Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Teaser

Here is another

 

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Black Friday Trailer 2015

Early Christmas Present!!!

So there are two movies from my early childhood that sent me down the dark path of popcorn movie geek dome. Superman The Movie and the original Star Wars. I was about 5 when both came out. Now anytime I hear John Williams scores all bad thoughts go away and I am left full of hope. Hope I now share for the new generation of movies from this iconic franchise.

Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" - Teaser Trailer (OFFICIAL)

I Can't wait....

A haunted House. terribly Funny fiasco worthy of a group watch.

This movie is the reason I created this blog. This voice is terrible. Terribly funny in a complete sophomoric way. Marlon perfectly tore Paranormal activity and similar movies a new comedic hole. This movie will never deserve awards. I would never want to pay for this movie. 

Marlon Wayans is giving up the single bachelor pad life when his girl friend moves in. She brings with her a hoard of paranormal activity. Add to that friends that want to swing. Camera Guys with issues. Aggressively gay Psychic. The jokes are dumb and poorly written but perfectly performed without rergard for any decency.

Do not watch with Gma. You will not get anymore Xmas cards with cash. BUT when the friends are over and you need a fun distraction, break out the popcorn, and prepare to dish. Every other moment is hilarious OR just plain dumb and ripe for ridicule for the perfect group watch!!!

Marlon Wayans as Malcolm Johnson
Essence Atkins as Kisha Davis
Cedric the Entertainer as Father Doug Williams
Nick Swardson as Chip the Psychic, a gay psychic who lusts after Malcolm
David Koechner as Dan "the Man" Kearney
Dave Sheridan as Bob Kearney, Dan's illiterate brother/associate
Marlene Forte as Rosa, Malcolm's Hispanic housekeeper
Andrew Daly as Steve, Malcolm's exchanger friend
Alanna Ubach as Jenny, Steve's wife
Affion Crockett as Ray-Ray, Malcolm's gangster cousin
Robin Thede and J.B. Smoove as Kisha's mother and stepfather

G.I. Joe: Retaliatiation Worst Action Movie Ever

OK. So the whole point of this blog is to celebrate great movies over looked by snooty awards givers. This movie should have been king of the popcorn movies. GI JOE has a rich history of characters and high action.

The cast is top notch as action movies go. The Rock, Tatum, Byung-hun Lee (CATO) Ray Park (Darth Maul, Toad) Ray Stevenson Palicki... Johnathan Price!!! Bruce Willis!!!

The action scenes are not half bad. But I expected better from a movie of this caliber.

The writing and direction are atrocious. The scenes between action sequences are just stupid, slow paced, poorly written and directed even worse.

Which sucks because the over all premise is great.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1583421/?ref_=nv_sr_1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Joe:_Retaliation




Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock / Marvin F. Hinton
Ray Park as Snake Eyes
Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye / Jaye Burnett
D.J. Cotrona as Flint / Dashiell R. Faireborn
Elodie Yung as Jinx / Kim Arashikage
Channing Tatum as Duke / Conrad S. Hauser
Bruce Willis as General Joseph Colton
Joseph Mazzello as Mouse
Ryan Hansen as Grunt
Jim Palmer as Clutch

Cobra
Luke Bracey as Cobra Commander / Rexford "Rex" Lewis
Robert Baker as the voice of Cobra Commander
Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow / Thomas "Tommy" Arashikage
Ray Stevenson as Firefly
Arnold Vosloo as Zartan
Matt Gerald as Zandar/Havoc

Other characters
Jonathan Pryce as the President of the United States
Walton Goggins as Warden Nigel James
RZA as Blind Master
Joe Chrest as the Chief of Staff
James Carville as himself
DeRay Davis as Stoop

JLA Trapped in Time review and more

Just watched this online. Great story. The animation and voices were a bit of a throw back to the 1970s/80s Super Friends.

In case you did not get this the animators had Wendy & Marvin walking Super Dog - or at least their clones as extras. And the entire Time trapper character seems like one of the old Super Friends villain of the week. DC has never been a great story teller when it came to Fantasy - at least not on TV or Film.

The lighter story telling clearly designed for younger audience is focused around some young super heroes in training - Karate Kid and Dawn Star (on the cover art to the right - that is not Hawk Girl). No Mr. Miyagi present...

In the prologue, Lex Luthor and the Gang - all looking more cartoonish than the past 20 years of animated DC TV and video - are trying to Dry up the world's oceans by creating massive glaciers in the North Pole via five satellites in orbit with giant freeze rays Ala Captain Cold. As the JLA defeats the Legion of Doom, Lex Luthor is trapped in ice.

In the year 3100ish Lex Luthor is on display in a Museum of Heroes and Villians. Karate Kid and Dawn Star are making the rounds. An overly eager Karate Kid - wanting desperately to join Lightning Lad and Legion of Super Heroes - frees Luthor. Lex grabs Captain Cold's freeze gun, stops the two young heroes and Releases the Time Trapper.

With the Time trapper, Lex seeks out to stop the creation of the JLA by stopping Superman's early arrival to earth. He succeeds, but as in typical time travel stories, one paradox deserves another.

The entire JLA disappear as Time Trapper erases the paradox. But the two heroes from the future are no discovered. They seek out the frozen Luthor. Freeing Lex allows the Time Trapper to banish the time traveling Luthor and frees himself.

Time Trapper no seeks to turn the world into darkness. Apparently the power of time control makes everything float up into a vortex. Only the Light of Dawn Star saves the day to separate Time Trapper - a being of pure dark matter - from his magical hour glass.



LINKS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3468260/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JLA_Adventures:_Trapped_in_Time

CAST
Peter Jessop as Superman
Diedrich Bader as Batman
Laura Bailey as Dawnstar
Dante Basco as Karate Kid
Corey Burton as Time Trapper, Captain Cold
Grey DeLisle-Griffin as Wonder Woman, Superbaby
Jack DeSena as Robin
Michael David Donovan as Bizarro
Tom Gibis as Toyman, Jonathan Kent
Erica Luttrell as Cheetah, Martha Kent
Liam O'Brien as Aquaman, Batwing Computer
Kevin Michael Richardson as Black Manta, Solomon Grundy
Jason Spisak as The Flash, Taxi Driver
Fred Tatasciore as Lex Luthor
Avery Kidd Waddell as Cyborg
Travis Willingham as Gorilla Grodd

Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Clip 1

Finally saw this. I had scene the previous episode of SHIELD so i could follow the (loose) tie ins to the movie. And watched the following SHIELD episode the day after watching movie. All ties in neatly. HAIL HYDRA!!!

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!

I would almost call this Captain American & SHIELD. As this movie is almost as much a Nick Fury and Black Widow showcase.

The introduction of Falcon was a bit odd to me. Maybe they just had too much going on to do it properly. It was sincere and what they did was well done. But will all the elements it was almost more of a Avengers episode than a CA movie. No complaints I loved it...

The movie stops action just long enough to deliver a little story. Very touching scene with the failing Peggy Carter.   Learning about Robert Redford's true intentions... Captain America visiting his own memorial at teh National Air & Space Museum. Guess FLY closed at the big theater finally.

AND the coda / after thought scene in the credits was very bad ass as well...

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

PS One of the coolest things about the movie - not to take anything away from this project - the trailer ofr XMEN. It seems like a lot for a 2-3 hour movie but with 200 million I think they may have pulled off a huge feat. Look AMAZING!!! And with article i just read in entertainment weekly I am totally stoked!!!



http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/04/12/x-men-25-moments/

Marvel's Thor & Thor: Dark World

While I enjoyed these movies, they are not my favorite of the Marvel film series. But they are far from the bottom of my list. I think - maybe - these movies are less superhero movies and more Lord Of The Rings meets Vikings. More historical epic poem along the lines of Class of the Titans or Beowolf. With the attack on Asgard, the second movie almost becomes an episode of Star Wars. I would rank it above Hulk (both recent incarnations) and Fantastic Four films. I generally like all of these films more than recent DC Comics' offerings. 

