Superman Returns (2006)
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Hosts Mat Bradley-Tschirgi and William Thrasher discuss Superman Returns to finish off their look at the first batch of Superman flicks. Director Bryan Singer was so gung-ho to do a Superman movie that he jumped ship from X-Men: The Last Stand to do it. Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has another scheme involving land acquisition, but Superman (Brandon Routh) has been gone from Earth for several years. Can Kal-El get his groove back?

In many ways a love letter to the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, Superman Returns is an earnest return to form with a plot that's all set-up and little action. When the best scene involves Superman rescuing a space shuttle only an hour into the movie, you know you're in trouble. It's not for lack of trying, either. Kevin Spacey has more fun with the Lex Luthor role than Gene Hackman ever did. Bryan Singer shoots the movie with such a reverence for the character than it leeches any potential conflict right out of the story.

Mat watches "The Apes of Wrath" episode of the shortlived BBC series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Created by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, it's a surreal series that's a restrospective on a 1980s BBC horror soap opera that never existed in the first place. Cheap production values are the name of the game. 

Thrasher gave Scanners a rewatch and found it to have a solid Peter Weller performance. 

Listen to this episode while breaking a framed photograph of a former lover with another for maximum enjoyment.

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