Across the Universe Podcast: Episode 5

Episode 5: Kryptonite

This time 'round, Sofia, Mette and I discuss the new Superman movie, Man of Steel, and then do a Super-Duper Questionnaire about superhero movies. 

P.S. There are a number of places where I say "Superhero" instead of "Superman" because apparently I have trouble remembering words now. Sorry!

P.P.S. There is a lot of Henry Cavill gushing- you have been warned.

Content:

0:23- Chick-chatter

2:22- Trailer

3:13- Interesting Movie of the Fortnight

19:55- General discussion on Man of Steel

40:45- Super-Duper Questionnaire

1:15:14- Plugs and Goodbyes

Songs:

R.E.M. "Superman"

3 Doors Down "Kryptonite"

Cilla Black "Across The Universe"

Follow us at: facebook.com/acrosstheuniversepodcast
Write to us at: acrosstheuniversepodcast@gmail.com

Find us on iTunes: search for Across the Universe Podcast

"What's the S stand for?"

            SERIOUS it seems. When the first trailers of Man of Steel hit the net, I was a little concerned about it looking too grim. And well, it really really was.

           Man of Steel (2013) takes us back to the origins of the famed son of Krypton (a very accurate description actually), when Jor-El sends his only son Kal-El to Earth as their home planet is on the verge of destruction due to natural factors and the rebellious General Zod. Kal grows up as Clark Kent, raised by human parents who believe that the world isn't ready for his superhuman powers and his extraterrestrial truth. When he departs to look for answers about himself, Clark constantly, though discreetly, helps people around him. This grabs the attention of Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Lois Lane who tries to find out who this guardian angel is. When finally Clark finds out the truth, the fact that he is a child of two worlds, he has to make the choice about what kind of man he wants to be. In the midst of all this, an old enemy resurfaces.

              Let me start with what I really loved about Man of Steel, and that are its beginning and its ending. The film starts off in Krypton, but unlike the slightly bland planet shown in the first Superman movie, this is a wondrous alien world with all sorts of structures and creatures. One can understand why it is considered advanced. Here we meet Jor-El, played remarkably well by Javert Russell Crowe, trying to drill some sense into the Kryptonian bureaucrats and then kicking ass once Zod attacks. We see the kind of sacrifices made in order for Kal-El to live. It's a spectacular retelling of a story we're all familiar with. Then there is the ending, which after some two hours of oh so seriousness, shows us another well-known facet of this tale- Superman as Clark Kent, and also gives us much-needed levity and cause for hope. It is interesting to note that in a film all about hope and whatnot, it is this part that succeeds best.

        Now for the really big chunk in the middle. Right before I saw Man of Steel, I revisited Superman (1978) and properly watched for the first time Superman II (1980), and I really enjoyed myself. I thought it was a good idea to remind myself of the tale and the man before watching the latest installment of this saga. In retrospect, that hasn't worked out for the best as we should really not compare them. If anything, people should now start weighing all superhero movies against Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. And this precisely was my biggest issue with Man of Steel. As much as I loved the trilogy, I hate that all superhero movies now think that they too need to get all deep and serious (except my beloved The Avengers of course). That formula worked with Batman, but it just feels off with something as fun and, well, slightly silly (you can try and make us forget the red underpants as much as you want) as Superman. Now I am not a comic book person so maybe I am getting this all wrong, but I really wish Man of Steel was a little more lighthearted than that.

            I understand that they were trying to make us more familiar with who Superman is, and I appreciate it as well, but it could have been done with a little humour, no? And I felt that the film had the right elements for it too. I really admired what Henry Cavill was doing when he was being slightly condescending to humans. Christopher Reeves's Superman too had that smirky endearing quality to him. Coming to the villain though, I was really saddened by how they made Michael Shannon's Zod kind of dull. Okay, he's bad and he has different motivations than Terrence Stamp's megalomaniacal one, but then? My favourite part of a superhero movie is always the supervillain (unless you are Tony Stark of course), and that's because they are entertaining. He didn't even say "Kneel before Zod" which is an awesome catchphrase! And honestly, where were the catchphrases? He was just evil. Meh. Before watching the movie, I was certain that I would get to see Shannon bring his special brand of zany villainy to the game (see: Premium Rush) but he didn't, and that was really disappointing.

