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sean-790
Reviews
One to Grow On (1983)
Helped me grow up
One to Grow On used to come on Saturday mornings on NBC for just a minute or two in between cartoon shows. At first I didn't like them, but then they grew on me, hence the title. They had Tootie and the siblings from Family Ties, but not Family Matters because that was not an NBC show. Anyways, there were social situations and then the celebrity like Tootie would come out and ask if you've ever had something like that happen, and then show you the right way to handle that particular situation so that there's no bad feelings in the world. If only every day could be like Saturday! Then we would all think very differently about how we conducted ourselves, because we all wanted to be like Justine Bateman or Michael J. Fox or Tootie or Mr. T.
Superman Returns (2006)
Not just bad, but a betrayal against all true fans
I gave the screen the finger on my way out of the screening on opening night. That's how much I hated this movie.
Brandon Routh does not have Superman in him. He's OK (and just OK) as Clark Kent, but every time we wee him as Superman, he looks nervous and tense, like he's wondering who's buying this. Kate Bosworth is just plain too young to play Lois Lane. She was 23 when this movie was made, and her Lois Lane looks like a teenager. I was really looking forward to Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, but he was no fun at all. James Marsden and Parker Posey play two completely disposable and unnecessary characters which is interesting because had they cast Marsden as Superman and Posey as Lois Lane, you'd have the makings of a fine Superman movie.
The movie is poorly thought out, dark, ugly, and no fun at all. It's not appropriate for kids, the tone is all wrong, and there is no action whatsoever in the whole last half-hour. No action at all in the last half-hour of a summer superhero movie. Superman is supposed to be high adventure, not high melodrama. This is not Superman for a new generation, this is Superman for the Usual Suspects audience. This is Superman done dark and dirty.
We were sold on this movie being another go at a Superman III, but the plots are so similar that this can only be a full-on remake of Superman The Movie. My only guess is that the producers sold the studio on this movie as paying homage to the '78 Donner film, and then Singer and company panicked when time started getting tight and just went ahead with whatever they could hash out in an evening. If Donner's '78 Superman was a smooth Frank Sinatra ballad, Superman Returns is a dirty, revved-up cover version performed by a really bad punk band.
I spent my early childhood with a red cape permanently attached around my neck, so you can imagine that I was pretty predisposed to liking this movie. But now I feel ripped off. I feel ripped off not for the $13 I spent on my ticket, and not even for the months spent being excited for this movie. I feel ripped off for all of the years spent calling Superman my hero.