Great Moments In Fourth Wall Breakage: SUPERMAN Edition

In this latest entry in the ongoing series, Great Moments in Fourth Wall Breakage, that salutes those meta moments in movies when a character makes an aside to the audience, we’re going to look at the SUPERMAN series. That is, the one that began with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, continued, with diminishing returns, through II, III, and IV in the ‘80s then reviving in the 2000s with SUPERMAN RETURNS.

At the end of Richard Donner’s classic 1978 original (a personal vote for best superhero movie ever), Christopher Reeve’s Superman soars high above the earth, while John Williams’ triumphant score sweeps, after defeating Lex Luthor’s plan to nuke California, surveying the status of our big blue globe, then looks directly into the camera, and smiles. It’s a warm, ‘don’t worry, I got this,’ grin, and this footage, with slight variations from outtakes from the shoot (sometimes his right arm goes up when he flies off; sometimes not) is used to end the film’s three sequels.

Bryan Singer’s attempt to reboot the series in 2006 with SUPERMAN RETURNS also did its take on the ending flyby, but in this version, Brandon Routh (pretty much a Reeve clone) looks knowingly, with a slight, sly smile, at the camera but doesn’t show any teeth before he flies off.

This was the last time for the concluding fourth wall breakage in series, as Henry Cavill’s Superman in MAN OF STEEL, BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, and JUSTICE LEAGUE (all of which are awful) hasn’t been shown friendly acknowledging the audience, and it’s one of the many reasons this most recent version of the character has been embraced like Reeve’s was (and still is). I’m not saying that not having the final smiling flyby is like a James Bond movie without the gun barrel intro, but it’s close.

So Superman is such a mighty being that he even knows he’s a movie star, and his end of adventure smile for us always put an appealing cap on the caper. I wonder if we’ll see a Superman movie with that moment in it again.

Now here's a YouTube compilation of all of the flyby endings from SUPERMAN to SUPERMAN RETURNS:

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When The President Is Just “The President”

As Election Day is coming up soon, let’s take a look back at Presidents in the movies. Specifically how in many films fictional Commander in Chiefs aren’t given names, they’re simply “The President.” Sometimes it makes sense as the President is a minor character who doesn’t need to be identified further. Other times, the leader of the free world gets enough screen time that it seems that the writers should’ve named the character. So let’s take a look at some significant examples of both kinds in this handy listicle:

Henry Fonda 

This legendary actor is a good one to start with as apparently he was seen as Presidential early in his career with his role in John Ford’s YOUNG MR. LINCOLN in 1939. Fonda also portrayed a Presidential candidate in Franklin J. Schaffner’s THE BEST MAN (1964), but it was the two times he played “The President” in Sidney Lumet’s FAIL SAFE (also 1964), and Ronald Neame’s METEOR (1979) that put him on top here. It would be wrong to think he’s playing the same President in both films as one is a critically acclaimed cold war thriller, and other is poorly rated schlocky disaster flick, but it’s still tempting. Incidentally Richard Dreyfus played the role in the 2000 TV movie version of FAIL SAFE, and he didn’t have a name either.

Bruce Greenwood 

The distinguished Greenwood played President John F. Kennedy in Roger Donaldson’s 2000 historical thriller THIRTEEN DAYS, and it looks like that groomed him to portray “The President” in Jon Turteltaub’s NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS (2007), and “President of the United States” (that’s how he’s credited) in KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (2017).

Stanley Anderson 

Both of Michael Bay’s bloated ‘90s action thrillers, THE ROCK (1996), and ARMAGEDDON (1998) featured character actor Stanley Anderson as “The President,” which makes an argument for both movies being set in the same world. Can’t say that really matters though, as I doubt I’ll revisit them anytime soon to see if there are other clues as to whether this is true.

E.G. Marshall 

This Presidential part in Richard Lester (and Richard Donner’s) SUPERMAN II (1981) is too substantial to not be named. Marshall, sporting a toupée so obvious that he was depicted with a price tag hanging from his hair in the Mad Magazine satire of the movie, has a considerable amount of screen-time, so what’s the deal with not giving him a name? In the fourth installment of the series, SUPERMAN IV (1987), Robert Beatty performed the duty of “The President” as well, so it seems that the makers of the Superman series just aren’t into naming Presidents.

Tim Robbins 

Robbins is included here because his brief scenes in Jay Roach’s AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME (1999) makes a good case for why “The President” doesn’t always need a name. His character is Commander in Chief in the late ‘60s in the movie’s universe, and is there to negotiate with Michael Myer’s Dr. Evil over what amount of money would stop the villain from destroying all of America’s major cities. Dr. Evil asks for “one hundred billion dollars,” an amount that Robbins’ President tells him “doesn’t exist” in 1969. “That’s like saying ‘I want a kajillion bajillion dollars.” You see, people are going to be more likely to remember this wacky dialogue than they are whether the President has a name.