          Next, the love interest. I was most excited for Amy Adams's casting as Lois Lane. I personally like Superman Returns, but even I can't defend Kate Bosworth who was terribly miscast as the feisty lady love of the man of steel. Adams seemed perfect, but alas, she caught the serious bug too. Again, I was intrigued by the film showing Adams's Lois as a proper, determined, intelligent, investigative journalist who is actually able to find out who Superman really was and who does not fall for that completely idiotic glasses on-and-off schtick of his. However, somehow in all of that, all her charm was lost which is insane because when I think of Amy Adams, I picture sunshine and rainbows. Sadly, none of that made it into the movie. Margot Kidder was absolutely adorable as Lois Lane in the original Superman movies and I really believed that they would get this right with Adams.

          And then there was the romance. I think I prefer Superman II a little over Superman except for two sequences in the latter, both of which had to do with Superman's and Lois's relationship. The first was when Superman took Lois on a flight (that's literally what it was) and it is simply one of the most magical scenes in film history. And then when, spoilers for those who haven't watched the film yet, he turns back time to save her. I mean, god that's romantic and where can I find a guy who can do that for me?! But I digress. Of course the ending gives us hope for such things in the definite sequels, but my problem here was that Man of Steel lacked that magic that their relationship brought to the other films. And I didn't understand why, spoilers again, they even had that romantic moment. They had this mutual respect thing going on that I could get behind, but then that happened and I was left very confused.

            My final issue with the film is the fight sequences in the climax. They just went on and on and on. I was completely desensitised by the end of it, and somehow I think so was Superman. The amount of destruction that this film shows possibly surpasses those in any other such films. It just felt really pointless and counter-productive, to be honest. And it was so weird to see Superman really not caring about any of it and just going on fighting and probably destroying more things than the villains would have done themselves. I think if they had cut out one of the three major action sequences at the end, probably the first one in Smallville, it would have been so much more effective and less brain-hammering. The seriousness followed by all the chaos and noise became too much for me at times.

             Even though all this makes it sound like I hated the movie, I assure you I did not. I liked it actually, just not too much. I praise the overall look of the film. Most of the wide shots were absolutely breathtaking, and the effects with Krypton and their very unique-looking technology were really cool. Some of the fight scenes, especially the hand-to-hand ones did look video game-y at times, but that can be ignored.

         As I touched upon earlier, I thought that Henry Cavill was quite commendable as our hero. He fits the role as snugly as the new suit fits him ^^ He was just really believable as this extraordinary man, both physically and emotionally. And as the female soldier says in the end, he's hot and that does not hurt one bit (all the chiseled jaw-ness *sighs*). Again, Russell Crowe did a pretty good job too, even though I laughed the loudest when his character died. Well, no one else actually laughed but that's because their sense of humour sucks. Kevin Costner, who played Papa Kent, was also good, although admittedly I did not like the character a lot till we saw what he did for Clark in a really fantastic scene that resonates with me more than that entire cacophony of a climax. My favourite supporting character in the film however was Martha Kent played by Diane Lane. I absolutely loved her. She was so wonderful and caring and her relationship with Clark was perfect. I have nothing to say about Lawrence Fishburne's Perry White except that he was boring and forgettable.

          Zack Snyder, who directed the film, was an interesting choice for it. It must be noted that he *has* made one of the best superhero movies ever, Watchmen. As I said, even though I liked that he showed us how Superman came to be, properly and in detail, I just wish he had been less heavy-handed with the material. He got the tone so right with Watchmen, it is a shame that he got side-tracked with the Nolanisation in this. Of course Nolan is a producer and though that will bring audiences into the theatre, I don't know how happy it will make them once in there.

             I went to watch this with my little brother and my mother. My brother absolutely enjoyed every second of it and my mother got a headache and therefore hated it (thank god, we didn't go for 3D. I would not have heard the end of it). Though I am more on the side of my twelve-year-old-going-through-a-weirdly-aggressive-preteen-phase sibling, I can understand my mother's viewpoint too.

         If I were to make an equation for Man of Steel it would be Snyder's Superman + Nolan - Charm. If you are up for it, do go and watch it.

Thoughts

Helloo people! Here are my thoughts for you-

1) First of all, OMG YOU GUYZ! 

I kind of half-expected this to happen. I honestly thought they would leave the Fields of Trenzalore part for when Matt Smith actually ends his run as the Doctor since it's supposed to be the "fall of the Eleventh" and all. Now I don't think they will actually reveal his name. I have been trying to think of what the Doctor's name could be and I can either imagine it being something very large and unpronounceable like HUHGUBHIHCINAGHXYGFUMIOKJQOWOJFIGU or something like, well... Tom. The best theory I have found on Tumblr so far though is-

BBC: OMG the episode is called "The Name of The Doctor". Are we really going to reveal the most important secret in the history of the show?
Moffat: Of course we're not.
BBC: But the poster said...
Moffat: Nothing, I have a reputation to uphold.

