Superman Returns

Originally Posted by Sadako

I guess there's planetary debris, but ... really. What's there to visit?

Is Lex Luthor still going to be somebody I can't take seriously? I really like his recent cartoon portrayal over anything I've seen in the films.

It all starts out with scientists "discovering" a new planet which ends up to be the remains of Krypton. Kal-El leaves to not only see if there are any survivors or villains like Zod.

Lex Luthor won't be the wig wearing slightly goofy Lex Gene Hackman portrayed. They'll be some humour from the character but more of a sadistic kind that falls inline with Pre-Crisis Luthor.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Faust 72

This will be one of the most anticipating movie of the year. Its cool to know that Routh will play 3 roles as in Kal-El, Clark Kent, and Superman. I'll post some pics soon after I finish my work

Of course he will. The film isn't any of that Smallville or John Byrne nonsense but draws more from the Pre-Crisis/Silver Age era.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm glad this was bumped up since the theatrical trailer was posted online today:
Direct Link-HD 480p

Thoughts?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Is it just me or did the trailer have some of Ottman's score in it, in particular the first time the "March" is heard....?

Anyways I enjoyed the trailer and have high hopes for the film, even more so after watching the trailer and Coca-Cola ad.

How ya doing, buddy?

The UK trailer is now online:
http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbol/uk/mo...rf3_qt_500.mov

It's much better than the domestic trailer IMO and will most likely be the second trailer that's supposed to be attached with X-Men: The Last Stand when it opens.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by mrman1

Just heard about the $300 million budget. WTF?!?! Aside from Kevin Spacey, where is the money going? Does this film have a $250 million FX budget or something?

The film doesn't have a $300 million budget. That was just some hyperbole caused by an Australian paper that reported on the budget without a source which US trades picked up on andh couldn't tell the difference between their currency and exchange rate compared to the AUD. The actual budget is around the $185 million mark.

Originally Posted by SOLDIER

This Supes is far too skinny, that's all I can say. It's especially jarring when I've been watching the animated Superman for so many years.

I know his strength is innate, but if you spend so many years lifting cars and buildings, you'd think he'd still get a bodybuilder physique.

How much bigger does the guy have to be then?

Originally Posted by Mobius One

When does this come out? I'm in some serious anticipation here.

June 30th in the US.

There are currently 4 TV spots airing in the US at the moment so here are direct links to all 4:
#1
#2
#3
#4

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by mrman1

Dumb question:

Why not use wires like every other Hong Kong director?

They do. Afterall the "flying" team is the same company and people who were responsible for the "Super Burly Brawl" and other flying antics from The Matrix Revolutions/Reloaded. With the original Superman movie they only had a 2 axis flying rig so that Chris Reeve could move forward and backwards for the flying scenes along with a single pole he'd rest on for the green screen stuff.

With Superman Returns they're not only using a 3 axis wire rigging system that allows Brandon Routh to move forward, backwards, side to side but also bank like a fighter jet to one side or simulate the impact of a missile that causes Superman to tumble backwards and repositioning himself and moving forward. They've also got another rig which Routh rests on that can move 360 degrees compared to the old "pole on a stick" from the original movie. While the 2 rigs were mainly used for green screen stuff they also disassembled and used the wire rigging setup on location for stuff like the young Clark Kent from a grain silo into the cornfields, running through them and then jumping out and over the rest of the field.

So while the film does have a fair share of green screen/CGI work in it they're also using as much practical effects as possible be it for flying or displaying Superman's powers.

Anywho, TV spot #5 is online:
http://raincloud.warnerbros.com/wbmo...vspot5_500.mov

The best spot released thus far and here's a link to a low res version of the second domestic trailer currently playing with X-Men: The Last Stand:
http://rapidshare.de/files/21489168/...turns.avi.html

FELIPE NO

Yahoo now has a hi res Quicktime version of the third trailer that's currently playing before X-Men: The Last Stand up:
http://mp3content01.bcst.yahoo.com/b...0/25379541.mov

The official site also relaunched with a Flash intro that sounds like it features some of John Ottman's score but I'm not certain. The site has a ton of new content though:
http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/

Speaking of Ottman's score, Soundtrack.net will have a "First Listen" feature up on Thursday for the Superman Returns soundtrack. Warner Bros. also announced today that they've pushed the release date up by 2 days from June 30th to Wednesday, June 28th.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by KCJ506

It's said that the running time is 150 minutes.

http://www.superherohype.com/news/su...ws.php?id=4314

This is how long X3 should have been.

