Man of Steel had many good runs, but never the homerun

So, last night I went to see Man of Steel. While never been a fan of the character, I've been intrigued by the movie, especially by the let down that is Superman Returns. After seeing the trailer, I admit my expectation soared. It was great, and give me hope that this new interpretation of Superman was going to give me the kind of boost that the Batman franchise got with Batman Begins.

And there's my mistake.

The intention of making 'Steel' the 'Begins' of Superman franchise is there, but the story and the execution is not. I'm not going to outright say that I hate the movie, because I'm not, but it feels there's a HUGE opportunity missed here by DC/WB.

It started so well. With the introduction of Jor-El (Superman father to those who don't know, played by Russel Crowe) and General Zod and the whole Krypton council and world. This Krypton is remarkable, really feel like an alien world with alien technology. It seems, taking cues from John Byrne stories of the Superman comics in the 80s, that everyone on Krypton was genetically engineered to serve a purpose. No one was born naturally anymore, all was done with machines to produce engineers, leaders, soldiers, scientist, etc. No one, except Kal-El.

In this version, Kal was born naturally, without any programming on what he supposed to be. General Zod,  (Michael Shannon) was livid. He tried to kill Jor-El,  as he saw this as a heresy, a violation of Krypton way. Zod eventually failed and was sentenced to Kryptonian version of the Blackgate, the Panthom Zone. Meanwhile, Jor-El already sent this son to Earth, knowing that Krypton will soon be destroyed.

It was really well done, and I really like Crowe as Jor-El, and Shannon as Zod. The next part was I think were the weakest part of the movie. It was Clark self discovery journey, as he travel the world trying to find any clues about who he is, and how he learn to master his (super) powers. It was told in flashbacks, similar on Bruce Wayne journey in Batman Begins. But it didn't have the kind of execution that Begins have. In Begins, you understand why Bruce did what he did. It was naturally progressed from wanting to kill Chill himself, to finally understand that revenge is not the same as justice. In Man of Steel, Clark journey was just.. there. We learn that he was forced to hide his powers, we learn how he control it, we learn that he was destined to be something greater (this was mentioned by both his fathers). But we never learn why he choose to use his powers for good. We never learn how Superman got this extremely strong morality that separate him from other heroes. All this because I feel the parts with the Kents is the weakest part of the movie.

What we got here instead is a Jonathan Kent who was okay to leave other people died so that his son powers was not discovered by anyone else. Sure we got Mr. Kent throwing up wise tidbits here and there. But it's never strong enough to made me believe that 'oh yeah, that's how Clark learn his lessons'. All that made Pa Kent's death not as big an impact as it supposed to be, especially the way it was done. Both the Kents was not used properly and it really hurt this movie. It's frustrating when you see got the kind of talent  they got to potray them (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). And this goes to most characters in the movie, most of them are without the proper build up, so you end up care less about the character.

The action scenes was great though, and was one of the highlight of the movie. It was really well done to show the amount of threat when an army of super power beings wanted to wreck havoc on Earth. The fights scenes was excellent, although I have reservation that Superman seems to ignore any collateral damage that endangered civilian life. But I don't have any reservation about the ending. Supes killing Zod was really well done, and Cavill nails it perfectly.

I thought the casting was also great. Cavill really looks the part. His body language, his voice, all just screams Superman. Amy Adams I thought did the best she could given what she got, and for once we got a Lois who is charming and smart enough to be a Pulitzer winning journalist.

All in all, it was a decent movie with some good parts in it, but never really hit that spot of a really good movie. It's like WB/DC understand that Returns didn't really nail it because it's too faithful to Donner version of Superman. Not enough action, they say. We want Superman to really punch someone they say. All valid points. But the filmmakers seems was going too much in the other direction.

Another thing that I find ironic. Most reviews I read was that Man of Steel was too much like Batman. Too dark, to gloomy. However, The Dark Knight trilogy is really about hope and inspiration. It was hammered many times during all three movies. Bruce said it best in Begins, that he wanted to be an inspiration, a force of good, someone who could inspire the people of Gotham to do the right thing, and to do that he needs to become a symbol. And in Rises, it was shown that the people of Gotham finally stood up and fought Bane's thugs, helping Batman to defeat them.

