Supergirl (2026)

My brother wanted to see the new “Supergirl” movie, which came out four days ago, so we went to check it out today. I have seen that critics are not liking it, but audiences are. What’s my opinion on this next installment in the restarted “DC Universe?”

Sean P. Means started his review by saying, “If you like your superheroes surly, then director Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl” is right up your alley — though you may wish, as I did, for more for the young woman of steel to do in the second movie of James Gunn’s DC cinematic era.”

What you may know about Supergirl – either from her first comic book in 1959, the 1984 film with Helen Slater, Melissa Benoist starring in the CW show from 2015 to 2021, or Sasha Calle’s brief cameo in the 2023 “The Flash” movie – is that she’s Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin and the second survivor of the explosion of the planet Krypton. Unlike Kal-El or Clark Kent or Superman, Kara lived in Argo City before arriving on Earth.

In this movie, that life – seen in flashbacks, with David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham playing her parents – have made Kara, played by Milly Alcock, more tired about the universe. At one part of the movie, Kara says Clark “sees the good in everyone, and I see the truth.”

Kara spends a lot of time planet hopping, usually looking for planets with red suns like Krypton – because on those planets, she can drink alcohol and not have superpowers. Means describes, “She rides around in a junker spacecraft that looks like an RV on the inside, with her sole companion her dog, Krypto, who stole Gunn’s “Superman” out from under David Corenswet in his blue tights.”

New screenwriter Ana Nogueira’s story starts with a vicious scavenger race, the Brigands, who murder a family, played by Ferdinand Kingsley, Emily Piggford, and Bruce Lennox, in the middle of nowhere. The Brigands leave a teen girl, Ruthye, played by Eve Ridley, alive, who swears vengeance on their leader, Krem, played by Matthias Schoenaerts.

Ruthye’s father (Kingsley) managed to destroy the Brigands’ ship before he was killed, so the group finds a new one to steal: Kara’s. When she fights them, Krem hits Krypto with a poison dart – and a healer, played by Keeley Forsyth, tells Kara, through Ruthye, that she has three days to find Krem to get the antidote.

Kara searches for the Brigands, and Ruthye goes with her, despite the two strongly disagreeing on what will happen when they find Krem. Ruthye wants to kill him, but Kara needs him alive to get the antidote to save Krypto.

Means described, “What follows are a series of fight scenes, some of them in dive bars that make the Mos Eisley cantina look like a Best Western. In one bar, Kara and Ruthye encounter Lobo (Jason Momoa), a bored immortal who works as a bounty hunter. Lobo is a DC Comics fan favorite, I’m told, and Momoa brings the same comical menace to the role that he did to “Fast X” and “A Minecraft Movie.””

Means continued, “Gillespie’s action sequences are serviceable, if overly reliant on CGI and whiplash-inducing camera moves, in a narrative that borrows a little too much from Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.”

The best part of “Supergirl” is Kara herself, and the way Alcock finds the center between the self-righteous hero and the angry, hopeless survivor. Hopefully James Gunn and his team will bring her back in a movie that has her use that bad girl attitude.

Overall, I wasn’t disappointed like so many other people have been. Alcock does a great job playing Kara and there are good elements of the movie. Gillespie does not know how to film action scenes, when they show Kara thinking back to what Clark tells her the meaning of the outfit was forced, and there are writing problems, but I’m still glad I saw it. This is “so” much better than the last time they did a Supergirl movie, if you remember my thoughts on that failed attempt. You should still see this in the theaters because it’s not a waste of money. Check it out and judge it based on your own opinion.

Thank you for joining in on this review today. Stay tuned next month to see what I will review next.

Superman (2025)

Today, my brother and I went to see the new “Superman” movie, which came out last month. This was one of my brother’s most anticipated movies he wanted to see this year, so I went with him since we saw the trailers, and we thought it looked good. How does this one turn out?

Robert Roten admitted in his review, “While there were probably superheroes before Superman, he was my first superhero growing up, both in the movies and on TV.” It is good to see him back in a movie that shows his humanity.

Originally from the planet Krypton, who appears to be exactly like a human, except for all those superpowers, has never made any sense at all, but it sure does make Superman relatable. This latest reboot of the franchise shows Superman’s humanity. This interpretation is helped in no small part with the addition of a pet Kryptonian dog named Krypto. Nothing is more human than having to deal with a loving but annoying dog who won’t behave.

The movie starts with Krypto dragging an injured Superman, played by David Corenswet, back to the Fortress of Solitude where he is helped by a team of Kryptonian robots. Superman was injured in a battle with the powerful robot of supervillain Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult.

However, Superman is not alone in his fight against the evil henchmen of Lex. He has friends in his fellow members of the Justice League (called the “Justice Gang” in this movie). The other members are Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced).

Things get worse for Superman when Luthor breaks into his Fortress of Solitude with Ultraman and The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) and learns why his Kryptonian parents (Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan) originally sent him to Earth that causes the public (and some friends) to turn against Superman (with the help of disinformation spread online by Luthor). Soon afterward Superman is sent to prison inside a “pocket universe” created by Luthor, who has access to advanced technology. There he is cellmates with Metamorpho, played by Anthony Carrigan.

Can Superman escape from this prison, and rescue Krypto from the pocket universe too, before Lex Luthor’s evil plans cause worldwide destruction? Can he get back the love from everyone? He does get some help from his girlfriend, Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan, and from Mister Terrific. Also, Lois gets some help from Jimmy Olson (Skyler Gisondo) thanks to Lex Luthor’s girlfriend, Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio). Superman also gets some parental help from his Earth parents, Jonathan (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Martha Kent (Neva Howell).

Roten admitted, “Some critics call this a corny throwback to earlier films like the 1978 Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve, but that's not the way I see it. This film has more moral ambiguity and the bad guys are more evil and menacing in this new Superman movie.” While this is lighter in tone than Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, it has a better balance between drama and comedy than a lot of other superhero movies. That is one reason it looks to have a more current tone than the 1978 Superman movie.

Director James Gunn has left his mark all over this film, which shares a lot of the story features with his earlier films, like the balance of comedy and drama and how it shows the difficulty of getting a team of powerful heroes to work together. Roten said, “I would like to see more of this team of superheroes.” It shows a lot of potential.

As the start of the rebooted “DC Universe,” this shows a lot of potential and promise. I think this film might be just as good, or even better than the original Superman movie. That might be a stretch, but that’s just my opinion. I like that Gunn made it about Superman not caring if he wins or lose and shows that there will be times where he won’t be successful every time. You should see this because this is one of the best superhero movies to have come out this year and this summer. This is one of my favorite superhero movies. Don’t listen to the people that say this is woke or have more a liberal view on it because that doesn’t matter.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned this Friday for the continuation of “Michael Douglas Month.”

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Today, I finished watching Zack Snyder’s extended “Justice League” cut, which was released on HBO Max back in March. Seeing how this film is four hours long, I watched it in pieces while I was exercising, since that’s what people have been doing during the pandemic. Now, I will let all of you know if I thought this is better than the theatrical version.

Four years ago, when the “Justice League” film was released, it got mixed reviews. Many DC comic and movie fans had dismissed the film for its poor, unfocused script. Mostly because the film went through a difficult production and some serious changes between 2016 to 2017. There were reports that Zack Snyder left during the production because of the suicide of his daughter Autumn, then Joss Whedon came in and changed things around and may have ended up changing things a little too much than he should have.

