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Keanu Reeves as Superman
M.C. Hampster writes "Fox News is reporting in this article that Superman is back in the planning stages at Warner Bros. with a possible Keanu Reeves playing the title role. Is this possibly the worse fit for an actor in a superhero role since Michael Keaton in Batman?" Perhaps they too will rotate in a new actor for each feature.
Woah
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Some schmuck from Warner Bros. must've been smoking something when watching the final scene in The Matrix.
Neo zooms off into the sky with the coat flapping like a cape and the lightbulb goes off. Hey! He looks just like Superman!
Say... there's an idea!
NOT!
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Maybe they'll create a new super-character! Think about it, SuperNeo would have no weaknesses! "There is no kryptonite."
My other sig is funny!
Didn't you see tbe last movie were he FLEW at up into the sky after emerging from the telephone booth?
Can anyone second the opinion that at least he wouldn't be as bad as the other proposed Man of Steel - Nicholas Cage? (Hey at least Reeves has hair...)
"Nothing is so important that you cannot make fun of it." -Clarke
Hey! This isn't aintitcoolnews! what the....?
(seriously, why is this story here...?)
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
title says it all
Umm, I don't know what Keanu Reeves you've been watching, but the one I know is pasty white. As pasty as any geek on /.
My other sig is funny!
M0571y H@rml355.
George Reeves played the original superman on TV.
Christopher Reeves played him in the movies from the late 70's early 80's.
So logically they want Keanu Reeves now..
Well, Keanu Reeves DID leap ACROSS tall buildings in a single bound. I guess that qualifies him...
Hey, wait a minute... I _LIKED_ keaton as batman! The first (OK, not first, but you know what I mean) movie was by far the best of the lot. Of course, that could be attributed to Nicholson...
-- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
They should do what they did with Spiderman - find a little known but good actor and have him re-invent the role. That way, the audience won't bring any misconceptions into the cinema, which will ruin the whole experience.
Michael Keaton played THE BEST batman, everyone I know agrees. He brought the perfect mix of mystery, drive, and intellect. You could see the dark motivations in his face, a person driven by the slaying of his parents. George Clooney? That was a cruel joke.
If this "mistake" is as bad as batman, I'll be first in line for the theater.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." George HW Bush
The only movie I've seen this guy work well in was The Matrix, basically because he was perfect for the roll without needing to act. (Ok, I was entertained somehow by Speed, but don't ask me why. I haven't figured it out.)
o ve ry.ap/index.html
In all fairness, it's probably pretty hard to find someone who can play the role. My take on it is that they should find some actor who isn't known to the public. If someone has played other characters, it's kinda hard to get over that association. No one thinks of Superman as someone you'd know from somewhere else.
(Sort of on topic - I was very glad to hear the news that Christopher Reeve has regained some sensation and muscular control.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/09/13/reeves.rec
There's a real story of inspiration and hope. My hat's off to him. This is why you never give up.)
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
because he has charisma, that's why. lots and lots of charisma. I'm sure he can play a just as over-the-top and goofy superman as christopher reeve di-Oh Wait! they have the same last name! that's why they picked Keanu - he's the son of superman!
"Teachers leave us kids alone
Keaton's choice was also greeted with skepticism by fans, but I think he did a good job. Which is why I would be willing to give Keanu Reeves the benefit of the doubt. But unfortunately Keanu is a lousy actor IMO -- he did okay in Matrix, but he stunk in just about everything else (his "performance" in Much Ado About Nothing was embarrassing).
Maybe the Hollywood execs thought they were 'honoring' Christoper Reeve by having an actor with nearly the same last name play Reeve's most memorable role. ;-P
But Christopher Reeve will always be the "real" Superman for me -- he was born to play that role IMO.
Cheers,
Ethelred
Everyone wants to be Ethelred. Even I want to be Ethelred.
I don't know how well built Reeves (oh, just an extra 's' on the end, another 'studio' connection for him being in the role)... but wouldn't he have to a bit of 'beefing up' for the Superman role, I mean doing martial arts is one thing, but the Superman role has always been a case of filling as much of the lycra suit with as much muscle as possible.
Is this possibly the worse fit for an actor in a superhero role since Michael Keaton in Batman?