Superman in the comics is seen as the symbol of hope. Many stories was told that Superman is an example of the best we can be. He's the inspiration of how to do the right thing even in the most difficult situations. Man of Steel tried to do that, but ironically can't do it as good as Batman, a character that is not known for hope or inspiration.

Anyway, I still have hope. WB/DC already green light the sequel, so let's hope they do it better next time. 

The Dark Knight Rises... and ends

I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises a few hours ago. Nolan's epic trilogy of the cape crusader finally come to an end. It's been a fantastic journey, both critically and financially. I don't think WB envisioned this though when they chose indie director Christopher Nolan, whose best work was a little movie called Memento about a amnesiac man trying to find his wife murderer.

I'll be honest, I've been a fan of Batman since as an eleven year old I read Batman 360 in the neighbor house.In this comic, Batman investigates a series of murder done by a disfigured psychopath, called Savage Skull.

It was fascinating for me because, when other comic book heroes are these super powered gods, this guy equipped with only cool gadgets (CSI lab in the car trunk anyone?), and kick ass martial arts are dealing with equally dangerous mad men and psychos. You can't possibly hope of actually being an alien and gain super powers on Earth, or someday you'll get bitten by radioactive spiders and can climb walls as a result, but fantasizing of having the gadgets and martial arts to beat up criminals? It's entirely in the realm of possibility.

So, when Chris Nolan came up with his 'realistic' version of the Batman, it was like a godsend for me. Finally, I got to see how 'real' it would be if someone has enough resource and determination to actually jumping off rooftops and capture criminals.

 If Batman Begins is the story of how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, and The Dark Knight is how Batman faced his arch nemesis, The Dark Knight Returns is about how Bruce Wayne can finally exorcise his demons and stopped being so angry. It was fitting to the realistic tone that Nolan worked so hard on the previous two films. There's no way a guy can keep that anger and determination for years and not letting up for a second. There has to be a point in his life that he has to let go his pain, otherwise that'll destroy him.

 Now I'm going to mention what I don't like about this movie first.
 - The plot is convoluted, messy and not as engaging as TDK
 - While Bane is really well done, his plans does not has the same 'oomph' as the Joker's
 - Miranda Tate's death scene. I mean wtf?

 Now the good thing is, despite all that shortcomings, the movie really works as the ending of the trilogy. Maybe it was intentional that Nolan made this less mind-blowing, because the climax of this trilogy already occurred in TDK.

Tom Hardy nailed it as Bane, and to my surprise, so does Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. The nods to classic Batman story arcs are also nice (Knightfall, No Man's Land). I also loved Bale's Wayne struggle to finally able to let go of his demons, even if it cost him his friendship with Alfred (Michael Caine). I gotta give major props to Caine here. It's by far the most heartfelt portrayal of Alfred ever seen on screen. It was also fitting tribute that it carries the idea from the first movie, that Batman being a symbol, it main purpose is to inspire people, and he finally did in the form of John Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt).

 Now the more I think of it, despite its epic scale, this Batman feels way more personal. Bane's efforts to takeover and destroy Gotham is just a background to the personal issues that Wayne have to solve.

 Batman has gone full circle, and it's great that in this incarnation, Bruce Wayne finally found peace.

Invictus (2009)

Minister of Sport: "According to the experts, we will reach the quarterfinals"
Nelson Mandela : "According to the experts, you and I should still be in jail"

I love movies. And I love sports too. So when these two are combined, I can't help having a major bias in liking them. The key to a good sports movie is it doesn't focused on the sport itself, but rather on the humanity that connected the people in the sports. Fine example of this are The Damned United, whose focused on the friendship of legendary manager Brian Clough and his assistant, Peter Taylor. Also Ken Loach's Looking for Eric which explored the relationship between a football fan and his idol. Fortunately, Invictus (2010) falls in the same category.

The year is 1995. Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) was only in office for a year. South Africa, despite it's newly status as an apartheid-free country was in turmoil. The tension between the black and the white people are high. The blacks still hold resentment because of decades of oppression, the whites fears that the blacks will run them out of the country. Not to mention unemployment and economic problems, needless to say Mandela had a huge job in his hands.

