Man of Steel

The character of Superman, from the DC line of comic books and graphic novels, has had a bit of a rough history in the last few decades when it comes to translating him and his story to film. Superman Returns was a decent outing directed by Bryan Singer back in 2006, but it wasn’t quite satisfying to Superman fans and seemed more of a love letter to Richard Donner and his 1978 classic than a diving board for ongoing sequels to come. Movements were made here and there, from Kevin Smith’s treatment to the almost certain depravity Tim Burton was planning, which, thankfully, never came to fruition.

Ever since I had watched that final scene in The Matrix, where Neo takes off in flight, I knew the special effects were there and just waiting for a good Superman script to allow it life. But, alas, it seemed as if it was never meant to be.

Enter Christopher Nolan, giving Batman new life with his Dark Knight trilogy and cementing his roots into the filmmaking ground while making tons of money for Warner Bros. in the process. He could do no wrong in the eyes of the WB execs and was allowed free reign with any project of his choosing.  So when it was announced that he would “godfather” a new Superman film as a producer, I had some small hope starting to grow inside me. Little by little, over the last couple of years, we heard tidbits of info, a not-too-interesting teaser trailer that had risen doubt in my mind, and finally a full-fledged trailer that made me curious, until Man of Steel was released to us…

Yes, after over 30 years of a Superman drought, we get Zack Snyder and David Goyer’s vision—or shall I say reimagining—of the DC superhero that may be setting the upcoming Justice League movie on its way to us.

But that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves. First, let’s get into Man of Steel…

…without spoilers, I promise.

To synopsize, the film is a complete reboot, starting with the origin of Superman/Kal-El, as he’s born on the alien world of Krypton. As war begins on the planet, his parents, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara (Ayelet Zurer), knowing that their planet is doomed—because of the pending destruction that led to the war initiated by Genral Zod (Michael Shannon) and his soldiers—they send their son off into space to reach the planet of Earth for a chance to live out his life. As General Zod, along with his remaining soldiers, is arrested and tried for his crimes, he’s sentenced to the Phantom Zone. On Earth, the adult Kal-El (Henry Cavill), not knowing his origin and identifying himself as Clark Kent, raised by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane), is on a journey, taking odd jobs around the country, to find out who he really is. As his journey comes to an end and he finds out who he is, he then finds himself at odds with our country’s military and a returning threat that found its way from Krypton: General Zod.

I didn’t want to give away too much about this film, which is why I went with a quick plot summary and didn’t give away too much detail on the story. But going into this movie, I was completely mesmerized from start to finish.

The beginning scenes on Krypton was spectacular and I’m glad they went with changing it up, going away from the crystal/ice look of the 1978 film to this Star Wars-esque landscape that they feature here. Rather than wanting the film to move on and get to Kal-El’s life on our world, I wanted to stay on Krypton to see more of it. The clothing and armor worn throughout the scenes on Krypton had an old renaissance feel to it, seeming like the planet was in the dark ages. But the technology, looking primitive and insect-like, was surprisingly fresh and was its own, not seeming like a Star Wars rip-off.

I felt there was a good balance while the story played out and moving to Kal-El/Clark’s adult years as he travels the country, trying to find his way on earth. I mention balance, because there are equal parts of present-day story, as well as flashback scenes to Clark growing up in Smallville.

Once we see Cavill take the reins and become the character of Superman, the movie takes on a bewildering feel and takes us on a believable, yet effects-laden, rollercoaster ride that never lets up. Don’t get me wrong…it’s not that the movie is not exciting before that, but if you want action...wow…the last third of this film delivers.

Now I have to admit, at first, Henry Cavill, as Superman, was a concern for me going into this. When I found out the character—being such an American icon—was being played by a British actor, it sort of bothered me. But by the time we see him play out the first heroic act in the film, I was totally okay with him and his portrayal, looking forward to upcoming sequels and the planned Justice League movie.

The second concern was Michael Shannon playing General Zod. I mean, after seeing Terence Stamp make that role his own in 1980’s Superman II, I felt like nobody should ever attempt to fill his shoes. Surprisingly, Shannon nails it and even adds a little more heart and soul to the character, even making us see his side of his argument in the story.

Kevin Costner really turns in a great performance as Jonathan Kent and I actually wish we had more of his character interacting with the actors playing the 9-year-old and 13-year-old Clark Kent (Cooper Timberline and Dylan Sprayberry respectively). But the flashback scenes we get from him were stellar accomplishments and made us understand how he—as well as Diane Lane as Martha Kent—was a key character in Clark’s upbringing.

Finally, Amy Adams as Lois Lane was really interesting and the character arc was something we’ve never seen in any Superman incarnation on television or film. The chemistry between Adams and Cavill was

believable and enjoyable to watch. Thankfully, there was no “Can You Read My Mind” scenes between them and I never felt that she was unneeded in the story.

Rounding out the cast in Man of Steel: Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Antje Traue as Zod’s right-hand woman Faora-Ul, Harry Lennix as General Swanwick, Richard Schiff as Dr. Emil Hamilton, and Christopher Meloni as Colonel Nathan Hardy.

So, what’s my final “bit” on Man of Steel?

While the film doesn’t have the epic feel of its 1978 counterpart, I think it was done on purpose, perhaps preparing for the DC universe to open up and making way for the forthcoming Justice League project. The plot had a different twist that we’re used to (if you know a bit about the Superman lore), yet stayed pretty true to its source. The film contains enough heroic feats and battle scenes for any action fan to enjoy, giving us the best Superman film to date, by special effects standards anyway. By the end of this film, Superman has believably solidified himself in this DC universe of films and leaving us to wonder what’s next. Man of Steel is definitely what Warner Bros. needed to jump start their superhero franchises back into film, opening a doorway for more…and I can’t wait. I’m planning to see this again, so that should tell you how good this flick is (I rarely see a movie more than once when it’s making its theatrical run).

Watch out, Marvel…DC is making a comeback!

Thanks for reading!
You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits

V/H/S/2

Being a big fan of 2012’s V/H/S, when the sequel hit OnDemand circuits yesterday, I gladly paid the ten bucks to order it in for the night. The first one was such a fresh take on the “found-footage” type films, making it more believable how these scenes were caught on film, having novel ideas on reasons why cameras are present rather than just some schmuck lugging around a camcorder when he should be running for his life.


The same can be said for 2013’s V/H/S/2, where the film has some pretty cool concepts on why a camera is recording what we see.

Now, straightaway, I’ll say that this outing wasn’t as good as the first film. Without getting too much into it, I’d say the first film had better story concepts for each tale and we’d gotten better shocks from it as well. V/H/S/2 has some shocks, but they’re more of the gory and visceral type, making us want to turn away from the screen instead of enjoying a good, yet resigned, jump scare. In comparison, part one had me wanting more at the end of the film; part two…well…I was satisfied, but I accepted the ending.

In the wrap-around plot, “Tape 49,” a guy and girl are checking out a house, looking for clues on the disappearance of a college student. Just like the first film, they enter the house through a window and find a room with a bunch of televisions displaying static screens with white noise. Stacks of VHS tapes are piled

nearby and the guy tells the girl to look through them as he searches the rest of the house. Between each vignette, we see how the tape viewings are affecting the girl, causing her nose bleeds and moments of blanking out, until the fatal climax of this wrap-around story.

The actual first story, “Clinical Trials Phase 1,” a man is in a doctor’s office, being looked over and examined. It becomes clear that he has received an artificial eye that contains a camera and records everything the man sees. Upon leaving the clinic, he notices a young lady staring at him as he leaves out the door and she comes into play a little later in this

segment. As darkness falls at his place, the man notices some glitches to his new eye and he starts seeing things, like a bloodied man and a little girl, both pale and ghostlike. He becomes frightened and runs into his bathroom to spend the night in the tub, until the next day when the girl from the clinic rings his doorbell. She explains to him that she received an artificial transplant—a cochlear implant— and like his ocular implant, causes one to have paranormal senses. From then on, the shit hits the fan and we have some shocking moments that were pretty scary. The only problem I had with this one was the solution the girl had to make one of the spirits—who happened to be her uncle—go away; it seemed a little contrived and tacked in for some gratuitous boobage.

