Batman v. Superman Review (Mostly Spoiler Free)

December 1978. Fox Colonie Theatre on Wolf Road in Colonie, NY (just outside of Albany). It's a Saturday night. I'm in line with what seems like half the kids from my high school waiting to see Superman, The Movie.  The commercials have been playing for a long time.  A shot of clouds and the camera working its way through the clouds promising us that we'll believe a man can fly.

The movie starts. A movie curtain opens to reveal a black and white shot of Action Comics. A boy;'s hand opens it up. The camera pans into a panel of the Daily Planet building. It dissolves to a scale model of the Daily Planet pans out and up to the moon and beyond as John Williams score grows and we start to see the opening titles zooming out at us. Goose bumps.

In case you couldn't tell, I am a hug fan of that movie. I went back the following weekend to see it again. Probably the first time in my life that I ever did that. I don't go to see movies in the theater more than once. I loved that movie., I grew up on reruns of the 1950s Adventures of Superman. I read the comics, World's Finest with Batman and Superman, Shazam. I was a DC kid. Not a huge superhero reader but I went through a phase. I was certainly familiar with them.

Flash forward to 2016. Its a different world. Comics are now written for adults (graphic novels). They can be darker. Its believed that today's audiences want grittier more realistic. And it can work. It works for Batman. But Superman? I understand the need to modernize him. But you can't take away everything that we grew up loving about him.

Batman vs. Superman. The reviews have been mixed. Most internet social media squabble would have you believe this movie is bad. It is not. It's also not great. It's decent. It's dark. Very dark. Please, Zac Snyder. Could we have SOME sunshine?  But my opinion is that its mostly told from Batman's perspective. Mostly, not all. For him it works.

I don't know that I agree with the whole Superman is an alien in our modern world. So he is raised and placed on a pedestal word worshipped like a God. And then of course he is torn down by others because that is what we do. We tear down our idols once we put them up there. He is feared by Bruce Wayne as an alien. And I get it. But, again. Can we lighten this up some? It is a comic book character after all. Comics book characters! Give me some bright reds and blues!

The story is decent. But I couldn't help wonder what if there were more humor injected and the brighter colors. And oh maybe Richard Donner directing or at least consulting. But I digress.

Ben Affleck as Batman. Great job. Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Awesome. Would have liked more. Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark. Not really given much to work with was he? I mean he was good with what he was given. They could have given us more back story on the Lois/Clark romance. They just were a couple. Just there already. And she knows he's Superman. Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White has the best lines. Honestly, the scrip needed more levity. This movie takes itself way too seriously.

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Well it was a different take on him. But then why call him Lex Luthor. He could have been some other character. He basically was a filthy rich young man who inherited daddy's money and has a lot of strange tics eventually driving him into madness. I honestly didn't mind his portrayal. But to me that wasn't Lex. That was some new bad guy. I also thought in retrospect that if this movie is predominantly told from Batman's POV, then this portrayal totally makes sense. He was like any other Batman villain who either exceed from or belongs in Arkham Asylum. Good theory. Right?

I will admit that seeing Batman Superman and Wonder Woman standing side by side to fight together was pretty cool. But I then had a second thought. This story could have been told with a lighter touch.  Not so dark and serious.

It was cool to see a few other DC cameos and obviously setup future DC movies which is basically how this ends. As a setup to the Justice League.

I also didn't like the CGI. There's way too much of it. I don';t like how every time Superman takes off its like a sonic boom. Wouldn't that do some damage? And the climactic fight sequence. Too Much CGI! Geez! And i didn't believe for one second that the ----- they were fighting was real. It looked CGI.

Cool that they brought in another big bad other than Lex and they used a very famous Superman storyline for the movie. After all, I am tired of every single Superman movie having Lex Luthor and kryptonite in it. Man of Steel is the only one that didn't.

Overall, I liked it with some qualifications. It was good. Not great. But I do hope that they let someone else take over and direct these movies and add more humor. And color! Please. What's a comic book without colors? Now if you don;t mind, I'm going to pop my Superman the Movie DVD in to the Blu Ray and watch that.

My Peanuts Obsession (The Comic Strip. Not the Nut. Although I do like a nice big jar of Planters Peanuts too!)

In an earlier blog, I spoke of my love and devotion to television. Today, I reveal yet another obsession of mine...Peanuts. The comic strip by Charles M Schulz. I love it. And in recent years, I have begun collecting Peanuts books, prints, decorations and other objects.

The Complete Peanuts (so far)

I always liked Peanuts, even as a kid. My elementary school had an annual book fair where we could buy books and I would buy the paperback reprints of old Peanuts comics. I remember going to Clapp's Bookstore on Madison Avenue next to the old Madison movie theater in Albany and buying a couple there.

When I was in the seventh grade, I bought a paperback edition of the script to You're A Good Man Charlie Brown at Waldenbooks in Colonie Center. I always loved Charlie Brown. I identified with him. But it didn't really become apparent until my junior year of college just how much. That was when I was cast as Charlie Brown in my college production of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. Here's the thing, not only did I identify with Charlie Brown, I truly believed that I was a real life Charlie Brown. In my mind, I could do no right, no one really truly cared about me, they just felt sorry for me and I would never win at anything, ever. This is how I saw myself...really!

The published script bought in the Seventh Grade

Years later, I had the opportunity to play Charlie Brown again. At the auditions, the director asked if I would be interested in playing Snoopy. I said no. He thought I was nuts. "It's the best part!", he said. I replied, "I know and someday I would like to play Snoopy, but I really need to play Charlie Brown." Why? Because I felt that when I played him in college I wasn't acting. I was just being me. I wanted another shot at it so I could try acting it this time. I was cast as Charlie Brown and it was a great time. And in fact one of the most memorable on stage moments of my life took place. But that's a story for another blog.

That's me under the bag in my college production

This blog is about my love of Peanuts and the art of Charles M Schulz. It started about 10 years ago when Fantagraphics began publishing the Complete Peanuts, every single strip ever published in the newspapers from the very first strip in October 1950 through the last one in February 2000 just before Charles M Schulz's death. Two volumes every year, each containing two whole years worth of strips. Every two volumes combined in a nice box set. The second to last just came out (1995-1998) last month. I got my copy today.

That means there is only one volume left 1999 -2000. Then its over. I read that strip every day in the NY Daily News right up until the last. It was a constant in my life. When he died, it was like part of my childhood was gone.

I've become a fan of Schulz's art work. Simple. If you look at the backgrounds, the trees, the grass. It's actually great graphic art. Each volume of the series features inside covers with nothing but background art, a page of rain drops, or a field of daisies. So simple and compelling. It's almost like a comfort food that brings me back to my childhood and all those books and the TV specials.

This year at Comic Con I bought some original sketches from one of the TV specials.  I have books on the making of the Christmas special (one hard cover and one paperback), a book of art and special collectibles, the Broadway revival show card, a stuffed Charlie Brown, some limited edition Christmas ornaments and a couple of collectibles from Comic Con.

So now that I have the latest volume I plan to read every single strip in there. I don't collect anything else other than TV shows on DVDs.  It's like I'm hanging on to a part of my childhood. I can go back and pick up a book anytime and read some of my favorite strips and it will bring me back to lying on my bed reading those old paperbacks.

Thank you Mr. Schulz.