Superman: The Motion Picture Anthology Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Tom M]

Originally Posted by WillG

Finished watching II, and on a side note, one thing that always bugged me about II aside from the Bully revenge scene (and not that I'm necessarily opposed to Superman giving a jerk a little bit of comeuppance, but he could have seriously injured, or even killed that guy with what he did) and the cellophane crest, and the teleportation etc. is the fact that Zod and co. just stood around doing nothing when Superman and Luthor had their secret pow-wow about the molecule chamber, and even ignoring that, shouldn't they have been clearly able to hear what they were saying to each other?

As an adult, Superman has complete control of his abilities and I'm 100% certain that he knew how much force to use on the jerk without really hurting him. Really, some people are making way too much of an issue of this scene.


Pay close attention to the scene with Luthor and Superman. Supes KNEW Zod and Co. were listening which is why he was choosing his words carefully. Supes even looks over at Zod at least once, possibly to see if Zod was paying attention. Superman's plan is foolproof as he knew that Luthor would betray him, but on the off chance that Luthor went along with it, Zod would put Supes in the chamber anyway since he was listening to the conversation.


Granted Richard Lester's direction of that scene makes the above difficult to realize but that does seem to be the intent of the scene.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Never watched III and IV before getting this set. Of course, I watched them more for curiosity, knowing both were wretched. Now that I've seen them both, I believe that III is worse -- though I'd have to admit it's close. Still, IV has slightly less stupidity in it and camps it up much less.

The IV disk, however, DOES include single worst extra featurette I've ever seen. It's a dopey idea badly done, and doomed from the moment they decided to have Dana Carvey host it. Really now, Dana Carvey?????


As stated previously, both the III and IV disks will now become landfill residents.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Originally Posted by Tom M /forum/thread/312025/superman-the-motion-picture-anthology-blu-ray/30#post_3821090

 

[TonyD]

From the review " Richard Donner, who made the first "Superman" film and did a brilliant job of establishing a basic look for the series, was followed this time by Richard Lester ("A Hard Day's Night," "The Three Musketeers"), and this is some of Lester's best work. He permits satire to make its way into the film more easily. He has a lot of fun with Gene Hackman, as the still-scheming, thin-skinned, egomaniacal Lex Luthor. And he draws out Christopher Reeve, whose performance in the title role is sly, knowing, and yet still appropriately square. "

 

[Cinescott]

Watched the original Blu-ray for Superman: The Movie last night and one feature I really like is the music-only audio track. What a great addition to a disc with a score this memorable. I found myself skipping around the movie after the first viewing with "music only" on to imagine what it might have sounded like in the scoring sessions. While I realize there may be legal issues with other titles, I wish more discs had this feature.


Studios, please do this on future titles if you can

 

[Paul_Scott]

Got a chance to step through the two versions of the first film as well as the theatrical version of the sequel.


Although I've been a fan of the 2001 re-mix and have felt it was mostly very well done, it was great to hear the theatrical soundtrack again, and in some of the scenes I watched I have to admit the more subtle mix there is very much appreciated. I also prefer the edit of the theatrical version despite a couple scenes that I've come to love in the extended cut.

Unfortunately, to enjoy those qualities you have to put up with what looks to be noticeably inferior PQ. The Smallville sequences in particular suffer quite a bit, if not the most- with the initial meeting of the Kents and the baby looking even more blown out than the same scenes in the extended cut. I skipped ahead just as the scene shifted to the football field- but there too I caught a glimpse of something odd going on- which might have been the yellowing that Mr Harris discussed in his thread on the set.

Was also disappointed to see noticeable banding in the opening shots of the zoom in to the Krypton sun. I didn't see the banding on the extended cut- at least, the extended cut in this set. IIRC, banding was noticeable in the previous 2006 single release of the extended cut. I'll have to check again between them tonight to make sure.

Also, the theatrical cut doesn't feature the color corrected shots of Superman in flight, so the green looking costume can be seen again in a few scenes.


I had wondered if the the theatrical version, being created from a more recent master, would end up looking better overall than the extended cut- but unfortunately, for large passages of the film, that isn't the case. Now some may say this is probably my mind playing tricks with me- but I did think the opening scenes of the trial on Krypton inside the dome did look slightly better, and slightly more resolved, on the '78 Cut. Since there are definite visual differences elsewhere between the two versions, I'm thinking the differences I perceived do in fact exist.