Apparently die-hard fans and cybercitizens went all over social media with the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, and the studio eventually listened after a few years. Now we finally get the version Snyder always wanted to release, and it became a four-hour long movie that came out on HBO Max. Fortunately, the famous Snyder cut this time around makes Justice League into a film worth seeing.

After Superman (Henry Cavill) sacrifices himself to kill Doomsday, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) travels all over the planet to gather a new team of superheroes, which includes Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher), to defend everyone from an oncoming alien attack. That attack is Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), one of Darkseid’s (Ray Porter) minions who wants to get the three Mother Boxes, the powerful and indestructible boxes that are capable of building and destroying the planet.

Tatat Bunnag said in his review, “While the premise in Zack Snyder's Justice League in broad terms remains the same as the 2017 film, with double the runtime, the new film is a methodical slow burn and has a much deeper interest in exploring its characters more than one may expect.” Nearly every character in the extended version in every way has more of a background and is far more articulate and appealing. These improvements help us really like the characters and understand where they’re coming from.

The premise for the Flash and Cyborg mainly – since the presence of those two characters were mainly dull and somewhat boring in the theatrical version – really bring forth everything that’s human and strong about them. Mainly, Cyborg feels like a well-rounded person in this movie, and for the first time, you see what he thinks and understand more of his family background (Joe Morton and Karen Bryson). Bunnag said, “And it's frankly stunning how engaging Barry Allen/The Flash is here compared to the bland iteration in the theatrical cut.” Allen struggles to find a direction in life and keep his promise he gave to his father, played by Billy Crudup. Now the film pieces the character together from his decision to help the heroes to accepting his responsibility to use his powers for good. Steppenwolf is also more a well-done villain in this version. There’s more clearness to his motivations, which include his duty and loyalty to Darkseid.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League also nicely gives us more background on the three Mother Boxes, which was never explained in the theatrical version. When we look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how they have released so many main and solo movies over the years to go into so much detail on each of the Infinity Stones, we see the DC Extended Universe never had a chance like that before. Now, thanks to the extended version, there’s more than enough time to let viewers know more about the Mother Boxes. Bunnag ended his review by saying, “Ultimately, Zack Snyder's Justice League is definitely a surprise vindication for the director and really saves the movie from the dustbin of history. With its improved stories, better realised protagonists and antagonists, I believe that it should resonate with fans better than ever.”

We also get appearances from other famous DC characters, like Jeremy Irons as Alfred, J.K. Simmons as James Gordon, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Amber Heard as Mera, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, and even Harry Lennix makes a surprise appearance as Martin Manhunter. We even hear the voices of Carla Gugino as the A.I. on the Krypton ship, Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner as Clark Kent/Kal-El’s fathers.

 For those who did not really get into the theatrical version, check out the Snyder cut. There are still some problems, it doesn’t resolve all the issues from the theatrical version, but they do improve on those mistakes. Snyder’s direction and characterization are better, but he just can’t do Superman justice. That’s a major complaint that I can understand where people come from when they say that. However, seeing how this is a long film, which it in pieces, since you can watch it on HBO Max, if you have an account. Still, you should see this because it is a great film and another one of my favorite comic book films. I didn’t mind the theatrical version like a lot of people did, since I missed some of those comedic moments that were in the theatrical version, but the Snyder version was worth it in the end.

Thank you for joining in on today’s review, stay tuned tomorrow for the continuation of “The Addams Family Month.”

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition

Since this year, we saw the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League cut, I thought it would be best to finally check out “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition.” I know that this has been out for since 2016, but I never got around to it until recently, and I watched it on HBO Max while exercising, since this version is a half-hour longer than the theatrical version. I heard that this version is better, but is this R-rated extended edition superior or not? Since I just finished it this morning, I will let everyone know.

I can safely say that the “Ultimate Edition” is thankfully superior to the theatrical version. There are a lot of scenes added and everything that was added feels necessary in making sense of things that didn’t add up in the theatrical version. One of the added parts is Henry Cavill as Superman doing way more in the “Ultimate Edition.” Superman did not have a lot of scenes in the theatrical version, but the “Ultimate Edition” has him investigating Batman hard in Gotham, interviewing citizens who fear him. Sean Gallagher said in his review, “Likewise, we learn just how much of a death sentence the bat-brand can be from the point of view of the branded’s wife. Through Clark’s investigations, he learns that Batman sees himself as a fearmonger and above the law.” Clark sees that he needs to stop Batman because he’s been told by Gotham residents how scared they are of him.

The “Ultimate Edition” also does a better job explaining why Superman was blamed for the events in Africa. In the theatrical version, soldiers tasked by Lex Luthor destroyed a village and blamed Superman for it, which confused many viewers as to how this would make everything think that Superman never uses firearms. The “Ultimate Edition” shows the villagers were burned by Anatoli and his minions and knowing that Superman has heat vision, that makes the crime seem more believable. On top of that, we see that one of the survivors was paid by Luthor to say Superman was to blame. This beginning makes a lot more sense and makes the movie’s overall story more consistent and logical.

Another part that makes more sense is the explanation on why Superman didn’t see the bomb in Wallace’s (Scoot McNairy) wheelchair. Lois, played by Amy Adams, gets to do some real investigating (with the help of Jena Malone’s character, exclusive to this version) and learns that Wallace wasn’t a willing participant in his demise. He didn’t commit suicide but was killed so that Superman could get framed. She also sees that the wheelchair he was using in the senate hearing was made of lead, which Superman’s X-Ray vision would have not seen and prevented him from stopping the bomb. Again, this is vital information. Even though the warehouse fight hasn’t changed so much from the theatrical version, besides a few additional serious violence, the Batman fight scene against Luthor’s minions still is one of the best Batman fight scenes ever on screen.

The scene where Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) speaks with Steppenwolf is also added in the “Ultimate Edition,” which gives contest to the final conversation he has with Batman (Ben Affleck) in the cell. This scene was released online before the release of the “Ultimate Edition” but it’s still a nice inclusion as a segue from “Batman V Superman” to “Justice League.” A lot of scenes that are added in the “Ultimate Edition” just make other scenes make more sense, instead of just leaving the audience scratching their heads and asking why certain scenes were in the movie.

Unfortunately, even though the “Ultimate Edition” does add a lot and makes sure there are not as many plot holes than in the theatrical version by adding scenes that makes the movie make more sense, the problems that people had with the original theatrical version are still here. Snyder and his team decided not to remove any scenes from the “Ultimate Edition,” which is sad because there are certain parts of the movie that could have been removed completely. One of them could have been Lex’s speech at his gala, which still feels weird to watch (along with his cartoony antics), and the Martha scene at the height of the fight between the superheroes still hits a bad nerve. Gallagher noted, “Doomsday’s last-minute appearance isn’t alluded to at all until he shows up really, barring Lex running some mysterious experiments on General Zod’s body, so that reveal still comes out of left-field.” The Justice League cameos are still shown very briefly in email attachments seen by Batman. There’s also a lot of stuff in the movie that sometimes makes it feel distracted when looking at the future of the DC Extended Universe.

