Man In Blue Tights
Can be seen <a href="http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/trailer.html">here</a> or before the new Harry Potter movie this weekend, if yr into that sort of thing.
I read somewhere that they are employing old footage of Marlon Brando as Kal-el (or is it Jor-el?).
From the sound of the trailer, its a safe bet they are using at least elements of the familiar score penned by John Williams...
<a href="http://www.i-mockery.com/generalzod/media/zod.jpg"><i>Ed. click through for i-mockery's editorial comment about off-site linking</i></a>
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Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane? To be determined... It would be cool if she's is allowed to show her real eyes, as they are quite different colors. She's worn contacts to hide this in some roles.
Fire bosworth!
(They canned Keitel out of 'Apocalypse Now' in later stages of production, didn't they? I guess firing Bosworth in post production is a little out of control... never mind)
BTW: wasn't Bosworth in that weird/icky John Holmes biopic 'Wonderland'?
(with Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, and Dylan Mcdermott)
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to Coincide w/ the new Superman flick they are <i><b>FINALLY</i></b> releasing Superman II the way the first director had it before he was fired (Richard Donner did 1 and 2 back to back, but ultimately had S2 removed from his control)
This looks to be a pretty cool dvd. From <a href="http://www.digitalbits.com">digitalbits.com</a>:
Yes... looks like it's true. We've known for a while now that Warner Home Video was working on new DVD special editions of the Superman films to tie in with the release of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns later this year (in theaters 6/30), but now we have the first actual confirmation... from Ilya Salkind, who co-produced the first three Superman films! Salkind has acknowledged that he's working with Warner on the new DVDs, and that all of the films in the series are being restored and given deluxe new special edition treatment, a-la last year's Batman Anthology collection. By far the best news in all this, is that it seems that Warner is FINALLY allowing Richard Donner to create his original director's cut of Superman II! How damn cool is that?! As many of you know, Donner directed Superman: The Movie and most of Superman II back to back, but was eventually fired from the sequel. Director Richard Lester was hired to replace him, and it's Lester's cut of the film that we've seen all these years. What's cool is that Lester's theatrical cut of the film is being given special edition treatment as well, so you'll be able to fully explore BOTH versions of Superman II on DVD this summer. Lester MAY even do an interview for the DVD - something he's been reluctant to do over the years given the controversy. This information comes from Salkind via The Superman Homepage fan site, which expects to publish a full interview with Salkind in the coming weeks. Very cool news indeed (though keep in mind that until Warner announces this set, it's all still unofficial). Thanks to Bits reader Matt K. for the heads-up on this.
<img src="http://ffmedia.ign.com/filmforce/image/article/701/701987/superman-returns-20060418005908328.jpg">
Ill never post another photo of General Zod again. I repent.
hit the web this weekend!
looks oh so much better than the Davinci code...
Main title music is exactly the same as John Williams...
this John Ottoman guy is no Jerry Goldsmith / Ennio Morricone. oh well... I'm not watching the movie while listening so I can't really judge how music works with film anyhoo.
Not a glowing review from one of the best.
And while Lane is the best in the biz, he has been wrong before... though I now can't remember when he was.
Lane is clever, articulate and witty, No arguments from me there.
However, after reading Lane from the <i>New Yorker</i> on this specific <i>Superman Returns</i> review, I think I prefer Jay Carr or Wesley Morris from the Glob. or, heck, even the only film critic to win a Pulitzer: Roger Ebert.
Lane seems too interested in making his own snide comments about people with no social life wearing blue pantyhose in the theater rather than straight-up reviewing the film. Its like he's holding his nose and is dismayed he has to be a part of Summer movie dreck. 'Big Dumb Summer' (tm) movies dont have to make a sociological statement - they just have to be fun. We're talking comic books in a cinematic version of the most well known example of comic books.
As far as Lane's wish to see cutting floor footage of Brando from <i>Apocalypse Now</i> in the place of what is in <i>Superman Returns</i>: My not-completely-informed intital impression is that nothing could be as bad as Brando in <i>Apocalypse</i>.
<i>Apocalypse</i> was a film which I highly enjoyed overall, but aside from the problems with everyone being on drugs, filming delays due to hurricanes, problems securing enough helicopters from local governments, cast firings, etc. it also teetered on the brink of disaster in large part because of Brando's unprofessional behavior at the time (showing up late,not knowing any of his lines, asking for exorbiant fees so that he could read in a drunken state to M. Sheen directly out of <i>Time</i> magazine, etc. etc.)