I'm comparing this stuff on a front projection system with a 100" wide screen, so personal mileage may vary .


I haven't gone in and compared the original '06 disc yet to these versions, but from what I've seen of the first film so far , I'm satisfied with the improvement - though I would have been happier to see equivalent scenes in the theatrical cut brought up to the same caliber as the extended cut.


As far as the set itself goes- at the bare minimum the Fleischer 'toons should have been in HD. There's just no excuse for not doing it. While I'm happy to have what I feel are (slightly) more refined presentations of the first two films, I do feel the set is, as priced, a rip-off because of non effort made towards the Fleischer and Reeves content.

 

[TheBat]

Paul

I had the same reaction with the theatre version of superman the movie and superman 2. it seem that the PQ was better on the extended cut and also on the donner cut then the original version. I had not seen the original theatre version with the original sound mix in ages. I agree with your statements about that as well. I think over all I still prefer the extended cut.


Jacob

 

[Scott Calvert]

I haven't watched the extended version of 1 yet. My impressions of the theatrical but were in comparison to the previous bluray edition of the extended cut. I found the theatrical cut to be a much better quality bluray, even though there is still some banding in the kryptionian sun scene. The previous bluray was worse with the banding, along with lots of noticeable compression artifacts. All in all, I'm very happy with the theatrical versions of both Superman 1 and 2 in this set.

 

[Mark Oates]

I've only looked at the Theatrical Cut of STM so far. Memory was playing tricks on me, and I wasn't too thrilled with the sound (either the 5.1 Surround mix or the 2.0 original mix). Then I checked the DVD and realised it was the same set of mixes I'd been so thrilled with on the original tin release. The Blu-ray audio makes the reverberation on the 2.0 original mix a lot more evident. The picture looks beautiful, so all in all I'm a happy clam.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Never found that scene hard to understand. Interesting that you critique Lester's direction in that scene (a popular past time, it seems, when it comes to the SUPERMAN films), when, in fact, since it features Hackman, the scene was directed by Donner.


EDIT: I see that Josh Steinberg already addressed the Donner / Lester thing in his response. Anyway, as a lifelong fan of this series (even III, which I saw as a young lad on opening weekend) and a cinephile, I find the constant Lester-bashing in SUPERMAN circles, in both its more explicit and oblique forms, coupled with the near-universal lionization of Donner, to be alternately irritating and amusing.

Originally Posted by Tom M





As an adult, Superman has complete control of his abilities and I'm 100% certain that he knew how much force to use on the jerk without really hurting him. Really, some people are making way too much of an issue of this scene.


Pay close attention to the scene with Luthor and Superman. Supes KNEW Zod and Co. were listening which is why he was choosing his words carefully. Supes even looks over at Zod at least once, possibly to see if Zod was paying attention. Superman's plan is foolproof as he knew that Luthor would betray him, but on the off chance that Luthor went along with it, Zod would put Supes in the chamber anyway since he was listening to the conversation.


Granted Richard Lester's direction of that scene makes the above difficult to realize but that does seem to be the intent of the scene.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Awaits whining by some random guy about how the dialogue in the Superman 2.0 track isn't confined to the center channel.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My boxset was dispatched from the UK last week. I should have it in a couple of days.







Crawdaddy

 

[Tom M]

Originally Posted by Jon Hertzberg

Awaits whining by some random guy about how the dialogue in the Superman 2.0 track isn't confined to the center channel.

Nothing that can't be fixed with pro-logic encoding.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

