Friday, June 30, 2006

Superman Week: Day 5

Well, I finally made it. Day 5 of Superman Week. I think I may take a small break next week to recover. :)

Well, in case you missed a day and want to go back, here are links to the last 4 days of Superman Week:

Day 1 - Review of Look, Up In The Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman
Day 2 - Scary Superman Merchandise
Day 3 - Review of Christopher Reeve Superman Movies
Day 4 - Stupid Superman Powers

That's enough looking back, let's move forward with Day 5.

Day 5 - Review of Superman Returns

I'm going to keep this review simple because you really need to go into this knowing as little as possible. But know this, for me, this is the perfect followup to Superman I and Superman II. Brandon Routh IS Superman. Kevin Spacey IS Lex Luthor. The story is phenomenal, the effects are gorgeous, the dialogue is crisp. I loved every minute of it. Bryan Singer has taken great pains to make this movie "fit" into the universe started by Richard Donner back in 1978. The Fortress of Solitude, the opening credits, Superman's ship crashing on Earth. All of it has the appearance it did back in Donner's footage of Superman and Superman II. Even Marlon Brando returns as Superman's Father. It all just fits together so well.

As for performances. Brandon Routh is wonderful as Superman. He plays the separate roles of Superman/Clark Kent superbly. Kevin Spacey is particularly menacing with a tinge of insanity as Lex Luthor. I even enjoyed Lois' boyfriend and little kid. As far as Kate Bosworth, I'm still not COMPLETELY sold on her, but I thought she did a good job as Lois. This is not necessarily a minus for me, as in the original Superman, I didn't like Margot Kidder, but I thought she did an okay job. So that's just one more thing to help it "feel" like the orignal movies.

So, I'm not going to say anymore. The special effects were awesome, the acting was great and the story was phenomenal. Go see it. You will NOT be disappointed.

A few final tidbits.....

Bryan Singer used all the main Superman themes from John William's score of the original movie. It was great to hear it. It made me dig out my old CD of Superman: The Movie. This was released by Rhino in 2000. It is all released and unreleased musical cues from the original Superman: The Movie. It's awesome to listen to as I enjoy listening to instrumental movie scores when I work on the computer (Back to the Future, Star Wars, Superman, etc.) I might even get the Superman Returns soundtrack. Click the links to go to Amazon.com.

I actually bought the movie novelization a month or so ago when it was released. I've been sitting on it until I saw the movie. You can bet your sweet bippy I'll be reading this as soon as I finish the 2 books I'm reading right now.






My friend Marlene actually gave me this book. It brought back a lot of elementary school memories. Everyone remember Which Way? books? They were awesome. Just thought this was a neat little gift. Thanks, Mar. In case you were wondering here are the other books in this particular series.

Well, that concludes Superman week. Hope you enjoyed it because I may take a break for a week or so. Hope everyone has a good one and I'll see you when I update again.

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