MOVIES YOU SHOULD SEE:
RECOMMENDED VIEWING LIST
PLEASE SEE BELOW A LIST OF RECOMMENDED COMICS-RELATED MOVIES.
THIS LIST COMPRISES SOME OF MY PERSONAL FAVOURITES WHICH MAY NOT BE TO EVERYONE'S TASTE ...
BUT LET THEM DO THEIR OWN LISTS ON THEIR OWN WEBSITES!!!
THIS LIST COMPRISES SOME OF MY PERSONAL FAVOURITES WHICH MAY NOT BE TO EVERYONE'S TASTE ...
BUT LET THEM DO THEIR OWN LISTS ON THEIR OWN WEBSITES!!!
SUPER HEROES
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE (JOSS WHEDON - 2012)
Following on from Marvel's successful (and mostly excellent!) solo outings for The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor this film sees Marvel's Mightiest Heroes unite to take down a Horde of Alien Baddies, led by Loki (God of Evil and/or Mischief and/or Sly One-Liners!). Whedon masterfully juggles the different characters and mythologies to pull off the almost-impossible feat of a cracking action movie that broke box office records across the globe - As well as finally getting a cinematic Hulk to work after two so-so attempts. Terrific fun! 2015's Age Of Ultron is a bit muddled with a lot going on and too many characters to keep track of, but still enjoyable.
X-MEN (BRYAN SINGER - 2000)
Marvel's Merry Mutants have been at the top of the comics pile for decades but were a tough sell on the big screen ... At least until SFX technology caught up with the printed page. Singer provides the template for many of the Marvel Movies: excellent casting coupled with a respectful approach to the source material. In this case, he rightly concentrates on misfit Wolverine (a career-making turn from Hugh Jackman) as he joins the team to battle Magneto and his "evil" Brotherhood. X2 was a classy sequel but let's draw a veil over Brett Ratner's 2006 X3 The Last Straw and the overcrowded X-Men Origins Wolverine. Matthew Vaughan pulled the series back from the brink with 2011's
X-Men First Class and Wolvie's 2nd solo outing was a big improvement. Singer was back on board for 2014's "X-Cellent" time-twisting X-Men Days Of Future Past and the latest X-Men Apocalypse.
X-Men First Class and Wolvie's 2nd solo outing was a big improvement. Singer was back on board for 2014's "X-Cellent" time-twisting X-Men Days Of Future Past and the latest X-Men Apocalypse.
THE DARK KNIGHT (CHRISTOPHER NOLAN - 2008)
There have been many film versions of DC's Caped Crusader, from 1940's serials to Tim Burton's gothic take (via the 60's uber-camp of Adam West!). While each of these approaches have something to offer it seems that Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy has struck a nerve with people, particularly Heath Ledger's posthumous Oscar-winning portrayal of psychotic anarchist The Joker in this middle installment. Personally, I like a little more fun with my super heroes and found this all a little heavy-going. But the main thing about Batman is that he's open to many different interpretations - just look at all the variations in DC's Elseworlds series!
SPIDER-MAN (SAM RAIMI - 2002)
Raimi's kinetic style and Toby Maguire's spot-on casting were a perfect fit for Marvel's Web-Slinger. Wilem Dafoe is a maniac's maniac as the raving Norman Osborn/Green Goblin but Kirsten Dunst fails to capture the essence of Spidey's sweetheart Mary-Jane Watson. The CGI is pretty clunky in places but the overall energy carries it through. The sequels have some stand-out action sequences but the essence of Spider-Man has always been Peter Parker ... and he's none more Parker than in this first outing. Andrew Garfield has a valiant try in Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man franchise reboot (2012) and its sequel (2014) but falls at the first hurdle by unmasking for the first girl to flutter her eyelids in his direction! Now it looks like our Friendly Neighbourhood Wall-Crawler is web-swinging his way in a bold new direction as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following on from his scene-stealing appearance in Captain America Civil War!
