Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor's secret Spanish holiday

Mid-Day.Com | July 11, 2013 12:14 IST (Mumbai)

Ranbir and Katrina were spotted dining at a hotel in Spain. 

 

While rumour mills have been working overtime speculating Katrina Kaif's whereabouts during the run up to her birthday on July 16, we received some gossip about the actress having already zipped away from all the prying eyes around her.

Sources say that far away from the shutterbugs, Katrina had been holidaying in Spain with her alleged beau Ranbir Kapoor. The couple was apparently spotted dining at the Hotel Ushuaia on Ibiza beach. After allegedly being spotted partying in Ibiza on Sunday (July 7, 2013) and on Tuesday (July 9, 2013), the couple was again spotted and this time cosying up in a restaurant in Dubai.

Incidentally, while Katrina was recently spotted checking into the Mumbai International Airport, her spokesperson said that she was on her way to attend the IIFA awards ceremony in Macau. While her spokesperson still maintains that the actress is back in the city after the awards, our source from Spain tells us a different story.

The source says, "Ranbir and Kat were having lunch at the Ibiza restaurant when they were requested for photographs. But the couple politely refused."

Another source says, "Strangely, Katrina was photographed leaving the city but she has not returned. Ayan Mukherji is covering Istanbul, Barcelona and a few cities in the US. While Ranbir has already joined him there, Kat flew out on Wednesday (July 10, 2013) night. Looks like she has managed to hoodwink the photographers on the way out to her romantic break."

A source from Katrina's Bandra apartment block also confirmed that the actress was not in the country. Apparently, Ranbir and Katrina along with Ayan were also seen partying at a DJ Hard Well Aviici event in Spain on Sunday (July 7, 2013).

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Salman Khan and the return of Prem

Written by Purnima Ranawat | June 18, 2013 12:34 IST (New Delhi) 

Salman Khan will be seen again in a Sooraj Barjatya film, which will go on floors by next year.

Here is good news for all Salman Khan's fans, who have been waiting to see him in a romantic role.

Salman Khan, who started his career as the lovelorn Prem in Sooraj R Barjatya's film Maine Pyaar Kiya in 1989, will be seen again in Sooraj Barjatya's next love story, one that comes after a 14-year gap. The film is slated for a 2014 release.

Sooraj made his directorial debut with Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), starring Salman and Bhagyashree, which was a huge box office hit. He teamed up with Salman again for Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! (1994), one of the biggest all-time blockbusters, and Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999) which also became a hit. In each film, Salman was named Prem.

But off-late, Salman has re-invented himself as an action hero with a side-interest in romance. From Radhe in 2009's Wanted to Chulbul Pandey in 2012's Dabangg 2, Salman's biceps have taken centre-stage.

But with Salman and Sooraj Barjatya teaming again, fans can look forward to the return of Prem.

Salman Khan will also be seen in brother Sohail Khan's film Mental, which features newcomer Daisy Shah and Bigg Boss fame actress Sana Khan.

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Salman Khan yet to find female lead for Sooraj Barjatya's next film

 Press Trust of India | July 09, 2013 16:07 IST (Mumbai)

 Salman Khan's film with Sooraj Barjatya will go on floors by next year

A list of options for the role of his leading actress cropped up since a Salman Khan-Sooraj Barjatya film was announced, but no one has been finalized yet.

There was a buzz that Salman will be seen romancing either Parineeti Chopra or Ileana D'Cruz, in the upcoming venture, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

"We have not finalised any leading lady yet opposite Salman. We might go with known faces (established actress) or a fresh face but nothing is confirmed yet. Only Salman is on board," said a source close to the project.

Rumours were also rife that the film will bring Salman and Katrina back on screen again. Even Anushka Sharma's name had come up.

The yet to be titled film would mark the reunion of Salman and Barjatya after a gap of almost 14 years. The duo had last worked in 1999 family drama titled Hum Saath Saath Hain.

The film will be a family drama with only one hero and heroine, the source further informed.