I'd take a phoned-in attempt of a Brando comic book performance where he's not at all incoherent over what he offered in <i>Apocalypse</i> any day of the week.
Lane is certainly entitled to his opinion, but a Big Dumb Summer Movie hardly seems to be the fare that Lane or The New Yorker would normally tackle, right? (I could be wrong about this - just my impression after reading it). <i>Superman</i> isn't and will never be <i> Citizen Kane</i> or anything from Godard or Truffaut.
The other thing that rubbed me the wrong way is how Lane seems to long for Singer's previous work with Spacey in <i> Usual Suspects</i>. It bears repeating that <i>Superman</i> is a comic book film. Its not necessarily low class or unsophisticated to want to make a film that has a simpler more escapist story. Ang Lee did so a few years ago with <i>The Hulk</i> (Lee also got a lot of flak).
I'm still excited that there is a new Superman out there, and this is coming from someone that has a few Criterion DVDS in the collection and caught all the film fagens Lane was dropping.
I just saw my favorite title (so far, at least) for a negative review for this film: <strong>KRAPTONITE</strong>.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that this will not be the case...
No arguements. And maybe my "ouch" for the Lane review link was inaccurate, as now that I reread the review, Lane sorta liked the film. Note he only reviewed one picture this week; the New Yorker normally does two. I guess he thought it wasn't as good as the Spiderman series though. I'd say Lane still gives it 2 stars.
While I go to rottentomatoes to find movies public appeal, I sometimes enjoy hitting only one publication's review, and Denby and Lane are a decent team.
Two things just to stir up some discussion:
1) I think Citizen Kane is boring. Fell asleep the first _two_ times I tried to watch it. Very rare for me. Good early dolly use, I suppose.
2) Apocalypse Now is only memorable because of the audio and cinematography for which it won <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0078788/awards">Oscars</a>. The acting, directing, and story are a complete joke, and it should have never been nominated for those. Not that I give "The Academy" a lot of cred, but the sound is sick. Walter Murch, man...
Me: Nope.
Josh: It's people.
DawnBixtler: I never saw it.
Me: Well, you remember the guy who kills him in the beginning?
My favorite: when camera placement wasn't to his liking, instead of giving up in favor of a different shot, he had the crew drill a hole in the floor so that he could get the camera low enough to get the perspective that he wanted.
there is also an <i>American Experience</i> documentary that ran on PBS (I believe it is included on the CK DVD if yr into that type of thing) that gives you the background on the William Randolph Hearst publishing empire.
When Jackie and I went to Northern California on our honeymoon, we stopped @ San Simeon to see Hearst's estate, the real-life "Xanadu": crazy stuff...
the footage of recent High School dropout Laurence (then Larry) Fishburne on the set was pretty cool.
I believe that DJ SHADOW side project UNKLE lifts an audio soundbite from FF Coppola talking about how the crew was too large, how they had access to way too much money, way too many drugs, and how in the jungle little by little they all went insane.
good stuff.
An upset Charlton Heston yelling is cool, but thats like less than one minute of a 1.5 + hour film.
this is a good one to save for those film clip shows.
-Not Kraptonite - Overall I would say it was very entertaining a solid B / B-
- I really like how it follows the same format as its predecessors 1 and 2. Similar to Star Wars, James Bond, Indiana Jones: you know the routine: title/music sequences etc. Sure, its comic book / cookie cutter, but we're not reinventing the wheel, here folks.
- I also really like the hokiness of the Daily Planet / Jimmy Olsen / Perry White / Clark Kent / Lois Lane @ the office. All that Clark 'gee, shucks' stuff. You know what I mean
- a little too long (must've been 2.5+ hours - a little too much for a comic book IMHO), a little editing would've made the film more effective.
-I'd agree w/ the bandwagon that if you dug the first 2 Superman films, you will enjoy this one.
-Parker Posey and Kevin Spacey were a lot of fun. you forget half way through that there is a new actor playing Superman. Lois = ok, I felt similar to Lois/ Kate Bosworth as I did to Katie Holmes's character in the most recent Christian Bale <i>Batman</i>
-last 1/4 of the film felt disjointed to me: of course there is room for obligatory sequels, but I felt for a film that deals in such moral absolutes as Superman that the ending would be a bit less ambiguous (the very very end wasn't ambigous - but I can't really elaborate on the stuff I find ambigous sans giving away the ending so I will chill)
All: Please post if you have seen and want to opine further...