Superman the movie

[KenThompson]

Guess Peter Bracke liked this Blu ray movie and this is what he had to say The Video: Sizing Up the Picture


As photographed by Oscar-winner Geoffrey Unsworth, 'Superman: The Movie' is big, bold and bright, and the perfect realization of comic book movie style. But for years, Unsworth's work suffered from washed-out, murky video transfers, with nearly half of the expansive 2.40:1 frame cropped and the film's many effects shots riddled with dirt and grime. Not anymore. The restored 'Superman: The Movie' truly soars. Meticulously rehabbed, it's like watching a brand-new movie, with the Man of Steel's tights now the proper, glorious shade of red and blue. This is one of my favorite remasters of recent years, if only because it is such a quantum leap over what had come before.

Recently, 'Superman: The Movie' made its high-def debut on HDNet, and I've read various complaints around the web about those broadcasts -- that they were laced with artifacts and lacking detail. Such problems are typical of terrestrial HD with its limited bandwidth, so I'm not surprised. Thankfully, I found no such distractions with either this Blu-ray release or the HD DVD version. Motion artifacts and macroblocking are absent, and though the film does have an intentional soft-focus look, thanks to lots of diffusion filters and other optical trickery, it is still quite sharp and noticeably more detailed than the standard-def DVD remaster.

As for the restoration, it still looks terrific. The source print is near-pristine, blacks rich and consistent, and contrast strong without being overblown. Compared to the DVD, and especially if you are coming in blind having not seen 'Superman' for many years, detail is a revelation. Scenes that before appeared poorly shot and obscured by haze are now clear and three-dimensional. Colors are so bold it is hard to believe it is the same movie -- reds, blues and especially those Kryptonite greens now radiate with intensity, but don't bleed or smear. Sure, there is still some heavy grain during the optical shots, but that's 1978 technology -- and I, for one, am glad the restoration team did not overdo the clean-up and make the film look too artificial and digital. Really stunning stuff.

As for comparing the Blu-ray with the HD DVD, 'Superman: The Movie' is one of the first Blu-ray titles I've reviewed using the PlayStation 3 as my main Blu-ray player, and the results are typical of Warner's recent dual-format releases. Using the same master and codec, 'Superman' is presented here in 1080p/VC-1 video, identical to the HD DVD edition, and you'd be hard-pressed to spot a single difference. Though I used to find Blu-ray titles had a harsher, more artificial look when reviewing with the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player, I find the PS3 outputs a smoother, more pleasing image. Even VC-1 encoded titles (which I still think look a bit less hard than those encoded in MPEG-2) suffered from this a bit on past Warner Blu-ray releases. In any event, I fired four scenes of 'Superman: The Movie' on both formats via an A/B compare -- the opening credits, the end of the Smallville sequence, Superman and Lois' night flight and the big earthquake climax. No differences to report -- colors appeared identical, and the film equally sharp. Blacks were also nice and solid and contrast consistent.