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Superman Continues to Return

Started by Bad Ambassador, October 05, 2010, 12:24:52 AM

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Phil_A

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on October 05, 2010, 04:36:43 PM
The fountain maybe. I remember Aronofsky had plans for a Dark Knight Returns adaptation before Nolan Began, which might partially explain it. Also, what had Singer or Nolan done before X-Men and Batman Begins?

The movie Aronofsky was supposed to be making was an adaption of Year One, with a script by Frank Miller. Although considering the quality of Miller's recent output, it's probably a good thing we were spared that.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Ah right, I knew it was a Miller story but was fuzzy on which one. I vaguely recall he said something about shooting it in Tokyo, which made me think it would be DKR because Tokyo's a bit futuristic looking or something.

Dead kate moss

Notably, Singer had made The Usual Suspects, Nolan had made Memento.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Yeah, and I guess there are some similarities (ensemble casts, action scenes) but didn't it mark him out as an obvious choice for X-Men. Back then I would have expected someone like Spielberg or, if he reined in his wilder tendencies, Paul Verhoeven - directors with a track record for effects driven blockbuster action.

Between choreographers, second units and CGI, I wonder how much of the action stuff is really handled by the director, or requires them to have much prior experience with it anyway.

vrailaine

Superman's just a really boring character. It'd be like trying to market Hulk Hogan in the modern day, no one wants him, they want Austin... well actually they want Lesnar, but anyways, same thing.

Kryptonite didn't exist until around 1943, didn't appear in the comics til '49, what was Superman weak to before that?

El Unicornio, mang

The biggest problem I see with Superman is the costume. It's easy enough to make Batman look cool and modern, but a man in red underpants, cape and blue tights with a little curl in his hair is hard to pull off. I still think the original Superman film is still the best Superhero film, they made it epic and tragic but with enough lightness to not make it "dark". The costume still looked silly but Reeve was so good that it didn't really matter.

vrailaine

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 05, 2010, 06:42:22 PM
The biggest problem I see with Superman is the costume. ]It's easy enough to make Batman look cool and modern, but a man in red underpants, cape and blue tights with a little curl in his hair is hard to pull off.
Just like Hulk Hogan

QuoteI still think the original Superman film is still the best Superhero film, they made it epic and tragic but with enough lightness to not make it "dark". The costume still looked silly but Reeve was so good that it didn't really matter.
Also helped that Gene Hackman was a very good choice, imo anyways.
I prefer Superman 2, still haven't seen the Richard Donner cut though... I hear it has the exact same ending as the first one.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: vrailaine on October 05, 2010, 06:36:25 PM
Kryptonite didn't exist until around 1943, didn't appear in the comics til '49, what was Superman weak to before that?
"No less than a bursting artillery shell" or something like that. He was still super, but within reasonable limits, hence the famous "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive..."

I think he didn't start getting ludicrously powerful until the silver age, perhaps as a response to the nuclear age, the space race and such.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: vrailaine on October 05, 2010, 06:45:34 PM
Just like Hulk Hogan
Also helped that Gene Hackman was a very good choice, imo anyways.
I prefer Superman 2, still haven't seen the Richard Donner cut though... I hear it has the exact same ending as the first one.

The Donner version is very different. They took out over half of the Lester footage (including the France opening and all the dumb comedy bits like ice cream flying into a man's face), filled it back up with Donner's footage (including some dodgy looking screen test footage of Lois shooting Clark to see if he's Superman), and totally changed the ending.
Spoiler alert
Basically Superman flies round the earth so that it goes backwards (like in the first one, but for longer), and the film goes back to the start, so everything that has happened in the film has been erased. Still has him beating up the guy at the diner though so he's basically beating up an innocent man.
[close]

vrailaine

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 05, 2010, 07:00:19 PM
Spoiler alert
Still has him beating up the guy at the diner though so he's basically beating up an innocent man.
[close]
Brilliant!

SavageHedgehog

The Donner cut of Superman II is interesting, but it doesn't quite hold together as a legitimate film. There would have been something to be said for just letting it go really.

