My Review for "Man of Steel"

I saw Man of Steel twice over the weekend. Obviously I really like it.

Before I get into my actual review I just want to say this: I think this is the single most inconsistently received film that I have ever read a review for. The first reviews I read seemed to just be somewhat critical, but then I noticed that they weren’t citing the same flaws. What one reviewer considered the most abominable of problems was the same thing that another found to be the film’s only saving grace. I’ll include links to several of these, as well as a brief summary, just to illustrate my point: (as a warning, some of the reviews might contain spoilers, but most of the ones that do provide a formal declaration of it.) (It’s also worth noting that some of these people might not have actually watched the move—at least two of the reviews claim that the word “Superman” is not spoken in the film, and I can definitively say that it is said at least twice, albeit in a brief exchange between peripheral characters.)

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/13/man-of-steel-the-bleeding-cool-review/

This review is largely positive, and seems to have come from someone who actually likes movies, and superhero movies in particular.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/10/i-saw-man-of-steel-tonight-and-want-to-tell-you-all-about-it/

This one comes out somewhere between positive and neutral. Mostly, not making complaints and not claiming anything was amazing.

http://www.newsarama.com/18065-early-man-of-steel-reviews-mostly-positive.html

This basically collects some reviews and mentions the differences between them.

http://www.newsarama.com/18106-review-man-of-steel-ambitious-but-lacking.html

This is probably the most negative review I read. They specifically gave the film 3/10, which is, in my mind, absurdly low. Claimed Russell Crowe as best performance. Identified Kevin Costner as very bad. Says Cavill and Adams had no chemistry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-l-watts/a-theologians-review-of-m_b_3441564.html

Basically positive. Says Costner is the best Pa Kent ever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jun/16/man-of-steel-film

Universally panned the film.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/14/showbiz/ew-man-of-steel

Considers the film a failure. Says the romance is weak. Says him learning to fly is a great sequence.

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/reviews/117985/Man-Of-Steel-12-A

Says it’s a crowd-pleaser, but not because its necessarily any good. Visuals are a high point. Amy Adams did a good job as Lois. Zod and Jor-El, both done very well. All acting good.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324688404578543253366778218.html

Calls the film a huge disappointment. Didn’t like Cavill’s performance. Also thought the action was awful.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/06/12/man-of-steel-review/2367021/

Middle ground rating. Too much destruction. Says Cavill is great, also liked the other actors, except Zod.

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/16/woman-of-steel-adams-lois-lane-brings-dose-of-humanity-to-reboot/

This article is just about Lois, and claims that Amy Adams is possibly the only redeeming quality in the film.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/PaulRomReviews/news/?a=81723

Very positive. Really like the Krypton stuff. Good cinematography. Acting good, but thinks there was too much Lois. Hated the flashbacks.

So, now that that is over with, I can do my bit.

I loved it. I don’t think I could point to a single significant part of the film that I didn’t like. I think everything worked together very well. Admittedly, I suspend my disbelief from the kinds of cables used to build suspension bridges, so it is very easy for me to love movies, and I usually am not looking for things to complain about. This movie contained basically everything that I think is needed in the Superman franchise. There was an emotional depth that felt right, the power of Superman was evident (even frightening on some level (I think they nailed the visual for heat vision)), Super-speed never looked so great, Superman definitely wants to do the right thing, and sometimes it isn’t easy. I really don’t think I could say enough positive things about the movie. Was it perfect, probably not, but who’s to judge that. Did it do it’s job, absolutely.

Also, here’s some interesting info about the level of destruction (which I thought made sense, as it showed just how high the stakes are if two superbeings are this powerful, and can set up the fact that in the future, since Superman is unlikely to face people this powerful again, he can work on keeping the situation under better control to decrease the collateral damage. That might prove enough of a challenge to him that fights against weaker opponents will still be engaging.) http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/LEVITIKUZsLOUNGE/news/?a=81769

Cloudy Mountains

Today we had some unusual weather for Utah Valley. It was a little bit colder and definitely overcast. I loved it. I liked the way that the low clouds were hanging around the mountains so much that I decided to take a few pictures. I guess they don't really do justice to the fantastic feeling of having clouds on the mountain, but here they are:

Someday I'll figure out how to upload them so that it doesn't make them square and mess up all of that stuff...but not right now.