So, onto “A Ride in the Park.” I liked this one a lot as it was a fresh idea on how to make a film with a zombie’s point-of-view. With the popularity with these Go Pro cameras with hikers, bikers and all-around adventurers, these cameras can be mounted anywhere to give the viewer the feeling they were riding a bike or jumping off a cliff or zip-lining through a forest or whatever the escapade may be. In this little ditty, a biker is getting set to ride a trail through the woods, with his camera mounted on his helmet, when a lady comes bursting onto the trail before him, screaming about her boyfriend. The biker stops, all the while we see what he sees, and tries to help the lady as he sees she looks wounded and bleeding. He hears noise coming from

off the trail and sees people scrambling up to them, looking inhuman. Turning back to help the lady, he sees she is now puking up blood or some dark liquid and seems to die. But shortly thereafter, she jumps up and attacks the biker, biting and scratching at him. He gets away and appears to fall and lose consciousness, laying in a patch of grass until some other bikers come to his aid. Suddenly, the biker jumps up—obviously a zombie now—and attacks the couple that tried to help him. From then on, it’s a fun watch as we see the biker as a zombie attacking other people. It ends quizzically as we re-think what we know about zombies.

The next tale, “Safe Haven,” a group of three guys and one girl decide to film a news documentary of a known Indonesian cult. During this outing, the footage is shot with the news cameras, as well as a few spy cams. Hoping to get a look at what goes on within the compound, the crew goes to the leader of the cult to

ask his permission to film them inside their place. He tells them his views of his cult and alluding to what they do within the compound, but it becomes clear to the news crew that things aren’t right within, as the founder speaks of how he purifies the young children within the group, referring to sex. He keeps referring to him and his people going to the Paradise Gates soon, which makes the viewer think of the few cults that have come to pass (Jim Jones and the People’s Temple and Heaven’s Gate) and ended with suicides. As the crew enters the compound, the feeling between them—as well as the viewer—is unease. Everyone they meet seems euphoric and a little unsettling as the crew makes their way within the corridors of the compound. When the sound of a large bell starts tolling off chimes, the founder thumbs a microphone to announce it is time to start the descent to Paradise Gates and that’s when the craziness begins.

One of the more engaging stories in this anthology is “Slumber Party Alien Abduction.” The novel idea with the camera work, again, utilizes the Go Pro type of camera, this time strapping it to the family dog. At a family cabin near a lake, the parents of two boys and a teenaged girl leave for the night, leaving the girl to be in charge of the boys. As expected, the girl’s boyfriend shows up and the boys are forgotten. A couple of the boys’ friends come over and they start playing pranks on the girl and her boyfriend. One prank involves the

boys sneaking up under water—with water balloons and squirt guns—to the pier where the girl and her boyfriend are laying out, to pop up and unloading on them. This time around, one of the boys have the camera strapped to them and for a few seconds plops down under water where we see some kind of creature swimming towards the camera in the distance. Before we can make it out, the girl’s boyfriend dives in the water and we don’t see the creature any more. That night, after the boys pull another prank on the girl and her beau, the invasion begins to a very frightening climax.

As a whole, the wrap around story is pretty interesting, but it almost seems to duplicate what we saw in the first film. I thought they could’ve changed it up a bit instead of the same story of some people sent to an abandoned house to look for something. Yet, it still had a good creepy feel to it as we saw things in the background that the character didn’t see. Each story had its own style and really didn’t disappoint, but it seemed to go for gore rather than an interesting story. I guess it just seemed predictable and I never felt surprised like I had in the first film.

The artificial eye story could’ve added a little more to it, to make the gory ending seem like that was the only thing to do. Maybe if he experienced more mayhem for a few nights to show us he had no choice but to do what he did, it’d make it more believable. I’ve got to give the director props for trying to tackle this one, because an eye doesn’t move around like someone holding the camera. Yet, you’ve got to suspend disbelief, especially when they include the guy’s blinking—very nice touch.

I wish the ending of the zombie biker could’ve been foreshadowed somehow, but the ending was still a nice touch and a twist to the zombie lore.

The story of the cult being filmed for a documentary was pretty good, but I kind of wished it was featured in English so we didn’t have to read subtitles and miss some of the action on the screen because of it.

Finally , the alien abduction was pretty awesome, showing only enough of the aliens to creep you out. Was it me? Or did that blast of noise accompanying the bright lights of the aliens sound like the horn from the Creeper in Jeepers Creepers?

Overall, this is a worthy sequel and I’ll, more than likely, buy it on Blu-Ray when it’s released. It’s worth the OnDemand purchase and, if it’s released in your neck of the woods, worth the theater admission price as well.

My final “bit” on V/H/S/2?

I hope they continue this franchise and keep making quality sequels. No need to polish it up to give it a more Hollywood look, because it’ll go the way of the Paranormal Activity dodo. As long as they keep the look of watching something on VHS, it’ll keep a faithful audience. When—or if—V/H/S/3 comes out, I’ll definitely shell out another ten dollars to see it. Magnet Releasing has definitely given us horror hounds something to look forward to, helping the horror genre come back full force.

Thanks for reading!

You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits or you can email me at Cinema Bits!

Scream Quadrilogy

Now, right off the bat, it has to be noted that, for now, the Scream franchise is going to be called a quadrilogy. Even though a while back, it was reported that a whole new trilogy was going to be added to make it a total of six movies, I, as well as a lot of people-including a few of the actors and actresses of the films in question-believe the franchise is dead. Scream 4—or Scre4m—hammered the final nail in the coffin. But, we'll get into that final chapter later, so sit back and enjoy my take on this well-written—at times—horror movie series.

Back in 1996, people were all abuzz about a new horror movie that was scaring the shit out of everybody.  During a time where a lot of 1980s horror movies were trying to seep into the new decade, but failing miserably, I took this bit of news with a grain of salt.  At the time, I had my fill of silly Friday the 13th sequels, tiring part whatevers of the Halloween series, and campy A Nightmare on Elm Street runs, so I found it hard to believe that there was a new horror film that would outdo them all.  Even my wife (girlfriend at the time) was eager to see it, and if you knew her (she's the complete opposite of a horror movie fan), you'd know that it takes a lot to get her to sit through a scary film.  So, I took the bait and we went to go see Scream.

At first, I was a little taken a back, seeing Drew Barrymore in the intro to this movie with that god-awful wig and playing a high schooler.  But as the scene went on, you really could feel the tension and suspense the character was going through, dreadfully imagining yourself being in that same predicament.  After watching this film countless times, as well as the subsequent three sequels, this one scene is the part that I, as well as anybody else who enjoys these films, remember the best.  It's an iconic performance by both Barrymore and the voice of Ghost Face, Roger Jackson, which will live in horror movie infamy.

For its time, Scream was well-written (scripted by Kevin Williamson), giving us a realistic examination of high school life in the 90s.  There weren't too many moments where you'd feel like yelling at the screen to ask a character what the hell they were doing because they all did what, I think, must of us would do in their place.

Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott did well as the lead "survivor girl" must of us can relate to; with her good morals and trusting attitude, she played the part believably, giving us someone to root and care for from the start.  Her best friend, Tatum (Rose McGowan), turned in a very good performance as well, giving us someone else to care for, but knowing full well that she'd be a victim later on.  Skeet Ulrich as Sidney's boyfriend, Billy Loomis, did fine; being presented as the red herring at first and then the villain was very entertaining and believable.  Besides Courtney Cox and David Arquette, playing Gale Weathers and Deputy Dewey respectfully, the glue that holds this movie together is Randy Meeks (played by Jamie Kennedy); with his knowledge of famous horror films and applying their plot points as rules in life is very entertaining; the scene at the party where he explains the rules to a horror movie is hilarious.

