Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Steel Kleenex Boy
I'm surprised how much I liked this, given how much I hate Supes and his clean-cut insipidity. He may be the most two-dimensional of heroes, but it actually worked in the film's favour. Instead of heavy-handed "characterization" -- like the ladling of teen angst in Spider-Man or Batman's tortured reminiscing, which has generally served to make the characters even more two-dimensional and comic-book like, not less -- we just see hints of a man who thought he knew his place in the world, then came home to find it gone. Similarly, Singer was content to leave Luthor, prima facie, as the blackest of villains, just evil for its own sake; it's only in his moments of jealousy that we see signs of more.
The end result is that it's very easy to enjoy as myth: action, epic conflict, a kind of transcendent escapism. There's no need to worry about themes. It's helped along by stellar casting and superb special effects.
It's not without problems, of course, like the irritating way Superman seems to put in the same amount of effort to lift anything, whether it be a falling globe or a mass of crystal weighing a million times more. Larry Niven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" has been frequently cited.
Still, worth a look.