Man of Steel

[johnnygobbs]

Glad you liked it, Batman88.

I genuinely like Hans Zimmer's score for MOS. Surprising I know. I'm working on a review now.

I look forward to your review Dark Knight.  I wish I had your initiative.  I guess if I felt more passionately about the film one way or another I'd feel more compelled to draft a review but I neither hate nor especially love MOS.  It's good but not great and although it is plenty flawed none of its flaws are fatal.

However, like you I do think Hans Zimmer's score was a genuine success and might even be regarded as a classic in years to come (although it's doubtful whether it will ever supplant John Williams' iconic 1978 theme), and like Batman88 says, Kevin Costner did a great job as Jonathan Kent. 

[The Dark Knight]

I'm doing my best with the review. So it should be good enough. I don't think Han's theme will be ingrained into society or anything like that. But I think he did a good job here, and the criticisms are overboard IMO. I won't say too much here. I'll save it up for the article.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

I'm doing my best with the review. So it should be good enough. I don't think Han's theme will be ingrained into society or anything like that. But I think he did a good job here, and the criticisms are overboard IMO. I won't say too much here. I'll save it up for the article.

I have to say the music was the 1 thing I totally (and I mean totally! lol) despised in the film. Watching the climatic battles in the cinema I remember thinking y'know these images would be even ten times more exciting than what they already are with the Williams music. I confess I did have a slight smirk on my face when most movie critics in Hollywood lambasted the score for being quite boring in comparison. I just thought well, not that we didn't expect this right?

When I first heard the brand new theme in trailers I was surprised by how alright it was. It sounded like it had maintained the same pumping adrenaline bassline of the Williams theme although very different. I like when it gets really fast with the drums booming in. That's good stuff. The problem is this score fades very quickly in memory and sheer enjoyment. Once it's played ten times over during the course of the film or even it's album I'm fed up with it. Some critics highlighted how overly repetitive it all was too. I recently spotted the soundtrack on sale in my local HMV store and just couldn't buy the thing (much as I tried willing myself to do so lol). I think it was Jerry Goldsmith who said, in regards to his own score on the Alien dvd, that certain film scores don't always work outside the context of the films their in. I think the Man of Steel score  is a victim of this circumstance. It's fine when I hear it with the images on screen but I can't listen to the thing on home cd separately for entertainment. Now you might say so what, the point is it's relation to the film not home music entertainment. True but the Williams score also played extremely well on it's own merits without needing you to hear it along with movie.

Usually in a Superman movie I won't move until the credits are over and after hearing the Williams march lol It never gets tiring for me and those swooshing credits are just exciting to look at. How disappointed I was with the end credits of the new one. I'm not even sure if I missed a scene after the credits or something because I got up and left. I gave it about 2 mins but Zimmer's score (and the rather bland "Dark Knight" style simple movie credits) couldn't root my ass to the spot as movies gone by. A bit more imagination next time guys please. The Superman credits used to be pretty much the only entertainment in movie credits in film history (next to James Bond of course!).

[Batman88]

Looking forward to reading you review of the film's music score, Dark Knight !

What do you guys think about Costner's performance as Pa Kent ? I think it's the highlight of the movie. He and Russell Crowe really nailed their roles.

[johnnygobbs]

I know Superman Returns is pretty much reviled by most of the regulars on this site so I don't suppose this article (http://www.avclub.com/articles/what-the-muchmaligned-superman-returns-got-right,99469/) is going to get much love around these parts, but I thought the following paragraph was interesting:

"The film is a kneeling homage to everything great about Donner's work on the series—the John Williams theme, the eternal period trappings of Metropolis (especially in the Daily Planet offices), the overwhelming gentleness of it all. Superman isn't punching people through skyscrapers or warring with the suspicious U.S. military. In one notable sequence, he walks calmly towards a man pelting him with bullets from a chaingun to subdue him. In another, he catches the falling globe on the Daily Planet building and softly brings it to the ground in the best, most stirring representation of the character's Golden Age iconography."