I will say I find these movies visually stunning. The 2011 movie was one of my favorite in 3D. The intergalactic travel was beautiful. Really felt like you are flying though the cosmos.

Thor:

I love the way the movie introduces Hawkeye. And Clark Gregg  agent Coulsen probably earned his right to a TV series starting with this movie- solidified by work and death in the Avengers.

This movie seemed a little anti climatic from the epic hero style around these days, HOWEVER, you really felt the quality of movie form the story and actors was tremendous thanks to Kenneth Branagh. Many of the Asgardians did the movie because of Branagh and gave the script a Shakespearean treatment. Perhaps being a small midwest town as a backdrop for the big fight is small compared to New york. 

I do love the Character Loki played by Tom Hiddleston. We have a modern Iago. Someone that will never be happy. Plagued by jealously, he is full of hate. But this type would never be happy with success. I remember Michael Cain form Dark Night "Some people just want to see the world burn". Such is this Loki

Chris Hemsworth makes a great Thor. This is a tough character. He is not human. He is not truly a God. This origin story of Thor as a Earthly Hero is very good. But I feel we have seen it before. Almost like Starman with Jeff Bridges. A brilliant interstellar being that seems off guard by the newness of Earth - Especially the United States South West. Thor is ready to take the thrown - or so he thought. Hubris - so common in epic tales, right - gets the better of his judgement and Odin has to rescue the whole Asrgardian team form the world of the Frost Giants. Stripped of his powers he is a fallen god on Earth - Think Misha Collins with Muscles. But sacrificing himself to save his friends is just the things he needed to prove worthy to reclaim Mjolnir. He destroys the Destroyer (Anyone else think this is a rip off of GORT - name that movie) and then returns to Asgard, destroys the Bi Frost, and fights with Loki. All is almost lost until daddy saves them both once again. 

2011 Thor Trailer

Thor: Dark World

While the writing and acting and directing of the first movie are far superior, this movie is full of action. Apparently a lot of background on the Dark Elves and Malekith were left on the cutting room floor - or computer database these days I suppose. I hope we seem them in the DVD release. While the movie is a roller coaster of action from Svartalfheim to Asgard to Earth. But - while Malekith comes off as epically powerful and older than time itself, we don't get much more. We understand he is motivated by revenge as Asgard detroyed most of his kind 1000s of years ago. But I feel if you are not a reader of the comics you probably missed a bunch there.

Malekith from Comics v Dark World Movie

Dr Jane Foster and crew find a portal between worlds created by planetary alignment. Missing for 5 hours, she is infected by the Aether, a power Asgardians - led by Odin's father Bor (Asgardian for "life of the party") - ripped from Malikith in the prehistoric times. As Jane releases the Aether, Malekith is awakened from eternal sleep.

Odin is not pleased when Thor bring Jane to Asgard for help. The Aether is deadly and foretells an ancient prophesy. Malekith attacks Asgard, sending Algrim (as Kursed) ahead to infiltrate defenses. Protecting Jane, Frigga sacrifices herself. Kurse barely gets Malekith out of Asgard alive - suffering a severe burn on his face - once Odin and Thor catch up to scene.

This is just enough to get Loki to help revenge their mother's death. They trick Malekith to remove the Aether form Jane, but fail to destroy the evil force. Loki is mortally injured in the fight. Thor and Jane find another portal to Earth, just in time as Malekith arrives to use the convergence to spread th Aether throughout the universe.

The ensuing battle is confusing. Although once again visually stunning. Gravity and reality are both bent out of shape due to the convergence. portals between various worlds send the combatantsevery which way - fighting while out of control of various forces. Thor keeps missing Mjolnir as gravity shifts. Basically the movies best showing of string theory to date...

Thor finally sends Malekith back to Svartalfheim where his ship crushes the Accursed.


Trailer

Chris Hemsworth as Thor: The crown prince of Asgard, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name. Director Kenneth Branagh and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige chose Hemsworth after a back-and-forth process in which the 27-year-old actor was initially dropped from consideration and then given a second chance to read for the part. Hemsworth stated that he gained 20 pounds for the role by eating non-stop and revealed that "It wasn't until Thor that I started lifting weights, it was all pretty new to me." Regarding his take of the character, Hemsworth said, "We just kept trying to humanize it all, and keep it very real. Look into all the research about the comic books that we could, but also bring it back to 'Who is this guy as a person, and what's his relationship with people in the individual scenes?'" About approaching Thor's fighting style, he remarked, "First, we looked at the comic books and the posturing, the way [Thor] moves and fights, and a lot of his power seems to be drawn up through the ground. We talked about boxers, you know, Mike Tyson, very low to the ground and big open chest and big shoulder swings and very sort of brutal but graceful at the same time, and then as we shot stuff things became easier."

Natalie Portman as Dr. Jane Foster: A scientist and Thor's love interest. Marvel Studios stated in an announcement that the character was updated from the comics' initial portrayal for the feature adaptation. When asked why she took the role, Portman replied, "I just thought it sounded like a weird idea because Kenneth Branagh's directing it, so I was just like, 'Kenneth Branagh doing Thor is super-weird, I've gotta do it.'" Portman stated that she really wanted to do a big effects film that emphasized character, and getting to do it with Branagh was a new way of approaching it, relative to Star Wars. Regarding her preparation for the role Portman remarked, "I signed on to do it before there was a script. And Ken, who's amazing, who is so incredible, was like, 'You can really help create this character'. I got to read all of these biographies of female scientists like Rosalind Franklin who actually discovered the DNA double helix but didn't get the credit for it. The struggles they had and the way that they thought – I was like, 'What a great opportunity, in a very big movie that is going to be seen by a lot of people, to have a woman as a scientist'. She's a very serious scientist. Because in the comic she's a nurse and now they made her an astrophysicist. Really, I know it sounds silly, but it is those little things that makes girls think it's possible. It doesn't give them a [role] model of 'Oh, I just have to dress cute in movies'". Hiddleston promoting the film in London in April 2011.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki: Thor's adoptive brother and nemesis based on the deity of the same name. Hiddleston was chosen after previously working with Branagh on Ivanov and Wallander. Initially Hiddleston auditioned to play Thor but Branagh decided his talent would be better harnessed playing Loki. Hiddleston stated that "Loki's like a comic book version of Edmund in King Lear, but nastier." Hiddleston stated that he had to keep a strict diet before the start of filming because "Ken [Branagh] wants Loki to have a lean and hungry look, like Cassius in Julius Caesar. Physically, he can't be posing as Thor". Hiddleston looked at Peter O'Toole as inspiration for Loki as well explaining, "Interestingly enough, [Kenneth Branagh] said to look at Peter O'Toole in two specific films, The Lion in Winter and Lawrence of Arabia. What's interesting about ... his performance [as King Henry] is you see how damaged he is. There's a rawness [to his performance]; it's almost as if he's living with a layer of skin peeled away. He's grandiose and teary and, in a moment, by turns hilarious and then terrifying. What we wanted was that emotional volatility. It's a different acting style, it's not quite the same thing, but it's fascinating to go back and watch an actor as great as O'Toole head for those great high hills".

Idris Elba as Heimdall: The all-seeing, all-hearing Asgardian sentry of the bifröst bridge, based on the mythological deity of the same name. Elba said Branagh's involvement was a major incentive to take the role: "[Branagh] called me up personally and said, 'I know this isn't a big role, but I would really love to see you play it.' It's Kenneth Branagh. I was like, 'Definitely'". About the role Elba remarked, "I did green screen for the first time! I wouldn't like to do a whole movie of green screen, though. You kind of forget the plot a little—like being in a Broadway play and doing it over and over and forgetting your line halfway through". Elba stated he has made a four-picture commitment with Marvel Studios. Elba's casting prompted a proposed boycott by the Council of Conservative Citizens and a debate amongst comic book fans, some insisting it was wrong for a black man to play a Nordic god. In response Elba called the debate "ridiculous".