The makers will start shooting the film from June next year with the shooting taking place in Mumbai, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Priyanka Chopra shoots for Gunday cabaret song

 Indo-Asian News Service | July 07, 2013 15:58 IST (Mumbai)

Priyanka is currently busy shooting a dance sequence for her film

Actress Priyanka Chopra, who is playing the female lead in period drama Gunday, is currently shooting for a cabaret dance sequence for the action-drama-cum-romance. The film's director Ali Abbas Zafar says he is using an original song.

Set between 1971 to 1988 in Kolkata, the film deals with black marketing mafia men Bikram (Ranveer Singh) and Bala (Arjun Kapoor).

"We started shooting for the particular cabaret song three days ago in Mumbai and there are three more days to do. It's a fresh cabaret song and not a remix of any old song. It's a very big sort of cabaret song in the film," Zafar, who earlier wielded megaphone for Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, told IANS on Sunday.

Did you ask Priyanka to take reference from any legendary Bollywood actress for the song?

"Not really. Actually, I have been doing my research for quite some time on Kolkata and I discovered Kolkata was high on glamour quotient since 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. In that way, Kolkata is quite western," said Zafar.

The director has created a coal mine and informed that the last 30 days of shoot is left.

"We have created a coal mine set and we are left to do a huge action sequence between Irrfan, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. Obviously, we can't shoot in real coal mine so we had to create the set for the period film," said Zafar.

Hrithik Roshan's brain surgery successful, says doctor

Written by Chandni Prashar | July 08, 2013 13:12 IST (Mumbai)

Hrithik had injured himself while performing a stunt scene a couple of months ago

Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan successfully underwent surgery in Mumbai on Sunday to remove an old blood clot on the brain surface. He is in post operative care right now and has been advised three weeks of rest.

Dr VK Mishra, who was attending to the actor, confirmed that the operation had been successful. "The operation (brain surgery) has been successful. He is fully conscious," he said. He also revealed that the actor had injured himself while performing a stunt scene a couple of months ago but did not take it seriously.

Hrithik, who was originally supposed to leave for Prague on Sunday for a schedule of his film Bang Bang, had been complaining of persistent nagging headaches. His family decided to get an MRI done. The test confirmed a clot behind his lobe. After consultations with doctors, an Indian and a neurosurgeon from abroad operated on him at the Mumbai's Hinduja Hospital. An hole was drilled in his skull and the blood sucked out under local anesthesia.

Apparently the condition is quite common among athletes and boxers.

The 39-year-old was wheeled out of the operation theatre around 3 pm. His parents and wife Sussanne were present throughout the 50-minute neuro-surgery to correct the chronic subdural hematoma condition.

Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan said on Sunday: "The surgery is over and Hrithik is fine. He should be out of the hospital in the next 48 hours."

Hrithik is out of danger and on way to complete recovery, he said.

Before the surgery, Rakesh Roshan told IANS: "It's a clot between the brain and the skull. So basically it's a clot in the brain. He will undergo the surgery around 2 pm or 2.30 pm. In medical terms, it's called chronic subdural hematoma. Me and my entire family is with him."

Hrithik, who has starred in films like Krrish and Agneepath, also informed everyone about the surgery through his post on Facebook.

On June 27, Hrithik unveiled the first look of his superhero film Krrish 3 on Facebook. The much anticipated sci-fi thriller is set to hit the screens on November 4, a day after Diwali this year.

Apart from that, Hrithik is also associated with Dharma Productions Shuddhi, scheduled to go on floors end-2013, and Fox Star Studios' Bang Bang. "Fox Star Studios joins millions of superstar Hrithik Roshan's fans and well-wishers across the world in wishing him a speedy recovery. Hrithik's health and well-being is the top priority at this moment. As a consequence, the shoot of the upcoming third schedule of Siddharth Anand's Bang Bang has been moved forward. We shall update the dates of the new schedule at an opportune time," said a statement from the banner.

This is not the first time, Hrithik had a surgery. A couple of years ago, he went in for a knee surgery in the US.

(With IANS inputs)

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Lootera movie review

(Drama, Romance)
Saibal Chatterjee
Thursday, July 04, 2013

 

 

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Ranveer Singh

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

SPOILERS ALERT

An epic canvas, a quiet love story, a cops-and-robbers drama and an impressively sophisticated storytelling style: Lootera has all this and much more.