OK then, who was the best Batman then? out of the original series and the films? I honestly think Keaton was the better one of the films... but then the first two films were really Tim Burton driven (very dark and gothic) and much better than the rest. Plus who can forget Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.. meeeow indeed!!
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
Michael Keaton would be a horrible Batman, but I think he surprised people. He played it with a dark subtlety fitting to Frank Miller's vision.
Now, he didn't have the chisled features of comic book hero, but who does? Maybe Val Kilmer, who wasn't nearly as good, in my opinion.
I also think that Keanu Reeves' bad reputation as an actor is not really deserved. He doesn't show great range, but he does have a certain presence and magnetism. Reminds me of Clark Gable.
Instead of kryptonite, his enemies will just use big words to stop him.
The one thing about the Matrix was that I was expecting him to break into air guitar during every scene.
Superman is not a caucasian, he's from another planet.
Why would he be white? He was created by two jewish guys as a continuation of the golem myth (protecting the weak and all that), with some resonance of Nietchze thrown in.
And I think Keaton was the best Batman too, and I'm not a Keaton fan.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Superman is Kryptonian. He's a different species. He's not a member of any human "race". We're lucky he's even bilaterally symetrical.
i'm thinking chris rock, though you might have to throw in a few costume mods to pull it off.
One of the few movies I like Keanu in (Matrix), he doesn't say a lot. One of his biggest lines is "Whoa!" And that's a Good Thing.
Neo can get away with that, but Superman is suppose to give patriotic speeches and such, which would require Keanu to talk, which is bad. I don't have any evidence for this, but I bet as the number of words Reeves says in a movie increases, the quality of the movie decreases.
Why do we need ANOTHER superman anyway? Four wasn't enough? 3 Indiana Jones' wasn't enough? 2 Home Alone's was pushing it. Why so many sequals. Oh, that's because the movie industry is just reusing old ideas to make big bucks instead of making quality films with new stories in new directions. Maybe something with a little social commentary here or there.
Matt Fahrenbacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
There are plenty of people out there who look the part and have the talent enough to do it. Why does it have to be someone that you know and recognise from Hollywood? Even Christopher Reeves were unknown before he was cast as the Man of Steel. They could find someone before, they can find someone again.
Not that his background should matter, but Keanu is actually from Lebanon. His mother was English, and his father was American (of Chinese & Hawaiian descent). His name is Hawaiian, meaning "cool breeze over the mountains."
as mentioned on the above referring article, a batman vs superman movie is currently being worked on. how ironic if the poster of this /. article (M.C. Hampster) didn't realize that in making that comparison.
..and if you understood the "real" batman, not the Adam West-inspired ones, you would know that Michael Keaton's version was by far the closest to home. batman is a dark and angry man, whose purpose is to scare the shit out of criminals. that first scene with batman holding the punk over the edge of the roof is classic batman.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
His psycho bent on it was fantastic. Who did you prefer? VAL KILMER? GEORGE CLOONEY? Please ...
In recent news, for those of you who missed it...
(shortened - please excuse any bad english since I'm translating from Swedish.. perhaps anyone has a good link?)
Christopher Reeve Defeating His Paralysis
"For the first time since his spinal paralysis, Christopher Reeve can move fingers and toes. This makes his doctors believe that he might be able to walk again.
- No one that have been affected by such severe injuries have regained motion and feeling in the way Chris has, said doctor John McDonald at Washington University of Science.
Breathes On His Own
In the last months, Christopher Reeve's health has dramatically increased. Besides his motion and feeling abilities, he can breathe on his own for one and a half hour. He is grateful of the progress and says the best thing is that he can feel the hugs from his wife Dana and his three children.
- To feel the smallest touch is truly a gift, he says in the coming issue of People Weekly.
Reeve also mentions that he can feel needle stings over large parts of his body, make difference between warm and cold and sharp and blunt.
But the treatment hasn't been free. His muscle stimulation and special training has cost the 49 year old movie star more than 2,5 million per year (not sure if that's 2,5 million swedish crowns or USD). The costs has partly been covered by his insurance and partly by collections made by his friends in Hollywood."
So, to me, Superman will still be the only super man to me, especially after reading this.
