Rating:  -
Good movie, but I thought the HD quality was poor. A very soft and frequently (especially in the dark scenes) grainy picture.
Of course, we can't blame the special effects quality on anything but the age of this film. I guess I'm spoiled.
One to rent, for sure, but I wouldn't buy it, especially not to show off my TV. I've seen standard-def DVD's that looked better.
Rating: -
Superman is great in this version (they tried to get him to act just like Christopher Reeves, and did a good job), but Ms. Lane is horrible. She is very beautiful, but lacks the personality of the Lane from the originals.
Everything about the story is solid and fun, except for the little love triangle between Superman, Lane, and her live-in boyfriend(?!) Her son was obvious from the start, but it was fun.
Besides the lack of personality in Ms. Lane, and the lame love-triangle, the show was very good. I recommend at least watching it to see Superman back in action.
Rating:  -
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:  -
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 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.
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