Vikramaditya Motwane, who earned his spurs with the critically acclaimed Udaan in 2010, works here with a completely different cinematic easel.


What he has carved out of the raw material at his disposal can only bolster his reputation as a filmmaker who knows exactly how not to be run of the mill.


He fills the Lootera frame with fable, history, art, literature, poetry, occasional nods to classic Hindi cinema and music, and loads of passion, beauty and magic.

In short, Lootera is a Bollywood miracle – a rare Mumbai film that is mounted on a lavish scale and yet dares not to play by the established norms of the marketplace.

Motwane makes absolutely no concessions to commercial considerations, sticks to his guns all the way, and ends up with an exquisitely crafted, slow-burning, awe-inspiring film.

Even the title is informed with a cocky air of defiance. Lootera raises visions of another Rowdy Rathore kind of film, and then proceeds to completely pull down all preconceived notions that the name might trigger.

Falling leaves of an autumnal tree and a girl who is assailed by thoughts of dying – the two essential components of the O Henry short story (The Last Leaf) that provides the basis of the narrative – are the principal elements in Lootera.

But Motwane adds many more layers to the tale by weaving, among other things, a Baba Nagarjun poem about the end of a bout of famine in a village into his film. It enhances the already strong elegiac undertone.

Lootera celebrates the past, mourns the demise of love, life and things of joy and beauty, but in the end affirms the primacy of the human spirit and the power of art to tide over the blows of fate.

The film is a period drama that unfolds over two years, 1953 and 1954, a time of great upheaval for the Bengal aristocracy.

Zamindari is abolished and the world of the Zamindar of Manikpur (Barun Chanda) is on the verge of collapse.

It is pushed over the edge by a rakish intruder, Varun (Ranveer Singh), who rides into this wobbly setting, claiming to be an archaeologist who has been entrusted with the task of excavating the place in quest of an ancient civilisation.

He not only quickly earns the ageing aristocrat’s confidence but also sweeps the man’s beloved daughter, Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha), off her feet.

Love, tremulous at first and then full-blown and physical, blossoms as furtive glances, frequent dinners, car rides and informal painting classes allow the two to explore each other’s feelings.

Her father dotes on the ailing Pakhi, who often runs out of breath and needs urgent medical attention. As she recuperates, the zamindar narrates to her the legend of a brave and invincible Bhil monarch whose life resided in the breast of a parrot.

Lootera eschews overt melodrama and settles for an approach that embraces as much the complexities of human nature as the simplicity of myth.

I cannot draw leaves, the Shantiniketan-trained girl tells the charmer, and requests him to teach her. It turns out that he isn’t much of a tutor although he believes that he has it in him to produce one last masterpiece.

When Varun’s job is done and it is time to part, the distraught Pakhi pleads with him not to leave. The latter responds with a matter-of-fact: Behtar hoga aap jaaiye (You better leave).

Pakhi snaps, “Behtar hoga mar jaaiye (Better die), and walks away. Death and desire are two sides of the same coin in Lootera, and Motwane builds up an atmosphere of love and longing through touches that leave much unsaid, adding to the allure of the film.

His characters – the film has only a handful – deliver their lines almost in whispers. The outstanding sound design, which, like everything else in the film, is delivered unobtrusively, helps the ambience emerge.

The musical score (Amit Trivedi) and the lyrics (Amitabh Bhattacharya) are in perfect consonance with the universe that Lootera conjures up.

Lootera uses silence and stillness wonderfully well. In such moments of repose, one can hear footsteps on a hilly pathway or a piece of paper being crumpled, and that is such a rarity in a Hindi film.

The two halves of Lootera are distinct chapters: the gold, russet and green of the Bengal landscape gives way to the pale, snowy, hilly heights of north India. Each is filmed in muted hues by cinematographer Mahendra J Shetty, whose contribution to the overall impact of the work is enormous.

Every actor in Lootera, irrespective of the footage he or she gets, is an unmistakable presence.

