Superman III Review

This is M -Wire, movie we can review. M -Wire

is brought to you by audible .com. Sign up today

to get a free audiobook download at www .audibletrial

.com slash geekcastradio. Start today with a

free 30 day trial with over 100 ,000 titles to

choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle,

or MP3 player. Don't forget to follow audible

on Twitter at audible underscore com And now

the latest and greatest in movies with M wire

When it's time for adventure it's time for Superman

Alexander Salkine presents Christopher Reeve

and Richard Pryor in Superman 3. This time Richard

Pryor has come to Metropolis. Oh, I'm sorry.

And he's got something to sell. He's the best

con man and the world's greatest computer genius.

Let me tell you something. I can't ski! But then

he falls. For a scheme to turn the ultimate computer

into the ultimate weapon. What would it do for

me? It would do anything you tell me to tell

it to do. A machine so powerful Baby! It's daddy!

It can control the Earth. change the weather,

and reprogram Superman. Thought you'd never get

here. Well, I hope you don't expect me to save

you because I don't do that anymore. I ask you

to kill Superman and you're telling me you couldn't

even do that one simple thing. Ah. All right,

Webster, the game's over. But only the man who

pulled the switch on Superman Oh, see, I'm not

with them, Superman. You're gonna fool me, mister.

can pull the plug on Super Machine. You're going

to go down in history as the man who killed Superman.

No. Thank you, brother. Superman 3. Watch the

trees. This time is going to be the best time

of all. Hello and welcome to the DC Spotlight

Volume 2 here in M -Wire, which is our spotlight

on these Superman films. Brought to you by the

ecast radio network. I am one of your hosts do

you know Mike and joining me once again is movie

revolt Dan Hello. Hello Yeah, much like Lex Luthor

we couldn't Pay Kevin enough to be here for this

Or some, you know weird directorial thing, I

don't know somewhere in superman curse prevented

optimus solo from being here in this recording

because uh you know lester took over again with

this film and apparently the salkinds wanted

to pay him more than they wanted to pay donor

yeah apparently all right superman 3 i forget

was it last week or the week before i mentioned

that three and four were my movies as a kid.

I believe it was during Superman 2. Okay, yeah.

I don't know what the hell my seven -year -old

and ten -year -old self was their fourteen -year

-old self was thinking then because holy crap.

Yeah, yeah. We watching this there's not much.

I don't know if I ever sat down and watched this

from start to finish until now I just it's always

had that really crappy reputation reputation

And some of the scenes I do remember here and

there but overall, I think this is probably the

first time and Years or decades. I really really

sat down to watch Superman 3 in all of its glory

But yeah, it it's lackluster is a word But yeah,

I could kind of see why as a kid someone would

enjoy this because it does feel like it is made

made for eight -year -olds But as an adult I

was kind of curious to hear how how your opinion

changed or if it has changed, you know watching

it so many years later Yeah, well the whole thing

that I kept going back to was Yeah, they did

it in Superman 3 we'll do it now to office space

Like this film is office space with Superman

to me at this point And I know that's gonna sound

bad and that's insulting to office space, but

I just I watched this Surprisingly, it's the

only Superman film on HBO go now. I watched it

on HBO go and I'm like, oh my god, is this going

to And anytime soon. So before we get into our

overall thoughts or anything else, as always,

we're gonna head it over to JT from Saskatoon.

And he's going to give us the plot synopsis and

all that other good stuff with just the facts.

We'll be back after that. Gus then decides to

embezzle 85th Grand from the company, but is

caught and brought before CEO Ross Webster. Obsessed

with the potential financial power of the computer,

the megalomaniacal Ross, along with his sister

Vera and mistress Lorelai, blackmail Gus into

helping them take financial control of the entire

world. Meanwhile, Clark Kent is headed home to

Smallville for his high school reunion along

with Jimmy Olsen as part of a story for the planet.

During their bus trip, they are pulled over by

police due to a fire at a nearby chemical plant.

Jimmy sneaks into the disaster area for some

pictures, while Clark changes into Superman and

does his thing. After evacuating the remaining

workers, Superman tries to get a lone remaining

scientist to leave, but the scientist refuses,

stating that if the fire isn't stopped, the plant's

store of Beltrick Acid will become unstable and

change into an acid cloud that could eat through

anything. After he rescues Jimmy from the blaze,

Superman then flies off and freezes the surface

of a lake with his super breath, then flies the

ice over the blaze where the heat melts it and

the resulting downpour puts out the fire. That

evening, Clark attends the reunion and runs into

his childhood crush Lana Lang. Clark and Lana

catch up, with Clark learning that Lana is now

divorced and has a young son named Ricky. Clark

also runs into Brad, a high school jock who bullied

Clark back in the day and is Lana's ex -boyfriend.

