Superman-III & IV

[thecolorsblend]

I think there's an 80's-era BTS featurette (hosted by Reeve himself!) accompanying the Lester Superman II.  There should also be a smattering of vintage 1940's Fleischer cartoons as well.  It's worth picking up for the remastered audio and video alone, imho, but those extras are pretty enticing.

The Lester S2 special edition DVD set is available in the Ultimate collection, the Christopher Reeve collection and as a stand alone deal.

All the same bonus stuff that you got on the 2001 STM DVD is available on the 4 disc version, plus the original theatrical cut with the original audio mix (that alone made it worth buying for me; I prefer the original version with the original sound) and it also has a bevy of other stuff included as well (also more Fleischer cartoons).

All in all, the 4-disc version of STM is basically mandatory as far as purchases go.  It's worth the upgrade.  The Lester S2 is less so (arguably) but I found both to be very much worthwhile.

That being said, the easy solution is to simply buy the Ultimate collection and get it all.  It's a little pricey but a smarter purchase in the long run.  I ended up giving all my old Superman DVD's to my brother and his wife since they were all duplicated (and, in many cases, exceeded) by that Ultimate set.  Highly recommended!

[batass4880]

Thanks for the info colors! One more question: Have you or anyone else seen the Supergirl movie and if so how was it? Was the Jerry Goldsmith score any good?

[thecolorsblend]

Supergirl was a wasted opportunity, not just in my opinion, but many others as well.  Helen Slater does her job well.  The problem is that the majority of the other elements of any movie weren't there to back her up.  The script is weak (when big action set pieces continually call for invisible monsters and villains, you know you're in trouble), a mediocre supporting cast doesn't help (Faye Dunaway's career wasn't killed by this movie for no reason) and some really fuzzy "science" (outer space vs. inner space; whaaa?) puts the kibosh on what were intended to be warm, character scenes.

The tone of the movie was sort of stuck in this weird netherworld between a quasi-storybook fantasy against a backdrop of heavy "real world" locations.  I didn't buy into it, myself.

That being said, the flying effects are largely first rate.  I don't care what anybody says, the Supergirl flying sequences beat the snot out of *ANY* of the Reeve flying sequences.  In terms of quality, quantity and sheer believability, Supergirl's flying stuff is second to none.  N-O-N-E.



See what I mean?

As for the score, I was sort of "meh" about it but I'm not big on scores anyway.  Though I love the Williams Superman, Elfman Batman and all the Star Wars scores, I make no claim to being an authority on them.

Overall, it's not a waste of time to watch it but it's nowhere near what it could've been.

[batass4880]

Yeah, the flying scene there is really cool. I'd take the flying sequences from this and the original Superman's over any of the new CGI effects any day. Sometimes the simple things are the most effective IMO. Thanks again colors!

[DarkVengeance]

I still have never seen Supergirl, I am interested in seeing it but never have even seen it on dvd or anything, nor on tv. Did the film flop at the box office, Colors do you know how well it did?

[thecolorsblend]

According to Box Office Mojo, it generated $14 mill at the box office.  Unfortunately, it lists no budget.  However, given the production values the film had (for the time anyway) and the general consensus that it was a disappointment (though I've never heard anyone say "flop"), I find it pretty easy to believe that it probably cost about $13 or $14 mill to make.  Maybe a little less.  By now, it's probably long since in the black.

It's not a waste of time to watch it, there's just so much that most of you will groan about and say "that could've easily been so much better".

[batass4880]

It looks like it was financially a disaster. Here it states that it cost approximately $35 million to make, although this site does have some credibility issues: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088206/trivia

[DarkVengeance]

I want to know where the hell I can find the film itself, I cant find it anywhere!

[thecolorsblend]

It looks like it was financially a disaster. Here it states that it cost approximately $35 million to make, although this site does have some credibility issues: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088206/trivia

Hmm.  Check this out too.  It backs up your budget reference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergirl_(film)

If the figure is accurate, that means Supergirl cost more to produce than Return of the Jedi but less than Superman III... which, I suppose, isn't out of the question, but you'd think the producers would've wanted to control costs a little bit given that Supergirl had to have been an unknown quantity.  If that $35 mill figure is accurate though, Supergirl *SERIOUSLY* tanked it at the box office!

[Dark Knight Detective]

III was horrible. The only views worth seeing were scenes w/ Chris Reeve & Annete o' Toole. Other than that, it was crap with a capital C. Richard Pryor in a superhero film!? Richard Pryor!? What a waste. Quest for Peace, while it was bad, it had most of the main cast from the first film, which is probably its saving grace.