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usagirotten · 3 months

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Review: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is pretentiously touching

Documentary series and films based on celebrities cause a lot of expectation among locals and strangers, whether due to curiosity or a genuine interest in knowing more about the lives of these people and even more so, the dark details that have surrounded them throughout their lives—his life and also after this. From Marylin Monroe to Val Kilmer, these biographical stories aim to be risky and tell what has not been said, and what is not supposed to be known. Researching a deceased person is even more difficult than carrying out the testimonies of Your loved ones, friends, and co-workers may be left in doubt as to whether what they say is true or whether it is just an attachment to someone who is no longer there. Christopher D'Olier Reeve/Christopher Reeve made his debut on Broadway in 1976 and then in 1978, he played one of the most iconic and difficult superheroes in this medium, Superman: The Movie directed by Richard Donner of Ilya and Alexander Salkind was surrounded by many problems, however, her success at the box office paved the way for what we know today in the cinema of the genre she occupies. In 2024, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui present a new documentary at Sundance, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which focuses more on the accident he suffered when he fell from a horse at a riding exhibition on May 27, 1995. and what happened next with her life and her career that went from being a cinematographer to an activist.

What is the documentary about?

It is a 2024 bio documentary film about the life of Christopher Reeve after his terrible accident and the path to becoming a disability rights activist.

We have already spoken on several occasions that the documentary genre has specific rules, a deep investigation of the facts, and, above all, the authorization of those involved and those interviewed, this documentary complies with these rules and its own and narrates more truthfully. what happened to this actor and the entire environment that surrounded him until his death on October 10, 2004. This work is something that moves us, the combination of the elements it contains makes it almost impossible not to be moved by those frames where he looked very healthy and happy with what he was doing, anyone who remembers Reeve as Superman in the films that made between 1978 and 1987, which have their audience who for more than 40 years have followed and rated these films as one of the best incarnations of the character on the big screen. The talk shows are a key piece to understanding what happened, is happening, and will happen throughout the 104 minutes that it lasts, we see passages of his private life and his coexistence with his family, for example, Reeve's home movies with his three children or while making jokes and games with his best friend and former roommate Robin Williams, these are the moments of reprieve that reflect a very dark side of his main story. The documentary begins on May 27, 1995, when Reeve was seriously injured in an equestrian accident. Reeve's horse refused to make a jump. Eyewitnesses said the animal began the third jump over the fence and suddenly stopped. stopped Reeve fell from the horse and held on to the reins while his hands got tangled in them the bridle and the bit were removed from the horse, and Reeve fell headlong on the other side of the fence breaking the first and second vertebrae stopped breathing for several minutes, this injury to the cervical spine resulted in something more serious that paralyzed him from the neck to the feet. The paramedics arrived three minutes later and immediately took emergency medical measures to get air into his lungs. They first took him to the local hospital and then transferred him by helicopter to the University of Virginia Medical Center. When he woke up, Reeve claimed he didn't remember anything about the accident. , after five days in which Reeve was heavily medicated he regained full consciousness, his doctor explained to him that the first and second cervical vertebrae had been destroyed and his spinal cord damaged, after several evaluations and attempts at an operation the final diagnosis was that He was paralyzed from the neck down and couldn't breathe without a ventilator. The imminent and necessary operation to reattach the skull to the spine was in June 1995. Reeve was aware of the risk and knew that he had only a fifty percent chance of surviving, moments that the documentary reflects as something extremely intimate and terrifying for an actor who, although he did not have everything, did have the desire to get ahead for himself and his family. At that moment, he completely forgot about his film career to focus on his recovery.

Someone who was the key to this being carried out more patiently came from the man who was his best friend, the man who was with him from the beginning and did not leave him until the end. In the documentary, a Brief recreation of a guy crouching in a blue medical cap, yellow surgical gown, and glasses speaking with a fake Russian accent, the man announced to Reeve seriously in a very formal tone that he was a proctologist and that he was going to perform a rectal exam. , Robin Williams' charisma and friendliness greatly helped his physical and psychological recovery.