Over the next few days, Clark and Lana catch

up and become close again, despite Brad trying

to muck things up. Clark even saves Ricky from

being swallowed up by a combine when the young

boy injures himself while the three are on a

picnic. In the meantime, Ross and Vera scheme

to control the world's supply of coffee, but

the Colombian government refuse to deal with

them, so Ross has Gus hack into the Vulcan weather

satellite and cause a hurricane that will devastate

the coffee crop. To accomplish this, Gus travels

to a subsidiary of Webster Industries that just

happens to be in Smallville, Kansas, where he

plays the alcoholic brat who just happens to

work there as a guard to let him in. Gus causes

the hurricane using the computer at the plant,

but Superman arrives and dissipates the hurricane,

saving the coffee and ruining the Webster's plans.

Upon hearing what has happened, Ross vows to

destroy Superman for his interloping. To this

end, he orders Gus to use Vulcan to scan the

area of space where Krypton once was, in hopes

of finding some kryptonite. When Gus finds kryptonite,

the computers can't identify all of its composition,

so Gus absentmindedly substitutes tar after reading

the word on a pack of smokes. When we get back

to Clark, he gets a call from Lana asking him

if he can get Superman to show up at Ricky's

birthday party. But word gets out and the citizens

of Smallville turn the event into a huge affair,

where the mayor gives Superman the key to the

city. Gus and Vera also make an appearance, disguise

as officers of the US Army, and offer the pseudo

kryptonite to Superman as a gift. The kryptonite

appears to have no effect on Superman at first,

but it appears to have a delayed effect as he

starts hitting on Lana at the birthday party

so much so that he almost doesn't rescue a truck

driver from a jackknifed rake. In the days that

follow, Superman starts to change, becoming rude,

arrogant, and selfish. In fact, he becomes more

of a super -douche than a super -man. Superman

then starts committing acts of global vandalism,

including straightening the Leaning Tower of

Pisa and blowing out the Olympic flame. He is

even convinced by Lorelei to cause an oil spill

as part of Ross's plan, and then returns to the

penthouse for a little thank you from the bimbo.

While Superman continues acting like a member

of the Jersey Shore, Ross orders Gust to use

his hacking skills to take control of the world's

oil tankers. Feeling unappreciated in all this,

Gust refuses to continue unless Webster builds

him a supercomputer of his own design, capable

of completing any task and defending itself if

necessary. Webster agrees, and Gust directs all

the oil tankers in the world to the middle of

the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Webster's plan

for financial world domination. Meanwhile, Superman

subscribes to cliche number 57 of being a douchebag

and starts drinking heavily in a metropolis bar.

After shattering several bottles of booze and

staring at his reflection in a bar mirror, Superman

stumbles outside and sees Lana and Ricky. He

then flies off in a drunken stupor, eventually

landing in a steel scrapyard and suffers a super

nervous breakdown, causing Clark Kent to emerge

from him as a separate being. Superman and Clark

engage in a titanic battle of ego versus super

ego across the junkyard. They both seem evenly

matched with Clark maintaining some super strength,

but he doesn't have any flight or heat vision.

Despite several attempts by Superman to crush

Clark with industrial compactors, the good wins

out over the bad when Clark literally chokes

the life out of his dark side. Having overcome

the effects of the fake kryptonite, Superman

flies to the Ross's penthouse to confront Lorelei,

finding only a recorded video message saying

that she's in the Grand Canyon, which turns out

to be the place where Ross has built Gus's computer.

Ross, Vir, Lorelei, and Gus all arrive at the

site and prepare for Superman's imminent arrival.

After dealing with the computer's missile defense

system, Superman enters the cave where the computer

uses a synthetic kryptonite ray to lay him low.

However, Gus, who is overcome with regret for

his part in the whole ordeal, destroys the ray

with a fire axe, allowing Superman to escape.

However, the computer becomes self -aware and

starts drawing power from the entire continent,

causing massive blackouts. Open the pod bay doors,

Hal. I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Ross and Lorelai manage to escape the computer

control room, but Vera is dragged into the computer

and, in a scene that gave me and a lot of other

kids nightmares, is forcibly turned into a cyborg,

complete with energy beams and horror movie hair.

Controlled by the sentient PC, Vera attacks the

others with her immobilizing energy beams when

Superman returns to the cave. He battles with

Mechavira and the computer who attack him with

their energy rays. Superman is eventually drawn

into the huge computer's interior, where we see

that he's brought some of the acid from earlier

in the film. The Man of Steel is able to open

the container and the heat from the computer

destabilizes the acid which in turn destroys

the out of control supercomputer saving the day.

Superman flies away with Gus who apologizes for

his actions and leaves Ross and the ladies to

face the authorities. Superman drops Gus off

at a coal mine where he gets him a job but Gus

soon leaves intent on starting over somewhere

else. Superman returns to Metropolis where as

Clark Kent he reunites with Lana who has moved

to the big city and has found a job working as

Perry White's secretary much to the chagrin of

the jealous Lois Lane. All is not right with

the world until Superman flies back to Italy

where he readjusts the Tower of Pisa before flying

off towards his next great adventure. Watch the

trees. Superman 3 opened in theaters on June

17th 1983 and was directed by Richard Lester

who returned after directing Superman 2. Once

again, much of the cast returned from the previous

film. Christopher Reeve led the cast as the Man

of Steel, Margo Kidder, who's in the film for

all of five minutes, is Lois Lane, Mark McClure

and Jackie Cooper as Jimmy Olsen and Perry White,

Robert Vaughn as Ross Webster, Annette O'Toole

as Lana Lang, and the immortal Richard Pryor

as Gus Gorman. Despite making nearly $60 million

during its run and becoming one of the top grossing

movies of 1983, Superman III garnered mixed reviews

from the series' fans and mainly negative ones

from the critics. Even years after the fact,

most critics are not fans of this film. Roger

Ebert wrote in a 2004 review that he thought

the movie was shallow and without any human interest.