That's after 20 minutes of the film being cut too which seems to be more of Kal-El's journey back to Krypton but luckily it'll be recut back into the film for the DVD release complete with original music.

...Speaking of which, Soundtrack.net's preview for the soundtrack is now up!
http://www.soundtrack.net/features/article/?id=196

Servers are slow, to be expected, at the moment though so in the meantime you can read Soundtrack.net's positive review for the score here:
http://www.soundtrack.net/soundtracks/database/?id=4335

Also the film isn't opening on June 28th but rather on Tuesday, June 27th at 10pm. :biggrin:

How ya doing, buddy?

Just a heads up but both Fandango & MovieTickets.com now have tickets available for the 10pm June 27th first screenings of Superman Returns. I'm hoping to catch the 10:10pm showing in my area but I'm torn over to see it on the regular screen first and then IMAX the following weekend or vise versa...:eyebrow:

Here's a link to the 1 minute of "Exclusive" footage that aired on MTV during the 'Movie Awards' last night:
LINK-Server is kind of slow
YouTube Link

TV Spot #6 also debuted last night too:
SendSpace Link

Press screenings for the film also happened last night and while some are on embargo until the film's release, a few are starting to pop online starting with Jeffrey Wells' thoughts on the film:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archi...w_superman.php

Quote:

I saw Superman Returns last night, but I agreed not to run a review until opening day. If I left it there some of you might draw conclusions, so let me add without hesitation that Warner Bros.' caution is misplaced. I need to say at least one thing: I've echoed in this space the general interpretation of WB's decision to open Bryan Singer's film on Wednesday, 6.28, instead of the originally announced 6.30 debut, as a desire to maximize the holiday take before the dreaded onslaught of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest the following weekend. This view was, in hindsight, partially misleading because it suggested that a better pure-entertainment, bang-for-your-buck element would be coming from Pirates. That will obviously be a matter of perspective as the days advance, but it seems highly unlikely (I almost wrote "inconceivable") that Pirates will surpass Superman Returns in terms of emotionality and embodying a resonant, fully developed theme.

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One final thing: Superman Returns is opening simultaneously in IMAX theatres on 6.28, and about 20 minutes worth (i.e., "selected scenes") will be show in IMAX 3D. The press was shown a preview of how the 3D footage will look last night after the main screening, and it's mindblowing. There's an airborne action sequence in particular that delivered, for me, the greatest sensory thrill I've ever experienced from a mainstream movie in my life. There's no question that anyone within reach of an IMAX presentation of this film HAS TO SEE IT THIS WAY. (Singer has worked out a green light-red light system that will tell moviegoers when to put on the glasses just before a 3D section begins.) Trust me, catching it this way will be an absolute knockout.

IMAX it is then. :biggrin:

Here's one positive review from The Boston Herald:
http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/stephenSchaefer/

Quote:

Bryan Singer’s highly-anticipated “Superman Returns” was finally unveiled for the press Thursday night in L.A. (the print was finished at Technicolor at 2:30 that afternoon) and Warner Bros. must have given a sigh of relief when they heard the genuine applause at the finish. What Singer’s done is a dandy trick: He’s honored the tradition of Superman as a quintessentially 20th-century American myth and simultaneously given the Man of Steel a home (cinematically) in the 21st century.

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Even better, Singer has transformed Superman, the alien from another planet with his extraordinary powers, into a majestic, awe-inspiring figure, not a kiddie comic book guy in tights. Like Apollo come to earth, like Atlas holding the world in the great Rockefeller Center sculpture, Bryan Singer’s Superman has a gravity that enobles this entire two-and-a-half hour picture. There is one dazzling sequence early on where Superman rescues a doomed airplane whose passenger list includes Lois Lane, his estranged true love. Singer of course couldn’t know that the sequence would echo the final moments of the horrifying 9/11 “United 93” but that it does – and that it has Superman for a happy ending – gives it perhaps a greater gravitas. Here is a fantasy that like Disney’s plaintive Oscar-winning wartime song, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” speaks directly to a need for healing from the brutal realities we face daily.

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How the public responds to “Superman Returns” when it opens at 10 PM on June 27th is anyone’s guess but Singer & Co. can be content knowing they’ve managed not only to resurrect an American icon but done it with smarts, grace and even poetry. It’s going to be hard for any superhero movie to beat the magisterial bearing Singer so emphatically summons as in one memorable shot Superman is seen suspended in space, his dusty-colored cape twirling, an ancient god come from the heavens. Fittingly, the film is dedicated “respectfully” to Christopher Reeve and Dana Reeve.

