Petronas Towers

Big-boy lobbying efforts certainly aren’t merely reserved for the halls and haunts of D.C. A new report out today from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission outlined issues that lobbying firms spent the most billable hours working on in LA during the first quarter of 2013. Among them was NBCUniversal’s “Evolution Plan,” the proposed $1.6B upgrade of its TV production facilities, office space and infrastructure on the Universal lot and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area at its Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. The report says NBCUniversal paid more than $330,000 to a pair of lobbying outfits to win hearts and votes for its mammoth undertaking. Another big buyer of lobbying services at City Hall was CBS Outdoor, the CBS Corp-owned billboard giant that spent more than $205,000 to back its interests in outdoor advertising legislation, including the local hot-button issue of digital billboards. And LA Live owner AEG paid $130,000-plus for its quarter worth of lobbying efforts. But according to the report, those companies’ expenditures were far less than the nearly half-million bucks that developer Millennium Partners and Millennium Partners LA paid to promote its planned 4 1/2 -acre skyscraper project, which would place 500 housing units and 200 upscale hotel rooms in a pair of towers next to the Capitol Records building in Hollywood.

Is Superman really that super? Is Man of Steel, which we've been talking about all week long as part of OK! Movie Mania, worth seeing for reasons other than hottie Henry Cavill? Read on for our OK! or OMG?! review to find out what you should know about the film aside from, you know, hottie Henry Cavill. Photos: The 9 Hottest Movie Superheroes in Uniform We'll start off on a semi-negative note (but swear it gets better)—the first 20 minutes or so of the movie aren't the greatest. Well, they're great if you're into sci-fi and non-human creatures and extraterrestrial life, but if not, you'll probably find the opening sequence pretty boring. But we swear, the film gets better from there once we're introduced to Clark Kent's Earth version, not his Krypton version, Kal-El... Here's the first piece of good news—even if you haven't read the comic books or seen the other film versions of Superman, you'll understand this one. The plot is sophisticated but not confusing and it's pretty fast-moving, too. However, there are lots of characters and it could potentially get complicated when the film shifts from present day to Clark's past (as a little boy and as a teen), but you'll totally catch on to everything that's happening. Most likely. Photos: Steal Amy Adams' Man of Steel Premiere Look Like most superhero films, this one is definitely heavy on the action. (See that part above about being fast-moving.) Most of the special effects and fight scenes are pretty impressive and really well-done, but there's one in particular that eerily reminded us of the Twin Towers on 911. Not exactly a memory you want to have when enjoying a fun family film, but we digress. And since it seems like most of the attention with this movie is on Henry, aka Clark Kent, we feel it's our duty to tell you about the other stars in the film. Diane Lane plays Clark's mom, Kevin Costner plays his dad,  Amy Adams plays journalist Lois Lane (fantastically, at that) and Russell Crowe plays Kal-EL's dad in Krypton. Which basically means that Russell and Michael Shannon, who plays Krypton's bad guy, General Zod, get to wear all those cool space getups: Photos: Movie Stills from Man of Steel OK! or OMG?: Is this movie, like AMAZING?! As far as superhero films go, probably. The cast and acting is definitely great, but it's definitely not in like, top 10 best films of the year status. But hello, this guy's in it. Your tickets are being bought as we speak, yes? OK! Exclusive: Teenage Clark Kent Spills on Henry Cavill (And Demi Lovato) Man of Steel is in theaters now and you can check out everything we've done on the movie right here! Are you excited for the film? Has our review made you want to see it more or less? Tweet us @OKMagazine! Photo credit:  Warner Brothers Pictures