Man of Steel 2013

[GATA]

Speaking of Super Heroes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuBPTeDSiTM

Leaked Comic Con Trailer for Superman

I have really high hopes for this movie no one has been able to recreate the magic Mr. Reed gave us in his portrayal of Superman but the movie thus far looks amazing.

[RutgersJetFan]

I've seen both versions of this (one with Jor-El and one with Pa Kent), and I'd still like to know what Clark Kent is doing on an episode of Deadliest Catch.

[JiFtheOracle]

Saw previews for it at Batman. Looks good. But so did all the trailers but i havent been to the Movies since the last Batman. Is that common?

[SMC]

Thanks for posting this, Gata, but how freakin' hard is it for the illegal videotaper to focus when filming this teaser?

I'm tempering expectations. I don't understand why it's so hard to make a good Superman flick. Singer had a chance, but he cared more about copying Donner and focusing on Superman's crotch then making an original, great film.

[GATA]

Singer had a chance, but he cared more about copying Donner and focusing on Superman's crotch then making an original, great film.

SInger's Superman blew huge donkey balls. I was like "Why does this feel like a bad 80's movie?"

I was supremely disappointed.

[SMC]

SInger's Superman blew huge donkey balls. I was like "Why does this feel like a bad 80's movie?"

I was supremely disappointed.

Exactly. They even gave him a $250 million budget and he blew that?

Also, what horrible miscasting for Lois Lane. The actress was 23 at the time of filming and looked younger that that and you expect us to believe she has a 6 year old superboy kid?

Casting Lois Lane is so important. She's probably the best comic book love interest ever and she acts as a perfect juxtaposition for the superhero, being our jaded eyes to the world. She's supposed to be smart, sexy, and street savy.

Amy Adams is such a good actress that she might be able to pull it off.

[GATA]

Exactly. They even gave him a $250 million budget and he blew that?

Also, what horrible miscasting for Lois Lane. The actress was 23 at the time of filming and looked younger that that and you expect us to believe she has a 6 year old superboy kid?

Casting Lois Lane is so important. She's probably the best comic book love interest ever and she acts as a perfect juxtaposition for the superhero, being our jaded eyes to the world. She's supposed to be smart, sexy, and street savy.

Amy Adams is such a good actress that she might be able to pull it off.

Agreed, though I'm a tad bit thrown off by her apparel choice in the clips and her hair color.

[T0mShane]

I thought the Singer Superman was good because it didn't take itself seriously. I mean, Christ, you're talking about a character that has red underwear as part of his uniform.

[GATA]

I thought the Singer Superman was good because it didn't take itself seriously. I mean, Christ, you're talking about a character that has red underwear as part of his uniform.

[T0mShane]

That picture of Robin makes me feel funny in all the wrong places.

[GATA]

That picture of Robin makes me feel funny in all the wrong places.

Lol I thought you were into the jockey type, you pedo.

[jorge o8]

SInger's Superman blew huge donkey balls. I was like "Why does this feel like a bad 80's movie?"

I was supremely disappointed.

hahaha donkey balls thats good hahah was it that bad

[rillo]

I'll watch, but IDK about this

[SenorGato]

So long as the "lets make comic book superheroes REAL and EDGY" phase gets finished up. Look! Clark Kent once had FACIAL HAIR! Does he know who he *really* is?

Oh, and Superman apparently gets arrested and has guns pulled on him...by...here's the twist...the very people he wants to save! OH that's original! They don't understand you! You don't understand you! Lois loves you! Can you allow her to love you!?

It's just so corny. The Nolan influence is really obvious, and with a hero as campy as Superman (a rock that doesn't exist on Earth is his only real weakness) can't we not be so cereal about it? I'll still see it.

[Vudu]

Superman movies have sucked ass. Face it, Superman is a whack Super hero...best power but his comics dont translate well to film...Maybe having the same producers as Batman they can work some magic. But that last movie with that annoying glowy filter irked me..and Superman looked like an ultrahomo>

I saw this trailer yesterday when I saw Dark Knight Rises...the music they set it to sounded like some sh*t Peter Jackson threw away from the LOTR franchise.