And Janet Maslin of the New York Times thought

that a lot of the magic of the series was missing.

Peter Canaves of Groucho Review summed it up

pretty well in his review, saying that not even

Christopher Reeve's charm could save the movie.

While there are some positive reviews, mostly

the film is flawed but enjoyable nonetheless.

Now you may recall the debacle involving Richard

Donner during the production of the last film

and how Gene Hackman walked in defense. Well,

it carried over this film. Hackman could not

be convinced to appear in the third film and

Margot Kidder, who also supported Donner, had

her screen time cut drastically as a result.

Her screen time amounts to 12 lines and less

than five minutes of screen time. Superman 3

was also the first time in the movie series that

Christopher Reeve had top billing, having been

listed behind Brando and Gene Hackman in the

first two films. In addition to the stunt casting

of Richard Pryor, the producers also looked at

casting Alan Alda and Frank Langella as the poor

man's Lex Luthor Ross Webster. Though not cast

as Webster, Langella would return to the franchise

as Perry White in Superman Returns over 20 years

later. And of course Annette O'Toole will return

to the franchise in the long running TV series

Smallville as Martha Kent from 2001 to 2011.

I remember loving this movie as a kid, and I

still kind of enjoy it today, if only from a

cheesy nostalgia point of view. It's got a lot

of cool set pieces and some entertaining action,

but I guess what really interests me here is

how Christopher Reeve played Superman. He portrays

the character as he usually does as a straight

-arrow boy scout, but also portrays his douchebag

dark side as well. What really sticks with me

was the scene where the computer sucked Vera

back in and turns her into the Borg. That scene

gave me nightmares as a kid. And I'm pretty sure

my feelings then could be summed up by Sam Jackson

now. Fuck no! That shit did not just happen!

That being said, the film is not nearly as bad

as what follows, but more on that next episode.

This has been Just the Facts for Superman 3.

I'm JT from Saskatoon, signing off for this edition

of M -Wire. Thank you so much, JT, for those

wonderful Just the Facts. And yeah, going back

with this... How long does that title sequence

last? You mean the first, like, opening sequence?

It is about eight minutes long. Eight minutes?

Yeah. Are you kidding me? No. It felt like it

was fucking 25 minutes of the movie. It is. It

does. It just, oh my god. Okay, Superman 1, you

had, I guess you could say, flash in screen or

flash out screen or s - you know, Superman's

style of the Star Wars crawl. It had, you know,

it had epic titles that was just space. Both

of the first two films had that, you know, epic

titles going through space and whatever else,

kind of like, hey, this is what you're going

to see in a little bit with Clark's journey from

Krypton to Earth. So we're going to throw the

titles through space. The first two movies had

that. In this, they don't friggin' do that. They

open it in Metropolis. have the titles go over

that as a disaster is happening or as all these

little disasters are The opening sequence of

this fucking movie is fucking horrid. Oh my god

I'm sorry to say fucking so much, but Jesus Christ

is this bad What's interesting too is in the

TV version of it the TV edit they actually Uh

had the opening title sequence. Well, they still

had the sequence with the titles were done like

the old superman films like just with uh in space

like you saw before um, I think I heard you mentioning

like why are the scrolls like they are because

the the in in the movie version I think they

kind of scroll up into the screen It's kind of

odd looking and kind of fill out a place almost

like they put them there afterwards But that

was actually the original version many people

if you go back and watch the film they think

like what did they change it but actually they

change it for the tv version that make it last

longer because that's back in a day when when

you so then which version which version is on

HBO go because whatever the original version

the actual theatrical version okay then because

i'm sorry that is the dumbest way to do it like

first of all it has nothing absolutely nothing

to do with the main plot of the movie. It has

nothing to do with Superman and or Clark Kent

until about maybe halfway into the sequence when

Clark comes out of the Daily Plot. Like it starts

off with some blind guy and don't get me wrong

I'm half blind myself I used to you know I used

to attend the Kentucky School for the Blind when

I was younger. Don't get me wrong. I have sympathy

towards blind people. But it starts off with

some blind guy losing his seeing eye dog and

then just stumbling into everything. And because

he stumbles into everything, it starts a chain

reaction slash domino effect of all this shit

happening in Metropolis. It is like an overboard

of, you know, slapstick comedy and it's kind

of a great microcosm for the film as a whole

because it is just like all these moving parts

that really don't relate to each other that they

kind of force into one moment. Like you have

a bank robbery going on and nothing ever happens

because of that. It just kind of leads to this

other thing. And Superman just shows up to save

a guy who is drowning in a car because he ran

over a fire hydrant, because that somehow makes

sense. People are just standing around. I'm like,

you just break a window. It's like, I don't know.

