Bleeding Fool |
- Superman Films Ranked: #7 ‘Superman the Movie’ (1978)
- Toby Emmerich Steps Down as Warner Bros Chairman
- Chris Pratt Set for Revenge in ‘The Terminal List’ on Prime Video
- Mera Can’t Catch Captain Jack Sparrow: Depp Prevails Over Heard
- Joe Quesada’s Destructive Reign at Marvel Comics is Finally Over
- China Out? Top Gun: Maverick Restores Taiwanese & Japanese Flag Patches
| Superman Films Ranked: #7 ‘Superman the Movie’ (1978) Posted: 02 Jun 2022 03:25 PM PDT
#7 in my ranking of the theatrically released Superman films.
I have had an issue with Richard Donner's 1978 Superman for a while. I've never watched it particularly critically until now, and now it seems pretty clear to me why I simply can't get into the whole exercise. I like parts of it quite a bit, but overall this is a hodgepodge of a film. It represents so much of what is wrong with origin stories in superhero films, and yet the spirit is so innocent and guileless that it's hard to actively dislike.
I have to say that I kind of love the first forty-five minutes of the film. From the introduction of Krypton through its destruction and up until the young Clark Kent builds the Fortress of Solitude, Richard Donner approaches the material in a surprisingly sober and serious manner that feels almost mythic. Krypton is weirdly alien with its white crystalline structure, hoop jail cells, and glass pane prisons is so different that I just want more of it. Jor-El (Marlon Brando), after having sentenced three criminals to an eternity in the Phantom Zone, warns his fellow leaders of the planet that Krypton is about to explode. They don't believe him, so he sends his newborn son in a crystal powered spacecraft towards Earth, where little Kal-El will be stronger than any human and have abilities that no human will be able to match.
After a three-year journey, the baby crashes in Kansas near the elderly and childless couple Jonathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter) who adopt the alien baby as their own. Skipping ahead when the adopted Clark (Jeff East) is in high school, he's frustrated by the bounds on his existence to keep his abilities secret. This is the best filmed stuff in the whole movie, pulling the camera back to get an epic, Americana sweep to the scenes that recalls John Ford. My only complaint is that I want more of it. A lot more. I want this stuff to be the whole movie. If you're going to do an origin story, go all out and set everything in Smallville and film it like John Ford made it.
The action moves to the arctic north where Clark builds the Fortress of Solitude, and the film gets outright surrealist for a bit while the spirit of Jor-El introduces himself to Kal-El and teaches him for twelve years. It's an interesting pivot point, ending with Christopher Reeve taking on the mantle of Superman, and the movie pretty much instantly loses me once we get to Metropolis. The more somber feel of the first act falls away instantly for a completely different tone, a jokily comical one. There's a heavy clash between Clark mourning the death of his adoptive father, learning his true heritage, and learning the secrets of the cosmos in order to become Superman followed by Ned Beatty as Otis waltzing around the streets of Metropolis, stealing pretzels from blind shop owners, getting caught, and chased merrily by two police officers.
And the tone is only part of why I can't quite embrace the last two-thirds nearly as much as I embrace the first third. The film essentially starts over. If you cut out the first third of the film, you'd have a 90-minute film about some light adventure elements of Superman's first exposure to the world followed by the sudden introduction of a criminal mastermind's plot to increase property values for himself. From a pure plot perspective, nothing of the first forty-five minutes informs what comes later. There's some smaller thematic stuff, especially in relation to Superman's big moment at the end of the film, but it feels small compared to how I imagine a two-and-a-half-hour origin film of Superman would go.
Anyway, Clark moves to Metropolis and becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet under Perry White (Jackie Cooper), editor, and working alongside Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), star reporter. Clark is a befuddled weakling who gives into robbers on the street in an effort to allow him to live in the open while he makes his real self, Superman, obvious to the world. She's a reporter working the city beat, and Superman becomes her mission when he reveals himself by stopping a series of crimes across the city. Now, let me make it known that I'm not a complete curmudgeon. This sequence of Superman flying around and roping criminals and even saving a cat from a tree is one of my favorites of the film. It doesn't have any sort of epic feel to it, but it's an enjoyable introduction to the superhero and his personality of a complete boy scout. My problem is that it doesn't really feed into Lex Luthor's (Gene Hackman) plan.
