Comic book movies - yay or nay?

[The_Lhc]

Just a thought, but are these types of movies a knock-on effect of the writers strike and lack of new material coming through? If you look at the comics and characters that have been around for a number of years, they have huge back stories which film makers can effectively pick and choose pieces from with which to make movies. There is obviously still screenplays / script writing to be done, but the core story and background are effectively there for the taking.

I think it's the usual story with Hollywood, a couple of film of genre X are successful (Spider-Man, Iron Man) and then everyone decides to have a go. It didn't really go crazy until those two succeeded, you'd already had stinkers like Daredevil and every attempt at The Punisher before that.

 

[The_Lhc]

Batman is my least favourite strangely, not got round to watching the last one.

I know what you mean I still haven't watched Rises, although I feel like I have thanks to the Bristol Show this year and as much as I liked Begins and TDK I've never watched them again since the first time I saw them.

Mind you I still haven't seen Man of Steel or Iron Man 3 yet, I do take a while to get round to these things, I bought Kick-Ass on blu-ray months ago and still haven't opened it. The missus won't want to watch that one though, even if it has got John Lennon in it.

 

[Paul.]

Yes!

Loved Spawn!

I just wish they spent less money rendering Spawn's cape and more money on everything else

 

[fr0g]

Batman is my least favourite strangely, not got round to watching the last one.

I know what you mean I still haven't watched Rises, although I feel like I have thanks to the Bristol Show this year and as much as I liked Begins and TDK I've never watched them again since the first time I saw them.

Mind you I still haven't seen Man of Steel or Iron Man 3 yet, I do take a while to get round to these things, I bought Kick-Ass on blu-ray months ago and still haven't opened it. The missus won't want to watch that one though, even if it has got John Lennon in it.

Kick-Ass is probably the best of the lot! And the missus will love it!

 

[fr0g]

Just a thought, but are these types of movies a knock-on effect of the writers strike and lack of new material coming through? If you look at the comics and characters that have been around for a number of years, they have huge back stories which film makers can effectively pick and choose pieces from with which to make movies. There is obviously still screenplays / script writing to be done, but the core story and background are effectively there for the taking.

I think it's the usual story with Hollywood, a couple of film of genre X are successful (Spider-Man, Iron Man) and then everyone decides to have a go. It didn't really go crazy until those two succeeded, you'd already had stinkers like Daredevil and every attempt at The Punisher before that.

I watched Daredevil, bought the DVD and have watched at least 5 or 6 times. LOVE IT !

Don't get me wrong, it isn't a great film. But there's just something about it that keeps me coming back. I found the same with A.I. too which most people hated

 

[The_Lhc]

Batman is my least favourite strangely, not got round to watching the last one.

I know what you mean I still haven't watched Rises, although I feel like I have thanks to the Bristol Show this year and as much as I liked Begins and TDK I've never watched them again since the first time I saw them.

Mind you I still haven't seen Man of Steel or Iron Man 3 yet, I do take a while to get round to these things, I bought Kick-Ass on blu-ray months ago and still haven't opened it. The missus won't want to watch that one though, even if it has got John Lennon in it.

Kick-Ass is probably the best of the lot!

It'll have to go some to beat Dredd, that's currently my favourite, even with the flaws (which are mainly down to the Mega-city setting but that's more of a budgetary constraint really).

And the missus will love it!

Trust me she won't, she hates all of that stuff, I have to watch them when she's out, which explains why it takes me so long to catch up with everyone else.

 

[The_Lhc]

I watched Daredevil, bought the DVD and have watched at least 5 or 6 times. LOVE IT !

Don't get me wrong, it isn't a great film. But there's just something about it that keeps me coming back. I found the same with A.I. too which most people hated

I haven't watched A.I all the way through, I really should. Mark Kermode did a complete 180 on it, hated it originally but watched it again some time later and had a completely different reaction to it, even so far as to formally apologise to Spielberg for his original review, so there must be something worth seeing there.

 

[Oldboy]

I haven't watched A.I all the way through, I really should. Mark Kermode did a complete 180 on it, hated it originally but watched it again some time later and had a completely different reaction to it, even so far as to formally apologise to Spielberg for his original review, so there must be something worth seeing there.

Definately worth watching A.I and I even went as far as to buy the blu ray when it came out as I do like it quite a bit. It's a strange movie and looks it's age a little now in comparison to more modern movies but I've still watched the bluary 2 or 3 times since I bought it, all in all a great movie although it would have been better if Kubrick was alive to make it as originally planned but Spielberg done a fine job none the less.

 

[The_Lhc]

I'll take a punt on it then, I expect you pick it up quite cheaply now.

 

[fr0g]

Mark Kermode

At that point on the TV, radio or magazine I turn over...

 

[The_Lhc]

Mark Kermode

At that point on the TV, radio or magazine I turn over...

Eh? Funniest man on radio!

 

[Alantiggger]

I quite like/love most of the comic hero movies per say.... great escapism

yay, for me... I heard Batman and Superman are to star in an upcoming movie (year or two away though).... right up my street ! :dance:

Can't quite work out folk who don't like escapism films ?

As for Mark Kermode ... each to their own eh ?

Some folk love a certain 'type' of movie..... I quite like most

 

[mr malarky]

Love these films generally.

Batman trilogy was brilliant, I know some people felt "rises" was a bit of an anti-climax but only if you were expecting a remake of TDK - TDK was different to 'Begins', and 'Rises' was different to TDK, as a film in its own right and as a conclusion to a trilogy I think 'rises' works really well.

Avengers film generated the most laughter I've heard in a cinema for a long time, and in a good way (THOR v Hulk, Iron Man constantly winding up Banner etc).

Preferred Incredible Hulk to Hulk, just felt that 'Incredible' was closer in tone to, and more faithful to, the original series.

Man Of Steel was great for 90 minutes, but to be honest I did get bored of watching people getting punched through sky-scrapers over and over again (which is always the problem with superman, as L_hC says, how do you generate a sense of drama with a character who's indestructible without the green rock being thrown in, again - in Man Of Steel they struggled towards the end, as every time it looked like he was 'losing' a fight all he had to do was look a bit cross, give a big roar, and suddenly he'd be winning again..).

Think Bryan Singer deserves huge credit for the quality of recent superhero films, without X-Men would we be enjoying any of these films right now? It was Singer's X-Men that showed everyone it was possible to make an intelligent, character-driven film about superheroes.

If anyone wants to see a decent scrap between batman and superman your best bet is to check out the animated version of the original Dark Knight Returns graphic novel - available on BluRay from amazon, and its a very faithful recreation of the book.