The Super Network

Every week the people of Super Website (Super Blog) will give you a recommendation of a Film, DVD, Bluray, Book, Soundtrack or any other item for you the readers to check out.

Super Marcey Recommends:

Superman The Movie

I am as anti-Valentine’s as it comes, I think the day itself is rubbish, and just a cash grab. But since we’re stuck with it, might as well celebrate it my own way.

My way would be with some action or martial arts film, as far away as romantic as possible. However instead of being completely heartless, I thought I’d recommend one of my favourite films and one that certainly fits the mold with romantic but also suits me with action. Superman the Movie is a classic, it may even be my favourite film based on a comic book. For me this is perfection, everything about this, they got right. The script is really solid, and it not only tells an origin story but it takes off into something else, something that really just completes what and who Superman is.

The casting is exactly as it should be, no one has ever been able to match Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent and Superman (Brandon Routh came close, but he was a far better Clark than Supes). He is perfect, he understood exactly what he needed to do, and he convincing with Clark and Superman being two different people. Margo Kidder was the perfect Lois, embodying everything about the character, it is easy to fall for her just like our hero does. And who could forget Gene Hackman was Lex Luthor, a great role and a memorable performance. Of course everyone else is fantastic, and I love every second of this film.

It will make you believe a man can fly …

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Logan J. Fowler Recommends:

One Fine Day

Ok, so, I’m gonna say it: This is my favorite straight up romantic comedy. Even a chick flick, if you will. I caught this movie once on cable and it was love at first sight. Now I pine away to pick it up on DVD.

Anyway the movie stars George Clooney pre Oscar mode (and before he butchered the Batman franchise for good) and Michelle Pfeiffer (honestly, I think she is super cute in this movie, she’s never looked better to me) as two single parents destined for each other. Each of their children attend the same school and one (fine?) day they are supposed to go on a field trip. Melanie (Pfeiffer) has arranged to pick up Jack’s (Clooney) daughter Maggie (Mae Whitman, who would go on to become the butt of jokes in Arrested Development and kick butt in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) but Jack leaves with his child anyway, making her and Melanie’s son Sammy (Alex D. Linz) miss the trip entirely. They two adults scatter back and forth taking care of both kids, but really, it’s one of those scenarios where the kids act like adults and the adults act like kids. The banter between Pfeiffer and Clooney is priceless, and the child actors in Whitman and Linz are absolutely adorable.

In addition, I like how the movie ends. It’s sugary sweet, although not in a cliche way, but you kind of can guess how the movie wraps up. It’s called One Fine Day, after all, not One Bad Day. In any case, I love this movie. You should watch it with someone special. Happy Valentine’s Day yo!

| IMDB | Purchase on DVD |

Bede Jermyn Recommends:

Once

Now I’m not ashamed to admit that I like romance films. Whether they be big budgeted Hollywood films (TITANIC, MOULIN ROUGE, THE NOTEBOOK etc.) or smaller independent films (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, BEFORE SUNRISE & BEFORE SUNSET etc.), if the romance at the heart of it gets to me then the film has succeeded.

With Valentine’s Day upon us I’ve decided for my latest recommendation I’d pick one of my personal favourite romantic films, which happens to be the 2007 film ONCE. The film tells the story of an unnamed singer/guitarist (Glen Hansard, who is the lead singer the Irish band The Frames), who spends his spare time busking of the streets of Dublin in order to earns some extra money when isn’t working in his Father’s vacuum cleaner shop. One night his life changes when he meets a young unnamed Czech immigrant woman (Marketa Irglova), who sells flowers in the same street that he busks on every day. When they start to get to know each other, he discovers she also has the same passion for music and he tells her his dream of moving to London to become a famous musician. She decides to help him with raising some money to record a demo CD and as well as to help him co-wrote some songs. Over the course of a week they write, rehearse and record their music, they start to develop feelings for each other.

This is an absolutely terrific and beautifully made romantic/musical film that I adored from beginning to end. Writer/director John Carney has crafted a film that has a lot of heart and soul. Both Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are absolutely wonderful in their roles. They both have real genuine chemistry together and their potential romance felt very real and honest (it’s no wonder they actually became a couple in real life). However one thing that stood out the most for me from this film was its soundtrack. If you’re going to make a film that relies on music to tell its story, you better have some pretty damn good songs for it. Luckily all the songs in the film (which were written by either stars Hansard & Irglova) are all fantastic, each one is beautifully written and performed by its two leads (the stand out song, of course, being the sublime “Falling Slowly”. It deservedly won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2007). Also the film has an absolutely moving and bittersweet ending which, I’m not afraid to admit, actually made me cry. There is so much I could say about ONCE but I will say if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favour and check this film right away. To me it’s definitely one of best romance films made in the last couple of years and hopefully you’ll feel the same way to after you have seen it too. Once you do, buy the soundtrack as well. You won’t regret it.

| IMDB | Purchase on DVD | Purchase on Blu-ray |

Garrett Collins Recommends:

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Valentine’s Day. A day of either happiness, sadness, or anger. If like me, you are deciding to stay in and watch a movie on this very polarizing day, why not make it a movie that makes you feel all three of these emotions, and more? After The Majestic, I really had given up on Jim Carrey in drama. Yeah, the Andy Kaufman movie Man On The Moon showed he had some range, as did The Truman Show (a movie I find to be overrated myself), but it wasn’t until Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that I found him to be a character to identify with. I think that everybody has that somebody in their lives that, you just wish you could erase from your mind, and get rid of them forever. Not necessarily because you hate them, but because you do not want to think about what their loss means to you.

The film is about a troubled couple’s decision within themselves to go through a procedure that erases the memory of their relationship. However, it is as they go through it that they both discovered what it is that they are losing. Not only is it Winslet and Carrey’s best roles to date (Winslet said in a recent Empire Magazine article that it is still her favorite role to date), but Charlie Kaufman shows other reasons as to why he is such a brilliant writer. He really has a knack for making who were once intolerable actresses tolerable, as 1999’s Being John Malkovich is still Cameron Diaz’s best performance of her career, and this made Kristen Dunst more than tolerable for a couple hours. But, he came up with a brilliant plot device to show Winslet’s point of time within the relationship she was in. He had her dye her hair the colors of blue, orange, red, green, and brown. This helps the viewer keep track of what point of time they are in, as the film does jump around a lot. This film really hit Carrey and Winslet’s career in stride, and they have never seemed more, well, human, than in these roles. Highly, highly recommended.

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