SUPERMAN (RICHARD DONNER - 1978)
"You'll Believe A Man Can Fly!" ran this classic's advertising campaign. What's more, you believed that Christopher Reeves' Superman stood for "Truth, Justice and The American Way!" This is the (Great?) Grandaddy of the current crop of Super Hero Movies and uses the formula that Marvel have capitalised on since 2000's X-Men . . .
Get the casting right and treat your characters with respect! Considering this is a DC property it's a pity that their recent filmic output hasn't followed these golden rules. But it's not just Supes himself - Donner doesn't skimp on the human element, making you believe in bumbling alter-ego Clark Kent, plucky reporter Lois Lane and evil genius Lex Luthor. There's an excellent all-out city-trashing fight with Super-Baddies in the sequel (partially directed by the subsequently-sacked Mr Donner) and Brandon Routh certainly looks the part in 2006's slow-moving Superman Returns, but 2013's Man Of Steel seems to have taken The Dark Knight's mean and moody veneer too much to heart, spilling over into the grim Batman VS Superman : Dawn Of Justice.
Get the casting right and treat your characters with respect! Considering this is a DC property it's a pity that their recent filmic output hasn't followed these golden rules. But it's not just Supes himself - Donner doesn't skimp on the human element, making you believe in bumbling alter-ego Clark Kent, plucky reporter Lois Lane and evil genius Lex Luthor. There's an excellent all-out city-trashing fight with Super-Baddies in the sequel (partially directed by the subsequently-sacked Mr Donner) and Brandon Routh certainly looks the part in 2006's slow-moving Superman Returns, but 2013's Man Of Steel seems to have taken The Dark Knight's mean and moody veneer too much to heart, spilling over into the grim Batman VS Superman : Dawn Of Justice.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (JAMES GUNN - 2014)
The Who? Marvel's highest-grossing blockbuster yet features a celestial's head worth of heroes that you've probably never heard of ... Starlord (a displaced Earthman), Drax (a humourless tattooed killing machine), Gamorra (a green-skinned assassin), Rocket (a talking, gun-toting racoon) and Groot
(a walking tree!). Employing the light-hearted, fast-quipping style of Joss Whedon's Avengers Assemble and a universe-destroying macguffin, Gunn delivers a rollicking space romp to a classic 70's/80's soundtrack. DC only need to watch this to realise that "grim and gritty" is not where it's at ... and put the "FUN" back into their Comic Book Movies!
(a walking tree!). Employing the light-hearted, fast-quipping style of Joss Whedon's Avengers Assemble and a universe-destroying macguffin, Gunn delivers a rollicking space romp to a classic 70's/80's soundtrack. DC only need to watch this to realise that "grim and gritty" is not where it's at ... and put the "FUN" back into their Comic Book Movies!
SUPER WEIRDOES
HELLBOY (GUILLERMO DEL TORO - 2004)
The Beast of the Apocalypse, summoned to Earth by Rogue Nazi Occultists to usher in the destructive reign of Lovecraftian Elder Gods . . . It hardly sounds like your regular comic hero romp - And it's not! Hellboy is a bright red demon and paranormal investigator, partnered with psychic amphibian Abe Sapien and pyrokinetic love interest Liz Sherman. He is forced to combat his destiny and the supernatural forces commanded by Rah-Rah-Rasputin (Russia's Famous Love Machine) with little more than a big gun, a few wise cracks and a large stone fist (the mysterious Right Hand of Doom!). Del Toro shows a lightness of touch that belies the apocalyptic overtones, focussing on the characters and a tongue in cheek script. It's a hard sell for the marketing department and you can practically see them falling over themselves to come up with a catchy tagline ... and failing miserably! 2008's sequel had more weird creatures than Tim Burton could shake a sketchbook at, but the characterisation seemed a little off to me. No matter what he looks like, Hellboy is just a working stiff ... Only his job is punching out the strangest creatures to emerge from the netherworld and beyond!
GHOST WORLD (TERRY ZWIGOFF - 2001)
Zwigoff's engaging feature debut is based on Dan Clowes' graphic novel about two girls adjusting to life after high school. Thora Birch (Enid) and Scarlett Johansson (Rebecca) are pitch perfect as the directionless Gen-Xers - It's great to see Johansson play a gawky teen before becoming the Hollywood sex symbol we know today. As is de rigeur for any US Indy movie there's a (great) appearance from Steve Buscemi as Enid's love interest. Zwigoff's script was nominated for an Oscar and he went on to collaborate with Clowes on 2006's well-received
Art School Confidential.
