One word: Desperate.

Chris Nolan did a great job on Batman, but really, what's he going to do to Batman? Makie everything all dark and moody. And that's what they tried to do last time.

My guess is he's being brought in just to bring some possitive hype to the project. Nothing more.

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

Superman?

I'm assuming that they aren't counting on Nolan making sure Superman is dark and "realistic". Superman should never be less than an uplifting fantasy.

Nolan's a smart guy, and hopefully he'll help guide the movie to being something we all want to see.

One director I think Nolan should seriously consider is Sam Raimi. If Raimi doesn't feel like continuing with Spider-Man, I think he'd be a really good choice for Superman. By and large, he did everything right with that franchise: good-hearted, powerful hero, strong love interest, impressive and frightening villains, involving human story. That's everything that Superman needs and should be.

Another important thing was the great action sequences that really felt like action sequences and not just 1-minute long sfx demonstrations that are abandoned almost as soon as they begin. The humanity and humor of the Spider-Man series would be so perfect for Superman. I mean: Bizarro, Toyman, Prankster, Brainiac, Mr. Mxyzptlk--can you imagine all the great things Raimi could do with them? (I guess eventually he can do Luthor but he's already been done so many times and in so many forms that we need a break from him! )

"It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas....the world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality."

I think the next Superman film needs to completely jettison everything from the other films and really start over. For the first film, they should do something like this (taking some elements from the 90's animated series): Tie Braniac to Supes' origin on Krypton, intro Luthor as a corrupt and immoral businessman and when Braniac lands on Earth, Luthor gets to him first and they team up to take out Big Blue just as he's getting started. Braniac is defeated, but ultimately, Superman cannot prove that Luthor had anything to do with him and Luthor knows it. At film's end, tease us with a brief glimpse of a top secret Luthorcorp project. Codename: Metallo...

That's the kind of film that would put butts in seats, don't you think?

"Good call, baby doll!"

Yes!

I really hoped they would be going there with the whole "Superman went back to Krypton to search for ... something" plot point in the last movie. Instead, it was just a lame way to get the horrible plot moving.

Or try to make it "realistic", to live down Returns and Golan/Globus:
Okay, Chris, you made a guy in a high-tech cape look suspiciously like Scorsese/Mann gangland. Now try a FLYING one from another planet who throws cars and shoots lasers from his eyes.



I put it more in the category of when they tried giving the death-of-Superman movie to Tim Burton (at one point way back before Returns) because, well, look what HE did for Batman!

In other words...this is Warner we're talking about. They don't really know how either.

I've got very little hope of seeing another superhero film touch me the way the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films did.... and continue to.

(Honestly, go see those films again AND the Richard Donner Cut of Superman II in particular. It is eye-opening and probably the best director's cut of a film that I've seen.)

I'm sorry, but I'm in the minority that the live-action stuff after that just hasn't been very good.

The Spider-Man films make for passable entertainment but are they really iconic and definitive? I'm erring on the side that says, "No." For that matter there hasn't been a definitive live-action OR animated series for any Marvel character, period!

The less said about the other Marvel stuff (X-Men films have all been garrishly bad) and the Batman live-action films (excepting Adam West who I have a soft spot for), the better. It's garbage and just overbudgeted cliche action films of the week.

(HARSH I know, but people settle for mediocre pap nowadays. This stuff will be laughable to most people 10 years from now if it isn't 10 months after the home video releases!)

Where superheroes shine through best is still animation IMHO. Look, the costumes are garish. They don't look good in live-action and most don't translate at all, period. Unless you're a complete idiot at general science and physics in particular, most of us know that the origin stories are pseudo-science gobblety-goo. Nobody in real life talks like they do in comics -- especially the way the Marvel characters do!

Scriptwriters make the mistake of copying comic book-speak instead of writing these characters as real people. That's something both Lynda Carter and Christopher Reeve both understood and I think that's a good chunk of why their characterizations of Wonder Woman and Superman are the definitive versions to date on-screen.

I agree with a lot of that but I do feel there's hope for the genre. The Dark Knight was certainly not a perfect film but it had great things too; specifically Harvey Dent's character who I wish had gotten more screen time. I don't think Nolan gets EVERYTHING about the comic book universe (sometimes he seems kind of embarrassed that Batman is a comic book at all; it shows a bit in his direction of action scenes), but still, I do believe there's hope. The worst films nowadays are the remakes, but re-imaginings haven't been as bad. (Hulk, Batman, even Spidey 3) I totally agree that so much nowadays is mediocre pap however. I know I'm in the minority about this but I still really dislike the Star Trek film from last summer.

By and large Sam Raimi "got" Spiderman, and Burton got Batman (even if you dislike his films you have to admit the set design was good! ). As for the X-Men films, they had their faults, (too much Magneto, Rogue and Iceman way too young) but I felt the essence of the comic was preserved intact. 3 was pretty bad, but even still, it had its moments. I also feel that other than Keaton's Batman and Reeve's Superman, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine is probably the best realized superhero in any live-action film.

One thing I think made things worse for Superhero films is all the awful spoof movies from the last 5 years or so. They didn't really make fun of the genre but rather copied it in a very stupid way. I bet there's many people out there who can no longer even distinguish between re-makes, sequels, re-imaginings and spoofs.
And in a way you can't really blame them.

So anyway, I think there's hope. Everyone thought the fantasy genre was dead when LOTTR first came out. But every single film in that trilogy was nominated for Best Picture!

"It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas....the world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality."

This is a recent profile of Chris Nolan and what he might be doing with the Superman (and Batman) franchise:


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/03/christopher-nolan-takes-flight-with-superman-we-have-a-fantastic-story-1.html

"It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas....the world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality."

Marvel must be laughing at DC. Marvel's films, for the most part, have been very successful (at least financially) and a wide variety of their characters have made it to the screen (or are in the process of doing so). Meanwhile, DC simply doesn't know what to do with their characters beyond Batman and Superman. While they have made some great films (like Watchmen) and have some interesting prospects (like Jonah Hex), they have utterly failed to make a dent in Marvel's dominance of the comic book movie genre. I'd love to see films made of Green Lantern, The Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman, The Spectre, etc., but I just don't see it happening on any large scale.

"Good call, baby doll!"

Well, stay tuned. The Green Lantern movie shooting now with Ryan Reynolds sounds huge. Then hopefully Flash and Shazam to follow, as those productions look promising. And of course, they're committed to the Nolan-produced Superman. Things will get better.

Kinda OT but really interesting!

http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=1786978&_blg=1,1786978

"It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas....the world which we see is an outward and visible dream of an inward and invisible reality."