When South Africa was appointed for that year Rugby World Cup host, Mandela saw an opportunity.During a private meeting with Francois Pieenar (Matt Damon), the SA team captain, he implies that they could do so much more than playing rugby. They can provide some hope of unity and achievement in this World Cup. Although he never said it, Pieenar understood him.



And so it begans, the unlikely story of how South Africa became a world champion. It was inspiring and touching. Even though you don't understand a thing about rugby, you find yourself willing the players to score, to run through tackles. Clint Eastwood proved his skill again as one of the best working director today. The director son, Kyle, the musician who was tasked with providing music for this movie proved to be a good choice. What I like about Eastwood here is that, unlike many movies like this, he didn't dwell on those big inspiring moments, he keep it short but hitting the target nevertheless.

This movie does have one flaw though. I have nothing but respect for Morgan Freeman, he's a great actor, and I know Mandela said himself that if there's a movie about him he wanted Freeman to play him. But one thing that work against Freeman in this movie is that his iconic status proved hard to get overlooked. Freeman was so well known and iconic himself that it is hard to see him as another iconic character. Morgan Freeman did brought that charisma, wisdom and utter respect that we can expect from a man with Mandela stature. Matt Damon I thought did alright, despite not having the right physique for a rugby player. He did have one of the best non-sporting scene in the movie when the rugby team visited Mandela former cell in Robben Island, it's simple yet powerful in the movie message.

I loved the movie despite its flaws though. The fact this is based on a true story and according to some reviews, this movie got it right for about 90% regarding historical accuracies, just make it more wonderful for me. You'll appreciate Nelson Mandela and what he has achieve more if you haven't already. Go and see it.

Call It, and Raised It

After the release of Iron Man and Incredible Hulk consequently, Marvel Studios were riding high. The new Hulk movie managed to restart the franchise after Ang Lee's failed attempt in 2003, and Iron Man was gaining critical praise left, right centre as well as commercial success with Robert Downey Jr brilliant portrayal of Tony Stark. They also put out the plan to create the Avengers movie, with cleverly put cameos in the two movies.

Rivals at DC/WB needed an answer. After Superman Returns failed in the box office and their JLA project is languishing in development hell, they need to come up with something. And oh boy do they have the perfect response in The Dark Knight.

The sequel to 2005 Batman Begins managed to do what few movies can, being better than the original. Begins is already praised for its realistic and dark portrayal of the comic book characters, but this movie just take it to another level. It's gaining massive positive reviews from the critics, and at the time this review is written, has broke 8 box office records, including the biggest income from the opening weekend, breaking previous record that was held by Spider-Man 3.

I should admit though, that after Kevin Smith's comment that this is the Godfather 2 of comic book movies my expectation went so high that I feel that I'm going to be disappointed when I finally saw it. Rest assured, that not only it met my expectation, but also succeed it.

The movie itself is action packed, but it never got dumbed down into a typical action movie. The story is worthy of a great crime saga, and the characters development was fantastic.



Batman and Gordon effort to clean up Gotham from organized crime received a huge boost with the emergence of the new hot shot District Attorney, Harvey Dent. Dent's hard stance in prosecuting criminals proved to be more successful than Batman vigilante ways, and it gives Bruce Wayne a glimmer of hope that one day he can finally hang up his cowl and lead a normal life.

Meanwhile, the mobsters are getting desperate with all this, and in this desperation they turned to their last hope, a guy who claims that he can killed Batman for a price, The Joker. However, the Joker wasn't really interested in reward or money, all he care about is chaos. Like what Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) said to Wayne when the latter is trying to figure out The Joker, "Some people just like to see the world burn". And Joker pretty much got what he wanted. Chaos. Utter chaos.



That's pretty much as far as I can go without spoiling it. Rest assured that that two paragraphs is just scratching the surface.

