TheRetroCritic

There's a reason why both Superman reboots, Superman Returns and  Man Of Steel , have both referenced this sequel heavily. Several reasons, in fact. For one: Superman III and Superman IV weren't very good. Also... Zod. If there's one thing I never really enjoyed in those old Superman movies, it was Gene Hackman's goofball take on Lex Luthor. His wacky cartoon sidekicks and his lack of a genuinely threatening character always felt off to me. So when Zod and his pals showed up in Superman II and hijacked the movie, I was over the moon. Finally, we had some worthy villains for Superman to battle and on that level, the film didn't disappoint. Though good old Luthor still stuck around in a positively unnecessary subplot where you see him break out of prison and basically tell Zod where to go and what to do. It's funny to think that Hackman didn't even technically return for this movie (his scenes were originally shot by Richard Donner). Luckily, Ter

The first film to really make superhero flicks into something genuinely big and epic, Superman: The Movie  is the classic that made Christopher Reeve into a star overnight, spawned 3 more sequels plus a slick modern homage not to mention made Superman into the iconic cinematic hero we all know him as. But how does it stand up today? Well, back in the day and even when I watched it as a kid, Superman was pure popcorn entertainment: it looked great, John Williams' score was, of course, amazing, and the whole thing was light, fun, creative and unique. From the Krypton opening where we meet Marlon Brando's light-suit-wearing Jor-El to the heroic time reversal at the end (I'll get to that one...) it was vintage comic book nonsense and I loved it. Hell, I was such a fan I even sat through Supergirl AND the Superboy TV series not to mention that corny 90's Lois & Clark show, all of which I dug completely and all because director Richard Donner once told us "Yo