Wes Craven was able to present his name back on the mantle of Horror Master by directed this flick.  After directing the great A Nightmare on Elm Street, he didn't have many worthy follow-ups on his repertoire.  It seemed after he directed the boring Vampire in Brooklyn that we'd never hear his name again.  But a mere 14 months after the start of Eddie Murphy's downfall, Craven gives us this refreshing take on horror movies.

Although we have many modern icons of horror like Jason, Freddy, Leatherface and Michael, they all had to make room on their pedestals for the new kid on the block, Ghost Face.  Really, the whole costume of the character was a no-brainer—something, to this day, that's very easy to obtain, and not because of the movie.  A black cloak with gloves and a hooded ghost mask.  That's it.  But still, that visage alone was enough to make audiences scream with fright when Ghost Face appeared from behind a door or popped up at a window.  The thought of not knowing who was behind that mask throughout the film added to that thrill and gave the whole movie an exhilarating feel.  Even after years of viewing and knowing who's behind the shroud of the white spooky mask, it's still intimidating to watch.

There's not much to nitpick here as this movie seemed to have been treated with the utmost care and no cheats were put into the story.  If there's anything to complain about is how it's a victim of the times.  And what I mean by that is how difficult the killer would have in this day and age as caller ID and GPS locating would give them away.  Seeing the cell phones back then, how large they were, is laughable, but we have to realize that this movie is over 15 years old.  Another thing you'll catch is how Sidney's boyfriend is taken in and questioned as to why he's carrying a cell phone.  Why he's carrying a cell phone???

As a whole, Scream is fun and scary.a great movie to sit back with a tub of popcorn and enjoy.

A year later (although the narrative of the story explains it as two years later), Scream 2 was released in 1997.

Yes, Dimension was able to crank out this sequel and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might've been.  Usually, a movie rushed into production to meet a date only a year after its predecessor doesn't make as much money as the first and is met with harsh criticisms, understandably so.  But it fared well and was a commendable sequel.

Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson return to give us a nice sequel, bringing most of the remaining cast back for another round of murders all revolving around Sidney again.  Sidney's now in college with a new boyfriend, Derek (Jerry O'Connell), trying to retain her life after the Woodsboro events.  However, after a couple of murders during the opening night of Stab—the movie-within-a-movie—which clues Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and the local police that there'll be more murders, Sidney's life is turned upside-down once again.

As with the original, the theme of movies is compared to real life, explaining how the rules in movies apply in real life.  This time around, however, it's the rules of horror movie sequels.

It's nice how they took the throw-away subplot of Cotton Weary from the first film and place it here as an added decoy to keep us guessing as to who is the killer or killers.

Returning again to hold the movie together and to give the movie a speaking account of the rules is Randy (Jamie Kennedy).  Along for the ride as well is Dewey (David Arquette), showing the signs of his injuries from the first film as he limps around from nerve damage in his back.  I actually like these two characters together—the scene in the college café is priceless as they strategize who may or may not be the killer or killers.

The film keeps the same feel as the first and was written intelligently with nary a cheat.  Well.maybe a few here and there.

O'Connell is thrown in there as a red herring, as is Timothy Olyphant as Mickey—a counterpart to Randy's knowledge of movies—as well as Debbie Salt, a local journalist who is always butting in to Gale Weathers and her leads.

The climax of the movie could've been a little better, in my opinion, but it did answer some questions to sort of wrap up what happened after the events of the first film.  It's an earnest follow-up and should be watched right after part one.

In 2000, as we all headed into the new millennium and had the big Y2K fear die down around the world, Scream 3 was released.

Now, this outing was criticized a bit, but I felt it had a very good story, something we all didn't see coming.  With everyone thinking one of the original cast members was the killer, or one of the Stab 3 troupe might be, or even the new character of Detective Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey), Wes Craven, along with Ehren Kruger taking Kevin Williamson's place as writer, presented us another intelligent horror film that delved deep into Sidney's life—actually, before she was born.

So, as I had mentioned, the story revolves around the filming of Stab 3.  Murders start to happen, prompting the movie to be shut down and the guessing begins.  The clues are vague, at first, as the killer leaves photos of Sidney's mother, Maureen Prescott, at each murder scene.  I love that aspect of the story, how it just confuses you at first, jarring your mind on what the clues can mean.  But when it finally comes to place, you're still confused because you still don't know who the killer might be.

Again, the film has many misleading clues and characters, making you think one person might be the one under the mask and black cloak, but then they end up dead.  Or are they...?

Now, for my nitpicking of one aspect...but it's a doozy.

If there's anything I can criticize about this film is the device the killer uses to change his/her voice to duplicate the voices of other people he or she chooses.  In the first two films, it was a push and you can dismiss it, seeing that there are devices in stores that do the same thing (granted, it doesn't make you sound like a whole different person, only alters your voice, but it's close enough).  But to have an unrealistic McGuffin that helps the film move along is a pretty big cheat.  I really don't think there's a device (in civilian hands anyway) that can make you sound like a person of your choosing and in such a loud and articulated manner like the gadget used in this flick.  If this movie was Mission: Impossible, I could let it slide, but it's not.  It's never explained where this thingamajig came from.  Was it bought on eBay?  Purchased at the local pharmacy?  Is the killer some kind of genius and able to build such a device?  Did a CIA operative give it to the killer?  Ooooh...that'd make a good sequel to this one...instead of the way part four went, they should've had the new killer be a CIA operative that brainwashed the past killers to do his or her deeds, giving them this high-tech doodad that changes your voice to whomever you sample...that would've been more entertaining—and believable—than what they did in part four.  But anyway, it's a big plot point in the film to trick us with showing us it's a certain character's voice just to show it wasn't the character and keep us guessing, so it ticks me off a little bit.  But I have to just dismiss it as this not being a Kevin Williamson joint, so let's just move along, shall we?

Scream 3 keeps you guessing until the end, what with the clues giving you no hint whatsoever, the end is a surprise and changes the history of the franchise and what we thought started it all.  Besides the voice-changer device—which I cannot, for the life of me, get around—this chapter refreshed the series and didn't just go the way of Friday the 13th or Halloween with tiresome sequels all doing the same thing over and over, albeit entertaining.  No, I, for one, like what they did here and turned the franchise on its side, not giving us some kids who just decided to put on the Ghost Face mask and have a crack at it (which is what they did in part four).

So watch these first three films and enjoy them.  Watch part four at your own discretion.  I can't take responsibility for your anger at what they did with the latest (and probably last) sequel.

My Scre4m review was published on 4/28/2011, so please check that out.  All I can add to it, because I recently watched the film, is how unbelievable it was to finally find out the identity of the killers.  To see Ghost Face run around, looking between 5'10" and 6' tall, and then to see the unveiled killers standing 5'5" or so, it's pretty ridiculous.  It's especially evident when you watch it a second or a third time, because you can't help but notice scenes where the people who turn out to be the killers are talking to Sidney and they have to look up at her.  When they're under the cloak, they suddenly gain half a foot.

Overall, my final "bit" on the Scream franchise is that it's an enjoyable quadrilogy, regardless of part four, and I actually hope they can continue on with the announced second trilogy.  But I don't think it will happen.  Aside from that, they're all good films and won't let you down in its entertainment value.  Check them out if you haven't already.

On Twitter: @CinemaBits

Terminator Franchise

When it comes to sci-fi movies, there are a couple of concepts that need to be included within the story to keep my attention throughout. Because, let’s face it, the definition of a science fiction movie, for me anyway, is movies that include technology and conceptions that we haven’t achieved yet in our present. For me, time travel and cyborgs are a must. Whenever I watch a film that shows someone going from the past to the future, or vice versa, I’m intrigued. And if it is a story of someone going into a future or a past that includes cybernetic organisms, I’m there. The Terminator, James Cameron’s 1984 classic includes both and to great effect.