And then the one moment I did like in that was

when he changed in the photo booth. And you see

the photos of him. That was the one moment I

did like. But yeah. That's the one. There are,

for me watching this back, I'm sorry to interrupt

you, but for me watching this back, there are

two moments this entire film that I absolutely

love. The photo booth scene and the fight with

himself later in the junkyard. The rest of this

movie can kiss my ass and go to hell. Yeah, there

is not much to take out of this. I was, I struggled

at times when I was watching this. I'm like,

Mike likes this movie. I mean, all right. I said

my, you know, seven eight nine -year -old self

is i'd seen this right before superman ford come

out yes i mean and there's i mean i'm sure there's

no such a there and i can see that in height

what what gets me with this film is just how

nothing makes sense or everything is just kind

of happenstance and It seems like it's a computer

is like an excuse for anything ever to happen

Like you have a computer that somehow controls

whether you you know You have Richard Pryor in

this and they make Richard Pryor not funny. He's

just He's just like chewing the scenery. He just

feels out of place the entire time He becomes

you know, he starts as this just dude guy on

welfare and somehow he's a computer genius. How

is he computer genius? He just is All right.

Well, that's one concede and there is a comic

book movie so I can there are certain conceits

I'm willing to give it but this requires so much

and it feels like to like this world exists in

like a sitcom because everyone like everything

the way all the world's work. Everything has

to be related to one another. You know, Superman

goes to Smallville and just happens to be that

his love interest, like ex -boyfriend, also works

at the factory that Richard Pryor has to break

into in order to, you know, get the satellite.

Everything is just trying to force to be connected.

It makes no sense. That's kind of the theme that

kind of ran through my head. It's just things

just kind of happen. And there's really no explanation

given or just thinking it's a comic book movie.

It's fine and And see that's the thing, you know,

we've said so far in this spotlight back then

78 80 I think it was 80 for Superman 2 right?

Yeah, it was 80 78 80 and 83 There was no such

thing as like this was paving how the hell this

specifically to this film helped pave the way

to what we now have with comic book films is

beyond me it honestly is first two films absolutely

amazing absolutely loved them sure they have

their problems but they're good films you know

uh minus the whole you know it they're good films

if you're going by my opinion and enjoying the

lester cut anyway that's an argument we already

had but it's just like How do they do something

so well with the first two films, and then they

don't do anything with this? First of all, it's

a waste of a villain. Not even the character

of the villain, it's a waste of an actor with

a villain. Robert Vaughn? Really? Dude, from

what I... And see, I always thought that guy

was, and I'm kind of getting into casting here,

but I always thought he was like a really, really

great actor. uh... and i'd probably need to and

i will do this once we get out of the cast i

probably do need to look at his filmography and

is the only two things i remember him from are

this and baseball and baseball you know he had

a crap role in that i mean i'm not saying baseball's

a bad movie but those are the two roles that

i remember specifically i remember him for his

voice i don't necessarily like you hear his voice

oh hey i know that you know i know that voice

It's not like you remember him for his looks

or anything I think really where the problem

lies with this is Richard Lester it it kind of

shows you When it comes to Superman 2 that what

worked in that was most likely Donner and what

didn't work was most likely Lester and I think

he It's just not the material for him like he

comes from the world. He did like the hardest

day You know hard days night in some of those

beetles films and that type of style this type

of slapstick comedy I think works in that world.

But for this trying to like make that the focal

point of the film and it doesn't like here and

there. OK, like with Superman 2, it had some

comedy bits, but it wasn't what drove the film.

And this it's what drives it. It's a big joke.

And really, Superman is a side character for

much of the movie. This is really Richard Pryor's

movie. And Superman kind of comes in and out

on occasion. But Richard Pryor dominates most

of the film. I. You're gonna have to remind me

because the whole opening sequence just tore

me to crap Did how do they list the actors in

the opening credits? This is the first film of

all the Superman films that Christopher Reeves

gets top billing. It's tough Okay, I was gonna

say if he didn't get top billing in this it would

be just But yeah, like okay, I like the fact

that you have a villain I'm not saying that it

needs to be this villain, but you have a villain

who has the smarts to try to find Kryptonite

in space. That part of the plot, that part of

the writing is really, really smart. I like that.