Chris and Jonah Nolan together with David Goyer managed to wrote a story get each major character development perfectly, and the actors didn't disappoint. Bale's Batman and Wayne growth as a hero and a person, Aaron Eckhart brilliant performance in Dent portraying the rise and fall that created Two-Face, and Gary Oldman again shine in Jim Gordon's struggle to do the right thing. All was given enough arc and background stories. And much has been said about Heath Ledger final complete role, and let me tell you this. All the hype was justified. He was THAT good. His Joker is scary as hell, but you'll find yourself laughing at his jokes and felt shit afterwards, because you know you shouldn't be laughing. If let say 20 years from now, they're gonna make another Batman movie with the Joker in it, people will say "Can he play it as good as Ledger?" about the actor whose gonna play him.

To say that this is a great comic book movies is doing a bit disservice to the movie. Sometimes a movie is just so damn good it doesn't matter what genre it is.

About Two Years Ago

Approximately two years ago, France and Italy met in the World Cup Final. I wrote the piece below after the game. Considering they'll meet again tonight in the Euro 2008 do-or-die group match, I repost it again below.

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Well, the world cup has ended about 4 days ago, and life's back to normal again. No more waking up in the early hours of the day to watch a game. I, as most football fans around Indonesia will be relieved that, our routine wont be disturbed.

But the after effect of the final is stil going strong. Not because of the game itself (which is not very good since only France who were going for the win while Italy defended with their lives), but what happened 10 minutes before the game's extra time ended.

When the referee was going to signal a freekick for the Italians, he was brought to attention by other players at Marco Materazzi, the Italian defender, who was lying on his back while holding his chest in pain. After the ref consulted his assistant, he sent off Zinedine Zidane, the French captain, who has been inspirational for his side in this tournament, for violent conduct. TV replays a few minutes after that shows that after exchanging a few words with Materazzi, Zidane crash his head to the Italian chest with some power.



This is the huge talking point after the game. Most newspapers printed this incident as their headlines. Football forums filled with comments on Zidane's action. Italy, who won the World Cup after beating France in penalty shoot-out, got some nice articles about their achievement, but nowhere near the intesity that Zidane's incident.

The incident has been polarizing football fans around the world. Zidane's skill is well respected in the football world as one of the best in the world. Many people would like to see him get a proper goodbye since the final is his last game before he retired from football this year. What would make him do that is the question that's been asked.

Rumours that come out from the French camp was Materazzi was making racist comments about Zidane's mother. Materazzi himself denied that he made racist comments, but doesn't go into detail of what he actually said. Zidane only said in his latest press release that Materazzi insulted his mother and sister due to the point that he can't take it anymore.

No one really know what's been said, and I doubt we can answered the above question if either both of them won't tell the truth. FIFA are allegedly conduction an investigation on this issue, since racism is quite a serious crime. Materazzi could face quite a punishment if he really did said racist things to Zidane. Even though personally, I think he might have. Materazzi is well known as a dirty player who used every trick in the book (and write one himself), to be believed that he didn't try to get Zidane sent-off.

But, even after all this, even his exit was disgraceful, I think he's still one of the best player in the world. Zidane in his prime was an absolute joy to watched. His vision, ball control, power, passing range is absolutely top class. And he did all that with the economy of movement, unlike the Brazilians who tend to show off to display their skills. He's probably the only player that can make me woke up at 3 in the morning just to see him play his skill on clubs that I don't even support.
I've been priveleged enough to see him at his best, so I have no complaint about how he ends his career.

Au Revoir Zidane, merci beacoup pour la mémoire

What's now Doc?

So what's up now for Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) and the rest of the gang? House M.D season 4 finale was shown last week, and it certainly brings up some really interesting questions. While I'm not particularly liked this season for reasons I'll explain below, the finale thankfully brought something good in the series.

Season 4 started with House diagnosing a case on his own. After disbanding his team at the end of the previous season, House is adamant that he can work alone. Well, he's not actually disband them though. Foreman (Omar Epps) feared that he'll turned into House the longer he spent time around him and he resign. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) too has had enough and also resign. Only Chase (Jesse Spencer) that was fired against his will, even though House gave the reason that Chase already learned everything he needs to know from him.


