Tied for the best movie I have ever seen
Perfect cast and a good story
Admirable film.
A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Interesting doc about a Warner Bros production which has Tim Burton as director, Nic Cage as Superman, and a bevy of screenwriters, animators, costume designers, special effects geniuses, and conceptional artists which goes through numerous changes and developmental problems before the studio pulls the plug after a series of box office bombs during a disastrous stretch. You get to see Cage in costume tests, with doc director Schnepp interviewing Burton who is thankfully candid. Those brilliant artists involved and their work are given some well deserved notice as are the funny comments on interviewee producer Jon Peters regarding his eccentricities and how those working on the film were annoyed by him. Kevin Smith had an early script ultimately denied and Peters conflicts with him regarding what they were aiming for in developing the film. A Superman film was made but what you see of what might have been could have looked visually amazing. Peters and his spider, Smith and his profane reflections, artists reminiscing about the production, debate over how to make Superman a bit different than previous incarnations, updating the origin of Superman, how Burton and Cage were intrigued with putting a unique spin on the character, creatures involved with Superman and his home world, and other casting possibilities like Walken as a villain named Brainiac are memorable highlights.
View MoreNearly a decade after he brought the Dark Knight to cinema screens, Tim Burton almost brought the Man of Steel back from dead both literally and figuratively. Superman Lives, as the film came to be known, might well be the most talked about superhero film that never got made despite their actually being little to show for it except for drafts of the script floating around online and a now infamous picture of Nicholas Cage in costume. Or at least until now there hasn't been. The Death Of "Superman Lives": What Happened? is Jon Schnepp's documentary that, thanks in part to crowd funding, finally tells the story of the film that came so close to being.The thrill of this kind of documentary, even for films that are released, is the behind the scenes footage. Using a wealth of material that's been virtually unseen since 1997-98, Schnepp shows what was a quite active and lengthy pre-production phase for the film. There's a large amount of costume tests being done for Nicholas Cage that takes in that now infamous photo (which Schnepp finds the exact moment it was taken in the old footage) but also him as Clark Kent and additional tests of the Superman costume that reveal something that looks far more familiar to fans. There's also concept art from the many different artists who worked on the film taking in sequences from the different scripts by different writers, it gives some idea of the visuals the film might have had.The other thrill is getting to hear from the many and varied participants. Schnepp packs a lot of interviews into the running time and he gets some fine results by bringing in everyone from Burton to producer Jon Peters, all three writers who worked on the project (Kevin Smith, Wesley Strick, and Dan Gilroy) plus costume designer Colleen Atwood and many of the artists who worked on the film. Sadly cast interviews are sorely lacking as it appears that the casting was still largely up in the air though Cage appears both in footage from the time doing costume tests and in interviews in the years hence. The interviews are interesting and often show both the enthusiasm and frustration that came along with the project from the struggles with the script to Peters as producer (which leads to some interesting stories that are sometimes contradicted by Peters himself) and exactly why the plug came to be pulled on the film. Yet there's also some regret that the film never got to be made and a lot of talk about what might have been which makes the interviews even more interesting.In fact, that's the big takeaway from this entire documentary: this is what might have been. Given that Superman Lives was canceled just weeks before production would have commenced, there's still plenty about the film that will never be known. In fact when the infamous picture of Cage gets mentioned, Burton and others are quick to point out that it was merely a test and not the final product on display in that image. Final designs hadn't been settled upon, neither had casting outside of Cage (though the film mentions Sandra Bullock or Julianne Moore as Lois Lane, Kevin Spacey and Christopher Walken as villains and Chris Rock as Jimmy Olson). The documentary gives us a glimpse into the pre-production period on a film that never got made and we can only extrapolate from this what we might have gotten on the big screen had the film come out in the summer of 1999 as planned. For that reason alone, it's well worth watching for any Superman fan.That being said, while it's essential viewing for Superman fans, it does feel perhaps a bit overstuffed. At 104 minutes it does feel overlong and gets perhaps bit too in-depth towards the middle and end of the film's turbulent history. That's in large part thanks to what eventually begins to feel like a seemingly endless sequences of concept art mixed with interviews where those involved try to make sense of events now two decades in the past. As a result, the documentary seems to come to nearly a sudden halt quite like the real life production though Schnepp does take the time to allow both former Warner's executive Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Peters the chance to explain why the film ultimately folded. I suspect though that most would prefer the film to be overlong than too short and it doesn't do it too much harm overall.For fans of the Man of Steel in whatever medium, The Death Of "Superman Lives": What Happened? is essential viewing. You'll discover much that's new about the most talked about Superman film that was never made thanks to Schnepp's meticulous digging and interviews. Even if you walk away glad that the film never got made or perhaps still feel ambivalent about the whole thing (as I do), you're in for a treat.
View MoreI mean no offence by the geeks crack. I'm a geek!! I love comics, I adore Superman (I'm a collector and have loved him since I was a boy) and I had really only heard rumblings and rumours about the Kevin Smith written and Nicholas Cage starring Superman movie that never made it off the ground. I think for a long time I assumed it was an urban legend of some kind and then pictures started circulating of Cage in the suit and I still didn't think much of it. If this documentary doesn't surprise you about anything else, it shocked me with how deep into production this movie was. I mean we are talking script completion, special effects, costumes, casting...everyone was on board and in the production stages and that is the best thing this film shows. It also shows how genuinely passionate everyone was about making this work. The idea was they wanted to make a whole new concept Superman that was completely out of the box. Honestly, I am certain that it would have bombed and mainstream audiences would have hated it and die-hard fans would have ripped it apart including me and yet this documentary made me WANT to see this movie. It is based on my personal favourite and I think one of the best comic series' and concepts ever and that was the death of Superman. The project was perhaps too ambitious for one film and too much outside of the box for anyone.Jon Schnepp isn't exactly a household name and yet he's been around for awhile and worked on some high profile projects. I believe this film was made due to some sort of public forum donation (Kickstarter or something like that) and great for them because its the only documentary on this subject and it is extremely thorough. If I were Schnepp I may have hired someone to be the "host" of the documentary because Schnepp is clearly passionate about this subject and he's obviously a geek himself but he is incredibly awkward in front of the camera and has a ton of nervous tics (that nod...could be turned into a horrifying drinking game. The man nods 1000 times per interview I am sure.) He seems to get more comfortable as the film progresses but not much. He does ask the right questions and covers the right areas but he himself is not a great presence in front of the camera.The thing for me that I came out of this doc surprised about besides how deep into it they were is that I actually want to see this movie now and that includes Nicholas Cage. My first thought was the same as everyone else...Nicholas Cage would be laughed off the screen. But in seeing the film, watching him in costume and listening to him talk...I began to actually envision him in the role. Now again this would be WAY outside of the box. This would be a total departure from any Superman we have seen before but I could see Cage doing it. Man of Steel (in my opinion) was a butchering of the original Superman concept so why not this? The work put into it would have been (and was extensive.) Alas all we have is this documentary which was fascinating and decently made for the audience intended. Anyone outside of geeks and comic fans will likely be bored with the subject matter and find creator Jon Schnepp even more awkward. Its worth a look for all of us geeks. 7/10
View MoreWhen you make a documentary about a messy film you run the risk of making a messy film yourself, that's what I feel happened here unfortunately. Too long and not gripping subject enough for a talking head doc.Should have been better structured, now it feels like the filmmaker got a lot of material and just put it together without a clear thought and without the ability to kill his darlings.Sorry.Positive: Tim Burton and some of the material from production that is hard to otherwise get to see.
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