Comics Continuum's post about the screening:
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stori...6/08/index.htm

Quote:

Superman Returns, transferred to film just hours earlier, was given its first screening for the press Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Executive producer Chris Lee introduced the film, noting that it had just been put to bed and that some minor tweaks -- i.e. color corrections -- still might be made.

He also asked that the press not leak spoilers -- including a major one not in the film's novelization.

After the screening, members of the press were given a preview of the 3D IMAX treatment the film is getting.

IMAX president of filmed entertainment Greg Foster said Superman Return's "DNA" was ideal for the 3D treatment. The first trailer, which was done in 3D to show director Bryan Singer, and examples of the film's coming-at-you action were shown.

"We showed this to Chris Lee, Brandon (Routh) and Kate (Bosworth) and they were jumping up and down and giving each other high fives," Foster said.

In other notes:

* Screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty have small roles in the film.

* The film seemed to generate a positive response, with applause at the end.

Also on Monday A&E will be airing the Bryan Singer/Kevin Burns Superman documentary "Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman" at 8pm EST, 7pm Central.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by LeHah

Wheres my Superman Returns score, internet?

I second this.

No luck from Darko then?

John Ottman working on the score was the big question mark I had about the film given how much of John Williams work would be used or not and then some of the articles about Ottman using only the score from Solaris as a temp for what they shot every day and the rough cut.

That said, I'm happy with what I heard on Soundtrack.net.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Few more reviews for your enjoyment with the first being the full review from Jeffrey Wells:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archi...e_babyblue.php

Quote:

Superman Returns feels as if Singer and his team loaded up the finest 2006 CG technology in a big suitcase and time-tripped back to 1982 and '83 in order to make the Superman III that should have happened (instead of the Richard Pryor version that did).

And yet Singer has made a much better film than part I or part II -- craftier, a bit dryer, more fully rendered, less comic book-y, and more deeply felt.

Another positive spoiler free mini-review from LatinoReview:
http://latinoreview.com/news.php?id=636

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Why the World Needs to See Superman!

Three things are apparent about Superman Returns: Three things are apparent about Superman Returns:

1. Bryan Singer is on the fast track to being a legend.
2. Kevin Spacey's only limitation is the very few projects he works on each year.
3. Brandon Routh is... Clark Kent.

Superman Returns picks up right after Superman 2, after a 5-6 year trip back to his destroyed home world of Krypton, and boy howdy have things changed when he gets back. In his absence Lois has gotten engaged, Clark Kent has supposedly been soul-searching around the world, and the world has just seemingly moved on, without him. The big question is: Does the world need a savior? The timely answer is one of the most gorgeous uses of special effects as Superman makes his grand entrance just in time to save a crashing plane. Now I don't want to give away too many of the goodies, but trust me: this film is loaded like an Easter Bunny that was planning on going on strike.

If you have any misgivings about the castings, as I've already mentioned, Brandon and Kevin are unbelievably good so count on many chills going up and down your spine. Watching them is like watching the comic come to life. Bosworth cannot be over looked, in fact - given the reaction to Katie Holmes in Batman Begins - I could envision her being the biggest gamble in the audience's mind. You'll be happy to know that she pulls it off in spades. I never once saw her as anything other then Lois Lane, it is a career defining roll for her — now she'll always be Lois. The rest of the cast did well especially Sam Huntington who plays Jimmy Olsen, he knocks that performace out of the ballpark.

Lastly, Superman Returns is coming to IMAX and I have got to tell you: bring an extra pair of shorts. It's not just good. It's not even great. It's spectacular! It will BLOW YOUR MIND! Whatever technique IMAX does to the film is just jaw dropping; Superman saving a crashing plane honestly feels like he's in the room with you. It'll be 20 minutes of the film that is converted to IMAX and I think I want to see it like 20 times. I'll see y'all in line at the IMAX theater! What a great way to start the summer! A triumphant Return!"

Positive review from Kaboose but it contains a few spoilers:
http://entertainment.kaboose.com/pag...n-returns.html

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I have to admit, I was a little ticked off when I heard that director Bryan Singer nixed X-Men 3 to do Superman, but what can I say? It’s Superman. And the trade-off is well worth it. This movie rocks, and Singer renews our faith that maybe there’s a little Superman in all of us.

Spoiler free positive review from IESB.net:
http://www.iesb.net/warnerbros2006/061006.php

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Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird…it's a plane…no, wait, it's Bryan Singer walking on air because Superman Returns is brilliant! In his crowning achievement, Singer has brought the iconic superhero back to the big screen in a very big way.