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According to this article at Superhero Hype, the Reeves thing is just a rumor and not actually true--though all the article really has is hearsay, so it's hard to say whether it is or not. There's a an interview with Brett Ratner in Latino Review, where he mentions he wants Anthony Hopkins for Jor-El, but he doesn't mention Keanu there.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Keaton might not have been the best choice for Batman, but the producers quickly remedied their mistake by casting a couple of even-worse actors for the role, Val Kilmer and George Clooney both sucked really bad as Batman. While I'm at it, I think the series also went to hell when they took Tim Burton off; Schumacher's visual style is completely opposite to the great, dark atmosphere Burton had created on the first two films.
Personally I found Michael Keaton to be the better of the movie version Batmans.
Yes, objectively, Micheal Keaton was the least shitty movie Batman. But, paradoxically, he was also the worst cast. By the time Val Kilmer and George Clooney got the role, everyone already expected the Batman movies to really, really suck. There wasn't anything left to be disappointed about.
But when Keaton was cast, I was still young enough, and idealistic enough -- and the the Miller Batmans were still recent enough -- to believe it possible to make a Batman movie worth watching. Instead, Hollywood pulled a $100,000,000.00 cellulose tapeworm out of its collective anus.
Well, it certainly could have been worse. Suprisingly, Keaton turned out to be the only thing worth watching in that fetid turd of a movie. Watching Jack phone in his role for a huge paycheck was disappointing. Seeing Burton's overwrought, overmarketed, over hyped Gotham didn't help the movie at all. And, for the life of me, I can't recall which hideous "actress" they splashed on the screen to revolt us. Was that the one with Michelle Pfieffer, Kim Bassinger, or Alicia Silverstone? Oh lord, what demon did those shitbags have to sell their soul too to get on film?
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
Me too, he was the best by far IMHO. Val Kilmer was too Adam West. I think Keaton did a great job of portraying Bruce Wayne as a real person and not just who Batman is when he isn't Batman.
Then again, that's what everyone said about Tobey McGuire as Spiderman.
According the rumors, the script does the whole origin story. Keanu might be a good fit for a Superman just starting out.
Well, Whoa-man is probably at least better than Nicolas Cage, who was previously on board the project.
http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/superman5.ht ml
Cheers
-b
Ok. Here goes...
Keanu Reeves is a pretty good actor, so long as he's in a cyberpunk movie. Most of my friends and I agree that the man has no talent outside of this realm (Think Don John in Much Ado About Nothing). However, when placed in the Matrix, or Jonnie Mnemonic, he actually does a pretty good job. The reason is simple. He's adept at playing spacy young iconoclasts, which pretty much describes every cyberpunk role he's had.
Of course, this means he's going to completely fuck up the role of Superman.
Offtopic: Keaton was the best fucking batman EVER. Possibly the best cast superhero ever, though I'm rooting for Nick Cage to kick his ass in the upcoming Ghost Rider. (Who else would you pick as better? Dolf Lundgren in The Punisher? LMFAO).
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
He was just twisted enough, as played by Keaton, to be plausible. I'd much rather see a messed up, dark, brooding person as Batman than someone whose most popular role was as an elvis-alike...
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
This is awesome. Time to stock up on weed.
You think it's ok to cast chicks for their sex appeal and status in the film industry, and you have the nerve to accuse me of misogyny? Dude, I'd rather watch an ugly chick who can act -- unlike you, I think women have a lot more to offer me than just their ability to starve themselves and still have perky tits.
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
What makes Keanu a worse actor than say Sean Connery? As near as I can tell, what most people mean when they say he can't act is that he has a particular style that tends to come through no matter the role. That's definitely true of Sean, and he's one of the world's favorites. I'm really curious, because I think he's done a good job in a wide variety of roles.
Superman: "whoaaaaaaaaa" (in a grimacing about to die way)
Micheal Keaton was good for Batman because he could pull off a better Bruce Wayne. Any idiot can play "Batman".
If I were Keanu I would be veeery leary of taking on this role:
George Reeves committed suicide (or was murdered);
Christopher Reeves became paralyzed;
Reeve(s)-Superman is statistically a cursed combination;->
Indeed, any actor should probably stay clear of this one...
Best
Samawi
I agree George Clooney and Val Kilmer couldn't fill the shoes of Micheal Keaton.
They should have stopped after the first two.
