There’s no denying that Richard Donner set the bar for the “Superman” franchise with his 1978 film. The icy landscapes of Planet Krypton, John Williams’ vigorous musical score, Christopher Reeve’s iconic performance, every aspect of Donner’s movie remains definitive. Since then, most interpretations of Superman have either drawn inspiration from or paid homage to the original classic. One has to give director Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan credit for taking “Man of Steel” in the complete opposite direction. Where Donner’s “Superman” was light, funny, and colorful, “Man of Steel” is dark, serious, and brooding. The film presents a vision of Superman that’s new and bold with a satisfying payoff.

Editor’s Note: Phoenix police remind all residents to leave nothing in your car when it is parked outside. If something must be left in the car make sure it is in the trunk or out of sight. Never leave your car doors unlocked even while leaving the car momentarily. Police have seen a string of these quick crimes of opportunity and say they are preventable.

On May 22, my neighbor was on a ladder washing the upper-story windows of his Ahwatukee house. His wife was holding the ladder at street-level, when he came crashing down. He fell 8 feet onto his head. The ladder came down onto his wife’s arm.

Checked in with the Mountain Pointe boys basketball team today as new coach Hosea Graham tries to put his identity on the program before the Pride plays at Grand Canyon this weekend.

All though Ian Kennedy took a very dangerous route to get it accomplished, it was pretty cool seeing some of baseball tough guys square off on Tuesday night.

When it comes to fitness, some people have their own agendas on why they want to get off the coach and start shedding their unwanted body mass.

Whether you had parents that were distant or parents that were overbearing, we all likely dreamed about running away from home while growing up. These unrealistic fantasies likely involved hitting the road with one or two good friends and building a safe haven somewhere in the wildness. Naturally, we all quickly woke up from this daydream, realizing that we’d never make it on our own. “The Kings of Summer” exists in an offbeat world fueled by our youthful daydreams. The end product is funny and quirky, but also wise and nostalgic with something meaningful to say about coming of age.

Forget the tie. Think bespoke booze for Father’s Day, specifically a beverage tailor-made to suit the hobbies father knows best.

With temperatures on the rise, it’s important to stay hydrated and replenish your electrolytes. Whether you exercise intensely or your child participates in an outdoor sport or you’re a construction worker with a physically demanding job, you’re at risk of dehydration and loss of electrolytes.

A 30-year-old man committed suicide on an Ahwatukee Foothills street Monday night, police said.

There’s a popular television situation comedy that has spent the last nine years covering a man telling his children about his search for their mother some 20 years earlier. It’s a winding tale, of course, that covers false starts, unlikely coincidences, and (because it’s the 21st century) sexual misadventures.

On April 15, two pressure cooker-fashioned bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The attack left the city and entire country shaken.

Most of the ads for “After Earth” have neglected to mention that M. Night Shyamalan co-wrote and directed the film. Movie studios finally seem to be realizing that having Shyamalan’s name plastered above the title will no longer sell tickets. If anything, it will have audiences fleeing from the theater in revulsion. Whenever it looks like Shyamalan can’t embarrass himself any further, he always comes out with a new film that’s even more atrocious than the last. At least with his previous debacle, “The Last Airbender,” Shyamalan hit ground zero. There’s no way he could possibly make a film even more poorly written, effortlessly acted, and bleakly directed, right?


• On May 19 at 8 a.m. police took a report of a stolen license plate near the 4400 block of East Agave. Between 6 p.m. May 18 and 6 a.m. May 19 a license plate was stolen from 2010 Toyota Corolla.

• On May 19 at 12:46 p.m. police took a report of a natural death near the 3200 block of East Chandler Boulevard. Officers received a call from an out-of-town relative who said they hadn’t heard from their relative living in Ahwatukee. Officers made entry into the apartment and found the 55-year-old resident deceased. All indications are it was a natural death.

• On May 19 at 12:40 a.m. near the 4700 block of East Warner Road police recovered a vehicle taken from another jurisdiction. A 1994 Honda Accord was recovered in parking lot.

• On May 19 at 4 a.m. police took a report of an aggravated assault near the 1400 block of East Chandler Boulevard. A juvenile male had an BB-gun pistol and pointed it at other juveniles who thought it was a real gun. Police were called and he was arrested.

• On May 19 at approximately 4 a.m. police responded an armed robbery near the 4400 block of East Ray Road. Unknown suspects pointed a hand gun at a victim and demanded money. The robber received an unknown amount of cash and fled on foot.

• On May 20 at 9:10 p.m. police took a report of an aggravated assault near the 15400 block of South 24th Street. The victim claimed someone had attempted to run over them on sidewalk while they were walking on East Mountain Sky Boulevard. The victim and suspect knew each other.

7. On May 21 at 3:20 a.m. police took a report of a domestic violence incident near the 12800 block of South 46th Street. The suspect, who was known but fled prior to police arrival, broke vehicle windows and committed assault by punching their brother.

• On May 22 at 6 a.m. police arrested a man near the 11000 block of South 51st Street. An adult male was arrested for domestic violence criminal damage and outstanding warrants.


There are several sets of eyes on a baseball game and what they see can be just as varying as the batting stances in a nine-man lineup.


Most of the ads for “After Earth” have neglected to mention that M. Night Shyamalan co-wrote and directed the film. Movie studios finally seem to be realizing that having Shyamalan’s name plastered above the title will no longer sell tickets.

Humanity's home planet hardly merits the name-check in "After Earth," M. Night Shyamalan's sci-fi survival tale whose shipwreck action could (with the exception of a scene where our hero scrawls a crude map over Lascaux-like cave paintings) take place on any old life-supporting globe in the cosmos. The disappointingly generic film, which strands a father and son (Will and Jaden Smith) on Earth a thousand years after a planet-wide evacuation, will leave genre audiences pining for the more Terra-centric conceits of "Oblivion," not to mention countless other future-set films that find novelty in making familiar surroundings threatening. Will Smith's presence, not just as co-star but as originator of the story, seems likely to carry box office receipts beyond the benchmark of Shyamalan's previous picture, the wretched "The Last Airbender," but those hoping for a franchise should navigate elsewhere.

She: "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane."

Our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution say the United States of America is a sovereign nation. Well, the UN and our progressive pols have other ideas.

After the high-profile shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010, Scott Rollefstad felt he had to do something to help keep other agents safe.

There have been highs and lows from the 2012-2013 athletic year.