Ronny Cox 

Possibly best known for his roles in ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL, and BEVERLY HILLS COP I & II, Cox has played the president four times, but in three of them – CAPTAIN AMERICA, MURDER AT 1600, and NADIA’S PROMISE – he had names. So maybe it’s fitting that in MARTIANS GO HOME, a crappy 1989 sci-fi comedy starring Randy Quaid, he was just “The President.” I mean, why in such a dumbass project as that would any effort be needed to give the guy a name?

Jonathan Pryce 

In G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (2009), and its sequel, G.I.JOE: RETALLIATION, Welsh born thespian Jonathan Pryce portrayed “The President,” I don’t have anything to say here as I haven’t seen these films, and didn’t know he was in them. Just seems like if they bring the character back for a second go around, a name would’ve been nice to add. Probably wouldn’t matter much to the movies though.

Gregory Peck 

It was surprising for me to learn that this ace actor only played “The President” (credited here as just “President”) once and it was in such a minor movie, Mike Newell’s AMAZING GRACE AND CHUCK (1987). Peck’s immense gravitas has graced many roles as authority and historical figures, and even narrated a 1964 documentary on JFK (JOHN F. KENNEDY: YEARS OF LIGHTNING, DAYS OF DRUMS) so it would seem he’d be visiting the Oval Office multiple times. Alas it was not to be.

Eddie Albert 

Another guy who could’ve taken on the part more than once, Albert had a memorable turn as “The President” in Joseph Ruben’s largely forgotten 1984 sci-fi horror flick DREAMSCAPE (wait, is it forgotten? I forgot it at least).

Billy Bob Thornton 

He may be the least Presidential actor here, but as “The President” in Richard Curtis’ 2003 rom Com LOVE ACTUALLY, Thornton cleans up real good. The Commander in Chief here is a creepy combination of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, something that the Arkansas born actor shows he can pull off effortlessly. Still, this is a character that just begs to have a name. I’m going to make one up – Maximillian Travis. How’s that?

Other actors who’ve been through a movie as a President with no name: Forrest J. Ackerman, Alan Alda, Michael Belson, James Caan, Roger Cross, Robert Culp, Jim Curley, William Devane, Sam Douglas, Tom Everett, Roy Gordon, Jimmy Hayward, Charles Macauley, Christopher McDonald, Zero Mostel, Michael Pate, Gordon Pinsent, William Prince, Chris Shields, John Wesley Shipp, Josef Sommer, Rod Steiger, Lewis Stone, Franchot Tone, Ivan Volkman, Sandy McCallum

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Film Babble Blog's Top 10 Favorite Cinematic Sight Gags

Back in the day, I used to post listicles (before they were called listicles) of movie tropes that I would attempt to amusingly connect to break up the flow of review after review. So with the upcoming glut of year-end releases plus the stress of the holiday season coming (not to mention the craziness of the post election season we're going through) I thought I’d rekindle that idea and do something silly – list my top 10 favorite movie sight gags.

The following are what I consider meme-worthy screen shots from the obvious suspects: Monty Python, Zucker brothers, Mel Brooks, super hero movies, etc, They’re the engrained images, mostly from my childhood, that always make me laugh when I think of them. So here goes:

1. The shit hits the fan in AIRPLANE!

(Dirs. David & Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, 1980)

Almost every other shot in the line of movie spoofs made by the Zucker brothers (David & Jerry) and Jim Abrahams is a sight gag – some brilliant; some idiotic. The one that most appeals to me is an absurdly literal visual joke from their classic disaster film satire AIRPLANE! that involves Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who’s been called in to land Boeing 707 (Trans American Flight 209) after the pilots have been taken ill. Striker: “The oil pressure, I forgot to check the oil pressure. When Kramer hears about this, the shit's gonna hit the fan.” The film then cuts to a shot of actual shit hitting a fan in the airport control room. Hey, I warned you above that there would be stupidity.

2. Clark Kent can't find an old school phone booth in SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (Dir. Richard Donner, 1978)

As an eight-year old kid, I remember the laughter from the audience being really big when Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) was first called into action in the first big screen Superman movie and found that the walk-in phone booths of the past, that he regularly used to change into his suit in the comics, were largely non-existent. Reeves’ expression at this realization of modern times is priceless.

