MAN OF STEEL
More of a reaction to the negative feedback of most viewers/critics whose rallying cry was that the thing was "too dark" and---my favorite--- that "Superman doesn't kill". Wonder if those same people had the same sentiment about issue #75 of the comics where the Man Of Steel met his "demise" in the hands of Doomsday. I'm sure that titanic face-off between the two ridiculously superpowered beings didn't produce any casualty at all. Just buildings and other inanimate objects because it would have been too dark a tone for the Norman Rockwell-esque world the blue boy scout lives in. Or that Superman has no intention of killing someone whose threat level is insane because, well, he doesn't kill. I'm sure that final blow he gave to that character was meant to only "stun" him.
I don't know. Maybe these chronic complainers have a better solution to that Zod-Superman smackdown that does not involve desperate, last minute solutions like snapping your opponent's neck to prevent him from killing some more. And that the character who did the killing was a first-timer at this kind of business.
As for the "critical" mass who apparently found the violence and "lack of humor" so off-putting, well tough luck gentlemen, sometimes genre entries like this revolve more around actual action than subtle artistic metaphors on life and deep meditations on existence. Snyder's unfairly lumped into the Michael Bay category of all flash and mindless mayhem devoid of good stories that may in fact be grounded on something---except that David Goyer and the Nolans are behind the writing that any more comparison with the former is far-fetched. This film was simply a reaction to the Singer-directed Superman Returns that managed to stoke the critics but left a stale taste on the mouth of most its target audience, including myself.
Donner's version is fine, but it's time for another take on things.
PACIFIC RIM
Best movie of the year. If only for the sheer ambition of making a big-screen tribute to those
Japanese mecha/kaiju anime and manga that gained popularity during the 70s and 80s. I was a huge fan of Voltron, Daimos and Voltes V when these shows aired on free TV. And watching Guillermo Del Toro's fanboy output of giant robots bludgeoning giant monsters with makeshift weapons like a massive ship, that elation you had as a kid jumping out the sofa mimicking those cartoon robots as they administer their brand of justice to those giant invading monsters with extreme prejudice---comes back. Del Toro obviously made something he wanted to see as a fan, and that translated very well on the big screen.
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This obviously won't be winning any awards for best picture but this is clearly the best picture of the year. You advertise robots beating monsters to a pulp and live up to it.
In this aspect Pacific Rim lives up to its promise.
doing his 
impression in 
) with the intent to make the character more palatable to the masses. Compared to the, say, more popular 
movie a few months back, 
is uncompromising in its tone as its main protagonist is in his own moral 
’s casting---the guy is 
), the movie is tailor-made for reference books that filmmaking students a hundred years from now will be studying. And the film was often compared to excellent crime epics like 
and the crime epic to end all crime epics: 
. Great films, but only to the people who actually watch movies and not the average person looking for an eye candy to kill the time or take his date on a make
. Of all the Batman treatments that have been shown--- from the hyper-campy AdamWest-television version of the 60s (Holy sardines Batman!) to the goth fairy tale tratment of Tim Burton, and its eventual degradation in the hands of Joel Schumacher (
/
)---Christopher Nolan's treatment had fans who were turned off by the recent films hoping again. And casting Christian Bale in the title role was the most appropriate casting choice I have seen in the comic book movie adaptation genre in the last few years. Having seen 
and 
respectively, I was confident this production team could pull it off. And pulled it off they did. It was like watching an excellent graphic novel that several die-hard fanboys of the comic told me they actually clapped after the screening.
, the sequel, looks very promising from what I've read. We'll be introduced to The Batman's arch-nemesis The Joker. Most people are confused by this, saying The Joker died in the 
. That's why the first film was called Batman Begins-it has no relationship whatsoever in the previous films; a sort of reset if you may. Heath Ledger would be the clown prince of crime though I would have preferred 
's Crispin Glover. He even looks like The Joker without any make-up on. I actually even signed an on-line petition so the studio would take him. But I guess an Oscar award speaks volumes. But hell, I'd even watch it if they got Vin Diesel for the part.
series. The Tim Burton version was okay but the one by Joel Schumacher, specially the one with George Clooney in it practically looked so moronic that it could have been any nut in a Batsuit trading insults and trashtalk with the badguys (Batman is not particularly known for his sense of humor). With the Bale version, you'd actually believe the guy's motivation for wearing a costume and jump on rooftops at night instead of dating supermodels and driving sports cars. The sequel, in addition, has the feel and overall look of one of the best Batman graphic novels called 
written by 
and V For Vendetta's Alan Moore.
