Donner Superman 2 SE (merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[Matthew Clayton]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet, but Superman Cinema has posted up two menu shots from the Superman II Donner cut release (it's from the Australian release, but the basic layout and menu scheme should be the same for the R1 version), which is of the main menu and the extras menu.
They're pretty nice and simple, but I was kind of expecting something more. See 'em here. Can't wait for this release.

 

[Dharmesh C]

I mentioned a while back, that there will be a special screening of superman 2 the donners cut in LA with cast and crew.
Its this November 2, 2006.
I will be attending the special screening.
I am leaving tonight for the LA trip, and won't be back until early saturday morning. I won't be able to review it until I return.
Jacob

Have a safe trip. Everyone I spoke to in L.A. seemed to have an invite!

 

[TheBat]

thank you.
Jacob

 

[AndrewR]

I didn't get an invite. :frowning:

 

[JonZ]

Im sorry if this has been answered, I didnt see a answer looking back through these pages.
Will the HD versions be the same as the SDs? Both Superman theatrical and 2000 cuts extras, etc?

 

[Paul_Scott]

I don't think so Jon- at least not in the case of the first film. It looks like it will mirror the 2001 release as far as version/audio and extras are concerned.

The Donner cut release should be identical across all formats

 

[Joe_G]

I don't think so Jon- at least not in the case of the first film. It looks like it will mirror the 2001 release as far as version/audio and extras are concerned.
The Donner cut release should be identical across all formats

Correct. The HD-DVD of Superman:TM is pretty much the 2001 release ported over to HD. There will be no theatrical cut on the disc and is also missing some of the extras that will be on sd-dvd like the fleischer cartoons.
From what I've seen, the Donner cut will be identical on DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray with the exception of the audio - the HD-DVD will have a DD+ soundtrack and the other two just regular 5.1 DD.

 

[PeterTHX]

HD-DVD and Blu-ray with the exception of the audio - the HD-DVD will have a DD+ soundtrack and the other two just regular 5.1 DD.

Except that it *is* technically the same.

Warner encodes both BD and HD DVD at 640kbps. Anything above 448kbps on HD DVD has to have the "Plus" designation, even if it's the same encoding. This is due to the DVD vob limitation of HD DVD. BD only needs "plus" if it's above 640kbps or more than 5.1 channels.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Its november now !You know what that means, we should start to see reviews for the various superman sets, on dvd review sites in a couple weeks !

 

[Grant H]

Except that it *is* technically the same.
Warner encodes both BD and HD DVD at 640kbps. Anything above 448kbps on HD DVD has to have the "Plus" designation, even if it's the same encoding. This is due to the DVD vob limitation of HD DVD. BD only needs "plus" if it's above 640kbps or more than 5.1 channels.

That's very interesting and explains why no one is designating DD Plus on BDs, as opposed to it just being a mistake as someone indicated in another thread. Seemed strange to me that a studio would list one thing on one format and another on another when in fact they were the same thing.
The unforunate thing about the "Plus" designation having a different meaning on the two different formats is that BD has the "appearance" of being inferior when comparing the sound offerings. Obviously, the average consumer is going to assume the DD Plus track on HD-DVD is superior to the DD (no plus) track on BD. This is a marketing edge for HD-DVD.

 

[Matthew Clayton]

Its november now !You know what that means, we should start to see reviews for the various superman sets, on dvd review sites in a couple weeks !

I second that notice. I half-expected some reviews of Superman Returns or the 14-disc set to turn up today. Considering that the Superman re-releases are high-profile (particularly Bryan Singer's 2006 Superman installment), I thought we'd get early reviews of the discs last week.
To those who are the official WB DVD reviewers on the board, have you gotten any screener copies of any Superman-related discs and will any reviews be up soon?

 

[Joe_G]

Except that it *is* technically the same.
Warner encodes both BD and HD DVD at 640kbps. Anything above 448kbps on HD DVD has to have the "Plus" designation, even if it's the same encoding. This is due to the DVD vob limitation of HD DVD. BD only needs "plus" if it's above 640kbps or more than 5.1 channels.

I completely forgot. On the audio side, Superman Returns on HD-DVD will feature BOTH a Dolby Digital+ soundtrack and a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. I can't believe I forgot about that!

 

[Paul_Scott]

Warner used to have a policy of not allowing any reviews more than 2 weeks before the street date. I don't know if they've changed that or not.

 

[Paul_Scott]

fwiw, I expect over on the HD DVD side (and Bd too, I guess) that SR will get 5 stars across the board for a/v. It will probably be looked at as a reference standard for many years- if not, something will be terribly wrong.
On the other hand, I expect the two Donner titles to get decidedly mixed reviews and some outright pans due to the abundance of 'soft' images :rolleyes

 

[Carter of Mars]

Do we really need a review of Superman Returns video quality? Won't it be a direct from digital transfer? Won't its picture be technically perfect? Any complaints would be about the films cinematography, not the transfer, right?

 

[Bryan Ri]

The picture quality on that first release of S:TM on DVD blew me away, for one reason or another. Maybe because I only had seen it on a crap VHS copy for many many years, but that was the first time I realized what DVD's could do for (relatively) older films.

The Donner Cut of Superman II really shouldn't be panned for a/v, considering the source material could have been dug out of a shoebox for all we know.

 

[PatWahlquist]

Warner used to have a policy of not allowing any reviews more than 2 weeks before the street date. I don't know if they've changed that or not.

Actually, it's 11 days before street date on a Friday before we can post reviews, at least on HTF.

 

[Matthew Clayton]

I think, judging by one review of Batman Begins, which was released October 4 (two weeks precisely before the DVD's release), I think Warner still has that two-week policy in place. Still, it would be nice if Warner released screener copies of their releases a month ahead in order to stimulate positive buzz for the DVDs (like what Sony is doing with The Da Vinci Code).
And yes, I think everyone who's anticipating the DVD release of Superman Returns (including myself) is going to expect it to be up to the standards of the last two Star Wars prequels, considering that it too was shot on high-definition video and its sound was just as well-done, too. (I do wish the SRP for the DVD/HD-DVD combo disc was the same price as the single-disc SD release, because I'd buy that instead.)
I do expect people (particularly the really nit-picky reviewers here) to complain about the quality of the HD releases of the first two Superman films, and I'd bet most of the complaints would be "it's not sharp enough, why is it soft?", "there's too much edge-enhancement and filtering", etc. I don't expect many complaints to surface about Donner's cut of Superman II, because most of the footage was unused and supposedly in great shape (not to mention Michael Thau personally oversaw the restoration and all), but I do expect some complaints about the HD-DVD/Blu-ray release of Superman The Movie.

 

[Bepaof8]

I love movies - and I prefer action ones. But I am more interested in the content of a movie than its artistic value. With that in mind, could someone tell me what is supposed to be so good about the Donner Cut of Superman 2? I've been reading this thread, but so far I haven't seen the reason people here rave about it so much.

Thanks!

Pete

 

[Brian W.]

Did anyone see the blurb in the News section of IMDB? I looked on Empire online and didn't see the full review:

A critic for Britain's Empire magazine who viewed the new version said that it was plagued with continuity problems arising from the fact that Donner was forced to make do with footage on hand, including the screen-test footage. "It's patchy (Reeve's hairstyle changes from shot to shot), badly lit and stagy, but watching Reeve's performance is electrifying," according to the Empire review.