Superman Live Action Films Marathon

[Spider-Aziz]

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Forget jumping, that's ancient, he can fly all the way up to space without the need for respirators, unless you count the New Earth (1986-2011) version (returned 2016) who cannot survive the vacuum of space for too long.

Bird Watching? No.
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes? I'm not watching any of these these.
It's time to watch SUPERMAN movies. And I mean the live actions ones, theatrical releases, solo flicks. All six of them, to celebrate the soon to come fortieth anniversary of the classic 1978 film.

Do I have the spacial editions or the theatrical releases? I do not know, I know I will be watching and commenting on what I have. Feel free to chime in, even if you do not like nor care about some or all of these films.

And now, it is time to enjoy the celebration.



@Matt You can link your old thread of bashing the classic in this one if you want, and even resurrect the "Me Against that Classic Movie" thread series, cause that stuff is fun.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I always loved that they open the movie with a Golden Age comic, showing us how they replicated the Daily Planet design of old for the movie, and then we listen to the significant and always brilliant intro theme.

Bland looking planet with an epic theme on the cover of it.

Looking at the judgement of the Zod gang now as we know that this and Superman II were originally filmed back to back and were meant to be connected together better than one might think.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Why are the outfits of the council of Krypton lightened? It's so annoying to look at.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Maybe nobody commented on this before, but some key notes are recycled from A New Hope for this movie.

 

[2kt09]

lol, making your own thread for a movie blog Aziz?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The conversation between Jor and Zara in this movie is significantly more realistic than the one in the "grounded" and "mature" "grown up" conversation their counterparts were made to have in Man of Steel, even Zod's antagonistic view toward the house of Jor is more believable here than the hammy and rushed hatred there.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

lol, making your own thread for a movie blog Aziz?

Yes. THIS MOVIE IS SPECIAL.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Kal being educated in that spiky capsule is a nice touch, but I still wonder how did nobody question his survival with the lack of nourishment before being nutritioned by yellow sunlight.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Cool, I reached the scene with that guy who was given prosthetic to resemble the main Superman and had his lines dubbed over by Christopher Reeve himself, and it looks pretty fabulous.

Fun fact: 8 years after this movie that gave us Clark Kent in high school cleaning up football (American padded rugby) John Byrne made an excuse of Clark's powers being dormant and undeveloped before he reached his 18th birthday so we can see him as a star athlete in this very same sport.

No conversation between Lois Lane and her parents in the train about the running man she smiled at, clearly not the special edition. The train scene remains exciting and charming, it aged fabulously.

 

[Mandon Knight]

This is something I do each year. Decreasing standard aside, in the original films, my love for them never lessens, and the original is, for me, still the one to beat in CBM stakes.

My love for Mos, BvS is well known, SR is beautiful to look at and experience but not as a character study of him as such. Justice League ? Yep......

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I love how when Pa Kent talks to young Clark, he doesn't contradict himself in every scene with a 'Yes no, maybe. Can you repeat the question?', he's an old man given a solid thought to the boy he raised, a thought that does not leave the audience befuddled. Something that other movie could have learned from.

The green crystal calling the former last surviving infant of Krypton is still weird, it has always been weird to me, even more that it led him to the North Pole. At least the fortress wasn't something done and forgotten in future scenes and releases, which is another thing that other movie could have got notes from.
The Fortress of Solitude is shown in a second scene in the extended edition at least.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I've always wondered whether he spent so many years in isolation in the North Pole being educated by his father's crystals, or whether he went back and forth for so many years...
I think I will go with the latter.

This is something I do each year. Decreasing standard aside, in the original films, my love for them never lessens, and the original is, for me, still the one to beat in CBM stakes.

You have a good tradition there.

 

[Mandon Knight]

You have a good tradition there.

Thanks , SA, you may like this thread too.....The 1978-1987 Films Appreciation Thread, if you haven't already given it some welly.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Some of the stuff in this movie show that it really is a product of its time, which is fine by me, we could use this kind of history lessons in our lives.
How many people nowadays recognize or even remember what a typewriter looks like? Or realize how difficult the hideout of Lex Luthor would be to pull with all the security, live online streaming cameras, and all the other modern stuff that makes it near impossible to bypass even for a genius of his caliber?

