Man of Steel

SF: I can't tell you how much I loved the first two Superman films by Richard Donner. After the horror that was Superman Returns, a new film was desperately needed. This incarnation surprised me by how different it was from the predecessors but without giving too much away I found it very enjoyable, imaginative and more serious than expected. Henry Cavill did a brilliant job and Lois Lane was fiery - like she is supposed to be. Also beautiful cinematography. Well worth a watch. 7.5/10

50Eggs: Hooray! My most anticipated film of the last year turns out to be brilliant. The opening half hour is as unexpected as it is action packed, and does a great job of giving us a new take on the origin story. Things continue in this vain, showing us more of the mythology than in any previous Superman film, whilst simultaneously ramping up the action to unprecedented levels (admittedly it's somewhat relentless but, unlike the awful Transformers films, you can at least see what is going on). The cast is uniformly great but special mention to Henry Cavill for nailing it and for being proper stacked. My girlfriend actually made an unintentional swooning noise when he got his pecks out. 9/10

DonkeyB: Review delayed! Oh the humanity (or Alien being with a moral inclination to save it). The first part on planet Zod or whatever is boring, sub school kid look how smart I am nonsense . Then there is a brief interlude in which earth bound Clarke struggles with his developing super powers- this part was good, I actually started to find myself caring about the characters. It was over all too quickly. The relationship between Clarke and Louis must go down as one of the worst on screen romances in history; negative chemistry between Adams and Cavill. Then the hitting things with things started and it is long and boring and pointless. And the further away from the film the more I resent it. Crap. 3/10

Overall: 6.5/10

Project Jen- Rumour Has It

Normally here at 3-4-1 we don't discuss the plot of the films we review very much. This is because we know that everyone hates spoilers. However, the "plot"of this film does require some reference.

The idea is that Jen's family in this film, is the real family that the "The Graduate" was based on, and that the real Benjamin might be her real Dad. It has a pleasing possibility of intricate plotting and classic movie references. Also it is directed by Rob Reiner and scripted by the person who wrote Ocean's Eleven so it should be great fun.

There are a few things everyone knows about the Graduate - like the fact that Robert Redford was originally cast as Benjamin but turned the part down because he thought he was too old, only to be replaced by Dustin Hoffman who was in fact even older. To add to the irony, Anne Bancroft who was supposed to be old enough to be Hoffman's mother was actually only a few years older than him.

Here's something I bet you wont have realised though, Jennifer Aniston was exactly the same age when she made this film as Anne Bancroft was when she made The Graduate! For the record if you look it up Kevin Costner was 12 when The Graduate was released.

Background established sadly the film isn't very good. At the start there is something very father of the bride about the scene when Jen arrives back at the family home. In fact it takes a while to really go anywhere and on the whole it doesn't amount to much.

There is a developing theme with all these Project Jen films (a never ending parade of rom-coms). If there is anything funny happening, it happens around Jen, she is rarely even called on to try and be funny. I think its possible she is not very good at comedy!

Jen wears a short nightie in dark blue, very nice. In fact the costume designer did a pretty good job throughout the film. She deserves a name check and an IMDB link. Kym Barrett. Also at one point in the film someone suggests that Jen has nice hair and she should be a hair model - I've seen a number of her films now and I'm tempted to agree.

If you have two hours, watch the Graduate instead

Rating: 2 Green Dresses