The Official Review Thread of 2006

Damien
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Post by Damien »

Reza wrote:Well I have yet to receive one from Hawke. Lord knows I've tried each time he was appearing on stage in New York. No luck so far. And I lost a number of photos each time.
One has to assume that Thurman had someone intercept your requests before Ethan received them, in an attempt to make him look bad to the public. And undoubtedly she paid off the person stealing his mail by offering her tired, well-worn body.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Reza
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Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:
Reza wrote:As most of you guys know I'm a big collector of star autographs. There must be countless autographs in my collection with similar stories - other people signing on behalf of actors. Anyway as long as I don't know!

Saint or no saint, I also think Reeve was incedibly wooden as an actor. The role of Superman made whatever career he had.

Ethan Hawke -- a true saint -- signs his own autographs and gives them generously.
Well I have yet to receive one from Hawke. Lord knows I've tried each time he was appearing on stage in New York. No luck so far. And I lost a number of photos each time.
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Post by Reza »

Big Magilla wrote:
Reza wrote:I'm shattered!

I was that kid who wrote to Reeve for his autograph only to receive the picture back with the signature forged by you!

You were a little older than ten in 1982.

Was just kidding!

I wasn't a ''little''' older than ten in 1982. I was 20.
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Post by Franz Ferdinand »

I finally decided to venture out of doors with my broken leg, almost a month into my recovery, and saw Superman with my brother on the IMAX 3D. It was the sole redeeming point: the 3D scenes took some time to get used to, but they were an interesting gimmick that made you forget how mediocre the movie was. The boat scene especially was well-done, it was pure claustrophobia when they were trapped. Otherwise, it was a very average movie for such an enormous budget.
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Post by Eric »

cam wrote:And what is with the hard on for Ethan Hawke? Is it because you have never forgiven Uma?
Cart before horse. It's the reason he hates Uma, not the because.
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Post by 99-1100896887 »

Personally, I thought Superman(1978) was terrific, and Reeve very good in it--he brought real life and humour toi the Man Of Steel; Why do you think Brandon Routh was chosen for the new one--his "look" is compared to Reeve everywhere you read. Iliked Reeve even better in Deathtrap, although the picture belongs to Dyan Cannon, I think. The John Williams score was the best he ever wrote--it is often played in serious symphony concerts, and a much beter work structurally than Star Wars(1977) You have absolutely shattered some illusions, Damien.
Reeve was one of the models of fighting back at an injury; IMO only second to the great Terry Fox.
AND not bad on the eyes, either.

And what is with the hard on for Ethan Hawke? Is it because you have never forgiven Uma?
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Post by Big Magilla »

Reza wrote:I'm shattered!

I was that kid who wrote to Reeve for his autograph only to receive the picture back with the signature forged by you!
You were a little older than ten in 1982.
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Post by Damien »

Reza wrote:As most of you guys know I'm a big collector of star autographs. There must be countless autographs in my collection with similar stories - other people signing on behalf of actors. Anyway as long as I don't know!

Saint or no saint, I also think Reeve was incedibly wooden as an actor. The role of Superman made whatever career he had.
Ethan Hawke -- a true saint -- signs his own autographs and gives them generously.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Reza
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Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:I know Chris Reeve is today considered some sort of saint, but truth be told he was a dreadful actor (boy, was he bad on stage in Fifth Of July and his non-Superman performances, such as in Somewhere In Time and Deathtrap were embarrassing. I also disliked him intensely from a personal experience. Once in the early 80s, I was in a post office on the Upper West Side near where he lived. Reeve came in and took mail from a personal mail box, tossing most of it in a waste paper basket. Curious, after he left I reached in to see his mail. Amidst the junk mail was an 8 by 10 of him, with a letter attached. It was from a 10 year old boy, who was effusive about Reeve, calling him his favorite actor and his hero. He asked Reeve to autograph the phot and send it back, and the boy couldn't wait to show his friends he hasd Superman's autograph. A sweet rewuest like that and Christopher Reeve threw it in the trash. I actually took the picture home and forged his signature and sent it to the kid.

Damien,

I'm shattered!

I was that kid who wrote to Reeve for his autograph only to receive the picture back with the signature forged by you!

As most of you guys know I'm a big collector of star autographs. There must be countless autographs in my collection with similar stories - other people signing on behalf of actors. Anyway as long as I don't know!