[RutgersJetFan]

Thanks for posting this, Gata, but how freakin' hard is it for the illegal videotaper to focus when filming this teaser?

I'm tempering expectations. I don't understand why it's so hard to make a good Superman flick. Singer had a chance, but he cared more about copying Donner and focusing on Superman's crotch then making an original, great film.

Simple, it's a character that was a product of its time, and the modern canons don't translate very well to film. And the really, really great comic lines of recent years (Infinite Crisis, Red Son), probably don't translate well on to the screen either. I mean face it, unless you were born before the 90's, wouldn't the Donner films come off as terrible? The only reason I can still watch them is because I grew up with them. And Superman Returns was like a soap opera.

That said, I'm expecting big things with this for one reason and one reason only; the cast. Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Costner as Pa Kent, and most importantly, Michael Shannon as Zod. Shannon is the f-cking man, perfect choice and I fully expect him to be evil as all hell. Also the suit looks solid and a lot more modern, which eliminates teh ghey factor. Snyder also has done awesome jobs with both 300 and Watchmen (though Watchmen's script was lacking, one can't deny the directing was spot on).

[RutgersJetFan]

Also for those who aren't cliche cynics and are interested in the flick, there's actually been two trailers being shown before TDKR. They're both the same, but one has Crowe doing a voice over and the other has Costner. Here's the link to the good quality ones:

http://latino-review.../07/21/teasers/

[Larz]

boring

and it just totally sux they can't make a freakin superhero movie I can take my 6 year old to

lame

[SenorGato]

That said, I'm expecting big things with this for one reason and one reason only; the cast. Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Costner as Pa Kent, and most importantly, Michael Shannon as Zod. Shannon is the f-cking man, perfect choice and I fully expect him to be evil as all hell. Also the suit looks solid and a lot more modern, which eliminates teh ghey factor. Snyder also has done awesome jobs with both 300 and Watchmen (though Watchmen's script was lacking, one can't deny the directing was spot on).

You're not wrong about this but it's just so easy to make fun of because it's clearly following a fairly proven formula for the top superhero movies. I actually don't see this sucking at all, but you have to admit there's a bit of "been there done that" with the direction they're going.

The new suit does, in fact, eliminate a major issue with Superman. Also the formula is a successful one and has given us Batman Begins and to a lesser but still there effect, the first Iron Man.

[RutgersJetFan]

You're not wrong about this but it's just so easy to make fun of because it's clearly following a fairly proven formula for the top superhero movies. I actually don't see this sucking at all, but you have to admit there's a bit of "been there done that" with the direction they're going.

Well, I'm not going to admit that, because I have no clue what the story is. If the story is good, the movie will be good. Simple as that. David Goyer and Chris Nolan write good stories, there's a lot more reason to be optimistic than there is to be cynical. Particularly the latter, who doesn't exactly have a track record of wasting his time with cliche screenplays.

The new suit does, in fact, eliminate a major issue with Superman. Also the formula is a successful one and has given us Batman Begins and to a lesser but still there effect, the first Iron Man.

I have no clue what the formula is nor what you're speaking of. If you're referring to the empirical use of realism, then yeah, but it's pretty dumb to try and paint screenplays reliant on that with the same broad brush. Meaning Iron Man 2 wasn't any similar to Iron Man than it was to Batman Begins. A good story is a good story.

[SMC]

Man of Steel does have the cast going for it, but the director is still a question mark. 300 was solid, Watchmen, IMO, was too beholden to the source material, and Sucker Punch was utter trash. Of course, I would have more faith in the project if Nolan was directing rather than producing. Right now, he's one of my 3 favorite directors going along with Marty & Fincher.

Selfishly, I wish a film rendition would focus on the god complex as expertly done in the secondary story arc of The Dark Knight Returns and the underlying theme of Red Son. Everyone focuses on the Christ-like parallels with Superman and how Jor-El sent his "only son to save us," but the important distinction is that the Christ of belief/history/etc. was a man and could die. Superman has no such limitations.

So in a world "protected" by Superman, there has to be some trepidation because of his invulnerabilities. Who is to say that his intentions are in line with our own?

[GATA]

Man of Steel does have the cast going for it, but the director is still a question mark. 300 was solid, Watchmen, IMO, was too beholden to the source material, and Sucker Punch was utter trash.