Art School Confidential.
WATCHMEN (ZACK SNYDER - 2009)
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons' "unfilmable" graphic novel gets a pretty faithful adaptation from Snyder who cut his comic geek teeth on Frank Miller's 300 (2007) . None of the cast were household names, thus avoiding the "Hollywood Star Syndrome" of many comic-related movies. Snyder doesn't shy away from the adult themes - there's plenty of sex and violence on show, along with the strong anti-heroic mood and we even get a big blue full frontal from Dr. Manhattan! In fact, many of the more successful sequences involve the good doctor (clothed or otherwise!) and his unique view of the Watchmen universe. Unfortunately, much of the symmetry, synchronicity and serendipity of the book is lost, but Snyder has captured part of the multi-layered narrative approach with an animated version of
The Black Freighter comic-within-a-comic and mockumentary Under The Hood (both available on a separate DVD).
The Black Freighter comic-within-a-comic and mockumentary Under The Hood (both available on a separate DVD).
BARBARELLA (ROGER VADIM - 1968)
French Science Fiction meets Pop Art in the Swinging Sixties with a huge dollop of sexual liberation thrown in. Jane Fonda's intergalactic peace agent lands on an alien world searching for a lost scientist. Her mission leads her into a series of erotic adventures (everything from blind angels to orgasmic torture devices!) and outre costume changes before it all explodes in lava lamp special effects. A kitsch classic with Fonda's "Sex Kitten Dial" turned all the way up to ELEVEN! Also check out Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik for a similar Eurotrash approach to the comic book movie.
SIN CITY (ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, FRANK MILLER & QUENTIN TARANTINO - 2005)
Probably the most faithful comics adaptation you'll ever see as the pages of Frank Miller's comic book noir literally come to life under one-man-film-studio Rodriguez. He's a hands-on filmmaker, often writing, directing and producing his own films - even doing the special effects and film scores. He co-directs with Miller himself and Tarantino (whose previous collaborations include the terrific gangster/vampire mash-up From Dusk Till Dawn), but it's Miller's jet black humour and graphic style that dominate. Like the comics, this is presented in stark black and white with vivid splashes of colour: red lipstick here, blue eyes there, a yellow bastard right in front of you. And yet, for all the hard-boiled action, you can see that Rodriguez' tongue is firmly in his cheek - the fetishisation of the female characters is matched with cars, weapons, martial arts and ultra-violence - the sense of fun is what comes across most. It may not be to everyone's taste but, for those who can see past some of the (admittedly questionable) genre trappings, there's a rollicking good time to be had. There's more of the same (maybe too much more!) in the 2014 sequel but it doesn't have the same freshness and much of the cast are visibly a good decade older!
KICK-ASS (MATTHEW VAUGHAN - 2010)
Comic writer Mark Millar has made something of a career out of cutting-edge takes on modern super-heroes - his Avengers-revamp The Ultimates has been a massive influence on Marvel's movie output, right down to the "comics-casting" of Samuel L. Jackson as SHIELD Head Honcho Nick Fury! In this tale of self-made vigilantes, Millar asks the question "Why does everybody want to be Paris Hilton and not Spider-Man?". Probably because you'll wind up the local mob boss and have to be rescued by a scene-stealing, C-bomb dropping, ninja school girl. Vaughan draws excellent performances from his leads Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Platz as teen nerds turned arch-rivals Kick-Ass and Red Mist, but they are consistently trumped by Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl! There's able support from Mark Strong and Nicolas Cage, plus a completely over the top Matrix-style shoot out at the big finale. Obviously enjoying his first dip into Comic Book Movie waters, Vaughan went on to direct X-Men First Class and worked with Millar on Kingsman: The Secret Service. Probably best to avoid 2013's Kick-Ass 2 which ramps up the violence but without the tongue-in-cheek humour and originality of the first.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD (EDGAR WRIGHT - 2010)
Probably the best Manga/Gaming/Rock Band movie mash-up ever! The plot has 20-something slacker Scott Pilgrim battling his new girlfriend's Seven Evil Exes to win her heart. Michael Cera is probably slightly miscast in a title role that calls for a dumb pretty boy but everyone else looks as though they've stepped right out of Bryan Lee O'Malley's 6 volume graphic novel series! Excellent cameos from ex-superheroes Brandon Routh and Chris Evans plus an evil turn from Jason Schwarztman, coupled with a poundingly-punkish Beck soundtrack, add up to a tremendously entertaining movie. Disappointing box office only adds to its imminent cult classic status.
