Rating: 
Summary: Far from the best in the series
Review: Okay-- let's face it, "Superman" is not the best, and certainly not the most consistent, franchise in movie history. The second film in the series, "Superman II", is a classic comic book movie-- superior in every way, shape, and form to the original. How rare is that??This first Superduperman is too LONG!! It is also very short on STORY. All the stuff on Krypton with Superman's parents, the baby Superman's voyage to Earth, the teenage Superman-- all this stuff could have been told so much quicker. The early scenes with Clark Kent and Margot Kidder at the Daily Planet are cute, but beyond that, there isn't much going on in this movie. Lex Luthor wants to blow up the California coast, Superduperman has to stop it. And the ending?? Well, I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it, but suffice it to say that I don't believe anyone can literally turn back the clock. As for the DVD, yes its a lavish package (the screen tests are particularly fun). But there are better movies that deserve this deluxe treatment far more. Richard Donner is a good director, but I bet he's had bowel movements more interesting than this overall bland film. Rent part II and save yourself the gas pains.
Rating: 
Summary: HIGH ADVENTURE!!!
Review: Absorbing chronicle of a guy from out of town who learns he can fly. Things get kinky when he develops a taste for tights. The effects are dated, but the tights hold up, even today.
Rating: 
Summary: Superman the Movie Never Looked and Sounded Better
Review: The DVD version has brought new life to one of the most thrilling movies ever made (along with Star Wars) during the 1970s! The sound and color on this new DVD version are simply incredible. The new footage is cool too. I am glad they put back the scene where we see a young Lois Lane with her parents(played by Kirk Allyn and Noell Neil) on the train in Smallville. The extra features and directors commentary are also very interesting. There are also early screen tests for Lois Lane(Ann Archer and Stockard Channing).
Rating: 
Summary: Keystone Cops meets Close Encounters
Review: The movie is extremely frustrating to watch now. So many great things about it, yet so many wrong. When it was first released it was the first and only Superman I'd ever seen (I didn't read comic books either) and I thought it was great. But time, and having watched a completely different take on the legendary comic book figure in the TV series LOIS & CLARK, is not kind to the film. We get a wonderful vision and vista of Krypton, a lilting and charming interlude in Kansas for the young Clark. But once we get to Metropolis and Lois it's BOING! Christopher Reeve does an excellent and charming Superman, but his disguise is Clark Kent (which should be his true personality, since he's been raised as a human), and the comic persona for Clark is either amusing or enough to make you cringe - it is patently ridiculous anyone would be behaving/looking like him. You really can see why Lois would steamroll right past him. And you can't see what he sees in her at all. Perry White and Jimmy are perfect and so is the ease of flying sequences. But Gene Hackman steals the film with his comic genius villain, Lex Luthor. This film somehow combines Keystone Cops with Close Encounters, but in fairly smooth transitions.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated performances and fine additions.
Review: This movies is one of the best movies never appreciated. Chris Reeve and Gene Hackman are great. Marlon Brando is, well Brando (and even more Brandoish with the added scenes.) The special effects are of its time and might be rejected by us. The added "gauntlet" scenes are worth the new purchase and only add to a movie with great performances and fine writing. Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: up in the sky its a bird it a plane its superman
Review: I have never been a fan of movies based on comic books except for all the supermans and x-mem and batman and batman returns. this movie is fun to watch over and over. there is no one other than christopher reeves to play the superhero. this has to be one of my favorite movies. I watch it over and over i even watch it when it is on cable. I am glad I bought this dvd and the extras on it make it even more fun to watch
Rating:
Summary: The gold standard in digital reproduction
Review: This is by far the best digital reproduction in my collection. Accompanying the anamorphic video, the 5.1 audio track is perhaps better than the experience of the theaters of the late 70's when the film originally aired. Hopefully, like Roger Bannister did for running in breaking the four minute mile barrier, others will shortly follow suit with similar excellent reproductions of more classics. The "bar" has now been set...
Rating:
Summary: I cannot believe it's finally here!!
Review: I've been waiting for this dvd for many years now, and I'm happy to say that I'm NEVER again watching that laughable Pan N Scan version!! The picture quality is better than I expected. First of all, all the grain that was current in some scenes are gone, and not to mention the green suits! The widescreen version is ofcourse an improvment from the awfull pan n scan version, and I have to say that this movie looks absolutely beutiful in widesreen! The new 5.1 sourround sound is fantastic! It's great to hear the sound coming out of all your speakers. The "bullet, fire and Ice" scene is recomended to those who own a dolby 5.1 system! When you think that new sound and improved picture quality was enough, you thought wrong. The disc(two sides) is loaded with extras! There's three documenteries, Taking Flight:The Development of Superman, Filming the Legend:The Making of Superman, and The Magic Behing the Cape:Special Effects. There's also a commentary track starring director Richard Donner, and Creative Consaultant Tom Mankewicz, aswell as three trailers(one teaser, a trailer and a TV spot). There's also screentest's of Christopher Reeve(Superman), Sahra Douglas(Ursa) and Margot Kidder(Margot Kidder). And for those who don't own the Superman The Movie Rihno soundtrack, then there's also some alternate music not included on the film. This is one of the best DVD's ever made! Highly recomended!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies ever!