Everyone focuses on the Christ-like parallels with Superman and how Jor-El sent his "only son to save us," but the important distinction is that the Christ of belief/history/etc. was a man and could die. Superman has no such limitations.

300 I enjoyed, but Watchmen I thought they could have done so much more to actually bring it to life.

Sucker Punch anything with Vanessa Hudgens is almost un-watchable.

As to Sman... well Doomsday killed him & I think in one of the alternate realities so did Lex. But I get the concept.

[GATA]

Simple, it's a character that was a product of its time, and the modern canons don't translate very well to film. And the really, really great comic lines of recent years (Infinite Crisis, Red Son), probably don't translate well on to the screen either. I mean face it, unless you were born before the 90's, wouldn't the Donner films come off as terrible? The only reason I can still watch them is because I grew up with them. And Superman Returns was like a soap opera. You shouldn't even recognize that... such a terrible movie.

I have to agree with the Pre 90's / early 90's comment. Watching C. Reed adopt the role when I was a little girl was amazing. (Random little girl watching a movie and saying to herself "wow he's dreamy!") I've watched Superman recently and though I enjoy the movie because it takes me back to a very special time, it's not the same at all.

This same exact feeling occurs when I watch old horror/terror movies. I watch them , I laugh at the horrible acting and then I sigh.

There's very few that I can still enjoy.

But going back to your comment... Right around that time we had a superhero concept explosion. You guys may think it's stupid to continue to re-adapt these comics but it's a topic / theme that never gets old and stands against time. Around the 80's heading into the 90's, we had all the animated marvel shows. (X-men, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Hulk)

the non-animated ones like Wonderwoman, & the Flash (which if you see it when you're a kid you're like"COOL" but if you watch it now you just shake your head at how corny it looks) - I watched because there were random re-runs

The DC comic shows Batman and Superman animated.

I'm sure everyone remember Schumacher's Batman ... the black sheep of the Batman movie's ... I'm also positive that, it must have dismantled your illusions of a good Batman movie in the future. However, Batman Begins changed all that .... and here's hoping Man of Steel can do that same.

[RutgersJetFan]

Man of Steel does have the cast going for it, but the director is still a question mark. 300 was solid, Watchmen, IMO, was too beholden to the source material, and Sucker Punch was utter trash. Of course, I would have more faith in the project if Nolan was directing rather than producing. Right now, he's one of my 3 favorite directors going along with Marty & Fincher.

I disagree. If anything, it wasn't beholden enough to the book, for no other reason than it couldn't be. The problem is that the screenplay served to prove what everyone had already known for years; Watchmen simply doesn't translate well to the big screen. It's too intricate of a book to fit into under 3 hours. Half the fun of Watchmen is learning Rorshach, (which Haley did an amazing job of playing btw), particularly in the scenes with the shrink, but they had to cut that out for length. The ending was completely different. No squid, , no human belief that aliens had attacked them, no Veidt staring out at what he knows is only a temporary solution. Dr. Manhattan's relationship with and feelings towards Veidt were entirely switched around, which in turn changes the entire premise of many of the story's themes. All of this was done, of course, in the interest of time and big screen translation.

That said, it's hard to put all of that on Snyder, and from a directorial standpoint, Watchmen was great. The whole movie visually felt like you were reading Moore's comic. Definitely a stunner. And as I pointed out before, he'll be directing a Goyer/Nolan story, which really provides room for a ton of hope. You've got maybe the best visual director from a comic standpoint directing a screenplay by the best comic tandem. If they can't make Superman work, I don't think it ever will. Which sucks, Supes is still f-cking awesome. There's an entire generation of people in their 20's and younger that think he sucks because Donner's movies haven't held up well and Superman Returns was cheesy, (see this thread), and that's hardly the case.

[RutgersJetFan]

I have to agree with the Pre 90's / early 90's comment. Watching C. Reed adopt the role when I was a little girl was amazing. (Random little girl watching a movie and saying to herself "wow he's dreamy!") I've watched Superman recently and though I enjoy the movie because it takes me back to a very special time, it's not the same at all.