The film features Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of the cyborg assassin—the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 T-800 infiltrating Terminator, a role he’ll always be remembered for and he was perfect for the part. If you think about it, a man with a thick Austrian accent acting in an American movie should stick out like a sore thumb, and I admit he does in some of the movies he was featured in after making this film, but he doesn’t here. Why? Because he barely spoke any dialogue. Why should he? He was a robot sent from the future to kill a target. In that aspect, it’s very easy, as an audience, to get past the accent.

During a decade where we had so many cheesy sci-fi films and horror flicks, with only the dramatic pieces being taken seriously, here comes The Terminator to give us an intelligent and well-written science fiction movie that keeps the audience enthralled throughout. From the moment the film opens with a look into the dismal future and the narrative text telling us it’s the year 2029, we see how machines have taken over the world—a truly scary window we, as the audience, look into. In a time when America had a constant background fear of the Soviet Union sending over nuclear missiles to take us out, how we all were very conscious of the Cold War, seeing this film showed us what could happen as an aftermath. Not necessarily machines taking over, but how everything would be destroyed and not many people surviving.

Luckily, James Cameron only gave us a glimpse of that world and quickly brought the story back to the present where the majority of the film takes place.

Simply put, the film is about a cyborg that is sent back from the future to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). At the same time, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back, as well, to protect her. At the beginning of this, Reese is trying to convince Sarah what is happening and, like most of us would do if we were in her place, she doesn’t believe him. The rest is a cat-and-mouse game of Sarah and Reese trying to get away from the machine, giving us exciting action sequences, until the electrifying climax of the film.

I’ll never forget the day my brother and I saw this movie. Like most movies we saw, our mother would drop us off at the theater and pick us up two hours later. One reason, and it’s a pretty sad reason, I’d never forgotten this day was an old man was hit and killed by a car that had ran a red light. It happened right in front of us and, after going over the obituaries for the next few days, we found out he was 81 years old. Crossing the street with his wife like they did day after day, I’m sure, and living on this earth for 81 years, he gets taken out by an idiot who ran a red light. Sad.

Sorry for the digression.

Now, we all associate Arnold Schwarzenegger as the kick-ass hero from all his movies, toting a huge machine gun and blowing shit up to save the day. But in this film, he wasn’t anything of the kind. In fact, he was the villainous killing machine murdering and executing anything that gets in his way while Michael Biehn was the hero. And that’s one thing about the beginning of this film, if you’ve never seen it. When Arnold shows up, especially when he takes out those punks to get himself some threads, you know he’s the bad guy. When Kyle Reese shows up, you’re not sure what to make of him. At first, he seems shady and might be after Sarah Connor as well. I remember thinking that both men were going after her at the same time, working together somehow. It blew me away when I found out that Arnold was a machine and Reese was there to protect Sarah from it. For its time, The Terminator is one of the best science fiction stories put to film.

Of course, any movie is victim to time and seeing that this flick was made in the mid-80s, you know there are going to be some flaws. But it was pre-CGI and practical effects were there all the way, all done by one of the masters of special effects: Stan Winston. With the replica Arnold head that was made to accomplish the eye removal scene and the fake arm to achieve the tendon repair part of the film, the stand-out is the Endoskeleton which we see in the final act. All other robot designs fail in comparison to Winston’s design of the terminator’s skeletal structure. From the glaring red eyes to the steel tendons and servomechanisms, it’s a masterpiece. With the exception of the stop-motion portions of the film, the final act was awesome and still has me on the edge of my seat when I watch it to this day.

The Terminator is the one that started it all.

Fun fact:

In the DVD and Blu-Ray, the extras include some deleted scenes. Most are fluff that was taken out to cut down the running time of the film, but two stand out in particular that should’ve been left in. One scene takes place after Sarah “terminates” the machine and police are securing the area. Two employees of the warehouse that the climax takes place in are talking when one finds an odd computer chip on the floor, hiding it in his shirt pocket before a cop walks by. The other scene takes place as Sarah is being taken away in an ambulance. As she’s being placed in the back of the vehicle, the shot widens out to show us the building’s company name as Cyberdyne. These two scenes show us that James Cameron always had a sequel in mind and I wish they would have placed these scenes back in the movie as a special edition.

Back before the internet, when we didn’t have so much information, I hadn’t heard about a sequel until I read about it in a TV Guide. “A TV Guide?” you ask? Yes...a TV Guide. I wasn’t into film magazines much, but I’m sure I would’ve picked up on the sequel news if I had. Nevertheless, the news floored me. It wasn’t too long later when I went to go see Arnold’s 1990 classic, Total Recall, that I was floored again. Before the movie started, a mysterious trailer began showing an Endoskeleton being scanned and placed in some steel pod, with a read-out showing that some sort of initiating sequence was beginning. As it opened up, there stood Arnold Schwarzenegger as the camera panned up his body to his face with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he opens his eyes and they’re glowing red. The trailer closes and you hear Arnie’s voice declaring, “I’ll be back.” In 1991, he was back…back as the T-800 once again in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Once again, James Cameron brought us something new and exciting, with a lot of action and great story-telling. He introduced us to a new type of special effects that changed the film industry on its head, giving us the love/hate relationship of CGI. Now, he used it in a movie before this one, in a little movie back in 1989 called The Abyss, but not as extensively as he uses it in this film. It’s hard to believe T2 (as it’s called in most media formats) is over twenty years old, but I still view it as a fresh work of art. Watching it today, you’d be hard-pressed to find many mistakes or flaws in this piece.

Although this film follows the basic premise of the first film, with a villain coming back in time to kill someone with another hero to come back as well, saving the someone from the villain. This time around, however, it’s a little more complex. The terminator that comes back to kill the person is a new advanced machine, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a liquid metal that can imitate anyone and creates blades or stabbing weapons out of its hands. The hero, though, is the terminator model from the first film, the T-800 (once again, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), which was captured by the resistance of the future and reprogrammed to go back in time to save the person that needs saving. The person that needs saving isn’t Sarah Connor this time, but her son, John Connor (Edward Furlong), the one who becomes the leader of The Resistance and is responsible for sending the T-800 back. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) isn’t faring too well as she’s been incarcerated in a mental institution for what happened in the first film as well as other atrocities she’s perpetrated in order to stop Cyberdyne Systems from eventually creating Skynet, the computer network that ultimately leads to humanity’s demise.

First off, after getting through the fantastic idea of this sequel as well as the returning cast members from the first film, I’ve got to say that the casting directors did a fabulous job of finding Edward Furlong. Thirteen years old at the time, Furlong brought a youthful perspective to the movie in the beginning, having the young-and-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude of what he felt was abandonment by a crazy mother. The change he goes through as he finds out she was right all along and realizes he will become the leader of the resistance of the future was so transcending, you start to believe he has what it takes to lead.

Now, Arnie coming back as the T-800, in itself, is awesome. The opening scene for his appearance was pretty exciting the first time I saw it. How he went through the redneck bar to find himself some clothes and a motorcycle was classic. I guess what stuck in everybody’s minds after the first film was Schwarzenegger’s outfit of leather as he rode the motorcycle, so Cameron outdid it by putting him on Harley Davidson Fat Boy this time around. I have to admit, though, the George Thorogood cue of “Bad to the Bone” was a little cheesy, but I liked it. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that Arnold was already 44 years old when he made this film, but he appeared to be in tip top shape.

Now, the entrance for Robert Patrick as the T-1000 was equally as impressive as he shows up and takes the persona of a police officer and gets to work, looking for John Connor. Unlike the T-800, this newer model is able to feign some personality here and there to be accepted more easily into society. But when it’s time for this terminator to become evil, he’s hands down ten times as evil as his predecessor. Being smaller and less bulky, the T-1000 is able to move swifter and faster, making him a force to be reckoned with.

What I like about this installment is that it gets a little deeper into Skynet and how it will come to be the threat it will be in the future. Unlike the first film where Skynet is just some unknown computer threat with no background to it, T2 introduces the reasoning behind it and the human basis that made it what it was. It made us, the audience, divided and made us think what we would do in the protagonists’ position. Would we kill a man who, in a sense, creates Skynet to prevent the future war of humans against machines? Would we simply take out a human being whose only crime is trying to advance technology to help the human race, not knowing the end result is a network that turns on us?