3. The town sign for Plotpointburg in MUPPETS MOST WANTED (Dir. James Bobin, 2014)

Sure, MUPPETS MOST WANTED isn’t the best of Muppets movies, but it’s far from the worst, and this meta gag about how their European-set adventure, the latest in the cinematic series that was rebooted by Bobbins and Jason Segel in 2011, was adhering to a tried and true formula, got the biggest laugh of any of the jokes in their 2014 follow-up.

4. Sherrif Justice's restroom faux pas in SMOKEY & THE BANDIT (Dir. Hal Needham, 1977) 

The second biggest grossing movie of 1977 (STAR WARS was the biggest – duh!) had its share of dumb visual jokes, but this one which had Sherrif Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) leaving the men’s room at a truckstop with a line of toilet-paper following him out the door really made me giggle as a kid. According to Wikipedia, Burt Reynolds said that it was Gleason’s “idea to have the toilet paper coming out of his pantleg” in the scene. I may just have to agree with writer Tyler Coates, who said in his Decider post about seeing the film for the first time, that the shot may be “the greatest toilet-paper sight gag in the history of motion pictures.”

5. A 23rd century McDonald's in SLEEPER (Dir. Woody Allen, 1973)

Many of Woody Allen’s movies have sight gags, especially his “early funny ones,” but this particular one has stayed with me as it’s a really outdated, but still funny joke. In the film, which concerns Allen’s Miles Monroe, a nebbish NY neorotic (duh!) waking up 200 years in the future, our protagonist walks by a 23rd Century McDonald’s that has a sign boasting “Over 795,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000" Served.”

In the IMDb trivia section for SLEEPER, it is noted that “if translated into American numeration this value would be Seven Hundred, Ninety-five sexdecillion," a value with 51 zeroes. By comparison, Avogadro's Number, 6023E23 (or 6.023^23), or "mole," is a value normally used to count atoms or molecules, and, incidentally, thought to be about the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on earth, give or take a couple orders of magnitude. The value of 795 sexdecillion is very nearly a mole of moles.”

As McDonald’s was a somewhat seemingly new fad of a fast food chain in the early ‘70s, you can see why Allen made this joke. Though these days, it seems like a hell of an under-estimate.

6. Combing the desert in SPACEBALLS (Dir. Mel Brooks, 1987)

Another Jewish comedian turned ‘70s comedy star, Mel Brooks, also had many sight gags in his films. In the late ‘80s, Brooks’ schtick was pretty played out, but that didn’t stop him from making a spoof of the STAR WARS films and modern movie sci-fi in general called SPACEBALLS. One of its most memorable involved Rick Moranis’ Darth Vader spoof Dark Helmet ordering his troops to “comb the desert” for the missing Princess Vespa, and, of course, they do just that.

Maybe a funnier sight gag in SPACEBALLS was in the film’s few minutes, in which there was a parody of the opening of the original STAR WARS’ long, continous shot of a ginormous starship. That one, isn’t as well captured in a gif though.

7. The Black Knight's limb loss in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (Dirs. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, 1975)

More ‘70s sight gag funniness comes from the iconic British comedy group Monty Python, whose films are full of them. I’ll go with this one from their 1975 classic MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, in which a black knight gets both his arms chopped off yet afterwards still continues fighting. The blood gushing was a new thing for a comedy film in that era (Dan Aykroyd's Julia Childs SNL bit around that same time  hit the same vein - sorry), so this was as groundbreaking as it was hilarious.

As a runner-up, I’ll go with this shot from MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN which happens after Brian (Graham Chapman) has been up all night following a strict Roman Centurion’s (John Cleese) orders (again with the literal following of orders) to paint “Romani ite domum,” which means “Romans go home,” a hundred times all over the Roman Palace’s walls:

8. Steve Martin cleans his gun in DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID
(Dir. Carl Reiner, 1981)

Okay, so either the ‘70s-‘80s is the glorious age of cinematic sight gags or I’m just old and that’s the era that I most identify with, but I have to go with either this Steve Martin should be comedy classic’s shot of Martin’s detective character Rigby Reardon cleaning his handgun in a sink with a bottle brush, or the tie shot that has him shaving his tongue. How either of these really satire the world of Humphrey Bogart-era gumshoe film noir is debatable, but I still find both damn funny.

9. TIE: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (Dir. David Silverman, 2007) & AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (Dir. Jay Roach, 1997)





Both of these films feature sight gags involving the obscuring of the male member. I don’t feel I need to explain any more than that.

10. Brick Tamland's reaction to his dismembered TV image in ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGANDY (Dir. Adam McKay, 2004)

Although Will Ferrell's big deal newscaster Ron Burgandy could be seen as a walking sight gag (as could just about every character he's ever played), it’s Steve Carrell’s character in the 2004 '70s news spoof, Brick Tamland, freaking out because his green pants made his legs disappear on a weather green screen that makes the cut here.

