10 Responses to “I Will Be Buying This Post-Haste”

1. Robert Says:
   October 17th, 2006 at 11:27 pm

   I don’t think I’ll be buying this set, but I hope all of the movies are available through Netflix, which currently doesn’t have "Superman IV."  Late last year and early this year I became obsessed with the Christopher Reeve films again and tried to find as much as I could on the Internet about the Donner-directed scenes of "Superman II," which I still think is superior to "Superman," although the special effects are worse in the sequel and some of the slapstick doesn’t work for me anymore.But it amazes me how much the IMDB message-board hounds have villainized Richard Lester and said that he made a joke out of the Superman legacy.  Sure, "Superman III" is too campy, but are they trying to say that "Superman I" isn’t campy at all?  Sorry to burst your bubble, but Lex Luthor isn’t anywhere close to villainous in any of the "Superman" movies.  The upshot is that Gene Hackman is hilarious in that role.Of course, Donner likes to pound his chest about what a great movie he made and still grumbles about Lester discarding the work he did on "Superman II."  We’ll see in November who made the better movie.  (Actually, we won’t since we’re not little kids anymore and therefore can’t be mesmerized all over again, but it’s nice to dream.)

2. Phil Says:
   October 18th, 2006 at 12:02 am

   My shelves are full of "gotta have" DVD sets that I won’t have time to watch until I’m 73.  Don’t know why I keep buying them.

3. Jason Says:
   October 18th, 2006 at 9:54 am

   I wasn’t aware of the Superman III backlash until I was much older, but as a kid, I liked it.  I thought Richard Pryor was funny, and I loved the Superman v. Superman fight in the junk yard.  (Especially because Evil Superman had 5 o’clock shadow.)

   A few years ago, I auditioned for a commercial with Robert Vaughn.  I didn’t have the balls to ask him about Superman III.
   I don’t have high hopes for the Donner cut.  I think it’ll be interesting from a historic standpoint and certainly cool to see tons of unreleased footage from back then, but my gut feeling is that it’s going to appear disjointed.  But we shall see!

   Phil – yeah, same with me.  Back To The Future, Indiana Jones, Star Wars…the list goes on…

4. Robert Says:
   October 18th, 2006 at 2:12 pm

   I enjoyed "Superman III" as a kid too.  But when I saw it again recently on Pax, it was pretty bad, especially compared to the first two films, although I assume it’s still better than "Superman IV."  It does have a few things going for it: (1) Annette O’Toole is a great replacement for a mostly absent Margot Kidder, and Lois Lane isn’t missed all that much since her affair with Superman had pretty much come to an end by the end of "Superman II"; (2) Superman’s id being unleashed via tainted kryptonite is a great idea … but isn’t explored as well as it could’ve been, and the scene in the junkyard, while riveting during our younger years, looks poorly edited these days (that being said, seeing Evil Superman sitting in a bar shattering glasses and mirrors by flicking peanuts at them is still darkly funny); (3) we get to see Clark Kent loosen up a bit once he’s back in Smallville and spending time with Lana Lang.  The villains aren’t that great in "Superman III," but it was time for Lex Luthor to take a break anyway.  Christopher Reeve does a great job as always as Superman and Clark Kent.The "Superman II" backlash is what really surprised me in the past year.  I think it has something to do with a certain age group’s nostalgia for "The Goonies" (which I didn’t see until I was 27), directed by Richard Donner, and a belief that Richard Lester, an "Englishman" (actually an American who’s lived in England a long time, much like Terry Gilliam), stole the franchise away from an American.  Superman’s American, see.  Except he’s an alien from outer space.  But he looks and talks like an American, see.  Case closed.Correction regarding my Netflix comment: they do have "Superman IV" but they don’t have "Superman III."I too have bought the "Back to the Future" and "Indiana Jones" sets, as well as season of TV shows like "SCTV" and "Moonlighting" that I still haven’t watched.  I’m holding out on "Star Wars" until Lucas finally gives us widescreen versions of the theatrical prints of "Star Wars."  Why spend the money on DVDs I won’t have time to watch when Lucas will end up making them obsolete anyway, possibly next year during the first film’s 30th anniversary?

5. Robert Says:
   October 18th, 2006 at 2:13 pm

   One question, Jason — do we need to put "<br>" after each paragraph to avoid the sentence pile-ups I keep seeing?

6. Robert Says:
   November 2nd, 2006 at 12:24 am

   Your fears about Donner’s “Superman II” being disjointed may be correct, Jason, but it sounds like it’ll still be worth seeing. The following is from IMDB’s news page for Nov. 1:

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

7. Jason Says:
   November 2nd, 2006 at 2:21 pm

   Thanks, Richard, for all these comments.  That sounds pretty much like I imagined, but we’ll have to wait and see.  Please come back and let me know what you think after you’ve seen it.

8. Robert Says:
   November 4th, 2006 at 7:32 pm

   Uh … my name’s Robert.

9. Jason Says:
   November 4th, 2006 at 11:19 pm

   Why you gotta be so picky?

   (So sorry.  Won’t happen again, I promise.  I operate on less than 1/2 my brain after lunch, which is when I responded.)

10. Robert Says:
    November 6th, 2006 at 1:56 am

    No problem. I would’ve used an emoticon to let you know I thought it was funny, but using an emoticon would’ve gone against my moral code.