20 June 2006

"My Friends, You Know Me To Be Neither Rash, Nor Impulsive...Nor Alive..."







Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" turned out to be a damn good film--not quite perfect (its leads are a little too baby-faced to have had all their "history", and what will they do now with Superkid?!)--but a soulful and handsomely produced ode to Richard Donner's still-definitive take on the character that will--hopefully-set things up for a series that will look to the comics, specifically, the the revamped "Superman" universe streamlined by John Byrne in the 80s, and avoid Big Blue's supersonic slide into mediocrity with "Superman 3" and "4".

Considering the advance hoopla and shroud of secrecy, I was disappointed by Brando's promised digital "resurrection" as Jor-El--which amounted to a mere few seconds of screen time with a dialogue take not terribly different than the one from the 1978 classic.

Still, it's a mean feat of digital wizardry, and Ain't It Cool New is still hosting the demo on how Rhythm And Hues pulled it off. You can check it out here.