RocShemp

The whole plastic look of CGI Routh didn't help matters either.

Kal-El

Exactly. I don't know who did the final approval of that product because it was fucking awful. Especially when it's the final flying sequence to end the movie, why not just green screen the shit out of it? At least you'll have the physical actor right there. If they had made it similar to when he "recharges" in the sunlight before lifting up New Krypton, it would have made that ending so much better. Instead all the time I was thinking, "that...looks REALLY fake."

Why So Blu?

Just watched this and it was alright. It's rather longwinded. For those saying that Peters is strange, well, producers generally are.

devilshalo

And he'll fight you to prove it!

Shannon Nutt

I still think, after all we've heard about him, he comes of as generally a straightforward kind of guy. I wouldn't have a problem with him producing my movie if I were running a studio.

Mike86

Finally got my copy of the Blu-ray on Monday (ordered it on July 25th). Watched the film itself last night but didn't get into the extras yet. As for the documentary itself I thought there were some interesting aspects to it and agree with others that Superman Lives would have been interesting if nothing else. I think fans of comics and comic book films will find a lot of the stuff gone over fairly interesting but I agree with another poster about finding the film somewhat long winded. Not a bad documentary but not as great as I was hoping either.

windom

This will be running on Showtime this Friday night, 11/6.

Mondo Kane

Along with a recent viewing of Why Horror (2014) (Also on the same network) hopefully this marks the start of more movie-documentaries to appear on movie-channels.

OldBoy

bump for this premiere...

Michael Corvin

Hopefully it shows up on Netflix at some point.

OldBoy

Loving this so far. Very interesting. Love the candid interviews...

Mondo Kane

Finished it earlier. The only complaint I have was that I was looking forward to know more about the film's complete storyline rather than looking at an endless amount of concept-art of creatures, ships and costumes. I guess the disc's extras cover that.

And from imdb's trivia:

E Unit

Yeah, the storyline reveal would have been a big thing for me. But it seemed endless in the concepts without actually saying "okay, we're going with this" or "that".

The entire failed production was summarized quite well when Cage said "Well we're making a fairy tale." I never saw Superman as a fairy tale other than him flying perhaps. But the fairy tale approach was the wrong way to making a new Superman movie. Interesting to see, but I doubt I'll watch it again. Mostly due to too much Kevin Smith being in it.

coli

I never realized they got so close to production as I do remember being one of those people who heard 'Nick Cage as Superman' in the 90's and dismissed it immediately.

I have to say regardless of what we think of how it would have turned out, it was an interesting documentary just because everyone was so candid. You RARELY get this in Hollywood, as usually its all BS and you have to figure out who is BS'ing the most.

I have to say that I do respect that they were trying to make a Comic Book Film with alittle more depth then your average boring current day comic book crap that comes out every summer. But I still don't buy Cage as Superman, and still probably wouldn't see it today because of that. Maybe because Christopher Reeve was so good I just can't get past anyone being Superman, but Cage just doesn't have the look for a superhero.

dave94

Really interesting documentary.

Jon Peters is a piece of work.

I'd watch an animated version of the final script just to see where the hell it was going. Like y'all said, I have no idea.

wmansir

I found this an interesting doc, even though the creator was a bit too much of a cheerleader at times. I wouldn't say it convinced me that the film should have been made, or that Burton in particular was ever the right man for the project, but it made the whole thing seem less ridiculous than I previously thought.

Michael Corvin

Damn, that's a helluva good idea.

james2025a

Recorded this Friday and watched it yesterday. It was fine, but nothing special. Did not say anything that has not already been told countless times over the years....just from the horses mouth this time. And I have read enough about Peters to know he is a weird douche. Made me laugh when he said he had been in 500 street fights. Lol. What with other hair dressers? The director was a poor interviewer and the editing, sound and the opening credits left a lot to be desired. What was it when Peters answered the phone mid interview and then the sound of the director drinking the bottle of water suddenly becomes loud as hell. The director had no idea how to react, a half decent interviewer could have played off this situation, but not this guy.

The most interesting thing was seeing the concepts for Brainiac and the regeneration suit. It gets a 5/10.

Groucho

Thought it was a pretty good documentary. I think that had it been made Superman Lives could have been decent (certainly better than Wild Wild West).

My biggest complaint about the documentary was the director. There was no need to have in frame during interviews, nodding like a bobblehead, and I think things would have been improved if he'd hired a professional to do the narration. The aforementioned sequence where we watch him guzzle bottled water while Jon Peters takes a phone call was a baffling misfire. Also the "recreations" of scenes from the movie weren't necessary.

coli

That was just plain weird, as it seems like it goes on for an eternity with the bottled water.

That Peters is a piece of work as he fits the stereotype of every Hollywood producer. I don't know if I could read my script to him while he is lying on the couch....

james2025a

Yeah Peters is the living proof that you can know diddly squat about movies and still make it in the business. When he says he does not like to read it made me laugh. A street fighting hairdresser who does not like to read and thinks Superman works best when he does not fly, does not wear his normal costume and who thinks that he should fight giant spiders and polar bears.

GoldenJCJ

I'm far from a Kevin Smith fanboy but I think he was the best part of the whole documentary. And while he obviously has a bias toward the production he seemed to be the only one of the two main interviewees (the other being Jon Peters) who was telling the truth. In particular the 3 things he was told had to be part of the script (no flying, no suit, giant spider). Jon Peters clearly states Kevin Smith is lying about it yet immediately acknowledges the giant spider requirement was true, then as the documentary goes on we learn the Superman was never going to fly and his suit was going to be completely reenvisioned.

It was also an incredible miscalculation for the interviewer to decide to be in frame during every interview. He was incredibly distracting to watch.

As zany as the ideas sounded and the concepts seemed to be pretty scatterbrained throughout the documentary I actually think all (or most) of those ideas could have made a pretty interesting Superman movie.

coli

I didn't understand why Peters didn't want Superman to fly in the movie? I'm not a comic book guy so I am missing something?

Wouldn't that be like making a Rocky movie where there is no training montage for a fight?

GoldenJCJ

^ I couldn't tell if he was against flying altogether or if he was just opposed to the weightless "magic" flying we've seen before. At one point they had concept drawings for Superman's giant leaps (parkour style) where he would jump from building to building as opposed to lifting off and landing at will.

While interesting in theory, I'm not sure giant leaps would work in a movie beyond Superman's initial "learning to fly" montage.

Although, some of the criticism I've heard about Superman is that he's basically become an all powerful god. So maybe reducing some of his superpowers might not be a terrible idea.

Solid Snake

Good or bad.... interesting concept for sure.