Really, this film feels like three in one. The first was the origin of Superman getting to his costume. The second was the origin of Superman's public image. The third is the supervillain plot, and it's the fact that all three feel so distinct from each other that is the source of my issue with the film. The first doesn't flow into the second, and the second doesn't flow into the third. I think this is most obvious in the use of Lois Lane. In her introduction, she's doing stories about rapes and murders in Metropolis. When the villain plan to redirect two nuclear missiles to attack the San Andreas fault line and sink California into the sea, Lois Lane is suddenly doing a story in the west about an unknown person buying up land in the desert at inflated prices. A better script would have had her on an early form of this story at her introduction, something centered in Metropolis that leads her to looking out west for answers. Instead, she just suddenly in the west where the bomb is going to put her in peril. Oh, and so is Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure) who is taking pictures of the Hoover Dam for…reasons. It feels so random.
Luthor's plan I don't have a problem with. It's different. It's dastardly. It's a challenge for Superman to overcome. I like it. What I don't like is how goofy the implementation has to be. Luthor has a hanging lantern moment when he questions out loud how the greatest criminal mastermind in the world has an imbecile working for him in Otis, and yet it doesn't explain it at all. Otis is comic relief, but when dealing with the redirection of nuclear missiles to kill tens of millions of people, I'm not sure we need the moments where Otis gets coordinates wrong in a comedy bit. Where I felt like Donner was approaching silly material right in the beginning, I felt like he was approaching it all wrong by the end.
And then the missiles go off, but…ugh…Luthor explains everything to Superman. Would he have known anything until it was too late if Luthor hadn't told him? It's unclear. Maybe not the worst assumption on his part, and he gets the goods on Superman by…ugh…easily finding Kryptonite that he somehow knows is Superman's only weakness and somehow flew all the way to Earth from Krypton's explosion. Whatever. And then, with Superman weakened and nearly drowning, Luthor simply leaves, giving Ms. Teschmacher (Valerie Perrine) time to save him. This is all kinds of the wrong silly.
And then…ugh…the time travel. Time travel is dumb most of the time, especially when it's being used to fix things like this. Lois Lane dies in the earthquakes, and Superman is so broken up about this woman he's known for a few days, that he betrays his father's mandate and "interferes with human history" by spinning around the Earth so fast that it reverse time and then…it's unclear what he does to fix everything, but Lois is saved. Hurray, I guess.
I'm going to be honest. Superman is a mess. It's not good. However, I do really enjoy parts of it. The first forty-five minutes is a weird kind of magical. The introduction of Superman to the world is fun and light. The special effects are pretty uniformly good. Christopher Reeve was rather perfectly cast as Superman, and Gene Hackman is fun as Luthor. However, the story is a jumble to the point of near incomprehensibility. There's no consistent build up of anything from theme to plot to character to allow a nice progress from beginning to end to bring it all together. Instead, it feels like three television episodes stitched together.
I was honestly ready to love this movie after years of not seeing it, happy to leave behind the bad taste from my last viewing. However, I just couldn't get into it after a certain point.
Rating: 2/4
Originally published here. The post Superman Films Ranked: #7 'Superman the Movie' (1978) appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Toby Emmerich Steps Down as Warner Bros Chairman Posted: 02 Jun 2022 01:15 PM PDT
After 21 years, Toby Emmerich, the chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures, has reportedly stepped down. Discovery purchased Warner Media from AT&T and merged the two companies to form Warner Bros. Discovery.
According to reporting by The Hollywood Reporter, Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, who previously ran MGM Studios, will take over the studio from Emmerich. Emmerich won’t exactly be making a TOTAL departure from Warner Bros., since he is expected to create his own production firm at the studio. His new company will concentrate not only on movies and television, but also on streaming.
Warner Bros. Discovery will also be financing Emmerich’s business and hold distribution rights as part of an exclusive 5-year deal.
"I am thrilled that he's chosen to remain a part of our Warner Bros. Discovery family with this long-term production deal and look forward to seeing the fantastic stories that he and his team will create for us in the years ahead," David Zaslav, Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery said.
Deadline reported on Emmerich’s departure letter, which can be read in full below.
Emmerich was honored with the Producers Guild of America's Milestone Award in 2019. The post Toby Emmerich Steps Down as Warner Bros Chairman appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Chris Pratt Set for Revenge in ‘The Terminal List’ on Prime Video Posted: 02 Jun 2022 10:55 AM PDT
Amazon Prime is adapting Navy vet Jack Carr's The Terminal List. And the trailer for the series sets up Chris Pratt's character as being on the hunt for revenge after a devastating attack.
Carr's thriller is a bestseller so it's no surprise Prime Video is bringing it to life. An excerpt from the book summary describes a hero who loses just about everything.
