Parker Posey Movie:

		List Price: $34.99		Label: Warner Home Video Salesrank: 74165 Released: October 2, 2007
		Our Price: $5.20
		Used Price: $2.99
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: HD DVD

Editorial Review:
He's back. A hero for our millennium. And not a moment too soon, because during the five years (much longer in movie-fan years!) Superman sought his home planet, things changed on his adopted planet. Nations moved on without him. Lois Lane now has a son, a fiance and a Pulitzer for "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." And Lex Luthor has a plan that will destroy millions - no, billions - of lives. Filmmaker Bryan Singer (X-Men) gives the world the Superman it needs, honoring the legend everyone loves while taking it in a powerful new direction. Brandon Routh proves a perfect choice to wear the hero's cape, leading a top cast that includes Kate Bosworth as Lois and Kevin Spacey as Lex. And the thrills - from a sky-grapple with a tumbling jumbo jet to a continent-convulsing showdown - redefine Wow. "I'm always around," Superman tells Lois. You'll be glad he is.

Description of Superman Returns [HD DVD]:

If Richard Donner's 1978 feature film Superman: The Movie made us believe a man could fly, Bryan Singer's 2006 follow-up, Superman Returns, lets us remember that a superhero movie can make our spirits soar. Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth after a futile five-year search for his destroyed home planet of Krypton. As alter ego Clark Kent, he's eager to return to his job at the Daily Planet and to see Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lois, however, has moved on: she now has a fiancé (James Marsden), a son (Tristan Leabu), and a Pulitzer Prize for her article entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." On top of this emotional curveball, his old archrival Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is plotting the biggest land grab in history.

Singer, who made a strong impression among comic-book fans for his work on the X-Men franchise and directed Spacey in The Usual Suspects, brings both a fresh eye and a sense of respect to the world's oldest superhero. He borrows John Williams's great theme music and Marlon Brando's voice as Jor-El, and the story (penned by Singer's X-Men collaborators Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) is a sort-of-sequel to the first two films in the franchise (choosing to ignore that the third and fourth movies ever happened). The humorous and romantic elements give the movie a heart, Singer's art-deco Metropolis is often breathtaking, and the special effects are elegant and spectacular, particularly an early airplane-disaster set-piece. Of the cast, Routh is excellent as the dual Superman/Clark, Spacey is both droll and vicious as Luthor, and Parker Posey gets the best lines as Luthor's moll Kitty. But at 23, Bosworth seems too young for the five-years-past-grizzled Lois. It's nice to see Noel Neill, Jack Larson (both from the classic Adventures of Superman TV series), and Eva Marie-Saint on the screen as well. Superman Returns is one of those projects that was in development for seemingly forever, but it was worth the wait -- it's the most enjoyable superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. --David Horiuchi

Superman Returns [HD DVD] Reviews:
The Only Way It Could Have Been Done... A Fantastic Sequel!
2009-12-03 - I can not describe in words how much I love this movie. It was the perfect sequel to Superman and Superman II, starring Christopher Reeve, and I grew up watching those movies. It had to be just right, done perfectly, or I would have despised it.

Brandon Routh played Superman the way Christopher Reeve did, and did so well that at times it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, because he portrayed the character to such a tee. With Christopher Reeve unfortunately out of the running to play the role, *I think Routh was the only one who could fill his shoes. He paid tribute to Reeve very well.

Lex Luthor's character was a little edgier and angrier than in the original movies, but that is doubtless explained by 5 years' imprisonment, and he wasn't so over the top that it completely distorted the original character. Lois Lane's character was well-portrayed by Kate Bosworth. Although she seemed a little malnourished, she had spunk and I actually liked her in the role better than Margot Kidder.

As a film-score fan, and one who grew up humming John Williams' original Superman theme, the score also had to be perfect, and John Ottman not only retained the theme, but also worked himself to death to ensure that the entire film, from beginning to end, had an A1 score. I hope that John Williams was proud of Ottman's work, because he should have been.

Word has it that the Superman franchise is on indefinite hold because of legal battles over rights and royalties. It is also rumored that WB was so unpleased with the film's nearly $400 million gross (?!) that they might take the franchise in an edgier direction in the future. That would be a horrible mistake... Superman is not, and never has been, dark or frightening. It is not Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, or anything even remotely like it, and it never should be. This film was the only way it could have been done, and kudos to Brian Singer for reviving a legend.

he should have just stayed where he was
2009-12-01 - The adventure is acceptable enough, but what's with the adultery theme?

This outing sees Lois Lane virtually married to another man. Nevertheless, the Man of Steel (whom I had thought above such things), uses his X-ray vision to spy on her, leer at her, hold her, take her for unsupervised romantic night flights, etc. Would you still feel okay watching this if Lois were your wife?

Yeah, something was not right about this. This whole thing gave me an uncomfortable feeling because you got the idea that Superman was wrongly trying to reclaim fields he had forsaken.

Another bummer was the script never really let Kevin Spacey take off like you know he could have.

