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Celeb News: James Franco Reviews ‘Man of Steel,’ & Slams New Spider-Man’
Member Since: 8/20/2011
Posts: 12,590
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James Franco Reviews ‘Man of Steel,’ & Slams New Spider-Man’
James Franco Reviews ‘Man of Steel,’ Proceeds to Slam ‘Spider-Man’ Reboot
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James Franco doesn’t have a lot of down time these days. From multimedia art installations to directing and starring in various Hollywood projects, the 35 year-old actor is one of the most vocal performers in the business, whether his publicist likes it or not.
Enter “Man of Steel.”
On Tuesday, having recently reviewed Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” for Vice magazine, Franco decided to weigh in on Warner Bros.’ $225 million blockbuster.
“Man of Steel is great because it delivers everything it should,” he wrote after the film’s London premiere. “It made Superman cool again.”
But this wasn’t your standard film review.
In an effort to explain why Hollywood continues to make and remake these big-budget films, Franco continued “The answer is, of course, money. We are in the film business, and the studios are owned by large corporations who want to make money.”
“When movies become so big that they can make $200 million in one weekend like ‘The Avengers’ did,” he added, “everyone from studios to filmmakers are going to want to get in on making comicbook movies.”
Franco admits he, too, got swept up in the comicbook biz, having starred in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” franchise in the early 2000s, but went on to question the financial motives of Sony and Columbia Pictures, who recently rebooted the popular franchise “before the corpse was buried.”
“I don’t really feel much distress over its being remade,” he wrote of the new Spider-Man films, “but what is interesting to me is that it has been remade so quickly — and the reasons why.”
Another interesting scrap in the “Man of Steel” review (which isn’t so much a review as it is all things related to ‘Man of Steel’ for Franco) — the actor recalled his first encounter with “Man of Steel” star Henry Cavill, whom he met on the set of the 2005 film “Tristan and Isolde.”
“He wanted to be Superman more than anything in the world,” he said of the young Cavill.
Despite not entirely understanding “the cheesiness of the character’s suit and his douchey invincibility,” Franco said he couldn’t be happier for the British actor.
“The night of the premiere I saw Henry from afar on the red carpet and knew this was the moment his whole life had been building toward. His dream had come true.”
Source: http://variety.com/2013/film/news/ja...ot-1200498558/
For James Franco's Full Man of Steel Review: http://www.vice.com/read/man-of-steel-the-super-movie
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Member Since: 4/3/2011
Posts: 7,281
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Flop movie.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/31/2012
Posts: 12,510
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I agree with him. The reboot franchise with a hot British actor clearly worked better for one franchise than the other.
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 3,480
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Originally posted by FreeBitch
Flop movie.
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Member Since: 8/20/2011
Posts: 12,590
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So, what did we watch? A great film. But what makes me say this? Is it the nerd revolution that has brought our public taste to the point where comic-book characters and video games are now cool? Are these huge comic-book films the way for the world at large to embrace the subjects of these forms that are traditionally relegated to the nerd niche? Yes, in a way. But in another way, we are just wowed by the money that brings them to fruition. Kids like comic-book-style heroes, teens like flashy action and sex, and therefore these films make money. Adults—the third audience—respect money. So these films are made. Again and again. And if Brandon Routh doesn’t work as Superman, or if Sam Raimi can’t agree on the villain for a fourth Spider-Man, they will just make new versions without them. Man of Steel is great because it delivers everything it should. It made Superman cool again. It delivered great action and interesting characters with a plot that was grounded enough to make us care a little.
In addition, to be fair, movies are fighting for their lives. With all the great television that is increasingly monopolizing good drama, and the video games that allow people to actively engage rather than sit back as passive viewers, movies need to offer something that these other forms can’t: big effects, 3D, and money, money, money.
But, in the end, why did I really walk away liking it? It wasn’t because of the film’s message. Maybe I sound naïve going to a film like this for a message, but images and themes are being thrown at me in 3D, so I want to know what I’m swallowing. One of the main reasons I liked it was because in this film, Superman’s S symbol stands for “hope” on the planet Krypton. Viewers discover that Superman is the symbol of hope for his dead race and simultaneously the symbol of hope for the human race. He hides his powers for the first 30 years of his life on Earth because his adopted father (Kevin Costner) believes that humans won’t be ready for him. In this way Superman is presented as a kind of Christ figure, given to Earth to save humanity. (A parallel that has been made many times before, I’m sure. Jesus Christ Superstar, anyone?) But sadly this Christ doesn’t teach any fishermen how to fish. He just does all the heavy lifting himself. If we are supposed to have hope in anything, it’s hope that Superman keeps fighting for good. If he doesn’t, we have no way of stopping him
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Love this whole section of his review. 
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Member Since: 4/13/2011
Posts: 8,569
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Originally posted by theoyella jukebox
I agree with him. The reboot franchise with a hot British actor clearly worked better for one franchise than the other.
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Andrew is hot too. That was almost the problem. He looked too cool in that movie.
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Banned
Member Since: 5/15/2010
Posts: 15,858
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I love James Franco but Amazing Spiderman may not measure up to the previous spiderman movies but it was atleast better than Spiderman 3 which was the primary reason Sony/Columbia got into the mess of rebooting the whole franchise because Sam Raimi ended the series without a way to move the story and ended up killing your character too. :bibllio:
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 2/9/2012
Posts: 10,326
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The Amazing Spiderman was a great movie and I'm not entirely seeing any "slamming" of the movie. More so the studio's need to reboot it so quickly for monetary gain, which is pretty much a given with all of these movies right now, whether they turn out amazing or are sub-par. I would pick The Amazing Spiderman over Raimi's first Spiderman any day.
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Member Since: 3/13/2011
Posts: 19,555
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The king has spoken. I used to not like Franco but I've warmed up to him. I keep forgetting Henry was in Tristan + Isolde, should I watch it? 
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Member Since: 2/16/2010
Posts: 69,775
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I thought The Amazing Spider-Man was better than the other Spider Man franchise. More entertaining & more true to the comics/TV show.
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