Christopher Reeve @ MindSay 
Richard Donner's Superman, which was released in 1978, begins with John William's souring musical score and blue outlined credits flying toward the viewer. This is followed by the appearance of Marlon Brando and an explosion of the planet Krypton. A meteorite then crash lands on Earth at the farm of Ma and Pa Kent. As they quickly discover, an alien boy who looks like a human was inside the rock. Superman's first rescue is of Lois Lane from a flying vehicle (a helicopter), followed by the speech, "I hope this experience hasn't put you off flying. Statistically speaking, it is still the safest way to travel." While in a library in a tunnel under a train station, Lex Luthor hatches an evil plan to destroy half of North America (including New Jersey, where his female assistant's mother lives) and create new land to make millions as a real estate mogul. This is explained via a speech in which he begins to quote his father, saying, "My father always told me to," and his female assistant interupts him, saying, "Get out." Lex then laughs sarcastically and finished the quote with, "Stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they'll pay through the nose to get it." Before ultimately foiling the plan by chasing down cracks in the Earth, Superman is negatively affected by kryptonite strewn around his neck and left to drown in water (a pool) before being rescued by a woman. The final scene of the movie is Superman flying through space before banking right and leaving the audience with a view of the infinite blackness as the credits role.
Now:
Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, which was released last week, begins with John William's souring musical score and blue outlined credits flying toward the viewer. This is followed by an explosion of the planet Krypton and the voice of Marlon Brando. A meteorite then crash lands on Earth at the farm of Ma and Pa Kent. As the Ma quickly discovers, an alien man who looks like a human was inside the rock. Superman's first rescue is of Lois Lane from a flying vehicle (an airplane), followed by the speech, "I hope this experience hasn't put any of you off flying. Statistically speaking, it is still the safest way to travel." While in a library on a boat, Lex Luthor hatches an evil plan to destroy half of North America (including New Jersey) and create new land to make billions as a real estate mogul. This is explained via a speech in which he begins to quote his father, saying, "My father always told me to," and his female assistant interupts him, saying, "Get out." Lex then laughs sarcastically and finishes the quote with the idea that prices of gold and diamonds may change, but people, "will always need land." Before ultimately foiling the plan by chasing down cracks in the Earth, Superman is negatively affected by kryptonite stabbed into his back and left to drown in water (an ocean) before being rescued by a woman. The final scene of the movie is Superman flying through space before banking right and leaving the audience with a view of the infinite blackness as the credits role.
Then and Now:
The only major difference to the plot of the two movies is that Superman Returns supposedly takes place five years after the sequel to Richard Donner's version, except that the characters are somehow younger, and seemingly don't remember anything that happened to them in the other movies. Nonetheless, it is a new time, and they have new emotions (and in the case of Lois Lane; a new family).
What this means is that by doing something not very original, Bryan Singer has actually done something amazingly original - he has invented the remake sequel genre. Superman Returns is a sequel, but before that, it is a remake. It is a remake that continues the story as a sequel.
This really upsets me. After multiple writers and multiple directors exhausted multiple story ideas, the new Superman is the old one. Bryan Singer supposedly wowed the studio with his vision for a new Superman movie. And that vision was to make the same movie, only set it 5 years later and have some characters forget the history they once had.
Now, I'm not saying that the film is bad. It is truly a spectacle in every sense of the word. The tagline for the original was, "You will believe a man can fly," and this movie fully lives up to that and then some, making you reevaluate how movies can make you feel. And the previously mentioned airplane rescue sequence, followed by Superman and Lois's silent reunion, is one of the best movie scenes of the past few years. Plus, the cinematography and lightning creates some wonderful images that harken back to the healthy glow radiating off of all the stars in the 50's and 60's.
It's just that after 19 years and well over $200 million, as well as an apparently revolutionary idea that finally got this movie greenlit, I expected a whole lot more originality. I expected a unique vision, not a unique retread. Instead of something new like the idea of the startling plot twist at the end of a film [The Usual Suspects], or a the idea of a dark and brooding character driven comic saga [X-men], we have a very late sequel/remake with a Christopher Reeve look alike that doesn't emote as well as the actual Christopher Reeve, and a Kate Bosworth with dyed brown hair that doesn't have enough (or any) sass and feistiness to channel the Lois Lane we remember. And, here's the real kicker, is this what today's audience wants to see? The people who grew up with the original Supe will love it, but will the PG-13 crowd? The movie is 157 minutes long and is heavy on the type of Clark Kent that says "swell" and light on superhero action. Is that really what people familiar with Smallville want from their Superman?
