Welcome to the new installment of Virgin Territory, the ongoing feature in which I watch a movie I've never seen before and talk about it with someone who loves it. Inspired by the recent flurry of news about Zack Snyder's forthcoming Superman: Man of Steel, plus the fact that the last two Virgin Territory picks had been pretty highbrow, I decided to tackle the last big remaining blank spot in my superhero movie knowledge: 1978's Superman: The Movie. The Richard Donner-directed film was the first example of what we know now as the modern supehero movie, and it's got everything--Marlon Brando's giant floating head offering advice in an ice palace, Gene Hackman swanning around in a sub-Grand Central lair as Lex Luthor, Margot Kidder's dynamite delivery as Lois Lane, and of course Christopher Reeve in his first starring role, and the one that would define him.
Joining me to talk it over and put it all in context was Matt Patches, who you may know from our podcast Operation Kino or his work at Next Movie, Film School Rejects and UGO. We picked a bench in Tompkins Square Park on the first nice day of spring to talk about whether the first 50 minutes of the movie are boring, how this film ties into the sequel, and whether or not Zack Snyder will make a movie that's at all similar. Check out our conversation below.
For more in the Virgin Territory series, you can watch me suffer the wrath of The Evil Dead with Eric Eisenberg here, pull out the tissues with Mike Ryan for Terms of Endearment here, or follow the money with James Rocchi here.
