Comic Book Movies

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

For right now, I'm just looking forward to Avengers: Age of Ultron. As for Ant-Man, I was initially excited about it, until it was announced that Edgar Wright was leaving the project. Now I'm not really sure what to think of it,mbut I do hope that it turns out to be good.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, my excitement for Ant-Man has been consistently decreasing after all of the behind the scenes turmoil has been announced.

I find it funny that people want Marvel to replace Ant-Man with a Black Widow or Black Panther movie or something, since it really seems like they don't know how movies work. If these are even in the works now, there's just no way that they'll be ready in time for next summer, and Marvel has a quota to keep up with. Usually fast tracking a film's production isn't a good thing for it at all. Although, the same is often true for replacing talent so late into a movie's production...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I heard that the script for the movie isn't even finished yet, and filming is scheduled to begin in literally just a few weeks. If Marvel wants to stick with a summer release, then they'll need to drastically rush the film, and it'll probably suck in that case. If they want to re-evaluate it and re-work it into something better, then it'd be smarter to delay the film for a Holiday release next year, as they did for Thor: The Dark World.

[Avaitor]

It's funny, because they actually pushed Ant-Man further than it was originally planned to come out since Wright's original take was going well and POTC 5 wasn't getting along at all.

Now neither movies are!

[gunswordfist]

sin city is my most anticipated comic book sequel ever.

[gunswordfist]

hearing how successful lucy has been makes me think a black widow (hopefully black widow and hawkeye) movie could be a hit.

[Foggle]

Now that I'm more well-versed in live action cape films, I guess my new list of favorite comic book movies would be:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Cemetery Man
3. Oldboy (original)
4. Kick-Ass
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6. Ichi The Killer
7. The Dark Knight
8. Captain America: The First Avenger
9. Batman Returns
10. Iron Man

I don't know why I posted this. Just had the urge to, I guess. Anyone else got any recent top 10's of their own?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Only counting live-action:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
4. The Dark Knight
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
6. X2: X-Men United
7. The Avengers
8. Iron Man
9. X-Men: First Class
10. Batman (1989)

Yeah, 3 of my top 5 are from this year alone. Man was this an amazing year for superhero films. Even the flop that was TASM2 (which incidentally I liked well enough, and feel gets a bit more flak than it deserves) can't detract from that.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Let's try a top 10:

1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
2. Captain America: The First Avenger
3. Captain America: Winter Soldier
4. X-Men: Days Of Future Past
5. The Dark Knight
6. The Avengers
7. X2: X-Men United
8. X-Men: First Class
9. Iron Man
10. Superman: The Movie

I realize two of them are extremely new, and I have no idea where they will eventually fall, but they are too good to leave off entirely.

Slide GOTG right under Avengers and you have my current top ten. (Take out MOTP if you only want live action films)

[talonmalon333]

1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
2. The Incredibles
3. The Dark Knight
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Iron Man 3
6. Iron Man
7. Superman
8. Batman Begins
9./10. The Avengers/Guardians of the Galaxy
Honorable Mention: Superman II

I included animation because I couldn't think of enough to fill a live action list (as it is, the last part of the list had to be a tie). If I just did live action, then Superman II would've be next on the list, but that would still leave #10 open. And though I could put something there, it would seem like a filler choice that I don't like on the same level as the movies above.

[gunswordfist]

ah, some the incredibles love.

[Foggle]

The Incredibles is a comic book movie?

[talonmalon333]

The Incredibles is a comic book movie?

I was just thinking of superhero movies in general. But then again, The Incredibles has some comic book panels, so it counts.

Besides, Pixar beats DC and Marvel at their own game.

[Avaitor]

I feel like making a pros/cons list of the MCU movies.