Now, I don’t know if Snyder’s cut to “Justice League” learned any lessons from the “Ultimate Edition,” but I must see that in order to make any sort of final judgment. The additions that Snyder made in the “Ultimate Edition” were very essential to make the movie much better, and I heard that the Snyder “Justice League” cut is his original vision of the movie before he was replaced by Joss Whedon due to the tragedy in Snyder’s family, although now I’m hearing that wasn’t entirely true. I know that Snyder made his version of “Justice League” four hours long, and I don’t think he would have released that in theaters, seeing how people would not have wanted to sit through a four-hour movie. Like I already stated, I must watch Snyder’s version of “Justice League” that he released earlier on HBO Max. That will also be an exercise movie, since now with streaming services, I can watch films in pieces if they’re too long.

In the end, I will say that if you were not satisfied with the theatrical version of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” check out the “Ultimate Edition” on HBO Max. Even though the flaws from the theatrical version are still present, a lot of scenes make more sense, and it was needed. Like I had already stated, it is a three-hour long movie, so if you can’t sit through the movie that long, watch it in pieces, if you have HBO Max.

Thank you for joining in on my review today. Stay tuned Friday for the continuation of “Special Needs Month.”

Justice League

Well everyone, I came back from seeing the much anticipated “Justice League,” which came out yesterday. This is a movie that every DC fan has wanted to see ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe came out with “The Avengers.” Maybe long before that. However, I will share with everyone what I thought of this film that every DC fan has requested for years.

Maybe everyone had really low expectations after “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” but “Justice League” is good. It’s nowhere near as amazing as “Wonder Woman,” but “Wonder Woman” also had the smart idea of being a standalone story that was trying to do something different than the previous huge superhero combination movies. I agree with Katey Stoetzel when she stated in her review, “Justice League takes what was bad about Batman V Superman and fixes some of it, which leaves us with a film that, to be kind, didn’t feel like a complete waste of my time or money.”

The cities are in danger after the death of Superman, having criminals do so much crime they want and for aliens to enter in Earth now that they have no savior. To stop the madness, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) brings together a team of superheroes that consist of Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller), Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Together, they form the beginning of the Justice League and are the best part of the film, hands down. They work off each other so well, with enough comedy that feels on par with the Marvel films, but also enough drama to not feel just like a copy of the Marvel formula.

Individually, they’re just as interesting. Gal Gadot’s return as Wonder Woman is just perfect after the five month break since we last saw her. Stoetzel admitted, “Jason Momoa as Aquaman kills it, although if you’re not familiar with the character, you might be a little lost on some of his story (like me). Ezra Miller as The Flash, who I was the most concerned about due to my affection for Grant Gustin’s turn on the CW series, ultimately impressed with his charm.” It’s the completely unknown Ray Fisher who is the best part here. Victor Stone may be mostly robotic, but Fisher fills humanity and warmth through only his facial expressions and voice. It’s also good that Victor has the most convincing character arc out of all of them.

Stoetzel said, “The nicest thing to say about Ben Affleck’s Batman this time around is that he isn’t a distraction while Superman played by Henry Cavill remaining the dark mark on the DC Universe.  Delivering a wooden performance, his relationship with Lois Lane (Amy Adams) remains cringe-worthy. Cavill’s turn as Superman has been around since 2013, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care about his return, despite how much the film wants you to.”

The plot is less messy than the over-packed mess of “Batman v Superman,” but there’s still some questions that will be asked and will make it hard to follow sometimes. Stoetzel admitted, “While some feel that Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) is just another CGI villain, I found him to be a worthy opponent for our heroes.” The flashbacks of the first fights with him put “Justice League” and the DC Extended Universe on a larger, epic scale. The action is engaging, most notably when we have a part in Themiscyra, home of the Amazons. Its here we first see Steppenwolf when one of the three Mother Boxes power up and Steppenwolf appears to steal it. The Amazons try to keep the box from being stolen; throwing it between each other like they are playing “Monkey in the Middle” with Steppenwolf. The larger story about the three boxes is a little vague – something to do with remaking Steppenwolf’s home planet, but it only tells as much as that it would destroy humanity, rather than explaining further on why, exactly.

Stoetzel said, “The film also suffers tonally. The comedy fits well with the drama between the characters, but it also flits between Lord of the Rings-type mythical battles, sci-fi alien invasions, and a gritty dystopia that can only be healed when their hero returns.”

“Justice League” brings light to the DC Extended Universe, so at least this time; there is some enjoyment to have. I agree with Stoetzel when she said, “It’s definitely a step up from BvS, not quite as remarkable as Wonder Woman, but a good popcorn film that doesn’t have me losing faith just yet.” Be sure to stay for the two mid-credit (where Flash and Superman agree to race one another) and post credit scenes (where Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) escape from Arkham Asylum and recruits Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) to create a team), though, because that’s what comic book movies do nowadays.

After seeing this movie, I have to admit that it’s better than all the movies in the DC Extended Universe, except for “Wonder Woman.” That’s still the best, but that’s probably because it was a standalone, solo film about one character, rather than about a team. Those seem to cram too much in, but “Justice League” doesn’t really do it that much. The action was great, the comedy was funny, and it was about the team coming together, learning about one another, and learning teamwork. This movie did what “The Avengers” did, but not at the same level. Even though there isn’t as much action, it was still a good movie because it was more about the characters coming together, learning from one another, and learning to work together as a unit. I would probably say this is one of my favorite comic book films. My only complaint is that Steppenwolf is not a good villain. I know that he was never a villain in the Justice League and it should have been their main villain, but I don't know Justice League that well. Maybe DC needs to work on their villains a bit, but Marvel had that problem for a long time as well.

My advice is to not listen to the critics, since Rotten Tomatoes is showing critics hating this movie, but audiences love it. Go and see the movie for yourself. I seriously think all of you will like it, agreeing that it’s the second best installment in the DC Extended Universe. I give this a recommendation and tell you to go check it out.

Thank you for joining in on my review, stay tuned next Thursday when I review a Thanksgiving movie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Tonight, I finally got a chance to see “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which came out last month. If you remember my “Batman and Robin” review, I said that this was in the works but was scrapped immediately. However, this was in talks forever. Now we finally got it, and how does the end result fair out? 

Allan Hunter started his review out by saying, “In Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, it’s fisticuffs at 20 paces as the Caped Crusader and the Man Of Steel decide that humanity can only survive if one of them doesn’t. It’s billed as the greatest gladiator fight in the history of the planet, the result of which is a chaotic comic book extravaganza that careers between exhilaration and exasperation.”

A combination of death and destruction built around moral dilemmas, ethical issues and observational fear, this makes the cheerful innocence of the Christopher Reeve time feels like so long. Even if you were paying attention at the end of “Man of Steel,” you might not have noticed the final fight between Superman and General Zod ended in the destruction of Wayne Enterprises and many people died in that.

Worrying, grief-stricken Bruce Wayne, played by Casey Affleck’s older brother, Ben Affleck, can neither forgive nor forget, continuing to think of Superman as a reckless enemy of the human race who must be destroyed. The trouble-making Alexander “Lex” Luther, played by an enjoyably crazy Jesse Eisenberg, has his own sneakiness plan to kill a superhero, requiring a huge amount of Kryptonite.

