when he busts out the kryptonite. It’s because of this that the film fails to hit it’s potential of the greatest Superhero film ever. And once Lex is introduced, the film falls into a campy mess that it can’t escape from, even if you spun the world backwards….

Acting: My God the great acting that takes place in this film. Christopher Reeve may not have top billing, but he steals the show. His performance as Clark Kent/Superman has become the pinnacle of standards that every super hero has to live up to – in film, comics or any other form. Margot Kidder is feisty as Lois Lane and believable as a hard nosed reporter who won’t go away. Marc McClure is great fun as Jimmy Olsen is great at being a bigger nerd than Reeve’s Clark Kent. Gene Hackman is a great actor, and while I don’t particularly agree with his characterization of Lex Luthor, he upholds the acting level to the height it needs to be and still makes for some enjoyable moments. The supporting cast, while smaller roles, contribute greatly to the film. Everyone from the Kents, to the reporters in the office, or the two-bit thugs that Superman has to overcome, everybody is colorful and memorable.Superman Reeve

Directing:Richard Donner has done the best job with Superman so far. As director, he finds himself responsible for the whole film and it’s said to know that it was taken out of his hands by the film studio and reworked in a different way. I prefer to believe that the first half of the movie was directed Donner and the studio took over as it starts to fall apart.

Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth does a fantastic job capturing Superman and the world around him. The camera work never bothers the viewer and some great affects are created with it. The film, at that point in technology’s time, lived up to it’s tagline: You will believe a man can fly.

Production Design: John Barry is a great production designer and comic book films must be a dream to work on. The creative freedom one can have to create new worlds or to shape the ones we live in to reflect what we imagine in our head. Everything from planet Krypton to the all-American Kent farm, everything is imaginative and well designed.

Editing: The film is pieced together well, if a bit slow at times.

Score: Ok. Now while the film doesn’t grab that title of Best Superhero Movie Ever, John Williams is a man you do not mess with. Rivaled only by Danny Elfman’s Batman theme, John Williams creates the greatest Superhero theme of all time. The music is so uplifting and by the first couple of notes, if the hair on the back of your neck isn’t standing up and there’s not a smile on your face, then check your pulse. You might be dead if you’re not excited.

Special Effects: As mentioned in the cinematography section, at the time these effects were top of the line. The team did a great job in making the audience believe a man could fly. To some extent, the effects still hold up today, implying old school techniques such as stop-motion, flying harnesses and special lenses that, in this reviewers opinion, blow CGI out of the water any day.

In closing: Superman: The movie is one of the greatest Superhero movies of our time. While it doesn’t live up to it’s vast potential, it gets 90% of it’s characters right and when dealing with a subject matter like this, that’s what’s important. That’s why comics have so many issues and so many characters become franchises. The characters keep people coming back for more. When the film allows itself to be the great characters that it’s trying to adapt, the story comes through and shines brightly. Even with all it’s character flaws and spotty 1970’s crazy science theories, the film still stands out as a great step forward in bringing some of the world’s most imaginative characters to life and wanting us to come back for more. I’ll hold my breath for the day Superman gets the villain he deserves. When the day comes where that finally happens, movies like The Dark Knight, Spider-man 2 and Iron man will pale in comparison. For now, I’ll enjoy having my favorite character on top, having my dirty little secret being that I can’t wait for the day he loses it to Superman.

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Movie Review: SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES (2009)

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MOVIE POSTERSUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES, 2009
Movie Reviews

Directed by: Sam Liu

Starring: Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, Clancy Brown, Xander Berkeley, Corey Burton

Review by Travis Seppala

SYNOPSIS:

When Lex Luthor gets elected US President, he uses the threat of an oncoming Kryptonite meteor striking Earth as a rationale to frame Superman. Superman and Batman must team up to put a stop to Luthor’s tirade and to save Earth from impending doom.

REVIEW:

Oh. My. God! Now THIS is how you make a superhero/comic book movie! The only way “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” could have been any more epic is if it would have been live action. And even then, I’m not sure it could beat this, because some of the fantastic fight scenes probably wouldn’t be possible in a live action film even with the immense amounts of CGI that turns up in Hollywood films now a days.