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Brandon Routh is Superman. Period. He seemed to embody the very fiber of Superman's being. He turned in a phenomenal performance and gave a fresh face to a well-known character. The rest of the cast was also fantastic. Kate Bosworth was quite worthy as the intelligent but feisty Lois Lane and Sam Huntington added a certain charm to the youthful Jimmy Olson. Not to be outdone, Kevin Spacey is amazing. His portrayal of the devious and evil Lex Luthor is priceless. He takes Luthor to another level adding a hint of madness Superman's power hungry nemesis.

Review on Dark Horizons:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060612e.php

Quote:

Superman is back and the wait for his return is finally over. Was it worth it? Absolutely and in every respect. This is a monumental classic of the genre, a true successor to the Richard Donner classic of the original. This time, audiences will once again believe a man can fly. Director Bryan Singer has crafted a visual tour-de-force, a movie that succeeds in balancing eye popping 21st century visuals, with the heart and soul of a story-driven epic.

That's about it for the reviews so far. It's not like I've just selected all the positive ones either as every review published has been overly positive about the film with the only "negatives" popping up at JoBlo.com from people who never even attended the screening.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Cellius

I want to discuss the music.
Did anyone else get goosebumps when the 'Leaving Home' motif exploded out of nowhere in the short preview on Soundtrack.net? That was awesome. That alone has nearly convinced me to purchase this score.

Same here and the "Love Theme/March" in the last track 'Reprise/Fly Away'. Although I got giddy just hearing some of Ottman's 'Main Titles' and hearing how crisp and clear it was, I mean the last time I saw Superman on the big screen and first heard march and John Williams music was back in 1988 at the ol' drive-in which had Superman and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace showing back to back.

I'm really liking what I've heard so far from the score and I've currently got it preordered at Wal-Mart.com given they like break street dates and all. Speaking of the soundtrack though, here are some more clips to make LeHah angry:
http://www.rhino.com/store/ProductDe...o?Number=77654

...OR if you'd rather hear the full "Main Titles" while watching it be conducted then you download the following video:
T.O.O F.U.C.K.I.N.G C.O.O.L

Originally Posted by Mobius One

Oh shi....I'm giddy with excitement! I only hope I can get work off to go see the IMAX. What's that about only 20 minutes of footage being converted to IMAX format? Why not the whole movie?

3D? Because the opportunity came too late during post-production and to convert all of the film into 3D would of meant missing the original June 30th release date. Either way I'm pumped for the film and I've got IMAX 3D tickets for Saturday, July 1st at 11:30am (it was the earliest I could get to see the film given how busy I'll be with work).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by LeHah

I've had the score for almost a week now. Why would I be angry?

Well in your last post you didn't have it and were quite frustrated that you didn't have it yet

So what's your impression of the score? I'm hoping to snag a copy later tonight if all goes well, and if my source actually does have it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by LeHah

http://www.sendspace.com/file/jyns40

I uploaded Track 2 - Memories for all you lowly people

Excellent. Downloading now and thanks alot.

So now I've got "Main Titles" and "Memories", I've just got to find the rest of the album.

FELIPE NO

LeHah is there any chance you could upload Track #13 "Saving The World", please?

I have the rest of the score but I'm just missing that track.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by MetheGelfling

Granted that III and IV sucked balls compared to the first two films... I don't understand creating some weird screwed up continuity. Why not just start fresh with an origin story like they did with Batman, or if they're going continue from where the old flicks left off why not include all of them?

The origin story for Superman has been retold so many times over the years, I mean who doesn't know where Superman came from or the whole general background? It'd also be pretty much redundant at this time given the WB's Smallville which again tells of Superman origins and the story of young Clark Kent discovering his powers while on the road to becoming Superman.

Using the Richard Donner film though as a jump off point as some "vague history" just comes from that it's pretty much THE Superman film that audiences remember even today. I mean whenever Superman is featured or parodied in shows like Family Guy or SNL it's always the Donner film from the Fortress of Solitude to General Zod and the 2 Kryptonian criminals along with The Phantom Zone.

Quote:

Yes Superman III was pretty much crap and IV was one of the worst movies ever. III was so dumb... Superman fights a fucking computer and Richard Pryor... ugh... dumb.

Pretty much why they're not referenced or associated with Superman Returns. SIII & IV pretty much disregarded the events in Superman I & II anyways so it's not like they added anything significant to the franchise or universe. I can understand how the "vague history" thing can be confusing but hopefully it works in 'Returns. I guess we'll find out in less than 2 weeks.