Anyways, it will probably be the Doctor telling only River Song his name, who will be back as we can see on the poster. I have an inkling that this might be the last River episode as this probably will lead to the events of "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead". Still, can't wait to see her interact with Clara. Also, for all the people crying out in anger, even if Moffat magically makes up a name, it is a perfectly good point to do it as this episode will set in motion the events to be shown in the 50th Anniversary. Speaking of-

2) Oh MTV Movie Awards happened. Can I just say I love most of the winners? I mean The Avengers, Loki, Rebel Wilson, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Watson, Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook getting Best Kiss and not Twilight, and Leonardo DiCaprio was also nominated. Of course my favourite moments out of the very few that I saw were purely eye candy related- scruffy Chris Pine and suited-up Tom Hiddleston. And when the first gave an award to the other, my ovaries died.

3) The official selection list of Cannes 2013 is out. The Great Gatsby will open the festival. There are a lot of films in the line up that I haven't heard of, but hopefully we see a lot of big winners this year. The films I am really excited about are The Bling Ring, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Past, Behind the Candelbra, Venus in Fur, and most of all Only God Forgives. Nicolas Winding Refn won Best Director for Drive two years ago and Only God Forgives is looking really fantastic so far.

4) Guillermo Del Toro's next film, Crimson Peak, is getting quite the cast. Emma Stone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam. My first thought of course was "REDHEAD HEAVEN!!" but of course then I remembered that Stone isn't a real ginger. Still, talent and beauty and one totally old school horror film sounds rather brilliant.

5) In other Emma Stone news, her film with Cameron Crowe and Bradley Cooper now has Rachel McAdams too. This is one charismatic crowd. Also, she is set to star in Alejandro González Iñárritu's next film Birdman that has one helluva cast including Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts and Michael Keaton.

6) Gahh Hollywood!- They're going to remake Point Break. Next they're asking Seth MacFarlane to host the Oscars again? What? Was I the only one who saw him sing "We Saw Your Boobs"? And then apparently Michael Bay will let some reality show decide the Asian cast of Transformers 4. He's so funny. Also the Hercules movie will star Kellan Lutz and look at all the fucks I don't give.

7) David O' Russell's next movie has a name now- American Hustle. I am loving the wacko looks of its stars Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams. Excited to say the least.

8) Posters- Thor the Dark World has Thor and his hammer... yeah...  The Bling Ring looks like fun. I love the materialism in Sofia Coppola's movies. There are loads of pictures that have been released too. Finally, Only God Forgives has a hot French poster (hot because of the Gos, duh) and a ridiculously awesome neon poster out.

9) The final ballot of LAMMY 2013 is open and many of my favourite blogs have been nominated so yaay! I haven't voted yet but I will do so soon.

10) Trailers- Since Only God Forgives has pretty much dominated this post, let's start with its 2 new trailers. I don't think it's sane to be this turned on by trailers, but hey, here I am! Also Kristin Scott Thomas is fabulous. Star Trek Into Darkness's final trailer is the awesomest one yet and I really cannot wait to watch this film. The Kings of Summer looks really fun and gotta love Nick Offerman. Steven Soderbergh's final film Behind the Candelbra looks pretty good. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire's trailer is interesting because it shows President Snow's, played to perfect eerieness by Donald Sutherland, evil workings. Also yaay Philip Seymour Hoffman! There is yet another Romeo and Juliet film, this time starring Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld as the star-crossed lovers. Wasn't this supposed to be from the point of view of Rosaline? Anyways, it looks very dull except for all the Damian Lewis parts where I laughed out loud inexplicably. Elysium, though it seems to have a very worn-out concept at its core, looks like it is going to do something very different with it which is what I expect out of the makers of District 9. Man of Steel finally has my attention as its latest trailer lets go of all the Batman-y Malick-ness and looks all kinds of epic. Plus Amy Adams and Michael Shannon, woo hoo! Lastly, one of my most favourite trailers this week has been that of Filth's. I don't know what James McAvoy has done to himself, but god, it is amazingness itself.

Bye all!

Thoughts

         Hello folks. It's 12/12/12 today which really does not have any significance but everyone seems to be going crazy about it. There are pregnant women who have scheduled their deliveries for today. Like how messed up is this world? Anyways, I know I have been too lazy to write this post for the past two weeks but I will make amends now. My thoughts, twelve in all because well duh-

1) Guess who crossed the 400 films mark for this year? Yippee!