Review: It's about blankety blank time! Superman on DVD! That simple statement should be enough to make you pull out the old wallet and get your copy NOW! What can be said about this film that hasn't already? Richard Donner was the only choice to direct, the casting was just about perfect, Christopher Reeve is Superman, no matter whose played him before and no matter who will ever play him again. John Williams score takes this movie to another level entirely. The Superman Theme going through the surround sound during the opening credits brought goosebumps. The story is great, going from birth on Krypton, growing up in Smallville, and fulfilling his destiny in Metropolis, it's almost like you get three movies for the price of one. And it works. There are moments that sends chills down the spine, such as Superman's first public appearance (saving Lois and the helicopter). Some would say that Luthor is played too much for laughs, but I think it works well. I love Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, he has some of the best quotes in the movie. "Doesn't it just give you a... shudder of electricity to be in the same room with me?" His ego is so huge, it's wonderful! Anyways, everything's been said about this movie and I agree with all the positive things. :) So, on to the DVD! The sound is FANTASTIC! If you have a surround sound system, you are in for a treat! The image is the best I've seen this movie in. And the extras are... Wow! The kind of extras you expect to see on a God honest movie classic making it's first show on the superior format that is DVD. Screen tests, note the huge pools of sweat collecting on the underarms of Chris Reeve's supersuit. Watch many an actress try their hand at Lois Lane! Interesting stuff, all of it. Two or three deleted scenes, nice additions. A good commentary track with Richard Donner and I forget the other guy's name, but he pretty much wrote the movie, though he is credited as the creative consultant or something of that nature, where they discuss many things about pre-production, production, casting decisions, effects shots and so forth. And three 20-30 minute documentaries that are very informative. These are the kinds of docus I like to see. They include new interviews with Donner, Margot Kidder and a real life superman, Christopher Reeve, looking good considering all the difficulties he's gone through. Real in depth stuff. All in all an American Classic that gets the DVD treatment it rightfully deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Remastered Edition of a Film that Shaped my Life
Review: Richard Donnor's _Superman_ remains one of the most influential movies of my life. This may sound ridiculous or pathetic, but this was one of the first movies I saw as a child. I still get chills when I see Superman flying quickly to catch the nuclear bomb headed for New Jersey, or his look of utter failure as he takes the dead Lois out of her battered car and then screams towards the heavens before suddenly attempting to change time. Upon reflection, with my more "rational" mind, I see that such things are quite impossible; especially if I were a comic book purist, I would cite that Superman does not have the power to turn back the Earth, nor does it seem possible that by turning back the Earth one will reverse time and then somehow make things right simply by flying in the opposite direction. But still, BUT STILL, this movie is perhaps the most authentic rendition of Superman ever done by Hollywood. I can see that Donnor and crew took care in producing this movie. I can see that they wanted to create something that would remain an integral part of the Superman mythos. I think they succeeded quite valiantly on this part. This movie, perhaps more than any other production of Superman, catches what made Superman an important part of my childhood; it shows the nobility that makes Superman such an inspiration. I would continue with the obligatory bow to Christopher Reeve, citing his own battles with paralysis, showing how this makes him a "super-man", but I feel that this has been overdone. I did start to cry when I saw him walk on the commercial during the 2000 Superbowl, then cursed the producers for creating such a believable fake. Like Superman, Chris seems to have an unshakable will--echoing the words from Donner on the DVD--Chris made us believe that a man could fly, and Chris has made me believe that he will walk again. Of this, I am absolutely sure. Regarding the DVD, this is perhaps the most fitting tribute to such a movie that I have seen. Deleted scenes, some of them adding important elements to the movie, some of them merely fluff, some of them completely ridiculous (I don't think the scene with Lois Lane and the gun would have made Superman II a better film) are abounds. The film quality itself is unparalleled. I almost felt as though this was a new movie. Colors explode from the screen, you get a sense, perhaps more than before, of the comic book quality of the final third of the movie, you see the rolling hills of Smallville brought to an Americana brilliance, you see Superman's cape swoosh by and you cannot help but be brought back to the heroic grandeur of childhood, you shield your eyes from the scientific, crystalline splendour of Krypton, only to see it blow apart. The remastered quality of the film seems to make Superman, Jor-el and Lara more heroic, Ma and Pa Kent more wise, Lex Luthor more diabolical, Otis more laughable, and Ms. Tessmacher more...well, we'll leave that one to boyish fantasy, won't we? The Director's Commentary, while being quite informative at special effect techniques during the latter half of the seventies, got quite old. Perhaps this was because I don't quite like the candor of Richard Donnor and his buddies remniscing about the "good old days," perhaps I wanted more commentary about why they decided to portray Krypton in that particular way (though three thirty minute presentations on the second side of the DVD offer excellent explanations of many of these questions). I thought that the DVD could have had a better case, or a better cover. I hate the snap-case DVD packaging; it would have been even better to package the movie in something else. (I mean, just look at the packaging for the rereleased _Lawrence of Arabia_). The title screen also, while being completely captivating on the first few viewings, gets somewhat annoying. If I see that "S" swooshing by me one more time without having the ability to skip past it...well.... If you have ever stopped, breathless, while Superman flew past, or ever ran around, displaying the Superman cape your mother made you, acting as though you could fly, or wished beyond wish that you could be Superman, that you could speed past an errupting volcano to save the inhabitants underneath from gallons of molten hot lava, this movie is for you. If you ever looked up into the sky, thinking that perhaps if you looked hard enough, long enough, you would see a caped wonder flying towards some unknown destination, flying to make the world a better place, then you should definately see this movie. It will make you believe, not only that a man can fly, but that we can all fly, we can all make this world a better place, a place where truth and justice thrive.
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