near misses
V FOR VENDETTA (James McTeague - 2005)
Many of Comics Legend Alan Moore's creations have been turned into movies - with varying degrees of success. This one is a fairly standard action flick with some "contemporary" anti-establishment murmurings that falls far short of the emotional impact of Moore & David Lloyd's seminal graphic novel. It also changes the basic premise from the intriguing "V could be anyone" to the more confusing "Everyone is V!"
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GREEN LANTERN (Martin Campbell - 2011)Where did it all go wrong for DC? Ryan Reynolds is perfect superhero material (as evidenced by his sterling turn in 2016's Deadpool!) and Director Campbell successfully relaunched James Bond twice (with both Brosnan AND Craig's first outings!), plus reinvented Zorro for modern audiences, but something here fell flat. A confusing script, awful CGI costumes and lame CGI villain overwhelm Reynold's charisma and Campbell's professionalism. Unfortunately, Lantern's failure seems to have cemented DC's decision to make ALL their films as dark and depressing as possible ... such as 2016's grim and grimy Batman VS Superman.
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BATMAN RETURNS (Tim Burton - 1992)The best of the dark and gothic Burton-era movies with an amazing performance from Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and a genuinely chilling turn from Danny DeVito as The Penguin. While Michael Keaton is excellent as brooding playboy Bruce Wayne, he doesn't inhabit the Bat Suit as commandingly as one might hope. As always with Tim Burton, the visuals are sumptuous but the plotting and scripting leave a lot to be desired.
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EPIC FAILS
the league of extraordinary gentlemen (stephen norrington - 2003)
What a confused muddle of a movie! It seemed as though no-one involved could agree on how
best to adapt Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's graphic novel featuring the greatest characters
of Victorian literature. The Director (Norrington) fell out with the Star (Sean Connery playing Allan Quartermain as a geriatric James Bond!), the Writer (James "Starman" Robinson)
ran afoul of the Studio (Fox) adding unnecessary characters and confusing plot twists, Moore
and O'Neill fell out with the Producer (Joel Silver) - even the marketing department didn't know what to do with it ... The film was advertised before its release as, variously, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The League and LXG, before finally going back to the original.
Confused ...? You will be. Most of the characters are unrecognisable from both the original source material AND the graphic novel it's (supposedly) adapted from, the plot is incomprehensible and even the major twist of the villain's true identity is so incompetently handled you have to wonder what on Earth they were all thinking. Extraordinarily dull!
best to adapt Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's graphic novel featuring the greatest characters
of Victorian literature. The Director (Norrington) fell out with the Star (Sean Connery playing Allan Quartermain as a geriatric James Bond!), the Writer (James "Starman" Robinson)
ran afoul of the Studio (Fox) adding unnecessary characters and confusing plot twists, Moore
and O'Neill fell out with the Producer (Joel Silver) - even the marketing department didn't know what to do with it ... The film was advertised before its release as, variously, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The League and LXG, before finally going back to the original.
Confused ...? You will be. Most of the characters are unrecognisable from both the original source material AND the graphic novel it's (supposedly) adapted from, the plot is incomprehensible and even the major twist of the villain's true identity is so incompetently handled you have to wonder what on Earth they were all thinking. Extraordinarily dull!
All comments above are my own personal opinions and recommendations and no official or unofficial endorsement is implied nor should be inferred.
Text and Comics Club Logo © Andy Williams 2017
Images used for review purposes only and © respective owners 2017