As the fight between Superman and Wayne’s crime-fighting alter ego Batman heats up, other elements get mixed in, including the arrival of Wonder Woman (the hot Gal Gadot), the death-daring experiences of reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and the campaign by Senator Finch (Holly Hunter) to make Superman accountable for his actions.

There is enough going on in “Batman v Superman” to fill a handful of films. Director Zack Snyder keeps it moving at a decent pace but between the flashbacks, fantasy orders and loads of characters the film feels like it is exploding at the climax.

Hunter stated in his review, “The violence and spectacle easily outshine the soul-searching dilemmas and there is a thunderous score by Hans Zimmer. Everything is big, bombastic and overwrought and by the end it feels amazing anything or anyone is left standing or that the film only secured a 12 certificate.” Affleck is correctly tortured and heartless as a grouchy old Batman but Cavill is still on the boring side as Superman.

Jeremy Irons is a nice addition as a sarcastic, long-suffering Alfred, telling Bruce Wayne: “You’ve got too old to die young.” Hunter is right when he said, “Despite its flaws this film works on its own terms as the inky black visuals and cliff-hanging plot create something that feels true to its comic book origins.” It also leaves enough up in the air to keep the franchise running for many years.

Now, I know that this film has been getting bad reviews from critics. However, I do not think this is a great movie by any means, or even one of the best. Still, I don’t think this is as bad as everyone says it is, and is not even anywhere close to being one of the worse comic book adaptations or one of the worst movies. I thought that it was fine and there was plenty in it that kept me engaged.

In the end, if you want to see this movie, you can see it if you like. Otherwise, if you think it is better to just rent it when it comes out on Blu-Ray, then go right ahead. I personally am happy I saw this, and it was a fine first entry in the Justice League build-up movies.

Hopefully I gave everyone a good recommendation. I won’t spoil anything since I don’t like doing that, especially since this movie came out a few weeks ago. Check in next Friday for the third entry in “Karate Kid Month.”

Superman Week Part 7

We have now come to the finale of Superman week, where it is time to talk about the reboot to the Superman series, “Man of Steel,” which actually came out a month ago. FINALLY, we get a good Superman movie, which ironically enough, hasn’t been since “Superman 2.” Now the story begins with a Kryptonian named Lara, played by Ayalet Zurer, giving birth to her son, Kal-El. This is the first natural born child of Krypton in over hundreds of years, which makes her husband, Jor-El, played by New Zealand actor you might remember from such roles like “Gladiator” and “Les Miserables,” Russell Crowe, really happy. He tries to tell the government that the planet is about to explode, until General Zod, played by Michael Shannon, enters in. I will say that I didn’t like the way they killed Jor-El in this one. Zod stabs him to death after he and Lara send their son off to Earth. I always thought that the image of Jor-El and Lara holding one another before Krypton explodes was great. Then again, they do change the origin story somewhat in this film, which I’m fine with. But how come I always see Russell Crowe in a film where he dies in? Seriously, he died in “Gladiator,” “Les Miserables,” and now this film? Is it written in his contract that he needs to sign on to just play a role where he dies in? The only film that I have seen of his where he doesn’t die in is “A Beautiful Mind.”

On Earth, we cut years into Kal-El's, or Clark Kent now (or Joe as he is called a couple of times in here), played by Henry Cavill, life. Unlike the past adaptations where we see his childhood until he reaches his adult life, we see glimpses of his past in the form of flashbacks, which I think is nice for this remake. His Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, try to help him until they tell him where he originally came from. No, they do not know about Krypton, so they just tell him that they found him in the spaceship. Also, Jonathan Kent died of a heart attack. In this film, there is a hurricane that comes in, and the three of them get out of the truck until Martha said that the dog is still in the truck. Why send Jonathan back to get your dog? I don’t hate dogs, but in this case, just forget the dog. Also, when Clark steps forward to save Jonathan, he stops him and dies in order to keep his secret, which I think is strong that he did that, but it's still contrived. Still, why did you send Jonathan back to save your dog Martha? He is the man that you said to have a lifetime commitment with, and you send him back to save your dog? Have you forgotten the wedding vows? Why didn’t you let Clark go back? It would have been great if you just made him go back because he can’t die or get hurt by the hurricane. There have been reports in the news of hurricane survivors, so it would have been a great story for the paper. Other than that, Costner does do a good job in this film and really does a good job with the emotional scenes, which would remind you of when Uncle Ben died in the “Spiderman” films. People complain that Costner is a bland actor and he isn't good, but I think he does a really good job in his roles.

Now Lois Lane is played by one of the hottest actresses, Amy Adams, who I have to say is really good in this film. She doesn’t play a reporter like she is top notch and can do anything; she just goes and does her own business. I like that. She, Cavill, and Shannon look good for the today’s look on Superman, Lois, and Zod. Also, I like how when Clark finds the Fortress of Solitude, Lois follows him, and they start the film off with her knowing that he is Superman. She does the report, goes around Metropolis to find clues as to who he is, before coming to Martha at the farm in Smallville. I really liked that update, and no there won’t be that weird mind erasing kiss at the end of the film, thankfully. With this version, she is the only person that knows about Clark being Superman, and she doesn’t tell anyone. Much to the dismay of her boss, Perry White, played by one of the coolest actors, Laurence Fishburne, she does stop, which ultimately leads to her four week leave in the Daily Planet.

When Superman finds the Fortress of Solitude and becomes Superman, he discovers the powers he has, and notices he can’t fly so high into space, or else he won’t breath. Thankfully, director of “300,” Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan didn’t make a “Superman 4” mistake of him breathing in space. Snyder and Nolan really treated this film with care and did a fairly good job with this reboot.

However, I do have a complaint with the action scenes. Why do Zod and Superman completely trash Metropolis? Isn’t Superman supposed to protect Metropolis, not destroy it? When Zod has the tanker and throws it at Superman, he doesn’t just grab it and set it down, he instead moves out of the way, and it gets thrown into the building. Then when Zod is using his lazer eyes to kill the humans in the building and Superman is pleading with Zod not to kill him, and he doesn’t listen, he breaks Zod’s neck, killing him. I don’t get why Superman all of a sudden cared for those people Zod was going to zap with his lazer eyes when there were several people that he and Zod killed in the buildings they crashed through, and Superman didn’t give any emotion towards them. With Batman, even though he may not have saved everyone when he went out to fight crime in Gotham City, he at least had felt bad that he couldn’t save them. Why can’t Superman do that? I grew up watching "Superman: The Animated Series," and that was a pretty good cartoon. They portrayed Superman very well, but he wasn't like that in here. He doesn't show any emotions, doesn't seem to care about people, and he seems completely expressionless. I hope that in future sequels, they at least give Superman a soul. Also, fan boys would be saying, “Superman doesn’t kill his villains!” It’s a different time people. I don’t mean to say that in the future films I want to see Superman kill all of his villains, but still, it was going to happen. Zod wasn’t listening to Supeman’s pleas to not kill the people, and when he killed Zod, he screamed out in agony over what he did. That comes across as strong since Superman doesn’t like what he did. Since we live in a different day-in-age, it would not be any different than a cop shooting a criminal. Even though Superman has flight power, Zod would have resisted. However, as good of a job Michael Shannon did as Zod, it's not as memorable as Terence Stamp's Zod from Superman II. Also, the villain that "truly" stole the show was Antje Traue, who played Faora, Zod's sub-commander and a commander of the Kryptonian military. She is completely devoted and loyal to General Zod.

