SUPERMAN RETURNS - by naudy (7)

My suburban older sister, (the one w/ the kids) told me she hated this movie. "It's stupid!" she said. "All that time and the ending is dumb. Why did we look at that girl for two hours if they wern't going to get together?"

It's an interesting question, and one that can be broken down into two parts -- 1) why did we have to look at that girl (Kate Bosworth) for two hours and 2) what was the point if it's not a straight ahead romance? I, for one, would have been perfectly content to never look at Kate Bosworth again, even though it is mildly entertaining to watch her and wait for her skull to pop out of her face. Thin.

But, skeletons aside, what is the point of this film? I think one of the most important things for any audience member is to realize that this is not an American film. It's a foreign film, and a pretty good one, but it's not the popcorn-y summer blockbuster we expect it to be. And I think SUPERMAN RETURNS will struggle in the box office because of the subtilty of Bryan Singer's "message". Whatever it is he's trying to say, he's saying it quietly and w/ a lot of pauses, and pauses do not blockbusters make. He's also saying it with questionable costuming and mismatched technology. What year is this? No one knows. Why is that woman with the 20 inch hips wearing Katherine Hepburn's clothing when everyone else isn't? Once again, there's no knowing. But here's a better question, why does Lex Luthor wear galoshes? Well, I know that one. It's because he's trying to look like landed British gentry, and Parker Posey goes through every possible sartorial variation of nouveau rich she can. She's hyserical, by the way, as she stomps through scenes with the campy funny delight we expect her to excell at.

I'v read a lot of reviews about SUPERAMAN RETURNS and there have been some really interesting comments. I read that one can track our society's perception of a reporter's role by examining Lois' character. In the 1940's she was Girl Friday and would do anything to get the story. In the 1970's she was post-Watergate committed to truth and the righteousness of her mission to report the truth. In 2006, she's a colorless corporate reporter who could care less about truth, righteousness, or making a name for herself. Pretty sad.

Anyway, it's an interesting movie. View it with an eye towards subtilty and unspoken messages and you'll probably like it.

X MEN: THE LAST STAND (6)

I loved it. I went w/ my sisters to see it, which was a bit of a challenge 'cause they like to talk through movies. It can be embarrassing when one goes to opening night of a film, sits in a theater packed full of geeks who have waited three years for the majesty that is X Men, and sits next to my sisters who loudly cheer when we are treated to a slow pan of someone's grave. The geeks to the right of me were visibly upset every time my sister expressed how hot Colossus is whenever he was on screen. That my sisters are funny and I agreed with them only made it worse. =)

Anyway, Wolverine does some serious Shatner-esque acting, but I loved it 'cause his shirt was off. Famke Janssen looked amazing, (I think) even though her costumer hated her and she had visible hair dye on her scalp. Iceman's character is LAME, Angel is cool, Juggernaut was a blast, and Beast is The Best Thing Ever. Plus, Magneto finds a pack of tatooed mutants who channel the awesome power of androgny and they hang out while he moves a bridge. Unfortunately Halle Berry is still in the movie and tries to act while wearing a brand-new Tina Turner wig, but you can ignore her fairly well as she's managed to completely free herself from the pinching restraints of Storm's actual personality and isn't even bothering to pretend she's anything other than Halle Berry in a Tina Turner wig.

Basically I loved it and was highly entertained. As I have no moral issues with Cyclops not being in the movie, or any other geek obsession/freak-out, I recommend it for everyone.

HOODWINKED (8)

I liked it. It was funny. It was also really strange. I don't know it's numbers, how well it did in the theater and how the DVD sales are going but I'm gonna tell my older sister to buy it for her kids. I think they'll like the singing goat and the frantic squirrel and the snowboarding grandma and the hip treat-delivery girl Red. They probably won't be so much into the thespian woodcutter but that's okay, the dective frog makes up for it.

Entertaining, different, and not saccarine. A good film.