A fight over the death penalty has been brewing ever since Illinois decided to stop them.  Now, with the debate over whether or not those condemned to death are in exreme pain has caused another furor.  The American Society of Anesthesiologists has called on its members to refuse participation in executions, even if they are ordered to do so by a court.  I’m sure this will lead to some interesting court cases in which people are put on trial for not participating in executions.

So, I took in Superman Returns and I have to say I found it mostly mediocre.  First the good:  the effects are fantastic, but for a movie costing more than $250 million I would expect them to be:  Kevin Spacey is fantastic as Lex Luthor and wholly different from Gene Hackman, who I never liked in the role; and Brandon Routh did a good job in the title role.  Granted, Routh is not an acting dynamo, but he carried off the role with aplomb and was a worthy successor to Christopher Reeve.  Now the bad:  Kate Bosworth was wrong, wrong, wrong for the part of Lois Lane (too young for the role); the plot was thin at best; it was unnecessarily long (suffering from Peter Jacksonitas); and since I was never a fan of how Richard Donner envisioned Kyrpton, Kryptonians, and the Fortress of Solitide I wasn’t thrilled see Singer use that same style.  Is it worth seeing at the theatre? Yes, especially if you’re a Superman fan like me.  Is it worth seeing twice? No, just wait for the DVD.

Of course, if you’ve seen any of the articles about the film you’ve come across the bullshit about the film saying "truth, justice, and all that stuff" instead of "Truth, Justice, and the American Way."  Why does this matter? So what if he doesn’t say “the American way”?
When did Superman become only an American ideal? Why is it in the 21st
century Superman must only fight for Truth, Justice, and the American
Way? Why can’t he fight for Truth and Justice for all people in the
world? This is such a silly and childish discussion. Granted, the
producers could have bypassed all this crap by just not saying it at
all, but now it’s too late and the right wing is screaming about a
liberal Hollywood plot.  Whatever.