On his last combat deployment, Lieutenant Commander James Reece's entire team was killed in a catastrophic ambush. But when those dearest to him are murdered on the day of his homecoming, Reece discovers that this was not an act of war by a foreign enemy but a conspiracy that runs to the highest levels of government. Now, with no family and free from the military's command structure, Reece applies the lessons that he's learned in over a decade of constant warfare toward avenging the deaths of his family and teammates. With breathless pacing and relentless suspense, Reece ruthlessly targets his enemies in the upper echelons of power without regard for the laws of combat or the rule of law.
How closely will the series follow the plot of the novel? The trailer doesn't give away much but Pratt's Reece will definitely be going on a mission of vengeance.
Taylor Kitsch and Constance Wu co-star alongside Pratt. Wu's casting is a bit interesting when you consider her outspoken beliefs and then juxtapose them against how some readers interpret the plot and themes of the novel.
For instance, Wu offered up this gem in 2016:
[…] since that's such a difficult thing to understand, often the scapegoat is immigrants and people of color, which is, I think, why you saw a lot of divisive, racist rhetoric during Trump's campaign and why we're seeing a rise of hate crimes toward people of color now.
And she had this to say in 2017 while declaring that Trump was not a "legitimate president:" I'm in an industry that supports that patriarchal structural framework. And I think having a march in Washington that is headlined and frontlined and led by women is a statement about the patriarchal standards that we don't even see because they are so woven into the fabric of our existence.
Meanwhile, a reader over on Amazon left a one-star review of the novel and included comments such as this:
“[…]if you're a right wing zealot who thinks all of the problems of the world are due to liberals, yeah, you're gonna love this one.”
Again, we don't know how closely the series will follow the book. Maybe there will be some big changes, and maybe not. (And maybe the one-star reviewer has read things into the novel that weren't even there. I haven't read the book so I can't say.)
The Terminal List begins on Prime Video on July 1. The post Chris Pratt Set for Revenge in 'The Terminal List' on Prime Video appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Mera Can’t Catch Captain Jack Sparrow: Depp Prevails Over Heard Posted: 02 Jun 2022 09:31 AM PDT
As the jury reached a verdict in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, both parties were quick to react to the decision reached in the case. While both stars were ultimately found to have defamed each other, there was an overwhelming ruling in Depp's favor, with the jurors deciding that all of the claims put forward by the Pirates of the Caribbean star were true. This led to Depp being awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages by the jury, while Heard was awarded $2 million for the one claim of hers that was ruled to be defamatory, and that was via an attorney representing Depp that the jury felt defamed Heard.
Immediately after the verdict, Depp released a statement which read:
Heard also released a statement, and plans to appeal the verdict.
Heard concluded by saying that Johnny Depp's attorneys "succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech” as well as convincing them to “ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK,” referring to a 2020 libel case which took place in Britain.
To which I say:
The post Mera Can’t Catch Captain Jack Sparrow: Depp Prevails Over Heard appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| Joe Quesada’s Destructive Reign at Marvel Comics is Finally Over Posted: 02 Jun 2022 06:15 AM PDT
Coming 2 years after Dan DiDio, who was DC’s own bad omen of an editor/publisher, left his job at the company, albeit via dismissal from the higher echelons, now Marvel’s bad omen of an editor, Joe Quesada, is leaving his job there after nearly a quarter century. Unsurprisingly, some mainstream media sources are airbrushing his resume without mentioning or acknowledging any of the bad parts that effectively alienated quite a few Marvel fans.
For example, here’s what IGN says following the news:
Umm, did that include Spider-Man readers outraged at his shoddy mistreatment of Mary Jane Watson, which began almost from the moment he first came into the job? The Sins Past storyline by Straczynski was just the beginning of what went wrong under his scripting too, culminating as it did in the removal of the Spider-marriage. Which goes unmentioned in IGN’s writeup, curiously enough. How odd. And what proof do they provide in historical records of how successful Marvel was under Quesada’s stewardship? Any sales receipts? Surprise, surprise, they don’t offer any. Again, we must be truly missing something here. Including how the Knights take on Captain America was full of anti-American scapegoating, and became unreadable very quickly. Indeed, some could argue that’s exactly what eventually brought down the Knights imprint by 2006. During Quesada’s reign as EIC, another book desecrating the Captain America franchise also saw print in 2003: The Truth: Red, White & Black, which had the additional problem of being saddled with stereotypical character designs. And which predictably goes unmentioned here, as it means nothing to a bunch of Chomskyites.