Anthony Hopkins as Odin: The ruler of Asgard, father of Thor, and adoptive father of Loki, based on the mythological deity of the same name. In an interview Hopkins stated he knew nothing of the comic. About the film he said, "It's a superhero movie, but with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in". Hopkins stated, "I'm very interested in that relationship between fathers and sons", and that, "My father's relationship with me was cold. He was a hot-blood character but to me, cold. When I was young, he expressed his disappointment because I was bad in school and all of that. He didn't mean any harm, but I felt I could never meet up to his expectations." Hopkins expressed that he found a personal resonance in the Odin role, saying, "He's a stern man. He's a man with purpose. I play the god who banishes his son from the kingdom of Asgard because he screwed up. He's a hot-headed, temperamental young man... probably a chip off of the old block but I decide he's not really ready to rule the future kingdom, so I banish him. I'm harsh and my wife complains and I say, 'That is why I'm king.' He's ruthless, take-it-or-leave-it. Women are much more forgiving; men are not so forgiving. I know in my life, my karma is, 'If you don't like it, tough, move on.' And I move on. I'm a little like Odin myself".

Christopher Eccleston as Malekith: The ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. About Malekith's motivation, Eccleston said, "There is a kind of tragic quality to his quest. Because he’s lost his wife, he’s lost his children. He’s lost everything. And he returns for revenge. And the agent for his revenge is the Aether. If he gets hold of that, he is omnipotent." Eccleston continued, "What I thought about a great deal was revenge—there's huge amounts of revenge. One quote is: 'When you seek revenge, be sure to dig two graves.' I did a film called Revengers Tragedy where I played a guy called Vindici—from the word 'vindictive'—and he is the distillation of revenge. So, in a way, that was what I had to think of: how revenge can make you absolutely monomaniacal—though you're still trying to make it recognizably motive-led. It's just the personification of movie evil." However Taylor stated that a lot of scenes involving Malekith's backstory had to be cut from the film to make it more efficient. Eccleston revealed that he speaks an invented language for the film explaining, "The Elvish language is definitely based on European languages. I think there’s probably some Finnish in there. It does have its logic and its rhythms. It also has many syllables and it’s very difficult to do while remaining naturalistic. It’s been a particular challenge for us but hopefully it gives the film some complexity and variety." Eccleston also said the role required six hours of make-up and 45 minutes in wardrobe 

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Algrim / Kurse: A Dark Elf, and Malekith’s trusted and loyal lieutenant, who is transformed into a monstrous creature in order to destroy Thor. Akinnuoye-Agbaje described Kurse as "an amalgamation of a bull and a lava-like creature. He has very animalistic tendencies but with this insatiable and unstoppable power. As an actor, that’s one of the hardest things to embody. You have to realize you are probably the most powerful thing you could imagine. And you have to be that. You can’t pretend, so that when you face Thor, it’s real."[28] Akinnuoye-Agbaje stated the role required three hours of make-up a day and had to put on heavy duty prosthetics explaining, "The outfit weighed about 40 pounds. I’m sure there will be a certain amount of CGI but a good 80% was me in that suit."[28] About the character Akinnuoye-Agbaje said, "I suppose Algrim and Kurse would be the quintessential baddies, but in reality they are what I perceive as the scorn and the victims of the story. They are the elves who have basically lost their planet and their race to another race, the Asgardians. Here is a man/alien who places a noble objective beyond his own life and I think there is something extremely inspiring about that because he looks at the bigger picture and sees himself as a means to that end." Akinnuoye-Agbaje added, "I worked with director Alan Taylor in trying to maintain Algrim’s humanity all the way throughout Kurse’s transformation, so that even when you see Kurse the beast, you can still relate to him as being Algrim inside. And symbolically we did that by keeping the same piercing blue eyes throughout."

Stellan Skarsgård as Dr. Erik Selvig: A scientist doing research in New Mexico who encounters Thor. Skarsgård stated that he was not initially familiar with the comic book version of Thor. As to why he took the part, Skarsgård remarked, I "chose Thor because of [director] Kenneth Branagh. The script was nice and we got to rehearse and talk to the writers and do some collaborating in the process to make it fit us. So I had a very happy time on it. What I always try to do is immediately do something I just haven't done so I get variation in my life. I've made about 90 films and if I did the same thing over and over again I would be bored by now. I try to pick different films, I go and do those big ones and having done that I can usually afford to go and do some really small obscure films and experiment a little".

Colm Feore as Laufey: King of the Frost Giants and Loki's biological father, based on the mythological being of the same name, who in myth was actually Loki's mother. Feore stated it took five hours for his makeup to be applied. About his character Feore remarked, "I am the King of Frost Giants. And if you've seen any of the Frost Giants, you know that I am, of course, the Napoleon of Frost Giants. We've got some massive, fabulous guys who dwarf me and come in at around eight-and-a-half feet, nine feet. But, no. Can't you tell by the commanding presence? I am the boss". He said the Shakespearean training he shared with Hopkins and director Branagh helped keep production moving briskly, saying that "during the breaks, Tony, myself and Ken would be talking in Shakespearean shorthand about what the characters were doing, what we thought they may be like, and how we could focus our attention more intelligently. These were discussions that took no more than a few minutes between takes, but they allowed Ken, Tony and [me] to understand each other instantly without Ken taking an hour away to explain to the actors exactly what was going on. So that was enormously helpful."

Ray Stevenson as Volstagg: A member of the Warriors Three; a group of three Asgardian adventurers who are among Thor's closest comrades, known for both his hearty appetite and wide girth. Stevenson previously worked with Kenneth Branagh in the 1998 film The Theory of Flight, and with Marvel Studios as the titular character in Punisher: War Zone. Stevenson wore a fat suit for the role, stating, "I've tried the suit on, and what they've done is kind of sex him up: he's sort of slimmer but rounder.". Stevenson said, "He's got every bit of that Falstaffian verve and vigor, and a bit of a beer gut to suggest that enormous appetite, but he's not the sort of Weeble-shaped figure he is in the comics. He's Falstaff with muscles. I've got this amazing foam-injected undersuit that flexes with me."

Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis: A political science major who is Jane Foster's intern. Dennings described her character as Foster's "little helper gnome". Dennings stated that her role was expanded during the rehearsal process. Dennings explained, "She's kind of like a cute, clueless, little puppy or maybe a hamster. There wasn't much on the page for the Darcy role to begin with and I didn't even see a script before I took the job so I didn't really know who Darcy was at first. But she really evolved—she's so much fun now even. She's very Scooby-Doo if that makes sense. She's always three steps behind and reacting to what's happening with these great expressions ... She gets things wrong and doesn't care."

Rene Russo as Frigga: The wife of Odin, queen of Asgard, mother of Thor and adoptive mother of Loki, based on the mythological deity of the same name. Russo stated in March 2011 interview that she has signed on for possible sequels, joking that, "Eventually they'll kick me out, so who knows how many I'll do".

Tadanobu Asano as Hogun: A member of the Warriors Three, primarily identified by his grim demeanor and as the only member who is not an Æsir. Ray Stevenson said of Asano's character, "He doesn't speak much but when he does, everybody shuts up. But also in the healing room where everyone licks their wounds, he's the guy who just goes about his business".