A voiceover narrates something said by Reeve "For the first time since my accident happened, I laughed, my old friend had helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay" and so it was, the surgery and the long sessions of Therapy helped his partial recovery, in addition to visits from a few friends and family, he received more than 400,000 letters from all over the world where his fans dedicated emotional and heartfelt words of comfort to him at a difficult time. As the bio documentary progresses we also learn about what Warner Bros. did as a film studio, his survival after the accident reestablishes a marked parallel with his growing acting career in the role of Superman, both were a difficult challenge to overcome physically. and even more intimidating and faced many problems and setbacks, as we see his recovery Reeve becomes a tireless advocate for spinal cord injury survivors beginning a new stage in his career, this is due in large part to the studies that they turned their backs on him and suspended the royalty payments he deserved for the work he did with and for them. The production team does a good job of linking real images into a very convincing narrative sequence about the events and how he and his wife decided to open a foundation that would help him and others. Williams started a campaign in which They invited people to donate in exchange for having a souvenir and this was a silver plate with the Superman emblem in a color that quotes "Go Forward" which could be purchased for a donation of 25.00 Dollars and was sent by mail, the help of his best friend was essential for all of this to become real.

Fans from all over the world turned to donate not only for one of these plates but because they understood the problem the actor was in, the manufacturing, promotion, and distribution was by Williams himself, already Reeve's wife and children. , who also took on the task of managing everything raised and starting to buy devices and medications for those who needed them, the process consisted of filling out a form and presenting their medical evidence, hence a committee specialized in this type of injury separated the most emerging cases from those that did not so that the majority of applicants were benefited. As is to be expected, there was a lot of talk about mismanagement of the money that came in, Williams' lawyers presented evidence to prove that all the money that came in was fully justified, meanwhile, Warner Bros. was stupid by letting them use the Superman logo. For this campaign, the documentary is not clear when defining whether Dana Morosini, his wife, requested the use of the material or not. Along with this, on April 25, 1998, the American publisher Random House published Reeve's autobiography titled Still Me, the book was eleven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, with all proceeds donated to the foundation. On February 25, 2003, the series Smallville in its second season aired the episode, Rosetta where Reeve, after ironing out some rough edges with the study, appeared as Dr. Virgil Swann who provides Clark Kent (Tom Welling) with vital information about his origin, where he comes from and how to use his powers for the good of humanity, the scenes were brilliantly framed by a new version of the Superman theme composed by John Williams and arranged by Mark Snow, at the end of this episode Christopher Reeve and Tom Welling make a brief announcement inviting people in general and fans of the series and the character to support the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, this episode was one of the most important and established a rating history for The WB, the fan community received this entry with excellent reviews and praised it as one of the best events up to that point in the series. The documentary features interviews with people in the actor's life including his three children William, Matthew, and Alexandra Reeve, these participations create an air of family intimacy in which they express their feelings and admiration for their father, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Daniels, and Glenn Close also give their opinion, each clip is important from images taken with a camcorder at home to professional recordings and their participation in film and television, each word said may or may not have a more neutral context and advocates sadness and pity without taking into account that it is also a story of personal improvement and more so in this case that many remember this actor for being an American superhero.

Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui know how to handle the material they have very well by using images from old interviews with images that are new and never seen before, creating a pretentiously convincing story, trying to go deeper and revealing details that add humanism to a celebrity, who takes her down from that star pedestal and puts her as just another person with a serious health problem, that moving game they have written by Ettedgui in which they make us participate as spectators fall into emotional clichés to poor its protagonist. It is already very trite that given the supposed seriousness of the documentary they try to educate us with a moral discourse in which we see that values such as family and friendship are represented in a strategic way as part of their own rules so that we understand the Suffering from this man is rather a recurring pretext that supports the main argument, which is the recovery from an accident and his subsequent activism. These are the obvious flaws he has that cause him to lose his personality at times. The actor became an important patient and representative of medical research into spinal cord injuries to find a cure, thus being a tireless defender of the rights of people with disabilities, faithful to his values he fully represented the image of a husband, a family man, a friend and a superman in real life. The music composed by Ilan Eshkeri is only a vehicle to give it a more serious and moving atmosphere without being something that goes unnoticed, it is simply a discreet and supportive work to accompany this story. In conclusion, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story as a documentary risks more than anyone else but not enough, its information was enough for more or to be a bio documentary miniseries in which every important detail ranging from greed would be further explored from the studies to how the help they provided was handled inside and outside the foundation. As a documentary, it is entertaining and fulfills what it promises, respects the rules, and reveals what was unknown to many, a job well done and well done that just lacked time. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story will be available in home formats and on some streaming platforms during 2024. Read the full article