In the meantime you can check out 13 minutes of behind the scenes "B-Roll" footage over at IESB:
Right Click & Download

The site also has 11short clips from the film too, no real spoilers:
LINK

Slightly related but there's an all new Superman: The Animated Series 90 minute feature on Cartoon Network right now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cobra

Marlon Brando reprises his role of Jor El in Superman Returns.

......................SAY WHAT ?

No black magic there :

http://raincloud.warnerbros.com/wbmo...r_el_large.mov

:EDIT: why did I call him Brandon anyway.

That was a cool little video, thanks for the link. I hope there are more featurettes like that on the DVD.

Heck, Brando even has his own action figure now:


Here's a link to a low res capture of HBO's "First Look" which aired last night:
YSI LINK

Couple of more reviews...

Newsweek
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13389957/site/newsweek

Quote:

Movies: The Big Guy's Back. We Missed Him.

June 26, 2006 issue - There was headscratching and second-guessing when director Bryan Singer announced he was abandoning his wildly popular "X-Men" franchise to make "Superman Returns." Would the Man of Steel fly for a new generation of moviegoers? Could Singer resurrect the series Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve revitalized in 1978, which sputtered out in 1987three sequels later?

Singer did the right thing. From the start of this gorgeously crafted epic, you can feel that Singer has real love and respect for the most foursquare comics superhero of them all, as well as a reverence for the Donner version, which serves as his visual and emotional template. In "Superman Returns" (written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story they cooked up with Singer), the caped crusader for truth, justice, etc. (Brandon Routh) returns to crime-ridden Earth after a five-year detour amid the remains of his home planet. Back in Metropolis—where, as Clark Kent, he gets his old Daily Planet job back—he learns that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has a nice, good-looking live-in boyfriend (James Marsden) and a son, and, to add insult to heartbreak, has won a Pulitzer Prize for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." Also back from a stint behind bars is master criminal Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) with heinous plans to create a new continent (don't ask) at the expense of several million lives.

Singer aroused a feeling that I, as a victim of Chronic Summer Superhero Fatigue Syndrome, wasn't expecting: I felt happy to have Superman back, as if I'd actually missed the guy. You know that you are in the presence of kitsch of a very high order when a comic-book romance can actually produce a lump in your throat. Newcomer Routh may or may not be a real actor, but he effortlessly lays claim to the iconic role, just as Reeve did. Indeed, he virtually duplicates Reeve in the way he plays Kent as a diffident, awkward Midwestern colt. Singer cleverly doles out his hero in small portions, so that we're left, like all those awestruck admirers in Metropolis, wanting more glimpses of him than we get.

The movie follows form by making Lex Luthor a comic menace. Spacey, who can do ironic megalomania in his sleep, has a decidedly lighter touch than Gene Hackman. Both he, and Parker Posey as his moll, are great fun to watch. But Luthor's evil schemes are the most nonsensical and forgettable aspects of the movie. Singer's real forte is lyricism. This "Superman," which infuses its action with poetry, soars as a love story filled with epic yearnings, thwarted desires and breathtaking imagery: Lois, spied on with her lover's X-ray vision, ascending in a skyscraper's elevator; Superman, zapped with kryptonite, descending silently and helplessly through space. (If Jean Cocteau had directed $200 million action movies, they might have looked a little like this.) Next to Singer's champagne, most recent superhero adventure movies are barely sparkling cider.

—David Ansen

Variety
http://www.variety.com/VE1117930841.html

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"Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" reads the title of a piece that wins Lois Lane the Pulitzer Prize in "Superman Returns," the latest bigscreen revival of comicdom's strongest and fastest hero. Not only is she wrong in the context of the story (not to mention real life), but she'll be wrong in the court of public opinion once the world gets a look at this most grandly conceived and sensitively drawn Superman saga. Sure to rate with aficionados alongside "Spider-Man 2" and, for many, "Batman Begins" on the short list of best superhero spectaculars, pic more than justifies director Bryan Singer's decision to jump ship from the "X-Men" franchise, and will pull down stratospheric B.O. around the globe.

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New version tips its hat to the 1978 picture in numerous ways; it's dedicated to Reeve and wife Dana; it recycles John Williams' main musical theme; Marlon Brando once again appears, albeit mostly vocally, as Superman's father; and newcomer Brandon Routh bears a conspicuous resemblance to Reeve.

Nonetheless, Singer imprints his handiwork with its own personality. Despite its acute awareness of what's come before, "Superman Returns" is never self-consciously hip, ironic, post-modern or camp. To the contrary, it's quite sincere, with an artistic elegance and a genuine emotional investment in the material that creates renewed engagement in these long-familiar characters and a well-earned payoff after 2½ hours spent with them.