I like the fact that you have Clark returning

to Smallville, because if you look at the first

two films, the first film his parents died, while

his, yeah, eventually his mom dies. But um, well,

that's the thing they killed her in this in a

thorway line like she dies off screen It's like,

oh, yeah, she died like oh, that could have been

like a nice moment to have in a movie But they

kind of just kind of Yeah, it could have been

like like that like instead of going back to

like instead of going back for the high school

reunion That's such bullshit. I'm sorry. It is

suddenly back for the high school reunion and

going back to potentially kind of Find out that

Ricky is his kid. Maybe possibly Somehow in some

alternate universe. He had a kid with Lana You

know, but anyway, you know like he could have

gone back for his mom's funeral that would have

been more poignant that would have made More

of a you know developing story I don't bet I

mean, I don't I don't mind him going back for

his high school reunion because i think it's

kind of interesting because you think about high

school and uh you know he was the little moment

we did see of him in smallville he was also obviously

like this kind of dork kid who got me fun of

so seeing him kind of placed into a high school

reunion where he's still kind of dorky but we

also know he's really superman so that could

have there could have been something there but

it And I so basically you're wanting a diner

scene again You want him to basically do to bread

what he did to the guy in the diner and so rent?

Not necessarily that or at least I mean I didn't

like the fact I did like his relationship like

the what they tried to do with Lana Lang It didn't

wasn't all that effective, but I thought I know

tools fine like her character is kind of a nothing

character seems like it she's just there to replace

Lois kind of give him someone else to kind of

fawn over because They feel the the lowest lane

relationship is kind of gone the way it has and

there's no more you can do with it and margaret

kidder was kind of out of her mind at this point

um as she had some substance abuse issues and

she's also had issues because you know she was

apparently on donner's side and that was also

a problem so they tried to basically replace

her with a nano tool who then went on to star

in smallville as uh martha kent which is kind

of interesting so she kind of uh which is kind

of an interesting coincidence but i do like that

aspect and you talked about Robert Vaughn as

Ross Webster, which is in all essence kind of

a cheap knockoff of Lex Luthor. He's kind of

that business side of Lex Luthor, but So I actually

did kind of like his character. I kind of like

his swarminess I thought Robert Vaughn was good

in the role again not much there and his plotting

was just as weird as His ideas were just as odd

as Like, you know, Lex Luthor was all about getting

real estate and he's all about trying to take

over the... Oil and coffee, yeah. Oil and coffee.

Through the weirdest ways, I'm just going to

basically control the weather in Cuba and put

all the ships that have all the oil takers in

one spot so I control it. It just seems like

a long way to go. If you have this computer genius

on your side, you think you could try to do something

regarding fixing the stock market or something

like that. But he's like, no, I'm going to control

weather. That's where I'm going to go. But anyways,

what were you going to say something? I cut you

off. Well, I was gonna say that the... The overall

plot to this could have been so much better if

they had focused on one of Superman's other rogues

gallery. Like, now I know, and I'll say this

here in a minute, I know there was a treatment

that included Mr. Miggs's Pidlick, or... Kill

Tipsy's him, there you go. Mixy backwards basically

the the development issues say that serious producers

Salkind originally wrote a treatment for this

film that included Brainiac mr. Mick Mizziak's

piddlick and Supergirl but Warner Brothers did

not like it the treatment was released online

in 2007 the mr. Mizziak split fuck kill tipsies

I'm portrayed in outline various I was good humor

nature counterpart as he uses ability to seriously

harm Dudley Moore was top choice to play the

role. Meanwhile, in the same treatment, Brainiac

was from Colu and had discovered Supergirl in

the same way that Superman was found by the Kents.

Brainiac is portrayed as a surrogate father to

Supergirl and eventually fell in love with his,

quote unquote, daughter. Who did not reciprocate

his feelings as she had fallen in love? Yeah,

Salkind, what the hell is wrong with you? That

was basically Superman incest right there. Holy

crap. took a note from Lucas's book with the

secret incest. Let's not go there. OK, let's

see. They were going to use Mixi. They were going

to use Brainiac. I wish that they would have

found a way, a logical way, and a good way to

use these other characters, I think, honestly.

If you wanted to keep the same tone of this film

that you had as what this film is, you could

have put Migsias Pidlick in there, because he

is that comedic thing. You know, that's why they

went after Richard Pryor. They're, oh, he's a

comedian. He's a great comedian. Everybody loves

him. You know, oh God, I hate to say it, but

they tried to turn Richard Pryor into an African

-American. Migsias Pidlick. Oh my God. But the

thing is like. And I'll say this in future episodes

of The Spotlight, we are about a month, well,

we're about, yeah, we're about 29 days away from

Man of Steel, the new Zack Snyder superman film.

