Superman Returns

mrman1, you should definitely check out the flying rig machine. From what I remember, it's completely green to go with the green screen shots.

http://www.bluetights.net/bulletin_list.php

I think it's video journal No.10

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

Dumb question:

Why not use wires like every other Hong Kong director?

I was speaking idiomatically.

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

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

There's no need for an ultra strong person to play Superman, Routh is strong but not a giant. All that is left is someone asking for Schwarzenegger to play Superman. This role isn't all about the physics, the person playing it should be not only Superman but Clark Kent as well. An ultra strogn person might look good as Superman but could feel weird as Clark Kent.

I belive Routh is good for the job, strong but not huge.

FELIPE NO

Just to throw a little more at the "look right for the part" debate, check this out. All the Superman's through the years.



Routh is the fucking spitting image of Reeve.

and Dean Cain looks like a knob. Believe it or not!

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

I said that as well when i picked up the latest Wizard Magazine!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by acid

Routh is the fucking spitting image of Reeve.

After seeing this picture it is indeniable. Even that curly thing on their hair is the same.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

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

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Wheres my Superman Returns score, internet?

FELIPE NO

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.

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

Solaris is a strange pick. X2 was tempt tracked with Empire Strikes Back and Wrath Of Kahn and look how that disc turned out. I have much faith in the man

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Man even with me being used to the Smallville actors, this is going to be great. A little weird at times because of the former reason, but I can't wait regardless.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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

Quote:

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

Quote:

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

Quote:

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.

Quote:

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.

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

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.

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

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?

I was speaking idiomatically.

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).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

God that video was awesome. I heard that Williams was invited to attend the scoring session. Anyone know why he declined (I'm assuming schedule conflict)?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Simo

here are some more clips to make LeHah angry...

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

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

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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

I uploaded Track 2 - Memories for all you lowly people

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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.

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

Fun:


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