It's unfortunate that Donner wasn't able to re-shoot some of the SUPERMAN II scenes, as it's obvious, particularly in some of Reeve's acting, that they were done early in the production and rushed. I find much of the re-inserted Donner footage interesting, but feel that Reeve's performance is more mature and consistent in the scenes that Lester shot in place of the Donner-helmed Brando scenes and in the tete-a-tetes with Kidder over Clark's real identity. It's too bad that Donner wasn't willing to incorporate some of the Lester footage into his cut because, as much as Donner is loathe to acknowledge it, there is some Lester material that actually works. The Susannah York scene in II, for instance, gets a lot of flack from many fans and from Donner and Mank, but I find it much more affecting than the Brando counterpart in the DONNER CUT; it is less stilted and feels much more organic to me and, most importantly, Reeve's performance here is right on the mark in terms of sensitivity and subtlety...much more in line with the character in the second film rather than the petulant, child-like Superman that emerges in the DONNER CUT, as if from a different movie. I feel the same way about the much-maligned scenes in Lester's cut in which Clark reveals his identity ("pink bear rug") and when he kisses Lois at the end of the film ("amnesia kiss"). Both actors do some of their best work here, no doubt aided by the fact that they were much more familiar with their roles at this point and not trying to shoot two gargantuan films simultaneously, but one also cannot discount the role that the "replacement" director Lester played here, as well as the writers David and Leslie Newman. Not mentioned much these days is the fact that at the time of II's Stateside release in '81, Reeve's name was seriously bandied about for a Best Actor nomination, a plaudit that no doubt would have been based, in large part, on his great work in the new, Lester-directed SUPERMAN II scenes, all of which are expunged from the DONNER CUT. Donner was, overall, a more logical fit for the SUPERMAN films than Lester, yes, but if we step outside of the SUPERMAN universe for a minute and look at both man's careers side by side, it is obvious that Lester is not nearly the buffoon that many make him out to be. Anyone who's viewed PETULIA, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, the MUSKETEERS films, THE BED-SITTING ROOM, JUGGERNAUT, THE KNACK, and ROBIN AND MARIAN can see that.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom M
Yeah, I sometimes get the Donner/Lester footage confused. Sorry! I just find the scene a little odd in what it's trying to get across. Donner is on record as saying that if he hadn't been fired that he would've re-shot many of the S2 scenes as they were often rushed due to pressure to get S1 done on time.


I have nothing against Lester. He is a good director in his own right and did the best he could under what must have been a VERY difficult situation. I do like some of his scenes and for better or worse, the Lester cut will always be the official version of that film. I for one don't have a problem with that as that version of the film has always give me much enjoyment over the years.

 

[MattAlbie60]

I really like the final Brando scene in THE DONNER CUT -- I'll take it over the Suzannah York scene any day.


But there is a *lot* of SUPERMAN II that Donner shot that feels rushed, I agree. Some of the scenes in the Daily Planet set are bizarre -- like the short scene with Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor. It feels like they filmed a rehearsal take.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Originally Posted by Tom M

Nothing that can't be fixed with pro-logic encoding.

Pro-logic encoding has nothing to do with it. Its all about Dolby's older mixes and their problems with very broad phantom centers. In short, a good chunk of Dolby mixes up until 1983 (typically ones done in England) are more likely to have a lot of dialogue bleed into front left and front right.


When the revised version of the dvd tin came out, we had a guy throw a hissy fit about this despite clearly not knowing what the hell he was talking about. I don't know what the heck he was using for refference because it sure as hell wasn't right.

 

[Paul_Scott]

The big problem I have with the original 2.0 mix is, while the effects mix is usually better, the Williams score sounds tinny and sibilant.

And the more looks I take at the theatrical cut, the more disappointed I am with the purchase as a whole. Even though I prefer that cut, the PQ has all kind of small, but aggregate issues. I became disenchanted with the quality of 2006 Bd of the extended cut seeing areas that I felt could have been improved with a little more TLC, and the theatrical turns out to be several steps behind even that.


I got the set through Borders with a 50% off coupon, so I saved about $28 over what I would have paid getting it from Amazon- but it's clear to me now I should have just waited for a good Black Friday or Christmas sale- of which I'm sure there will be plenty. They won't be moving many at this price- when all that's being 'upgraded' is a bunch of poor sequels most people couldn't care less about. The main reason I wanted to get it now and not in the winter, was to have a nostalgic anniversary summer viewing of the theatrical cut of SII.

How lame is it that I'm nostalgic for a movie that was a huge disappointment to me the first time around?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I happened to be in a Best Buy yesterday and saw the set marked at just under $130. It's $90 on Amazon. Do people really shell out the extra money to buy it in a store? Looking at all their Blu-rays, I was shocked that there really wasn't a single instance where I could say, "Buying it here would save me money over ordering online."

 

[MattAlbie60]

Every once and awhile Best Buy has random, legitimately awesome deals. But its certainly not an every-day thing. You just kind of have to stumble on them.

 

[cafink]

I buy a lot of Blu-rays at Best Buy. $15 is generally my limit, and they frequently have them on sale for less than that. But you're correct that Best Buy's regular prices are pretty bad; if there's a DVD or Blu-ray that I specifically want, I usually get it elsewhere (Amazon, frequently).