Up In The Sky! It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's... A Blog Entry

Saw the new Superman today, and I came out of the theater very, very impressed. The reviews I've seen for the film are a little lackluster, but what else can you expect from actual movie critics? They look for boring things like character development and intellectual stimulation. And let's be honest: Those of us out here in the real world don't give a crap about that kind of stuff. If we wanted intellectual stimulation, we'd read a damn book.

What matters to you and me is simply whether or not a movie is fun, or if it makes us laugh and cry, or whether lots of things go BOOM! And in those departments, this new man o' steel does not disappoint. Things take the better part of a half hour to get rolling, but once Superman goes after that plane, we know we're in for a good time.

Brandon Routh is pretty good as the man from Krypton (he doesn't spend a whole lot of time as Clark Kent). Kevin Spacey makes for a much more sinister Lex Luther than Gene Hackman. Parker Posey plays Lex's woman friend with a touch of a conscience. Frank Langella's Perry White was the one disappointment. He just wasn't quite gruff enough.

But the best character in the movie was by far Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. She was much better in the role than Margot Kidder, who always struck me as being something of a ditzy whiner. Bosworth's Lane, on the other hand, not only has a brain but a serious set of balls on her.

Oh, and without revealing any serious spoilers, there's a surprising--how shall I put this--"Luke Skywalker" kind of twist in the middle of the movie.

On the other hand, there is one little thing that bugged me about the movie, and it's the same thing that bothered me about the Christopher Reeve films as well: Why does Superman's cape flap in outer space? It's a freakin' vacuum, for crying out loud!!!

Then again, that question comes perilously close to being about intellectual stimulation, so I should probably just drop it.