#dccomics

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signalwatch · 5 months

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Holiday Watch: Santa Claus - The Movie (1985)

Watched: 12/8/2023

Format: Amazon

Viewing: First

Director: Jeannot Szward

Even as a kid, when I saw the trailer for this movie and it looked a little suspicious to me. I don't know what it says that a kid pretty game for whatever looked at this and was like "nah", but I think that gut instinct was dead on. I would have been 10 when this hit, so I wasn't really the audience, anyway - just old enough to not want to see "a kiddie movie", but it looked like schlock to me at that age, and I just had no interest.

Apparently neither did Planet Earth, because the movie made about $23 million against an estimated budget between $30 and 50 million.

Flash forward to 2023, and we put this one on and a whole bunch of things became clear immediately.

Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) was produced by the Salkinds, the same shady guys who put together the first three Superman films and Supergirl. They have their name up there first and foremost, so you know this is an Alexander Salkind joint. And if you know anything about the Salkinds you know that if you're ethically a little shaky, these are your guys.

They know how to capture star power, get amazing effects done and make a big, splashy movie. They also have no concept of what makes a movie actually work, in favor of just hiring big name talent and hoping for the best. After all, as far as they were concerned, this is what made Superman I and II work. Not Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz pulling everything together, rewriting the script and making it a coherent movie after drafts from Mario Puzo and the David and Leslie Newman creative dream team. And they know how to do it while lining their pockets and screwing everyone else.

Well, we have the Newman's back and writing, and boy howdy, is it ever the Newmans. Unfunny jokes that they go back to over and over (and over), incredibly broad characters and a certain hokey "we're putting on a show" writing style.* But they came by it honestly - David Newman was partially responsible for Broadway shows like It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman. Which, if you've ever seen it (and I have) is a meandering mess of a show where they pursued every wrong instinct polite society had about how to deal with genre media.

The Salkinds also brought in director Jeannot Szward, who directed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which makes sense on paper! He managed to make a classic out of a weird movie about a guy and his factory producing fun stuff for kids. And they have a score by no less than Henry Mancini and a "hit" single at the end performed by Sheena Easton.** And, of course, Dudley Moore is our star casting, alongside a blowing up John Lithgow, just off Footloose and a string of hits (I wrongly thought Blow Out was 1984, it's 1981). Santa is played by The Big Lebowksi's David Huddleston, and Mrs. Claus by Judy Cornwell that only anglophiles will recognize. Burgess Meredith pops up for no reason.

So, you can see the thinking. We have all the elements: can't fail. Worked for Superman.

And then they proceed to put forth a clearly wildly expensive, absolutely boring movie that takes a good hour to really get going.

Basically, we start with Mr. and Mrs. Claus as mere mortals who freeze to death on Christmas Eve, and are resurrected to go live with a cult. They are treated well, but told "now you will deliver all of these toys we make" which Santa is kind of game for, I guess. But he has little to no agency - he is literally pressed into service.

The factory, by the way, is an amazing set that makes the Fortress of Solitude look like a hack job. It's a multi-tiered, all-wood environment with moving parts and covered in toys, elves and colorful detail. In addition to the expansive environs of the film, the impeccable costuming, all of the effects are fairly top-tier for 1985. Clearly the Salkinds knew to borrow the flying effects from Superman, perhaps made easier when you can put Santa in a sleigh instead of a harness, but it seems to be a pretty similar set-up. There are also muppet reindeer that have personality and are part of the story. And, plenty of optical effects.

