I'd agree, that was odd in MAN OF STEEL (2013) that Superman could do so much, but he couldn't save his father from a simple tornado. I hat it in movies, TV and comics when they do that cheap melodramatic "Daaaaaaaaaaaaad!" thing.
As I said before, though, the 1930-ish retro-future technology for Krypton was really cool, though, and that makes me love that movie, even though the story wasn't that great. I also love Russell Crowe in the Jor-el role. If the rest of the movie was up to the same par as the first 30 minutes, it would have been a four-star movie.
If I remember correctly it wasn't that he couldn't save Pa Kent but chose not to. It was set up as being a greater good type thing. Saving his dad would have exposed him. Earlier in the movie his dad chews him out for saving the school bus full of kids. The idea was that it was more important to keep Clark's powers a secret than saving somebody. But the real Superman wouldn't have sacrificed his own dad like that.
