Superman Returns

Sabin
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Post by Sabin »

I was always aware that 'Collateral' was not shot on film. It looked just fine and stylish, but all things considered I would've rather seen it on film, 16mm even.

I can only imagine how much 'Superman' was shot in front of green screen, which is why I think it ultimately looks superior (even without Mann's aggressive mise-en-scene): digital is a godsend for shooting things that aren't there and I doubt much in 'Superman' is there. The movie was never intended to have atmosphere of 'Collateral', but for all intents and purposes 'Superman' looks identical to film. I genuinely didn't think the era of the seamless digital blockbuster had arrived.
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

Sabin, were you talking about digital cameras when you said it was shot digitally? Because I thought "Collateral" looked much better than Superman, personally!
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Post by Eric »

Well, it will gross more foreign than domestic, after all.
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Post by anonymous1980 »

There's a minor controversy involving the film's omission of the phrase "THE AMERICAN WAY".
Truth, Justice and (Fill in the Blank)

By ERIK LUNDEGAARD
Published: June 30, 2006
Minneapolis

In the first screen incarnation of Superman, the Max Fleischer cartoons that ran from 1941 to 1943, each episode's preamble informs us not only of the origin and powers of this relatively new creation (Krypton, speeding bullet, etc.), but also the kinds of things he fights for. It's a shorter list than you think. Before World War II, Superman fought "a never-ending battle for truth and justice." Back then, that was enough.

By the time the first live-action Superman hit the screen ? Kirk Alyn, in a 1948 serial ? the lessons of World War II, particularly in the gas chambers of Europe, were obvious. That's why Pa Kent tells young Clark he must always use his powers "in the interests of truth, tolerance and justice."

It wasn't until Superman came to television in the 1950's that the phrase became codified in the form most of us remember it: "a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way."

You wouldn't know this from the many articles that have been written about Bryan Singer's film "Superman Returns," which opened this week. Few of these articles treat the Man of Steel as if he's a process, the malleable product of different writers and eras. Many, in fact, talk about how unchanging he's been over the years. And quite a few quote the line "truth, justice and the American way" as if it's something Superman always stood for ? even though you won't hear it in this film.

Where did that specific phrase come from? According to Mark Waid, a former DC Comics editor, it first turned up on the innovative "Adventures of Superman" radio series, which ran, off and on, from 1940 to 1951. It was the radio show, not the comic book, that introduced many facets of the Superman myth: the editor Perry White (rather than George Taylor), Jimmy Olsen (rather than a nameless copy boy) and kryptonite. Superman never flew until he flew on the radio. In the comics, he was still leaping an eighth of a mile.

Since Superman was a work in progress, it makes sense that the preamble was a work in progress, too. Fans first heard "Up in the sky! Look!" rather than the other way around. Those who did look thought they saw not a bird but "a giant bird." At one point the Fleischer cartoons even scrapped the whole "speeding bullet" business in favor of more weather-oriented metaphors: "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!"

Then, in fall 1942, fans of the radio show became the first to hear about Superman's battle for "truth, justice and the American way."

At that time the war in Europe was not going well. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was sweeping across Africa, and the German Army was driving toward Stalingrad. The Japanese had been turned back at Midway but they were still invading Pacific islands. We were all fighting for the American way. Why shouldn't Superman?

As the war turned in our favor, though, the additional phrase didn't seem as necessary. By 1944 it was gone, and for the remainder of the radio show, Superman devoted himself to the fight for tolerance ? as in the 1946 episode, "Unity House," in which Superman battles the Ku Klux Klan.

It took the paranoia and patriotism of the cold war era to bring back "the American way" ? this time in the "Adventures of Superman" television series, which ran from 1952 to 1958. Every week, young, impressionable baby boomers were greeted with the phrase as they sat down to watch the Man of Steel combat crooks and communist spies.

After the television show, "truth, justice and the American way" became synonymous with the Superman saga; indeed, every Superman since has had to grapple with the phrase's legacy. The 1966 Saturday morning cartoon, "The New Adventures of Superman," tried a strategy of substitution: children were told Superman's fight was for "truth, justice and freedom."

Others tried omission. In the premiere of the 1993 television series "Lois & Clark," Lois asks Superman why he's here on Earth. His response ? "To help" ? isn't good enough for her, and she suggests something more dynamic. "I mean if you said, 'I'm here to fight for truth ... or justice.' " He nods: "Well, truth and justice. That sounds good."

The most recent incarnation to use the 1950's phrase was the 1978 Christopher Reeve movie, "Superman." When Lois first interviews the Man of Steel, she asks why he's here, and he responds straight-faced: "I'm here to fight for truth, justice and the American way." It's the first time Superman himself ever uses the phrase ? a bold move considering how cynical the country had become after the Vietnam War and Watergate. That cynicism is reflected in Lois's response: "You're going to end up fighting every elected official in this country!"

Some people are now objecting to the fact that "Superman Returns" omits the phrase. Perry White asks his reporters to find out more about the Man of Steel after his five-year absence. "Does he still stand for truth, justice, all that stuff?" he says. Right-wing blogs are already red-faced at the slight.