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Topping off these aspects is the evocative, darkly lyrical score by John Ottman, continuing in his unique dual role for Singer as composer and editor (with Elliot Graham). The sometimes ethereal qualities of Ottman's work, amplified by significant choral strains, provide an emotional dimension -- and show up Williams' "Star Wars" thematic variation for the bombast it is.

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One can praise newcomer Routh very highly indeed simply by saying that he carries this giant film with apparent effortlessness. Thesp possesses a winning, appealing personality that nicely complements his rangy, black-haired, blue-eyed good looks. Parker Posey has a bit of a field day playing Lex Luthor's sassy floozy.

TIME Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...5367-2,00.html

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It turns out that Singer and writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris had excellent reason to re-create the Superman saga, dreamed up in the '30s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and elaborated on in countless comics, movie serials, TV shows and feature films. Singer, Dougherty and Harris went back to the story's premise, reviving it by revising it. Beneath the artifacts of camp and cape, they located a rich lode of myth. Just as important, they resolved to take it seriously. The result is an action adventure that's as thrilling for what it means as for what it shows.

The Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr..._id=1002689933

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While Routh is the same age as Reeve when he played the role, Routh's Superman is older in spirit. His Superman has known heartbreak and loss. He thinks about his late father and must consider the possibility that he might have a son. He even faces his own mortality. In other words, Singer wants to put human emotions into his alien superhero, and for the most part, he succeeds.

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This high-wire act would have gone for naught if Routh had not so capably filled the Man of Steel's costume. Like Reeve, he is just right physically, looking at times like the old comic book drawings of Superman. There is honesty in his acting where the emotions that play across Superman/Clark Kent's face and body come from deep within. Bosworth's Lois is a torn woman, highly ambivalent over the return of a man she has tried to hard to forget. And young Leabu does a nice job in conveying the innocence and curiosity of a boy with a new hero/authority figure in his life.

The oh-wow technical wizardry behind "Superman Returns" accomplishes two things: It makes you appreciate the huge advances in visual effects since 1978 but also appreciate the considerable accomplishments of Donner's team back in the day.

Screen Daily
http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?storyid=26703

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Like Sam Raimi did with Spider-man and Christopher Nolan with Batman Begins, Bryan Singer invests his new Superman movie with emotional intensity and high passions, creating a love triangle scenario which is even more gripping than Lex Luthor's latest plot to destablise the world. Made with the intelligence and elegance that Singer brought to his X-Men films and filled with visual and thematic invention, it's a thoroughly engaging summer spectacle which should have no difficulty hitting the box office numbers that it needs to reignite the franchise.

Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News
http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=23635

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....And finally today I saw a SUPERMAN film that is no fantasy – no careless product of wild imagination. No, my friends… this is the film I was hoping and dreaming for. A movie to reintroduce SUPERMAN to the world. Many would take this to mean that I was "predisposed" to love SUPERMAN RETURNS - actually - for me, that's not exactly true. I could have shown up today and found a basket of lies and false hopes. I could have not seen the film I saw. A film filled with love and beauty. To not brush the original films of my childhood away like artifacts of a misguided time. Instead – what Singer, Dougherty and Harris have done – well… they too liked the first and second films. And they dared to honor them, but not be beholden. To acknowledge, while reinventing. And – not so much improving, but learning from the mistakes of an era.

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The lesson to be learned from the “SUPERMAN RETURNS” development is this. Waiting for talented people of passion and vision is worth every year of delays and restarts… of blown deals and costly explorations. At the end of it all, Warners did it right. Thank God. The Man of Steel is Back!

Finally here's a negative review from Newsarama...
http://www.newsarama.com/movies/Supe...an_Review.html

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...Now we get down to the worst offender: Bryan Singer.

I could understand it when Richard Donner screwed up, he's not a comic guy. BUT SINGER IS A COMIC GUY! He knows better. We've all seen X-Men, where is the guy who understood the comics and presented the characters in a powerful, albeit altered, story?

Bottom line, if you love the first two Superman movies and like the idea of a tribute to those movies with new actors, go see Superman Returns, you'll love it. Otherwise, Superman fans beware - put a DVD of the animated series in and wait for the fuss to pass.

.....Of course the review kind of goes shitsville when calling upon Michael Rosenbaum as a better choice for Lex Luthor and wishing Tom Welling had been cast as Superman later on in the review and this...