I've liked cloudy mountains for a long time. I know for sure that I have liked it at least since I first watched "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." I couldn't find a picture of the setting that they had in the film, but it was an awesome looking place. A monastery in the mountain above the clouds. The legend that they talked about in the movie was that if you jumped into the clouds you would be granted a wish. Maybe that is the reason I have the romanticized thoughts of the clouds in the mountains.

It also makes the mountains feel very infinite and supreme.

Giving it Another Go

Alright, I'll openly admit that I have not been very diligent about posting on this here blog. I have been very remiss in my duties. I'm sorry.

The corner has been getting very dusty, indeed.

I'm setting a goal to post more often, although I won't make a guarantee about the regularity of the posts.

By way of update on my current situation:

I am continuing my studies at BYU. I'm much more focussed towards my major and minor and I hope to be able to finish my studies and graduate in about a year and a half, but that could be a little idealistic of me. I still work at BYU Broadcasting, but I have moved from my position in TV programming to a place as a radio producer for BYU Radio. I'll be posting links to my pieces after they air. I hope that this will be a good way to get some content on my blog, while simultaneously promoting BYU Radio. I may end up shamelessly advertising for the Morning Show with Marcus Smith on this blog.

Most of my time is spent in school or at work. Other than that I still have my various interests, which will hopefully also find some space on the blog.

My goal is to show less fear at posting shorter, but more frequent posts. Length has been my intimidating foe. But no longer! We'll see if this resolve can last out the week.

-Sincerely, Me ;)

One Bad Date

Just listen to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IcIWBNH2ds&feature=youtu.be

Guardians of the Galaxy

A few weeks ago, Marvel announced a new movie that will be tied into the Avengers's cinematic universe. Guardians of the Galaxy should come out in 2014 or 2015 based on the currently expected timeline. I'm super excited for this movie. I have a reasonably extensive collection of comic books with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and I greatly enjoy several of the characters. I cannot wait to see what they might do with these options in the movie universe.

Because I'm so psyched about this I've been thinking about which characters they might cull to join in for the movie. Several of these characters were originally created in several years ago, and, in some cases, suffered from the associated costume designs, but most of the cosmic heroes were given redesigns only a few years ago, in 2008. My guess is that the new, updated, cool looking designs will be used in most cases.

Oh yeah! Two more quick notes:

1. Thor 2 is expected to deal a bit more with stuff in space, which might be a way to tie in some of these characters and help lead into the cosmic aspect of the Marvel cinematic universe.

2. Partway through the credits for the Avengers there was a tease for a villain called Thanos. He is a space villain and would probably be involved in the Guardians of the Galaxy film. I'll give him a better bio later on.

The Original Guardians

This team was mostly set in the 31st century and occasionally did a little time travel. Most of the characters were the last of their respective species, and banded together to protect the galaxy/universe from the threat of an alien race called the Badoon.

Altogether, this selection was solid enough, and several of the characters can garner a reasonable amount of recognition the team isn't currently used and the new Guardians doesn't technically stem from this original team. However, they did do a tie-in between these Guardians and the updated 2008 version.

I would personally cite time travel as one of the difficulties with using this series consistently. Time travel is tough to write and its even tougher to read on a regular basis. And there is just too much mess with what does or doesn't change in the past, and things like that.





The New Guardians

Neither of these pictures really show much of the team, but they do show how legit the redesign looked in 2008.

This is the team I am more familiar with. I started reading these stories more or less when they originally came out, and I started to collect all of the new comics with these characters.

This team formed in the wake of the Annihilation Wave, which threatened the entire universe with extinction. Marvel used this as a chance to revamp most of their cosmic characters that hadn't been used recently. Some of the characters were brought in as essentially brand new, while others were introduced with slightly modified origin stories, or stories that could trump their originals. All this was very useful for me, because I was able to jump right in and know what was pertinent, even if I didn't know what each character had been up to in the seventies.