Okay! So what are your favorite sight gags? Let me, and other readers, know in the comments below.

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BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE: Yeah, No.

Now playing at a multiplex near you:

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

(Dir. Zach Snyder, 2016)

DC pitting their two biggest, most iconic superheroes – Batman and Superman - against each other in order to jumpstart their cinematic universe looked like a questionable premise right off the bat – pun intended.

Especially since I, and many others, hated the first installment of the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), Zach Snyder’s SUPERMAN series reboot MAN OF STEEL.

So I went in to Snyder’s follow-up/BATMAN reboot with exceedingly low expectations, but was still majorly disappointed.

For BATMAN V SUPERMAN is another round of boring bombast surrounding a couple of dark dullards without a lick of compelling storytelling to be found. There’s also a severe lack of humor, and anything resembling a fresh style.

Henry Cavill, returning as the red caped crusader as well as giving us our first real taste of his Clark Kent persona (we only got a glimpse of him getting the job at The Daily Planet in MAN OF STEEL at the end), and Ben Affleck, making his debut as the Dark Knight/Bruce Wayne, both brood up a storm but there’s nothing really that intriguing about their characters. They’re just overly self serious, bland dudes is all.

The film tries to simultaneously function as a sequel and a origin story for Affleck’s incarnation of Batman, but it strongly appears that his/Snyder’s version of the character is a continuation of the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale model as there are references to The Joker, an identical bat cave, and restagings of his parents’ murder and his being attacked by bats in a well as a child that attempt but fail to recreate the gravitas of Nolan’s work.

We learn that while Superman was battling General Zod and reaping mass destruction on Metropolis in MAN OF STEEL, Wayne was one of the many folks in the rubble building up a hated for Superman. Just like many in the audience.

Clark Kent, for his part, dislikes Batman, labeling him a “bat vigilante” and “a one man reign of terror” so the stage is set for what Lex Luther (Jesse Eisenberg) bills as “the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world.”

Eisenberg’s Luther is an unhinged, mad scientist who, of course, wants the two leads to fight and destroy each other so that he can…uh, I forget exactly what his plans were for after that but we’ll just go with world domination. Eisenberg locks in to the villain role with a lot of crazy conviction, but I never bought him as Luther. He reminded me of the Jon Cryer role in SUPERMAN IV – Luther’s (then played by the great Gene Hackman – now, there’s a Lex Luther!) newphew/flunky. He seems like the guy who’d be fetching stuff for Luther, not actually be Luther.

Whatever the case, this movie plays out exactly how you’d expect with no surprises. Batman and Superman fight, then bond together to fight a ginormous, grotesque creature that Luther created from Zod’s DNA, with the help of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), whose addition here feels like an afterthought.

David S. Goyer (MAN OF STEEL) and Chris Terrio’s (Oscar winner for the screenplay for Affleck’s ARGO) screenplay is full of pretentious dialogue about good, evil, “god versus man,” etc. but none of it comes together to form any meaningful theme. There are also a few incredibly weak plotpoints that would be a Spoiler to complain about, but I'll just say that in the worst one they make a connection between the feuding leads based on a coincidental name in their families. Man, that made me cringe.

So did the dream sequences - one a dream inside a dream deal - which were ultra unnecessary. 
Amy Adams, reprising Lois Lane, puts some genuine passion into her part, and her fellow returning cast members (Lawrence Fishburne as Editor Perry White, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner (a dream-set cameo) as Superman’s earth parents) are all fine, but in the messy machinery of this movie they are little more than cardboard cogs.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Irons takes over from Michael Caine as Batman’s butler Alfred and has a few of the film’s only mildly amusing lines, and there’s a welcome turn by Holly Hunter as a senator who wants to hold Superman accountable for his actions in the previous film’s climax, but sadly a hearing scene in which Superman stands before congress is cut short before he gets to testify. Silly me for thinking that Superman could offer any plausible justification for the sins of MAN OF STEEL. Also Hunter’s role here may remind some folks that she was in a movie that dealt much better with the accountability of superheroes: THE INCREDIBLES.

Folks complained plenty when Affleck was cast, but he does an admirable job with the underwritten role. He mostly just has to grimace behind a mask while the special effects people rig things to explode around him and he can certainly pull that off. Affleck’s Bruce Wayne persona is basically just a collection of suave poses with flashes of his bedroom eyes and he hits the mark with that too. If only there was something more to flesh out there. I mean, Will Arnett’s Batman in THE LEGO MOVIE was more complex than this guy!