Quote:

Nope, as long as it's a good story that's faithful to itself and presents a logical story and is somewhat faithful to the character upon which it was based, I'm happy. If all that sounds like Smallville, it should. That's a show that generally (with the exception of some occasionally crappy scripts) gets it right."

Uh huh. A show that pisses on the established mythos on a weekly basis that also lifts plenty of elements from the Donner film and universe. :eyebrow:

Due to all the positive reviews Warner Bros. has taken up an ad in all national papers to promote the positive buzz:
http://supermanhomepage.com/images/s...wspaper-ad.jpg

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by ShinBojack

Reviews are merely opinions from people we don't really know, so we can't really judge them to our own likes & tastes.

I'm going into this movie with high hopes; after all, Singer ditched X3 for this, and it seems to be a labor of love from him, so hopefully it pays off.

He never really ditched X-Men 3 though. Bryan and his writers were more than willing to jump onboard and finish the X-Trilogy and even agreed to a writing stint on Ultimate X-Men to help bridge the time before pre-production began on X3.
The problems came with 20th Century Fox when they wouldn't negotiate a deal to have Singer direct the film which led to the director trying to renegotiate a deal to direct the film for the next 12 months after X2 had been released. While this was happening Singer pursued other projects such as Sc-Fi Channel's "Triangle" miniseries along with Dean Devlin and then moved onto Warner Bros' remake of "Logan's Run".

It was sometime in 2004 when Singer, along with X2 writers Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, was working on pre-production for Logan's Run as well as throwing around ideas for X-Men 3 when Warner Bros. contacted him about the possibility of working on a new Superman film after McG left the project. Singer agreed to meet with Alan Horn and co at WB about the film and threw together a basic premise with Harris and Dougherty that told a Superman story that was more of a "return" plot rather than an origin story while using the original 1978 Richard Donner film as some "vague history" for the new film. Warner Bros. loved the pitch and agreed for Singer to direct with all the necessary budget and time he needed, Singer then brought over pretty much all of the X2/Logan's Run crew and began work on Superman Returns in Sydney, Australia.

The rest is well...history. Reportedly Fox were so pissed off for Singer "jumping ship", despite failing to sign him up a year after X2 had been released worldwide, that they had Bryan Singer thrown off the Fox lot....only to have to have him let back on because he was currently directing the pilot episode of "House M.D"....a Fox TV show.

Originally Posted by LeHah

Jesus Christ - and this guy posted his opinion? What ever happened to good taste or intelligence?

That's not the worst offender...

Quote:

Superman has been suspected of being a fascist since long before the character even existed--just ask Friedrich Nietzsche. Frank Miller, creator of the milestone comic book The Dark Knight Returns, showed the Man of Steel as a dangerously self-righteous Übermensch. If we needed any more proof, The Road to Guantanamo reveals that power doesn't ennoble, it corrupts--and that's why Superman Returns is a lie. It doesn't matter how much we want to imagine ourselves as god-like heroes hovering above the globe, ready to answer every distant cry for help. For millions around the world, the real face of the last remaining superpower are blindfolded men in hoods and handcuffs getting dragged past barbed-wire fences on the way to interrogation and torture. "I'm always around," Superman promises Lois Lane, but to anybody who has seen The Road to Guantanamo, it sounds like a threat.

http://worldfilm.about.com/od/indepe...nvsgitmo_2.htm

Quote:

On some level it's preferable that director Bryan Singer stays out of the material's way to the extent that he does, but after a distended two-and-a-half hours I was longing for the homo hauteur to let fly with his patented queer-release sledgehammer (in such ample use during the eye-candy X-Men pictures) and whack me hard upside the cremaster.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/fi...ew.asp?ID=2327
:eyebrow:

Anyways....So anyone else going to one of the 10pm showings tomorrow night?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by LeHah

Thats the dumbest fucking review Ive read in ages. Worse than the fucker who wrote into Ebert and accused George Lucas of being anti-Bush for opening Revenge Of The Sith in the middle of the week.

WTF...really?

That review though came from RottenTomatoes' which unfortunately recognises and tallies that review, and then some, with the rest of critic reviews which the majority have been overwhelmingly positive anyways.

I guess Ebert & Roeper will be covering the film in this Sunday's show.

Originally Posted by Foshi

I really dislike watching movies at night. Maybe its just me, but I much prefer going to movies in the morning to avoid large crowds and get the cheapest prices.

Generally I like to go to the primetime showings with a big crowd because usually it can heighten the overall experience, especially if the audience is really buzzed for the film.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Dayvon

Me and a friend are going tomorrow @ 10pm. Hopefully the theatre we are going to won't be too full. It is the best theatre I know for good sound and awesome picture.