This same exact feeling occurs when I watch old horror/terror movies. I watch them , I laugh at the horrible acting and then I sigh.

There's very few that I can still enjoy.

But going back to your comment... Right around that time we had a superhero concept explosion. You guys may think it's stupid to continue to re-adapt these comics but it's a topic / theme that never gets old and stands against time. Around the 80's heading into the 90's, we had all the animated marvel shows. (X-men, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Hulk)

the non-animated ones like Wonderwoman, & the Flash (which if you see it when you're a kid you're like"COOL" but if you watch it now you just shake your head at how corny it looks) - I watched because there were random re-runs

The DC comic shows Batman and Superman animated.

Yup. X-Men on Saturday mornings. Nothing else mattered.

I'm sure everyone remember Schumacher's Batman ... the black sheep of the Batman movie's ... I'm also positive that, it must have dismantled your illusions of a good Batman movie in the future. However, Batman Begins changed all that .... and here's hoping Man of Steel can do that same.

Well said. Once upon a time people thought Batman & Robin killed the franchise. Again, a good story is a good story. People never tire of them. Particularly if it's a character that's beloved. Look at how many times the Hulk's been rebooted over the years between TV and movies. People still go, and everyone knows what's going to happen. It's been rebooted twice on its own in movies, and people are already clamoring for a third time considering how good Ruffalo was as Banner. And this is all in under a span of 10 years, with 3 different actors playing him under 3 different directors, and only on the 3rd time did everyone go, "Finally! They got the Hulk right!" You get the right cast, the right director, and the right story, and people will go.

P.S. I'm impressed. I thought you were much younger for some reason.

[GATA]

Yup. X-Men on Saturday mornings. Nothing else mattered.

Well said. Once upon a time people thought Batman & Robin killed the franchise. Again, a good story is a good story. People never tire of them. Particularly if it's a character that's beloved. Look at how many times the Hulk's been rebooted over the years between TV and movies. People still go, and everyone knows what's going to happen. It's been rebooted twice on its own in movies, and people are already clamoring for a third time considering how good Ruffalo was as Banner. And this is all in under a span of 10 years, with 3 different actors playing him under 3 different directors, and only on the 3rd time did everyone go, "Finally! They got the Hulk right!" You get the right cast, the right director, and the right story, and people will go.

P.S. I'm impressed. I thought you were much younger for some reason.

I'm turning 23 lol I'm in limbo right now.

[slats]

If they can't make Superman work, I don't think it ever will. Which sucks, Supes is still f-cking awesome. There's an entire generation of people in their 20's and younger that think he sucks because Donner's movies haven't held up well and Superman Returns was cheesy, (see this thread), and that's hardly the case.

I'm well beyond my 20's, and I think Superman sucks. He's a completely one-dimensional character. This incredibly powerful alien who only wants to do what's right at every turn. Indestructible except when he finds himself around a bit of kryptonite, which his arch enemy of the moment always seems to have. It's lame, and I don't know how you fix it. Superman just doesn't work in our cynical world. The Donner Superman movies may not hold up that well, but I really think this character is better suited to comedy.

I think I'd rather see an Aquaman movie.

[SMC]

I disagree. If anything, it wasn't beholden enough to the book, for no other reason than it couldn't be. The problem is that the screenplay served to prove what everyone had already known for years; Watchmen simply doesn't translate well to the big screen. It's too intricate of a book to fit into under 3 hours. Half the fun of Watchmen is learning Rorshach, (which Haley did an amazing job of playing btw), particularly in the scenes with the shrink, but they had to cut that out for length. The ending was completely different. No squid, , no human belief that aliens had attacked them, no Veidt staring out at what he knows is only a temporary solution. Dr. Manhattan's relationship with and feelings towards Veidt were entirely switched around, which in turn changes the entire premise of many of the story's themes. All of this was done, of course, in the interest of time and big screen translation.

That said, it's hard to put all of that on Snyder, and from a directorial standpoint, Watchmen was great. The whole movie visually felt like you were reading Moore's comic. Definitely a stunner. And as I pointed out before, he'll be directing a Goyer/Nolan story, which really provides room for a ton of hope. You've got maybe the best visual director from a comic standpoint directing a screenplay by the best comic tandem. If they can't make Superman work, I don't think it ever will. Which sucks, Supes is still f-cking awesome. There's an entire generation of people in their 20's and younger that think he sucks because Donner's movies haven't held up well and Superman Returns was cheesy, (see this thread), and that's hardly the case.