Joshua Dallas as Fandral: A member of the Warriors Three, characterized as an irrepressible swashbuckler and romantic. Stuart Townsend was initially cast after Zachary Levi was forced to vacate the role due to a scheduling conflict. However, days before filming began, Townsend was replaced by Dallas citing "creative differences". Dallas said he believed that Fandral "would like to think of himself a philanderer. He would like to think of himself, I was saying, as the R. Kelly of Asgard. He's a lover, not a fighter". Dallas mentioned that Errol Flynn was an inspiration for the character stating, "He was a big inspiration for the character and for me. I watched a lot of his movies and kind of got that into my bones. I tried to bring out that little bit of Flynn-ness in it. Flynn had a lot of that boyish charm that Fandral's got...."

Jaimie Alexander as Sif: A warrior and Thor's childhood friend based on the mythological deity of the same name. Alexander was best known for her portrayal of Jessi XX on the ABC Family series Kyle XY.[47] Alexander said that she was familiar with Marvel Comics before having taken the part, having grown up with four brothers. Alexander said the part required hours a day in the gym, though training is not unfamiliar to her, explaining she was one of few girls on her Colleyville, Texas, high-school wrestling team. Alexander described her character as "one of the guys" and that, "She's a very talented, skilled warrior and can stand on her own against any villain in the film". About her relationship with Thor she stated, "She is very loyal to Thor and cares a lot about protecting him and protecting Asgard"

MORE FROM 2011 Movie

Clark Gregg reprises his role as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson from Iron Man and Iron Man 2.[51] Adriana Barraza plays diner owner Isabella Alvarez and Maximiliano Hernández plays S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Jasper Sitwell. Actors Joseph Gatt, Joshua Cox and Douglas Tait portray Frost Giants.[52][53] Stan Lee[54] and J. Michael Straczynski[55] have cameo appearances as pick-up truck drivers. Samuel L. Jackson has an uncredited cameo as Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who as revealed in Iron Man is coordinating the "Avenger Initiative". Jeremy Renner has an uncredited cameo as Clint Barton.[56] Dakota Goyo and Ted Allpress play Thor and Loki, respectively, as children.

MORE FROM 2013 MOVIE

Additionally, Clive Russell plays Tyr, based on the deity of the same name. Benicio del Toro, who plays the Collector in Marvel Studios' upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy, appears in a mid-credits scene with Ophelia Lovibond, who plays his aide. Alice Krige portrays Eir, an Asgardian physician. Jonathan Howard plays Ian Boothby, Darcy's intern. Tony Curran plays Bor, Odin's father, based on the deity of the same name. Richard Brake portrays a captain in the Einherjar. Chris O'Dowd was cast as Richard, a suitor of Jane Foster's. Chris Evans makes an uncredited cameo appearance as Loki masquerading as Captain America, while Thor co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as a patient in a mental ward.

Transformers: Age of Extinction Teaser Trailer

Dinobots? finally!!!

This movie looks amazing. But all three did. Hopefully Michael Bay spends more time on the story and real people in the movie. Cast performances already look better. Hire some actresses to replace pretty bumps on a log and you might have a great movie. Last three you really got the sense that female cast was made on a couch, not a studio. Talents were not in acting...

Of course that was fixed by having a reality show for Chinese actors. This process worked so well for Glee and Broadway, right? Glad studio and Michael Bay have a lot of respect for trained actors...

Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, a single father and struggling inventor.

Nicola Peltz as Tessa Yeager, Cade's daughter.

Jack Reynor as Shane Dyson, Tessa's boyfriend and a race car driver.

Stanley Tucci as Joshua, an arrogant designer who wants to build his own robots.

Sophia Myles as Darcy, Joshua's geologist assistant.

Kelsey Grammer as Harold Attinger, a paranoid government official and the main human antagonist.

T. J. Miller as Lucas, Cade's best friend and a mechanic.

Titus Welliver as Savoy, leader of the team of agents hired by Attinger.

Li Bingbing as Su Yueming, the "CEO of the Chinese Transformers".

Melanie Specht as the "Grande Dame", Joshua's senior executive assistant.

Victoria Summer as Joshua’s executive assistant.

Han Geng was cast in an unspecified role. Byron Li, Austin Lin, Candice Zhao and Teresa Daley are cast in roles after winning the reality television show Transformers 4 Chinese Actors Talent Search Reality Show

NEW THIS WEEKED: Pompeii, Non Stop,

Gladiators + Volcanos = Lets make a movie with a trailer that looks like a bunch of great selling movies in one... Sharknado History Channel Style?

Pompeii (referred to by marketing as Pompeii in 3D) is a 2014 American disaster-adventure film produced and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson,[2] the film stars Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Carrie-Anne Moss, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica Lucas, with Jared Harris, and Kiefer Sutherland. It premiered in France, Belgium and Russia on February 19, 2014 and is scheduled to be released over the course of the next two days in many major territories, including the United States of America, Canada and Australia

So this is the Liam Neeson, "I am old, over it but still ready to kill you if you interupt this good book I am reading" movie of the year...

Non-Stop is an 2014 upcoming French American action film starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Anson Mount, Lupita Nyong'o and Scoot McNairy. It is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.[2] This is the first film to be produced by Universal Pictures and Silver Pictures after Warner Bros. longest-running relationship ended.


CASTS
NON STOP

Liam Neeson as Bill Marks
Julianne Moore as Jen Summers
Michelle Dockery as Nancy
Nate Parker as Zack White
Linus Roache as Captain David McMillan
Scoot McNairy as Tom Bowen
Corey Stoll as Austin
Lupita Nyong'o as Gwen
Anson Mount as Jack Hammond
Bar Paly as Iris Marianne
Omar Metwally as Dr. Fahim Nasir
Shea Whigham as Agent Marenick


POMPEII
Kit Harington as Milo, a slave who became a gladiator.
Dylan Schombing played Young Milo
Emily Browning as Cassia
Kiefer Sutherland as Senator Corvus
Jared Harris as Severus
Jessica Lucas as Ariadne
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Atticus
Carrie-Anne Moss as Aurelia Paz Vega as Strigana
Joe Pingue as Graecus
Dalmar Abuzeid as Felix
Sasha Roiz as Proculus
Jean-Francois Lachapelle as Milo's Father
Rebecca Eady as Milo's Mother

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
The Wind Rise
Black Out
In Secret
Holy Ghost People
Barefoot
Omar

Jack Reacher & Oblivion Review & preview Tom Cruise movie is fully buttered and popped

AT IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790724/
WIKI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reacher_(film)

Jack Reacher 2012 (Click Link to watch at Amazon instant video)  is the 2012 film starring Tom

Cruise, Produced by Tom Cruise and Directed by - oh wait, he let someone else do that....

So again, like so many OK films, I enjoyed this one mostly because I was expecting crap. I watched with split focus, mostly perking up when pleasantly surprised to see Robert Duvall Cameo and then back to help with final action scene.

Like so many TOM CRUISE PRODUCTIONS, Tom knows how to entertain. I get the sense he wanted another Mission Impossible, came up short for a team action movie, so he found a pseudo Tom Clancy type character. This movie feels like a great team made a cheap movie. And I mean that in a complimentary way. All on location shooting, basically easy locations to acquire, simple shots of action sequences not requiring a lot of stunts. Kind of like an episode of Law & Order gone wrong...

I kind of like David Oyelowo as Emerson, capturing the acting style/skill of a young Sydney Poitier.

PMC Rating - NOT BAD

Oblivion 2013 (Click Link to watch at Amazon instant video)
IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1483013/
WKI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblivion_(2013_film)
Same story with Oblivion. Any movie gets better once Morgan Stanley is on board. 2077, the world is abandoned. Jack (different Jack, no relation to above), is the tech part of a 2-man tech team. Well tech support is Victoria Olsen, Jack's communications officer and lover.  Right away Sally (Melissa Leo) seems to have a creepy distant quality. And combined with preview scene of Morgan Freedman, you know things are not right.

