Yea, somewhat banal opening, but it fits!
After last week, I needed, very simply, some chill time. I was allowed to sleep until almost noon, then upon waking, went out to my morning coffee to discover a marvelous day! Blue skies, nice breeze and mild temps, and I became inspired to make it an "outside day". Sure, we did a wee bit of the traditional Sunday cleaning chores, but mostly, we all (well...most everyone, the older boys find it incredibly difficult to separate themselves from their bloody cell phones) played and relaxed outside for the afternoon, then cleaning up the Barbeque, made a simple flame broiled dinner. Having set up the outside dining table, the kids were thrilled to have a "picnic". As an added bonus, when some of the kids and I went to the store, one of our neighbors was just putting out a wrought iron table and four chairs (made in 1967!) for trash pickup. A couple trips back to the house, later, and we had NEW (to us) patio furniture! Perfect for in the grilling area. As I cooked, Izzy and I played some Uno, then we fed. After clean up, Elijah set up the outside movie theatre Angi was inspired to create for the party, and we all lounged in the back yard, closing out the evening watching "Finding Neverland". Bed time was easy, as all of the youngins passed out (except Miranda of course) then, to close out the evening Angi and I enjoyed some much needed peace and quiet in front of the fire pit.
It was a pleasant reprieve from the weather of Saturday, I assure you. Rainy, the majority of the day, it was a tad bit slow, even though we did send two more rides to new homes, but the repairs were obviously slow. Not too much of a problem, though, as I had PLENTY to keep busy with. After some much needed cleaning and reorganizing, set about the FULL refurb of the SAH-WEET Hunter "BIG BOSS" Cruiser! Oh...she came out even better then I could have hoped for! Check out the pic below.
Once we finished that up, it was time to head out. Thankfully, the rain had ended mid afternoon, so it was a dry ride, but once I got home, the harassment began! HA, HA!
Elijah had been pleading with me for the last week to go and see "Superman V Batman". Angi and I never got out last week, as planned, to view it, and even though I was hesitant to see it without her, she said no worries. Quite frankly, she had reservations about seeing it (not a big Affleck fan) but it was only after seeing it, then relaying my impressions to her later that evening, did she reveal that was "why" she wasn't going to bother.
That, my friends, is a lead in to another "MOVIE REVIEW!"
****************SPOILER ALERTS A PLENTY!!!!**********************************
My dire predictions of the path of DC movies was, unfortunately, proven accurate! As much as I wanted to love this movie....I just couldn't. To be honest, I really didn't even like it. And for a myriad of reasons, here to fore revealed, in no certain order. The biggest problem is, that in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Marvel Movies, not to mention the WHOPING numbers pumped out by Avengers, DC came to terms with the fact they NEED a Justice League movie. But, they rushed it BIG TIME! Unlike the subtle nods to other DC stalwart's in the first Superman Movie (remember, the first Supes movie was the "beginning" of the "NEW" DC universe, Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy with Christian Bale, doesn't count) such as Batman, Cyborg, Zantana, Green Lantern etc, etc (just google Superman "Easter Eggs" for the full skinny) which are acceptable previews, this New Superman Movie was nothing more than a two plus hour set up for the upcoming JLA film!
ARRGH!!!
Here's why I say this. First, the script for the full film was completely unoriginal. Instead of taking a chance and creating something wholly unique, all the writers did was take the popular elements of classic comic book stories such as Frank Millers "The Dark Knight Returns" and blended it with the pivotal "Death of Superman" and "Doomsday" story lines. That's....IT! Of course, like in EVERY bloody Batman story to DATE, they felt the incessant need to waste valuable screen time on YET AGAIN rehashing WHY Batman became who he was! OH FER CRIMENELY!! I think the WHOLE world KNOWS Bruce's folks got shot by a mugger, he set to avenge them, saw a bat...and there ya go! We DON'T need to waste fifteen minutes rehashing it! The ONLY thing I liked about the "flashback" (SLOW MOTION? REALLY!?!) was the fact that the part of Bruce's father was played by a cameo from Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Okay, follow me on this one, Jeffrey played the Comedian in "The Watchmen" a much maligned but, by far, WAY BETTER movie! The subtle nod being, that in the opening credits of the Watchmen movie (yes, a DC property) the character "The Nightowl" is shown punching out a would be mugger, behind a movie theatre featuring the Zorro film. In the background can be seen an obviously affluent couple clutching their young son. An obvious reference to the thwarting of Batman's origin. I found that "seven steps to Kevin Bacon" moment, priceless!
