marv-36 Reviews

Superman: Unbound (2013 Video)

Really disappointing.

[2/10 · 8 June 2013]

This was one of the more disappointing releases from DC Animated. There have been enough spoilers already in the other reviews, so I won't bother saying anything about the plot or the things that didn't quite make sense.

Bottom line is that the story was disjointed and never quite grabbed the audience. Brainiac never seems to be believable threat. And my son thought he looked too much like the Hulk. The romance between Lane and Superman seemed stifled, probably because there was never this sense of urgency or grand threat. It's my understanding that this story was based on the graphic novel, but I get the sense that a lot of things were lost in translation, and there wasn't enough effort to make it standalone in a movie format.

My son and daughter have seen all of the DC Universe Animated movies. They loved Superman/Batman Public Enemies, they loved Superman vs. The Elite (wow! that was violent dad, but a really good movie.)

My daughter fell asleep with this one and I almost did too.

The Fountain (2006)

Boring and Prententious

[1/10 · 7 July 2007]

Thought the movie was boring, pretentious, and predicable. Many elements of the artsy-fartsy stuff were cliché (for example: the silent walking scene with Tom - until he almost gets hit by a car, the inverted swing around camera-work when Tom rides the horse by/ drives the car by) I couldn't get myself to care for any of the characters: wasn't drawn in to Tom's plight; Tom and Izzy's love for each other just didn't seem to resonate. Somewhere at about the half-point of this movie, I decided that Keanu Reeves (with that slightly confused look of his) would work better than Hugh Jackman.

I hate to say it, but I felt more sadness when the Autobot Jazz was torn in half by Megatron than when Izzy died. I actually wanted Izzy to die as soon as possible because I knew that would indicate that the end of the movie was near.

I couldn't stand the way Aronofsky frames his shots - too claustrophobic - maybe because he was on a small budget and had to tighten down in smallish sets? I thought his tight framing on faces was just totally out of place - that sort of style works better on action heroes - i.e. Bruce Willis in Armageddon.

Just way too artsy-fartsy for me. Don't get me wrong, I like art films. I pretty much swallow up almost anything by Wim Wenders. French films can be slow moving, but they certainly aren't pretentious like this one.

No wonder the big studios pulled-out when they first started filming in Australia in 2002. Aronfosky is a mediocre director who just over-extended himself on this one.

This is one of the worst pieces of crap that I have ever seen.

Sorry if I have upset anyone.