Not a great movie, it is entertaining at most times with a few high action moments. The movie is too much a rip of of many movies in one, mostly Independence Day at the Climax. At times the movie has tones of I Am Legend and even Planet of the Apes with old destroyed New York as the back drop. 

I do like to see Nikolaj Coster-Waldau - Jamie Lannister form Game of Thrones. Look for him to do more and more at the movies as his HBO duties run their course...

Jack Reacher is a 2012 American thriller film.^[3][4] It is an adaptation of Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot. Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film stars Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. The film entered production in October 2011, and concluded in January 2012. It was filmed entirely on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The film's U.S. premiere gala, scheduled for December 15, was delayed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14. The film was released in North America on December 21, and in the United Kingdom on December 26, 2012.

• Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher
• Rosamund Pike as Helen Rodin
• Richard Jenkins as Alex Rodin
• David Oyelowo as Emerson
• Werner Herzog as Zec Chelovek, "The Zec", the owner of the major German corporation "Lebendauer Enterprises".^[5]
• Jai Courtney as Charlie
• Vladimir Sizov as Vlad
• Joseph Sikora as James Barr
• Michael Raymond-James as Linsky
• Alexia Fast as Sandy
• Josh Helman as Jeb Oliver
• Robert Duvall as Martin Cash
• James Martin Kelly as Rob Farrior
• Nicole Forester as Nancy Holt

Oblivion is a 2013 American post-apocalyptic science fiction filmbased on Joseph Kosinski'sRadical Comics-edited unpublishedgraphic novel of the same name. The film was co-written, produced and directed by Kosinski.^[5][6][7] It stars Tom Cruise and Olga Kurylenko.^[8][9] The film was released in the U.S. on April 19, 2013.^[10] According to Kosinski,Oblivion pays homage to science fiction films of the 1970s.^[11]

The film received mixed reviews. The acting and visual effects were praised, while critiques of the story were mixed. The film underperformed at the American box office, grossing only $89 million, but performed well overseas. It is Cruise's twentieth film to gross more than $200 million worldwide.

• Tom Cruise as Commander Jack Harper, a repairman who fixes anti-alien drones
• Morgan Freeman as Malcolm Beech, a resistance leader on Earth
• Olga Kurylenko as Julia Rusakova, an astronaut Jack rescues from a killer drone and nurses back to health
• Andrea Riseborough as Victoria "Vika" Olsen, Jack's communications officer and lover
• Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Sykes, a battle-hardened and athletic military weapons expert in Earth's human resistance
• Melissa Leo as Sally, Jack and Victoria's supervisor, speaking from the Tet
• Zoë Bell as Kara

How Hollywood almost destoyed Superman - AND STILL MIGHT...

Superman is indestructible - virtually. Well the the character is. The franchise is seemingly always under attack by the tug and pull between purists and radical "visionaries" that want to change everything we love about the character. As an actor and producer of theater, sketch and now film as well... I am always amazed at the crapped produced when morons with too much money put their faith in the wrong "Visionary"  - Best recent example of this is Spiderman on Broadway...

Reading some articles on WIKI, I discovered the answer why we had to wait so long for Superman Returns 2006.  The people that brought us Superman THE MOVIE are most likely the cause of its years of crappy movies and ideas. Making one great movie does not make you the expert.

Superman THE MOVIE was great. Superman 2 was pretty awesome, but clearly producers decided to reinvent what Kryptonians can do way too much. The movie survived a director change and was pretty good.

Superman 3 was not bad but critically panned. Superman 4 was produced by Cannon Films. Cannon bought the rights from Salkind but ran out of money and the movie clearly suffer from 2nd rate producing and Cannon's Bankruptcy.

But that is just the beginning of the disaster to be aimed at the Super Boy Scout...

Well as far as I am concerned they started with Superboy. I recently watched the pilot and was totally disgusted. I hear it get better with recastings and writing changes in later season. But what I saw was terrible.

SUPERMAN V was in the works. With writers from Superboy Series and Salkind Producing (Also writing premise for the story) this was bound to fail after Warner Brothers sued to regain control of the property. After the later works form Salkind I think this was a great thing to happen, even though it killed more movies. Instead we get Lois & Clark Which I have liked but never loved. After THE MOVIE TV budget could never really satisfy special effects needs... I preferred Greatest American Hero in the 1980s.

The Success of "THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN" Comics brought us one abandoned project after the next. At this point Salkind is replaced by Jon Peters as the horrible years to come for the character behind the scenes...

"In any good Superman movie, the fate of the whole planet should be at stake. You've got to have villains whose powers and abilities demand that Superman (and only Superman) can be the one who stops them. That's the only way to make the movie exciting and a dramatic challenge." —Writer Jonathan Lemkin on writing Superman Reborn FROM WIKI

SUPERMAN REBORN / SUPERMAN LIVES
If the "Death of Superman" was so perfect, why is every on screen version so different - Including the animated feature DOOMSDAY that was made. When the wheel is perfect, don't reinvent. Various versions of this script had Superman having relationship issues with Lois, fighting Doomsday and and passing on his life force resulting in VIRGIN BIRTH after his death - with the new Superman, a 3-week old child appearing 21 to save the day .

In a rewrite by Gregory Poirier (Creator of a show I wish lasted - ABC's MISSING with Ashley Judd), Superman's version of Jesus is replaced by his own life being resurrected by Cadmus - now an alien victim of Brainiac (The creator of Doomsday in this version) not a government project to stop meta-humans. JLA purists would have had a field day with that one. Kevin Smith was hired to rewrite the script but did not like the number of changes form the Superman Comic

"We got the Kevin Smith script, but we were told not to read it, because they knew he wasn't going to stay on the movie. So we used Kevin Smith's script as a guide to the sets we might be doing, and we waited and waited for the new script to come in, but it never did." —Art designer Sylvain Despretz on designing Superman Lives^[ FROM WIKI

So in researching all of the failed Superman projects, it sounds like Kevin Smith is the only one that actually ever read the comics. BUT, thanks to the meddling of Jon Peters, his ideas would never be realized. Peters wanted Superman to wear all black, never fly and fight a giant spider. At some point Brainiac was to fight Polar Bears in the Fortress of Solitude, Lex Luthor would have a space dog  and a Brianiac sidekick, LRon  "A gay R2D2 with attitude. I guess Peters was a big fan of B Movies of the 1950s with ZERO vision and less knowledge of the character. READ MORE ABOUT KEVIN SMITH's Superman Tenure HERE Puts all of this into perspective... 'Eventually,' he explains, I met with [Warner's] Lorenzo DeBoniventura, a great guy, a smart guy. And Jon Peters, who isn't a really great guy or smart guy. I was fascinated by meeting Jon Peters, though, because this was the guy who produced BATMAN, and to hear him tell the story, you wouldn't think that Tim Burton meant anything to BATMAN. He says stuff like, 'You know the reason that BATMAN worked? You know that alleyway scene where he's fighting those sword-bearing guys and they're attacking him? Those guys were real swordsmen; that's why that movie made like $300 million.' I was like, 'Oh, really? All you need is real swordsmen to make a film such a hit?' But both of them dug on me, I guess. Jon's take was more from the gut than anything elseand way off base, too. He said, 'You know why you and me are going to get this project right and make a great movie? Because you and me understand Superman; we're from the streets.' I was like, 'You were a hairdresser once; I'm from the suburbs. Neither of us are from the streets.'' 

I think the following passage from the article some is all up.... 'They said to me, 'Kevin, what you don't understand about this is that this is a corporate movie,' he continues. 'It doesn't matter how good the dialogue is between Lois and Superman; it's about how many toys we can sell.' That was real soul-killing, man. Sell all the toys you want, but tell a good story in the process. Tell a good story, and you may sell more. And the fact of the matter is, even if the movies doesn't do well, like in the case of BATMAN & ROBIN, the toys will still sell. And you can make toys that have nothing to do with the movie. Very often you look at these Batman action figures, and it's like, 'I don't remember him in that suit.' You can make toys that aren't in the flick, but are just tied to it. Look at the amount of Batman outfits out there; you never see him in half these outfits. So that really bothered me. My attitude was that if I was going to work within these parameters, I'm going to at least do it where I can sleep at night and it's not flat-out stupid.'

