Weight loss and Rick Groen's idiocy...

Well, yesterday I've officially lost 70 pounds (and 10 inches off my waist). Woo hoo!

It's been a strange experience. My mom and most of my friends have been supportive, as expected. My dad is inobservant, as expected. A few friends have been disturbingly unsupportive. Sigh.

But the real surprise has been the complete strangers. I'm a city mouse. Always have been. I value my privacy more than a sense of community. I feel slightly paranoid when people have actually spent time observing me. But more than once now, people from my neighbourhood who I have never talked to (I only recognized one of them at all) have stopped me to complement me on how much weight I've lost.

I'm halfway (in pounds, not months alas) to my goal weight. That's my slightly unrealistic "when I was 23" goal weight, of course.

Tonight I'm going to see Superman Returns: The IMAX 3-D Experience at the Paramount at 7pm. The reviews have been generally favourable including the one which appeared in the Globe and Mail this morning.

But reviewer Rick Groen notes that things based on a comic book will be inconsequential. "It's a comic book, stupid," he writes. Mr. Groen, if you're one of those vain people who checks the blogs to see what people are saying about him, here's a message for you.

Not all comic books are stupid, stupid. No one dismisses the entire medium of film because someone made Ernest Goes to Camp or Ishtar or Catwoman. And bizarrely, most comic book movies (see my comments on V for Vendetta) are far, far dumber than the source material. Just because red kryptonite once gave Superman a giant ant's head doesn't negate the quality of Watchmen, Maus, The Contract With God Trilogy, Persepolis or Wimbledon Green. (Consider those a recommended reading list, by the way.)

When movies like A History of Violence, Ghost World, American Splendor and Road to Perdition are made, the reviewers and sometimes even filmmakers bend over backwards to say they aren't comic book movies. Well, they were based on comics. Or is a comic book only a comic book when it sucks?

What an absurd, insulting and condescending attitude that is.

Allen

P.S.: Oh, to refute another point of Groen's - Christopher Reeve's acting ability. I've seen a lot of genre films, where superheroes and like are adapted to film. Very rarely can the hero make the transition from the 2D to the 3D artform. Take Robin Hood. Errol Flynn's Robin Hood has charmisma, charm and has life - no matter the basic do-goer nature of the character as scripted. Flynn knew exactly how to pitch the character to make him enjoyable. Many other Robin Hoods (or "sons of Robin Hood", as was the trend immediately after Flynn) didn't know how to play the part. The outlaw leader as played by Jon Derek, Cornel Wilde and the like is left flat and lifeless, a bland boy scout. It is incredibly difficult to play an iconic figure like Superman, someone who "never lies" and fights for "truth, justice and the American Way" and him even remotely entertaining or lively. Reeve managed it. He brought the character to life in a way that made Superman interesting, but kept him completely iconic at the same time. No one has brought a comic book character to life as well as Reeve did, and it's not something to sneer at. If you want to mock weak superhero acting, why not criticize George Clooney or Ben Affleck instead?

Superman Returns

Okay, I’m not going to go into the plot in great detail, and I’m not setting out to spoil the film. But well, accidents happen. So, if you want to remain completely spoiler-free, avert your gaze from this blog entry.

So, what did I think?

It was a bit of a mixed bag really. Some things worked. Some didn’t. I certainly wouldn’t call it a great film – but it’s not a bad one either. And what I was afraid would hold the movie back from greatness did hold it back.

The things that worked:

The theme music. I remember when the Special Edition of Star Wars first came out in 1997. Sure, it butchered a childhood classic. But well … for 20 years, every single time I heard the 20th Century Fox theme, I expected it to be followed by John Williams’s theme to Star Wars. For that to finally happen again, well… it gave me one of the strongest feelings of nostalgia ever. Now another piece of music by Williams has made me weepy with childhood memories.

The Lois/Richard/Jason plot. Okay, sometimes it gets a bit cheesy. But for the most part, it works and gives the film an emotional heart. It was a new story for Superman, and that made it worthwhile. I’m glad they didn’t do a cop-out ending. And Jason Marsden got a lot more to do here than he ever did in the X-Men movies.

There were also some moments of sheer visual poetry. Not just the big FX action moments. In one scene, Clark uses his X-ray vision to follow Lois’s journey up an elevator. There was some nice direction in such moments.

Things that didn’t work:

Lex’s plot – well, should the plots of insane people make sense? But seriously, Lex, you may be the “greatest criminal mind of our time” but man, you’re using Bizarro logic here.

The reason for Superman’s departure. Actually, it wasn’t a bad idea per se. Loneliness, an adopted child seeking his birth parents, abandoning the people who raised him. There was some good dramatic stuff here, and yet it was barely touched on. I know that Singer had to bring the film’s running time down significantly, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this is among the stuff that got cut.

Of course, I doubt there’s a director’s cut scene of when someone tells Superman. “Ummm… you know when we said we found Krypton? What we forgot to tell you was that it takes several centuries for the light of that red sun (Rao, to show off my Superman trivia) to reach Earth. So, we were really looking at Krypton from long ago. Ooops.” Yes, I know the film is about a man who can fly. It still bugged me that it messed up that basic astronomical idea.
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But the biggest offender? The constant kisses to the past. Sure, one expects the classic lines that have been recycled ever since the 1940s radio series, “Look up in the sky!” and so on. And one or two flashes of dialogue from the first film, like Superman’s first words to Lois Lane, are fine. Even the Brando stuff. But really, there was a point when every other line was a call-back to the 1978 film and its immediate sequel.

It’s not Brando who should be offended. His estate got cash. Or the Reeve estate – they got a dedication. And Donner was consulted about the new film. John Williams got a prominent credit, and after all, he didn’t compose Supermans II-IV but they recycled his music. No, the people who should be pissed off are the writers of Superman The Movie, Mario Puzo, David and Leslie Newman, Robert Benton and most notably Tom Mankiewicz. Mankiewicz did a massive rewrite of the first two Superman films, and apparently added the best lines, but the Writers’ Guild wouldn’t give him credit. Looks like he’s been denied credit again.

The excessive dialogue references to the first movie feel a bit like fan fic. Or fan videos like Star Trek: The New Voyages. If you’re not familiar with New Voyages, it features enthusiastic fans playing Kirk and Spock. It’s not a bad project, but it sure makes you appreciate Shatner and Nimoy a lot more. And at times that’s what Brandon Routh felt like – a stand-in for Christopher Reeve but not quite getting it. When given new stuff to do, like the Lois/Richard/Jason stuff, Routh is pretty good. It’s hard to imagine anyone being more like Superman than Reeve though. Bosworth lacks Kidder’s spunk, but again she works when the film is doing new things.

Frank Langella’s Perry White is odd. The quiet approach – Langella’s choice, apparently – is interesting and different. However, his dialogue was so clearly written for a more excitable Jackie Cooper type.

Spacey’s Lex. Good at times. I don’t mind that the villain has a lot of humour. But this character suffers from Donner-envy the most.

Overall, it was enjoyable. Still I get the sense it could have been so much more if Bryan Singer and his writing team hadn’t been too busy composing a love letter to the 1978 movie.

Allen

P.S.: Speaking of Bizarro logic – yes, it was raining heavily outside. But what would possess people to cluster so get off the escalator, not move another inch and have a long chat with friends? And then they looked offended when we bumped into them. Sorry to inconvenience you. Next time we’ll just stay on the escalator and get crushed.

P.P.S: The 3D was neat at points, but I fear my crappy eyesight prevented me from enjoying the full effect.