Both Ranveer and Sonakshi are first-rate although there are passages in the film when one wonders whether a pair of more mature actors might have raised the bar just a little.

But there can be no denying that Sonakshi, playing a well defined character for the first time in her career, does rise to the challenge.

Barun Chanda makes a believable zamindar. Vikrant Massey, cast as the hero’s witty accomplice who adores Dev Anand, is clearly cut out for greater things as a big screen actor.

Adil Husain injects characteristic gravitas into the character of the Dalhousie investigator on a fugitive’s trail.

Arif Zakaria, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Shirin Guha make brief appearances but lasting impressions.

Now the big question: will a film like Lootera work at the box office? The question is irrelevant. It wouldn’t matter, at least from the critical point of view, even if it were to fail to get its point across to an audience weaned on Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore, Son of Sardar and suchlike. It would still be a magnificent film.

Ghanchakkar movie review

(Comedy/ Crime)
Saibal Chatterjee
Thursday, June 27, 2013

 

Cast:Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi, Rajesh Sharma, Namit Das
Director: Raj Kumar Gupta 

SPOILERS ALERT

The odd-couple pairing of Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan apart, this madcap whirligig has little on offer by way of innate allure.

The fundamental concept of Ghanchakkar is intriguing all right, but it simply isn’t sturdy enough to bear the weight of an entire two hour-plus film.

It presses a 1980s plot device into the service of what is meant to be a new age comic thriller and inevitably comes a cropper.

Three guys pull off a bank heist, one of the robbers suffers a memory loss, and the booty goes missing.

The pace of this black comedy is so somnolent that all the characters, and not just the ‘lazy lad’ of the film’s quirky opening song, appear to be sleepwalking through it all.

What makes the film worse is that none of the handful of players is a rounded figure that the audience can relate to.

This film about a man’s lost yaadasht and the complications that it sparks off seems destined to be quickly forgotten.

Ghanchakkar, if it is remembered at all, will go down as an ill-advised change of pace for Raj Kumar Gupta, the maker of the memorable Aamir and No One Killed Jessica.

At the heart of Ghanchakkar are a couch potato (Emraan Hashmi) who is an all but retired cat burglar and his garrulous wife (Vidya Balan) who has a fetish for strappy nightwear.

The loquacious lady’s antics in the bedroom are only mildly diverting and the listless lumbering of the spaced-out man that she shares the apartment with does not help matters.

The hubby, after much prodding, decides to accept the tempting offer of one final job from a duo of small-time goons.

One is an avuncular and glib conspirator (Rajesh Sharma) and a jaunty young accomplice (Namit Das) given to brandishing his revolver at the slightest provocation.

The trio plots the bank robbery in a midnight meeting in a compartment of a local train.

At the appointed hour, the three men, wearing Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Utpal Dutt masks, raid and loot the bank. The safecracker is given the responsibility of hiding the stash of cash until the heat is off.

Three months and an unspecified accident later, the male protagonist, struck by amnesia, has no remembrance of where he has kept the money.

The rigmarole that ensues revolves around the hero’s struggle to recall exactly what he did that night and his two angry accomplice’s desperate attempts to get their share of the plunder.

Despite its surprise ending, Ghanchakkar fails to engage. It is overstretched, flimsy and ineffectual. The screenplay (credited to Parveez Shaikh and director Raj Kumar Gupta) stutters along without much purpose.

The characters are half-baked and aren’t given any context at all. Especially feckless is the figure of the hausfrau who reads Vogue and Cosmo for fashion inspiration and then goes and dons the most outlandish of outfits.

Neither the husband nor the audience is inveigled. The lady is Punjabi, so she is cheerfully robust and adds a shrill haayn to the end of every sentence to convey a wide range of emotions, from bewilderment to indignation.

And, needless to say, her ‘minute’ is ‘mint’, her bharosa is bhrosa, and her galat is galt. In the ultimate analysis, she is hardly worth the salt that she wastes on her inept cooking.

The two criminals who drag the couple into trouble are no better. The screenplay provides no insight into where they have come from and what they are up to. Not that anybody cares.

As for the hero, he has a valid excuse for making a fool of himself. He is after all out of his mind – and depth.