Any word on the trailers before the show?

The biggest one is the Spider-Man 3 teaser but it won't be shown with IMAX prints unfortunately but the IMAX version does have new trailers for Ant Bully and Happy Feet. Aside from that I'm not sure what other trailers will be playing...

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Foshi

The problem with Superman is that he has no flaws. You never worry about him not completing his tasks. He does what he does and he is unstoppable.[/SIZE]

That's also one of the appeals of the character too. Not that he can't be physically hurt but when the shit really hits the fan, he'll be there to save the day just like Batman in Batman Begins when he dives over to The Narrows to stop Ra's al Ghul and the monorail or Spider-Man and the cable car in the first film. Of course we know they'll succeed but we're not concerned with their personal safety but "What if they don't succeed and save them in time?" and hoping they do.

Cheers for the unmarked spoiler by the way.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by acid

That out of the way, I felt it was nothing less than fantastic. They managed to get every single aspect of the Superman mythos completely fucking dead on. They just got it all so RIGHT. His interaction with Lois. His choices to help humanity. The Clark/Superman dynamic.

Routh plays an absolute amazing Christopher Reeve playing Superman playing Clark Kent. There were moments when I honestly thought it was Chris again. He's most definately built a career on this performance. Bosworth was alright. Much better than I expected, but I still feel she was a little young for Lois. Marsden was great as always. Huntington played a PERFECT Jimmy Olsen. Such a man-crush on both Supes and Kent, but too naive to peice them together. Langella was great, pretty much the anti-Jameson. The "Great Cesear's Ghost" made the fanboy in me get all giddy.

Spacey was a good Luthor. Not quite as good as I had hoped, but still great. Leagues ahead of Hackman, but I still wish he was a little less campy and alot more menacing.

The effects were great, I imagine this is what Donner was hoping for but wasn't possible back in the 70s.

The entire airplane scene is one of the best things I have ever seen. It was like watching a comic. Hell pretty much every "action" scene was great. Pretty much every flying scene was great. The shot of him in space before the robbery, the landing on Luthor's island, and the end shot of him in space will stick in my mind for quite some time.

I don't know how someone could find this film boring at all. It had just the right amount of action to keep it from being nothing more than Superman punching henchmen. Apparently some people are a little miffed that a comic book tried to tell an actual story. I mean the nerve of them having a romance. It's not like the entire Superman legacy can be boiled down to his choice to help the people of earth and his love for Lois Lane. Damn those central driving forces behind well established characters!

It is possibly the best comic book movie yet. Batman Begins in a close second, and Spider-Man (1) in third. This will not be the last time that I see it before it leaves the theater.

I agree with pretty much everything said here except for the comments about Routh as Superman and Spacey as Lex to a degree. Personally while some of Routh's performance of Clark seemed much like Chris Reeve's version of Clark Kent, Routh made Superman all his own...a more "mature" Superman mostly.

Kevin Spacey seemed to be playing Gene Hackman except without the cheese and little more darker and menacing. The scene for example where...

Spoiler:

Lex and his thugs are kicking the living shit out of Superman, drowning him and pulling him across the floor by his face was just brutal. Almost too brutal at times and seems to be the whole reason why the film is PG-13.

Overall I loved the movie. I mean I'm on a high after seeing it and the IMAX theatre was packed and you could tell the audience was getting a kick out of the film and then seeing them leave you had grandmothers, mothers and fathers and kids talking about the film. If I had any complaints it'd be that some of the FX, mainly the digital double stuff for Routh, looked a little hokey and fake and I wish some of the deleted scenes like Superman exploring the ruins of Krypton and the like were kept in.

The IMAX 3D stuff was pretty good too, not distracting but the 3D stuff does take a little getting used to and sometimes some of the background objects look a little out of focus but I'll be seeing the film again via IMAX for sure.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Hantei

Has anyone seen this on the IMAX? Is it any good on the larger screen? Cause I was thinking seeing it there for a second viewing. Last time I saw a movie on the IMAX was Spider-man, and I could barely remember the experience on it.

The IMAX experience was great. Aside from the visual and audio quality the 3D scenes were quite cool. Some scenes didn't work or the effect wasn't that great (Flashback of Young Clark on the farm) while the others were memorable (The 777 rescue, creation of New Krypton & the sinking of the Gertrude).

They also showed trailers for The Ant Bully and Happy Feet before the film which threw me off because as soon as the "The Following Preview..." notice came up the whole picture went out of focus. Apparently the staff failed to mention that the previews would be in 3D too. :eyebrow:

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