During the economic downfall in the United States, Lex Luthor is voted in as the new President. His first act in office is to create a government operated team of superheros including Captain Atom, Major force, Power Girl, Black Lightning, Starfire and Katana. The new hero team catch up with Superman while he’s in pursuit of a criminal in a high speed chase and try to recruit him. Superman tells them he will not join their team because he is un-trusting of Luthor, especially now that he’s the most politically powered man in the country. Captain Atom pleads with Superman that Luthor has changed his ways, and the two almost fight before Superman finally flies away.

The U.S. Government discovers a giant Kryptonite meteor hurtling toward Earth. Rather than asking the many superheros at their disposal for help, Lex decides to destroy the meteor with nuclear missiles and says he’ll even do all the calculations himself. He arranges a meeting with Superman to arrange a pact.

The meeting between Lex and Superman doesn’t go very well and Luthor goats Superman into a battle with his “bodyguard” Metallo. Luthor flees the scene as Superman and Metallo engage in an epic fight. When Metallo proves to be more than a match for the man of steel, Batman shows up to help. Superman and Batman escape to regroup. When Metallo regains consciousness from Batman’s sneak attack, he is killed by an unseen assailant.

Lex Luthor pins the murder of Metallo on Superman, saying that the approaching Kryptonite is causing Superman to lose his reasoning due to the radiation. He claims Superman is a threat to the country and possibly the world and puts a $1billion bounty on Superman’s head.

In an attempt to find out what really happened to Metallo, Superman and Batman break into S.T.A.R. Labs and find his remains, determining that the Kryptonite powered cyborg was killed due to an intense amount of radiation. When the World’s Finest duo leaves, they are attacked and find themselves in a battle royal against more than 20 of the world’s most powerful super-villains. After the single most epic battle ever in a movie, they manage to defeat nearly all their opponents. The rest are beaten by Captain Atom when he and his team show up to arrest Superman. Not willing to be taken, Superman and Batman engage in yet another fight which ends with them fleeing with Power Girl in tow.

Luthor’s scientists fire nuclear missiles at the on-coming meteor, but they do no damage to the lethal space rock. Lex is furious, saying his calculations were perfect until it’s pointed out that it would have worked except that the meteor is outputting so much radiation it acted as a type of shield- the missiles blew up before they ever made contact with the Kryptonite itself. Luthor flees (followed by Amanda Waller) and takes a Kryptonite steroid injection. Waller discovers he’s been taking these injections for months to make himself immune to the Kryptonite radiation and now decides that if he can’t stop it, he’ll let it destroy the Earth and he’ll rule whatever is left.

Superman, Batman, and Power Girl have another battle with Captain Atom and his team. Batman gets Major Force to admit that he’s the one who killed Metallo under Luthor’s orders. Power Girl and Captain Atom kill Major Force and let Superman, Batman and Power Girl leave to try to save the Earth. But can they beat Lex Luthor and his second wave of super-powered goons, get the schematics of the meteor and get them to Toyman in time to save the planet from the oncoming ball of green death that’s already so close it can be seen with the naked eye?

“Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” is, in short, EPIC! The story follows that of the comic book mini-series of the same title almost frame by frame! Seldom does a comic book movie hold so true to the source material, and I’m glad they did because it’s one of the best stories to come out in recent years.

The animation in this straight-to-video release is fantastic. All the characters in this film have such sleek and modern looks to them that go above and beyond any previous comic book animated film. I especially love how the younger, more imposing Superman looks.

The voice talent is equally fantastic. Voiced by Tim Dale and Kevin Conroy (the same men who portrayed Superman and Batman in their animated series’ in the 90’s as well as the Justice League series), Superman and Batman shine with their true voices.

The action sequences (and there are a LOT of action sequences) are all brilliantly done. They are on a huge scale that one can only really find in the world of comic books and animation. The big fight with Superman and Batman VS more than 25 characters is truly a spectacular thing to see!

“Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” is the superhero film of all super hero films. It’s great for all ages and is superb animation filmmaking.

 

 

 

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Movie Review: BATMAN (1966)

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Batman 1966
Classic Movie Review
Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward
Review by Anthony Acri

Synopsis:

The Dynamic Duo faces four super-villains who plan to hold the world for ransom with the help of a secret invention that instantly dehydrates people.