Ghanchakkar tries very, very hard to raise a few laughs. You might hear a chuckle here and a giggle there, but the comic situations are far too laboured to leave a lasting impression.

In a film about a man who has lost his memory, an allusion to Ghajini is inevitable.

At the dinner table, where much of the film plays out, one guy declares that it is a Salman Khan film, another believes that it featured Shahrukh Khan, while a third passes it off as a Saif Ali Khan starrer. Would Aamir be amused?

In another scene, the hero orders red wine on the phone. The voice at the other end of the line wants to know where the bottle has to be delivered. The poor bloke is stumped.

He steps out of the door to check the number of his flat, then goes all the way down to the main gate to read the name of the housing society, and finally walks a little further to ascertain what the street is called. Funny? Hardly.

Ghanchakkar is strictly for those that are easy to tickle and shock. One character, the one with the gun, sums it up best: “I don’t know what is going on and who is taking whom for a ride.” Heed the warning!

Imran Khan: Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai Dobaara has brilliant one-liners

 

Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai Dobaara is a sequel to 2010 hit film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai

 

 Imran Khan says his upcoming film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara has very catchy one-liners which the writer had even highlighted for the actors in the script.

"There are brilliant one-liners in this film. When I was reading the script, I was surprised by them," the 30-year-old said while promoting the film at a radio station.

"Rajat Arora, our writer, wrote the one-liners in the script in caps so that everyone who is reading the script knows this is an important dialogue where you have to perform, where the shot will be low angle trolley shot, those are the lines," he added. Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara is a period gangster drama and also stars Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. It is a sequel to 2010 hit Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai.

The film carries forward Ajay Devgn's famous dialogue from the first film Dua Mein Yaad Rakhna and Imran got to mouth it this time.

"We have maintained Dua Mein Yaad Rakhna, that is my line. Then there are more like Aslam ko samajhne ke liye dimaag nahin dil lagta hai, this is my favourite. Then there is Khuda itni zehmat kar, bande par thodi rehmat kar. Aslam has 2-3 pet lines," Imran said.

It hits theatres Aug 15.

Akshay Kumar hopes for Rs 100 cr hat-trick with Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara

Press Trust of India | July 04, 2013 10:39 IST (Mumbai)

Akshay Kumar is playing a bad guy in Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara

 

Akshay Kumar, who already has two films in the Rs 100 crore bracket, hopes his upcoming film Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara will repeat the feat. Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara, directed by Milan Luthria, is releasing on August 15.

"I am happy that I am getting good offers, opportunity to work with good directors. I feel lucky, I thank god. I hope this film achieves 100 crore," Akshay said at a promotional event of the film here.

He plays the bad guy in the film. "I enjoyed playing the bad guy, it was fun. Long back I had played bad guy in Ajnabee. I would love to play bad guy again... it gives a high," he said.

Two of Akshay's films -- Rowdy Rathore and Houseful 2 -- were in the Rs 100 crore bracket.

Deepika Padukone: Shah Rukh Khan is very caring

  Indo-Asian News Service | July 04, 2013 10:03 IST (Mumbai)

SRK and Deepika in a still from Chennai Express

 

The music launch of Shah Rukh Khan's Chennai Express was indeed a memorable one. Going with the theme of the film, mediapersons were given mund and lungi, the traditional attire of South Indians.

"It was quite an experience wearing a lungi and it was helpful because we were shooting in a hot place," Shah Rukh Khan told reporters.

The music of the film is given by Vishal and Shekhar.

Deepika Padukone, who worked with with Shah Rukh after her debut film Om Shanti Om, says he is still very protective about her.

She said: "He is still the same. He is still very protective and caring about me."

The music launch also had performances by dancers and Shah Rukh, who has injured his shoulder, grooved with them.

Directed by Rohit Shetty, Chennai Express, is slated for an August 8 release.

Man of Steel review

(Action)

Associated Press
Thursday, June 13, 2013

               Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon  

                        Director: Zack Snyder 

SPOILERS AHEAD

It has been a black eye to Hollywood that throughout this, the unending and increasingly repetitive age of the superhero blockbuster, the comics' most iconic son has eluded its grasp like a bird or, if you will, a plane.