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (stiff, clunky title) is the first big, bad movie of the year – an awful, mess of a wannabe epic that casts a dark shadow on the future of both superhero franchises as well as the entire DCEU. The two JUSTICE LEAGUE movies that are set for 2017 and 2019, the next we’ll see these characters, really have to be something special to redeem the whole enterprise, but Snyder is set to direct those too so I’m not counting on that to happen.

Oh, and don’t worry about staying to the end of the credits because there is no stinger – that’s something they surprisingly haven’t stolen from Marvel. 

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New Releases On Blu ray & DVD: 11/12/13

Along with many other critics, I was super disappointed by last summer’s Superman reboot, Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL as you can read in my review. The Christopher Nolan-produced film, in which Henry Cavill steps into the famous red boots for the first time, was still super successful, being the highest-grossing Superman movie ever, so it’s now available in several different Special Edition sets. 

The most expensive package, at just under $50, is the Limited Collector's Edition (pictured above), which features the theatrical version of the film in 3D hi-definition, hi-definition and standard definition, and also includes a limited release metal “S” glyph with acrylic glass stand. Around the same price is the Collectible Figurine Limited Edition Gift Set (Blu-ray + DVD + Ultra Violet Combo). For folks on tighter budgets, there’s the 3-disc Blu ray + DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack, and 2-disc Blu ray and DVD editions.

Special Features: “Journey of Discovery: Creating MAN OF STEEL” (the full length film with interviews and visual commentary inserted), a couple of nearly hour-hour long making-of documentaries (“Strong Characters, Legendary Roles,” “All Out Action”), a 6-minute featurette “Krypton Decoded,” a 2-minute Superman 75th Anniversary Short, a History Channel-style featurette called “Planet Krypton,” and, for some reason, the “New Zealand: Home of Middle Earth” featurette from THE HOBBIT Blu-ray (?).

Another summer hit, David Soren’s TURBO from DreamWorks Animation, also releases this week. The family favorite, featuring a snail (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of winning the Indy 500, is out in a 2-disc 3D and non 3D Blu ray/DVD Combo Packs and a single disc DVD edition. Special Features include a bunch of short featurettes, music videos, a deleted scene, “The Race – Storyboard Sequence,” segments with Head of Character Animation Dave Burgess showing viewers how to draw the film’s lead characters, and an interactive featurette called “Shell Creator.”

One of the year’s best documentaries, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s BLACKFISH, hits home video today in single disc Blu ray and DVD editions. Read my review: “Anti-Sea World Doc BLACKFISH Makes A Convincing Case” (8/19/13). Special Features: Commentary with Director Cowperthwaite and Producer Manny Oteyza, a bunch of featurettes full of Orca facts, “A Note From Gabriela Cowperthwaite,” and the theatrical trailer.

I had a pretty lukewarm reaction to Noah Baumbach’s vehicle for his girlfriend Greta Gerwig, FRANCES HA, when I saw it last June (my review: “FRANCES HA: She’s Undateable & Her Film Is Just Barely Watchable”), but that was very much an minority opinion as its 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and its addition to the Criterion Collection today proves. Supplements on the Director-Approved Special Edition include conversational featurettes with Peter Bogdonich speaking with Baunbach, and filmmaker Sarah Polley with Gerwig, a conversation about the look of the film between Baumbach, director of photography Sam Levy, and creative director Pascal Dangin, and a booklet featuring an essay by playwright Annie Baker.

Also out today: David Gordon Green’s comic drama PRINCE AVALANCHE, starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch; Christian Petzold’s 2012 German drama BARBARA; Diablo Cody’s drama comedy PARADISE, starring Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, and Octavia Spencer; James Cullingham’s music biodoc IN SEARCH OF BLIND JOE DEATH: THE SAGA OF JOHN FAHEY (DVD only); and another notable music documentary: Laura Archibald’s GREENWICH VILLAGE: MUSIC THAT DEFINED A GENERATION.

On the older films out today front, there’s the 25th Anniversary Edition of Katsuhiro Ohtomo’s AKIRA, Oliver Stone’s JFK gets all done up in a 50 Year Commemorative Ultimate Collector’s Edition, the Criterion Collection presents the Blu ray debut of Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 masterpiece CITY LIGHTS, and Kino Classics puts out their 2-Disc Deluxe Remastered Edition of F.W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU (1922).

Finally, Dexter: The Complete Final Season, containing maybe the worst finale episode of any series ever, drops today on Blu ray and DVD. The entire run of the popular Showtime series, starring Michael C. Hall as a Miami-based blood splatter analyst/serial killer of other serial killers, is also available now in Dexter: The Complete Series Collection. The 25-disc Blu ray, and 33-disc DVD boxes are neatly packaged to recreate Dexter’s blood sides collection.