Good movies sell merchandise - period. Selling toys makes bad movies - EVERYTIME!!!

All that being said, SUPERMAN LIVES was green lit, but in pre-production, Tim Burton, signed to direct, started to re-write with Wesley Strick. Warner Brothers decided another rewrite was needed to bring down the budget nearly in half  -after sets and locations we being built/scouted and Nick Cage showing up for costume fittings - Yes as Andy Sandberg says on SNL, Nick Cage is in every movie... Or almost was....

Burton, citing various differences with Peters and the studio, said, "I basically wasted a year. A year is a long time to be working with somebody that you don't really want to be working with." FROM WIKI

By now $30 million had been spent without a single frame filmed. A new writer Alex Ford came and went with his 7-movie arc "MAN OF STEEL" Ford said, "I can tell you they don't know much about comics. Their audience isn't you and me who pay $7.00. It's for the parents who spend $60 on toys and lunchboxes. It is a business, and what's more important, the $150 million at the box office or the $600 million in merchandising?

A list director and actors cam and went - including Will Smith to play Superman. CLEARLY Jon Peters is a big dummy when it comes to Superman.

Batman vs Superman
Bruce Wayne is in morning after the death of everyone form his life. trying to gather himself, he remarries, with Clark Kent as his Best Man - now divorced from Lois. Joker, kills the new wife at the honeymoon, Batman blames Superman (who is trying to rekindle Lana Lang romance), the two battle... After it is learned that Lex Luthor was pulling the strings to turn hero against hero, the two team up to take down the villain. We almost saw Christian Bale as batman fighting Josh Hartnett as Superman. The project was abandoned in favor of solo movie franchise options.

Superman Fly By / THE MAN OF STEEL
J. J. Abram had his turn with Superman. JJ has gone on to reboot Star Trek and slated to reboot Star Wars. This missed opportunity rebooted the origin story with far more Krypton Poliltics in the form a civil war, Kal is sent to Earth to fulfill a prophecy (Alluded to by Marlon Brandon in Richard Donner cut of Superman II) as Jor - El is locked in mortal combat with his corrupt brother Kata-El (Kara's father maybe should a sequel happened). Lex Luthor is a UFO obsessed government agent. When Superman exposes himself to the world, Kata-El's son, TY-EL, shows up with three other Kryptonians,. Clark is killed and meets his father in Kryptonian Heaven. Superman is resurrected, defeats the bad guys and we were to be left with a cliff hanger....

YADA YADA YADA We got Superman Returns LOL

SUPERMAN RETURNS SEQUEL
Sounds like this could have been cool. The same cast coming back form Superman Returns with a far more action packed script that may have finally seen Brainiac on the big screen.... BUT
Warner Bros. President Alan F. Horn explained that Superman Returns was a very successful film, but that it "should have done $500 million worldwide. We should have had perhaps a little more action to satisfy the young male crowd."^[74] Singer reacted incredulously to the studio complaints, saying, "That movie made $400 million! I don't know what constitutes under-performing these days ..."^[75] $175 million was the maximum budget Warner Bros. was projecting for the sequel, as Superman Returns cost $209 million

AND NOW.... MAN OF STEEL SEQUEL
I hope I am wrong. MAN OF STEEL was awesome. THAT IS HOW YOU REBOOT BYATCH!!!
Sequel is now starring Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. I loved The Social Network but pretty much hate every other Jesse Eisenberg movie. I am hoping they prove me wrong...  This would be a great Adult Swim parody series though....

FURTHER READING
http://www.impossiblefunky.com/archives/issue_15/15_superman.asp?IshNum=15

SUPERMAN REBORN (Jonathan Lemkin, circa 1994)

Superman battles Doomsday, only to die by the end of the first act. Lois has been mysteriously impregnated with Superman’s spirit. Their hastily gestated heir grows at an incredible rate to adulthood (think STARMAN). Of course, he saves the world from destruction in this campy, stillborn first effort.

SUPERMAN REBORN (Gregory Poirer, December 20, 1995)

Brainiac, credited here as the creator of Doomsday, has infused his creature with Kryptonite blood. Meanwhile, on Earth, Superman tries to deal with being an alien in love with a human woman via psychiatric help.

Dead by page 23, Superman’s corpse is stolen by an alien, Cadmus. A Brainiac victim, Cadmus becomes Superman’s sifu after resurrecting him on page 32. His own body deteriorating, Brainiac seeks Superman’s body as the perfect corporeal vessel. The baddie threatens the people of Metropolis to aid in the search (along with lame criminals Parasite and Silver Banshee).

Powerless, Superman wears a robotic suit that mimics his old powers until he can learn to use his powers again on his own (according to the script, they’re a mental discipline called “Phin-yar”–not to be confused with “The Force”). Bad guys are defeated and Superman feels at home by the end of Poirer’s script.

SUPERMAN LIVES (Kevin Smith, March 27, 1997)

It was a fanboy’s dream that quickly became a nightmare. Smith’s cornball script suffers from Peters-imposed ideas (polar bears guarding the Fortress of Solitude) and cheesy Smith dialogue.

CLARK
I know it sounds silly—where do I get off complaining? He—the guy who’s faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive... what’s the last one?

LOIS
Something about tall buildings.

This time Superman stays alive until page 38, where he’s again defeated by Doomsday. Superman’s defeat is aided by the lack of sunlight; the result of a merger between Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Their sun blockage isn’t as creative as the way Mr. Burns did it on “The Simpsons,” but it’s evil nevertheless. Superman is resurrected by Kryptonian robot, The Eradicator, which has lain dormant at the Fortress of Solitude. (The Eradicator made an appearance in the “Superman: Exile” story arc as an ancient mystical Kryptonian relic).

Rather than Superman’s lifeless body, Brainiac wishes to possess The Eradicator and its technology. Powerless (again), the resurrected Superman (back by page 50) is sheathed in armor (The Eradicator becomes his protective suit) until his powers return, courtesy of some sunbeams. Evil is vanquished and Brainiac’s annoying robot lackey, L-Ron, has a pithy closing remark.

Around the time that Smith’s script reached completion, Peters continued to act as the architect in Superman’s destruction by hiring Tim Burton to direct the new Superman film. For a hot second it seemed like a Smith/Burton/Cage Superman would really happen. Warner Brothers even had a poster made up for the February 1997 Toy Fair with a silver Superman logo on a field of black with the simple statement “Coming 1998” emblazoned across the bottom.

Had Burton’s Superman been made, it’s certain that the “stranger in a strange land” aspect of Kal-el on Earth would have been played to the hilt. Burton scrapped Smith’s script and brought in Wesley Strick to rework the puzzle pieces (Brainiac, Luthor, Doomsday, et cetera). Meanwhile, Burton was trying to cast his film:

Superman	....	Nicolas Cage (or Ralph Fiennes)
Lois Lane	....	Cameron Diaz
Jimmy Olsen	....	Chris Rock
Lex Luthor	....	Kevin Spacey
Doomsday	....	Hulk Hogan
Brainia	....	Tim Allen (or Jim Carrey)
Batman	....	Michael Keaton (cameo)
K (formerly The Eradicator)	....	Jack Nicholson (voice)

During this period of time, there was a flurry of activity. Smith’s script was out and Strick’s was in, until Warner Brothers nixed it. A string of new writers followed:

SUPERMAN REBORN (Wesley Strick, circa 1997/1998)

Going back to some of Poirer’s ideas, Strick’s script is said to have included Silver Banshee and Parasite as lesser villains again. Strick’s version of Superman was “darker,” much to Burton’s delight.

