VHS : Superman 1

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- The most ambitious superhero epic of all time!
Hands down, this is the superhero movie of all time. Forget spider-man or the X-men films, this is the one that started it all. from the excellent cast to the legendary score this movie is the one to add to any collection. It chronicles Clark's(kal-el) from his toddler days, high school and later his first appearance of superman to the world. No matter how many superhero films with more serious elements can't top this one off! Even Superman returns falls short in terms of storytelling. Not to be missed on your life.

Rating:

- HD Review
I watched the HD version of Superman TMP today. PQ is very good for a film from this time period. It was filmed rather soft and that does not always lend itself to HD, but the colors are nice and it's an improvement over the DVD. Not a great example of HD-DVD, but a very enjoyable HD movie.li-[=]=[

Rating:

- The Superman Myth
The Donner/Puzo version of Superman is a tough nut to crack. On the one hand, it revitalized a pulp action character that had been floundering for some time, by a big budget and some highly competent film-making. On the other hand, it did so by giving him a gravitas that could best be described as undeserved. During the mid-70s, comic book writer Elliot Maggin slowly formed Superman into a kind of sci-fi, cosmic Christ figure, with all sorts of "salvific" undertones. When Mario Puzo was assigned to write the script to Superman: The Movie, he talked at length with Maggin and apparently got many of his ideas from the comic writer--including, we can surmise, the messianic ideas that appear in this film. In many ways, this was a stroke of brilliance. The frequent occurrence of Superman "saving" people from dangerous situations was merged with a Christic atmosphere to produce one of the most popular superhero movies of all time.

Despite the "mythos" of the first half of the movie, the rest is dragged back down to the pulp level. Superman's Clark Kent alter ego is the nerdish it's ever been, and the supporting characters rarely add anything but a bit of background texture. The Lex Luthor of the film is a bit of a dandy, and his plan to destroy California using nuclear missiles is made even sillier due to his motivation: real estate. It's like imagining Jesus came to save humanity from fart jokes. And, alas, the time travel conceit at the very end destroyed the best emotion in the film, in reaction to Lois's death. (Unfortunately, the 20-years-later sequel "Superman Returns" copies too many of these mistakes.)

This movie promises much, delivers some, and skimps the bill on the rest. There's no denying that Christopher Reeve delivered a great performance, but I'm inclined to think that he's the only thing that made this movie good. The plot and the characters needed some rethinking before it went into production. Still, it's entertaining and has many ground-breaking effects. If you don't mind some cheap humor thrown in with your mythic heroes, this might just be the movie for you.

Rating:

- superman forever
this is the verson that the so called x-men producer brain singer or director whatever tried to remake. this verson tells the story of superman coming to earth and growing up in smallville in this verson the lex luthor villian works great in the new movie it does not. superman needs super villians in the first movie he does not fight super villians in the next movie he fights not one but three super powered villians.
if you think the new superman movie has superman fighting a villian with powers you will be very very very very very disappointed.

Rating:

- Excellent movie with good DVD extras.
This is the excellent movie that effectively began the superhero movie genre.

The DVD version of the movie has two additional scenes not in the theatrical version.

One is an additional scene of Superman listening to a recording of his dead father, Jor-El, in the Fortress of Solitude before "becoming" Superman. This apparently takes several years, as he is a late-teen Clark Kent when he enters the Fortress, and Christopher Reeve when he leaves.

The other is the famous "Gauntlet of Death" Superman must pass through before the first time he enters Lex Luthor's subterranian home.

In my opinion, both scenes are weak, unnecessary, and hurt the pacing, particularly the latter.

The DVD also has two deleted scenes.

The first develops the relationship between Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher. I think this is an excellent scene that should have been included in the movie.

The other shows a vengeful Luthor preparing to kill Teschmacher for betraying him. Superman shows up and saves her at the last moment. This scene was unnecessary and would have harmed continuity with the sequel, so I agree with the decision to leave it out.

The DVD also contains some screen tests for the parts of Superman, Lois Lane, and Ursa. Margot Kidder was chosen over Stockard Channing for the part of Lois Lane. Go figure. The director explains that Channing projected too much strength and intelligence. This would have been more in keeping with the character of Lois Lane as she is traditionally depicted in other sources, and Superman's attraction to her would have been much more understandable. Donner chose to go in a different direction. I think this was a huge mistake.

There are also other extras, listed in Amazon's description above, but these are not as memorable as the deleted scenes and screen tests.

Bottom line: Excellent movie (though weakened by the added scenes) and interesting extras.

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