I've seen the trailers, I've seen the TV spots,

I'm looking forward to it, it will be covered

in The Spotlight, but I don't, like, I haven't

been paying attention to it. have you like I

haven't like I'm not read up on every single

aspect of this movie because I want to be surprised

I want to know you know I don't I don't want

to know what's going to happen before I go see

it but I think especially nowadays as long as

Bryan Singer isn't in the director's chair you

can bring in other Superman villains besides

Lex Luthor besides a throwaway villain you know

besides someone that's a Lex Luthor light they

could do that these days and Hope that DC and

Warner Brothers allows them to do that if you

know, hopefully obviously hopefully we hope that

Hopefully we hope Jesus Christ. I can't talk

tonight. We hope that Man of Steel will do well,

you know, so but oh It doesn't like they almost

they tried to They kind of started going the

beanie anchor out within the pot and then they

kind of stopped because you know with the computer

aspect and I think that could have Thing could

have made things in a way make a lot more sense

Like I said, let's kind of beat the theme because

you have all these Computers that can pretty

much do everything and if you had even you don't

need to make brainiac necessarily like an extraterrestrial

being they could have made it into some artificial

intelligence that kind of goes on its own that

could turn Terminator ask Type of thing which

they did at the end where kind of it kind of

becomes its own monster In a way, I think that

might have been a better way of doing it. Maybe

they were afraid that Brainiac was too high concept

for general audiences, and maybe so, but this

is far too low concept. And there are some crazy

things here that happen, like the sequence where

Richard Pryor is trying to... you make kryptonite

and he's like in the computer and then everything

goes haywire and he's controlling like the stoplights

and you know money's coming out of the ATM and

like the whole world is going chaos which is

kind of weird because this is before the internet

so the computers weren't really connected like

they are now so i don't know really where that

concept was i think too you kind of have to forgive

some of that in a way because computers weren't

really as well known as they are today the capabilities

and what they could do So do they think they

felt they can get a lot away with more because

people won't know it's like oh We can just say

computers and people will go with it But I do

wish I within the new man of steel if they can

look past failures of this film and possibly

Superman 4 we haven't got there yet and see this

you can do go beyond just your basic level of

Superman villains and Creating your own villains

and trying to do your own thing typically is

not A good way to go and I think this is what

it did. Um, but Talking about aspects we did

enjoy. Um, you talked about the fight And and

superman in the in the junkyard and I do I do

love that sequence I think it might actually

be one of the better action sequences in the

franchise It's really it's a it's well done.

Christopher Reeves excellent in it playing both

of those parts And I think he uses all overall

really well in the film does really well He doesn't

have much to do but when he has to play that

evil kind of douchebag Superman He does it. Well,

he is got great facial expressions He's a great

we hear about him and you kind of buy him as

that Superman and then seeing them going off

once against each other like Largely work because

of special the quality special effects, which

for the most part in this movie were a huge downgrade

It looks horrible Like, you would think the more

you go in time, the later you go in time, the

special effects would become better, and that's

not the case at all. And I think that is because

of just laziness, and I think that's the key

to this film. It's just lazy. It's just, it doesn't

really try that hard. Like, it just... rest on

past laurels and thinks, okay, we're just gonna

do whatever. You know, Richard Pryor's funny,

we're just gonna let him say whatever he wants,

and then we'll just go from there. And at the

time, it's a huge reason it doesn't work, because

they're just lazy, and you can see it in special

effects. Like, when Superman's carrying Lake,

it just looks so bad. When he's flying, it doesn't

look great at all. The last two films, yes, there

were moments where it didn't work, but overall,

I was like, wow, that's really well done. Still,

there are still moments that hold up. And this,

it just looks cheap. So, what did you think of

the overall special effects for this movie? I

liked them. Like I said though, the flying is

still good. Every time he flies it looks really

cool. These were films. Obviously Superman The

Movie was the film that taught everyone that

made everyone believe a man can fly. And these,

you know, continuations, obviously they're going

to continue with that same style of effect no

matter who's directing or who's in charge of

the money or whatever else. They have to keep

up continuity with at least the flying bits.

The other effects, they're all right. They're

not... They're not the best, but... I don't know

it's just my main issue with this movie is the

overall story in the plot There's too much. They

tried to do too much with so little it's it's

like Like I said before if they had used if they

had dug it cuz by 83 we had what? Was that let's

see 83 38 we had 45 years of Superman continuity

in the comics okay i get it back then war brothers

in dc weren't playing so nice with each other

is legal because what is the one of the people

like oh dc those are the comics and forget that

you know i get that i i understand that but you

would think that no matter what age and what

time and what is going on that you what you know

your parent company would want you to make the

best movie you can make and Superman 3 does not

fit the bill whatsoever It just doesn't Alright

What were you gonna say? It's interesting when

you look at the fact that six years after this

film came out Batman 1989 came out the Tim Burton

film and how that re -energized the comic book

movies as a whole and how different that is than

how grown up in a way. Yes, we look back at it

today and compare it to something like Dark Knight

and it seems kiddish in a way, but when you compare

Batman 1989 to Superman 3, you realize, wow,

he actually went quite a long way in six years.

In a way, Superman 3 feels more like... the Adam

West Batman with the slapstick comedy, the kind

of ridiculous bots, the over -the -top villains,

that... you almost feel like they're going backwards.

And I'm curious, because honestly I've never

seen Superman 4, so I'm curious how that... I've

heard it's the worst thing ever. But I I've really

never watched it So here's to see what were that

where those failings lie or maybe you know I

find it as actually charming but any but I do

find that interesting just then you think about

six years because Six years is not that long

of a time span considering The way movies are

today like six years. That's like a normal trilogy

Or even less than that, but I always find that

interesting with all that how how? Kind of realized

it makes you realize just how important 1989

Batman was when you look at all the failings

of movies like this It is so true it yeah, it

just it's one of those things where It's so different

and I would almost say calling Superman 3 the

80s version of 60s Batman is an insult to 60s

Batman. Oh, yeah, I mean, that's very true Right.