One more flaw I don’t like about the film is Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet at the end of the film. Wait, we didn’t see anything that built up to that. Why didn’t they show him working for his school newspaper company or anything where he gets clips before getting the job at the Daily Planet? Also, he doesn’t start wearing the glasses until the end of the film, which I was perfectly alright with. I still don’t understand how anyone can’t see past the glasses. He was exposed for a few moments in “Superman 2,” and no one noticed that Clark was Superman. But I digress, this film is still good. It’s “way” better than 3, 4, and Returns, but the first two are still better. As much as I like this movie, I do acknowledge the faults and won't defend it like it's the best Superman movie. However, it's nowhere near being as bad as some of the past Superman movies, and that's a fact. Also, like Brandon Routh, Cavill doesn’t get many lines, but that’s ok, since Cavill doesn’t sound like a Christopher Reeves rip-off. Go see the film if you haven't, I think you'll enjoy it. Just a heads up, it's darker than Batman Begins, but that doesn't mean there are still moments of humor in it. There are some funny moments, but not as much as in Batman Begins. Still check it out when you get the chance.

Thank you for joining in on my Superman week. I hope you enjoyed this week as much as I did reviewing every single film in the Superman franchise. The Wall Street Journal has said the sequel to “Man of Steel” is going to come out next year, which I feel is going to be rushed, but we’ll see, they’ll probably delay it. Stay tuned for next week where I start back up with the “Lethal Weapon” reviews.

Superman Week Part 6

After the horrible films in 3, 4, and even the spinoff, Supergirl, the Superman franchise was laid to rest for many years, much like how they did with the Batman franchise. After 19 years, Bryan Ratner left, failing several attempts at trying to bring Superman back, and so did Joseph McGinty "McG" Nichol. Finally, Bryan Singer approached the project, and he was also said to be a childhood friend of Richard Donner. Warner Bros. asked him if he could do another Superman movie, and he accepted, leaving two other films in pre-production, "X-Men: The Last Stand" (which would be directed by Ratner), and the remake of "Logan’s Run." The smart thing Singer did was that he made the 2006 film, "Superman Returns," ignore the events from 3 and 4, and instead made it an alternate sequel to "Superman 2."

The story of this film is that Superman returns to Earth after a five-year search for the survivors of his home planet, Krypton. When he returns, he finds out that Lois Lane, played by Kate Bosworth, now has a son, played by Tristan Lake Leabu, and is now engaged to Richard White, played by James Marsden. Singer followed the casting choice like how Donner did, and chose Brandon Routh to play Clark Kent/Superman, who sort of looked like Christopher Reeves. More high profile actors in the supporting roles were casted, like one of the greatest actors, Kevin Spacey, to play Lex Luthor and another great actor, Frank Langella, as the Daily Planet head, Perry White. Eva Marie Saint plays Martha Kent, Superman's Earth mother.

For this film, Singer brought the entire crew from "X2" to work on it. They even used digitally-enhanced archive footage of the late Marlon Brando to appear as Jor-El in this. "Superman Returns" was positively received and made $391 million worldwide.

Now the big question you’re probably asking is, “How is this film compared to the previous sequels?” In my honest opinion, I think it’s better than 3 and 4, but the first two are still better. The reason why is because for the first half of the film, it really is good. Up until the climax of the film when Superman saves that airplane and has it land safely in the baseball field, it then becomes too predictable. Examples of this include another rip off of the romantic flying sequence from the first film, and how Lex Luthor is using his power to take down Superman and take over Metropolis. If you remember near the end of the movie Lex Luthor makes an island out of Superman’s weakness, kryptonite. That’s the reason why the last half of the film is not really so well, because it borrows heavily from the first film. Also, it makes it look unremarkable.

Of course the dumbest moment of this film is the casting for Superman and Lois. Kate Bosworth and Brandon Routh don’t really look old enough to play the parts. Well, they probably are, but they look like teenagers out of high school that were casted for this film. It’s like they were supposed to be in that horrible Superman sitcom, "Smallville," which I think we can all agree, it was really bad. Thankfully their careers were saved by being in this film instead. Also, their acting didn’t make them suitable for the roles, they just were very bland. Brandon Routh doesn’t really have much dialogue in this film, but he’s not anywhere as memorable as Christopher Reeves was.

Well I can’t really say much about this film because it didn’t really leave an impact on me that I could give a thorough review of it. So I’ll just end it here with this cliffhanger for the finale tomorrow: Will there be a sequel to this film? Or will the people finally realize that this franchise needs a reboot? All of that will be found out in tomorrow’s finale. Up, up and away!

Superman Week Part 5

I can’t believe that they did this to Superman! They should have stopped after how bad Superman 3 was received. But no, instead they decide to pick up a fourth one. That’s right, Cannon Films picked up the option to do the fourth Superman movie, and Christopher Reeves decided to come back because the film was about nuclear weapons, and Reeves was interested in that topic. Bad mistake Mr. Reeves. Because Cannon decided to cut the budget of the film from $35 million to $15 million, and what happened with that much of a budget cut? Poor special effects and constant re-edits which made this the worst film in the Superman film franchise.

That’s right, I am not looking forward to reviewing this 1987 god-awful film, “Superman 4: The Quest for Peace.” Well, I have to, so let’s try and see if we can survive this review. The first problem is the constant use of Superman flying towards the screen. Just because it looked good the first time doesn’t mean that you need to reuse it. Second, the special effects are, like I said before, the worst amongst the rest of the films. You might be saying, give it a break, this was 1987, but no, this is just bad! You can easily see the strings on Superman when he is fighting, the black curtains in the background can be noticed, and the Green Screen effects are just so obvious.

Now the film begins with Russians in space, and Superman saves one of the astronauts, with his cape flying like a fan is blowing on it, and he talks in space. Did these people forget their science class from kindergarten? You cannot talk in space. Just because Superman is from another planet doesn’t mean that he has the ability to talk in space! The President, played by Robert Beatty, gives a broadcast on TV about how America strives to become second to none in a nuclear arms race. That’s when one of the students in the school the broadcast was being shown in, Jeremy, played by Damien McLawhorn, writes a letter to Superman, asking him to solve this problem. After learning that the Soviet Union and the USA are going to engage in a nuclear war, he goes to his fortress of solitude to ask his elders for help on what he should do. And what does he come to for a resolution? He goes to the United Nations assembly and says that he will get rid of all nuclear weapons. And you want to know what else? They are all for it! Over the next few days, he takes all of the nuclear weapons, wraps them up in a gigantic net, and throws them into the sun. HOW DOES THAT WORK!?!?!?!?