Review:

IT WASN’T A DARK AND STORMY KNIGHT

One thing I learned from dealing with comic books aficionados is that the more incongruously serious they take the books, the less they like the Batman film and tv show of the sixties, seeing it , as one personal actually called it in a blog, a ‘heresy’.

But, as a kid, me and my friends all loved that Batman, as in those pre ADD days, even a kid could get a joke. Not now, god knows, a satirical mind lends you to being given a time out, and in our serious self important days of now, satire is dead, empire is here and self righteousness is our only sacrament. Yet, back when, we adored Adam West since he was the perfect hero. He was part square and yet, with enough self awareness and enough of a sly grin that he was eminently more acceptable than the wholly Ernest Captain Kirk, who seemed his equally psychedelically colored yang, whose desperate needs and wacko undercurrent of devotion mad him the perfect symbol of parody by SNL in its first great season. That sketch has the resonance, to this day, and certain candidates for president seem as unwilling to move on as did Shatner in that sketch, I think because it was a nearly prefect manifestation of the Square stature, comic book jawed, rather loopy and by the book Call me Bill Shatner. But our true hero, his strange blood brother, Adam West, as amplified in this movie, was already a parody, he was already a joke, and from their his humanity grew outwards whereas Shatner was just the lug in the center of the cardboard playacting, and seemingly believed as real painted starry night. room.

The film is a basic comic book come to life. For all the wailing of fan boys about how insidious that great TV show and its subsequent film were, actually, most of the plots came ready-made and were taken out of the old Carmine Infantino books, anyway.

This was the era of batman things made famous on the internet like “the Jokers big boner”, and such like classics, as it was a day and an age when superman, that dick, tried all manner of things to never have top kiss Lois, but that is another story, or part of the same story. The film then could be more than a usual two parter, and gains a rolling of these collected stories, like those 100 page comic giants dc sold when I was a kid. And, the cliffhangers, as would be in later Indiana Jones, just flow right into the next scene, like a serial all pasted tighter, like that of a dickens novel with actually less homo erotic variants.

Now, here, as opposed to the innocent….?…DC comics books, the homo- erotic undercurrent to the material was its creed, as how could a story about a man dressed in tights with a circus boy near him not have loads of homo erotic intentions…? And, thank fully, to the chagrin of the fan boys yet unborn then, it was all played for laughs, as back then, adults were adults andcomic books were not seen as literature, but then, Tennessee Williams wrote plays back then, and others of his ilk wrote often, so why would anyone have to see dc cosmic as a font of literature…? .

The four master criminals of the series are united together in a brilliantly satirical waterfront dive where even the floors are crooked, and they plot and scheme incessantly away, below a giant octopus icon as owners of the earth something which would later be done, without the laughs, at the offices of the vice president. But, since this was done when America was still a republic, Bruce Wayne—batman , whose inner demons in a more innocent time are not worn on his sleeve, but occasionally seep out in a way which is actually more adult and more thoughtful than the now constant mudslides of tempestuous fraught emotions, is hot on the trail of the four fiends. He is out to capture them before and lest they try that most unthinkable of things, to take over the entire world, and thus make littering and nuclear proliferations, gum disease and weather machines possible in every corner of the earth. One or two or even three of the greatest criminals of earth might be after just the city of Gothem,– yet to become a hell hole waiting for its black and gray Giuliani to clean things up,–or even the good old usa, but all four, …they are after that world which beguiles these men in colorful clothing as nothing else does.