No, no, I Understand the point that you're going

for but like I'm sorry Superman 3 cannot hold

a candle candle to the awesomeness. That is the

60s Batman show because We expect it, you know

nowadays we expect that you know, and see that

was the cool point The sixty show was camp it

was what it was and then you know Tim Burton

comes along and makes a serious Rendition with

the 89 film. Yes 89 has not held up the best

but at least It's no Batman forever I think to

the reason like the slap sickness and this stands

out as kind of crappy it's because of this how

tonally Off it is because you have it doesn't

sustain a constant tone like you have its things

with Superman kind of going Darker and then you

have kind of these jokes that are kind of thrown

in there as well and they they don't really fit

It does to feel at times that Christopher Reeves

just doesn't want to be there I do like his performance

as a whole, but it almost feels like he feels

like You can see it in his face that he doesn't

like the direction or taking it like he feels

like this isn't his Superman Or isn't a Superman

movie and I know he's gone off gone out and said

that Lester ruined Superman 3 by making it a

Richard Pryor comedy and I can't really disagree

with that and I think Richard Pryor is a hilarious

person. I think he can be really funny, but but

in this It just doesn't really suit him. I don't

know why they chose him for this role It just

seems like a almost like okay. He's hot at the

time We're gonna throw him in and see how he

does and it could have Been better off if they

got someone else, honestly Yeah, probably But

who in 1983 could you have gotten to play either

the prior role or or not even have the prior

role but like if if Reeve didn't want to come

back and do it who would Who could they have

gotten? That's the thing. Yeah, I don't I don't

know if they would have to recast Reeves or if

anything I would just get rid of that character

and we talked about having or at least Limiting

that character to more of a side character I

think him in small doses probably would have

been a lot better because there are moments that

work like I do like when he kind of gives his

general patent speech at the Smallville gathering

for Superman coming into town. I thought that

was pretty interesting and just how crazy and

odd it got at times with his huge monologue.

I thought that was pretty funny and there were

moments here and there. I just think when you

have that much comedy in a comic book movie,

there are things that are going to fall flat

and most of it fell flat. Yeah. Richard Pryor

is the 80s version of Iron Man 2's Justin Hammer.

I'm sorry, I hate that character. But yeah, no.

And the cast is pretty much, you know, we usually

break down the cast and everything else, but

they're pretty, outside of Richard Pryor, who

was, you know, basically a standup comic. He's

been in a lot of movies. He was in The Toy. Oh,

right. I didn't know. But his start was comedy,

though, right? Yes, very much. Yeah, he has been

essential. He's one of the best stand -ups, most

influential stand -ups of all time. Right. And

he transitioned that into some successful movies,

like The Toy, Brewster's Millions. I think he's

been in a few others. Those movies, I think I've...

Think it was kind of came before my time never

really got into them But I always loved his comedy

and it knowing his comedy and seeing him in this

because you know He's an R rated comic and seeing

place in a PG world is kind of odd Yeah, it really

really is As I will say right now that What's

her name? The sister That was the The creepiest

role I had ever seen Like outside of watching

actual like back in the 80s actual horror films

like nightmare or not like that sister role was

way like and Honestly thinking back on it even

after watching the film now Some kind still kept

part of the incest in there because there was

some weird stuff going on between that brother

and sister There really was, if you really...

Like, people are like, oh, well, Superman won.

Technically, he is stalking Lois Lane because

he... How does Clark know where she lives right

after Superman leaves? You know? Yeah. I... You

know? I find, like, she felt very much like...

