PixlBit

Very true. And yet I'll make one more crack at the Pa Kent scene because I'm hopeless.

This time, Drew McWeeney (film critic at hitfix.com) says it better than I ever can. I'm also lazy.

"I've read complaints that Kevin Costner's Pa Kent instills fear in Clark as he raises him, but that's the point. Yes, it's easy to write a character who does everything perfectly and who is a flawless role model, but it's more interesting to explore what happens when we try our best for our kids but that best isn't good enough. It makes sense that Kent would try to keep his adopted son safe and protect the truth about who he is and where he comes from, and he knows full well that revealing that truth will change our entire relationship with the universe. How many things are that big or have been that big in the course of human history? Learning for sure that we are not the first intelligent civilization in the universe would be one of the biggest moments ever, and Kent fears that our reaction would take his son from him, even as he deals with his growing suspicions that his son is meant to change things. His advice is that Clark needs to wait for the right time to reveal himself, and while Clark tries to follow that advice, we also see that he is compelled to use the powers he has. He can't just sit it out and wait. He does good not because he was told to, but in spite of being warned against it. It is his nature, and that seems more interesting to me than someone who is pressed into service."

I'm pretty sure I said WOWS is my favorite of his (Django Unchained is in 2nd place).

You could've kept the "blah, blah, blah" in and I would've taken no offense. 

Pa Kent doesn't just leave it at "maybe".

Clark Kent: What was I supposed to do? Just let them die?
Jonathan Kent: Maybe...but there's more at stake here than our lives or the lives of those around us. When the world... When the world finds out what you can do, it's gonna change everything; our... our beliefs, our notions of what it means to be human... everything.

I don't know what else to say. Right now I'm about to continue a debate about this film on another website. As much as I love the film I feel as though I've spent more time defending/debating it rather than talking about what it is that I enjoyed about it. Poor ole me. ;)

DiCaprio has been on a roll since 2002: Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, The Departed, Blood Diamond (not that good a movie but Leo is fantastic), Shutter Island, Django Unchained (my favorite until WOWS). He felt miscast in Gangs of New York (and was bulldozed by Daniel Day-Lewis like everyone else). Titanic? I still like the film and DiCaprio is charismatic in it but it's a one-dimensional perfect-man good guy role (that film really belongs to Kate Winslet). Also impressive in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? 

See, you're getting me to talk more about Man of Steel. Sly devil....

I was unclear about regarding MOS: I know its differences from the first film wasn't what made you reject the film. I was talking about that in regard to the general consensus (I suspect, maybe mistakenly, that many still have strong nostalgic feelings about that one and that could hamper their ability to accept a different take).

The family that Zod is targeting at the end had his laser beam on one side and a shitload of rubble/debris on the other. They're trapped.

I felt Terrence Stamp's Zod (from II) was more scenery-chewing than Shannon's. Shannon's approach gives way to a more practical, direct Zod. And he doesn't have goofy lines such as "Why do you say this to me when you know I will kill you for it?" Those first two films had a campier, whimsier tone so they got away with stuff like that. It would've failed in MOS.

Eh, I felt Pa Kent did the best he could (as he says at one point in the film) but he's stuck in an extraordinary position: you're raising an alien with unlimited power and potential, with no info on why he's here, in a world where the authorities (and the public at large) would react violently and in fear towards an alien. Young Clark might want to start saving people as early as possible but the consequences (reprisals for his foster parents or friends) could be too dire. Public knowledge of an alien on Earth would be serious business. Pa Kent doesn't have all the answers, true, but he believes Clark should live a little longer and find himself before taking up the mantle that he ultimately does. At that point, he's ready. 

I've seen way too many action films to feel the way I do about Olympus Has Fallen. Gotta go with what my gut tells me, as we all do. ;)

You can on the Vita, but it feels more comfortable to me to hold the Vita in the regular way.

I love that Guacamelee is still getting love. Thought that game would be forgotten. 

Good luck with your goals! I need to read more as well. I've done a lot of it since Thanksgiving so I plan to keep it up. I keep finding cheap offers on e-books, too, so they're not going to read themselves.

I love Retro Gamer. I subscribe to the digital version for my Nook, mostly because it's cheaper. Still great, though.

Loved Wolf of Wall Street. Every minute of it. If it seems excessive, that's the point. These assclowns retreated to the same material creature comforts repeatedly and upped the ante everytime. It's bonkers to witness but completely in character. The quualude sequence was breath-taking in that I couldn't stop laughing. I've never seen DiCaprio do anything like that (nor did I thought he had it in him) and he was brilliant. It will definitely be in a top 10 list for him; not strong enough to crack the top five, methinks.

I'd comment in detail about MOS, but I've had this argument too many times. Love it or hate it, this wasn't the Richard Donner film. It doesn't have the marks of a compromised production like that film (or the sequel). It keeps a consistent tone, its thematically solid and for me was emotionally powerful in the quieter moments as well as the action scenes. It's not the definitive cinematic Superman film; it's just the most successful in execution. See, I said I didn't want to say anything, and look what happened. *shrugs*

Olympus Has Fallen was painful to watch. Bad CGI, by-the-numbers plot and gratuitously violent. I can't believe there's a sequel coming soon.

I love the Star Wars tables on Zen Pinball 2. I find playing the game on the Vita to be the best. It looks great and there's no trigger delay (unlike the PS3 version). It's just good to have it on the go, as well. 

This remains the only FPS shooter that I've ever been comfortable coming back to. I still log on Halo 4 MP every now and then. While I don't do marathon MP runs like I did with Halo 3, I appreciate how the controls are still memorable and the environments/maps are still easy to navigate around. It remains a series that I feel I'm adequately proficient at to continue online MP. I'm not high ranking in any game but I still feel comfortable with it. As much as I have had enjoyment with Gears of War or COD: MW2, I can't seem to go back to those.

Most will argue that the changes throughout may have hampered their enjoyment (people still bitch about Reach's powerups) but I've always felt that the fundamental controls never changed. It's felt pretty consistent.

Now, as I've posted before: NO FUCKING IDEA what's going on plotwise. And it doesn't matter somehow.