ComicBook does mention the issue with Spider-Man’s marriage, but is otherwise just as disinterested in admitting Quesada did not do a good job:
So an artist whose style was pretty mediocre in the long run is somehow a “fan favorite”? I dispute that, given how otherwise unimpressed I am with what most of his resume in the past 3 decades since he’d begun. And though they acknowledge One More Day was controversial, that’s still putting it lightly. It disgusted and alienated Marvel fans, even women who could view Mary Jane as a figure to admire in fiction. That the news site’s unwilling so far to admit it was a revolting mistake is shameful, but unsurprising. Most MSM sources didn’t admit DC’s considerably worse Identity Crisis was offensive either. The news site also notes:
And that’s not problematic? It led to a whole spate of padded scripting effects, where writers and artists would have to expand or fit everything into a format that was at least 6 issues long, and could result in a story that was tedious and protracted. It’s practically one of the reasons why mainstream comicdom fell into such a dire state, since not just Marvel, but also DC, were turning out all these stories that could be 6-plus issues long, and increasingly tiresome in how poor the finished product turned out to be. What’s more, if they don’t give sales figures for digital, then this talk is just as useless. And on trades rising constantly, that hardly applies to Marvel/DC’s much newer products. There’s no point bringing this up if they won’t provide any sales figures for that either.
This equally sugarcoated Newsarama item about Quesada’s “top” moments includes the following:
He sure did “fix” Spidey and the X-Men alright. By destroying the Spider-marriage along with continuity for the X-Men, among dozens of other properties at Marvel. And if the Ultimate line collapsed by the end of the decade, how can they speak of finding success, when it eventually wore off entirely? And, why are we supposed to appreciate how company wide crossovers took up an entire year with more than one coming about, all the time? This is a pure disgrace they won’t admit it damaged creativity, and even than, the writers they hired were increasingly terrible, or some veterans made jokes of themselves by taking on assignments that paled in the face of earlier efforts pre-2000.
Cinema Blend says:
On this, let’s not forget Quesada was involved in the movie-making process, one more reason why, in retrospect, I find the whole movie franchise embarrassing. Why must we appreciate that somebody playing a key role in destroying the zygote was now working in developing movies, no matter the quality? How does that substitute for the comics proper? In no way at all can those live action movies replace the real deals.
Quesada’s departure is a relief, after all the trouble he caused, and to date has never actually apologized for, even as One More Day was mostly reversed. But as he notes in his announcements, he won’t be leaving entirely, and for all we know, he could continue working as a story consultant, and that would be just as bad. Of all the awful contributors to work in mainstream, he was one who definitely held onto his position far too long. Thus, his departure from a job he didn’t deserve couldn’t come soon enough. And it’s a shame the press so far won’t admit he did more harm than good in the long run for comicdom, and is unlikely to ever admit he was a bad omen in the future. There’s only so many pretentious “contributors” who’ll be able to get away with the damage they’ve done for a long time, all because the MSM won’t hold them accountable. And that’s mainly because they’re leftists.
Originally published here. The post Joe Quesada’s Destructive Reign at Marvel Comics is Finally Over appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
| China Out? Top Gun: Maverick Restores Taiwanese & Japanese Flag Patches Posted: 02 Jun 2022 04:45 AM PDT
When that first teaser for Top Gun: Maverick was released nearly two years ago, readers of this website observed that Tom Cruise’s bomber jacket lacked the Taiwanese and Japanese flag patches that were visible in the previous film. It was assumed that, in order to achieve a lucrative release on Chinese screens, the company had decided to erase China’s adversary.
But according to Breitbart News, Paramount has restored the Taiwanese and Japanese flag patches for the sequel’s U.S. release. When Maverick (Cruise) gets the iconic jacket out of his locker and puts it on, the patches are visible.
Top Gun: Maverick was scheduled to be co-financed by Tencent, a deal that would have almost ensured a lucrative theatrical release in China, where Tom Cruise is extremely popular. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, Tencent pulled out of the film due to reservations about the storyline’s very pro-America tone. The decision has jeopardized the film’s chances of being released in China, but it also has apparently allowed the studio to reinstate the Taiwanese and Japanese flag patches. It’s been reported that Paramount has reinstated the flags for the film’s distribution in Taiwan as well.
Studios like Disney and Warner Bros. are well know for cutting characters, adding characters and even removing gay themes from films in order to secure a release in China. It’s refreshing to see that producers for Top Gun: Maverick decided to reverse their original decision.
And it certainly seems to have paid off, as Paramount and Skydance's legacy sequel just scored the best Memorial Day opening of all time with a three-day domestic haul of $156 million for the four day weekend. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was the previous record holder with a treasure chest of $153 million. Maverick's launch is without a doubt a career best for Tom Cruise, and is the first time he has had a film open to $100 million or more.
Maybe this means we can finally move on from the glut of superhero movies. Well done, Mr. Cruise.
The post China Out? Top Gun: Maverick Restores Taiwanese & Japanese Flag Patches appeared first on Bleeding Fool. |
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