Comments on: Superhero Movie Guidebook: ‘Superman III’ https://seveninchesofyourtime.com/superhero-movie-guidebook-superman-iii/ Fri, 19 Jan 2018 00:25:35 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.11 By: Tomas https://seveninchesofyourtime.com/superhero-movie-guidebook-superman-iii/#comment-1385 Tue, 24 Mar 2015 00:02:59 +0000 http://seveninchesofyourtime.com/?p=2937#comment-1385 Just going through the Superman movies here… Superman III was actually the first of the Christopher Reeve Superman films I watched, which I think was because it was the only one available at Blockbuster (or maybe IV was too, but it didn’t make sense to my very young self to watch III AFTER IV, duuuuh). Even back then, despite having no idea who Richard Pryor was, I realized that he totally needed (a) more screen time and (b) like you said, stronger material (ha, although I think even he might have struggled to fit a line as clever as “as long as I can keep it up” in this particular movie). I also noticed that the plot to Superman III is WEIRD. I mean, Superman splitting into a good and jerky version of himself is not a far cry off from some plots you’d see in the Superman comics of the Silver Age (Superman Red and Blue!), but it was just absolutely bizarre seeing it carried out in live action. I remember being pretty bummed out too that the film didn’t take advantage of the “supercomputer” plot to introduce Brainiac, but hindsight tells me that was probably for the best. Although I admit it’s pretty surprising Brainiac hasn’t appeared in a Superman movie yet; they could’ve totally used him in Man of Steel with a few story tweaks (a live-action version of the Superman: The Animated Series premiere and the episode “Stolen Memories,” basically).

Speaking of superhero animated series, kudos for fitting in the Condiment King scene from BTAS’ “Make ‘Em Laugh” episode into the review. That’s one of the more underrated episodes of the show. I loved how it wasn’t afraid to poke a little fun at the Joker, which is especially refreshing considering how menacing a lot of writers have tended to portray him in recent years!

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