Of course the same could be said of Adam West. *POW* *BANG*
[wil@hollywood]$ mv /actor/unemployed/wil.wheaton /actor/rich/famous/wil.reeves
Oddly, after seeing the satire on Saturday Night Live, I think that The Rock could do a really good job. I'd have to find out more by talking to the people who worked with him in the mummy movies and the Akkadian (or whatever that was called), but he was Superman's spitting image.
;), but he definitely had some gray matter between his ears. But then I don't know if the Rock could pull that off, either.
I don't know how much acting skill Superman would take, anyway. I think the biggest hurdle for Keanue (however the fuck you spell his name) would be the fact that Superman was supposed to be intelligent. Ok, not Batman intelligent, and not a master of disguise
Screw it, another vote for Bruce Campbell!
BlackGriffen
batman was never supposed to be a superhero. he was meant to be the anti-hero in ways much more apparent (and believable) than any other comic... no superpowers; just drive, revenge, money, and ingenuity. the latter movies simply tried to pull off batman as being a gadget pimp without a care in the world... which just doesn't work when people know otherwise. keaton managed to convince us that there was a method to the madness, and a purpose to the gadgets, while kilmer and clooney's versions put the gadgets in because they were cool and the killing in because he 'had to'. come on! the whole reason batman goes after the joker is because he wants revenge... he's pissed and he wants the smiling face on a platter... there was no 'had to' there... he could have just been a worthless playboy, but he had a reason.
you can say that the cinematics are incredible in today's movies, but you'll never convince me that a movie without believable motive is anything more than a waste of time.
Adam West would have made a better Superman than Batman. He played a campy do-gooder. The only edge he had was playing a good strategist and detective, but that's not something you have time for in a movie. Remember, Batman was a psychotic vigilante who had a nearly split personality.
The Batman that Adam West portrayed was the neutered Batman of that 1950's. That was not Batman. That Batman didn't even hav a dark side, let alone the borderline personality.
BlackGriffen
noone suggest Wil Wheaton.
We're talking about Hollywood here. They don't give a damn about such extraneous things as "character depth" or "plot development," all they want are what they consider to be sex symbols running around in skin-tight outfits. It's what brings in the money.
If you want a decent Superman, turn on Cartoon Network. You should know better by now to seek him at the movie theaters.
Keaton portrayed someone who was damaged. You could see in him someone who was uncomfortable dealing with the niceties of his high society surroundings, someone who knew that there was a dark thing writhing in the city that could only be fought against by something equally dark. The other players of Batman treated him as a one dimensional heroic figure.
I thought the first Batman movie was excellent. If only Jack had been 20 years younger he would have been the perfect Joker. He still pulled off a fine job.
The second movie introduced some nearly over-the-top performances (Danny DeVito and Christopher Walken) that seemed to give permission to the people who produced the next couple of movies to return to the campiness of the television series. The formula that is the theme of Batman (person is emotionally and physically wounded, person puts on a mask and exacts revenge on the rest of the world) is made truely formulamatic in the last few films. Tim Burton realized that such a formula could be made into camp unless you had actors with depth who could flesh out the struggle of dual persona. That is where Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Michelle Pfeiffer succeeded.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
i've said this before and i'll say it again. the next superman can only be Bruce Campbell.
no arguements.
there is no equal.
keanu reeves????? wtf??????
He was not born in the U.S. Heck, he was not born on earth. You can't really call him a white man because he is not a "man", in the human sense.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
Instead, I think they should use Chris Klein.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
Ummmm... Adam West was Batman!
Pow! Zap! Bif!
Buying a Dell computer is equivalent to dropping the soap in a prison shower.
Can't wait to see Supermangiving a blowjob!!!
Actually, watch Stallone in Nighthawks. His character IS kindof a nerd, and he pulls it off really well. IMO his best real acting, since you can readily forget it's Stallone and believe in the character for himself.
Sometimes they'll surprise you.
But I still can't see Keanu as Superman!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Apparently, Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 1 & 2, Red Dragon) is the director (groan), and he says ix-ne on the eanu-ke. Or so they say here:
d ragon/brettratner.html
http://www.latinoreview.com/moviereviews/2002/red
It's Christopher Reeve, but the point I want to make is...
George Reeves shot and killed (suicide?) under dubious circumstances.
Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down (well until recently it seems).
Keanu would be well advised to stay away
No sig for you!!
