This year as many of you readers know, is our 25th anniversary. And since the big “25” is indeed a milestone year to be around (a silver edition no doubt!), we through it would be an honor to celebrate those twenty-five years of doing what we have been doing for the past quarter century, is to showcase a vast retrospect of those glory years.
Unlike a visual element such as an anniversary of a TV network or a movie studio where a television special would be presented where the program would consist of a montage of clips of past performances or productions that made those years special, we are not going to offer another “clip show” event. What we plan to do is to reprint a selection of past articles that once graced these same pages (both as print pages as well as the online variety) that show how much we have grown through the ages.
Starting with this edition and with future editions that will be presented throughout the year, we will look back by offering those headline articles that made this news service unique. And in addition, we will also present a selection of reviews we wrote about for movies, theater works, and anything else we got around in reviewing.
Some of the stuff we wrote about in those days range form being very simplistic to downright wordy and complex. Much of this composer of word’s writings changed over the years. Some of those musings were classics, while other were (to yours truly anyway), borderline embarrassing! Then again, everyone’s early work were not in the same style of perfection as they used to be. So we do share a common bond in that perspective!
However, technology is somewhat not working for us here. When we started back in 1996, we were hacking our stuff using a Mac Plus computer system that featured a word processing program (AppleWorks) that was part of a Macintosh operating system. (At the time, Microsoft’s Word wasn’t available for the Mac until many years later!) And those files were placed on those 3 1/2” floppy disks. Today, many of those floppy disks can no longer be read though a modern Mac. And the word processing program we used is somewhat difficult to translate using the current version of the Mac word processing program, Pages. Thus, some of our stuff is no longer accessible! It’s not lost per se, just living within a different world.
However, not all is lost! Much of our later stuff that was released since the late 00’s are accessible. So we will dip into that collection of articles and reviews, but we will also try to reprint some of the older stuff as well!
So with that being said, we will wax nostalgia for a while. However, we will stay in the present age. It’s fun to look back, but you have to keep looking forward. That is the reason for our headline. Keep you eye on the rear view mirror on occation, while looking forward at the some time. In other words, live with the past, but not in it!
Before we really get off on the deep end, let’s end this beginning with our first of many reprints. Here’s our take on a feature film we took a gander at! Enjoy!
PS..When one sees a movie for the first time, one may have had a great experience with it, or one may have found it as an “ecch!”. Year later, tastes change. What we found as “great” way back when may have given us second thought of the title since then. While at the same time, a movie we thought as “meh”, looks better today than how we first saw it! It’s amusing when these ideas change over the years. But that’s the way it goes!
OK..we are gonna shut up for a while….
MAN OF STEEL (Warner Bros.) is a retelling/reboot/remake of comic bookdom’s first and perhaps, greatest super hero ever to see print: The saga of Superman.
Told in somewhat of a slightly non-linear fashion, the legion begins on the planet Krypton, a place set far among the galaxies. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his spouse become the parents of a boy to be called Kal-El (Henry Cavill), during a time where their planet stripped from its energy sources, is close for destruction. One of the leaders of their world, General Zod (Michael Shannon) attempted to take the planet against its people for his own ways. For his part in this takeover, he is charged for treason by its leaders and sentenced, along with his army, to be placed in the Phantom Zone. While Krypton’s days are numbered, Jor-El places his young son on a ship to escape this world’s doom and to perhaps live on another cosmos. Jor-El travels to Earth where he lands on a farm in Smallville, Kansas adapted by Martha and Jonathan Kent (Diane Lane and Kevin Costner). Then there’s ace reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams), working for The Daily Planet in the city of Metropolis who discovers the notion of a young man who has extraordinary powers. But this man, also known are Clark Kent, is taught by his earth father to use his powers for good. That is, until General Zod and his army broke free from the Phantom Zone, heads for Earth to receive their revenge for Kal-El.
For those that know their comic book history, this flick follows the classic Superman story faithfully for a post modern audience. The screenplay by David S. Goyer (with story by Christopher Nolan and Goyer), presents the tale of this original super hero told slightly stagnant, never drifting off too far from its basic plot lineage. The movie watching audience learns about Clark’s past and how he became a hero, only to have his earth father Jonathan tell him the humble sides between good and evil. (Good always win as that’s part of the truth, justice, and the American way!!) But getting back to the film itself: Unlike the features starring the late Christopher Reeves released in the late 1970’s and throughout the 1980’s that played like a rather campy comic book, this film is more of a graphic novel, offering slight hints to what this character has gone through its 75 years of existence in various forms of media! It does offer action (and lots of it), special effects (ditto), and even a bit of romance! After a exciting and rather amusing fight scene between Kan-El and the evil General Zod, Lois turns to this hero as the pair do engage in a passionate kiss! (And this isn’t a “spoiler alert!”)
Zack Snyder directs this feature that is indeed entertaining (something that movies should be), and has enough to keep the pace going for its 120+ minute running time!
Summertime movies usually means lots of gunfire, explosions, animation, and the for noted action heroes lifted off the pages of a comic book! MAN OF STEEL offers the action, explosions, not much gunfire, and if one counts tons of visual effects as “animation”, this will fit the bill of a standard “tent pole” summer flick! And if the trend continues with super hero titles, this feature will fill Warner Bros.’ coffers quite well! DC Comics, owned by the studio since the late 1970’s, will keep on printing the tale of this man o’ steel (along with The Dark Knight a.k.a. Badman) for quite a while.
In comic book terms, there’s DC, Marvel (owned by The Walt Disney Company), and everyone else. These kind of movies may not hold a lot of high intellect, but at least they are quire amusing for what they are!
Oh, yes! This film is also released in 3D. According to the press kit this writer used to keep everyone mentioned within this review in order, this feature was shot on film in 2-D, only to have its 3D visual effects added in post. If possible, see it in 2D as the 3D effects may become headache inducing for some folks. Besides, you can see it in 2D sans those slightly annoying glasses! (And it’s cheaper too, as theaters charge more admission for a 3D feature verses a 2D version!)
This movie is rated “PG-13” for comic book violence and object destruction. Opening on June 14th (2013) at multiplexes nationwide!
Note: This feature is available for streaming through HBO+!
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