Thanks , SA, you may like this thread too.....The 1978-1987 Films Appreciation Thread, if you haven't already given it some welly.

I'll go there after I'm done with marathoning these four movies, considering I don't choose to watch Superman Returns after Superman II as the alternative sequel.

 

[Mandon Knight]

For me, SR works solely as a stand-alone watch (ironically, given Singer's intention), I loved it upon release (I think more to do with the fact it was the first Superman film since 1987, more than the quality itself) and hold respect for it now, but I can't really love it as it demonstrates key failings in his character that the man himself would never participate in, in the first place. I love the late 30's/early 40's aesthetic of the film (as I love that period of film history) but it just doesn't sit well with me as a whole representation of the character I love. It falls apart for me from the outset, in that, Superman would never 'abandon' Earth or Lois for that length of time to begin with so, everything else really folds from that, in my reading of the film.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The mugger in the alley scene is awesome and hilarious in all the right ways, and it makes me wonder why in the Donner cut of Superman II he couldn't catch that Lois Lane used a blank instead of a real bullet to fire at Clark Kent to make him admit that she is right in her conclusion that he is Superman.

For me, SR works solely as a stand-alone watch (ironically, given Singer's intention), I loved it upon release (I think more to do with the fact it was the first Superman film since 1987, more than the quality itself) and hold respect for it now, but I can't really love it as it demonstrates key failings in his character that the man himself would never participate in, in the first place. I love the late 30's/early 40's aesthetic of the film (as I love that period of film history) but it just doesn't sit well with me as a whole representation of the character I love.

I guess that outlook works too. I still appreciate that they used the John Williams theme.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I guess that outlook works too. I still appreciate that they used the John Williams theme.

Being old enough to have seen the first one in the cinema upon release, I felt the connection was timely and I think Routh did a wonderful job in both Clark and Kal-El, don't get me wrong, I loved it at the time and still adore it, but it's failings are all too clear.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Nearing the end of its first hour, things got pretty dark.
There is nothing wrong with the real estate plan, that is a significant part of the most well known New Earth version of Lex Luthor's activities.

And now for the greatest superhero debut ever made, the one that is yet to be topped on all counts, the best scene in superhero film history to date, including the silliness of that pimp not being shocked nor surprised at the sight of seeing a man fly without the assist of any sort of appendage and machine.
Cheers and applause. :')

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Enjoy it with me, have fun, it is meant to be admired.



This is a movie that NEVER failed in making me believe a man can fly. The special effects aged brilliantly well.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The high rising burglar scene leads to us seeing homage to one of my favorites and a highly underrated talent in comic arts; Jim Mooney.

The cat rescue scene is done in reverse in the episode 'Battle of the Superheroes' for Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series when Superman became a jerk due to the effect of Red Kryptonite.

@KRYPTON INC. @Mandon Knight @Kevin Roegele You will like this one: The scene of the rescue of the plane that lost one engine is one moment where you find an unexpected homage to; in Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Flight with Lois Lane is really great, by far the best part in her interview scene.
How many of you remember when both Metropolis and Gotham City were basically Manhattan with minor differences?

 

[Mandon Knight]

This is a movie that NEVER failed in making me believe a man can fly. The special effects aged brilliantly well.

The SFX stand up remarkably well, in the making of features on the first film, Donner says he inherited nothing of use when coming on board before they devised the rolling rig for Reeve & Kidder to use. The crew on this film, were amongst Britain's best at the time. Everyone was on top of their game, and Donner was the heart that drove the magic.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Part of the charm is how a pair of glasses and hunching a bit does a lot in convincing he is a different character.

"Mrs. Teschmacher" what happened to her Mr.?

 

[Mandon Knight]

Part of the charm is how a pair of glasses and hunching a bit does a lot in convincing he is a different character.

This scene for me, personifies Reeve's performance and his capacity to switch at the drop of a hat...

 

[Spider-Aziz]

This scene for me, personifies Reeve's performance and his capacity to switch at the drop of a hat...

This is one scene where I say Richard Lester did a better job than Richard Donner did.