I saw Man of Steel the other day.  The new guy was super enough and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane could have been believable as Pa and Ma Kent had the filmmakers actually thought to make them part of the story.  Amy Adams is schoolgirl hot as Lois, (who knew that she had the skinny on Kal-el right from the beginning?), however, Russell Crowe is no Marlon Brando and the General Zod guy was way scarier on Boardwalk Empire.  The running time was 2:23; :23 for disjointed plot points and 2:00 for lightning fast, brain-numbing, jump-cut editing of senseless CGI battles, explosions and carnage, not cognitively watchable in 3-, 2- or no-D.

Man of Steel, and it’s lack of concern for the honored traditions of story line, character development, dialogue, conflict and resolution as the basis of literary, (even the comic book variety), entertainment, is a metaphor for life in the 21^st Century.  Our reality, manipulated by media pundits, spinners and twitterers continues to be drained of substance.  We are mired in political quicksand, while the gamers of the public psyche file their reports and studies and polls as if those published results had any impact other than false hope or fear.  Our imploding Krypton-esque planet, fueled by leaders distracted by Super Bowl rings and red lines of action is no more believable than any DC simulation, as we wait and wait to make the right choices for all of our futures.

We have become endlessly tolerant, (what option do we have, really?), of the choices our leaders make to keep us safe and viable on the world stage; so many variables, so many unknowns, so many whack jobs.  On the other hand, the makers of crappy mega-budget Superman and Gatsby remakes, with their scripts and storyboards and omniscient control over the arc and the outcome, and still…crappy…what’s up with that?