Plotwise - it's unclear WHY the elves were already making toys or have this factory. They say it feels good to give toys away, but they've never done it as far as I can tell. After all, they have a warehouse full of them. But they do have reindeer, magical flying powder (more on that later), and an agenda. So, much as Superman has a lengthy opening sequence, including Krypton and Smallville sequences, as well as the Fortress stuff, this movie thinks Santa needs all that.

He does not.

We're a good hour into this movie before anything like a plot kicks in. Which is not really how Superman works, but I can see how the mistake was made. In Superman, you don't see Clark turn into Superman til way, way into the movie, but... plenty occurs with comedy and tragedy and plot tension in that first hour, but not here. Santa just kind of bumblefucks his way into becoming the Santa we know, including spending *centuries* as the jolly gift-giver before looking at naughty children and thinking "fuck them kids", taking away their gifts. With no forewarning, by the way.

Our plot that eventually surfaces is when Santa (a) promotes his tinkerer pal, Patch (Moore) to be his assistant to help out as the world population explodes. (b) Patch innovates with an assemblyline, which obviously makes worse toys than by-hand toys. (c) Those toys suck and break. (d) People decide the man giving them free toys is a loser after centuries of success. (e) John Lithgow plays Dan Aykroyd's character from SNL who sells very dangerous and defective toys. (f) Patch goes to work for him after getting demoted and thus leaving the North Pole. (g) Patch puts cocaine

magic flying powder into lollipops and hooks kids on the "first one's free" scheme. (h) Santa immediately wants to quit.

I haven't mentioned the two kids in the film, the very post 1970-streetsmart homeless kid with a bit of a NY accent and then the cherubic girl who lives in a mansion in Manhattan and feeds the homeless kid (successfully, and daily, because no one is paying attention to what this girl is doing).

Santa meets "Joe" on Christmas Eve and flies him around, but does nothing else for him. I mean, Santa seems like he could have done *something* to help out this kid, but he just peaces out and is like "see you next year". Santa, that kid is going to have moved on or be dead. Meanwhile, turns out Cornelia's uncle is John Lithgow.

There are incredibly long scenes between Lithgow and Moore that feel like extended cuts of stuff the Salkinds thought worked between Luthor and Otis, but they forgot how Miss Tessmacher provided daffy balance. Or didn't know. But, my god, all of it just drags.

And that's the weird thing. This movie is a full two hours because Act 1 takes an hour. But when we get to Act 2, no one puts their foot on the gas. The pacing is murder.

For all the sets (which are also weirdly and uniformly dark) and costuming and money thrown at this thing, and what feels like thought put into creating a lore for Santa, no one seems to have a feel for what kind of movie this is. It's not funny despite featuring Dudley Moore, who often seems kind of sad. It's not upbeat or quirky. It kind of just keeps happening with sort of joke-shaped moments occurring.

And, most bizarre, the movie ends not on a December 24th, but in late March, on the recently deployed "Christmas 2", come up with by Lithgow's character to sell more cocaine

lollipops that allow kids to fly and which, it turns out, will explode violently if placed near a heat source.

The movie ends with Santa saving Dudley Moore and Joe, there's a pointless bit about missing two reindeer, and the last moment of the movie is Lithgow disappearing into space to die after ingesting too many lollipops as he runs from the cops.

Christmas.

Look, I've watched some real shit bombs this Christmas, and this one is not the worst, but it sure was trying. And, most offensively, it was so expensive. It's a testament to the two most essential things in a film really being a script you can work with and that goes somewhere, and an editor who can try to craft something coherent from whatever wobbling pile they're handed.

