Superman Returns

Talk about your humble returns. Look up it the sky: it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it's (yep you guessed it) and he’s back, but so is Lex Luther. Memo to self Lex, the next time you make plans for world domination make sure they aren’t on the eve of Superman’s return. As the opening credits began we were taken to a familiar place, making the feel of the movie already a gracious return.

The story picks up five years after Superman II, omitting part 3 and 4 all together. Superman has been gone for five years because he left mother earth to go and search for survivors on his home planet, Krypton. The world has moved on without him. The Daily Planet is still running their juicy press stories, Lex Luther is still coming up with evil schemes to take over the world, and Lois is a mother now. Involved with someone, no not married, just involved.

She’s also about to get a Pulitzer for writing “Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman”. A world without Superman is like a world without spam. We need it to survive, well it’s more like a world without hope but you get the idea. In the first couple of minutes the question is answered and thus the real question begins. “Superman Returns” but why? Where has he been and might I add, who’s been taking care of the bad guys while he was away.

The movie moves fast. I caught myself glancing down at my watch twice. The performances are great. Kevin Spacey comes close to capturing that sass that made Gene Hackman’s Lex Luther worth watching. Kate Bosworth does a great job as the Lois of today, and Brandon Routh's Clark Kent captures the charisma of the original. As superman, he redefines the spirit of that old American hero. The rest of the cast did great too. Both Parker Posey and James Marsden do well with what’s was given to them. So does the new Jimmy Olsen, Sam Huntington, and Jason Lois's son, what a small but effective role.

Bryan Singer captured a lot of old familiar material - an occasional scene here and there, iconic moments that rekindle what worked from both the original films and some of the comics; enough for one to appreciate this movie. The one thing I had some issues with was the ending. While it was a suitable approach it was still somewhat odd watching those moments unfold on screen. Overall the message was clear: superman has returned and while some things have changed, justice, truth, and the American way are still what make him the hero that we value today.

Rant

It's interesting how many of us rant about your everyday scenarios, bullshit. The random things that happen to us. Makes me curious if our insignificants means anything to anyone. People are so caught up with themselves and you can pretty much tell by reading these so called blogs. I'm not one for sharing my random thoughts but lately I figured why not. The individual has only so much to say and so many people to say it to. So what am I ranting about. Random bs. The media sucks as always, you never hear much good news by why would you expect that. Now expecting something from something else is expected of us.We all have wants and needs and need these wants bad. I'm not even sure what I'm saying. Rants are pretty much just that, do they have to make sense? I don't think so, I just know that they are things that we wish could be heard. So, what do we do? We rant, an incomplete thought, something that holds somewhat value in our subcongest mind but don't know how to express it, say it, or for that matter show it. I say rant on till the ranting is done. I suppose this is the end of the line for me, I have not much more to say. Rant no more that is.

A Corporate Myspace

Is it just me or is myspace creating quite the buzz. Ever since a guy named Tom started this small internet community over eighty million people have logged on. While myspace is a great place for networking and making new friends, it can also make you famous. From David Lehre, who’s currently being featured on both Rolling Stone and Complex magazine, to Tila Tequila, who was featured back in April on Stuff magazine.

Even the famous have jumped in on the whole myspace frenzy from Carson Daly, who has a page promoting his NBC nightly show, Last Call, to Conan O’Brien. The sad thing is now even corporations are getting in on it. Building websites to promote current movie releases such as Click or X Men 3 to television shows like 24. You can even add the King, as in the Burger King, to your friends list. Makes me wonder at what point was myspace suppose to be about corporate take over.

And with the deal that myspace made with News Corp. back in 2005, you can bet more adverting is yet to come. Tom or no Tom, myspace is sure becoming something. While it does help promote the little man, more then three hundred thousand filmmakers and musicians, independent or professional, are registered on myspace. It’s still however becoming part of the market, the corporate world and drawbacks like the ones I just mention can sure make you wonder if there is enough space to go around but I suppose there might be plenty for both the corporate world and the individual. I’ll just leave you with this little quote of mine “My space is your space and your space is my space at myspace,” yeah but for how long.