It’s funny how Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, this time, becomes the hero of this flick, playing the evil character that, only a mere seven years prior, was killing whoever got in his way. Even in this one, the T-800 has no problem trying to terminate someone who gets in his way. But the writers played it smart and made John Connor responsible for everything the machine does because it has been programmed to follow John’s orders. So when John tells him he can’t kill anyone—albeit after asking “why?” a few times—the T-800 complies.

I hate to say it, seeing and hearing how much of a douche bag James Cameron turned out to be in later years, but he nailed it in this movie and really closed out the story perfectly. He’s been quoted—when he was asked to direct a potential sequel to this one—that he felt the story was finished with this one and that there was nowhere to go with it. But a money-making franchise always has somewhere to go, especially when you have intelligent writers and an adequate director to helm a worthy sequel, and that’s they did a long twelve years later.

Fun fact:

On most of the media versions of the film, you have a choice to watch either the theatrical version of the film or the long version of the film.  More than that, you can enter the code 8-29-97 in order for an extra-long version of the film.  Both include a cool part where the T-800 informs John and Sarah that the microchip has a learning processor function that's left off.  But if switched on, he can learn and take on more information to help him act more human.  The scene proceeds with John and Sarah opening the port to the chip to switch on the function.  It's a pretty critical scene from the film that explains why the terminator starts acting more human towards the end of the film.  Other scenes are forgettable, especially the part where the T-800 tries to smile.

2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is far from a classic, but a well-intentioned sequel nonetheless, giving us more of the same with a little twist towards the end. But what else can you do to re-establish a franchise that looked like it ended twelve years prior? Well, you just add a line about how Judgment Day was postponed, that’s all. Then you just start the story all over again.

As a side note, between the late 1980s and into the late 1990s, I read quite a few comic book titles. One series I had picked up a few years after T2 was a simple memory was a “Terminator” title that I forget, but it had me intrigued. The story picked up right after T2 finished, with Sarah and John back on the run, still paranoid about terminators coming for them and thinking the war will still happen. I enjoyed how the police showed up to search the steel mill and found the T-800’s arm stuck in the gears—the same arm that Arnold’s character breaks off and leaves behind to go find the T-1000. It also turned out that the government backed up all of Miles Dyson’s files so the destruction of Cyberdyne was all for nothing. So, with that story in my head, I thought T3 would go that direction and I was excited about that because there was so much that the writers of the comic book got into, it blew my mind.

But, alas, the movie was nowhere as exciting as that comic book storyline. Don’t get me wrong…the movie was very good and it was interesting in the route it took, but I had my sights lined up in a totally different direction.

So, the narrative opens up, with the adult John Conner (Nick Stahl) explaining where’s he’s been and what he’s been doing since we’ve last seen him, which is basically laying low and staying off any radars. He gets into an accident and needs medication and breaks into a veterinarian clinic to find some. Meanwhile, the newest terminator, the T-X (Kristanna Loken)—a female terminator with an Endoskeleton covered in mimicking liquid metal—shows up to look for and terminate John Connor’s Resistance lieutenants. Also, the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is back as well, showing up at a country-western bar during ladies night to look for some threads. As John is found out by the manager of the vet clinic, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), both terminators arrive shortly—one to terminate, one to save.

Above all else, I’ve got to say that 56-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger looked damned good in this film. Everyone involved with the movie claimed that there were no CGI touch-ups during the scene where Arnie shows up in the buff, so if that’s true, I’m damned impressed. I definitely have to give a guttural growl for Kristanna Loken as the T-X, as she shows up in the buff as well. But both entrances of the terminators were great, except for the cheesy comedic lines during Arnie’s time at the country-western bar.

I like that they went with the military taking over the Skynet system and needing to put it online as a worldwide computer virus begins. But it didn’t seem to explain much, like how they went on with Dyson’s work with the advanced computer microchip. I guess it’s assumed that they took it over or was watching his work from afar, but I would’ve liked to hear or see that chronicling of events. Also, without spoiling the ending twist, I don’t understand how the primitive machines at the end of this film would be able to create the more advanced machines we see in the next sequel.

So, without those items I had just mentioned, the film is basically a reboot of the previous film.

The good parts of the film—and there are some here and there—are, of course the entrance of Arnie and Kristanna as the T-800 and T-X, respectively. The chase scene was exciting, as it seemed like they destroyed many city blocks. The fight scene between the two terminators was pretty kick-ass and with the advancement of special effects meshed with CGI helped it out a lot. The return of Dr. Silberman was done well, humorously showing that he’s still trying to make sense of the events he had witnessed in the previous film.

I do enjoy this film, don’t be mistaken…I just had really high hopes for this outing and it didn’t live up to my imagination.

Fun fact:

In one of the extras on the Blu-Ray or DVD, there is an omitted scene that shows General Brewster watching a video featuring a Sergeant Candy (Schwarzenegger) talking about Cyberdyne and the robotic work they do.  The funny thing about this scene is that his voice is dubbed with some over-the-top southern accent.  It's a pretty cool scene to watch and I'm kind of glad they left it out because it's just too comical and dorky the way Arnold's portrayed here.

So, the last entry in the franchise—so far—is the McG directed, 2009 film, Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale as John Connor and Sam Worthington as the mysterious Marcus Wright. As a side note, I did review this film back on May 18th, 2009, shortly after its release. If you go back, you’ll notice I drooled all over this film, mainly for the reason that I grew tired of james Cameron’s ego at the time. But since its release onto Blu-Ray and a few viewings, as well as getting over my hatred of Cameron, I put more thought into it, so here it is. So, get ready for some nitpicking because I’m going to have a few things to say about this one.

Before getting into the likes and don’t-likes of the movie, let me summarize it as best as I can to break it down a bit. The film opens in 2003, with Marcus Wright waiting on death row, when a Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) shows up to try and have Marcus sign his body away for science after his death. The film then opens to the future with John Connor and resistance soldiers invading a machine-controlled area to rescue human prisoners, but is destroyed before they can, leaving Connor as the only survivor. After getting away from a damaged T-600 terminator, Marcus appears—obviously from the underground bunker prisoners were being held—and makes his way to make sense of what is happening, not knowing he’s now in the year 2018. Along the way, he meets up with a young Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and his friend, Star (Jadagrace Berry), as they make their way to find Connor and The Resistance. I won’t say too much more because my nitpicking will just make it redundant.

First and foremost, the situation with Marcus Wright in jail with Dr. Kogan was weird, even when I first viewed it in the theater. I know they were trying to convey that the character of Kogan was dying of cancer, but they didn’t do their homework when they wanted to find a way to show that in her character. A woman who goes through chemotherapy will lose her hair, correct, but I don’t think her eyebrows will be immune to that fact. I know, it’s trivial and I can get past that, but the ludicrousness of having her wear a scarf on her head only to cover half of her head so we can see that the rest of it is bald is absurd. Anyway, the whole gist of this scene shows that Cyberdyne (as we see the paperwork Marcus signs has the company’s header on top) had plans from the get-go to make a cybernetic organism. So, let me get this straight…Cyberdyne knew they’d need to do this in 2003 to have Marcus infiltrate The Resistance in 2018? Even if it were just an experiment, why did Cyberdyne revert to such primitive terminators like the T-600? If they had the technology to make a terminator Endoskeleton that fit in a normal-sized human being, why did they make monstrosities like those rubber-skinned machines afterwards? I guess I can buy that Cyberdyne was just trying to collect bodies to put on ice to do research on incorporating machine and electronics to humans, but the film implies this has been a plan from the outset.

Another thing that bothers me every time I watch this is how Skynet has Kyle Reese on its kill-list. How does Skynet know about Reese? It shouldn’t. Even if it obtained police files from 1984, it should only know about how he helped Sarah Connor get away from the original terminator. It shouldn’t know about him fathering John Connor, unless there were illegal surveillance cameras in the motel room when Sarah and Kyle were making love. Even if Skynet had that information, why wouldn’t it have Kyle Reese terminated when he was captured and placed in its prison camp? Why does it keep him in a cell to lure in John Connor? This makes no sense.

