Showbits

Oscar nominations were announced today.

Unsurprisingly, considering my ignorance of the Golden Globe nominees, I find few candidates for whom I can root, except that I will again endorse Cars for best animated film. United 93 I saw most of, but the style of camera work had the same effect on me here as it did in The Blair Witch Project: nausea. I had to excuse myself from the theater, barring me from favorable commentary on the film's technical achievements. Little Miss Sunshine was a great film — I'm still fairly new to Stee Carell's work — but best motion picture of the year? Perhaps its candidacy reflects more on poor competition than any personal accomplishment.

And finally: an acknowledgment for Superman Returns.

What are your predictions?

Released late last month was The Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition, containing 14 discs that detail every microsecond of the Man of Steel's existence, from his appearance in Action Comics #1 in 1938 to his silver screen revival in 2006 (which I don't understand how some people thought was a remake – duh).

Clearly not thinking, I eschewed this bounty, instead opting to buy Superman Returns (2-Disc Special Edition) and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut separately. I already have the Fleischer cartoons and the four-disc Superman box set released, what, six years ago now? as well as the Look! Up in the Sky (fantastic) documentary, released back in June. Why pay to get all that stuff again?

For the two items I bought last month, I paid the lowest I could: $35 total from Amazon.com. IOW, I got three discs for $35 when I could've gotten the ultimate tin of 14 discs for twice that ($70, for those of you reaching for your calculators). And if I already had seven of the discs, that's still seven more – $10/disc – I could've gotten.

Super-hindsight super-sucks.

Here's someone else's review of the new Superman II.

Did anyone else pick up any of Superman's multiple returns to home video?