I'm not really a fan of any of Snyder's films, but he doesn't strike me as a particularly bad choice. As long as it's not an origin story.

It's a fucking origin story isn't it?

El Unicornio, mang

Speaking of Superhero reboots, they're also rebooting Spider-Man, with Andrew Garfield (Brit actor who won a Bafta for Boy A) as Peter Parker. The director Marc Webb has previously only made one feature film, 500 Days of Summer, be interesting to see how he handles it. Hopefully not as badly as Raimi did (although the first two had their moments)

kidsick5000

Quote from: SavageHedgehog on October 05, 2010, 07:16:10 PM
The Donner cut of Superman II is interesting, but it doesn't quite hold together as a legitimate film. There would have been something to be said for just letting it go really.

Certainly a case for not releasing it as a dvd by itself. It's more of a curio with scenes just short of showing a card saying "Special effect here".

El Unicornio, mang

It's quite funny on one of the scenes which has been edited together with screen test footage and early take footage from about a year later (keeping in mind it was made the same time as the first Superman), and Reeve's appearance keeps changing between being skinny/buff and dry hair/slicked back hair every other time it cuts back to him.

Also, check out the sweaty superpits on this early screen test (2:45 onwards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFehtWBV99o&NR=1

(and the really bad screen test of some dude at 1:33)

Ignatius_S

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 05, 2010, 07:22:40 PM
Speaking of Superhero reboots, they're also rebooting Spider-Man, with Andrew Garfield (Brit actor who won a Bafta for Boy A) as Peter Parker. The director Marc Webb has previously only made one feature film, 500 Days of Summer, be interesting to see how he handles it. Hopefully not as badly as Raimi did (although the first two had their moments)
There was an article a while ago - http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/01/11/spider-man-reboot-already-written-will-be-gritty-contemporary-take/ - that had quite a bit of information about this, which I found quite interesting.

SavageHedgehog

Presumably the idea of having a much younger Parker has been tossesd aside given that this so-called Garfield is already in his late twenties. Then again, wouldn't be the first time...

As much as "doing it darker, grittier" has become a particularly yawnsome cliche, it is one series that I feel could do with a little toughening up

El Unicornio, mang

Spider-Man is a tough one, the comics have a lighthearted tone (although the storylines can get quite dark, especially with Venom involved) which is hard to translate to film. Raimi did a decent enough job getting the balance right, but Green Goblin was terrible, and I didn't like Tobey Maguire too much, found him a bit charmless. I think Garfield will work well, he's a very good actor, looks kind of nerdy but has a quiet charm. Presumably he'll need to bulk up a bit though.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 05, 2010, 08:36:50 PMRaimi did a decent enough job getting the balance right, but Green Goblin was terrible
And yet Willem Dafoe actually is a goblin in real life.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 05, 2010, 06:42:22 PM
The biggest problem I see with Superman is the costume. It's easy enough to make Batman look cool and modern, but a man in red underpants, cape and blue tights with a little curl in his hair is hard to pull off. I still think the original Superman film is still the best Superhero film, they made it epic and tragic but with enough lightness to not make it "dark". The costume still looked silly but Reeve was so good that it didn't really matter.

You're just not thinking creatively enough.



Sorry. But someone had to do it.

lipsink

Quote from: kidsick5000 on October 05, 2010, 08:08:26 PM
Certainly a case for not releasing it as a dvd by itself. It's more of a curio with scenes just short of showing a card saying "Special effect here".

I still probably prefer it to the pretty crap Richard Lester version. The Donner cut seems to have a better pacing to it and gets going a lot quicker. There's a brilliant opening scene in the Daily Planet and the White House attack is a lot more intense. I don't even mind the screen test mentioned. The only bit I don't like is that the ending is
Spoiler alert
another 'turn back the world' bit, (but that wasn't meant to be the original ending for the first film). It's quite funny how Supes goes back to beat the shit out of the guy in the diner at the end when he turned back time - he's beating up an innocent guy who presumably didn't do anything!
[close]

VegaLA

Spoiler alert
Yeah, but it was Dick Miller who I suspect once lived in the Apt above me and was a total dick so he deserved it really!
[close]