Shakespearean actors like Burgess Meredith and Vincent Price, and Victor Buono , an aging Latino mgm swashbuckler , and a pretty , sensual brunette in spandex and cat ears, to me , always lent a satirical heft either lost on the fan men of perpetual boyhood, or was a satire they didn’t want to see. Frankly, having flipped through a Batman essential collection when he was at his most Capoteasque, the TV show and film cleaned it all up a bit, and made the humor at easy, at least knowingly, homophobic. The show and film, especially, was where the gay stuff was toned down in exchange for Adam west and a feline brunette—no longer seen in blond America– and so didn’t rely on the odd unintended gay knock knock joke which have made their famous way to the internet, like thought balloons about Robin and the famous bat touch. Here batman is played as farce, god forbid among the comics as art crowd, but it is Art too, in ways that that crew never knows. It is pop art, a Warhol spasm, a four color illuminated manuscript come to life, like a fresco of purple and red and blue and green, made out of in within a plaster which never dried completely, thus always allowing it to shine. Batman is that hero of the dying republic then, half rko and half Castro street, part Carmine Infantino, part Furlinghheti, too, and is a delightful remixture and reinterpretation of both. He is Dick Tracy meets easy rider, and wholly American and thankfully, the result isn’t like later heinous exemplars like Joe or Archie Bunker, for batman is above all things here decent and honest and a true boy scout which is why even sissyes want to be included., deep down. HE IS HERE THE AMERICAN HERO, an outgrowth of MARSHALL DILLON, A LONE RANGER AMID INDIAN HATERS AND RACISTS WHODESPITE THAT OR BECAUSE OF IT, BELIVES IN TRUTH, and he is always sobered ,and yet always funny, but decent too. And, when the black suited cat suit wearing woman is revealed as the woman he started to love, the actual second of his disillusion is priceless and touching too, and is better than a thousand different throughly ungay and purposefully made ungay in the atomic age of will and grace as less than Virgil gay clowns, black and un-purple batmen falling from crushed skylights. It is a farce, to be sure, but never becomes the mere pie fight of silliness, though I think they may have had a few pie fights actually, and always returns back to him as good and decent American.

He doesn’t, as the caricature later would, become a suit of armor or a knight errand amid a city of squalor , and eschews that most favorite pejorative of the lost boys era, post Lucas crowd, Dark, whhhhhhheoooooooooo. Batman 1966 as It is referred almost derisively, was as America once was itself, played for laughs, as things were in the republic of Jack Webb –who ironically as violence teems on the screens of the age of mommies boys and hectoring nannies, never fired a gun. The last third is the weakest part, and the ending is too farcical even for it, and the old actor’s creek and punch off a suberine, as the act is getting old in this extended form and things have to be quickly tied up. But there is a scene in the brilliant middle, before the obligatory fight scene and its splats and pow sound effects, which gives away its heart. At the docks, Batman, the real batman, yes the only real batman all you other batmen are just imitating, … is confronted by a giant carton bomb, complete with a a black ball and fuse, which was expressly put in to lampoon the parent company about to destroy it as a passé Phenom, ABC. Batman takes the bomb and runs around madly looking for a place to dispose of it, but cant let himself just hurl it at the jetsam of the docks and the waterfront, since he cant just indiscriminately kill ore maim these miscreants, as they all had mudders too as the Lenny the Penguin,– tell me about the penguins George– would surmise, and that they were human beings too. Not even baby ducks in the river can he hurt, for still within him is the early version of American resolve, not to get even with the nuclear fact which made him, the killing of his parents , or to elicit others pain, but to never reach that heinous level himself, and to never be a miscreant himself. This is underhandedly brilliant, and is a subtlety lost on the fan boys who like things ‘Blewed yup reeel good’ by men in tights. It is a kind of oath of the purple tighted centurion. As a moment, it is sweetly conceived of and played . The set piece is a gem of a frame in a sweet Mod movie, and it is last glimmer of a decent America before Lyndon, Richard, Jimmy and the rest of the fools of power would themselves regretfully go against the ethics and the oaths taught to them as kids in an America, which would no longer be there. Then, the Shakespearean demise of Richard would be sadly replaced by a dim wit actor , a corpus in rouge, whose indecency and cruelty, like Nero say, was the closet thing he had to a thought process or a belief system. Moreover, batman was finally blown to bits.

And now, the darkeners have won this civil war and another, incessant, perpetual batman appears on the scene. This time with a clown fag villain who went made himself a strange martyr before it opened wide, thus robbing Flattop—I mean Joker, of any playfulness or joy, not that he or our latest Toxic avenger selling popcorn as a true ethic, the now national lampoon re casted and re created Batfart was going to have any, anyways. In Batman 1966, film came as close to pop art and to a Lichtenshien verve, as they were even going to come, and now, Guarnicas of plaster and bad lighting and explosions and mayhem, with strangely more exceedingly silly rubber nippled black hooded vigilantes, seen spinning through the rubble skipping un gay men seem everywhere.

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Movie Review: Batman and Robin (1997)

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BATMAN AND ROBIN MOVIE POSTER
BATMAN AND ROBIN, 1997
Movie Reviews

Directed by Joel Schumacher
Starring: George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Gough and Pat Hingle
Review by Andrew Kosarko

SYNOPSIS:

“Batman” fights Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy and Bane.