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Ariel Vroman's Dark Thriller THE ICEMAN Now Out On Blu Ray & DVD

Out today on Blu ray and DVD:

THE ICEMAN (Dir. Ariel Vroman, 2012) *

Film Babble Blog favorite, Michael Shannon was seen by millions stepping into shoes once worn by Terrence Stamp for the role of the iconic villain General Zod in Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot MAN OF STEEL this last summer.

But late last spring, movie-goers got a thorough sampling of Shannon’s skills as a very different sort of bad guy in Ariel Vroman’s true story crime thriller THE ICEMAN, now out on Blu ray and DVD.

Shannon portrays New Jersey-based mafia contract killer Richard Kuklinski, who the film’s post script tells was believed to have killed over 100 people. Kulinski was called “The Iceman” because he’d often freeze the bodies of his victims so that cops would have difficulty determining the time of death (so no, it’s not like “The Ice Truck Killer” on Dexter), and because of the man’s cold as ice demeanor.

It’s a demeanor that Shannon really nails with stoic precision, and with enough charisma to woo Winona Ryder as the woman who married the murderer and had two daughters with him, without knowing how he was bringing home the bacon.

Shannon goes from working in the sketchy pornography business (he tells Ryder he’s dubbing Disney cartoons), to doing hits full time, while his family thinks he’s a currency trader.

For his third full-length film as director, Vroman has made a gritty shadowy movie that has traces of ‘70s Scorsese in its DNA, along with the grimy aura of latter day reality based true crime sagas as John McNaughton’s HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1990) and Jonathan Hensleigh’s KILL THE IRISHMAN (2011). There are many moments that this film mostly set in the ‘70s, looks like it was actually shot in that era with its grainy textures and authentic looking lighting.

Ray Liotta, still working on perfecting his Henry Hill scowl from Scorsese’s 1990 gangster classic GOODFELLAS adds to the dark décor as a Gambino family crew boss Roy DeMeo (one of the few real names used in the film) who’s constantly breathing down Shannon’s neck, while Chris Evans effectively brings the sleaze as a fellow hitman, Robert ‘Mr. Freezy’ Pronge, who drives the ice cream truck the killers make morbid use of.

Shannon bounces around the streets of New York doing hits, visiting his jailbird brother (Stephen Dorff), and doting on his wife and kids, though in one wild instance of road rage, his temper gets the best of him, and he scares his family half to death chasing down some schlub who made the mistake to yell profanities at our cold-blooded killer after a mild automobile accident.

There is some strained pacing, and like so often the Carter-era fashions and facial hair looks way fake (as has from ANCHORMAN to ARGO), but these factors I can forgive.

THE ICEMAN, follows a familiar dark biopic path, but Michael Shannon’s power and intensity is well captured as this unredeemable soul who can’t help but be anything but a son of Satan, its cast which includes a cameo by James Franco, and an unrecognizable David Schwimmer (it’s true - I didn’t know it was him until the end credits) is beautifully chosen, and it’s the best acting I’ve seen by Ryder in ages.

So before you get bombarded by the big ass Superman reboot hoopla, consider taking in this more subtle piece of Shannon’s work. With this and his superb turn in Jeff Nichols' TAKE SHELTER (Shannon also appears in Nichol's MUD still in theatrical release), the man has well proven he can carry and be the core of a very fine film. Here’s hoping the films will get finer.

* This review originally appeared in the May 30th, 2013 edition of the Raleigh News & Observer. It has been slightly written to reflect its release on home video.

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SUPERMAN: The New Nolan-ized Reboot

Now playing at mulitplexes from here to the Phantom Zone:

MAN OF STEEL (Dir. Zack Snyder, 2013)

The time is as good as any for a new take on the most powerful comic book superhero ever, but Zack Snyder’s (300, WATCHMEN, SUCKER PUNCH) reconstruction of the Superman movie mythos is a big bombastic bore.

A great cast has been assembled, including Henry Cavill as the caped crusader, Russell Crowe as Superman’s Kryptonian father, Kevin Costner as his Earth dad, Amy Adams as Daily Planet reporter/love-interest Lois Lane, Lawrence Fishburne as her editor/boss Perry White, Richarh Schiff (The West Wing) as some sort of all-knowing scientist, and, best of all, Michael Shannon as the evil bent-on-revenge General Zod, but Snyder working from a screenplay by DARK KNIGHT co-writer David S. Goyer, overcrowds the storyline with spectacle, repetitive dialogue, and needless convolutions making it difficult to connect with anything on screen.

