So it's July already. Hard to believe that the summer movie season is more or less half over already (especially considering there hasn't been much in the way of really great summer movies so far this year). It’s been a couple of weeks since my last entry, but I was out of town to see family for a weekend (and didn’t see any movies), and then I was out of town 4th of July weekend for a wedding. But that certainly wasn’t going to stop me from seeing that weekend's big release, Superman Returns! I didn’t see it Wednesday when it premiered because I was waiting until that Friday to attend a very special showing being put on by Muse Comics of Missoula, Montana (a wonderful store). The store actually booked an entire showing of the film, then gave a ticket to anyone who made a $10 donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund through the store (which I thought was very cool, as this is a great organization that I fully support). And why would someone pay $10 to see a movie when the regular ticket price is only $7 you ask (especially when it’s not even a sneak preview of the movie)? Well, the answer to that is that Muse Comics managed the astounding feat of getting comic book legend Jim Lee to come to Missoula for a signing before attending the showing with everyone.
Now for those of you not into comic books, this probably doesn’t mean much. But Jim Lee is one of the current greats of the comic book world, having drawn Superman, X-Men, and a number of other significant comics, as well as starting his own comics publishing company, Wildstorm (which has a whole slew of kickass comics), which he eventually sold to DC Comics. Not being a fanboy type myself, I didn’t stand in line to get any comics signed (and I have to say there was quite the impressive line to get his autograph), but it was pretty cool to go to the movie and be able to say that Jim Lee sat right behind me. And because of the nature of the event, it very much felt like a big premiere, even if it happened after the movie had been playing a couple of days. Jim Lee said a few words to the crowd, and everyone was really excited (cheering and clapping when the movie started, and when the Spiderman 3 teaser played, for example), and it was just generally a really great time at the movies (which is why I love attending sneak previews or special showings like this of big movies).
At this point I’d like to digress from the movie for a moment to talk about premieres/sneak previews. Especially with the bigger movies, they tend to be a big hassle to attend (standing in line for hours to get tickets (although this is becoming less of an issue now that theaters are starting to sell tickets before the day of the show, sell tickets online, etc.), followed by standing in line hours before the movie starts so you’re near the front of the line in the hopes of getting good seats), but I’ve always felt it was worth it. I was always the guy who took a half day off from work to stand in line for tickets for everybody to the big premieres (which is never a lot of fun, especially when it’s for a holiday movie like the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter films and it’s snowing and freezing cold), and I was more than happy to do it because I’m that big of a movie geek. Admittedly, I got lucky and never had to stand in line for the Star Wars prequels, because I’ve got a friend who’s a huge Star Wars geek who stood in line to get tickets for those (and to all those people who pitched tents and spent weeks/months in line to be the first to buy tickets, all I can say is – it’s just a damned movie! A few hours, maybe even half a day is one thing, but weeks?! Get a life!!). But back to the topic at hand. The reason I have no problems waiting in line for hours for these big premieres is because it is just such a fun experience to see the movie for the first time with a group of people who are just super psyched to see the movie. You won’t ever see me in costume or anything crazy like that (as I said, I’ve never really been a fanboy type of person), but it’s still fun to be around that crowd and to feel the energy and excitement that has people cheering and clapping when the movie starts and when the credits roll (and occasionally during really cool scenes in the movie). It just makes for a much more fun, memorable movie experience.
So back to Superman Returns (which I’ve actually seen twice now. I saw it Friday at the special showing, then again on Saturday with a couple of friends who had to work Friday night). I do have to say that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the first two X-Men or Spiderman movies (but that’s partly because while I’m a big fan of the X-Men comics and was a longtime reader of Spiderman, I’ve never really been a big fan of Superman). It was still a really cool movie, though, and I liked it a hell of a lot better than I did X-Men: The Last Stand. Which probably shouldn’t be too surprising since it’s directed by Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men movies. Bryan Singer is just such a great director (he’s probably one of my top five, and absolutely one of my top 10 favorite directors). He focuses so much more on story and characters than he does on events and action and big effects scenes, which is why I like him better as a director than Brett Ratner (who directed X3). Of course, I think even Bryan Singer would have had a hard time with X3, since it’s biggest problem was that the script was crap. But we’ve covered that already in a previous entry, so moving on!
There were a handful of scenes in Superman Returns that were way over the top and just kind of make you shake your head because they push limits of suspending your disbelief a little too far, but it’s Superman, so sadly that’s to be expected. But overall the story was really well thought out and put together. I’ve heard a number of complaints from people about the lack of action in the movie, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. And I have to shake my head at people who complain that Lex Luthor isn’t the bad, scary super-powered villain in the goofy costume like we’re used to from other superhero movies, because I say, “So what?” He is still a cool, fun to watch villain, especially when he’s played by Kevin Spacey. It so reminded me of another crazed megalomaniac character he played back in the 80s in a TV show called Wiseguy, where he played a wealthy arms dealer by the name of Mel Profitt. This is the show where I was first introduced to Kevin Spacey, and I’ve been a huge fan of his work ever since.
Also notable was the performance of Brandon Routh, the young unknown cast to play Superman. And having seen the movie, it’s obvious why he was chosen. As my buddy commented when we watched it, you’d swear he was channeling the spirit of Christopher Reeve. Their appearances are similar, and he just does such a great job with his mannerisms and the way he played the character to really, really make you think of Christopher Reeve's performance in the original films. It was outstanding. And finally I have to give kudos to Kate Bosworth (who I barely recognized without her usual blonde hair), who does a wonderful job as Lois Lane. She’s a very talented young actress that I look forward to seeing more of in the future.
So all in all a very enjoyable film, and hopefully the start of a renewal of the franchise (although I do have to say that as far as franchise restarts go, I was much more impressed with Batman Begins, but a lot of that is that it is both a darker film, and because I’m a much bigger Batman fan than I am a Superman fan). Certainly a movie worth going to see. Under normal circumstances it's probably not one I'd have seen at the theater twice, mind you (especially two days in a row), but that's how it goes sometimes. :-)
With 4th of July weekend being a long weekend, I made it to the theater that Monday to see the movie I'd missed the previous weekend when it first came out, Click. This was a pretty good movie, but certainly not a great movie. While Adam Sandler does a fantastic job, the biggest problem with the movie is that it is an Adam Sandler movie. Which is to say that there are numerous scenes of very juvenile humor that the movie would have been better off without. While this sort of humor works well in most of his movies, the nature of the story in this movie would have worked much better if they’d left a lot of that out. For example, there’s a running gag about the family dog constantly humping an over-sized stuffed duck that gets really old, really quickly.
The actors all did a great job. Kate Beckinsale is wonderful (and as beautiful and sexy as ever), and Christopher Walken steals pretty much every scene that he’s in (no surprise there at all). Sean Astin, David Hasselhoff, and Henry Winkler also give really solid performances. The story is pretty good, and very touching and heartfelt in spots, especially towards the end of the movie. I think with a little less emphasis on the humor (especially the more vulgar humor), this could have been a wonderful comedy-drama; instead we get an okay comedy with some dramatic elements to it. I’m glad I went and saw it, but I can probably only recommend it to Adam Sandler fans.
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