The new film is choppy, and has moments where you are introduced to Wonder Woman, first in her alter ego form, then in costume later on, but her place there, is not conducive to the story. Then, as Batman has gained access to Lex Luthor's "secret files" he stumbles upon the "Meta Human", oddly enough, featuring footage of "Wonder Woman", "Cyborg", "Flash" and "Aquaman" (Um....how come no files on Supes or Bats? Because, the viewing public doesn't NEED to be introduced to those characters....DUH'!) Yea, there files were complete with each copy written insignia! Batman then recognizes the Diana (aka "Wonder Woman" (keep up folks)) whom he ran into, conveniently, at Lex Luthor's Party, and see's an old WW1 (?) photo of her, in costume, along with a crew including Steve Trevor (film still, anyone) SO, he emails the files to her, and in the middle of the film, she plops down at her laptop, and then she (and the viewing audience) are treated to short "Preview" snippets of the upcoming Films (along with the appearance of a "Mother Box" in the Cyborg snippet, leading to the obvious conclusion, along with the following "Flash Forward" scene, that the villainous Darkseid will surely be the one to beat in the JLA film! The Flash Forward scene comes as Batman is pondering the intentions of the Kryptonian, and has a visitation from the Flash (via a speed force induced Time Tunnel (oh, yea, gotta dig deep in the DC Mythos for this one folks) who informs him he is correct in his mistrust of Superman. We are then treated to a "vision" of our near future, as Superman Lords of the Earth with an Iron Fist, teamed up with a cadre of jack booted armed thug, with the aerial support of Para-Demons (another gift from Darkseid) who demolish a Batman led uprising, then as Bat's is strung up in chains, Superman LITERALLY rips his heart out.
This is SOOOO not a subtle "Sneak Peek" at upcoming events.
Look, I am a fan (obviously) of both the comics and the movies, and I ADORE the fact that the new wave of Superhero movies pays loving homage to their "in Print" forbearers, but in- jokes and Easter eggs aside, WHY couldn't we have had an ORIGINAL storyline? I mean, come on! THIS is probably the MOST pivotal story to tell in the history of Super Hero's. Two of the OLDEST costumed crime fighters (Superman, arguably being THE original Super Hero) who have LONG had a rivalry, and uneasy working relationship, coming together, for the first time on film, and Hollywood uses it as nothing more than a sidebar to promote another series of films? Truly, I feel slighted, insulted and marginalized as a fan.
Oh, there are many more issues with this film, such as the incessant need of DC to turn EVERY bad guy into a psychopath. WHY?! Lex Luthor, in this film, pathetically portrayed by the ANNOYING actor Jesse Eisenberg (LORD, I can't stand this guy) as a fast talking, riddled with pathos, and SEVERE Daddy issues, comes off as nothing more than a used car salesman! ARRGH!! Sorry, but Lex Luthor was cold, calculative, manipulative and possessed a total disregard for anything save his own personal interests, but he was NOT a salivating lunatic prone to bouts of dysfunctional, disjointed mannerisms! Seriously! NO ONE that disconnected from reality would have ever been able to run a multi billion dollar enterprise (Donald Trump not withstanding!)
In the end, sadly for Elijah, our resident DC fan, he was visibly disappointed that I didn't get the thrill he was hoping I would, but in the camps of Marvel VS DC (I tend to veer towards Marvel, obviously) I can only say that by weight and measure, Marvel has hit the right button with each and every film they have put out (after they finally got the point with Blade), but I really thought DC was on the right track. I just hope they can learn from this debacle and get it fixed with the upcoming films, but it is a tragedy that squandered this moment in a big, big way!
ALRIGHTY!
I best get to some REAL work now!
See y'all soon!!
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