REVIEW:

As you can most likely tell from my synopsis, I’m none too enthused with reviewing this “film”. Please be advised there will be numerous quotations used throughout this review because I openly mock any chance of dignifying the attempts of this scrap heap of a “movie.” It should be noted I’m very upset not only because I love Batman, but because Mr. Freeze and Bane are my favorite villains. And they get pissed on even more than Batman in this “movie”. I tried to watch the “movie”…got literally 30 seconds into it and remembered everything I hated….and turned it off. Here is the result:

The Story:

Mr. Freeze needs diamonds (rocking dat ice yo – get the pun?) to power his massive freezing machine used to hold Gotham ransom for the funds he can use to cure his frozen wife of her disease. Poison Ivy wants to bang Mr. Freeze and take over the world with plants, killing all people. Bane…..uh….breaks stuff. Batman and Robin….well, they run around in rubber bantering about plant/ice puns. Oh, and Alfred is dying of the exact same thing as Mr. Freeze’s wife. Well isn’t that quite a lucky parallel? The script is honestly ¾ of ice puns and homosexual innuendo. The nipples on the suits are the least of this movie’s problems. Everything that happens for pure aesthetic reason. The characters are openly mocked – Batman and Robin as a homosexual couple having their first lovers quarrel, Mr. Freeze as a madman driven by love who wants to joke about his physical deformation, Poison Ivy as the crazed lunatic who wants to enslave the world and Bane…..reduced from a cunning muscle assassin to a Poison Ivy lackey. The plot is trite and boring and really doesn’t take much artistic risks.

Acting: George Clooney had great potential to be a memorable Batman. Instead, for once in his career, he threw his artistic integrity to the wind and decided to play in the sandbox. Arnold….don’t even get me started. Three people really do a good job though – Michael Gough’s Alfred has the best character arc in this film than he does in the first 3. Chris O’Donnell, while still stuck with a shit script, makes a good Robin. But the best, Uma Thurman really takes the Poison Ivy role and makes it fun. It’s actually my favorite part of the entire film – which is shocking because Batman is my all time favorite character, Bane and Mr. Freeze are my two all time favorite villains and most of all – when it comes to comics, Poison Ivy is my least favorite villain. Go figure.

Directing: I don’t blame Joel Schumacher. I honestly don’t. I blame the studio for this debacle. Chris O’Donnell is on record saying that production was rushed on this film and toy concepts were created before the script was written. The whole movie is one big toy commercial. Joel has his faults for sticking to the project, but in the end, it’s very obvious of his capabilities as a film maker and what the final product was. Were some of the faults of the film his decision? Most likely, but the opportunity to explore dark territory was all but destroyed after Burton’s Batman Returns.

Cinematography: One of the biggest things that I hate about this movie, is the lighting. Neon colors are very comic booky, yes, but this is a movie. You don’t need bright red, green and blue colored gels to tell this story well. Oh wait, there is no story, we’re selling toys to kids. My mistake. Oh, and for crying out loud, I don’t care what you are doing, FILMING THE LIGHTS AS PART OF THE SCENE IS THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL THING YOU CAN DO. And you did it on purpose. Congratulations, you’re a horrible cinematographer.

Production Design: Nipples on Bat-suits….do I really even need to go past this?

Editing: Actually……the editing I can deal with. Maybe a few hundred extra cuts to eliminate the puns and I’d nominate that person for an academy award. We could have a decent movie if we could eliminate 90% of the dialogue.

Score: Ok, my 2nd biggest beef with this movie. I can overlook nipples, puns and bad lighting. But 2nd only to the story, this pisses me off the most. It started back in Batman Forever with the trumpets. Now….it just drives me nuts. I love film scores and this…is a mess of a circus fanfare. I mean, since this is a 2-hour commercial, I’d have been happier with a catchy jingle. The studio even felt like this sucked. They used Elfman’s Batman Theme in all the trailers….a very sneaky move. Honestly, if you could replace the score in this film, eliminate the puns, and take the gels out of your Arri kit, you might have a decent once in a while movie on your hands….but you didn’t.

