6 thoughts on “Superman, Force 10 from Navarone, Moment By Moment, Oliver’s Story, King of the Gypsies, 1978”
I wished Roger talked about Superman first instead of Gene. Because I felt that the way Gene overrates the love story over other aspects of the film is embarrassing. I do agree with him about the model shots of the dam bursting, but it pissed me off when he called the helicopter scene cheap, when it’s really one of the most awe-inspiring scenes in the movie.
Patrick, you’ve talked about Hollywood’s blockbuster mentality which continues to this day, how it started with Jaws and Star Wars, and how Hollywood forgot that those movies were made from the heart and not the wallet. I think you can add Superman to that conversation! Jaws was a passion project from Spielberg and Star Wars was a passion project from Lucas. No doubt that with the meticulous casting and Mario Puzo’s story, Richard Donner clearly made Superman and Superman II (before he was fired) from the heart as well.
And yes, Hollywood has forgotten that and are still constantly trying for the box office home run, especially during the summer, and caring much more about the special effect than the story. And I’m afraid that mentality hasn’t changed even after this covid crisis.
I think the 1990s were the low-point for the special effects blockbuster films. Back then you had a lot of big-budget films made thoughtlessly without passion or quality control. You had some dreadfully bad directors like Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay come on the scene who lowered the standards for a summer blockbuster dramatically. But in the 2000s things got a lot better. Passionate, caring directors were back in the driver’s seat of summer spectaculars like Peter Jackson, Chris Nolan, Sam Raimi, Jon Favreau, Zack Snyder, Christopher McQuarrie, Patty Jenkins, the Russo brothers, etc. The Bond pictures got a great upgrade once Craig replaced Brosnan. Spielberg himself didn’t seem to care about special effects films anymore in the ’90s but he started doing good ones again after 2000. James Cameron and Ridley Scott did some work which still showed passion. There is a downside to the 2000s, namely the endless studio-driven film series like Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter and Transformers where the directors often become interchangeable and the films are driven by a studio’s release schedule rather than creative inspiration. But there has been a lot to enjoy in the blockbusters of the 2000s.
I wished Roger talked about Superman first instead of Gene. Because I felt that the way Gene overrates the love story over other aspects of the film is embarrassing. I do agree with him about the model shots of the dam bursting, but it pissed me off when he called the helicopter scene cheap, when it’s really one of the most awe-inspiring scenes in the movie.
Patrick, you’ve talked about Hollywood’s blockbuster mentality which continues to this day, how it started with Jaws and Star Wars, and how Hollywood forgot that those movies were made from the heart and not the wallet. I think you can add Superman to that conversation! Jaws was a passion project from Spielberg and Star Wars was a passion project from Lucas. No doubt that with the meticulous casting and Mario Puzo’s story, Richard Donner clearly made Superman and Superman II (before he was fired) from the heart as well.
And yes, Hollywood has forgotten that and are still constantly trying for the box office home run, especially during the summer, and caring much more about the special effect than the story. And I’m afraid that mentality hasn’t changed even after this covid crisis.
Oh Superman is a perfect example on how well you can combine special effects with story. So you;re right.
I think the 1990s were the low-point for the special effects blockbuster films. Back then you had a lot of big-budget films made thoughtlessly without passion or quality control. You had some dreadfully bad directors like Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay come on the scene who lowered the standards for a summer blockbuster dramatically. But in the 2000s things got a lot better. Passionate, caring directors were back in the driver’s seat of summer spectaculars like Peter Jackson, Chris Nolan, Sam Raimi, Jon Favreau, Zack Snyder, Christopher McQuarrie, Patty Jenkins, the Russo brothers, etc. The Bond pictures got a great upgrade once Craig replaced Brosnan. Spielberg himself didn’t seem to care about special effects films anymore in the ’90s but he started doing good ones again after 2000. James Cameron and Ridley Scott did some work which still showed passion. There is a downside to the 2000s, namely the endless studio-driven film series like Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter and Transformers where the directors often become interchangeable and the films are driven by a studio’s release schedule rather than creative inspiration. But there has been a lot to enjoy in the blockbusters of the 2000s.
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May Richard Donner rest in peace! He really did make the definitive Superman movie!