If you want to see Christopher Reeve in a very different sort of role, check out the made-for-TV movie "Bump in the Night" -- I won't spoil it for you since much of the enjoyment lies in working out who is really up to what (ignore the utterly inaccurate blurb at http://us.imdb.com/Title?0101520) but let's just say you'll be totally shocked. I'd never been particularly impressed with Reeve as an *actor* (other than Superman, where he fit the role like he was made for it), but "Bump in the Night" showed what he could really do with a complex role that involved a lot of subtly-dark character development. His character was SO utterly believable that I found myself wondering what had happened to him as a child, to make him turn out how he did. It had *reality*.
[Must have been some good directing job, too. This film also has the best work I've seen from Wings Hauser, another actor whose previous work was merely "okay".]
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
You fuckwad...the real batman has fake rubber muscles (and "manboobs" as well).
Christhopher Reeves the "definitive Superman"? I will always thing of George Reeves as the real one, even if he did duck when the bad guy ran out of bullets and threw his gun.
Um Steve Reeves was the muscle man who played Hercules in bad 50s and 60s Italian movies. George Reeves is the actor who played Superman in the 50s (and quite well until the show got dumbed down over time.)He was also the one who died tragically either of a suicide or a murder (no one is quite sure which I think.) He wasn't the first live-action Superman however, that was Kirk Alyn in a 1948 serial. Quite good if you can get past his baggy tights and the fact he turns into a cartoon when he flies (kind of a retro-version of Spidey's CGI work) Also it's Christopher Reeve... No S at the end. I make that mistake a lot too and I believe I did in my earlier post in fact. *Hits self over the head with a can of SPAM * BTW Keanu would suck as Superman. I can't picture Superman saying "Dude" or "Woah". How ever he couldn't be as bad as Nick Cage would have been if Tim Burton had his way. Personally I hope they leave Superman alone until a director with vision wants to do it (like a Peter Jackson). Don't just make it to cash in on the super hero craze, please! Richard Donner had vision... Until Clarke gets to New York (grrr I hate it not being Metropolis) then the film gets kind of cheesy. The first hour or so though is brilliant. The second film is very good fun even if it plays fast and loose with the Superman legend but after that the films went to hell. Now if they could get a visionary director who could do a full film to match the first half of the Donner film AND find an actor even half as good as Christopher Reeve... That would be great but I won't hold my breath.
"The human mind's ability to rationalize its own shortcomings into virtues is unlimited." - Robert A. Heinlein
(For Reference)
Wil "Wheaton" Reeves as Superman
Patrick "Stewart" Brando as Jor-el
Brent "Spiner" Hackman as Lex Luther
Jonathan "Frakes" Beatty as Otis
Margot "Marina Sirtis" Kidder as Lois Lane.
Yes Mr. Reeves, most of us would pay to see that.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
Johnny Mnemonic
'nuff said
Science, like Nature, must also be tamed, with a view turned towards its preservation.
Micheal Keaton? Oh common. I thought he did a great job. Light years better than, say, George Clooney. But Keanu Reeves? He plays the naive clueless part pretty well, but beyond that is a bit of a stretch...
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Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
I thought he made a great SuperMan. Alright, so he has suffered a mild setback but you know... he's SuperMan... and it's probably just an act to hide his secret identity anyway.
And even if he were actually a mortal human, I'm sure there's enough Hollywood effects out there to fix that little problem.
Damn... that was tasteless... I think I shouldn't click "submit..."
the problem isn't skin-tone. The problem is physique. Keanu needs to put on a good 30-50 pounds to do this bit - he looked a little on the anorexic side in Matrix.
Wat is the deal - George Reeves, Chistopher Reeve, Keanu Reeves - is hollywood so lame they think the name has to match?
"that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
I remember when Tim Burton first announced that Michael Keaton was going to play Batman -- "there's something in his eyes," he said -- and the fanboy crowd went ballistic. They shouted that Batman wasn't Mr. Mom, and that Burton had ruined the one comic book movie that fans had been waiting their whole lives for.
Now, a decade later, nearly every post says Keaton was the definitive Batman, and all the other actors (who at first blush seemed to be perfect Batman types) were the ones who ruined the franchise.