Iron Man
Pros- Above all else, inspired casting. Robert Downey Jr was born to play Tony Stark, while Gwyneth Paltrow is near-perfect as Pepper herself. I can just as easily add this as a pro to all of the Iron Man movies. But besides that, this is a damn-fine adaptation of the original story that cuts out a lot of the uncomfortable racism and Cold War parallels that plagued the earlier Iron Man stories at the time. the structure of the film is pretty strong, and considering how convoluted comic book movies were getting at the time, the film's pacing was a fresh change of pace that still holds up on it own now.
Cons- The bad guy's pretty flat, all things considered. But just like the strength of Downey and Paltrow's performances, this is something common with the entire franchise, and I'll get to the later villains when we're there. And it's true that Tony should have been able to realize that there was a traitor in the mix, but that's been spoken about enough.

The Incredible Hulk
Pros- It doesn't take over a hour for Banner to Hulk up in this one, thankfully. The action is pretty strong when it happens, and in between, Norton's a fine Banner.
Cons- I've seen this movie 2 or 3 times, and while I do like it, I honestly continue to struggle to remember much of the film. Add in its box-office results and how often people bring it up in discussion regarding the MCU, it's pretty easy to why it's regarded as the forgotten film in the canon. Although TIH is arguably referenced more in the Avengers than...

Iron Man 2
Pros- Well, some of the fights are strong. Most, really (no offense to the late DJ AM, but that shit was embarrassing). Don Cheadle was a suitable replacement as Rhodey, although he does get more to do in the third. I also really liked the Disney parallels, especially if you consider the main bad guy to be a stand-in for Katzenberg, and look at the film as a critique of the studio post-Lion King pre-Pixar buy-out.
Cons- A lot happens in this movie, but at the same time, it feels like nothing did at all. Black Widow's material is mostly completely replaceable until the very end. Both of the villains are worthless, with Mickey Rourke in particular showing off what is probably the franchise's biggest problem- RDJ's Tony Stark is such a dynamic personality, that anyone else with as strong of a pedigree in character building as him is bound to clash to the point of inferiority. This is why we usually end up seeing Iron Man have to deal with losers in suits and their drones, to balance things out for the film's sake.

Thor
Pros- Loki is easily the strongest villain in the MCU to date. He's rightfully menacing when he needs to be, and has a believable enough back story to give him some depth, but not enough to justify his actions. But what really makes the film what it is comes from his relationship with Thor, and both Hemsworth and Hiddleston pull off their characters wonderfully. It's also worth noting that at its best, the film can be mighty funny.
Cons- When all is said and done, this is really just a fish out of water story that you've probably seen before with similar pacing to the first Iron Man. Likable, but not all that original. Kat Dennings also isn't funny, at all.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Pros- Another film with solid acting choices all across the board. It took very little time for me to recognize the banana butt guy from Not Another Team Movie as Cap, while everyone else, from Hayley Atwell to Tommy Lee Jones, nail their parts. Steve and Peggy also have what might just be the strongest romantic bond of any characters in the MCU, even if it ultimately wasn't meant to be. And yes, the Rocketeer guy did a fantastic job making this feel like a unique period piece.
Cons- The Red Skull's a little disappointing, but to be fair, his best material usually came from when he became a problem of modern day Cap.

The Avengers
Pros- Everyone gets their time to shine. Black Widow instantly made up for her disappointing turn in Iron Man 2 within 3 minutes, while Hawkeye, who does ultimately get the short end of the stick in terms of development, surprisingly tells a lot in terms of physical acting. I also have to say that while I was a fan of Norton, Mark Ruffalo nails Bruce Banner in a way that I don't think anyone else could possibly match in a long period of time. Speaking of Banner, this is by far the best Hulk movie to date, even if it isn't completely his.

And on top of all of this, the film's screenplay is fantastic in terms of dialogue. I think this might be the one of the funniest movies made in the past 5 years, period.
Cons- Y'no, when you see the protagonists fight nameless bad guys, it's safe to say that good will usually prevail. I bring this up since it's obvious that the Avengers were going to nail the Chitauri. It was also apparent that Loki was no match on his own, since his skills lie in manipulation, not combat. So there ultimately isn't all that much at risk, which knocks it down in comparison to say, The Dark Knight, where the stakes are higher, and for the most part, more personal. You could also argue that the film loses its personality when the big fight in Manhattan takes place, and becomes a standard action movie, which is still enjoyable, but to be completely honest, even in my first viewing, I could find some obvious CG errors. It's still a great movie, but not exactly a masterpiece of the form.

