HeadlinesExotic Boring

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Scarecrow-88 Interesting doc about a Warner Bros production which has Tim Burton as director, Nic Cage as Superman, and a bevy of screenwriters, animators, costume designers, special effects geniuses, and conceptional artists which goes through numerous changes and developmental problems before the studio pulls the plug after a series of box office bombs during a disastrous stretch. You get to see Cage in costume tests, with doc director Schnepp interviewing Burton who is thankfully candid. Those brilliant artists involved and their work are given some well deserved notice as are the funny comments on interviewee producer Jon Peters regarding his eccentricities and how those working on the film were annoyed by him. Kevin Smith had an early script ultimately denied and Peters conflicts with him regarding what they were aiming for in developing the film. A Superman film was made but what you see of what might have been could have looked visually amazing. Peters and his spider, Smith and his profane reflections, artists reminiscing about the production, debate over how to make Superman a bit different than previous incarnations, updating the origin of Superman, how Burton and Cage were intrigued with putting a unique spin on the character, creatures involved with Superman and his home world, and other casting possibilities like Walken as a villain named Brainiac are memorable highlights.

adonis98-743-186503 A documentary about the proposed 1998 Superman Lives feature film that would have starred Nicolas Cage. Superman Lives suffered basically from what Jon Peters said the script, Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton i think that Burton is an excellent director but for a Superman movie? I don't know when the film was cancelled Warner Brothers chose to go with Wild Wild West and if you see the reviews that movie was stupid as hell. Even back in the day before all this stupid Ben Affleck can't play Batman thing there were people that thought that Mr. Mom Michael Keaton couldn't pull it off as Batman and guess what? He did twice then they screwed it up even Burton himself said that Ben Affleck will pull it off and he did and he is basically the best live action Bruce Wayne A.k.a Batman a bad casting is when you put someone like George Clooney play Batman and that was a disaster just like Superman IV killed the franchise once and for all. Back in the day everyone thought that Superheroes were this goofy dudes with a logo on their chest just like Adam West's Batman was but that is not how they should be portrayed if you ask me Superman Lives tried to take Superman in a light/dark/Gothic tone like what Burton did with Batman & Batman Returns and that worked because it was Batman now Superman is different maybe Snyder pulled it off but he i don't know it just didn't seem right Big Monsters. Spiders, Doomsday who by the way looked even worse than BVS so stop bitching about it and then you have Lois Lane, Brainiac even goddamn Ninjas were they trying to make another Robocop 3 or a new Superman for a new Generation? Cage also didn't take his self seriously and the long hair Superman kinda looked dumb especially as Clark Kent with a Mickey Mouse T-Shirt yeap he actually suggested that. Nic Cage is not a bad actor he just takes roles and bad movies because he doesn't care he even said that he loves every movie he has made they are like his children yeah sure Wicker Man was a masterpiece right? They even say that Big Companies screw up with big directors and not small unknown ones for instance take a look at BVS and Suicide Squad Warner Brothers took the goddamn films butchered them and even tho i enjoyed the hell out of BVS both cuts and i haven't seen Suicide Squad yet those people cut out important scenes like Superman or Clark Kent being an actual reporter and pretty much everything out of the Joker what i'm basically try to say is this don't be mad at the directors blame the companies Superman Lives could turn out to be a Success or a Disaster nobody will ever know but it still makes me wonder was this movie really such a big problem? Cause WB did say yes to Batman & Robin and Steel and guess what those 2 films turned out to be. Anyways make sure you check out The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? because it's a very fun Documentary about a film that never happened.

michael-3204 Low-budget but comprehensive documentary examination of the ill- fated 1990s attempt to reboot Superman. This is clearly a passion project of writer/director Jon Schnepp and it shows, for good and for ill. Schnepp's enthusiasm for the subject is infectious enough to carry us through what feels like an overlong film without too much drag. Somehow he managed to secure interviews with almost everyone important involved in the abandoned production, including would-be director Tim Burton, all three screenwriters who wrote and rewrote, Warner Bros. honcho Lorenzo di Bonaventura, costume designer Colleen Atwood, a large number of the technical artists who worked on the film's concepts, and most incredibly Jon Peters. Considering that screenwriter number one Kevin Smith has made a career trashing Peters over his involvement in what was supposed to be "Superman Lives," Peters is either brave or foolhardy for agreeing to participate.The most notable absence from the documentary is Nicholas Cage, who was cast as the Man of Steel and who we see only in archival footage of costume tests, but Schnepp has more than enough to work with. That is part of the problem -- this film presents more than anyone but the most obsessive fan boy would want to know about how the production progressed before it fell apart. It gets repetitive after the first hour and Schnepp isn't himself a dynamic enough filmmaker to keep it lively. The other problem is that, ultimately, despite some of the out-sized egos involved, there is no grand tale to tell here. "Superman Lives" died for perfectly sensible reasons, so this documentary ends on more of a whimper than a bang. While "The Death of Superman Lives" is catchier, this is really "The Short Life of Superman Lives" in that it gives us a good sense of what the film might ultimately have become, but doesn't really join the pantheon of fascinating tales of aborted projects.

Robert W. I mean no offence by the geeks crack. I'm a geek!! I love comics, I adore Superman (I'm a collector and have loved him since I was a boy) and I had really only heard rumblings and rumours about the Kevin Smith written and Nicholas Cage starring Superman movie that never made it off the ground. I think for a long time I assumed it was an urban legend of some kind and then pictures started circulating of Cage in the suit and I still didn't think much of it. If this documentary doesn't surprise you about anything else, it shocked me with how deep into production this movie was. I mean we are talking script completion, special effects, costumes, casting...everyone was on board and in the production stages and that is the best thing this film shows. It also shows how genuinely passionate everyone was about making this work. The idea was they wanted to make a whole new concept Superman that was completely out of the box. Honestly, I am certain that it would have bombed and mainstream audiences would have hated it and die-hard fans would have ripped it apart including me and yet this documentary made me WANT to see this movie. It is based on my personal favourite and I think one of the best comic series' and concepts ever and that was the death of Superman. The project was perhaps too ambitious for one film and too much outside of the box for anyone.Jon Schnepp isn't exactly a household name and yet he's been around for awhile and worked on some high profile projects. I believe this film was made due to some sort of public forum donation (Kickstarter or something like that) and great for them because its the only documentary on this subject and it is extremely thorough. If I were Schnepp I may have hired someone to be the "host" of the documentary because Schnepp is clearly passionate about this subject and he's obviously a geek himself but he is incredibly awkward in front of the camera and has a ton of nervous tics (that nod...could be turned into a horrifying drinking game. The man nods 1000 times per interview I am sure.) He seems to get more comfortable as the film progresses but not much. He does ask the right questions and covers the right areas but he himself is not a great presence in front of the camera.The thing for me that I came out of this doc surprised about besides how deep into it they were is that I actually want to see this movie now and that includes Nicholas Cage. My first thought was the same as everyone else...Nicholas Cage would be laughed off the screen. But in seeing the film, watching him in costume and listening to him talk...I began to actually envision him in the role. Now again this would be WAY outside of the box. This would be a total departure from any Superman we have seen before but I could see Cage doing it. Man of Steel (in my opinion) was a butchering of the original Superman concept so why not this? The work put into it would have been (and was extensive.) Alas all we have is this documentary which was fascinating and decently made for the audience intended. Anyone outside of geeks and comic fans will likely be bored with the subject matter and find creator Jon Schnepp even more awkward. Its worth a look for all of us geeks. 7/10