Film, Literature, & the Human Condition

When I watched Superman Returns back in 2006, I kind of liked it. I thought Brandon Routh was perfect, able to maintain the essence of Christopher Reeve, but he wasn’t given too much to do. I liked Superman Returns, I felt it did a lot more right than it did wrong, but there were two major issues I had with the movie. One was the screenplay. A close second was Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, but primarily the screenplay. Everything else was okay to me. Bryan Singer’s direction very closely followed the style which was established by Richard Donner in the 1978 original, which added a warm welcomed dimension of nostalgia. Kevin Spacey’s performance as Lex Luthor paid tribute to Gene Hackman while staying unique itself. Like I said, the main flaw is the narrative ambitions of the screenwriters, which were a bit overreaching. While maintaining the philosophy of verisimilitude as emphasized by Donner, I felt maybe they took the material too seriously, thereby detracting from the magic of the first film. Towards the end, it began to adopt soap-operatic elements, introducing a paternity dispute to the whole mix. There’s nothing wrong with Superman having a son, but the Man of Steel is about a lot more than being envious of another person filling his gap with Lois Lane. The quiet romance between the two in the original was refreshing in its simplicity. The direction it took in the second film was only to show what would happen should Superman give into the banality of blind devotion to a single person over the rest of humanity. He has certain responsibilities to those weaker than him. Something else I thought the new script did wrong was emphasize a kind of Christ-like quality of Superman. Obviously Superman’s attributes naturally procures that sort of comparison, but it’s not supposed to be that serious, nor does Superman ever allow himself to recognize he is above everybody else because of his powers. He knows that he is special, but he strives to never place one human being over another. One of his conflicts does stem from his feelings for Lois Lane, but Superman Returns strays away from that discussion in place of melodrama. I didn’t think it was real interesting, or fun. (continue reading…)

Two years ago, when I heard there was going to be a remake of The Pink Panther, or rather a new addition to the series, it gave me pause. Peter Sellers was those movies. There was nothing to bother watching if not vitalized by his charismatic presence, yet alone the brilliant comic performances he gave.  The filmmakers knew this very well, which is why the first Panther movie following his death was an ill-conceived attempt to manufacture his presence with archival footage of outtakes and deleted scenes from the previous film. When I found out the iconic Inspector Clouseau would now be portrayed by Steve Martin, I didn’t know what to think. Steve Martin himself is a genius whose style is inimitable. After much deliberation, I reserved myself to conclude it was going to be good and built up a significant amount of anticipation leading to its release. Well, you must know what happened next. The truth is not all the original Panther movies were great.  After the first two, I think the quality waned a bit, but it didn’t matter because there exists a modicum of films, mostly sequels to films you love, that you don’t judge with the normal criterion. In the Pink Panther films, all you needed was the Henry Mancini score and Peter Sellers. However, after I watched the new one, I realized there was something else, a particular conviction the movie should have. It doesn’t matter because prior to realizing that, I had already begun viewing it as just another film. (continue reading…)

A lot of people had qualms about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth installment of the iconic series from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. There were complaints from the colorful tone of the film to the use of digital effects, but I think the biggest grievance was the MacGuffin, the Crystal Skull itself, and the resolution the filmmakers arrived at. I had no misgivings about anything in the movie. It was obviously nowhere near the greatness of Raiders of the Lost Ark, nor did it equal the grittiness of its two sequels, but it is still a blood relative of the trilogy and a worthy addition to the Indiana Jones mythology. I deem it so because of the sophistication with which the film is executed, starting with the speculative treatment of crystal skulls, which is not as fantastical as some would like to believe. If you have not seen the movie, I suggest you read no further. (continue reading…)