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL (Alex Ford, 9/4/98)

While Hollywood tried to get Superman to straighten up and fly right, fans weren’t taking this silver screen hiatus lying down. The better known fan scripts floating around the internet included T.J. Grech’s SUPERMAN: LAST MAN OF KRYPTON, SUPERMAN 5 by Matt Fisher, SUPERMAN FIRESTORM by David B. Samuels, and SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL by Alex Ford. The story of Ford and his script is almost a Hollywood tale in itself. Alex Ford wrote this alternative Superman script and, after being encouraged by his wife, he connected with the right people to get it read. He even managed a meeting with Peters and additional Superman producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura. Feeling like a work of fan fiction, Ford’s script sets up a longer series of films which will include more villains than just Luthor, Brainiac, and Doomsday. Like too many Hollywood stories, Ford’s work was rejected and he was given a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” farewell.

SUPERMAN LIVES (Dan Gilroy, 9/20/98)

A pastiche of the previous scripts’ lesser elements, Gilroy’s draft has Brainiac on the hunt for Kal-el after having destroyed Krypton. Like Smith’s draft, we don’t see Superman fly—merely hearing a “whoosh” and a blur of color as would be done a few years later in “Smallville.” When Brainiac reaches Earth, he “merges” with Lex Luthor to form “Lexiac” (a la Alan Moore’s Superman story, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”). He dispatches with Superman by page 61 via the Kryptonite-blooded Doomsday (shades of Poirer).

Typical of the other drafts, it’s only a matter of ten to twelve minutes (page 72) before the Man of Steel is resurrected. The Kryptonian device The Eradicator goes by “K” in this script. Again, K sheaths Superman and provides him with power as he heals. The majority of the script seems to be Lexiac chatting with Luthor’s slimy lawyer, Morris. Meanwhile, Superman goes on a bit of a spiritual journey as he learns to accept his role on Earth in order to regain his powers (page 101). Superman has some horrible lines as he fights Brainiac (“You’ve been recalled!”) and if Smith’s painfully self-reflexive “more powerful than a locomotive” line was bad, Gilroy surpasses this with the old “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” on the final page.

It wasn’t long after this that Tim Burton was reluctantly fired by Warner Brothers. The reluctance came, no doubt, from Burton’s “play or pay” contract which netted him a significant amount of cash for doing nothing more than wasting time.

After Burton sought greener pastures in SLEEPY HOLLOW, Peters approached a number of directors such as Michael Bay, Shekhar Kapur, and Martin Campbell. They all turned him down, apparently because of Gilroy’s lame script. This draft was finally canned and William Wisher was brought in to start anew.

SUPERMAN LIVES (William Wisher, 8/23/2000)

In the myriad articles documenting the winding road that Superman followed to reach the big screen in 2006, Wisher’s script is often described as being influenced by THE MATRIX. Allow me to put that notion to bed. Apart from some Lex Luthor-created wireless internet technology a person can wear on their necks, there’s no hint of anything remotely similar to THE MATRIX in Wisher’s work. The “Lexmen” are a cadre of drones that act like MATRIX “agents” and manage to slow down the Man of Steel for a hot second.

If anything, Wisher’s script was a return to the roots of the Superman project, resembling the aforementioned Lemkin, Poirer, and Gilroy works. Kal-el, one of the scant few survivors of Krypton, is pursued by his father’s creation, Brainiac. He’s discovered on Earth just after he’s had a fight with Lois Lane about how uncomfortable he feels being an alien among humans. Lex Luthor allies himself with Brainiac in exchange for technology that gives life to his ill-fated “Lexlink” program.

Again, Brainiac employs Doomsday to kill Kal-el by page 60. His body is taken by Mal-ar, last Knight of Krypton, who swore to protect the infant prince before Krypton’s King Jor-el was murdered by Brainiac previous to the destruction of Krypton. Like Jesus, Superman is resurrected after “about three days” (page 79). Waking up a weakling, Kal-el wears a suit of “Krypton Armor;” a sleek black suit that gives him enhanced abilities. Doomsday doesn’t have a second shot at Superman: he disappears from the script after he’s served his purpose. Rather, Superman easily cuts his way through the Braniac-controlled “Lexmen” with a crystal sword looking like “a samurai from outer space” (page 98). While Lex Luthor tries to redeem himself as a human being before Earth explodes (Brainiac has a habit of destroying planets), Superman battles Brainiac in a rather anticlimactic scene wherein he regains his powers and, very un-Superman-like, kills the baddie while destroying his talking “skull ship.”

Again, wearing black and attacking the Luthor Building doesn’t really make Wisher’s SUPERMAN LIVES anything like THE MATRIX either. Oliver Stone was approached at this point to direct Wisher’s script but didn’t take the bait. It was time, too, for Nicholas Cage to cash in his chips. The new choice for Superman went to Russell Crowe. With Wisher’s moody Superman, Crowe may have been a good choice. The Aussie actor wasn’t interested. No director, no stars, and a script that took the project back six years. The wind had gone out of Superman’s cape. 

SUPERMAN DESTRUCTION (Paul Attanasio, 6/27/2001)

There’s little known about Attanasio’s work on the Superman project. Some reports have him utilizing a treatment by DC comics writer Keith Giffen with Superman battling the stellar bad guy Lobo (Wizard Magazine #118), while others have him turning in a 50-page treatment of his own that rehashes the death/resurrection plot line yet again.

While the Peters-plagued Superman project labored on for years, the Batman franchise sputtered under the direction of Joel Schumacher. Batman wasn’t being killed off in the comics. Instead, he was being recast in “Batman: Year One” in Frank Miller’s seminal tome. Miller reinvigorated Batman. A movie was said to be quick to follow. By 2002, Wolfgang Peterson was on track to bring BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN to the screen. This was to be followed by the long-delayed Peters project, which was set to be directed by McG. ASYLUM (Andrew Kevin Walker, Revised by Akiva Goldsmith 6/21/02) When you’re a kid, you pit people against each other in imaginary fights: “Who would win: Johnny Socko’s Giant Robot or Ultraman?” One of the classic match-ups has to be Batman versus Superman. Now that may sound like a one-sided fight; the man of steel versus the man in a bat suit. How could a mere mortal best Krypton’s favorite son? Read Frank Miller’s “The Dark Night Returns” to witness this superior throw down. But why would these two beacons of justice ever face off?

In Andrew Kevin Walker’s ASYLUM (also known as BATMAN VS SUPERMAN), Lex Luthor drives a wedge between the champions of Gotham and Metropolis via an elaborate plot that involves cloning The Joker and giving Bruce Wayne the perfect mate, only to take her away. Through his machinations, Batman’s motivation of revenge comes in direct opposition of Superman’s dogmatic protection of his human charges. Simply, Batman wants to murder The Joker and Superman won’t let him. The two come to blows in an epic battle that involves a lot of Kryptonite and millions of dollars in damage.

While the showdown between the caped crusaders wears out its welcome after twenty pages, the rest of the script is incredibly engaging and typical of Andrew Kevin Walker’s style. Yet, as is the case with Walker, his best work is often rewritten (SLEEPY HOLLOW, 8MM, etc).

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL (J.J. Abrams, 7/26/02)

If fan boys were excited about Kevin Smith, they were beside themselves with J.J. Abrams. He was on top of the world with TV’s “Alias,” and the fervor over his involvement with Superman might have been topped only if Joss Whedon has volunteered to pen a script. The height of expectations were only equaled by the depths of disappointment when Abrams script was trashed by the hacks at the Ain’t It Cool News website.