There's no reason to be upset. Superman is right back where he began: fighting a never-ending battle for truth and justice. That should be enough to occupy any man. Even a Superman.

Erik Lundegaard, an editor at Minnesota Law & Politics, writes about movies for MSNBC.com.
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Post by OscarGuy »

Superman Returns won't get a Cinematography nomination...no matter how good it is. Sin City couldn't manage it, Bryan Singer won't, either.
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Post by Sabin »

Two things:
1) 'Superman Returns' will become the first digitally shot film nominated for Best Cinematography. Just a gorgeous film. I didn't think we were here with digital cinematography, but we are. It is now okay for blockbusters to be shot digitally - permitted that a stylist like Bryan Singer is composing the shots, rather than a hack like Lucas.

2) This movie is boring, boring, boring. BORING! Other superhero movies expanded their worlds to palpable effect: 'X-Men''s Mutant High, Spidey's New York, I didn't care for 'Batman''s Gotham but it was interesting, etc. 'Superman''s world is as distant and closed-off as its lead characters. Brandon Routh's cheekbones give a fine performance in distant doe-eyed confusion but there's nothing going on inside. That's Lois' job and Kate Bosworth is a big fat zero. She's a reporter who can't spell catastrophe and that's quite a fitting description of Bosworth's perf. It's not her fault, she's just hugely miscast. Lois is different from Mary Jane Watson and other damsels in distress; we see Superman through her eyes, her distrust, her need, and none of that begins to register. Clearly the rest of the cast isn't going to do that job for me, not queeny Jimmy Olsen or Cyclops. So, I'm left with this Ken doll -- who quite frankly looks exhausted from the doubtlessly countless sexual favors he performed to get this role -- posing in front of a green screen, catching debris as it falls inevitably, and uninterestingly saving the day. Merry ####ing Christmas for TWO AND A HALF ####ING HOURS! AAAH!

Superman fans are different from any other comic book fans insofar as all Superman does is rescue people. Spider-Man fights and wisecracks, Batman is a psychopathic detective, the X-Men are outsider chic. This are attributes, these are characteristics, these are things to identify with for better or worse. What's there to identify with in Superman? I suspect most Superman fans don't so much want to be Superman (although they probably do, mostly because it would be fun to fly and ####) as be saved by Superman. Grown men want to be flown around by a muscular guy in a cape and a red c--k sock. And a lot of those grown men who want to be flown around by a muscular guy in a cap and a red c--k sock ended up working on this movie. It's pretty gay; however, it's not gay in any interesting manner. Their love of Superman goes back to childhood so you end up with blind nerd worship. Singer has said it himself: 'Aren't people crying out for Superman?' I'm not sure if they are, but put enough people who are at the helm of a $260 mil 2&1/2 hour film and the result is beyond vanilla. And pretty gay. Kevin Spacey stabbing a submissive looking Routh from behind with a phallic kryptonite spear until he screams out -- that's Schumacher gay.

This isn't a bad movie; visually, it's pretty outstanding and succeeds as a milestone in digital filmmaking. It's just dull. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with a gay blockbuster but this is such a blandly sexualized superhero movie.


(sigh...why can't I quit you guys?)




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Post by Eric »

Alright, I misread you also. I thought you were talking about B. Routh as the closeted lead.

(Ian Roberts isn't half bad.)
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Post by Hustler »

ok
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Post by Penelope »

Hustler wrote:
Well, I did mention a closeted lead player as well
Don´t you consider Spacey for supporting in that movie?
No. There's 3 leads: Routh, Bosworth and Spacey.
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Post by Hustler »

Well, I did mention a closeted lead player as well
Don´t you consider Spacey for supporting in that movie?
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Post by Penelope »

Hustler wrote:
I'm stretching the term supporting: Jack Larson as the bartender and Ian Roberts as one of Lex Luthor's henchmen. Did I forget anybody?
Uhhh! I was almost convinced you were talking about Kevin Spacey.
Well, I did mention a closeted lead player as well.... :;):
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Post by Hustler »

I'm stretching the term supporting: Jack Larson as the bartender and Ian Roberts as one of Lex Luthor's henchmen. Did I forget anybody?
Uhhh! I was almost convinced you were talking about Kevin Spacey.
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Post by Penelope »

Eric wrote:
Penelope wrote:Look, a movie directed by an openly gay man, featuring two openly gay actors in supporting roles and a closeted actor in a lead role is bound to have a gay sensibility to it

You are rapidly becoming the David Ehrenstein of this forum. :)
Has he said as much? Egad, I'd hate to be compared to him!
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Post by Penelope »

Hustler wrote:
Look, a movie directed by an openly gay man, featuring two openly gay actors in supporting roles
Who is the second?
I'm stretching the term supporting: Jack Larson as the bartender and Ian Roberts as one of Lex Luthor's henchmen. Did I forget anybody?
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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Post by Eric »

Penelope wrote:Look, a movie directed by an openly gay man, featuring two openly gay actors in supporting roles and a closeted actor in a lead role is bound to have a gay sensibility to it
You are rapidly becoming the David Ehrenstein of this forum. :)
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