But after subsequent events Cuddy managed to convinced House to hired a team, but House being House, he didn't do conventional interviews. Instead he selected them through 'reality show' elimination process. He gathered all 40 applicants and inform them that he'll eliminate them one by one after each case, and the remaining 3 will be his team.

This is what I think the weakest part of the series though. Even though the series initial idea was 'CSI against germs', where House and his team must find the cure to mysterious illness, the show has evolved into something much more interesting in its 3 year run.


When House began the contest, it decrease the amount of personal interaction between House and the applicants (in subsequently with the patient) because of their sheer number. The best moments on previous seasons was when House is at odds with the people around him. House idea that love, humanity and faith is stupid constantly clashed with Foreman's values, Chase's beliefs and Cameron's ideals. And that's what makes it good. I love the way House constantly undermined his team, but he also secretly admired them in different ways. I also like the way House seemed to take Wilson for granted, but came through when Wilson finally need him. I also like the fact that Cuddy, who as his boss, often clashed with House, but there's a hidden fondness between the two of them, as both know each other like no other person do.

When House finally picked his team, the show was a little better (Although one could argue his team can be predicted since some names are too well known to be just another guest star), but I regretted that the writers can't come up with something new, since this new team, was essentially the old team but with different people.


Taub (Steve Jacobson) was the only people in the team who's willing to stand up to House and provide a medical diagnostic that House could appreciate, much like Foreman. Kutner (Kal Pen) wants to impress House so much, and willing to take the risk, much like Chase. 13 (Olivia Wilde) is gorgeous, idealistic but with a damaged past, which pretty much is what Cameron is all about.

Throughout the season, I can't help comparing it to previous seasons, because even though it has some great moments (Frozen was an excellent episode), it lacked what made it good in the first place.

However the last two episodes brought back what's good with the series and increased it tenfolds. In the 15th episode, aptly titled House's Head, we take a journey inside House mind, he suffered mild amnesia after the bus he was riding had an accident. It was interesting and superbly done, as House only remember someone's dying but he can't remember who because he can't remember anything before the accident. The last episode deals with the after math of the previous episode, and more importantly asking questions about House friendship with Wilson and Cuddy too (No, not THAT kind of question you perverts). I always wondered why Wilson put up with House all this time, and after the finale, I wondered no more.

All in all, this bad season was rescued by the superb finale, and thankfully this made the next season a whole more interesting.

Wow

It finally sink in after a week.

Can't you believe it? Double Champions. It's so good to hear that. Let me say it again. Double Champions.




Who would thought it eh?

Well certainly not 3 years ago, when we were trailing in the league by a mile behind Chelsea, and finished bottom in our Champions League group, scoring only 3 goals. We've come a long way since then.

Although we came close to similar achievement last year and was probably fucked up by injuries, we're a little more than prepared this season to win both. You can see it in our play. We've become more tactical more astute in defending, especially in Europe. We can shut out team and annihilate them equally. And speaking of which, while Ronaldo gathered most of the praise this season, Rio Ferdinand stand the tallest of the red shirt. Put it this way, if we have to play a Champions league final and have to choose between those to who to miss the game, I'd take Ronaldo any day.

Rio leadership at the back spread through out the team, even when he's not wearing the armband. Notable mentions to the likes of Anderson and Nani. New comers at the club, but kept their nerves in the penalty shoot out. Anderson, I thought was the biggest revelation this season. He managed the hardest thing to do at Manchester United: Making Scholes unavailability from the football pitch almost unnoticeable, especially during the league run in. His maturity is astonishing. His strength and willingness was came as a surprised. We thought we're getting a Ronaldinho kind of player, when in reality, he's more a all-arounder than the older Brazilian.

Not that the Ginger Prince didn't have his say this season. While only scoring two goals all season, he choose the perfect time to score his second. A scorcher of a winner to the top corner in the Champions League semifinal.

Ryan Giggs also wrote his name in the history book, if he hasn't already. Let see, broke Sir Bobby Charlton records of 758 appearance for Manchester United, won a record 10th league title (the most of any player in the English league) the previous week. And between that achievement, he also scored United's second in the 2-0 win against Wigan, which ensured the Premiership title, and he also the one who scored the decisive penalty in the shoot out against Chelsea in the Champions League final. Not bad for a player who's been dismissed as 'past it'.

