In Memoriam 2018: Film, Television, Music, Sports, Literature, the Arts”¦

As we say hello to another year as 2019 still has that fresh paint on it that hasn’t dried yet, we also take the time to say one final goodbye to the luminaries of stage, screen, record, and more who touched us in many ways and will continue to till the end of eternity. A tip of the cap to the following:

Superman: The Movie
4K Ultra HD | Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Richard Donner
Written by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Robert Benton
Starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Valerie Perrine, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Phyllis Thaxter, Marc McClure
Warner Brothers
PG | 143 minutes
Release Date: November 5, 2018

This year celebrated the 80th anniversary of the creation of maybe the iconic comic character in American history, Superman. It’s also the 40th anniversary of the seminal film by Richard Donner that for many still holds up as the one true film version of Superman. Played by the late great Christopher Reeve, the film details the demise of alien planet Krypton as Jor-El, Oscar winner Marlon Brando sends his child off to planet Earth. Kal-El (Reeve) grows up to become mild mannered reporter Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, who must balance his time between wooing his colleague Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), and saving the world from the plans of corrupt tycoon Lex Luthor, (Gene Hackman). Now you can take the Man of Steel home with you on a brand new 4k Ultra Blu-Ray combo pack.

Margot Kidder, best known to legions of cinema-goers as Lois Lane in Christopher Reeve-starring Superman movies, died in her sleep on Sunday at her home in Montana, according to MSN. She was 69. At the time of this posting, the cause of death was not publicly disclosed.

Black Christmas
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Bob Clark
Screenwriter: A. Roy Moore
Cast: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 98 Minutes
Release Date: December 13, 2016

“Oh, why don’t you go find a wall socket and stick your tongue in it, that’ll give you a charge!”

Considered to be one of the first “slasher” films, 1974’s Black Christmas served as an influence for John Carpenter’s Halloween and has since become a cult classic. Directed by Bob Clark (Porky’s, A Christmas Story), the movie was inspired by a series of murders that took place in Montreal, and the urban legend “The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs.”

At a Christmas party at the Pi Kappa Sigma house, Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) receives an obscene phone call from “The Moaner,” a disturbed individual who has been calling the house. Jess and her sorority sisters Barb (Margot Kidder), Phyllis (Andrea Martin), and Clare (Lynne Griffin) listen in on the call. The feisty Barb provokes the caller, who responds by telling the girls that he is going to kill them.

When Superman: The Movie was first released on DVD in 2001 it came with three new documentaries that examined various aspects of the costly and complicated production in exhausting detail. Last November, Warner Bros. uploaded all three docs to their YouTube channel. You can watch them here below.

Each documentary features extensive interviews with many of the film’s surviving cast and crew members, including the late Christopher Reeve, as well as vintage behind-the-scenes footage, original screen tests for actors and actresses who tested for the roles of Superman and Lois Lane, and visual effects test footage. The first two are even hosted by Jimmy Olsen himself, Marc McClure.