Iron Man 3
Pros- Tony's struggling with PTSD after the battle in Manhattan is actually quite interesting and well developed. It gives the film some extra personality and some needed depth. Tony and Rhodey's bonding time is also very welcome, and makes for a lot of the film's most fun scenes. And that action sequence at the end was a sight to behold.
Cons- I've seen this before. Tony's obsessive, neurotic personality pushing Pepper away. The obnoxious businessman that Tony disregarded who eventually becomes his greatest enemy this week. Other people, like S.H.I.E.L.D., Pepper, or Rhodey trying and failing to do Tony's work for him. The ending fight scenes become increasingly more impressive and this was an obvious improvement over the second, but I think it's for the best that the franchise ends here.

Thor: The Dark World
Pros- In a lot of ways, this is a step up from the first. The acting has stepped up, with even Kat Dennings getting some good lines in. There's a lot more time spent in Asgard, which I'm all for, complete with more action and time for Sif and the Warriors Three to have a little more screentime. This was also a welcome continuation of Loki's story following the Avengers, his consequences for his actions in Midgard, and exactly what his adopted family still thinks of him. The ending leads into potential for some serious shit to occur in the third one, if they ever officially announce it.
Cons- This movie really struggled from Marvel wanting a shorter running time. Most of Malekith's stuff was cut up, resulting in him becoming another forgettable villain, which is a shame, since the design is cool and Eccelston seemed like game to pull off the material. And I have to say, I just don't buy Thor and Jane's relationship. Not only because I know what happens to them in the comics (and that's another issue I have, but you can't really blame it on the people involved- a severe lack of Sif. She was supposed to have a bigger role, but Jaimie Alexander seriously hurt herself in production, so they had to skip over a lot of her planned stuff. I guess her Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode was an apology of sorts for that), but there just isn't much in Hemsworth and Portman's chemistry or the writing itself to make me really care about them together. I like both characters on their own, but they could have their relationship off early in the film and instead focus on saving the day, without losing anything in the process. But I do still really like the movie, despite the obvious issues. Another draft or more saved material could have made this a true winner.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Pros- What can I say, Cap is awesome, Natasha is awesome, Bucky is awesome, and the Falcon is awesome. This could have easily lost the first film's personality by losing its nostalgic roots and becoming another MCU movie, but this is easily the best comic book movie since the Avengers, Marvel or not.
Cons- I don't think the film is as politicially smart as it wants to be. I also don't see why Marvel promoted this as a 70's espionage film, when Robert Redford aside, it doesn't resemble one at all, but that's hardly an issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Pros- This might be equal, or perhaps even superior to the Avengers in terms of humor. It also deserves points for taking 5 different heroes and successfully developing them in one movie. Avengers by contrast already had most of its character's traits down at the time the film start. GOTG had to start from scratch, and deserves an A+ for execution.
Cons- I don't think the villains are as weak as most people do, but yeah, Ronan and Nebula could have been more interesting. The film needed to expand on the heroes first, so I don't blame James Gunn and Marvel too much for letting them slide. I'd also say that aside from that excellent post-credits scene, the Collector wasn't all that essential to the film. And I do wish that Gamora could have saved Starlord once or twice to balance out his previous rescue attempts, but that's more like a nitpick than an actual complaint.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That's the problem when you have a personality as strong as RDJ's Tony Stark, finding a villain to go up against him is rough. To be fair, I actually thought Obadiah was the best they could really do considering, but they killed him off too fast. Keeping him around and making him the guy behind the Mandarin would have been an interesting touch, I think.

You're right about one thing for sure, Kat Dennings is just not funny.