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor is back in this film with a very nuisance nephew, Lenny, played by Jon Cryer, who is, hands down, one of the most annoying characters ever put in any movie. They decide to create a villain that is just as powerful as Superman, so they steal a strand of Superman’s hair that he donated to the museum that is held on by a giant weight, AND THEY SIMPLY CUT IT WITH SCISSORS!!!! HOW DOES THAT WORK!?!?!? After that, he launches a missile into space, which Superman catches and throws into the sun, and thus the villain is born with a skin-tight outfit. How is a villain born from the sun with a skin-tight outfit? Guess what, there will be no explanation how it works. This villain is Nuclear Man, played by Mark Pillow, but voiced by Gene Hackman. Even though he needs sunlight to stay powered up, making him a solar-powered villain, THERE ARE SHOTS WITH HIM NOT IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT AND HE IS JUST FINE!!!! INCONSISTENCY!!!!!

And you want to know what else? The Daily Planet has been bought by a media mogul named David Warfield, played by Sam Wanamaker, WHO PLANS ON TURING IT INTO A TABLOID!!! THIS IS A NEWSPAPER COMPANY YOU RETARD!!!!!! His daughter, Lacy, played by Mariel Hemmingway, joins the company as well, and starts to get an attraction towards Clark. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!? ARE YOU STARTING ANOTHER LOVE TRIANGLE BETWEEN CLARK, LOIS, AND ANOTHER GIRL!?!? AND WHERE’S LANA!?!? IS THERE NO MENTION OF HER!?!? OF COURSE NOT, BECAUSE THIS IS A GOD-AWFUL SEQUEL!!!!!

What else can they do to make this film the worst of the series? THEY RIP OFF THE ROMANTIC FLYING SCENE FROM THE FIRST ONE, FRAME BY FRAME! THEN THEY RIP OFF THE MIND ERASING KISS FROM THE SECOND ONE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?!?!? Also, Nuclear Man starts to develop an attraction to Lacy, and threatens to wreck havoc if she is not brought to him. He even makes Superman sick for a while with a nuclear scratch. This is after Lex Luthor, somehow, manages to give Superman a supersonic message, and he fights Nuclear Man. Another plot device that they have is that Clark retrieves a crystal from the barn, just like he did in the first one, and without any explanation, he feels better!!! ARE YOU PEOPLE GOING TO FILL US IN ON ANYTHING, OR ARE YOU GOING TO JUST LEAVE US OUT IN THE DUST!?!?!?!? BECAUSE YOU’RE DOING A GOOD JOB OF DOING JUST THAT!!!!

You want to know what else happens that makes this film so god-awful. When Nuclear Man and Superman fight in space with Lacy being brought there as well, she is apparently breathing just fine despite the fact that SPACE HAS A LACK OF BREATHING AND AIR PRESSURE!!!! THIS IS KINDERGARTEN SCIENCE PEOPLE, YOU CAN’T BREATHE IN SPACE!!!!! Science just doesn't even exist in this movie. When did Superman get the power to repair walls? That's what he did with the Great Wall of China. Also, how is he able to carry the Statue of Liberty all the way back to where Nuclear Man picked it up from WITHOUT BREAKING A FINGER ON IT!?!?!?! HAVE ANY OF YOU FILMMAKERS TAKEN PHYSICS!?!?!?!? And how is Superman able to move the Moon to block the Sun to get Nuclear Man killed? And how is Nuclear Man able to get killed by being dropped INTO A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT!?!?!? I thought you said his name was Nuclear Man, as in that's his strength, NOT WEAKNESS!?!?!?! This movie really needed some environmental specialist to help out because obviously, no one working on this movie knew anything about Science or the environment!

Just don’t watch this film, long story short. This is right up there with Batman & Robin as one of the worst superhero films ever made. Thank goodness I'm done with this review because I just couldn't stand it any longer. Thankfully, Warner Bros. left this franchise alone after the poor receptions from both 3 and 4. How long will it be after the Superman franchise will be resurrected? Will the new one be better, or will it be good up to the half-way point, and the last half will be very predictable? All of this will be figured out tomorrow. Up, up, and away!

Superman Week Part 4

Remember when I was reviewing Superman 3 and I had said that Ilya Salkind was originally thinking of putting Supergirl in the film as Superman’s love interest? Well, in 1984, Ilya and Alexander purchased rights for Supergirl and made a spin-off film about her. Making her motion picture debut is Helen Slater playing Kara Zor-El, later to become Supergirl. Faye Dunaway played the villain, Selena and Marc McClure reprised his role as Jimmy Olsen.

This will come as no shock: the film did poorly in the box office and critics and audiences were not impressed at all. However, Helen Slater was nominated for the Saturn Award, and expanding on the Superman mythology, like taking us into the Phantom Zone, which in the first two was represented by a spinning black pane of glass.

So the film is about Kara Zor-El who lives in an isolated Kryptonian community in another universe known as Argo City. Zaltar, played by one of the greatest actors who you might remember from such classics as Lawrence of Arabia, Peter O’Toole, allows her to see the Omegahedron, which powers the city. However, it gets blown into space and Kara decides to go retrieve it, even though her parents, played by Simon Ward and Mia Farrow, decide against it. She goes to Earth, transforms into Supergirl, and follows it to find the Omegahedron.

Now the major problem with this film is that she didn’t undergo a transformation when she arrived on Earth. Didn’t Superman go and have his costume made? Why would Supergirl be given the suit automatically, when I believe in the comics, she also got it made as well? Also, when she arrives and sees what kind of powers she has, she plays around with them like some kid who just discovered they have superpowers. FIND THE OMEGAHEDRON!!! And another major problem is that instead of finding the Omegahedron, she instead decides to play high school girl, going under the name, Linda Lee. Hello, you have your home planet to save lady, why are you hiding out playing high school girl? And how ironic that she rooms with Lois Lane’s younger sister, Lucy, played by Maureen Teefy, at the dormitories? I think that with the allotted time this movie has, the planet would be dead by now thanks to her playing high school girl, INSTEAD OF FINDING THE OMEGAHEDRON!!!!!

Selena is some wanna-be witch, assisted by Bianca, played by Brenda Vaccaro, who wants to break up her relationship with a warlock named Nigel, played by Peter Cook. Is this Earth, because there’s no such thing as witches or warlocks. Unless you’re Charlie Sheen who has his head in the fantasy world all the time, which is something no one will understand. Once Selena finds the Omegahedron, she uses it to perform real magic spells. And thanks to Supergirl, Argo City will be dead, and all of Earth will be destroyed. This movie would be over really quickly IF SHE WASN’T PLAYING HIGH SCHOOL GIRL!!!!! I’m sorry; I can’t fathom the thought of why the Salkinds made this film this way. They completely destroyed this character.

You want to know what else? The groundskeeper of the school, Ethan, played by Hart Bochner, falls in love with Supergirl. Why doesn’t she just go out with him? He doesn’t need to know that she is Supergirl. Just go that extra mile and have her go out with him, since she has already been destroyed enough. It's like how Joel Schumacher treated Batgirl in Batman and Robin. It was her only feature film, and they destroyed Batgirl in that film, and we never saw her again. Same thing with Supergirl. This is her only feature film, and there hasn't been another one, which I don't blame them for doing.

Christopher Reeves was supposed to make a cameo, but bowed out early. Thank goodness he did, but they said in a news broadcast in the film that Superman was on a “peace-seeking mission” in another galaxy. Ok, now that’s just bad writing. If you have the opportunity to just pass this by and not watch it, do so. Save yourself and never watch this film, because it is in the top 5 worst comic book adaptations ever made.