I don't know. All I can tell you is that in Superman Returns, Superman literally returns to become trapped in the same plot from thirty years ago, but with a few modern touches. But hey, that's okay. Call it a $200 million trial run. Consider what Singer and company can accomplish when the amazing flying effects are used in an actual original story. Let's just hope that next time the screenwriters remember that Clark Kent and Lois Lane have a past.
Milos Forman will direct Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem and Stellan Skarsgard in Goya's Ghosts, the story of the last years of the Spanish Inquisition, when the Church tortured and executed suspected Jews, as told by legendary painter Francisco de Goya (Skarsgard). Portman plays Goya's muse, Ines, and Bardem plays Brother Lorenzo, a sinister monk. Portman is also joining Dustin Hoffman for the fantasy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Hoffman plays the titular eccentric toy-shop owner who wants to help Portman out of her funk by leaving her his store.
Goran Visnjic, best known for playing Kovac on TV's ER, is now one of the top contenders to play Agent 007, a.k.a. Bond, James Bond, in October 2006's Casino Royale.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford may reunite for an adaptation of Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. The travel book is about two friends who hike through the American wilderness. Newman and Redford also co-starred in The Sting.
Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Brian Dennehy, Robert Wagner, Raven Symone, Rob Reiner, Mandy Patinkin, Dana Reeve, Richard Kind and New York Yankees manager Joe Torre will provide voices for IDT Entertainment Animation's Yankee Irving. Superman Christopher Reeve was directing the computer-animated project from his home at the time of his death last October. Irving is about a boy who travels across the country to return Babe Ruth's bat before the deciding game of the 1932 World Series.
Bruce Willis and Halle Berry are teaming up for Revolution Studios' psychological thriller Perfect Stranger. Berry plays a woman who goes undercover online and offline to investigate a friend's murder. Willis plays one of Berry's chief suspects.
Nicole Kidman will produce and possibly star in the big screen adaptation of Karen McCullah Lutz's novel The Bachelorette Party.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin's Steve Carell will star in Evan Almighty, the sequel to Universal's successful comedy Bruce Almighty. The project was originally supposed to star Bruce's Jim Carrey, but he passed. However, Morgan Freeman is in negotiations to reprise his role as God. Carell had a small role in the original as a newscaster, and Evan will put his character on a quest to build an ark in preparation for a great flood. With these kind of things, usually if the big star doesn't come back, it won't be good despite how many of the supporting players come back. A man has been arrested for allegedly trespassing after he walked into Bruce Almighty co-star Jennifer Aniston's home waying he was looking for the actress. A judge has signed off on the divorce of Aniston and Brad Pitt, but under California law, the couple's split won't be official until October 2, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press August 22. Mary Louise Parker has signed on to play Zee James, wife of the legendary outlaw, in The Assassination of Jesse James. Pitt plays James and Casey Affleck plays Robert Ford, the man who assassinated James.
Will Smith is teaming up with his son, Jaden Smith, for Columbia Pictures' The Pursuit of Happyness. Will plays a marginally-employed salesman who gets custody of his son (Jaden) just as he is about to begin a career-making stock brokerage intern program.
Keanu Reeves and Catherine Zeta-Jones are in talks to star in Unfaithful director Adrian Lyne's Stompanato, the story of Johnny Stompanato, the hoodlem killed by the teen daughter of his girlfriend, actress Lana Turner.
Anthony Hopkins and Demi Moore will star in the Emilio Estevez-directed ensemble drama Bobby. The story is about the intertwining lives of the people present at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel the night Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Estevez and Moore co-starred in St. Elmo's Fire.
Sandra Bullock is in talks to star in the ghost thriller Premonition, about a housewife whose husband dies in a car crash only to reappear alive the next day.
Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Anna Paquin are teaming up on Fox Searchlight's drama Margaret for writer-director Kenneth Lonergan. Margaret revolves around a New York teenager, her actress mother and the girl who tries to make amends for her complicity in a terrible traffic accident. Damon will also be returning for the third film in the Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum. The two previous flicks, The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy, have grossed more than $500 million at the worldwide box office.
A Very Long Engagement's Marion Cotillard will star opposite Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's A Good Year. Based on Peter Mayle's novel of the same name, Year is about a failed London banker (Crowe) who moves to Provence to take care of a vineyard inherited from his uncle (Albert Finney). Upon his arrival, he comes across a woman (Cotillard) who says she is a long-lost cousin and lays claim to the property. Cotillard and Finney previously appeared together in Tim Burton's Big Fish.
Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke and Thomas Jane are teaming up for the Weinstein Co's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's thriller Killshot.