At Least It Erased The Bad Taste of 3 (and 4) Away
2009-11-09 - To me, what truly bogs this film down is bad casting, particularly Lois Lane, the pacing and the lack of originality. While Brandon Routh (who is a dead ringer for Christopher Reeve) acts very well for his role, he doesn't seem to command screen presence like Reeve (ironically the first Superman being his first big feature). Kevin Spacey uses more dry humor and has a lethal threat to him when compared to Gene Hackman. My only wish for these Superman films is STOP USING LEX LUTHOR! It's not like he's got plenty of other villains to go up against (Brainiac, Bizarro, Toyman, Silver Banshee, Mongul, Doomsday, etc.) And since they did use Luthor, again, couldn't they've turned him into the twisted business man instead of him just going after land? Again. Frank Langella does a good job with Perry White, even throwing a reference to the old TV series. Sam Huntington is bland as Jimmy Olsen (a character I don't really like anyway, he gets on my nerves too easily). James Marsden's character was a nice twist so that way Lois isn't always pining after Superman, but the guy must not be very confident in Lois' affections towards him as every time the hero's name is mentioned, he gets into some whiney attitude. Eva Marie-Saint, Jack Larson and Noel Neil (Jimmy and Lois, respectively, from the original series) cameo as well. Bosworth was a complete mistake as a Lois. I don't know if its the way they chose to go with the character or not, but she HATES Superman, almost downright dispises him. I know the guy left without saying goodbye and that can feel hurtful but to go on and write an aricle about how the world doesn't need Superman when, before he left anyway, he was always constantly saving her skin, doesn't put her in a good light. And she looks way too young for the role. When I saw Margot Kidder, I didn't see an actor, I saw Lois Lane. The other aspect I hated was the allusion that Jason is Superman's son (alluding to Supes and Lois' one night stand back in Superman II). It seems too contrived and it feels like a forced plot point. The pacing is slow, especially once Luthor's Kryptonite landmass is formed. For an action movie, the third act, which is supposed to be the climax, just feels like an extension of the second act. The effects are good but the heat vision you can just barely see and some shots of Routh flying (I suppose when its actually him) looks like he's CGI. The story feels unoriginal. I know Singer meant it as a tribute to the first two (more so the first) but Superman reiterating the line about airplanes, using Marlon Brando, Luthor's obsession with land and the romantic flying sequence just feel like they were ripping those moments off. Now, subtle references/moments which work better for me are Kitty asking if Luthor's been in the Fortress before, saving a plane and Lois' first interview with Superman. John Ottman does a fine job adapting Williams' classic themes while doing a great job with his own material (and editing the movie as well).

Superman Returns... Hiding in the bushes it's a bird...
2009-11-07 - Superman Returns: 4 out of 10: This movie is definitely missing the spark that made the first two Supermans fun. (Superman 3 was pretty awful and Superman 4 is one of the worst films of all time). Superman comes across as a bit of a jerk and a bully in this film and the franchise is not all that better for it.

Superman has gone away for five years in a plot contrivance that threatens to sink the film before it can begin. The claim is that he is seeking the remains of his home world (Not to sound like a comic book geek, but he if gets his powers from our yellow sun one would think he shouldn't be flying past Pluto let alone halfway across the galaxy.) He comes back, sort of says hi to mom, tortures his poor loyal dog with a tennis ball and heads to the big city where he stalks his ex-girlfriend Lois whom he did not even tell he was leaving and who has clearly gone on with her life.

I'm not exaggerating the stalking. Superman hangs outsider her house using superpowers to snoop like some DC comics version of a cautionary Lifetime movie.

Lex Luthor is also back with another stupid plan though Kevin Spacey does play the character well and a talented Parker Posey fills both the Otis and Mrs. Teschmacher shoes.

Both leads (Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth) have zero chemistry with each other and considering they were passionate lovers, their conversations are pretty stunted and mundane.

The action sequences are decent but the whole film seems to drag at two and a half hours and there is a distinct lack of joy. (You know something fun like everyone putting his or her Kryptonite up on E-bay, or Superman dating a supermodel to make Lois jealous that kind of thing, everyone seems so damn melancholy.) Speaking of melancholy, I noticed that Superman never asked about any disasters he didn't prevent while he was on his so-called vacation. Maybe a trip over lower Metropolis to see Ground Zero would have given him a reason for all the moping.


The best superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 (and Superman 2)
2009-09-10 - Superman is the Grand Old Man of superheroes, and so a movie dusting the character off after an almost twenty year absence needs to walk a fine line between reverance and pure high adventure. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns does just that ... at once a loving homage to the great work Richard Donner did in 1978 with Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman and an elegant re-imagining of a hero we all know by heart, even if we think we don't. What Bryan Singer delivers is a smart, action-packed and heartfelt movie, bringing Superman to us after a fruitless 5 year search for his home planet, Krypton. His return to earth as Clark Kent coincides with Lex Luthor's newest real estate scheme, this one involving Kryptonite and a place to detonate it. (It's funny that the Lex Luthor of the Superman movie universe is so brilliant but only obsessed with real estate. And Kevin Spacey does the arch-nemesis complete justice ... making him both funny and very terrifying.) Our first real encounter with Brandon Routh's Superman (an excellent Brandon Routh) is a set-piece involving a fiery airplane and an endangered Lois Lane. This first glimpse of him is as satisfying as when Christopher Reeve snagged a falling Margot Kidder from the Daily Planet building and she screeched "You've got me? Who's got you?" And statistically, flying is still the safest way to travel. -- Brandon Routh's Superman already has an old soul and he wins our hearts from the beginning. He is an alien on an alien world and his outsider status never fails to touch us. This is not a question of Superman Returns being the best movie since Reeves' first two outings. Superman Returns belongs on the same shelf with these two. It is, simply, the most satisfying super hero movie to come along in a long while. Epic and intimate, spectacular and touchingly ordinary, Superman Returns does proper tribute to the first (and best) superhero flying around out there. Highly recommended.