At the Movies, with Siskel & Ebert, 1984-Supergirl

[blinkzone1]

I'm still waiting for that great female superhero picture.

[UFOSPACE1999]

SUPERSUCK!!!! SUPERSUCK!!! SUPERHURL!!!!

[dbreiden83080]

I disagree about Helen Slater thought she was perfectly cast.. But yeah the movie is bad..

[LazerDude99]

this is my secound most haited super hero movie only to batman and robin

[Lotmeister]

"Supergirl" proved the Salkinds were wrong and Richard Donner was right about how to handle these films. The Salkinds wanted to go with the campy, over-the-top spirit of the 1960s "Batman" TV series, while Donner wanted to play it straight with a touch of humor. The Salkinds won out and the movies got progressively worse. This could have been a franchise on par with "Star Wars", instead it went downhill immediately after the first film.

[Johnlindsey289]

Helen Slater was hot in this movie but i kind of liked it even in it's director's cut. It's better than Superman 4.

[TheEvilelvis89]

not a good film, but entertaining for what it is. plus, the chick who played supergirl was HOT

[GusF]

Everything about this film is mediocre at best and downright awful at worst. It has or at least should have a great cast but none of them are the least bit believable in their roles. It wastes the talent of Faye Dunaway, Peter Cook, Peter O'Toole (clearly meant to be the Marlon Brando to this film's "Superman"), Mia Farrow, Simon Ward, etc. It's hard to believe that this film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who also directed the absolutely enchanting and frankly brilliant "Somewhere in Time".

[pladampa]

Helen Slater was fucking banging as supergirl!

[LBF522]

First of all, people need to stop comparing Supergirl to Superman.  They have different back stories and histories.

[drumtum]

Want to see a desent female cartoon hero? Check out the french classic Gwendoline. Be sure to watch the uncut version. Great entertainment with faboulus women.

[Crudblud89]

Female superhero films could work, it just happens that most of them are designed purely as cheap cash-ins on popular franchises and so are made without a shred of artistry. A Catwoman movie would be great as long as they actually made a Catwoman movie and not "Look at Halle Berry's Body: The Movie."

[LBF522]

@Crudblud89 Love your assesstment.

[Panorama1981]

I didn't mind Supergirl or Red Sonja.

[AngryAgain]

i wish someone would make a Wonder Woman movie, that would work.

Supergirl was awful.

[83phatman]

Best part of this movie was Helen Slater. Sadly, the movie sucked very bad.

[feetler]

Supergirl did suck big time. It was just simply bad. Maybe the Salkinds needed another Superman movie, but, ran out of things to do with old Supe, so, they decided to put him in a dress and call him Supergirl. I don't know. This film impressed me a little when I was a kid. But, now that I think about it, the movie was like an extremely bad egg. Just rotten to the core.

[666iknow]

'Supergirl' is one of my all time fave bad flicks...it's hilariously silly, so much fun...plus Slater was GORGEOUS and did a very good job in the title role...a shame people can't just enjoy a great 'bad movie'...they are SO much fun!!

[Patrick200717]

I'm glad they thought Supergirl was disappointing. It really sucked.

[greenmachine13]

They ARE good female superhero comics that appeal to both guys and girls. The problem is Hollywood doesn't know how to adapt them properly. Gail Simone's Birds of Prey was great, as was Darwyn Cooke's work on Catwoman. But when they try to adapt them into tv/films, they fail miserably.

But to be fair, the Supergirl comics do generally suck.

[yellowcougar18]

@greenmachine13

I remember reading an article about Bill Tucci (I may have the name wrong) in regards to his character "Shi". The character is Asian, but when he tried to make a deal with the studios in regards to a film, they wanted to cast Jennifer Lopez in the role.

I agree, there are strong female heroes, only problem is hollywood messes it up. Just look at Tank Girl, Barb Wire, Catwoman, Supergirl or other fictional characters like Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. BOP was awful too.

[Wellch]

The movie was poorly written and the plot stunk.

The writers were too scared to make her too physical.

[idgarad]

The failure of female super heroes has always been that the majority of people who will go see a super-hero film are males. How do you write a good super-hero file with a woman, that the audience (mostly men) are going to relate to? Doesn't happen. You'll get good female super heroes once you get good female super hero comics that have a large female following. They tried with Electra, the really tried... and failed...

[yellowcougar18]

@idgarad

If Elektra was trying, then I'd hate to see them on a lazy day.

Elektra was an awful film, even Jennifer whatsher name hated it.

[Headbanger142]

Not to be sexist or anything, but female superhero movies just don't work. This movie, Catwoman and several others are just trash.

[Sifinland]

barbarella was awesome

[justwannawatchvids]

They work in comic books but yeah, their movies aren't very good.

[UdoShan]

Most Female Hero movies don't work because they are poorly written.If you did this to any Superman movie, it'd be as bad as "Supergirl". Case in point: Superman 4!

[pytko3]

@UdoShan I have to agree. Female superheros have alot of potential to be great, but in most media, their writers just cement them into an eternal waste.

[Bloodsport1]

@pytko3 I know this is far-fetch but but what about Kill Bill. Not a superhero persa but she did kick ass.

[pytko3]

@Bloodsport1 More of a costumed adventurer, but a rare exception. Kicking ass isn't enough for an action hero, there needs to be depth and soul to match. Kill Bill din't quite have that, but came close.

[Bloodsport1]

@pytko3 I agree with the part about depth and soul.

[BigDickMcGirk]

@UdoShan Case in point Superman 3, Spider-Man 3...Buffy is a super hero!

[UdoShan]

@BigDickMcGirk

Good point. Buffy WAS a superhero, but worked a lot better in the TV show than the movie. Superman 3 was rather doo doo-rific, redeemed ONLY by Richard Pryor.

I STILL don't think Spider-man 3 was that bad, but the first two were significantly better.

[dedbusted]

Sexist? that's not a sexist statement...if anything, female superheroes themselves are sexist creations--look at how they make women in comics look...total exaggerations of the female form.

[Rbatty2]

I thought the X-Men films were good, the female characters were teamed up with males but still that counts I think.

[Heegoop]

@Headbanger142 I could agree on this halfway but a Wonder Woman movie would work. Now I know that Supergirl and Catwoman didn't work and we could all agree that Batgirl or Spidergirl wouldn't work.

[Capt777harris]

@Headbanger142 They can, there just haven't been any good ones. Like Siskel and Ebert were saying, the Salkinds were just cashing in on their property, and creating something that they knew had to have a quick turnaround. The result is that you have this movie which is pure silliness and no heart.\

[NotNamedJones]

@Headbanger142 thats because female superheroes largely pander to male fantasies, which can't be made or dealt with on big budget, pg-13 standards.

[dbreiden83080]

@Headbanger142

Comic book movies don't work when they are not taken seriously.. Too many of them have been made as cheesy parodies with bad direction and poor casts. Done right you get Batman 1989 and Dark Knight, Superman the Movie, Iron Man. Done wrong you get Batman and Robin, Superman 3 and Fantastic Four.. It works when the material is not made fun of.. It is embraced as reality..

[joevictor53]

@dbreiden83080 Not necessarily. What about Batman from the 1960s?

[ravenselene]

@Headbanger142 They could work with some more effort put into them. The animated Wonder Woman movie was pretty good. Catwoman could have been good if they put alittle more into the plot and didn't make it look like a cosmetics comercial.