Christopher Guest, the filmmaker behind Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, is starting work on For Your Consideration for Castle Rock Entertainment. Consideration revolves around three actors, shooting a small indie film, whose lives turn upside-down when buzz starts that their performances are awards-worthy. Ricky Gervais will star in addition to Guest's usual suspects: Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Bob Balaban, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean.
Jodie Foster is in talks to star in the Warner Bros. urban suspense thriller The Brave One as a woman who seeks revenge after being brutally attacked. The Accused Part II, anyone?
Oscar-winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) and Ryan Phillippe (Crash) are teaming up for Universal Pictures' espionage thriller Breach. The story, based on true events, centers on an aspiring FBI agent (Phillippe) who is handpicked to work for a renowned operative within information assurance, a new division created to protect all classified FBI intelligence. The Recruit Part Two??!!
Training Day's Antoine Fuqua will direct Paramount's action-adventure flick By Any Means Necessary, which centers on law enforcement turning to a jailed mobster to hep prevent a possible terrorist attack.
Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl, Selma Blair and Frances Fisher have signed on for writer-director Amy Talkington's indie comedy The Night of the White Pants. The story follows a Dallas power broker on a night with his daughter's punk rocker boyfriend.
Chloe Sevigny (Broken Flowers, Boys Don't Cry) is joining Jake Gyllenhaal for filmmaker David Fincher's Zodiac, based on the story of the Zodiac killer who terrorized the San Francisco area from 1966 to 1978.
War of the Worlds' Justin Chatwin and newcomer Margarita Levieva will star in Spyglass Entertainment's supernatural drama Invisible. The story is based on a Swedish film, which follows a young man (Chatwin) who is attacked and left for dead, then fights against time, finding himself invisible to the living, and racing against time to find his body before he really dies. (Seriously?!) The only person who can save him is his attacker (Levieva).
Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland) and Paddy Considine (Cinderella Man) will star in PU-239, which is part black comedy and part crime drama. PU follows a nuclear facility technician (Considine) who, after an accident, travels to Moscow with his wife (Mitchell) in search of work and finds his life intersecting with that of a Russian gangster.
Peter Krause (TV's Six Feet Under) and Khaled Abol Naga are teaming up for director Jeff Renfroe's Civic Duty. Krause plays an American accountant obsessed with terrorist plots and cable news who gets a jolt when an unattached grad student (Abol Naga) moves in next door.
Devon Sawa (Idle Hands, Final Destination) has signed on to star in the indie horror/sci-fi flick Hunter's Moon. The movie tells the story of four young couples drawn to the remote dunes for off-roading until they are attacked by the "Catcher," a brutal hunter of human specimans for alien science. You have got to be kidding me. This is for real?!
James McAvoy has signed on to headline the cast of director Tom Vaughan's Starter for Ten as a working-class student who stumbles romantically and academically through his first year at a private university in England.
Paramount Pictures is updating the '70s TV show Battle of the Network Stars for a film comedy, which will revolve around a disgraced network exec who must claw his way back to respectability by winning the contest.
The MPAA has vetoed already distributed promotional materials for Saw II due to artwork featuring severed fingers. Lions Gate Films has agreed to comply.
Former studio exec Sid Ganis has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Ganis replaces Frank Pierson, who served the maximum of four consecutive one-year terms. Two-time Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks has been voted in as vice president of AMPAS, which is the organization that started and runs the Oscars.
Alec Baldwin will receive the Linda McCartney Memorial Award at PETA's 25th anniversary gala September 10 for his work on the short documentary Meet Your Meat, which PETA officials say has helped bring about policy changes at Burger King.
Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, Ladder 49) is denying reports that he had a breakdown on the set of the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, claiming he was merely acting when he banged his head against a bedpost in a scene.
Brock Peters, best known for his role as Tom Robinson, the falsely accused rapist defended by Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, has died of pancreatic cancer. He was 78.
Hi, Christopher Reeve here. Got a few things I need to say so I decided to start a blog. Anyway, I'm so sick of these mother fuckers with aids! What the fuck is all the crying and moaning about. All this bullshit about finding the cure. Fuck you god damn babies. They haven't found a cure for my condition and at least you assholes get to die! I gotta rot in this fucking wheelchair pissing on myself and stinking like shit. Do you know what it's like to not even to be able to fucking tell when you are pissing on yourself?! All you fucking bastards with aids cry about it but you get the sweet release of death. What do I get? SHIT! The government won't even let me feast upon the unborn for strength. All I get is some fucking "CGI" commercial in which some nice and tender mobile 18 year old computer whiz fuck pasted my head on a fucking walking body. What kind of fucking bullshit is that?! Oh, I feel great! To sum it up, aids is over hyped. Somebody find me a fucking cure! I feel a little better getting that off of my chest which once bore the "S" of Superman. I'm out bitches!
