Caddickisms

Warner will follow Marvel model to develop new superhero films : Slice of SciFi

Superman Returns darker

Ever since Superman Returns was released, rumors were flying about the sequel. Would it happen? Would Bryan Singer return to helm it? Would anybody watch it?

Not long ago (May 7th, in fact), we were hearing that Bryan Singer would be getting Superman: The Man of Steel to theaters in 2009 with wall-to-wall action in a sequel to Returns. Personally, I was pretty happy with that news. I really think Singer knows how to pull off a movie that’s both intelligent and action-packed, and respects the source material.

But now we hear that in the wake of the success of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. will be putting a darker focus on all its superhero properties.

For fans, this means that the sequel to “Superman Returns” won’t be happening. Instead, the studio will look to take a page from this year’s “Incredible Hulk” and reboot the franchise. Part of this is a need to freshen the franchise, but part of this can also be attributed to the fact that “Returns” struggled to make back the investment Warner Brothers put into the movie.

[...]

Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.

That’s disappointing. While I get treating superhero movies as real world and serious is important in creating believability, forcing a dark tone on everything is, I think, a mistake. It’s completely appropriate for Batman, but Superman’s main character traits are hope and optimism, and a bit of naiveté (at least on the surface). It is possible to go darker with him temporarily - and I think it could be done really well - but I really think it has to be in a sequel to be good. The character has to be developed as an incorruptible, “thank God he’s here” kind of character.

Plus, I gotta imagine this new direction means a significant delay before the Boy Scout graces the screen again. So that annoys me, too.

On a side note, the linked article also mentions the other properties under development: Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman. I’m excited about each of them. All could translate very well to the big screen.

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Orci & Kurtzman Tackle Man of Steel - Slice of SciFi

Bryan Singer is in talks with writers for the next Superman movie, “The Man of Steel”. Unfortunately, we have to wait until after the Justice League of America makes its box-office run, but I’m excited to see the Superman Returns crew back at it. Singer has stuck to his previous promise of upping the action in this outing.

“The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film,” continued Singer. “I’ll be the first person to own up to that without making any apologies for it. I knew it was going to be that from the outset. And now that the characters are established, there’s really an opportunity to up the threat levels. … Clearly there’ll be a body count [laughs]. From frame one, it will be unrelenting terror! All those teenage girls who found the movie and mooned over James Marsden or Brandon [Routh]? Well, I’m going to wake them up!”

The writers are responsible for Transformers. Hmm… not sure if I’m liking that. Transformers was not what I would call a well-written movie. Lots of nice pretty fights, certainly, and I’m all for that, but character work was not what I hoped for, and the plot itself was kinda…. eh. That said, they were also involved in the TV show Alias, which by all reports was excellent (still haven’t caught much of it myself). They’ve also been entrusted with the new Star Trek movie, but that hasn’t been released, obviously, so who knows how that’ll turn out. They’ve certainly got the big-budget credentials, though…

So who’s gonna be the villain? No one knows. I’ve heard calls to give Lex Luthor a break. I understand that sentiment. On the other hand, I liked Kevin Spacey’s Luthor. I really want some mega-villain to show up, too. Darkseid would be great (that’s a big character to handle in a 2-hour movie though… he comes with a lot of other characters). It would need to be somebody who could take a super-punch. Just not Lobo… please.

Anyway… woo hoo!

Technorati Tags: Superman, Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Lex Luthor

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*BREAKING STORY* — Singer Out of Next Superman - Slice of SciFi

I know Bryan Singer didn’t make “Superman Returns” exactly the way a lot of people wanted, but it was still a great movie. And after his promise of more action in the sequel, I think the next film would have blown everyone away. The man knows how to make a film in this genre. To have him leave the project is a depressing prospect.

Singer, none-too-happy about all the stalling for his next Superman film, made his feelings known about the follow-up to “Superman Returns” being put on the slow track in favor of a more youth-oriented “Justice League” movie. Since it too has been placed on-hold until a resolution of the writer’s strike, it is beginning to look like the next Brandon Routh Superman film could be a long way off.