What a relief! Now that’s off my chest, let’s see tomorrow how Cannon Films treats the fourth Superman film. Trust me; I’m not looking forward to it either. Up, up, and away!

Superman Week Part 3

Unbelievable, just unbelievable! I can’t imagine what they have done to Superman after the second film. Unlike Batman Forever, where Schumacher just decided to make it more child-friendly and it was ok, they did not do the same thing for Superman. Want to know what they did? Just hold on to your vomit bags, it’s time to look at the 1983 horrendous sequel in the franchise, “Superman 3.” For this film, Ilya Salkind originally wrote the film introducing other famous Superman villains, like Brainiac and Mr. Mxyzptlk, and even introduces Superman’s cousin, Supergirl. Originally there was supposed to be a father-daughter relationship between Brainiac and Supergirl. Hold on a second! Brainiac and Supergirl aren’t father and daughter! Did you bother to read a Superman comic before writing out this outline, Ilya? If that’s not enough, there was going to be a romance between Superman and Supergirl. They’re cousins, you moron! Do your stinking research before writing this out! Thankfully, Warner Bros. rejected that idea. Well that’s a relief. However, they decided to create their own film, where the script took Brainiac and instead made it an evil “ultimate computer.” I would have personally loved to have seen Brainiac in this film, but I guess that would be a hard one to pull off. It’s like if you decided to put Clayface in a Batman movie, it would be difficult to make him. However, Salkind’s rejected idea was later released online in 2007.

Back to the review, the film co-starred the late raunchy comedian, Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman, who is a computer genius. Boy do I have to say he does not do a very good job here. Richard, you’re one of the funniest comedians we ever had, what are you doing in a Superman movie? It’s fine that you are in here, but still, where’s the comedic genius that we all are familiar with from your stand up or other films? Whenever he is trying to be funny in a scene, it just comes out painful to see. When he’s telling the millionaire family he is working with to take down Superman how the Man of Steel stopped a hurricane, nothing about it is funny. When the family is looking at him as if they weren’t the least bit entertained as well, he says, “Superman’s bad.” No Richard, you’re bad in this. Even when he dresses up like the army guy when Superman is at that public appearance of his it’s just overacting at its worse. Did the director suck all the funny out of him? I wouldn’t even be surprised if Richard Lester did that. When Gus says at the beginning, “Don’t call me a bum, I’m not a bum,” I have to say, regretfully, “Yes, you are a bum.”

Even the opening credits are saying this film is doomed from the start. Instead of the classic openings with the opening credits zooming in the front of the screen with the famous John Williams Superman theme playing, it’s instead looking like the Star Wars opening with so many Three Stooges stunts going on in the city. Just watch the opening of this film, if you want to know what I mean.

So the plot to this film involves Gus Gorman working with millionaire Webster (played by Robert Vaughn), his sister Vera (played by Annie Ross), and his mistress Lorelei Ambrosia (played by Pamela Stephenson). When Gus finds out that he is a computer genius, he helps them build a computer to take over the world financially. Meanwhile, Clark Kent convinces his boss, Perry White, played by Jackie Cooper, to return to his hometown of Smallville for his high school reunion, while Lois goes to Bermuda for vacation. Thank goodness Margot Kidder got out of this one. Jimmy Olsen, played by Marc McClure, goes with Clark. At the high school reunion, Clark meets up with his old friend Lana Lang, played by Annette O'Toole, who now is a divorcee and has a son, Ricky, played by Paul Kaethler. So it looks like they are getting back together when Clark’s old bully and now an alcoholic, Brad, played by Gavan O'Herlihy, still wants her attention. On the other side, Gus and Webster find kryptonite, which is Superman’s weakness, in order to turn him evil, and become infatuated with Lorelei. Superman also becomes an alcoholic. What is going on here? Why is there so much emphasis on comedy? Superman is not supposed to be a comedy! I know that Superman is more light-hearted compared to Batman, but he did have some serious tones to the comics. They just completely forgot about that, as if they never read a Superman comic! And you want to know what tops off this atrocious film? Vera gets taken over by the computer and becomes a cyborg. That moment is the scariest moment in film history. It can alone give you nightmares for weeks.

Even though this film was a success, fans were extremely upset with the film, particularly Richard Pryor’s performance. If you were a Richard Pryor fan, wouldn’t you be as well? The last two had a serious tone to it; this was just not funny to begin with. There was also controversy over evil Superman as well. Actually, now that I mention it, the only good part of this film that you should watch is the junkyard scene when evil Superman fights good Clark Kent. That is the only part of this film that I would watch again out of this two hour pain. Trust me when I say this is one of the worst superhero films ever made. It’s in the top 10.

Thank goodness I’m done with that film. Will the Salkinds learn and not do the same thing in future Superman films? Well, believe it or not, they actually made a spin-off of the Christopher Reeve films. Find out tomorrow if it’s any good, which I think you will not be happy with that one at all. Not one bit, but we’ll see. Up, up, and away!

Superman Week Part 2

Now it's time to look at the sequel to Superman: the Movie, which came out in 1981, "Superman II." By shooting these two films, Richard Donner's relationship with the Salkinds started to turn sour, and Richard Lester was the mediator. Because the film went over budget, the filmmakers decided to temporarily stop production on "Superman II" and move that film's climax to the first film. Even though the first film was successful, Richard Donner did not return because the Salkinds kicked him off, and Lester was replaced as director. When Lester finished off the second film, he gave it a more humorous tone. Donner had completed about 75% of the film in 1977 before being replaced by Lester. Not only was Donner removed, Marlon Brando was cut for financial reasons and John Williams quit as the composer because he went off to pursue other stuff. Despite all of this, "Superman II" was both financially and critically successful, even though it faced competition with Raiders of the Lost Ark that same year.

For those that remember in the beginning of the first film, Jor-El sentenced General Zod (played by Terence Stamp), Ursa (played by Sarah Douglas), and Non (played by Jack O'Halloran) for insurrection and other crimes. For that, they are banished to the Phantom Zone. Traveling through the galaxy for thirty years, the Phantom Zone is shattered near Earth thanks to hydrogen bombs that Superman threw into space after stopping a terrorist attack to blow up Paris. Now these three are on the move to conquer Earth. Boy, do I have to say these villains are just great. Zod is enjoyably over-the-top, especially with his famous, "Kneel before Zod!" line. Ursa is just as diabolical as Zod, and Non doesn't speak, but trades all of his talk for his strength, which says much.

By going to Niagara Falls and Clark Kent having to tell Lois that he is Superman is probably one of the hardest things for a superhero to do with his love interest. Like I had said in my The Dark Knight Rises review, Superman gives up his powers to be with Lois forever. This is showing that he is admitting defeat, but doesn't know about Zod yet. However, when he learns about Zod and goes back to get his powers back, he comes back stronger than ever. Maybe he should have listened to his Kryptonian mother, Lara, played by Susannah York, when she pleaded to him not to give up his powers.

Of course, Lex Luthor is back and he has to form an alliance with Zod, Ursa, and Non in order to take down Superman. Now he has to put up with four villains, which is a lot of work for Superman, but he can do it since he's not stupid.