Special Effects: You’d think for a “movie” trying to sell toys, they’d put some more money into the effects and props. Not so much. There’s a moment where a frozen Robin is lifted out of a pool of….water….but he’s frozen……um….anyway…Robin is about as light as a pool raft. There’s CGI that freaking LAGS on the film. It’s jumpy. I mean…come on, here, even little kids know crap CGI when they see it.

In closing: Batman and Robin isn’t a film. It’s not a movie. It’s a 2 hour mocking of characters in an attempt to make them kid friendly and make an audience buy the toys. That’s it. There’s nothing all that fun in the movie to enjoy, no great characterization, plot twists, action scenes. This is even a shit movie to watch drunk….ok, maybe it’s fun to watch drunk but still. Lots of movies are good to watch under any circumstances. If you want to see a loyal interpretation of the Batman comics, this is it. You read correctly, this accurately portrays the Batman comics of the 50’s/60’s – which were also merchandise crazy. Why was it unsuccessful overall? Because people don’t buy things that look cool. We buy things when we can relate to them and feel a personal connection to them. That’s my personal marketing mind at work, but still. Just because you can draw batman and call it batman, and put a batman mask on and call yourself batman…you are not Batman. Batman is the character originally created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. This is not their Batman. It’s not THE Batman. This is a bastardization of a character simply being exploited for someone’s personal greed and money hungry desires. F*ck this movie…err…commercial.

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Movie Review: BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

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BATMAN FOREVER
BATMAN FOREVER, 1995
Movie Reviews

Directed by Joel Schumacher
Starring: Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones
Review by Andrew Kosarko

SYNOPSIS:

The third installment in the “Batman” series. Here the Caped Crusader must once again contend with two strange-looking, personality-impaired villains. First, there’s maniacal ex-DA Harvey Two-Face, so named because half his countenance has been horribly disfigured by acid. Then there’s the wise-cracking, hyperactive Riddler, whose alter-ego Edward Nygma is a nerdy, highly disgruntled ex-employee of Bruce Wayne. Together, these two masterminds plan to conquer the world with a device that not only mesmerizes users with 3-D television images, but also transports the viewer’s thoughts into the Riddler’s mind. Batman also has to contend with two other new people in his life. One is lovely psychiatrist Chase Meridian, who has fallen in love with Batman AND Bruce Wayne. Then there’s Dick Grayson, a young, orphaned acrobat who desperately wants to become Batman’s crime-fighting sidekick in order to get revenge on the man responsible for his parents’ death: Harvey Two-Face.

REVIEW:

“Maybe, maybe not. You could say we’re of two minds of the subject. One man is born a hero, his brother a coward. Babies starve, politicians grow fat. Holy men are martyred, and junkies grow legion. Why? Why, why, why, why, why? Luck! Blind, stupid, simple, doo-dah, clueless luck!” That’s Two Face’s opening speech. That’s the high mark of this film pretty much. The only time someone really *nails* their character’s portrayl. From that point on, it’s pretty much down hill, with one exception that I’ll get to later.

The Story: Batman and Two Face are going at it. That’s right, no real origin for Two-Face. Just him and Batman battling it out over little clever crimes built around the number 2. Meanwhile, all this Batman-ism is causing Bruce Wayne to have a lack of a love life and piss off his employees at Wayne Enterprises. One of which is Edward Nigma, the Riddler, who decides to go into business for himself and suck the minds of Gotham with a 3-D TV Projector do-wap thingy. And on top of all this, drop Robin in there too. The main problem with this plot is basically the same problem as every other Batman film (Sans Batman 1989 but including even Nolan’s newer films), Batman wants to stop being Batman to live as Bruce Wayne. Normally I wouldn’t harp on it, but it’s the primary focus of this film. Batman is original because he’s one of the few superheroes who embraces his calling. Once he becomes Batman, he IS Batman. There is no looking to get out of it. If anything, Bruce Wayne is the one who falls by the wayside. Which they dipped their toe in that pool in Batman Begins but decided otherwise in The Dark Knight. It’s really boring seeing every superhero “giving up the costume” for a normal life. Save that for Superman and Spider-man, aka heroes who have their calling forced upon them. Furthermore, the villains of Two-face and the Riddler are basically just watered down Joker rip off’s after Batman Returns’ dark evil baby killing penguin made parents cause an uproar.