In the comments on that site, someone mentions that Brandon Routh may also leave. If they’re both gone, the franchise is dead. If they do make another film, it will probably be more in the vein of youth oriented pulp, and that - if you’ll pardon the reference - ain’t gonna fly. It might work for the Justice League film (though I have my doubts), but it won’t for a stand-alone Superman flick.

Technorati Tags: Superman, Bryan Singer, Brandon Routh

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In 1941 and 1942, Superman showed up in some great Max Fleisher cartoons. I just picked up a Volume 1 DVD at the Dollar Store and it was a bargain.

These old cartoons are great. In some ways I thought they were superior to our current cartoons. Certainly the lighting and shading of these classics are more dramatic and cinematic. The characters also look more like real humans than today’s typical animations. They even take the time to have Clark take his pants off when he’s changing into Superman! (It’s also obvious that the look of some of the scenes in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (2006) emulate the look of these shorts - and appropriately are some of the better shots in that movie. Some scenes from “The Bulleteers” for example, are very reminiscent of the crashing plane scene at the beginning of the recent movie.)

Each short is around 8-10 minutes long. There is surprisingly little dialog in most of them, which I found actually drew me in more and kept me paying attention to the visuals. Some of the plot points are rather silly by today’s standards - for example, an overpowered “magnetic telescope” bringing a comet to earth - but they are treated with total seriousness and the show never loses its charm. After all, in 1942 this kind of stuff was still being explored and who knew what was really possible?

I’ll be on the lookout for Cartoon Craze presents Superman, Volume 2.

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This is a follow-up to my previous, spoiler-free post. I have a few observations about continuity problems in Superman Returns.
Spoilers below! If you want to read it, take your mouse and click & drag from here until the end of the post.

None of these things really impact my enjoyment of the movie, but they do cause some problems with continuity when you sit down and think about it.

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Superman is back.

Lex Luthor is back, too.

It’s really good.

But is it a triumph?

First, a little explanation: This movie is a sequel/restart. Back in the seventies and eighties, Christopher Reeve (who for many is Superman) starred in four Superman movies. The first, his origin and first meeting with Lex Luthor, and the second, his battle with three Kryptonian escaped convicts, were the only two well-received movies in the series. The current movie ignores the existance of the other movies starring Reeve and restarts the series following the events of the second movie.

Something else you really need to know before going in to this movie: In the second movie, Lois Lane discovers that Clark Kent is really Superman, and he relinquishes his powers to be with her (and to be with her). That’s all very nice until the aforementioned convicts show up and there is no one to stop them. So Clark figures out a way to get his powers back and stops them. In the final scenes of that movie, Lois is expressing how hard it is to keep a secret this huge and how it’s eating her up. Clark feels bad that she is in this position and kisses her, and in the process wipes her mind of most of the events from that movie, including Clark’s secret.

According to the new movie, soon after that happens, scientists discover what they think is Krypton. Clark needs to go see for himself whether the planet of his birth actually does still exist - hoping that perhaps he is not the last of his race - and leaves for a 5 year round trip without saying goodbye to Lois or the world.

Superman Returns begins with Lex Luthor having been recently released from prison and conning an incredibly rich dying woman into leaving her entire estate to him. Meanwhile, in Kansas, Martha Kent’s crops are ripped up by another spaceship crash, signaling the return of her adopted son. The now mega-rich Luthor goes to Superman’s abandoned Fortress of Solitude (having been there in the second movie) and steals the Kryptonian crystals - the advanced Kryptonian technology that will give him all the power he needs to rule the world. This sets the events in motion for another Superman/Luthor clash.

Brandon Routh does an excellent job as Superman and Clark, and were it not for Christopher Reeve’s shadow I don’t think I would have any problems with him at all. In the end, I think he was excellent, but not quite as good as Reeve. I think there were a couple of things contributing to that, but the one that comes to mind right now is his voice. Reeve changed his voice a little for each character: Clark was a little more nasally and nerdy, and Superman was more full and powerful. I don’t remember Routh’s voice changing at all. It’s a subtle thing, but it adds to the separation of the characters.

Kevin Spacey is also excellent as Lex Luthor. The only complaint I have is that I wanted to see more of him in “really mad” mode. The ubiquitous clip from the trailer where he yells at Lois is the best (and almost only) we get there.