The casting of Dudley Moore, famous at this point for playing everyone's favorite raging alcoholic, was weird. He was oriented to movies for grown-ups, and as a ten-year-old, I remember thinking "that's odd casting" even if I couldn't put my finger on why. And he's not bad, but he just seems kind of depressed through the whole movie, which was a choice, I guess. And aside from "Joe", the performances are mostly fine. And Joe is fine. He's just... doing the bit in the movie that folks decided had to be in movies for kids until Goonies.

If there's one note about the visuals, it's weird how old this looks and how much like a modern movie Scrooged looks, coming just a few years later.

For decades I'd been told "not worth it", and, by gum, those friends were just trying to help me.

Anyway, here's Sheena Easton's song. Try to remember that Sheena Easton is very, very good looking before judging her too harshly.

youtube

*there's probably a fascinating career retrospective one could do about the Newmans, because they kind of Forrest Gumped their way through Hollywood as near as I can tell.

**rawr

#santa claus #superman the movie #holiday #christmas movies #Youtube

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theultimateflix · 6 months

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Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie and written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal from a story by Christopher Reeve, Konner, and Rosenthal based on the DC Comics character Superman. The film stars Reeve, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Jon Cryer, Sam Wanamaker, Jim Broadbent, Mariel Hemingway, and Margot Kidder.

It is the fifth film (including 1984's Supergirl) in the Superman film series and a sequel to Superman III (1983). It is the first film in the series not to have the involvement of producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The film also marks the final appearance of Reeve as Superman, who agreed to return in exchange for a large salary and some creative control, where he contributed to a script dealing with nuclear disarmament.

Shortly before the film's production, the film's producer, The Cannon Group, suffered a major financial crisis that forced major budget cuts, and 45 minutes of footage were deleted after negative test screenings. Upon release, it was widely panned by critics and fans alike, with many reviewers citing poor special effects, inconsistencies and plot holes. No further Superman films were released until Superman Returns in 2006.

Box office

It was released July 24, 1987, in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. In the US and Canada it opened in 1,511 theatres and grossed $5.6 million during its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office. In the UK, it opened on 234 screens and grossed £508,468 ($0.8 million) for the weekend becoming the number one film in the UK for the weekend. It failed to retain number one spot for the week, grossing £987,495 compared to The Living Daylights's £1,108,256. It was the eighth highest-grossing film in the UK for the year with a gross of £3,457,959 ($5.5 million). In the United States and Canada it grossed $15.6 million and the same in other markets for a worldwide box office gross of $36.7 million.

Of the four Superman films starring Reeve, The Quest for Peace fared the worst at the box office, and the series went dormant for the following 19 years. Reeve regretted his decision to be involved in the film, saying, "Superman IV was a catastrophe from start to finish. That failure was a huge blow to my career." Plans were made to make a Superman V, but they never came to fruition. Reeve's 1995 paralysis made any further development of sequels involving him in the starring role impossible. Time Warner let the Superman feature film franchise go undeveloped until the late 1990s when a variety of proposals were considered, including several that would reboot the franchise with different versions of the characters and settings. Eventually in 2006, a soft-reboot of the series, Superman Returns, was released and disregarded the events of Superman III and The Quest for Peace, though the Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths seemed to indicate that both Superman III and Returns were in the same canon.

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twittercomfrnklin2001-blog · 1 year

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The Trial

Orson Welles tackled Franz Kafka in 1962 and came out the winner, though Kafka was hardly defeated. THE TRIAL (Peacock+, which has a terrific restored print) is one of the great accidents of film history. Alexander Salkind made the film when another producer beat him to the punch with TARAS BULBA (1962). He mistakenly included the book in a list of public domain novels he offered to Welles (and then had to pay for the rights). When he ran out of money, Welles filmed the courthouse scenes in the abandoned Gare d’Orsay, a perfect match for his baroque absurdist vision. And it all came together (many contemporary critics disagreed on that note). One smart choice Welles made was casting Anthony Perkins as Josef K, who rebels against a corrupt legal system out to control him. Sixty years after the film’s release, it should be possible to look at his performance away from the shadow of Norman Bates. It’s remarkably intelligent work, from his mastery of the script’s many repetitions to his sardonic put-downs of the bureaucracy and its minions. The performance made me wish he’d had a chance to tackle Beckett or Pinter. Welles also made very astute use of Perkins’ homosexuality (apparently with the actor’s tacit approval) in the way Josef K rejects the women and one man (possibly two) who offer to help him in return for sex (it helps that he looks smashing in a three-piece suit). When Jackie Gleason declined to play Perkins’ lawyer, Welles almost prophetically cast himself as the controlling invalid tended by a beautiful, mysterious woman (Romy Schneider). Others in the cast include Jeanne Moreau, Elsa Martinelli, Akim Tamiroff and Michel Lonsdale. Edmond Richard did the exquisite black-and-white cinematography.