Acting: As stated above, Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones are enjoyable…..if they were playing the Joker. Both are upbeat and sinister. Which is alright for little kids. But for the more adult crew, it’s a little too over the top. At least for me it is. As far as Val Kilmer goes, I am one of the few people who hate him in the role. Now he’s passable as Batman. I can manage…..some of the time. But as Bruce Wayne he commands no attention from me. He just bores the hell out of me. I don’t know why, because he’s amazing in Heat. But this go around he just annoys me because he’s so boring. Nicole Kidman is the love interest and I really can’t find myself interested in her either. I honestly don’t find her attractive and it’s just a generic role. They don’t even take enough liberties with her shrink role to make her and Batman’s relationship interesting. The single greatest acting in the film, in my humble opinion, is out of Chris O’Donnell. Aside from “Holy rusted metal Batman!” He nails down Robin and Dick Grayson just the way I think he should be. You can’t tell me watching him beat the living hell out of Two Face on the rocks (That was for my mother! My father! My brother! And this is for me!) is not badass. I’m sorry. It is one of the few times Robin and badass are in the same sentence. I really wish the next installment had taken it more seriously because I think he’s the perfect Robin. He was able to bring a tragic past to the role and I’ve never really heard anyone mention the common homosexual nature that normies mock when it comes to his portrayal of the character. Sure there’s some moments where it gets implied, namely the bondage comparison of him being equal to Batman as the love interest, but that’s the script and Joel Schumacher’s fault.

Directing: Speaking of Captain Schumacher, let’s get into that shall we. Dude….you made A time to Kill. The Lost Boys. You can’t make a dark, yet not too dark for the kids Batman movie? Now I don’t blame you entirely, as the studio pressure is to blame as well. But I mean, come on. You could have tried a little. The second the electrified thug in the first scene started making the sound my little brother makes by smooching his lips together, humming and moving his finger up and down, I knew this movie would disappoint. I would like to see a “directors” cut which limited down the stupid dialogue quips and more of the “red book” subplot about Thomas Wayne’s diary and why Bruce became Batman to begin with. You had a real good chance of showing Bruce wandering off the path he chose for himself and then exploring the origin you wanted. That, and an opening of Arkham Asylum with a murdered guard by Two Face, who then wrote on the wall in the guard’s blood; “The Bat must DIE.” I mean…..come on, that’s awesome.

Cinematography: Please excuse my French, “shitty”. There’s neon lighting littered throughout this movie and it’s really annoying. It’s unnatural and not even used in a stylistic way. I can see the actual lights in more than several shots. I mean, like not accidentally in there, not part of the set, but used for lighting the scene. Come on man. This isn’t an Andy Warhol movie for Christ sake.

Production Design: See the French word above. There’s giant naked men statues littered throughout. The costumes well……we all know about the nipples. I got the idea behind it. Greek Gods. Michelangelo’s sculptures. I get it. But, you have pick or a side here. You’re either making an art movie, a good movie, or a campy mocking movie. Stick to what works.

Editing: It’s fine. Like I said, I just wish that the Red Book storyline or Two Face’s escape from Arkham had not been cut. Otherwise there’s nothing really out of place to me.Score: I’m sorry, after Danny Elfman’s iconic score, either keep it or as the Rock would say, “Bring it.” This score sucks. And I say that as someone who listens to film scores every day. Usually I can listen to most of them no problem. Sure some are better than others, but this is one that annoys the hell out of me. The use of trumpet is…well it’s just too much. You can’t do “heroic” or “dark” with a trumpet. You need a French horn for that kind of tone. This….yeah, sorry. No thanks.

Special Effects: Pretty good seeing as most stuff was done for real and CGI was only used when needed. The plane crash through the sign was good special effects and the CGI for the Nigma Box was good. It matched the tone of the film and was not something that reminded me “I’m watching a movie.”

In closing: This movie is ok for kids to watch. Which is kool. Because kids should get a chance to see a live action Batman that isn’t dark and complex as Nolan’s new film series. But you could it and still have it be good. Batman 1989 is a perfect example of this. But truth be told, this movie is aimed for kids. Kids want the happy meals, the toys, the tee shirts. That’s how you make money. Then again, if you make a quality film, you could make, oh I don’t know, say a billion dollars and then money on the merchandise as well? Oh what do I know? I’m only a person with a vested interest in these films.

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