Michael Keaton's gotta be proud. He played a legendary character no one thought he could pull off, and then walked away from it, so everyone could see just how tough the job actually was. Now he's doing, what, Jack Frost II? Hollywood oughtta make him Perry White, Clark Kent's editor, in the new Superman pic. They owe him.
FWIW, I don't think we've seen the definitive Superman performance yet. Chris Reeve's Clark Kent was too buffoonish, his Superman too milquetoast. If Batman is supposed to have gone off the deep end because his parents were killed, how much more insane would losing your parents, your species, and your entire planet make you? Superman's a fascinating character, in his own way at least as flawed as Batman. I hope Hollywood can find an actor who can give as much to Superman's character as Keaton did to Batman.
(I should say that I have nothing but respect for Chris Reeve as an actor and human being. Superman is fantasy; Chris is real, and through his tireless advocacy and fundraising he may ultimately be responsible for saving more lives than his comicbook counterpart.)
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
As long as they turn Krypton into Planet Malibu where everybody uses anti-grav surfboards as personal transportation devices, then he won't have to give up his accent and he might be able to concentrate on acting.
Let's cast Keanu as the Silver Surfer!!!
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I guess real men just don't like wearing tights
Well if wearing tights is the problem, what about Cary Elwes?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
..a few more years until the current cast of Smallville is old enough to be convincing in the parts. (Which shouldn't be long, they're a little old for the parts now -- but it's still an enjoyable show.)
;)
Although I'm curious about how and when Chloe Sullivan changes her name to Lois Lane.
-- Alastair
You think it's ok to cast chicks for their sex appeal and status in the film industry, and you have the nerve to accuse me of misogyny?
Riiiiight....
Because sex appeal is always purely physical, isn't it?
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
This New York Times story (free registration required, someone else post the no-reg link, yadda yadda) chronicles the squabble between two Warner execs, one of whom wanted to do the darker Batman vs. Superman movie, the other who wanted to do a lighter, more feel-good trilogy of Superman movies instead.
Frankly, I think they should put Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, the geniuses behind the animated Batman/Superman/Batman Beyond/Justice League, in the driver's seat. They've done a wonderful job of reinventing the characters for animation.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I can agree from first-hand experience.
;), and on the mornings that I wake up with knee pain, it usually takes me a couple of minutes to realize that it's the "good" knee! It's almost like they rebuilt the bad one better than the original. :)
I went to University on a rugby scholarship, and played for years. In '97 I had what is commonly reffered to as a "carreer-ending injury" where my right knee was dislocated by about 5 inches, quite effectively ripping 3/4 of the ligaments in my knee completely apart, and severing the nerve that services the lower right side of my leg and all the muscles on the top of my right foot.
I went to the hospital, had it examined, and was told that it was a sprain... "don't worry about it, come back in a week if it's still bugging you".
One week later, I still couldn't lift my foot or feel anything in my leg. So, I went to a specialist.
Long story short, it was one of the "cleanest" (as in no blood, it was as if it was surgically damaged) and most destructive knee injuries they've ever seen. The nerve damage was too old to repair, and after many visits to many neurosurgeons, they all agreed that I'd be lucky to regain 60% usage in 10 years.
Now, I was a pretty active guy... mountain biking every day, rugby 4 times a week, gymn twice a day, so I was in pretty good shape.
They gave me these rehab "protocols" that must have been written for couch-sitting housewives..."the 4 week goal is to bend the knee 25 degrees with minimal pain". Give me a break! I'd done that in 2 days! I threw them away and proceded to do what I could on my own... completing 6 months of protocols in about 3 weeks. The physio guys were blown away, and while concerned, couldn't see anything bad happening. I continued mountain biking, walked to exhaustion, always pushing myself but not to the point of further damage. I was wearing out the "protective" brace every 3 weeks and having to have it replaced (which they said I'd have to wear for the rest of my life, BTW).
I should take a second here to really thank my orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Ross!)... he took the time to show me how to perform basic examinations on my knee and leg, teaching me the signs to look for, and allowing me to monitor my progress. It really helped me guage the amount of exertion I could apply and when I should stop. It was REALLY refreshing to NOT get the whole "well, you're not a doctor, so you wouldn't understand, so I'm not going to teach you" attitude.