New hopes of box-office riches and franchise serials rests on Zac Snyder's 3-D Man of Steel, the latest attempt to put Superman back into flight. But Snyder's joyless film, laden as if composed of the stuff of its hero's metallic nickname, has nothing soaring about it.

Flying men in capes is grave business in Snyder's solemn Superman. Man of Steel, an origin tale of the DC Comics hero, goes more than two hours before the slightest joke or smirk.

This is not your Superman of red tights, phone booth changes, or fortresses of solitude, but one of Christ imagery, Krypton politics and spaceships. Who would want to have fun at the movies anyway, when you could instead be taught a lesson about identity from a guy who can shoot laser beams out of his eyes?

Man of Steel opens with the pains of childbirth, as Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) and husband Jor-El (Russell Crowe) see the birth of Kal-El, the first naturally born child in years on Krypton. The planet — a giant bronze ball of pewter, as far as I can tell — is in apocalyptic tumult (the disaster film has gone intergalactic), and General Zod (Michael Shannon) attempts to take over power, fighting in bulky costumes with Jor-El.

His coup is thwarted (though not before killing Jor-El, who continues on in the film in an Obi-Wan-like presence), and he and his followers are locked away, frozen until Krypton's implosion frees them. Baby Kal-El has been rocketed away with Krypton's precious Codex, an energy-radiating skull.

Kal-El rockets to Earth, setting up not a Midwest reprieve to the lengthy Krypton fallout, but a flash-forward to more explosions. Our next glimpse of Kal-El is as a young adult Clark Kent (the beefy Brit Henry Cavill) aboard a fishing vessel on stormy seas, where he — shirtless and aflame — saves the crew of a burning oil rig.

At this point, your Codex may be spinning. Working from a script by Blade scribe David S Goyer and a story by Goyer and Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, Snyder has clearly sought to avoid some of the expected plotlines and rhythms of the familiar Superman tale. There's a constant urge to push the story to greater scale — a desperate propulsion that will surely excite some fans but tire others.

The film hops back and forth from Clark's grown-up life and his Smallville, Kansas, upbringing with Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane). Costner, back among the corn stalks, makes the strongest impression of the cast as a severe father urging Kent to hide his gifts.

We're meanwhile introduced to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lois Lane (Amy Adams), fresh off a stint embedded with the military for the Daily Planet. Adams, as she usually does, helps animate the film, as she plunges into a bulldog investigating of Clark and spars with her editor (Laurence Fishburne).

Snyder brings to the film a sure hand for overly dramatic compositions that take after comic strip panels. He has a clearly sincere reverence for the source material (originally created in 1938 by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster). He's a filmmaker who, even with his last film, the abysmal "Sucker Punch," seems to precisely make the movie he intended.

Eager fans will likely thrall to the film's many overlong action set pieces, as Superman battles with Zod and his minions. There's little creativity to the fight sequences, though, which plow across countless building facades.

But Snyder doesn't have the material or the inclination to make Man of Steel as thought-provoking as Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Superman wrestles with his allegiance to humans or his home planet, but the quandaries of a superpowered man betwixt worlds doesn't have any real resonance. The gravity that cloaks "Man of Steel" is merely an en vogue costume.

While Snyder has succeeded in turning out a Superman that isn't silly (not a small feat) and will likely lay enough of a bedrock for further sequels, it's a missed opportunity — particularly with a bright cast of Shannon, Adams and Lane — for a more fun-loving spirit.

Cavill's performance is less memorable for his introspective brooding than for his six-pack (a fetish for Snyder, the director of 300). He's handsome and capable, but one can't help missing Christopher Reeve's twinkle. At least he smiled.

The awkward acrobatics to modernize Man of Steel are most evident with its explanation of Superman's shield. The "S'' doesn't stand for Superman, but is a Krypton glyph (an element first introduced in the original 1978 film) now defined as representing "hope." But if "S'' doesn't stand for "Superman," Man of Steel is the one with the identity issues.

Man of Steel, a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, and for some language. Running time: 144 minutes.