#great films #orson welles #franz kafka #anthony perkins

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longfame · 2 years

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Dc comics lightsmith

There, he was a scientist who argued that harnessing the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum would lead to disaster. Two short film commercials promoting American Express.Ī Mexican commercial starring Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Batgirl.Ī Brazilian commercial starring Batman and The Joker.įeatures archival footage of Wonder Woman in Super Friends.Relic is a native of a prior version of spacetime. Television commercials CommercialĮight "integrated commercials" starring George Reeves.īatgirl Equal Pay Public Service Announcement Passed based on the comic published by Vertigoīackdoor pilot aired as part of Arrow's eighth season Passed.īackdoor pilot aired as part of Black Lightning's fourth season Passed. Passed based on comic published by Wildstorm Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt DC does not own media adaptation or publishing rights after they were reverted to creators. Sony Pictures Television / Amazon Studios / Kripke Enterprises / Point Grey Pictures / Original Film / Kickstart Entertainment / KFL Nightsky Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Phantom Four / PurePop Inc. Television / DC Entertainment / Team Downey / Nightshade Television / DC Entertainment / ARRAY Filmworks Sony Pictures Television / AMC Studios / Woodbridge Productions / Short Drive Entertainment / Point Grey / Original Film / Kickstart Productions / KFL Nightsky Productionsįuture Investigations / Color Force / Witch's Mark Productions / FXP Television / Vertigo (DC Entertainment) / Jerry Bruckheimer Television Television / Vertigo (DC Entertainment) / Spondoolie Productions Television / DC Films / Denver & Delilah Filmsįrom DC Imprints Vertigo Title Television / DC Films / Berlanti Productions Television / DC Films / Bad Robot Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Brownstone Productions Television / DC Entertainment / 6th & Idaho / Dylan Clark Productions Television / DC Entertainment / 6th & Idaho Television / DC Films / Troll Court Entertainment / The Safran Company Television / DC Entertainment / Mad Ghost Productions / Berlanti ProductionsĪrrowverse adjacent. Renewed for a third season streaming exclusively on HBO Max. Warner Horizon Television / DC Entertainment / Primrose Hill Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Berlanti Productions / Jeremy Carver ProductionsĪrrowverse adjacent. Television / DC Entertainment / Weed Road Pictures / Berlanti ProductionsĪrrowverse adjacent. Television / DC Entertainment / Array Filmworks Television / DC Entertainment / Paramount Television / White Rabbit Television / DC Entertainment / Big Shoe Productions, Inc. Warner Horizon Television / DC Entertainment / Phantom Four Films Television / DC Entertainment / Berlanti Productions / Akil Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Ehsugadee Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Ever After Productions / Phantom Four Films Television / DC Entertainment / Primrose Hill Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Berlanti Productions Television / DC Entertainment / Wonderland Sound and Vision Television / DC Comics / Tollin/Robbins Productions / Millar Gough Ink Television / December 3 Productions / Gangbuster Films Inc. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Bruce Lansbury Productions, Ltd.Ĭantharus Productions / Alexander and Ilya Salkind Productions / Lowry Productions / DC ComicsīBK Productions, Inc. DC Comics / Motion Pictures for TelevisionĢ0th Century Fox Television / Greenway Productionsįilmation / DC Comics / Warner Bros.

#Dc comics lightsmith

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