Also known as “SUPERMAN: FLYBY,” the Abrams story was a revisionist tale with Krypton besieged by civil war between its King, Jor-El, and his upstart brother, Kata-Zor. The baby Kal-el is sent to Earth partly as a safety measure when Kata-Zor’s forces trash the Krypton capital, and also in hopes that he’ll fulfill a prophecy to return to Krypton as its savior. When Kal-el arrives on Earth, he’s adopted by Martha and Jonathan Kent. When they discover his powers, they try their best to have Kal-el/Clark suppress his abilities. In the process, they make him neurotic.

Isolated, persecuted, and thinking he’s the devil’s spawn, Clark meets a spitfire young lady named Lois Lane in college. An undeclared senior, he’s impressed by her pre-Freshman ambition to major in journalism and work in Metropolis at “The Daily Planet.” Creepily, he decides to do the same thing and, when he meets up with her years later, she remembers him only as the guy who had his zipper down.

Lois doesn’t give Clark the time of day. She’s more concerned with exposing and humiliating the government agency that’s wasting untold time and resources trying to prove the presence of alien beings on Earth. The hard-as-nails agent in charge of this alien-hunting squad is none other than Agent Lex Luthor. Sporting a brush cut and a massive attitude, Luthor has quite an axe to grind about aliens, so much so that he blows his top at a Congressman and gets canned.

Apart from the framing device of the script that starts out with Superman down and nearly out, battling super-powered aliens (a similar frame would be employed in the Abrams-penned MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3), we don’t see Superman until nearly an hour into the film. This scene of Superman, saving Lois Lane as she’s aboard Air Force One interviewing the President, is something of a nod to SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE where Superman saves Lois as she’s on her way to interview the President. The scene and its aftermath— Superman setting down the saved airplane in a very public place (here Boston Commons)—also finds its roots in the John Byrne-penned “Superman: The Man of Steel” comic series. An amalgamation of these scenes would be found later in SUPERMAN RETURNS.

(I’m glad that the President’s plane didn’t crash. Otherwise, we might find Lois Lane on a mysterious island pursued by an unexplained smoke monster for a few years.)

This first appearance of Superman isn’t followed up by the montage of him going on a crime-fighting spree. Rather, Clark Kent is so pent-up about his role as Superman that he swears to never wear the costume again. This changes when he learns that Jonathan Kent (who up and died upon hearing the news of his son saving the President) would have wanted him to take the mantle of power and embrace his role as Superman.

News travels pretty fast. Really fast, apparently, as the radio and television waves from Earth reach Krypton in record time. This brings Kata-Zor’s son, Ty-Zor, and three other badass Kryptonians to Earth. To say that this brings about a lot of scenes reminiscent of SUPERMAN II is an understatement.

Again, Superman is defeated and killed. There’s a funeral but the Man of Steel isn’t down and out for long. He’s visited in death by Jor-El (who’s committed hara-kiri back on Krypton) and resurrected. With the help of some Kryptonite-fueled weapons, Superman defeats the four known Kryptonians as well as the secret-lurking Kryptonian, Lex Luthor, before this first chapter of a proposed series is over. There are mentions of characters either slightly seen or unseen in the screenplay, and Superman’s messianic return to Krypton is set to happen in the next film.

The changes to the Superman mythos-infuriated fanboys who forget that Kryptonite didn’t exist until the Siegel & Schuster story was translated to radio. This kind of re-imagining happens all the time in the superhero world; sometimes successfully (BATMAN: BEGINS), and sometimes not (CAT WOMAN). For all of the problems I had with the script, it was something new and not simply a recycling of the old, good ideas from the original SUPERMAN series.

Peterson stepped out and let BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN die in favor of TROY. Before the dust could settle, J.J. Abrams delivered his take on the Superman tale to Warner Brothers and everyone was elated with the possible exception of McG and apoplectic Superman fans. McG left to direct the sequel to CHARLIE’S ANGELS, and the ever-obnoxious Brett Ratner had his turn in the director’s chair.

Ratner hadn’t even had time to warm up his seat when the backlash against the Abrams script swelled into a shitstorm. When the opportunity presented itself, the RUSH HOUR auteur fled the sinking Peters ship. Oddly enough, Ratner would go on to direct the third film in the X-Men series while its former helmer, Bryan Singer, would defect to the Superman camp.

SUPERMAN RETURNS (Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris, 9/27/2005)

With his super heroic clout, director Bryan Singer managed to break away from most of the tenets laid down by producer Jon Peters. Gone were Brainiac, Doomsday, and the black suit. Still present was Superman’s pathos, a near death, and the red and blue “whooshing” suit (albeit a fairly dingy one).

Singer’s X2 screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris made SUPERMAN RETURNS a continuation of the Superman story line from the Richard Donner films or, at least, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. There may be no mention of General Zod, Non, or Ursa but it’s apparent that Lois Lane bedded the Man of Steel. The product of their Fortress of Solitude union, Jason, spends the majority of the story as an asthmatic, bespectacled weakling except for one head-scratching, contrived moment.

The victim of an elaborate ruse, Superman returns to where Krypton ought to be only to find a deadly meteor field of Kryptonite. He manages to escape and get back to his adopted planet Earth five years after he departed. Instead of finding out how he got tricked and/or looking up his long-time nemesis, Lex Luthor, Superman hangs out in Smallville. Then he goes looking for Lex Luthor, right? Wrong. He goes back to Metropolis to learn that Lois Lane has moved on from Superman, even winning a Pulitzer for her piece “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Ouch! Then he doggedly pursues the only man who’s come close to defeating Krypton’s favorite son... wait, no. He doesn’t.

Even after Jimmy Olsen, in his infinite wisdom, suggests, “Why don’t you guys track down Lex Luthor?,” on page 73, the greatest criminal mind of our time is swept to the wayside. This leaves a lot more time for Superman to mope around and retread dialogue from SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor seems to be in his own film and pursuing a plot with earmarks of his ideas from SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE and SUPERMAN II only in reverse order. Luthor makes his way to The Fortress of Solitude before revealing his elaborate real estate scheme, paraphrasing his lines from the earlier films along the way as well. Who came up with this idea—the same guy who thought it’d be smart to build a second Death Star?

Superman finally catches up with Luthor on page 118 and they share all of three pages together in an anticlimactic showdown. Rather than squaring off like Kirk (William Shatner) and Khan (Ricardo Montalban) in STAR TREK II, Luthor and Superman are more like Hanna (Al Pacino) and McCauley (Robert De Niro) in HEAT.

SUPERMAN RETURNS (Bryan Singer, 2006)

Little stands out as being starkly different from the screenplay of SUPERMAN RETURNS to the final film version, except for the lack of explanation for Superman’s disappearance and the scenes of Superman flying (in a spaceship) amongst the ruined crags of Kryptonite asteroids.

The cuts between the Superman (Brandon Routh) story line and the Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) story line are jarring. The film moves from the moody introspective Kryptonian, who’s been dumped by Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) in favor of the boss’s son, Richard White (James Marsden) to the hammy criminal mastermind and his Miss Teschmacher stand-in, Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey). The worst character in the film has to be Superman’s bastard son, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu) and his awful Adam Rich haircut.

While I can respect the decision to emulate Donner’s SUPERMAN films, aping these superior movies just made me long to see the originals. The John Williams score combined with the unnecessary cameo appearance by Marlon Brando only reinforced this desire. Overall, I would have rather have seen J.J. Abrams’s version of the story, as it strayed the farthest from the Jon Peters directives, divorced itself from Donner, and actually managed to feel like an original take on the Superman story.

Even if it hadn’t taken over a dozen years and millions of dollars to bring the next chapter of Superman saga to the big screen, SUPERMAN RETURNS would epitomize anticlimactic. Rather than breaking new ground or taking the Superman story in a different direction (see “Red Son” by Mark Millar), the film was just a rehash of a better film that predated it by nearly three decades.