Kate Bosworth was okay as Lois Lane. I can’t put my finger on it, but there was something missing from her character. I almost didn’t care about her at all. Maybe it’s that she was a little too jaded.

The effects were great. There were some totally iconic scenes, most of which are seen in the trailers. The Superman-versus-Gatling Gun scene is a great example. Absolutely perfect. Like it was ripped right out of a comic book.

The big Shuttle/plane accident set piece was a minute or two too long, but wow… great stuff visually. I thought the flying through the wing scene was going to be my favorite moment in the movie, but it turned out to be when he flew at top speed through the Daily Planet building to catch the falling globe. Very cool. I also liked how he dealt with all the falling glass without loosing momentum.

There were one or two continuity issues that I’ll deal with in a separate post because they are spoilers.

All in all it was an excellent movie, and a worthy addition to the series and the larger Superman legacy. It even takes the character in a direction I don’t think it has ever been taken before, which is cool. I liked the movie a lot.

But was it everything I wanted it to be? Almost, but not quite. The one thing I missed was the excitement and wonder I felt when I saw the original Superman movies, and more recently, Spiderman 2. That movie left me feeling triumphant and almost breathless. This movie left me feeling with a warmer, “Yeah, that was really good” mood. I loved what they did, but I missed the triumph.

Still a great flick though. Four out of five stars.

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Hmm…. how do I do this without giving away spoilers?

This was simultaneously the coolest and weakest of the three X-men movies. It earns coolest because it had some excellent battle scenes, and took more chances, story-wise, than the other two movies. It earns weakest because I was never as engaged with this movie as the others. It never seemed to flow quite right. Even the music seemed off to me.

I really like that Brett Ratner, the director, took the chance of making the movie a little darker and grittier than fans of the first two movies may have expected. At times, though, I think he went too far. A bit too much killing for my taste, and visually it was much darker than I think it needed to be, for example. I also didn’t like the way the battles were shot, overall. There wasn’t enough focus on the characters — or maybe it was that there were too many characters to focus on effectively. The comment I made to my wife on the way home was that it felt too much like shooting a standard fight sequence (though obviously with cool effects), and not so much like the stylized fight shooting I was expecting. Too many quick cuts from stationary (or nearly so) cameras, not enough cool angles and movement.

The story itself was pretty good. If they really were looking for a plot that could end the trilogy, this is pretty close (though I still wasn’t completely satisfied). It’s certainly good enough.

This may be considered a spoiler for some (though I doubt many), so skip this paragraph if you don’t want to know anything. Sticking around? Are you sure? Okay, here goes. Jean is back, and she is (mostly) Dark Phoenix. That’s REALLY cool, and I was really looking forward to how they’d pull that off. Plot-wise, I think they did a decent job with it, though I do have a couple problems, but my biggest issue is with the special effects. When she uses her powers at full bore, she really looks nasty evil. Veins showing up, face drawn … just nasty (for Jean). This has got to be Ratner’s choice, because at the end of X-2, we get a brief look at what Bryan Singer would have done, and I think Singer had it right. In X-2, she gets all glowy and fiery. You sense the power being unleashed, and that the fire could consume her (in a good way, odd as that sounds). In X-3, there is heat, but no flame - it’s like he’s intending to show her as burning coals or searing hot embers. I understand the reasoning if that is his intent, but it is so much less visually effective, in my opinion, than the flames and beauty.

There are a couple other things I’d like to talk about, but they would be considered major spoilers, so I think I’ll keep them to myself for now.

Oh, one thing that I have a problem with over all three movies: Cyclops is seriously underused. They just never grasped his character fully in any of the movies, and he really comes off as a tool in all three movies, rather than the leader he was meant to be. And in this movie, well, let’s just say I’m completely unsatisfied with anything involving Cyclops in the plot.

This review sounds pretty harsh, but I still think it was a pretty good movie. Plus, due to spoiler issues I can’t go into some of the things I liked. It’s still worth seeing in the theater. I’m certainly going to get the DVD.

Will there be an X-4? Rumors say yes, and I certainly hope they are right, but only if Bryan Singer is back at the helm. And if that doesn’t happen, this does serve as a passable end to the series.

[Update: I forgot to mention — make sure you sit through the credits. You won't be disappointed.]

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