After a year and a half, I'd regained a LOT of use of the damaged nerves... I still remember the day that I could lift my foot up for the first time (the guys at work thought I was nuts when I started jumping around and yelling and screaming!).
3 years and 4 knee surgeries after the injury, I could run somewhat normally on the knee (I was never a great runner to begin with!), was practicing rugby, mountain biking normally, and playing other sports... all without the brace. The biggest damage I had was psychological.
I went back to the neurosurgeons who initially examined me, and said "hey, can you retest me?" and they were quite shocked to see that I'd recovered to be about 90-95% of what is normal.
Now, I am what I consider to be 100% recovered; same weights in the gymn, playing rugby again without a brace (not as competitive, but I'm old and lazy now
So, at the end of the day, and after doing a LOT of research on my own in the local medical libraries, I found that neurologists really don't understand SQUAT about nerve regeneration, and I tend not to believe any limitations they want to put on them. I threw away their advice of relying on a brace for the rest of my life and "taking it easy", and I'm glad I did.
$0.02 (CDN)
I think the Ubermensch was better off as Aryan.
Superman was a starmaker role for Christopher Reeve, and I think they need to get an unknown for the next film.
I also thought the "Death of Superman" storyline sucked. I'm glad they ditched it. Keven Smith was on record saying that the studio has been preasuring him to make many stupid changes to the story.
The "Bats vs. Supes" story sounded like a mess. All involved should count themselves lucky that the film didn't get made.
Warner Bros. should be patient and do this right instead of competing with Hulk, Daredevil, Spiderman II, X-Men II. If they rush Superman it will suck and they will ruin it they way they ruined Batman.
Michael Keaton was a horible BatMan.
1st of all. Batman is soposed to be HUGE. According to to the DC Who's Who, he is 6'4" and 240 LBs. In other words the same size as Swarseneger in his prime (After "Commando" and before "End of Days"). What's wrong with a skiny Batman? His costume is supposed to be simple soft cloth. Except for the belt, gloves and boot. The Vinyl body armor on Micheal Keaton looks extreamly and obviusly fake.
Also, he has a voice that's soposed to strike fear into the hearts of scum. MK's high pitched Selean Deion soundalike voice dosn't do it. Also his accent is soposed to be a little off too.
Is it like a family thing? Superman has to be "Reaves"? OK. So They arn't related. Big deal.
The key is to have the screan hero look like the comic book character and convincingly cary off the personality as writen.
The marvel people seem better at this. I.e. Spiderman is great and the whole Xmen team is beliveble.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
You are absolutely correct - dickweed would have been the choice. I apologize. I will also try not to read slashdot after mixing too much Guinness with too much red wine.
That's a great story, and just goes to show -- yeah, doctors tend to believe what's in the books more than what they can see with their own eyes. And clearly in your case, stimulus was the key as well.
They should already KNOW that nerves can regrow, since one of the chronic problems with amputee patients is nerves growing right out of the end of the stump, probably in response to "phantom limb syndrome".
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Good, bad... I'm the guy with the heat vision.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Part of the Clark Kent persona is, even if the guy looks a little like Superman and maybe even sounds a little like him, you have to come off thinking, "No way could this yutz be Superman."
:)
I've always thought that Clark's best disguise wasn't that he was clownish or incompetent, but that he was simply too button-down and square for anyone to consider the possibility that he's Superman. In my mind, Clark Kent is an echo of the NASA engineers of 60s -- just a little more buff, and with a slightly better haircut.
One of the fascinating things about the Superman character is that Clark's job is a mental one. He chose the one profession his super-powers wouldn't allow him to fake competence in. I don't think I've ever read a take on Superman which focused on him as a writer.
Chris Reeve's performance as Clark Kent/Superman was amusing and enjoyable. Clark was fun in a Vaudevillian sort of way. But since they've already done it that way once, I'd like to see them treat Supes differently this time around; make him as real as they can make a super-powered flying x-ray visioned cape-wearing alien from outer space.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
You have a point, he does a lot of "angry young man" roles, but never anything with the range of, say, Robin Williams (though that's a hard act to follow). I did think he was great in Devil's Advocate, but again, he's playing his character. And I agree, Superman isn't for him. Now give Tom Welling a few more years as Superboy and then a few years to age into the role...
