Ultimate Superman
Nov. 6th, 2006 08:34 amNo, don't worry, Brian Michael Bendis hasn't got his slimy paws on Big Blue.
November 28 will be seeing the release of a whole bunch of Superman-related movies. Superman Returns would be the most notable... except for the 4-disk special edition of Christopher Reeve's Superman and the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.
Or, for not much more money than just those latter two, you can get this boxed set, which has all three of those movies and Superman III and IV, which I can't actually say I like but which do have some good moments. (Not to mention Annette O'Toole at the height of her hotness.)
I still haven't seen Returns, but I want to. I've always been disappointed with Superman II, so I'm damn curious as to the reportedly vast changes (including, y'know, a new beginning and ending, not to mention lotsa Brando).
What's on your just-in-time-for-the-holidays DVD wish list?
November 28 will be seeing the release of a whole bunch of Superman-related movies. Superman Returns would be the most notable... except for the 4-disk special edition of Christopher Reeve's Superman and the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.
Or, for not much more money than just those latter two, you can get this boxed set, which has all three of those movies and Superman III and IV, which I can't actually say I like but which do have some good moments. (Not to mention Annette O'Toole at the height of her hotness.)
I still haven't seen Returns, but I want to. I've always been disappointed with Superman II, so I'm damn curious as to the reportedly vast changes (including, y'know, a new beginning and ending, not to mention lotsa Brando).
What's on your just-in-time-for-the-holidays DVD wish list?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 01:38 pm (UTC)And I'm sorry, but my generation now sees Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent because of "Smallville", so when you made that comment about her hotness, I got a major case of the jibblies.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 01:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 01:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 01:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 01:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 06:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:03 pm (UTC)I disagree completely. It was Superman Reheated. Especially damning because
Tom, since you've acknowledged you're a huge Supes fan, I guess you'll see it eventually...but I wouldn't pay money for it.
I am curious about the Donner Superman II, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 06:40 pm (UTC)Superman seemed to focus mainly on the "Gee Whiz" factor half the time. An explosion here, a super power here, and classic dialogue in between. A very good movie, no doubt. However, my biggest problems were Lex Luthor and his bumbling sidekick. They just didn't do it for me. Too cheesy. After seeing Lex in DCAU and Smallville, I knew that there was so much more to him than what Gene Hackman did. And his sidekick was never funny. Just annoying.
And even when I was a kid, I could tell that Superman turning back time to save the day was stupid for two reasons: 1) If you could turn back time, I doubt making the Earth spin backwards would do it and 2) If it was forbidden, why didn't any bad stuff happen because he did it? Seemed like turning back the clock solved all his problems.
Now Superman Returns was much more serious. Lois was no longer the corky reporter; she was a mom. Superman has issues to deal with. Issues he doesn't solve just by flexing his muscles. If anything, his abilities make it more difficult for him to do some of the things he does. Lex Luthor was done brilliantly. Kevin Spacey was perfect casting in my opinion. He was far more vile. His monologues and dialogue was much better. He had much more depth than in the original Superman. I loved that.
My only complaint was the the movie was a bit slow. It could have used some tighter editing and better pacing, particularly towards the end. Also the woman who played Lois could have been casted better. That's pretty much it.
In my opinion, they're both really good movies and they're both very different movies in both their tone and approach to the characters.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 08:43 pm (UTC)My problem with Superman Returns was that it really felt smaller and simpler; far too derivative of the original movie of Superman without exploring some of the better directions the source material has gone into. Lex was a great example--as much as I liked Spacey's performance, it really was Spacey doing Gene Hackman doing Lex Luthor. Spacey doing the Clancy Brown Lex would have been far more interesting to me.
I'd go into this in more detail, but this is Tom's LiveJournal, after all...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:06 pm (UTC)> What's on your just-in-time-for-the-holidays DVD wish list?
* West Wing Season 7
* Animaniacs Vol. 2
* Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series
* Voltron Vol. 2
* Da Vinci Code (hey, I liked it!)
* Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
* Please Twins! Complete Collection
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:33 pm (UTC)HA! They released this?!? I was just talking about that thing with my wife yesterday and verifying that I can still successfully impersonate that damned unicorn's "MEHHHH!" noise.
Voltron Vol. 2
**SPOILER ALERT!!**
EVIL GUY: Let's create an evil monster thing!
OTHER EVIL GUY: Neat!
(they do)
EVIL MONSTER THING: RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWRR!!!
PEOPLE IN LIONS: Oh no, an evil monster thing! Let's fight it with our stupid robot lions and get our asses handed to us!
(they do)
EVIL GUY: Cliche expressing inevitable victory!
GUY IN LION: Looks like we got our asses handed to us! Let's form Voltron!
OTHER GUY IN OTHER LION: Dammit, we always get our asses handed to us in lion form! Can't we just weld the lions into Voltron form so we win right off the bat instead of getting slapped around for a while first?
GUY IN LION: Quiet, you! Form feet and legs...
(they form Voltron apparently using the super high-tech chant-based user interface)
GUY IN LION: Form blazing sword!
OTHER GUY IN OTHER LION: "Guy In Lion" sounds totally perverted.
GUY IN LION: Oh, like "Other Guy In Other Lion" is complete Disney material.
(they beat the crap out of the evil monster thing.)
EVIL GUY: Expression of rage regarding failure!
(Replace "Lion" with "Car" as needed.)