This team also became very large at one point. I think they had at least three operational units with five to seven members each.



Some of the best cosmic characters never really were part of the Guardians, but they still have a good chance of being in the new film because they are strong characters with solid stories, and a good chance to reach some popularity. I'll give some bios and reasoning and personal expectations for different characters.

A solid one I expect to be in the film:

Star-Lord

Old school look:

NEW LEGIT LOOK

Peter Quill is half-human half-alien superhero. His alien stuff gives him some super-powers. For the most part he is an ordinary guy, but does seem to have some extra strength. Originally his suit granted him some additional powers, but he no longer wears that same suit, and therefore has none of those powers.

Before the annihilation wave he had long-since stopped acting the hero, but returned to those actions as a result of the conflict. He got a new costume, command of the new team, and he started using guns as his main weapons.

His new costume also has the sweet helmut. The mask offers some protection and also lets him survive in space with no additional equipment, although only for a short time. When he's inside or not fighting the mask portion can retract. The costume was designed to reflect the symbols of his old one (not by his choice) and is the same sort of template that all of the redesigned Guardian uniforms had, but each with personal flourish. His guns fire ordinary bullets and are equipped to do so in the vacuum of space.


Y'know what, This post is getting a bit longer and more intensive than I thought. I'm going to go ahead and post this one, and get to more of the other characters at a later date. Star-Lord is a good one to end with; he's the team leader, he looks cool, and he is one of the only ones that I have absolute confidence will be in the movie version.

Look for more bios on other Guardians in a new blog post coming soon.

Dear Kate, Soccer Edition: A Reply

My sister, Kate, has a blog (you can click the link you find the one over there on the right). She did a special post for the Eurocup, which is being hosted in Poland. Granted, she is focused on the whole 'pretty-boy-soccer-player' aspect of these things, and I am not, but that doesn't mean I can't post a rebuttal.

You see, we Darowskis are of Polish descent. And I spent two years in Poland serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There are some solid reasons that we should be rooting for Poland in this thing. And I am. I even got all my team swag out while I was writing this post. I'm also going to shamelessly advertise the Polish national team, and the amazing goal that their captain scored in the game against Russia a few days ago. (And, just for Kate, I'll try and get a good picture of him on here. I don't know if he holds up to her pretty-boys, but she can decide for herself.)



You can see videos of the goal and the reactions here and here. And here's the classy fan-made video:

Here's a picture of the captain who scored that goal:

His name is Jakub Blaszczykowski. Goes by Kuba for short. Fun fact from Wiki: After every goal he scores he looks up to the sky to dedicate that goal to his mother, who died when he was eleven.

GO POLAND!!!

No One Does it Quite Like Hayao Miyazaki

One of my brothers (John) has an affinity for sharing slightly obscure media. Not the really weird stuff, but he has been responsible for introducing more than one thing into the family that we wouldn't have come across otherwise.

In any case, one of the things that he introduced was the various works of Hayao Miyazaki. (I guess the verb and noun don't agree in number in that sentence, but what the hey!) Mr. Miyazaki is a master of his craft. And his craft isn't exactly limited to one form. He is a Japanese animator, writer, director, and artist. I read that he has been compared to Walt Disney.

Recently, John provided one of Miyazaki's films for some nightly viewing. "The Secret World of Arriety" was pretty much exemplary of Miyazaki's style, and reminded me how much I enjoy watching his films.

He creates such fine characterizations. Also excellent stories. And the animation is exquisite. Oh yeah, there's also the backgrounds. Let me just put some pictures up:

"My Neighbor Totoro"

"Howl's Moving Castle"

"Princess Mononoke"

(oddly enough, even though this one contains the word "princess" in the title, it is one of the few of Miyazaki's films that does not follow the proceedings of a fairly young female protagonist)

"Castle in the Sky"

"Porco Rosso"

"Spirited Away"

All of his stuff is great, but if you have to watch one it should probably be "Spirited Away." It's pretty much his masterpiece.