I completely agree (see my earlier post). The Lex Luthor character is great too -- he brings complexity to the role that was missing from the Superman movies. (In the original comics, Lex had been a boyhood friend of Superboy (don't recall about Kent), until Lex lost his hair which he blamed Superboy for. (It was a lab accident, in the process of putting out the fire, Superboy causes a chemical spill that affects Luthor. -- The modified backstory in Smallville is superior, IMHO.)
As for the show being geared for teenagers -- maybe so, but some of us old fogeys like it too. Good story lines (although for a while the "human is exposed to kryptonite, gets wierd powers, goes berserk" was being overdone) and good filmmaking go a long way. (And you gotta love all those foreshadowing jokes.)
-- Alastair
In my opinion Keaton was excellent in Batman. True, he could have had a bit more muscle-mass, but otherwise, he made a pretty believable Bruce Wayne.
your question is like saying "both Brittney Spears and Beethoven made music
I just want to point out that Britney merely performs, whereas Beethoven *created* music.
But I see your point. You can't compare classical composers to the assembly line schmucks that pump out pop crap for idiots and whores to perform.
Which pill will they give him?
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
Keanu as Superman??? Some one is playing a game here... must be. This is just too choice and full of obvious Bill-Ted/Matrix one-liners!
Super: Dude, Lois, I like... got you babe.
Lois : Yeah but who's got you?!?
Super: Like nobody, duh, I can fly babe. Check it!
...
Super: You mean I'm actually a space-alien. Like with
little green antenae and stuff? Like, I could
jump over tall buildings and dodge bullets?
Ma Kent: No Clark, when you're ready you won't have to.
Super: Woah.
I suppose if this turns into a real movie it'll be okay as long as it's a super spoof ala the "Not another..." genre. IE: "Not another Super Hero movie!"
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Heck while were debating which superman to cast, why not Jerry O'Connel? I bet he'll come cheap and do a decent job of playing Clark and Super as different characters. 'specially since Superman can crush all villians like bugs anyhow.
Woah, that was a weird Slide Q-ball!
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OK, let's assume for a moment that they actually do get a real actor to play Superman. Face it, Keanu isn't Superman. The better question is, who would be Lex Luthor? Lois Lane? They have to do some better casting than just finding the right Man of Steel. Think about who helped out Keaton in Batman. We know that Spiderman wouldn't have been as good without the supporting cast, and the Matrix was ALL about the supporting cast.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
...thats its a plot to rid us of Keanue?
cool, its about time...
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'd sell my first born just to see that project get off the ground. They could use one of the better short stories to base the movie on:
Farley Phloog (The Golden Age Megaton Man) is teamed with Professor Rex (Rigid) and a group of teenage mutants, hence the flimsy excuse to cash in on a cultural phenomenon. Some idiot sets off The Collision Of All Conceivable Comic Book Universes At Once Wars which results in another half-hearted restoration of Megaton Man. But wait--Clarissa James has an origin herself and becomes Ms. Megaton Man, and everyone wonders if it might not be because she'd been sleeping with Yarn Man!
Oh this moview would be packed with goody goodness and Keaneu would be perfect in the role!
First off, Keaton was a great Batman, mostly because he was able to portray a little relized fact about Batman.
Bruce wayne is a persona of batman, not the other way around. Batman is, after all, insane, but he's are kind of insane..
Now on with the Superman story.
"Like lois, look out, the Lex dude has a gun"
This will be horrible.
OTOH, maybe Superman will team up with Jimmy Olsen, and travel through time to become the greatest band of all time! oh, and put George Carlin in someplace.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
IMHO, Keaton was very much miscast, in that Batman/Bruce Wayne is supposed to be tall, athletic and leading-man handsome, and Keaton really isn't any of the above. While Keaton turned in a professional performance (and I've never seen him be really bad in anything), he was a bad fit for the part. To make him look imposing, they had to put him in a ridiculous cumbersome bat-suit that practically turns him into an animatronic special effect, and it kills the movie. He can't even WALK RIGHT in the suit! He can't even move his head!
The best Batman was the animated Batman in Mask of the Phantasm, voiced by Kevin Conroy. He has the physical presence, can do all the action, and he even has a character and emotions. (Mask of the Phantasm also had Mark Hamill turning in a GREAT performance as the Joker.)
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Suck me beautiful!
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
Bruce Campbell.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon