Movie Talk - the Superman Franchise

Superman: So dad, I can't have Lois and be Superman at the same time?

Jor-El: Uh...Nope.

S: Why? Am I not Superman?

J: Yeah, but..."the needs of the many must come before the needs of the--"

S: Hey! That's Wrath of Khan!

J:Oh...Well...The heck should I know? It's in the script! I'm not Jor-El: the great and powerful!

S: True. But you are Jor-El: the woman-blocker!

J: ...Yep. Sorry, Kiddo.

Well, we're at the end of Superman Month. One of the last things I wanted to post this month about the Man of Steel is my opinion on the Superman movie franchise. I'm basically gonna do how I did with the POTA franchise. I'll list them in chronological order. I'll also list a synopsis, pros, cons of the movies. First, Lets's start with the background.

Background
I have seen all of these movies. I saw them in my young days as well. I saw Superman Returns in theatres when it came out. I've actually watched the first three movies recently, so I'm ready to share my opinion. I recommend all of these movies. They can all be enjoyed (some more than others.)

Superman: the Movie

It's Superman's origin in a nutshell. He goes to Metropolis and goes up against his greatest villain, Lex Luthor (or Mr. LuthOr for short).

Pros: Just about everything. The story, actors, and music is all great. Heck, even most of the comedy is pretty good.

Cons: Nothing really. Maybe some of the comedy is a little lame, just maybe.  

Jor-El: Okay, crystal #45,345 goes....Ah! Right here.

Quotes:
"Really, Lois, supposing that man had shot you? Is it worth risking your life over ten dollars, two credit cards, a hairbrush, and a lipstick?"
...
Superman: Easy, miss. I've got you.
Lois Lane: You - you've got me? Who's got you?
...
"Say Jim! Woooo! That's a bad outfit! Wooooo!
...
Jonathan Kent: No, no. Now, you listen to me. When you first came to us, we thought people would come and take you away because, when they found out, you know, the things you could do... and that worried us a lot. But then a man gets older, and he starts thinking differently and things get very clear. And one thing I do know, son, and that is you are here for a *reason*. I don't know whose reason, or whatever the reason is... Maybe it's because... uh... I don't know. But I do know one thing. It's *not* to score touchdowns. Huh?

Superman 2

Basically Superman and Lois get real close as Zod, Ursa, and Non are released from the Phantom Zone. Luthor's in this too acting funny as ever.

Pros: Again, just about everything. Zod and his merry folk being the main villains in the movie was GREAT. The acting's good, the characters are good, and the action (that's right! action) was great for the time the movie was made.

Cons: Most of the comedy is a little lame. That's maybe because of the change of directors for the movie (I'll get to that later).  Plus, the whole notion that Superman can't be both Superman and be romantic with Lois Lane is a little  much. Ain't he Superman, the most powerful dude in the world? I think he could multitask.

Superman: Now I told you, I don't bow, but you didn't listen. And this is what you get! Hope you enjoy the ride!

Quotes:
Clark Kent: General, would you care to step outside?
General Zod: Come to me, son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!
...
Even with all this accumulated knowledge, when will these dummies learn to use a DOOR KNOB?
...
Lex Luthor, ruler of Australia... activate the machine.


Superman 3

Clark heads back to Smallville and connects with Lana Lang while some Lex Luthor rip-off, his sister Frau Blücher (?), and their fine, fine assistant do evil things. Oh yeah, Richard Pryor's in this too........

Pros: Nothing ..............Just kidding. As I write this sentence, I'm watching the movie, and I like it. It's not perfect by any means, but I still like it. The pros for this would be Christopher Reeve as Clark/Superman (he's always great). Seeing Smallville and Lana was cool, and even Richard Pryor was funny in some places. The biggest pro of all for this movie would be the fight between Clark and  EVIL Superman (OH Yeah!!!!).

Cons: Where can I begin? The villains were lame. Real lame. The comedy was more lame in some places. Plus, there was too much of it in this movie. Richard Pryor was in this movie way too much, as well.

This is the reaction when Superman looked at the last episode of LOST.

