Man of Steel review

I've put off writing about Man of Steel because I'm starting to sound like a broken record (do people still use that expression in the iTunes era?) about this summer's blockbusters. I have not been enjoying them, which is especially disappointing, considering that I did very much like last summer's Avengers. MoS unfortunately features the same kind of soul-deadening violence that I've seen too much of this summer. (But at least the violence in MoS is coherent, something I would not say about most of the action scenes in the latest Iron Man or Star Trek movies). The main problem, though, is pretty obvious. Warner Brothers had a big hit with its Dark Knight trilogy so it tried (as far as possible) to turn Superman into Batman. Not the same guy. Box office aside, Superman has always worked best when the film (or TV series) is at least partly facetious -- "comic," as in "comic book." (The Avengers certainly had that quality.) But MoS varies from sincere to grim: an epic saga with Superman as some kind of space messiah. Those fanboys who've been complaining that Superman isn't Superman without his external red undies (surprisingly) have a point. A world in which those crimson skivvies don't belong is just too serious for old Supey.

Iron Man 3

Too bad about Iron Man 3. I mean, it certainly seems to be popular. But I found it disappointing, and I've been liking pretty much all the "official" Marvel movies since the first Iron Man. I think the problem is that the "pros" are starting to take over. By "pros," I mean a guy like Shane Black, who directed the new Iron Man. He was a writer on the Lethal Weapon  series, which was also popular and also pretty tedious overall. Pros like Black know how to make super-violent action flicks that appeal to a certain kind of moviegoer, but they lack the light touch (and an understanding of the distinctive appeal of comic books) that guys like Jon Favreau (who directed the first two Iron Mans) or Joss Whedon (The Avengers) has. Has anyone noticed, for example, that IM3 is basically a zombie movie? Yes, Ben Kingsley is great in this film in a totally unexpected way. Yes, there are a few other nice touches. (The post-credits gag isn't bad.) But there's about an hour in there that's a long, dispiriting slog. I hope that Black is the first and last of the pros to get a hold of a modern superhero movie, but somehow I doubt it.