2) Everyone, please join Stevee's totally brilliant blogathon. There are very few hours left, but you can do it! This is my entry.

3) Th e awards season is fully underway now, and very soon we will be getting the nominations for Golden Globes and Screen Actor's Guild. So far, many critics' groups have given their prizes. Ryan has compiled most of them and Squasher has all the Critics Choice Awards nominees. Zero Dark Thirty and Katherine Bigelow are clearly emerging as the frontrunners for Best Film and Best Director. Best Actor seems to be Daniel Day Lewis's thing, although Bradley Cooper is definitely getting a lot of momentum. I guess Best Actress will be between Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence and maybe even Emmanuelle Riva. Best Supporting Actor seems like an odd field this year as the prophesied winner, Leo Di Caprio for Django Unchained, is not getting that much attention and one of his biggest competitors is co-star Samuel L. Jackson (poor Leo). One sure winner though is going to be Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables in the Best Supporting Actress category. What I am really getting excited about is the inclusion of films like Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Perks of Being a Wallflower in these awards as they aren't very, for lack of a better term, "Oscar bait-y". Also Skyfall and nominations for Javier Bardem and Judy Dench in Critics Choice is kind of awesome.

4) Ugh Dane DeHaan will play Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Another reason why I will have to see this monstrosity.

5) The Oscars music department has released all the eligible candidates for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. While what gets nominated is yet to be seen, but my favourite score of the year, i.e.,  Moonrise Kingdom by Alexandre Desplat is ineligible, so that sucks. Best Original Song looks quite good though, but yet again one of the best moments of 2012's films was "Who Were We" in Holy Motors and that is not eligible.

6) Cate Blanchett will play the Evil Stepmother in Mark Romanek's live action take on Cinderella. I love this. In spite of the recent fairy tale movie busts, Blanchett is a gorgeous villain (I even loved her in Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and Romanek's Never Let Me Go is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. Also one of the front-runners to play Cinderella is her Hanna co-star Saoirse Ronan, so I really hope this happens.

7) I have seen Oldboy from the Vengeance trilogy, which I loved. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is another film in the trilogy, and its Hollywood remake is being made with the amazing Charlize Theron as the lead. I am becoming quite the Theron fan now and I am super excited for this.

8) George Clooney's next film is going to be plenty awesome, as far as the cast is concerned. The Monuments Men will now have Clooney's buddy Matt Damon joining Cate Blanchett, Daniel Craig, Jean Dujardin, Bill Murray and John Goodman. The premise is very cool. It will be a WW2 drama based on a true story about a group of British and American art experts who have to track down some of the most valuable art works stolen by the Nazis.

9) Stoker has another sexily creepy poster out. I am getting really impatient to watch this film now. Also the first picture of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is out. It's so sparkly. To be honest, this will be the Hobbit movie I want to watch the most because it is using the best asset of Benedict Cumberbatch- his god-like voice *swoon*.

10) Oh btw, how do you like the Christmas banner? Wasn't Winona the prettiest?

11) Trailers- Oblivion starring Tom Cruise. It looks very bland to me. I so do not give a shit. I would say the same about The Lone Ranger except my loyalty to Johnny Depp forbids me to. But seriously dude, wtf? Kind of like Armie Hammer, however. A Bollywood trailer, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, is something I really want to watch because 1) Anushka Sharma, 2) Vishal Bharadwaj, 3) Imran Khan and 4) Pankaj Kapoor. Deadfall, which has Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Sissy Spacek and Kate Mara. I am a bit intrigued by it, to be honest. Especially because of the cast. After Earth is the new film from M. Night Shymalan starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith. I am not sure about it because it could be really interesting or really stupid. Remember when Jaden Smith was an adorable little kid? Why must they grow up? Man of Steel's first trailer is finally out, and well, I am not as buzzed about it as everyone else. I mean I will definitely watch it, but as Joker would say, "Why so serious?" I get it that this is following The Dark Knight trilogy's footsteps, but the grim tone actually suited someone like Batman. And this trailer is even less fun than the trilogy's trailers. Also I need more Amy Adams and Michael Shannon to get truly excited. A slightly happier second trailer, please? In TV land, Girls is back and it looks really really funny. So excited! Also Masters of Sex with Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan looks like fun. Finally, we have the trailer/teaser of the week- Star Trek Into Darkness. In spite of that ridiculous name, it is one of my most highly anticipated film of 2013 and Cumberbatch's eeie-tastic voice in the teaser has pumped me up even more. Bring it on!