Quotes:

Evil Superman: You always wanted to fly Kent. Now's your chance!
...
Vera Webster: I still don't understand why you can't balloon down like the rest of us.
Gus Gorman: I just don't believe a man can fly.
...
Lorelei: [reading Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason"] How can he say that Pure Categories have no objective meaning in Transcendental Logic? What about Synthetic Unity?

Superman 4: the Quest for Peace

Superman tries to end the threat of nuclear weapons.....and goes up against Luthor,....again, with the help of Nuclear Man...

Pros: Christopher Reeve..... Gene Hackman....Actually, that's about it!

Cons: For the cons, I'll just redirect you to this hilarious review of Superman 4 from That Guy with the Glasses.

Superman 4 review - LOL!!!

Superman: You're in this movie again?

Lex: Yep. They even gave me my own leopard-skin bed too!

Quotes:

Superman: And there will be peace. There will be peace when the people of the world, want it so badly, that their governments will have no choice but to give it to them. I just wish you could all see the Earth the way that I see it. Because when you really look at it, it's just one world.

...

Lenny: You gonna skip the country, Uncle Lex?

Lex Luthor: Lenny, you pathetic product of the public school system, your Uncle Lex has had nothing on his mind the past few years except for one thing:

Lenny, Lex Luthor: Destroy Superman!

Superman Returns

Superman returns to Earth after 5 years in space. He finds that a lot has changed. Lois has a kid and a new man in her life...and that's about it. Oh yeah, LEX LUTHOR is the villain.....AGAIN, and is wanting to make an island by using Kryptonian technology.

Pros: Well, let me see. The acting for the most part was good. Brandon Routh was a good Supeman/Clark Kent (hey, he did good with what he had) and Kevin Spacey was a good Gene Hackman (yeah, I said it!). The action (the plane scene for example) was done great, the story was okay for what it was, and the effects weren't bad either.

Cons: Lois Lane was a little miscast, a lot of stuff felt like it was pulled from the first Superman movie, and Luthor is the villain, Again. But, if I could roll all of the cons into one statement, it would be this: This wasn't the Superman movie people wanted. I'm not saying that this a bad movie. It just didn't deliver like it should have. If anything, this should have been a reboot of the franchise. Look to the Batman franchise for example. It went through the same rut the Superman franchise had: 2 good movies (Don't know about Returns), a somewhat decent third movie (I like Forever and 3), and one Crappy movie that put an end to the franchise. Batman went through a reboot and came out fine. Superman didn't, and it kinda suffered because of that. I can say more, but I'll stop here.

This was Brandon's look he had  found out that there was not gonna be a sequel.

Quotes:

Lex Luthor: Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind. No, I don't want to be a *god*. I just want to bring fire to the people. And... I want my cut.

....

Perry White: Three things sell this newspaper: Tragedy, sex, and Superman. These people have had enough tragedy, and we all know you can't write worth a damn about sex.

....

Superman: I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one.

SUperman 2: the Richard Donner Cut

This is what Supeman 2 probably would have looked like if Richard Donner had stayed on the movie. It's basically the same movie, but the Richard Lester  parts(aka most of the comedy bits) are cut out and replaced with Richard Donner's deleted stuff from '2'. I've only seen it once, so I can't say how good it was. Still, check it out to see how Superman 2 would have been like. 

"Lois got a gun,

 Lois got a gun,

Clark best better run,

this movie just took a turn."

Now, at the end of this post, I will list my favorite to least favorite Superman film. Superman 2: TRDC is out because I have only seen the movie once:

1. Superman
2. Superman 2
3. Can't decide between Superman 3 or Superman Returns 
4. Superman 4

And that ends my preachment. Unfortunately, since I have been busy, Superman month will continue until I get a couple of more stuff done. I have one more thing to do and Superman Month will officially be done. There was so much more I wanted to talk about, but hey, I actually have stuff to do now. So, it looks like I will be doing another "Superman Month" next year. What I'll do next is something I have to think about. I don't know what yet, but it involves the word "Star". Anyway, I'll be back with my look at Superman in the DCnU. Peace and God Bless.