Although the terminators are pretty awesome in their appearance, with great special effects to make them move and animate, why is it that they only throw people around when they don’t have weapons? In the opening future scene, the damaged T-600 only throws John Connor around. It could easily break his neck or punch a hole through him, but it only resorts to throwing him against the helicopter or across the terrain. Even the climactic scene in Skynet’s factory, the T-800 (more on that later) only throws John around as well.

Finally, the fact that most of the fighting and combat is done in the middle of the day ruins it a bit for me. In the first two films, when we’re shown the flashes of the future war, we see that most of the battles take place at night. I know it’s more logical for them to do combat with the machines during the day because the machines’ night vision or infrared wouldn’t be as useful during the day, but those scenes of the future were so awesome to me and I was looking forward to seeing them in this one. Overall, it didn’t seem like Skynet was much of a threat the way that The Resistance was able to fly around in choppers and jets, not to mention being able to have a base in plain sight.

Okay, now for the good parts of Terminator Salvation.

Above all else, the special effects are phenomenal. The fact that they had Stan Winston on board for this film helped out a bit. Some of the newer machines were great, like the Harvester that put Michael Bay’s Transformer robots to shame, or the MotoTerminators that detached from its legs—those things were so cool! The HydroBots were pretty remarkable as well, showing us that there were no hiding places you can go that didn’t have a threat. Of course, the advancement of CGI and motion capture technology get them the ability to show us some cool terminators like the T-600 that Reese mentions in the first film, which were giant human-like machines with rubber masks for face that can fool you from afar, but not when you’re close to them. Last, but not least, the climactic scene with the T-800 was magnificent! If there’s any saving grace to the idiosyncrasies I have with this film is the final battle scenes between John Connor, Marcus Wright and the T-800. This is a spoiler, but you have to see this to believe it. In the beginning of the film, Connor comes across a computer where the prisoners are being held that shows Skynet’s plans of finally going forward with a new terminator series: the T-800. In the culminating scene at the end of the film, we see it unveiled for the first time. Although risky and a little rough, it worked perfectly to show us Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800. After looking into this, I’d discovered that they were able to digitally map Arnold’s face from the first film to the face of the body builder who acted in this film. Oddly enough, the man in this role, who we never see his face, is Roland Kickinger. I say oddly because for one, the man was born in Austria, just like Schwarzenegger. Also, he looks a little like Arnie, even has the same accent. Lastly, he played the young version of Arnold in the TV movie, See Arnold Run.

So, generally, Terminator Salvation has a lot of plot holes, especially if you’re a big fan of the franchise like myself, and have followed it all the way through, but the special effects keep you entertained and the story is somewhat interesting as it shows John Connor moving up in the ranks to become the leader of The Resistance. Here and there, some nice touches were placed to pay homage to some of what we’ve seen in previous entries, like the explanation of John Connor’s scar that we see in the beginning of T2, the return of Guns’N’Roses’ “You Could Be Mine” and how Reese was taught to tie a cord from his shotgun to his shoulder.

It’s a shame that they couldn’t go forth from here and if Hollywood studios keep up with the only trend they seem to be green lighting these days is that if we do get a Terminator 5, it’ll be a reboot or remake. But I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and hope they don’t do something stupid like that.

Anyway, my final “bit” on the Terminator franchise?

The first two films are hands down the best, giving us some great entertainment and story throughout. The third entry, although a retread of the second, is engaging as well and sets it up nicely for the fourth installment. Sadly, they went with a mediocre director like McG and didn’t do their homework before getting into this. However, all films are enjoyable throughout and it’s perfect for a nice eight-hour movie marathon.

Thanks for reading!

You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits.

Superman Franchise

Back in 1978, my nine-year-old self had witnessed a movie that blew my young mind, taking me to a level of phantasmal stupor that I'd never known existed within my conscience and left me in a state of euphoria that wasn't equaled until a lengthy 24 years later.  Yes, Superman: The Movie was quite a spectacle that transcended all schoolboy subjects back then, being talked about on the news and plastered all over the popular magazines on the racks.  Wherever I went, whether at the grocery store with my mom and seeing the movie advertised on lunch pails and school stationary, to seeing the movie spread all over the magazine covers at the barber shop (except for the Playboys that my dad wouldn't let me touch in the first place).  It was a sensation that I don't think I will ever experience again.

Even though this phenomenon was very apparent throughout the pop culture of the time, my parents still weren't impressed and didn't see the need to plop down a few bucks to take my brother and I to see this magical film.  It wasn't until the mother of my brother's friend, Brian, offered to take my brother and I to see it at the nearest theater that my mom gave her blessing.  On top of that, Brian's mom just dropped us off to see it on our own—without adult supervision!

From the beginning of the film, just after the voiceover from the child reading from the comic book pane and John Williams' score slowly and quietly beginning until it blasted with the all-too-familiar theme music, a lump in my throat rose and stayed in place throughout the whole event.  I'll never forget that day and how we all left the theater after the film ended, talking about how awesome or cool (I forget the lingo we used back in the 70s) the movie was and wanting to go back inside for a second viewing.  We really believed a man could fly...and I still do.

Richard Donner was chosen to direct this film, but he did more than that; he took the story of this well-known superhero and treated it as it should have been—as a well-respected tale of an American icon.  Many biblical parallels have been noticed, making the story even more meaningful than I understood it to be when I first watched it, but above all else it was a superhero movie done perfectly for its time.  Knowing the many facets of all the terrible tales of how the producers treated Richard Donner throughout filming this epic, I won't get into that at all.  I'll just say that this was Donner's masterpiece, without a doubt.

Scripted from a tome of a treatment from Mario Puzo (of "Godfather" fame), the story was made with a sense of realism and not too campy (as Batman's character was made into during the television show and movie made back in the 60s).  No, this was a serious piece made into a larger-than-life epic with many somber tones, mixed with some humorous moments to give it an entertaining feel.  The film, as a whole, included three different themes as it went along; it went from the science fiction setting on Krypton, and then slowing down to the Norman Rockwell-esque feel of small town life in Smallville, finally to the big city life in Metropolis.  As I grew older, I came to appreciate this film more and more as I understood the drama and deep-rooted story of Clark Kent going on his journey to become the Man of Steel, because as a child I was chomping at the bit to see him finally turning into Superman and flying around to do some heroic deeds.

So, without going into too much detail, I'll go over the structure of the story.

The film starts with Jor-El (Marlon Brando) on the planet Krypton, banishing three criminals to the Phantom Zone.  Even though he tries to warn the planet's council that the planet is doomed, his warnings fall on deaf ears.  Although he's forbidden to leave Krypton so as not to cause fear to the people of the planet, he decides to send his only child, Kal-El, to Earth.  Once there, Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford) and his wife, Martha (Phyllis Thaxter), take in the child and name him Clark, knowing his abilities, and raise him as their son.  Finally, the day comes where Clark knows he has to go north and finds out who he really is—Superman.

First off, the casting of the relatively unknown (at the time) Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman was perfect.  Hearing, today, some of the names they had in mind to play the part (Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford, to name a couple) is quite amusing.  To have those well-known actors in the lead would lose the magic and make the film unbelievable.  I won't go too much into what I've heard they went through to try and cast the title role, but I urge you to watch some of the extras on the DVD to hear some of the behind-the-scenes stories to get an idea.  But Reeve gave a great performance, treating the role as serious and passionate as it should have been.  He definitely went through some rigorous training and diet to get the right body type, but he had the height and looks right off the comic book pages to make a Superman fan scream with delight (not that I did that).

Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Clark Kent's biological father, was such a pivotal role for the film and undeniably was the heart of it all.  Along with Glenn Ford's portrayal of Clark's Earth father, they both showed how they made Clark the person he was—Jor El, the knowledge and logic and Jonathan Kent, the heart and caring.  Although both characters are near opposite, they both help guide Clark's transition into Superman.