12) Finally, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the latest addition to my fake husbands list-

From now on, kindly refer to me as Mrs. Logan Lerman. Thank you.

Okay tata!

Thoughts

1) Trailers- So last week I completely forgot to put some of the v. important trailers because I'm stupid. First we have the two identical Man of Steel teasers, except for the voice overs- one has Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent and the second has Russell Crowe as Jor-El. They are, as many have said, extremely Terrence Malick-esque, with butterflies and whatnot, but I kind of like it- especially the flying bit at the end. Then we have, what might be the most anticipated film of the year for many, many film lovers, P.T. Anderson's The Master. It looks very intriguing and the cinematography is beautiful. Next is Brad pitt-starrer crime flick Killing Them Softly. I like Pitt in this avatar and love the trailer especially towards the end. Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplin and Isla Fisher star in Bachelorette, which is kind of like Bridesmaids (it even has Rebel Wilson), but perhaps meaner and less depressing. I really want to watch this- I love Kiki being a bitch, and gosh her clothes in the trailer! The best trailer of this week is obviously of Skyfall, the next James Bond movie. It looks absolutely badass and gorgeous. Love Judy Dench as M, love Ben Whishaw as Q, love eerie Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem, and love love love Daniel Craig and his suits. I am so stoked! Also, I must talk about the Doctor Who series 7 trailer. Though I liked the teaser more, this one is pretty awesome too, with River Song, aka the love of my life, making an appearance, and also all those blown Daleks, which is supremely cool. CANNOT WAIT!


2) Peter Jackson is making The Hobbit into a trilogy. I don't know how I feel about this. I mean, will we even get to hear Benedict Cumberbatch's awe-inspiring voice in the first one? Poor Jackson doesn't ever want to stop making these movies, understandably so. Also, he should definitely take some of Total Film's attempts to name the third film into consideration. My favourite :')


3) Emma Stone will star in the next Cameron Crowe film, Deep Tiki. It has a really weird plot about a disgraced military contractor finding himself when he is sent to some top-secret base in Hawaii. I am only writing about this because in Emma Stone's fantastic acceptance speech for the Trailblazer Award in MTV Awards, she talked about Crowe being one of her role models. And since she is one of my role models, and my fake BFF, I hope this is a great film for her sake.


4) The Olympics have started and no, I am not going to discuss the sports since I hate all sports; this is about the opening ceremony made by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle. I sort of liked it. I saw all of it, minus whatever was cut during the fucking commercial breaks and between the march of countries that begin with the letters J-P, because I fell asleep then. In my defence, it aired from 1:30 am to 5:30 am here. Here's what I did like- Kenneth Branagh coming out of nowhere, James Bond and the Queen jumping off a helicopter (though I don't know how much I like the idea of both of them um, together... Bond has quite a reputation with the ladies, you know), J.K. Rowling, who is my queen, reading Peter Pan, big bad Voldemort, Rowan Atkinson being awesome, the whole music bit (except that cellphone love business), especially The Sex Pistols playing with the Queen present there, head banging to Arctic Monkeys at 4:30 in the morning, that one hot torch runner, the lighting of Sauron's Eye Olympic torch, the pretty fireworks and just the fact that Paul McCartney was there. There was a lot of weirdness too, the weirdest being the creepy giant baby that obviously was from Boyle's very own Trainspotting.


5) It has to be spoken about- Vertigo has replaced the fifty-year champion of Sight and Sounds "Greatest Films" list, Citizen Kane. Now I haven't seen the latter in the longest time, but I remember being blown away by it. Vertigo, not so much. In the entire top 50 list, I have seen 21 movies, which is decent-ish. From this list itself, another Hitchcock giant, Psycho, would probably top for me, followed by Taxi Driver (or maybe the other way round...), and then In the Mood for Love. The director's list is slightly better, with Taxi Driver at least in its top 10. Also I have seen 8 of the films, so yaay! Also check out the choices of some of the best directors around.


6) The sequel to the prequel, X-Men: First Class is going to be called X-Men: Days of Future Past which is based on an 80s comic of the same name and it has alternate timelines, so it will affect the events of the first three X-Men films too, and that awful Wolverine one too. The first one was certified girl porn, so I am obviously really looking forward to the prequel sequel (I just like saying that).


7) Check out Eternity of Dream's New York City in Genres. Also, the LAMB Foreign Chops: Modern Bollywood. I contributed to both (shameless self-promotion etcetera).


8) Finally, you know what I said about Daniel Craig and his suits-

Please, please, please make him the next Bond.

Byee.