*** END SPOILER ALERT ***
-=ShoEboX=-
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 03:53 pm (UTC)They did release the D&D cartoon in the UK. But unless you have a DVD plyer capable or Region 2 / PAL you are outta luck. I'm also homping tey release it here as well...should go check again now that I think about it...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 03:56 pm (UTC)Oh no you dittent!
Date: 2006-11-06 02:22 pm (UTC)Call me a trend-following comics whore, but I friggin' love BMB. The "Avengers Disassembled" thing was utter crap and "New Avengers" still seems to be struggling, but Powers, Ultimate Spider-Man, and his friggin' immortal run on Daredevil have been some of my favorite comics of the last decade or so.
Oh, and my DVD wish list includes "The Producers," "Annihilator: Ten Years In Hell," and the next few volumes of MST3K. It would include "The Cars Unlocked" if I hadn't just bought it. :)
FOUR DISCS of "Superman?!?!?"
-=ShoEboX=-
HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 02:30 pm (UTC)Hunh. Not very "short form" at all, I guess. ;)
Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 02:45 pm (UTC)In other Marvel thingies, I've loved JMS's "Amazing." Peter David's "Friendly Neighorhood Spider-Man" has yet to really speak to me, though his work on "X-Factor" has been awesome. Pak's "Planet Hulk" storylines have been surprisingly interesting so far, and although so far I'm disappointed with Brubaker's "Daredevil" I'm sticking with it to see what happens.
And the "Civil War" thing has been done surprisingly well so far, IMHO. I really wonder how the hell Marvel's gonna pull themselves out of this one.
-=ShoEboX=-
Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 03:17 pm (UTC)Then again, there's this (http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/2594853.html) (spoilery).
Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 07:57 pm (UTC)It would fit nicely with the theme of all of Spider-Man's non-red-and-blue costumes trying to kill him. :)
-=ShoEboX=-
Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 08:02 pm (UTC)Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 03:43 pm (UTC)Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 03:45 pm (UTC)Re: HAH! I Do Indeed Diss TMB
Date: 2006-11-06 07:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:30 pm (UTC)And I feel I have to say something nice about Ultimate Spider-Man, which at least for its first 50 issues was a fun (if sometimes depressing comic). It's the only thing that BMB did that I like.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:34 pm (UTC)Going back to beat up the guy once he'd got his powers back, however, has me badly divided. On the one hand, it seems needlessly cruel and damned unfair, something Batman or Green Lantern would do before Supes; on the other hand, the guy did need some kind of comeuppance. I just don't think using Kryptonian strength on a human normal is appropriate.
And the superhypnosis thing is always a cop-out.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:51 pm (UTC)-=ShoEboX=-
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 02:57 pm (UTC)Given that the hypnosis involved a long kiss, I'm thinking that's become an idea in too many Smallville fanfics...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 03:12 pm (UTC)I swear by whatever you would have me swear by, I'm not making that up.
(I actually have fond memories of that issue for another reason: I'm a long time Clark/Lana shipper, and Clark & Lois were on the outs at that point, and they were slowly building up Clark and Lana, who had a very good and mature conversation [for comics at the time] about how people's feelings change over time. Damn, now I've gotta see if I can find that issue online. I know I don't have it anymore....)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 03:19 pm (UTC)Well, it would explain some of Christopher Reeve's incredible job at just that. I mean, really...the pair of glasses and stutter worked for him.
But yeah, that's a stretch. Then again, Clark's been recast quite a lot since the early days...some time around the aforementioned DCAU and Lois & Clark, I would guess, but at least part of it (the "masks" aspect, how Clark is the mask and Superman is the reality) has been Batman's shtick for years now.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 05:34 pm (UTC)I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that the glasses/hypnosis concept was a reader suggestion that the creators incorporated. And that the underrated Martin Pasko wrote the story in question. (Pasko wrote some quite intelligent and mature dialogue for the characters, particulary Clark and Lana. Again, maybe intelligent/mature for the time, but I'll take it over the incessant half-ironic chatter/banter that BMB at his BMBest relies on.) (Though I like Powers and struggle through Avengers because it's my longtime Sentimental Favorite.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 05:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 03:56 pm (UTC)I want the new ULTIMAT BOND collection of James Bond movies...Remastered and all nice and spiffified!
A box set of the old Ghoul movie shows would also rock, but that ain't gonna happen....(sign)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 04:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 05:37 pm (UTC)Other DVD's already there:
Looney Tunes Golden Collection, all the volumes after #1
Pinky and the Brain, 2 volumes
All of Babylon 5
All of Chef with Lenny Henry
Yellow Submarine
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 05:49 pm (UTC)As for DVDs, I'm glad you started this thread, didn't think the next Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs would be out until after xmas, and a new Looney Tunes collection, too! Woo-hoo!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 05:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 10:15 pm (UTC)New Avengers hatehatehate.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-06 10:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 01:56 am (UTC)The only DVD release that's really caught my attention is Police Squad.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-07 07:04 am (UTC)It was also the best episode of the series; unlike the rest of the show, which has life "going on" in the hypocritical community of Moralton, in the state of Statesota, there's a finality to it...and a bit of human sorrow that is extremely rare in Adult Swim cartoons.
I'll go further; it was the only Christmas thing I saw on TV last year that even FELT like Christmas. If you saw other episodes but didn't see this one, give "Best Christmas" a chance. If the other episodes seemed a bit smarmy, this one will make up for them.