July 2, 2006
Superman: Return my Money, Please
Superman Returns was horrible. Not just bad, horrible. It was slow, boring and lame.
Nothing happened for the first 30 minutes. NOTHING. Then there's about an hour of down time. And the last one and a half hours...NOTHING HAPPENS.
At one point, towards the end of the film (the "climax," as it's typically called), the theatre went quiet, and all we heard was the sound of someone snoring! This guy snored through the rest of the movie. I can't think of a better way to describe to you how bad this film was. People were walking out before the end, it was that bad.
Please, take my advice and avoid this movie like the plague.
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but...Superman Returns: worse than The Phantom Menace. That's right, I'd rather watch Jar Jar Binks than sit through that again.
You emulate your Creator who is "chas al mamonam...". You just saved me $8.00. Thank you.
Posted by: yehupitz at July 2, 2006 2:27 PMHave to disagree on this one. It wasn't great, but not nearly as bad as you claim. I would put in in the "good" category. Perhaps a 6.5 out of 10. Kevin Spacey was great. My major problem with it was the ending-too long.
Posted by: Jewboy at July 2, 2006 11:59 PMActually, I rather enjoyed the film. Was surprised that it was over so soon.
Yes, the pace was relaxed - but that didn't mean nothing happened.
If you consider movies slow that don't have exposions and such frequently - then go see X-Men 3 (all action, no coherent plot).
But - if you want a superhero film that dares to focus on character as the driver - then see Superman Returns.
Personally - it felt a little like seeing an old love again and remembering all the fond memories you had together. I really appreciated it.
Do yourself a favor through - see Superman the Movie, and Superman II first before seeing this - it will make you appreciate all the small touches all the more.
Posted by: Eliezer at July 3, 2006 9:01 AMEliezer: I thought X-Men 3 was awesome: http://presence.baltiblogs.com/2006/05/29/good_clean_mutant_fun.html
I have no problem with well written, intelligent, character driven scripts. But this was boring, and if it's a super-hero flick, I need to see lots of superhero stuff.
In general, Brian Singer seems to do this a lot; I liked the first two X-Men movies, but there was WAY too much of characters talking about unimportant stuff like their feelings. If I want that, I'll go to a Julia roberts film. When I watch a superhero movie, things should explode at least once every fifteen minutes.
Posted by: Greg at July 3, 2006 10:10 AMIsnt going to movies bittul Tiorah ?
Posted by: Klear at July 3, 2006 10:20 AMShkoach to Eliezer for pointing out that it's not a bad thing for there to be character development in a Superman movie. Greg, there were plenty of exciting sequences to keep you happy. I will concede that it was too long, especially the dragged out ending. By no means a perfect film, but I'm glad I saw it on the bigscreen.
Klear-And if it is, what's your point?
Posted by: Jewboy at July 3, 2006 10:27 AMKlear -- As anything that is not directly-Torah related, movies can be classified as bitul Torah, or, in keeping with the Rambam's dictum that anything done for the sake of learning (resting to be able to learn better, for example), can be classified as learning, or at least, hechsher mitzvah.
That being said I have two points to make.
1. Clearly, the Halachic/Hashkafic ramifications of movie watching are way, way, way beyond the issue of bitul Torah. For example, do you know how hard it is to watch the movie while everyone is shushing you all the time? I mean, my wife sits next to me and says "you can look now, you can't look now" at least 100 times an hour.
2. Secondly, (and this is like, a no-brainer) watching movies may indeed, after much deliberation, turn out to be bitul Torah. But what is the classification for those who read and post on blogs about watching movies? I would say it's an even larger issue. In fact, come to think of it -- what are you doing on the internet in the first place!?
Now leave my friend Greg alone. He feels bad about the $8.00 he should have spent on Tzedakah (rather than waste it on a bad movie) and he needs to emote. I think we should all provide for him a proverbial shoulder to vent upon...