As the film moves into the Metropolis portion, we meet Jackie Cooper playing Perry White, the chief editor of the Daily Planet, who gives the newspaper office life and not just a boring place to work.  I enjoyed watching the scenes with Cooper, giving the right witticism a fast-talking editor would denote.  We're also introduced to Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) as the love interest for Clark Kent/Superman.  Although I've never felt she was attractive enough for the part, the chemistry between her and Reeve was unquestionable.  Of course, you've got to have Marc McClure there to play Jimmy Olsen, the Daily Planet's photographer.

In an amusing introduction to the main villain of the film, the cops are all on the lookout for Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) as they follow Otis (Ned Beatty), hoping he'd lead them to where Luthor's hiding out.  The interaction between Hackman and Beatty is hilarious, along with the beautiful Valerie Perrine as Miss Teschmacher, the trio is a perfect motley crew of unassuming villains.  They seem harmless until we get to the brunt of the story and we see how evil Lex Luthor really can be.

Even though we're teased at the closing of the Fortress of Solitude scene, we really don't see Superman in action until nearly halfway through the movie.  But the wait is well worth it, because it's a very special moment where the world sees this superhero for the first time as he saves Lois (of all people) from certain death as she falls out of a downed helicopter.  On top of that, he catches the chopper as it falls from its crashed demise on top of the Daily Planet building down towards them, inciting cheers and applause from the onlookers below.  I still get a lump in my throat when I observe that scene.

It might be noted that there's no big creature or alien that Superman fights with in this film, it's merely a battle of wits between he and the diabolical Lex Luthor, as he devises a plan to destroy most of the California coastline in order to up the value of all the worthless desert land he purchased just east of the coastline.

Most the things we know about the character are in the film—his speed as he races a locomotive train, leaping tall buildings with a single bound, invulnerable to anything except Kryptonite, x-ray vision (except he can't see through lead)...most of everything a Superman fanboy will get excited about.

One scene that I never understood why it was excluded from the theatrical print of the film was the "trial by bullets, fire and ice" scene.  Around a year or so after the film's release, when it was televised (I believe it was ABC), there were quite a few scenes included to make sure it would fit the allotted time that I didn't remember seeing when watching it in the theater.  A part that stood out, right after Superman spins himself into a drill and lands down into a corridor before getting to the doorway of Luthor's lair, was where he's being tested by Luthor as he's shot by remote machine guns, roasted by bursts of fire and frozen into a block of ice.  Unquestionably, none of these tests hurt the Man of Steel, but it was such a wonderful display of special effects as the bullets are bouncing off of his body and he just walks through the fire unscathed (the freezing scene could've been cut, it looked a little fake), so I don't understand why they would've cut this out of the original print of the film.  Rest assured, however, because that scene—as well as some others—have been reinstated onto the newest DVD releases, all in pristine clarity.

Of course, with time and all the advancements of special effects over the years—especially CGI and motion-capture effects—the flying scenes are a bit outdated and laughable.  When you see a front view shot of Reeve lying in front of a rear-projected aerial scene or some of the blue screen effects, you'll lose a little bit of the mysticism the movie instills in you.  But the wire-work scenes still work and give the film a sense of practicality, believing Superman is real and can easily defy gravity.

Overall, I still give this film a high honor as being the first true serious superhero film.  With the special effects constraints they must have experienced during that time, Donner and his crew did an excellent job in getting this legendary character onto the silver screen in such an admirable fashion.
And if there's anything I can nitpick about this film is the famous (or infamous) "Can You Read My Mind" scene.  I find myself consciously in a battle on whether I should fast forward this scene or just try to enjoy it for what it is—a scene establishing the love story between the two characters: Lois Lane and Superman.

It wasn't until a couple of decades later that I started hearing about the controversial stories that this was supposed to be made into two films, how the original treatment was supposed to be filming a two-part epic to give them a cohesiveness about them as the first part was to have a cliffhanger to end it and lead it into the sequel, Superman II.

I'm sure you've heard all the anecdotes regarding the feud between Richard Donner and the producers, how they fired him and replaced him with Richard Lester to finish the sequel, so I won't get into that.  But if you do watch Superman II carefully, you can tell which scenes were filmed by Donner and which ones were filmed by Lester.  For one thing, Donner's scenes are more serious, much like the tone from the first film.  Lester's scenes are clearly campy and directed to get laughs here and there.  Furthermore, it's on record that Gene Hackman did not return for filming when Richard Donner was released, so all the scenes clearly containing his likeness is obviously Donner's portion.  Marlon Brando was also supposed to be included in the theatrical cut of the sequel during a key emotional scene between himself and Christopher Reeve.  But to avoid paying Brando the money he was contractually promised, the producers had his performance cut from the film in order to void that extra pay.

Enough of all that behind-the-scenes drama...let's talk about 1980's Superman II (released overseas in 1980, but in the states in 1981).

I can't stress enough how excited I was when I first saw the trailer for this film, hearing that Superman will be back and battling beings from his home planet and who have the same powers he does.  Seeing that they were the criminals from the beginning of the first film, who were dispatched by Jor-El to the Phantom Zone, I went out of my mind wondering how they escaped and travelled to Earth.  Well, 1981 came around and I found out.

At the beginning of the film, there's a montage, recapping what happened on Krypton, when the criminals—General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran)—were sentenced to the Phantom Zone.  From there, the movie goes into how Superman hurtles an elevator into space to let the nuclear bomb—which was attached to it—detonate.  The shock blast from the explosion reaches the floating Phantom Zone, shattering it and releasing the three Kryptonian criminals.  They make their way to Earth and the chaos begins.

A lot of the sequences involving the criminals causing destruction is great, like the scene on the moon and when they finally begin their path of ruin from the small town of country bumpkins to the White House.  Terence Stamp gives a great performance as the head baddie, General Zod, demanding everyone kneel before him and strictly articulating a true evildoer.  Sarah Douglas as his female counterpart, Ursa, is equally as intimidating as Zod, but with a definite hatred of all men.  Jack O'Halloran as Non is a little cheesy with his grunts and growls, but after seeing the "Donner Cut" of the film, those sounds were added in post in this one (more on that later).

To add to the villains in this flick, Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luthor, escaping from jail to get to the truth about Superman and use that against him as he joins forces with the Kryptonian criminals.  As I mentioned before, all his scenes were filmed during the first film, so it's not like he returned to form.  But it lightened the scenes a bit when playing opposite the super-baddies.

With all this going on, Superman—as Clark Kent—is traipsing around with Lois on some bogus honeymoon story they're working on in Niagara Falls.  She finds out his identity and he takes her to the Fortress of Solitude to let her know everything and to convert himself to human, losing all his powers, in order to be with her.  Unfortunately, when they get back to Metropolis, he finds out the criminals are on Earth and he tries to go back to get his powers back.  I found these scenes pretty powerful (obviously scenes filmed by Donner) and showed how much Superman cared for Lois by giving up being Superman for her.  But at the same time, you can see the hesitation Lois displays, showing us maybe she doesn't want the human Clark, but the "super" man he was.

Now, after watching this film as the "Donner Cut" that was released a few years ago, it was very interesting.  Firstly, the recap at the beginning was a little overlong, just going a little too much on the summarizing of the first film.  But what I liked about it was how it all ended with the missile that was diverted first was what exploded and caused the criminals to escape.  Secondly, the scene of Lois noticing the resemblance of Clark to the newspaper photo of Superman and how she drew a fedora and glasses over it was so cool.  Also, the follow-up scene of Lois jumping out the high-rise window to prove that Clark will turn into Superman was awesome.  They had to edit in a double and add a voiceover, but it was still remarkable.  Most of the film was about the same, albeit with no campy grunts and whimpers from Non, some different angles during some scenes, and not much else changing.  The biggest setback, although I thought it was a noble effort, was adding the screen tests of Lois finally proving Clark was Superman.  If you can get past how skinny Christopher Reeve was (obviously before his training regimen), you'll appreciate the scene for what it was.  And what it was was a much better way of proving Clark was the Man of Steel (although if he can catch a bullet, wouldn't he be able to see that no bullet shot out of the gun?).