So let me extend my gratitude to other players:
Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra: Part of the best defensive unit in Europe and England. Especially pleased for Brown. A local lad, coming through the ranks, replacing the club captain, and he come out with flying colours.

Michael Carrick, passing extraordinaire and defensively underrated. Capello must be blind to overlook him in the England setup.

Owen Hargreaves, right winger, right back, central midfield, supreme penalty taker? No problemo.

Ji Sung Park: I'm sorry to see him missed the final, but he's more than worth his medal for his outstanding contribution in the quarter and semifinal.

Carlos Tevez, whose late goals was very Solskjaer-esque. Thanks for that equaliser against Spurs, Blackburn and Lyon.

Darren Fletcher, Arsenal season fucker.

John O'Shea, Mr Versitality.

And last but not least, thank you Edwin.

God bless.

I love this team.

A Perfect Start to the Summer

For those of you who lived in a tropical country like me, summer doesn't mean sunshine and holidays. But it does signal something else. It brought a whole bunch of blockbuster movies coming to the theaters.

The first of these movies, are Marvel Studio's Iron Man (2008), based on the company's comic book character. It hits the theaters at 30 April 2008, and based on last night viewing, if the rest of them is at least as good as this one, we're in for a real treat.

Prior to his involvement in the long running Civil War storyline in the comics, Iron Man wasn't one of Marvel A-list character. If one wasn't a comic book fan, he or she probably never heard of Iron Man before.

But I reckon after a few weeks, most people would know what he's all about. In the hands of Jon Favreau (Swingers, Daredevil), Iron Man looked like every bit a summer blockbuster should be. It's fun, it has fantastic special effects, it has also surprisingly good story and acting too. Perhaps it helps that the four main actors in this movie, was nominated for an Academy Award sometime before in their career.

As with any first comic book movies, this one starts with an origin story. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a genius with a knack at electronics and machinery. Continuing his father business with his father old friend Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), he made his millions as a weapon designer and manufacturer, selling them to the US Military. As with people who have serious amount of money, Stark was living in the fast lane. He parties and slept with beautiful women. He spent ridiculous amount of money on art works, cars and everything else he can buy.

Stark life took a drastic change after he was captured in Afghanistan by a group of terrorist after he demonstrate his latest invention, a high tech missile called The Jericho. The terrorist ordered him to build this missile for them. But instead, being a resourceful guy that he is, he used the resources to built his way out of there, in the form of a high tech armor suit.

Stark's beginning to re-evaluate his life after this experience. He found that the terrorist already used some of the weapons that comes from his company. His friendship with Yinsen (Shaun Toub), an Afghanistan doctor who is a fellow captive, made him realised that his life doesn't have a purpose before. And he wanted to make sure that he had one this time around, by building a better version of the armor and put it to good use.

Even though as I said before, the cast was full of talented actors, this is clearly a tour de force by Robert Downey Jr. His acting hit the all right notes as the cocky and arrogant Stark, but still very likable. His personal journey from a jerk to a jerk with a heart was acted really well. I don't think I've ever seen an actor nailed a part like this so completely, other than Christopher Reeve's Superman.

The rest of the cast was pretty good. Gwyneth Paltrow played Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, Stark personal assistant (and love interest) well. She wasn't given that much, but she has good chemistry with Downey, and she doesn't play the annoying damsel in distress role. The writers did a good job in not forcing the romance between Stark and Pepper. Jeff Bridges, without giving too much away, was also really good in his role. Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, a military officer liaison for Stark company, was underused, but there are hints that he'll playing a much more important role in the sequel.

The special effect was breathtaking. Stan Winston really outdo himself in creating the armor suit. I like the fact that Favreau took the time to create an actual armor for shooting rather creating all the Iron Man shots with CGI.

I'm not particularly wasn't an avid reader of Iron Man, only read his comics here and there. But if this movie doing as well as I thought it should be, I reckon there'll be a whole new generation who will loved Iron Man because of it.

This is going to be a good summer.

PS: Oh, and make sure you stay until the credits end. There'll be a nice surprise for the comic fans.