You know the drill – before Krypton explodes, Papa Crowe (probably the actor who brings the most gravitas to the film) puts his new born baby (touted this time as the planet’s first natural birth in centuries) in a spaceship to Earth, where he’s found by a kindly middle-aged couple (Costner and Diane Lane) living on a farm in Kansas, who name him Clark Kent.

As the boy grows up he recognizes that he has great powers, learns of his origin, and heeding the advice of his step-dad Costner to conceal what he can do, he goes on the road anonymously going from town to town working different jobs until his powers get in the way and he has to move on just like David Banner (Bill Bixby) did on the old Incredible Hulk show.

Huh? Wait a second, that’s not really part of the classic Superman story is it? Sure doesn’t feel like it should be here, but whatever. In this version, Lois Lane figures out that Clark Kent has powers before he even puts on the suit; she never knows Clark and Superman as 2 different people. I’m fine with that – it would be too much to ask for an ace investigative reporter (one that’s won the Pulitzer Prize, mind you) to be fooled by a pair of glasses, so they don’t introduce the element of our hero working at the newspaper until the end. Makes me miss the comically over-sized glasses that Christopher Reeve wore as Clark back in the original ‘70s-‘80s SUPERMAN movies, but, oh well.

Also unlike that run of movies, that got progressively worse (the first two were great, the third and fourth ones, not so much), there’s no Fortress of Solitude made out of new age crystals, no Lex Luthor, and barely any humor.

Shannon is perfectly cast as General Zod (stepping into the mighty shoes worn by Terrence Stamp in SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE and SUPERMAN II), but it’s an exposition-heavy role, with the actor looking like he’s in a permanent bad mood (resembling grumpy cat at times), but it’s still one of the more successful elements on display in MAN OF STEEL, because of how invested Shannon is in it.

Zod and his minions attack Metropolis, with tons of buildings getting destroyed (we don’t seeing many people dying but from what we see it’s impossible that there wasn’t a large death toll) and start taking over Earth so that they can make it New Krypton or something. The cityscape alien attack sequence was much better done in THE AVENGERS (not to mention SUPERMAN II), and the climatic one-on-one battle between Superman and Zod just has them pummeling each other from one set-piece to another with no excitement (they punch each other through buildings over and over).

Meanwhile Fishburne and a few other Daily Planet folks are running through the rubble, for some reason they’re some of the only survivors of the attack, but the film never took anytime to establish them as characters to care about.

The British-born Cavill makes for a fine Superman aesthetically, and he’s got the American accent down, but his is also a blank slate of a character that I had trouble forming any connection to. The charisma that Reeve had in the iconic role, and that Bryan Singer tried to capture with Reeve clone Brandon Routh in 2006’s SUPERMAN RETURNS is sorely missing, but that fault lies more with the writers/filmmakers than with the man in the cape.

One thread that really didn’t work for me had to do with the scrambled narrative that jumps around, and way too often to flashbacks of Earth dad Costner saying that the world isn’t ready for a man of incredible powers yet. They draw this out too long, when you know that the world is as ready as it’s ever going to be, and Costner’s death in a tornado, which his son could’ve saved him from, doesn’t make any sense.

In SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, Glenn Ford as our hero’s adoptive father died much more poignantly from a heart attack – something Superman could never have saved him from (well, unless he spun the world back in time), and it had a richer meaning to his maturation; here the man’s death doesn’t teach any lesson except that he’s wrong and his son should’ve revealed himself much earlier. I really don’t get what they’re waiting for. The movie doesn’t give any discernible reason except to stretch out Superman’s angsty development and Costner’s part.

The dark gritty approach to the material, which undoubtedly came from Executive Producer Christopher Nolan, who shares a “story by” credit with Goyer, isn’t right for this area of the D.C. Comics universe. I’m not saying Superman should be nothing but sunny warmth, but there’s no triumphant thrill to seeing our hero save the day here – he doesn’t even show concern for the many who undoubtedly died in the huge devastation on Metropolis.

MAN OF STEEL is a by-the-numbers summer blockbuster wannabe that forgot to have any fun with its source material. Ultimately, it's a ginormously fussy film pulled in so many directions that it's un-engaging and dull. 

Technically, with its well chosen cast and vast array of nonstop visual effects, Snyder and crew have made a serviceable popcorn picture, but next time out (and with all the money that it has already made, there certainly will be a next time) I’m hoping they’ll remember to add more heart, humor, and actual heroism to this not quite re-booted franchise.

More later...

Upcoming Blockbuster Wannabes (With Trailers!)

I went to see THE GREAT GATSBY 3D, which wasn’t that great, last weekend and like usual when I go to the multiplex I get exhausted before the main attraction even starts because of the bombastic noisy trailers for upcoming blockbuster wannabes. 