Saint or no saint, I also think Reeve was incredibly wooden as an actor. The role of Superman made whatever career he had.
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Post by Big Magilla »

Aw, heck, that kid is probably some middle-aged dude now who long ago sold that autographed picture on e-bay, if he was a kid at all at the time. He could have been a hustler. Don't most people ask for autographed pictures, not send their own photos to be autographed? Where did the kid get the photo and Reeve's address?
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Post by rudeboy »

Penelope wrote:(compare Margot Kidder to Kate Bosworth--there's no comparison).
Right on. While Reeve was effectively cast as Clark Kent, I always found him a little, well, weedy as Superman. Kidder, however, was the perfect Lois - and I never understood why she doesn't get more credit for the films' success. She wasn't conventionally beautiful like all these Teri Hatcher/Kate Bosworth types, but her natural charm and wit shone through, and I'd give her more credit than Reeve for the Clark/Lois chemistry.

Its unfortunate that Kidder's life took some tragic turns, but having just glanced at iMDB its good to see that she's still beavering away.
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Post by Penelope »

Wow, you guys are really destroying some childhood memories; I coulda been that kid that sent in the photo to Chris Reeve.

I know the Superman movies (and Poseidon Adventure) aren't "great" films, but I do think they have qualities that make them superior to modern-day blockbusters, specifically, stronger, character-driven scripts (especially in the case of Poseidon) and spot-on casting (compare Margot Kidder to Kate Bosworth--there's no comparison).
"...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 Big Magilla »

The producing Salkinds spent more money on the 7 minute end credits sequence of the original Superman than most movies at the time cost so blaming cost over-runs on Richard Donner in addition to Brando's exhorbitant salary and profit participation seems a bit disingenuous. The scene at the end of Superman where he turns the world around was oriinally intended as the ending of Superman II in order to make Lois forget Clark was Superman. A lot of tampering was done with both films by the Salkinds that was out of Donner's control.

Donner himself estimates that he shot 80% of Superman II and that 50% of what he shot was used. Donner has produced and directed a lot of crap in recent years whereas Richard Lester hasn't done much of anything after the disasterous Superman III so it's difficult to tell who did the better or worse job. The re-shot Brando scenes with Susannah York were pretty bad and we know those were done by Lester.

Star egos were at play not only with Brando, but Gene Hackman as well, who refused to wear a skull cap to show his baldness through most of the film(s). Those silly wigs were his idea.

Who knows where Christopher Reeve's head was during that post office incident. My brother used to deliver mail to a number of famous people in lower Manhattan. He can tell stories about Harvey Keitel, Bette Midler and John Kennedy Jr.'s wife that would make your hair stand on end.

Reeve was certainly a better human being at the end of hsi life. His accident could have turned him into a bitter recluse. Instead he and his wife Dana did a lot to shine a light on paralysis including opening the first center in the United States devoted to teaching paralyzed people to live more independently. No, he wasn't a great actor, but he was perfectly cast as Superman.
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Post by Damien »

anonymous wrote:RE: The Christopher Reeve mailbox incident.

Don't you think, Damien, that Christopher Reeve simply overlooked it and did not notice it when he was throwing out his junk mail?
No. He opened it, and was reading all the mail he got before trashing it.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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Post by anonymous1980 »

RE: The Christopher Reeve mailbox incident.

Don't you think, Damien, that Christopher Reeve simply overlooked it and did not notice it when he was throwing out his junk mail?

About Superman II, Damien: A significant portion of that film was actually shot by Richard Donner. The original plan, you see, was to shoot two movies back to back but the production went over-budget and money ran out and the producers decided to get the first one out first to see how it does. It was a hit.

After that, Donner was fired because he went over-budget and they hired Richard Lester to finish off the second one. A lot of the second one's footage was actually directed by Richard Donner (Margot Kidder claims that Donner has shot enough footage to make his own complete cut of Superman II). The best way to tell which scenes are shot by Donner is any scene that involve Gene Hackman.

Gene Hackman didn't return to shoot any additional scenes for II so anytime he makes an appearance in the movie, you can be sure that the footage was directed by Donner.

I know this because I work as a subtitler for a post-production media company and we're working on the Superman DVD featurettes now. LOL.
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