I have to disagree with your disagreement.

The Dark Knight Trilogy is the best superhero adaption ever. It's an interpretation of the source material, maintaining it's soul, but taking it in a new direction by fans of the source material. The same can be said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With Watchmen, the ending had to be changed because there is no way you could go with an alien invasion angle. Blaming it on Dr. Manhattan actually worked. And yes, Haley was amazing and then best thing about the movie. But I believe Snyder was too slavish to the source material. He failed to interpret it and make it his own. He tried to do what he did with 300-put a comic book on screne rather than do a film apaption of a comic book.

That said, like you, I'm hanging my hat on Goyer and Nolan. They have a winning track record so I'll see Man of Steel with an open mind.

GATA is hanging hard in here so I give her her props, but at 23 she is too young to understand the allure of Donner's Superman. In 1978, we had just been blown away with the special effects of Star Wars and the idea of a spaceage fairy tale, but there had never been a cinematic comic book movie. We loved the original Batman series because it was Batman, hello! But it was still just silliness.

Then, there is a teaser promotion starting in late 1977 (I was 5) and it was simply: "You will believe a man can fly." There's no CGI back then. Flying superheroes in movies and TV didn't realistically exist. You had the stupid backscreen stuff of the 1950s Superman TV show. As kids you loved it but you didn't believe it could be real.

Then Donner's Superman comes out and, Holy sh*t! He's flying! He's really flying! That's how it looked on screen to that generation of movie goers. We loved it. The movie got mixed reviews at the time, but teens and kids adored the movie because Superman became real for us, something we had only seen in our imagination.

Then Superman 3 and Richard Pryor came along and ruined it all.

[SMC]

I'm well beyond my 20's, and I think Superman sucks. He's a completely one-dimensional character. This incredibly powerful alien who only wants to do what's right at every turn. Indestructible except when he finds himself around a bit of kryptonite, which his arch enemy of the moment always seems to have. It's lame, and I don't know how you fix it. Superman just doesn't work in our cynical world. The Donner Superman movies may not hold up that well, but I really think this character is better suited to comedy.

I think I'd rather see an Aquaman movie.

THAT'S why they have to explore the God Complex issue. That's how it would resonate would today's cynical world.

Who the **** is Superman to tell us how to live? We can solve our own problems, thank you! Egotistical maniac!

That sorta thing.

[Bleedin Green]

Yup. X-Men on Saturday mornings. Nothing else mattered.

No joke. I actually started watching some episodes recently when I realized it was on Netflix streaming. I don't care, even today that show is still bad ass.

[RutgersJetFan]

I have to disagree with your disagreement.

The Dark Knight Trilogy is the best superhero adaption ever. It's an interpretation of the source material, maintaining it's soul, but taking it in a new direction by fans of the source material. The same can be said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With Watchmen, the ending had to be changed because there is no way you could go with an alien invasion angle. Blaming it on Dr. Manhattan actually worked. And yes, Haley was amazing and then best thing about the movie. But I believe Snyder was too slavish to the source material. He failed to interpret it and make it his own. He tried to do what he did with 300-put a comic book on screne rather than do a film apaption of a comic book.

Ah, got it. Misunderstood what you were saying. The problem is that both of those cinema story lines (Marvel Universe and Nolan's Batman) are composites of several different comic story lines. Batman Begins is really just a blend of Year 1, a couple Loeb books, and TDKR. With some minor Nolan flair mixed in. He didn't really start reinventing characters like The Joker or Bane until he'd set the premise, (and I honestly think Dark Knight Rises' script wouldn't have been so much Nolan had Ledger been alive). With Watchmen you don't have that. You just have the one book, and not only is it insanely intricate, but it's also beloved. It's a no-win situation either way you do it. If you change too much, it would be rejected, change too little, and you wind up with a 6 hour movie. Maybe they could have done something like Jackson's done with The Hobbit, (2-3 hour movies), but I doubt the studio would have approved anything of the sort. Basically, if you change Watchmen, it's not Watchmen anymore. There's too much happening in the book to take your own spin on it. With Batman, or The Avengers, there are a billion awesome stories to choose from and blend together. That's why I think Snyder did about as good a job as you can with it. Rorschach is what makes so much of Watchmen ridiculawesome, and Snyder at least nailed him to a T.