At least the theater, the Raleigh Grande, didn’t pile too many on like some others do. The bombast started with SUPERMAN RESTARTS, sorry, MAN OF STEEL, the new Superman reboot starring Henry Cavill and directed by Zack Snyder (300, WATCHMEN, SUCKER PUNCH) coming out on June 14th.

The epic trailer looked incredibly promising, albeit Christopher Nolan-ized (Nolan executive-produced), and I like the idea of Russell Crowe as Superman’s biological father Jor El from Krypton, Kevin Costner as his Earth father, and especially Michael Shannon as General Zod. Here’s hoping that it at least strikes a more successful chord than Bryan Singer’s SUPERMAN RETURNS. Check out the trailer:

The following trailer, for THOR: INTO DARKNESS, sorry, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, due out November 8th, really suffered by comparison to the MAN OF STEEL one. 

Alan Taylor takes over on directing duties from Kenneth Branagh for the sequel to the 2011 Marvel Universe entry, in which Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as the Asgardian warrior for the third time (the second was in last year’s smash THE AVENGERS). Natalie Portman also returns in this CGI-saturated super hero flick that has Thor battling…uh, I’m not sure. Actually I couldn’t get a sense of the plot, except that Portman goes to Thor’s dimension or whatever you call it, from the roughly 2 minute trailer, which you can see below, but looks like there’s lots of action and stylized violence just like you’d expect. 

Lastly, one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, Marc Forster’s WORLD WAR Z, based on the book by Mel Brooks’ son Max Brooks, was advertised in a trailer also filled with quick cuts of thunderous action. Brad Pitt stars in the film (the trailer doesn’t make his occupation clear, but it's some kind of government job) that consists of swarming zombies (they move much much quicker than in The Walking Dead) overtaking the earth. The film has a budget of over $200 million and from the looks of this preview, it looks like it’s all up on the screen. Check it out the trailer for WORLD WAR Z, opening the week after MAN OF STEEL on June 21st in IMAX 3D and plain ole 2D:

More later...

Soundtrack September: Heavenly Movie Soundtracks & More

We're coming to the home stretch of Soundtrack September but don't worry there's still plenty left!

The Reverend Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade, contributed a wonderful piece entitled "Heavenly Movie Soundtracks". Here's an excerpt with a link to the full article:

"While the first soundtrack recording I recall buying was the inescapable STAR WARS by modern movie music maestro John Williams, it was Williams' follow-up score for SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE that really struck a chord (no pun intended) with me. I will never forget the dramatic impact Superman's main title march had on me, accompanied as it was by the film's literally soaring opening credits. Williams brilliantly utilized a variety of styles to underscore the superhero's story, from his origin on the doomed planet Krypton to his climactic showdown with arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. The score also includes the song "Can You Read My Mind?", although it is performed in the film by Margot Kidder as more of a spoken word recitation, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The SUPERMAN score was nominated for a 1978 Academy Award but lost to Giorgio Moroder's innovative electronic score for MIDNIGHT EXPRESS. Moroder would go on to score a number of successful 80's movies, including FLASHDANCE. In my opinion, however, Moroder's best work is his alternately lyrical, intense and sexy score for the 1982 remake of the horror classic CAT PEOPLE. David Bowie co-wrote and performed the film's title song, which was recently resurrected to awesome effect in Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS." Read the rest of Reverend's Reviews: Heavenly Movie Soundtracks at Movie Dearest. Next up, Fletch from the brilliant Blog Cabins, billed as: "Movie reviews and commentary made fun", pointed out a piece he wrote last year about his 5 favorite soundtracks and here are a few of his choices and a link to the rest: PULP FICTION (1994) People give a ton of credit to Quentin Tarantino for kick-starting or re-starting careers, but they're usually talking about actors. However, the man has probably been a bigger force (dollar-wise) when it comes to rejuvenating the careers of soul, R & B, pop and surf musicians from the 60s and 70s. His breakout film featured songs from artists as diverse as Dick Dale, Al Green and Urge Overkill, no doubt selling millions of albums for them in addition to the sales of this film's soundtrack. Favorite Track: "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" by Urge Overkill. RUSHMORE (1998) If any director has rivaled Tarantino in terms of quality and diverseness when it comes to his films' soundtracks, it's Wes Anderson. This one is all over the place, with great tracks from classic rock starts like John Lennon and The Who to folk star Cat Stevens to jazz to Mark Mothersbaugh's brilliant scored tracks. Brilliant all around. Favorite Track: "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who. Read the rest of Fletch's Favored Five: Movies Worth Listening To at Blog Cabins. More later...