I can't think of her name from Russia, from Russia

with Love, that Bond villain. Oh, yeah, yeah,

yeah. The... God what's her name? But yeah, yeah,

that's the kind of vibe I got from that character

and especially when I did find it really creepy

when she gets Rosa Klebb That's who I'm thinking

of. She's I felt like a lot like Rosa Klebb played

by Loretta Lenna and in from Russia with love

like I do see some submitters Larry's there and

when she gets sucked into that computer That

was kind of freaky. I did like like how that

happened and she became just like cyborg I don't

think that was pretty cool and well handled But

it was cool, but like take take me for example

86 80s because like I said, I honestly was behind

the track on three and four three came out when

I was three years old four came out when I was

seven years old. I didn't see either one of them

until I was nine and ten and the reason why I

know I did not see Superman 4 until 1990 is because

I found the movie novelization for it and I read

that while listening to a certain pop diva album

which we will talk about next time. I'll reveal

that and you know people can shame me for it

if they want but Like, I know I was behind the

career of watching these movies, and to a 9 and

10 year old kid, that scene with her getting

sucked into and becoming, that was freaky as

all hell, it was cool, but it was scary. Yeah,

I could see that. Yeah, I'm not someone who deals

very well with scary situations whatsoever. Yeah,

it's like a Terminator -esque moment thrown into

this slapstick comedy, which is kind of... I

could see why I would scare you as a kid because

this movie does of all the superman films feels

The most like a family, you know kid film with

how it's done But then there are those times

where you're like this could probably freak out

some kids like seeing superman as like a villain

I mean, you know this iconic, you know boy scout

hero kind of gone bad You know, I think it's

a great concept. I just don't think they did

much with it I did kind of I did kind of like

his attitude and at times and we kind of see

him possibly, you know actually consummate a

relationship with you know Some of the characters

in this and he gets down, you know, that's something

different for Superman I like the look I did

like how they kind of Made his suit a little

bit darker. It's an easy thing to do It's kind

of the the concept and of course to give him

a little bit of stubble because when you're evil

Facial hair is the first thing that comes But

yeah, it is odd because you do it like we talked

about the tonal shifts you have those ridiculous

kind of you know Cop comedy moments, and then

you have the darker moments like this person

getting sucked and turned into a cyborg and looking

all freaky, almost like a John Carpenter movie.

This movie is both not well done and doesn't

have the greatest plot. It's a lazy mess is the

bottom line for the movie. Pretty much, yeah.

That's that's really all I have to say about

I like I am so speed like I Kid you not I I watched

sadly I watched this twice on HBO go because

The first time I felt like I was sitting because

I watch movies at my computer And I basically

sit here at my desk and I watch them I felt like

I was sitting here for five hours watching this

movie how for however long it actually like It

didn't pick up for me until that scene that I

like in the junkyard. It did not pick up at all

for me What so it like it? Oh god? Yeah, that's

so bad I don't so I don't I don't like hating

on movies, but I'm was right there with you sitting

here watching out This is it was it was a painful

watch because it just right it doesn't help that

that beginning I think makes it even worse that

long extended You know opening title sequence.

It's not a good way to start. It's like, oh no

Like this is only gonna go downhill from here

and it does and there's I know there's people

who like the so bad It's good. This to me isn't

so bad. It's good. It's just it's bland and that's

the worst thing you can do is be bland and that's

what this Alright, so we're gonna take a quick

ad break and we'll come back to close the show

and give final ratings and all that good stuff

after this. Coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan

on September 21st and 22nd is Grand Con Gaming

and Comics Convention presented by Celebration

Cinemas. Join us in playing or chatting it up

with fellow enthusiasts in a community that understands

your passions. Get lost in the adventure of your

favorite role -playing game. Admire costumes

and art from vendors and attendees. Meet the

creators behind your favorite mainstream and

independent games and comic books. Check out

unpublished games and sneak peek at things to

come. You can get all this and more at Grand

Con. For more information, please visit www .grand

-con .com. And just to give people an idea of

what the zero to five stars is, we're just trying

to. Change things around a little bit and the

way it works is it's your simple math Five stars

is love it four stars is you really liked it?

Three stars as you liked it two stars is you

didn't like it one stars you hated it and zero

stars It's the worst thing ever and it's worse

than you know, baby's crying. I don't know anyways

Regarding this movie. I probably was repetitive

regarding my issues with it because it's very

repetitive with the issues in the film There

are times there are things in it that I like

there are few they're few and far between It's

a huge huge step down From the last film and

you can look at comic book histories as a whole

the third film is often the most shaky you look

at Spider -man 3 x -men 3 I honestly think this

falls far beneath all both of those films. It's

It doesn't nearly half of it doesn't live up

to the the magic of the previous films. It removes

a lot of the wonderment, it loses a lot of the

charm that was built up in Superman 1 and Superman

2 and I think a lot of it has to do with the

direction and kind of giving myself a buffer

here because I don't know what Superman 4 is

going to be but out of five I'm giving it one

and a half. I'm just gonna give it a straight

one and the only reason why it gets one star

and not any lesser anymore is because as I mentioned

before the two moments that I actually do like

the phone booth or not the photo booth and The

fight with himself. I really like those moments

the rest of the movie. I am sorry I love Richard

Pryor's comedy. Don't get me wrong, but it's

kind of like putting It's kind of like taking

Bob Saget and putting him into full house You

know, he's a rated -r comic on a PG third, you

know PG show and this is kind of same thing when

Richard Pryor he's a he's a rated -r comic they

put into As you said earlier, it's almost supposed

to be a quote -unquote family movie and it's

just not So yeah one star for me And we hope

you enjoyed our review of Superman 3 here in

MYRCC's Spotlight Volume 2. Wish you'll join

us next week when we will be having JT from Saskatoon

join us as we talk about Supergirl. Ellen Slater,

Homer Simpson -drill. For now, I am TF2 on Mike

with... I'll move a revolt, Dan. Thank you for

listening and keep your eyes on the skies, ladies

and gentlemen. We will catch you next week. You

can follow us on Twitter at gcrnmwire. Become

a fan of us on Facebook by searching Geekcast

Radio Network. You can email us at feedback at

geekcastradio .com. Call the voicemail line 502

-526 -5821. Please remember to tell us the show

you're leaving the message for and your name.

So until next time, unleash the geek in you.

In a world there I said it happy