The difference between Reeve/Routh's gentleman Superman and Cavill's brooding emo outcast is quite striking, with the former demonstrating 'none of the crunching bombast of Snyder's action-fest, but also none of its disdain for innocent citizens' while the latter goes about 'punching people through skyscrapers'.  I wonder how, if Warners does eventually ever get around to making a JLA movie, this Superman will be easily contrasted with his teammates who have ordinarily been portrayed as the dark, brooding, morally conflicted ones.

[Paul (ral)]

"the eternal period trappings of Metropolis"

What? How is that a homage to Donner's Superman?

Donner's was set in 1978! The offices were modern for the time. Returns's Daily Planet was fugly!

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

Looking forward to reading you review of the film's music score, Dark Knight !

What do you guys think about Costner's performance as Pa Kent ? I think it's the highlight of the movie. He and Russell Crowe really nailed their roles.

For me he was certainly no Glenn Ford (who made so much more out of a smaller but still crucial role in the 1978 original). But he was just fine. I'm disappointed they killed him off however. Bit of a waste. I'd have liked to have seen him be an ongoing character this time (ala the Lois and Clark tv series). I remember being surprised that Morgan Freeman stayed on for the Batman series and it would have been nice if Costner had been given the same chance. But who knows, there is always flashback sequences...

Anyway his performance in this erased terrible nightmares of movies like "The Bodyguard". And that hilarious time during Madonna's 1990 tour documentary "In Bed with Madonna" when she pulled a disgusted look behind his back for referring to her show as...."Neat" lol

[johnnygobbs]

"the eternal period trappings of Metropolis"

What? How is that a homage to Donner's Superman?

Donner's was set in 1978! The offices were modern for the time. Returns's Daily Planet was fugly!

I'm not sure about the period trappings but I do think the characters in both the Donner films and Returns were dressed in rather anachronistic 40s-style clothing with the wide-brimmed hats, bow-ties and three-piece suits etc (which is not to say people don't wear those suits today or wore them in the 1970s but just that they haven't really been in fashion for several decades).  The behaviour of the characters in the Donner films also harkened back to an idolised version of the 1940s with a wide-eyed 'gee-whizz' type Jimmy Olson and a bumbling, gentlemanly Clark Kent straight out of a Cary Grant screwball comedy.

Also, I don't agree with you about Returns looking ugly.  The glossy art direction, particularly for the Daily Planet offices, interior and exterior (with the giant golden globe on top of the building) was one of few elements I thought Returns actually got right.  Whatever else one might say about the film, and certainly in terms of story focus and casting in particular I feel it falls way short, it's a pretty good looking movie in terms of effects, art direction and cinematography, particularly in 3D.

[johnnygobbs]

Anyway his performance in this erased terrible nightmares of movies like "The Bodyguard". And that hilarious time during Madonna's 1990 tour documentary "In Bed with Madonna" when she pulled a disgusted look behind his back for referring to her show as...."Neat" lol

I actually consider Costner's 'cameo' in "In Bed with Madonna" to be one of the highlights of his career and certainly the funniest scene in that film.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

"the eternal period trappings of Metropolis"

What? How is that a homage to Donner's Superman?

Donner's was set in 1978! The offices were modern for the time. Returns's Daily Planet was fugly!

I very much enjoyed Returns and would always defend it's qualities. But the Daily Planet and Metropolis with all it's modern technology has always bemused me given that this film is meant to be a sequel to the 1978 film. Whoo, the city came a long way in just five years.

Y'see when that film was released the creators made it clear it was a sequel of sorts to the first two movies but ignoring III and IV. I never liked this because it really does screw up the continuity aspects. Superman IV I'm guessing was set in the 80's and Supes does state he has now lived among them "for many years". Much time has clearly passed. If Returns is a sequel and ultimately a rebooted third movie that's quite a timeline leap between the look of 1978-80 and the modern aspects of a clear 2006!

The Daily Planet is almost certainly NOT the same building as in the previous movies. It just can't be. It's all souped up with a lavish new design and the outside foyer is completely different. Superman IV's Daily Planet, ironic given the budget, really did look and feel like the same place with some newly built additions. In Returns there is a small park it seems next to the building. Not crowded New York streets as in the first film. The helipad on the roof has totally vanished too in place of the rotating globe logo. They've clearly upped offices. Had they kept the last two films in context maybe they could have explained it by having the Warfield's run the original offices into the ground in some revenge act lol