The dumbest moments in the movie are here and there. The first one is that kid at Niagara Falls. His mom finds that he is playing on the edge of the railing, grabs him and hits him, which should have made the kid learn not to play there. But no, instead he decides to play there again, his mother doesn't notice, and he falls off. Superman has to come and save the kid, so hopefully he learns not to do that again. Another is that idiotic mother who is walking on the street when Zod is taking over Metropolis. A tower is going to fall on her, and instead of running with her baby in the carriage, she instead throws herself on top of that baby. That's not going to save you or the baby from being killed from a falling tower. Superman again comes and saves that stupid mother, which she thanks him (probably so that she didn't have to run in heels). I think these parents need to have licenses if they want kids. Next comes the powers in the Fortress of Solitude when Superman is fighting Zod, Ursa, and Non. He multiples himself, and they do not know which one is the real him, which was weird. Superman even touches the S on his outfit, throws it at Non, which wraps him in a S symbol saran wrap. At one point when Superman gives up his powers and he becomes just plain old Clark Kent, he gets beat up by a guy in a bar. Before the end of the film, he comes back, throws that guy down the table, and when the bartender looks at him weird, he says, "I've been lifting weights." Couldn't you have let bygones be bygones Clark? Lastly, the mind erasing kiss. To make sure that Lois doesn't remember Clark is Superman, he kisses her, which erases all memory that he is Superman. How does that work? Did you look into her memory bank and made sure to erase the memories of her finding out you're Superman? Once again, Superman had weird powers back then, so I guess I'll let this slide.

In 2006, Richard Donner had received many requests from his fans to do his own cut of Superman II, which he and producer Michael Thau finally released on November 28, 2006. This version received positive reception from critics and stars of the original film. According to Wikipedia, "Many of the scenes were shot by second director Richard Lester, who had been an uncredited producer on the first film. However, in order to receive full director's credit, Lester had to shoot up to 51% of the film which included refilming several sequences originally filmed by Donner. According to statements made by Donner, roughly 25% of the theatrical cut of Superman II contains footage he shot, including all of Gene Hackman's scenes. In 2006, a re-cut of the film was released titled Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. The new version restores as much of Donner's original conception as possible, with approximately 83% of his footage included. Some of Lester's theatrical footage was retained to fill-in gaps in the story line that Donner had not been able to film before his firing."

Well, if you loved the first film, then you should watch the second one. It's not as good as the first, but it's thoroughly enjoyable despite being more comedic than the first one. What will happen now with the Superman franchise? Will they follow a parallel history with the Batman films? Find out tomorrow. Up, up, and away!

Superman Week Part 1

Alright, I haven’t done a week-long marathon since the Batman week, so now I’m going to do another one. This time, it’s on another very famous DC Superhero that is probably not quite as famous, or just as famous as Batman. If you haven’t been able to guess, it’s none other than Batman’s polar opposite, the Man of Steel himself: Superman! Who wouldn’t want to be Superman? Of course Batman’s brains and Superman is brawn, but he’s not a dummy. Batman himself says that Superman is his perfect opposite, who trades his brain for his super strength, but once again, Superman is not dumb. With Superman, he’s got all these superpowers that any kid would want to have: flight, super strength, lazer eyes, x-ray vision, running faster than the speed of light, etc. For this entire week, I will be looking at the feature films that have come out about the last son of Krypton, since I recently went to see “Man of Steel.” Don't worry, I will get back to my Lethal Weapon reviews next week, but for right now, I want to review the Superman films.

Before I begin, I would just like to say that I will not be looking at the serials from 1948 and 1950 with Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill, or the 1951 feature film with George Reeves and Phyllis Coates. Instead, let’s jump straight ahead to 1978 and look at one of the best, if not, the best superhero film to ever come out, “Superman: The Movie.” This is another one of my favorite comic book adaptations. In 1973, producer Ilya Salkind had convinced his father, Alexander, to buy the rights for Superman. Guess who wrote the movie? The Godfather author himself, Mario Puzo, for a two-film script. Finding the director was the difficult part. First they tried to negotiate with Steven Spielberg, but Alexander Salkind rejected him after Jaws went over budget. Next they tried Guy Hamilton, but he would be unable to shoot the film in England since he violated tax payments. Now that’s funny. Finally, the Salkinds came to Richard Donner to direct the film. Donner wanted to convince his audience that the man they were seeing on the big screen was actually flying, since the tagline to this film is, "You'll Believe A Man Can Fly." Donner hired Tom Mankiewicz to polish the script, and he added a lot of Christ-like seriousness to it. Of course, anyone who knows about Superman’s origin knows it’s basically (according to the Nostalgia Critic) “Moses with aliens.”

Now comes the casting. When they casted one of the greatest actors of all time, Marlon Brando, to play Superman’s Kryptonian father, Jor-El, Brando was faced with a lawsuit in Italy over Last Tango in Paris. Even though Brando spent less than two weeks on shooting the film, he didn’t even read the script until then. Despite that, he earned $3.7 million up front, plus 11.75% of the gross profits from the film. Imagine that? Susannah York plays Jor-El's wife, Lara, and Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter plays Superman's Earth parents. The late Christopher Reeves was casted to play Superman, but the Salkinds were not impressed by him. That is, until he worked out and came back looking the part. Margot Kidder was casted as Lois Lane, Superman’s love interest.

Gene Hackman was casted to play Superman’s arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor. Now here’s a funny story that I found out not so long ago: We all know Gene Hackman has a mustache. Richard Donner said that he needed to shave the mustache in order to play Lex Luthor. However, Gene Hackman had denied. A few months later, Donner called in a makeup artist to give him the most convincing looking mustache ever. Then Donner made a bet with Gene Hackman saying, “You have to at least shave your mustache. If you shave yours, I'll shave mine.” So Gene Hackman goes, shaves his mustache off, and came back clean-shaved, saying it was Donner’s turn. Once Donner removed the fake mustache, Gene realized he was tricked, and laughed it off.

When the film was released on Christmas of 1978, it was a critical and commercial success, since it did not have much competition. The producers felt this was one factor in the film's success.

However, as great as the movie is, it has the reigning king of the most stupid moments that has ever happened in a Superman movie. It’s at the end when Superman could only stop one missile, and Lois dies. After Superman is very sad because of Lois dying, he flies into space and spins the Earth backwards, turning back time, and stopping the other missile. I understand that back in those days, Superman had weird superpowers, but this is really pushing it. First off, if you spun the Earth backwards, you wouldn’t time travel, you would probably fall off Earth. Second, if he could spin the Earth backwards to turn back time he could simply stop both missiles that he passes in like a nanosecond. Third, if he spun the Earth backwards, is there another Superman flying around stopping the other missile if he’s stopping the one missile that killed Lois? And if he didn’t flip out over Lois dying, would he not have a reason to spin the Earth backwards? Fourth, if he had this power all along, why didn’t he use it that one time he came in late to work for the Daily Planet?

Another problem I have had with Superman all along (not only in the films, but in anything, like the cartoon) is that when he wears glasses to hide his identity. How can someone not see through those glasses? Is it really that convincing? Maybe it’s there just to be funny, but who knows.

Anyways, if you haven’t seen this movie, then what are you waiting for? You’re really missing out, go out and watch it, you’ll love it. If you can get past the fact that it was made in 1978, then that’s perfect. Well, stay tuned for the rest of the week, when I continue to look at the other Superman movies. Up, up, and away!