That said, like you, I'm hanging my hat on Goyer and Nolan. They have a winning track record so I'll see Man of Steel with an open mind.

GATA is hanging hard in here so I give her her props, but at 23 she is too young to understand the allure of Donner's Superman. In 1978, we had just been blown away with the special effects of Star Wars and the idea of a spaceage fairy tale, but there had never been a cinematic comic book movie. We loved the original Batman series because it was Batman, hello! But it was still just silliness.

Then, there is a teaser promotion starting in late 1977 (I was 5) and it was simply: "You will believe a man can fly." There's no CGI back then. Flying superheroes in movies and TV didn't realistically exist. You had the stupid backscreen stuff of the 1950s Superman TV show. As kids you loved it but you didn't believe it could be real.

Then Donner's Superman comes out and, Holy sh*t! He's flying! He's really flying! That's how it looked on screen to that generation of movie goers. We loved it. The movie got mixed reviews at the time, but teens and kids adored the movie because Superman became real for us, something we had only seen in our imagination.

Then Superman 3 and Richard Pryor came along and ruined it all.

I still remember the look on my dad's face after we walked out of the theater after seeing Superman IV. It was like someone had just punched him in the balls. Of course, I was 6 at the time and thought the fights between him and Nuclear Man were the coolest things I'd ever seen. Now I watch clips of it on Youtube for unintentional comedy.

[RutgersJetFan]

No joke. I actually started watching some episodes recently when I realized it was on Netflix streaming. I don't care, even today that show is still bad ass.

And the arcade game too. I can honestly say that if I walked up and saw someone had already taken Nightcrawler, I'd feel the tears well up.

[RutgersJetFan]

I'm well beyond my 20's, and I think Superman sucks. He's a completely one-dimensional character. This incredibly powerful alien who only wants to do what's right at every turn. Indestructible except when he finds himself around a bit of kryptonite, which his arch enemy of the moment always seems to have. It's lame, and I don't know how you fix it. Superman just doesn't work in our cynical world. The Donner Superman movies may not hold up that well, but I really think this character is better suited to comedy.

I think I'd rather see an Aquaman movie.

Yeah, that's kind of my point, that's not really the modern take Superman. Like Batman in the 70's, the character has largely been rewritten for the better. Now, it's generally a huge struggle for him in the comics. Like SMC's pointed out, the God complex, Luthor constantly trying to prove that he's more a threat to humanity than its savior, and really it's more the fact that he's an alien trying to find his way in this world...etc. Would highly suggest reading books like Kingdom Come or Earth One if you're curious.

[SMC]

Alex Ross' Justice was also awesome.

Alan Moore created his own characters for Watchmen because DC wouldn't let him use real old characters from their library. Wouldn't it be cool if Moore was allowed to reimagine Watchmen using main DC characters like Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, etc?

Call it "Watchmen: Justice League" or something and have the same basic storyline, but with these main characters. Have it fit in with the Elseworlds line at DC.

[war ensemble]

Man of Steel does have the cast going for it, but the director is still a question mark. 300 was solid, Watchmen, IMO, was too beholden to the source material, and Sucker Punch was utter trash. Of course, I would have more faith in the project if Nolan was directing rather than producing. Right now, he's one of my 3 favorite directors going along with Marty & Fincher.

Selfishly, I wish a film rendition would focus on the god complex as expertly done in the secondary story arc of The Dark Knight Returns and the underlying theme of Red Son. Everyone focuses on the Christ-like parallels with Superman and how Jor-El sent his "only son to save us," but the important distinction is that the Christ of belief/history/etc. was a man and could die. Superman has no such limitations.

So in a world "protected" by Superman, there has to be some trepidation because of his invulnerabilities. Who is to say that his intentions are in line with our own?

Dude, Jesus is God.