It is a fun alternate film to watch and to visualize how great of a sequel it would've been if Donner had been allowed to continue with the project.

But as for the original theatrical sequel, it's great, even though it contains two different styles of directorial film making.  But, oddly enough, I think that's what makes Superman II work—the serious tones peppered with a few campy moments to give the film a little levity.  After seeing the "Donner Cut" of the film, I'm sure it would've been the companion piece to his 1978 masterpiece, but we'll never know.  But we know what type of movie we would've gotten if Richard Lester directed this film completely, and that's what takes us to the next film in the franchise.

Now with Richard Lester being given the full reigns for the next sequel, 1983's Superman III, we get to see what he brings to the table in making a mockery of such a loved American superhero.  Because hearing that he wasn't familiar with the character in the first place as he's British, I can see why this film turned out the way it did.

Basically, the story revolves around Gus (Richard Pryor) at first, as he's an unemployed black man trying to get work but getting shot down at an unemployment office.  Getting a data entry job at a big computer firm, he ends up being some sort of computer whiz and is able to change his paycheck to get himself a lot more money.  He's found out by the head honcho, Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), but uses Gus to make him money.  When Superman inadvertently thwarts this, Webster wants Gus to use computer technology to get rid of the super hero.  All this is soooo outdated and ridiculous, even back in 1983 when I saw this in the theater it seemed ludicrous.  The only saving grace is when none of the abovementioned characters are not on the screen, but when the story focuses on Clark Kent going back to Smallville to attend his high school reunion or when the bogus Kryptonite causes him to turn evil.  Other than that, this movie is very difficult to sit through.

I think the problem with this whole film is the absurdity of how the writers or director or the producers perceive the logistics of how computers work.  And even if you can get by that, knowing the background of Superman will cause you to call bullshit when you see how he's losing against this super computer and everything associated with it.

You know, I did think this film started off well, with the opening credit scene, because I did enjoy that.  Rather than staring at boring credits flying through space, we get to see a little physical comedy sketch play out with a few gags like men falling and bumping into things when they see a beautiful lady walking down the street or a blind man losing his guide dog and thinking he recovered it but actually is pushing a street line painting machine as he marks lines crazily all over the place...things like that.  And it all ends with Superman saving some schlub from drowning in his car after he crashes into a fire hydrant.  But after that...quite a downhill train wreck.

One thing to note is that there is an absence of Lois Lane from this film.  She makes a quick intro at the beginning as she announces she's going to Bermuda or somewhere like that, but that's about it.  Seems that Margot Kidder really expressed her distaste for the way Richard Donner was treated after the first film and the producers saw to it that her role in this one be reduced considerably.  She should be glad not to be associated with this one.

If you thought that movie was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet as we get into the next sequel that had to make a deal with Christopher Reeve to make sure he returned to the title role.  Since the last film, the rights were sold off to the Canon Group and they were supposed to return Superman to his greatest, but they missed the mark entirely.  Yes, 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was a terrible movie, almost unwatchable.

I can't help but feel sorry for Reeve as this was his exiting Superman role.  After watching this, I knew there was no way we'd ever see him in the blue & reds again.  I'll give it to him, however, for giving some story input (as was the deal promised to him for returning into the role) about ridding the world of nuclear weapons and was pretty cool to see how he took them from all the countries and collected them in some gigantic net in space (who made that net???).

I'm surprised as hell that Gene Hackman agreed to return as Lex Luthor as this was clearly a hackneyed script that was as ridiculous as it turned out.  He must've made out like a bandit because I don't know if I'd take the risk of being involved with a stinker like this flick.  Adding insult to injury, Hackman's paired up with Jon Cryer as his nephew, Lenny, getting on everyone's nerves as he sounds like a cross between Pauly Shore and Cousin Balky.  Ugh!  It's terrible!

Anyway, Luthor wants revenge on Supes, creates a being called Nuclear Man to fight him...there's battles in outer space that looks like terrible blue screen you'd get done in Vegas...somehow Mariel Hemingway's character is able to breath in space...it's just so awful, it's really unwatchable.

It's been said that there is an uncut version of this film with more scenes and two Nuclear Men...but I don't think anything, cut or uncut, could save this movie.

Since the 90s, I've heard that they wanted to bring Superman back to the big screen.  I thought that was awesome because special effects had come a long way since 1987, with CGI and better filming techniques.  Finally, in the mid to late 90s, it was said that Tim Burton was going to helm the film and base the story on the death and return of Superman, based on the infamous storyline in the comics.  Then came the news that Nicholas Cage was to star as the title character.

(pin drops to the floor)

Yes, the fans became unhinged, collectively screaming at Warner Bros. to not let this happen.  How could Nicholas Cage even think he was able to fill the red boots that Christopher Reeve wore?  What made him think he had the boyish, yet manly, good looks to pull off the character so beloved by the world?

I don't know...but thank goodness it didn't happen.

After going round-robin for a few more years, finally it was announced that Superman would be back in the hands of Bryan Singer.  On top of that, it was announced that this would be a sequel, not a reboot.  But here's the kicker: the sequel would ignore parts three and four and take place after part two.  Seems the writers took the liberties that the writers took when making Halloween H20 a few years prior.  And in 2006, Superman Returns was released.

Now, this movie worked for me on some levels of the story, but went south on some other parts.  First off, I liked their decision to take place after part two, but starting off with just a screen text explanation of what happened in the last five years could've been better served if they filmed it rather than explained it.  Nevertheless, I liked the idea that Superman had hope that maybe he could search for more answers when he heard a scientist discovered a planet that could be Krypton and leaving Earth to find it.  I also like how Lois Lane moved on and even wrote a Pullitzer Prize-winning story about how the world didn't need the Man of Steel.

What I didn't like, above all else, was that Lois—SPOILER ALERT—gave birth to Superman's son.  That, to me, was just a plot point we could've done without, something that made making a sequel impossible.  They wrote themselves into a hole they couldn't get out of when they included that character into the mix.

Brandon Routh as the title character was great in the dual role of Clark Kent and Superman.  The suit was updated and looked good and the sets were fabulous, especially the updated Fortress of Solitude.  Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane got on my nerves a little, as she was kind of bitchy and unlikable at first.  I agreed with having a love triangle, having James Marsden as Richard White, giving Superman that sadness on what he missed out on while he was away from earth.

Even though he was essentially copying Gene Hackman's mannerisms, Kevin Spacey added a bit more wickedness to the character of Lex Luthor.  He wasn't just a toying villain opposite Superman, but you really believed he wanted the Man of Steel dead.

Overall, the story was good, but let's face it—it was basically a retread of the frst movie: Luthor devised a scheme to get his own land that people would have to pay him for while millions of people would die in the process, Superman saves people, he goes up against Luthor and gets duped by Kryptonite, comes back and wins the day.

The special effects were great, particularly the plunging jet hurtling to Earth as Superman keeps it from crashing and saving the lives of thousands in the stadium it was about to fall into.  It was a great scene, but sort of prematurely showed its hand too early in the film.

By and large, the film is a decent and enjoyable follow-up to Superman II that could've been more, but was a hell of a lot better than parts three and four.

So there you have it, the Superman franchise the way I see it.  I find myself hard-pressed to watch the whole franchise without skipping the two awful sequels, but I'm a completest and I must do so.  But I highly recommend that parts one and two be watched back to back and Returns right after.

Hopefully the character will get a great presentation on the screen again when Man of Steel is released next summer, but we'll always have these previous movies to fall on if we're disappointed by Zack Snyder's achievement.

My final "bit" on the Superman Franchise?

In honor of the great Christopher Reeve, grab a tub of popcorn, sit back for a few hours and re-watch the first two films followed by Bryan Singer's try at a sequel.  We all need heroes in this world, so enjoy a true American one.



Thanks for reading!

You can reach me on Twitter: @CinemaBits.