Tuesday, May 02, 2006

New Superman Trailer is Up, and AMC Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

Judging by the teaser and now the trailer for Superman Returns, I'd say this film is shaping up to be the movie of the summer. This is the first time we get to see Spacey as Luthor and he seems pretty damn good -- maybe this will end the slide of suckery he's been on for I don't know how many movies. He even gets to shout like a lunatic, which is great. In the original movies, Gene Hackman's Luthor seemed diabolical, sure, but never really insane. I like the idea that they're going to make Lex a crazy man in this new, Singer-directed 21st-century permutation. Some of the CGI looks pretty rote (the plane stuff at the end), but I think the physical effects (like Routh rocketing down the streets of Metropolis), are going to really sell the movie.

Also, interesting news from IMDB regarding AMC, the #2 theater chain in the US. They're going to start showing art-house movies in their multiplexes THIS WEEKEND. Seventy-two of who-knows-how-many screens will now be devoted to showing independent movies. So now, at AMC, brilliant films like The Benchwarmers will be forced to open on just 2 screens per megaplex instead of the usual 3. Anyway, the article from the ever-reliable IMDB states that AMC's going to start their new indie movie campaign (called AMC Select) with An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore global warming documentary, and the new Altman movie, A Prarie Home Companion, both of which I really want to see. So good news there. All right. I'll let you chew on those items for a little while. There'll be more tomorrow.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it called superman? He is an Alien. I love how we anthropomorphize everything. Even poor last children from an extinct other world species. He was created to help bolster support for our troops in the good war. Now heres a movie during another war, boy i hope it works.

blankfist said...

Uh... yeah, Peter. Hey look, I'm still terrorizing this blog, so... remember your promise? Ouch.

That trailer looks amazing. It looks like it will be the movie of the summer. Right.

Anonymous said...

I think Heath's being sarcastic and I hope so because that will make two of us not at all impressed by that trailer. To me, it doesn't so much look like Superman returned as much as he never left. What's new about this trailer from the original movies? What's the angle? I don't get it - seems like more of the same...

Makes me really wish the Tim Burton - Nicolas Cage version had come together. At least it would have a little weirdness. This one just looks like SMALLVILLE and I don't watch that either.

Miller Sturtevant said...

I disagree with you guys. I don't think Superman was created to get America into World War II, and I don't think a Tim Burton-Nicholas Cage movie would have been better. I think Burton's a long way from his last good movie (Ed Wood) and even further from the brilliance of Batman (now there's a character who benefits from some off-kilter weirdness). Given what Burton let Depp do with Willy Wonka, who knows what terrible choice Cage would have made with Kal-el that Burton would have signed off on. Maybe something more like Bridges's Starman, who knows. But if there's any superhero character that can only succeed through a mainstream, big-budget studio treatment, it's Superman. I don't think a filmed treatment of this guy can abide any weirdness.

Anonymous said...

Smallville gets a little weird with the Superman legacy doesn't it? That's been pretty successful, hasn't it? I can't argue that the Burton-Cage movie wouldn't have been a stinker (Planet of the Apes jumps to mind), but I imagine for better or worse they would've at least given us something we haven't seen before with this guy. Is there any doubt Cage would've been a flawed Superman? Judging from the trailer, this guy's only flaw is that he looks like Jason Schwartzman. The whole thing is so darn clean looking. See? It even made me say darn instead of damn.

Maybe you'll be right, Crane, but I do find it odd that Singer took on so many risks and changes from the comic book with X-Men that he seems to be sticking hardline to the Superman iconography in this film. Right down to the dated costume, hokey sidekick, over the top bald guy, and potentially schmaltzy love story...What the hell year does this movie take place in anyway? I can't for the life of me tell from the trailer.

Anyway, I've said it before: I'm done with these comic book movies. At it's best, Superman will be like Spider-Man will be like Batman will be like X-Men. Take one costumed dorkus malorkus from any of those and throw them into one of the others and you'd have a movie with the exact same beginning, middle, and end. (Oh God let there be an end)

Who's with me?

blankfist said...

i'm not going to read all these words. So, let me just say this... This version of Superman looks great. I wasn't being sarcastic. A Supes movie directed by Tim Burton would be horrible by itself, but if you tossed Cage into the mix it would be 9/11.

Anonymous said...

You guys are crazy. If you didn't know anything about Superman would you want to see this movie?

Anonymous said...

Super color scheme, I like it! Good job. Go on.
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