films based on comics - search/destroy

And, Blade is also pretty good.

Search: Batman. The Adam West Batman (it's intentionally stupid and more fun than most of the episodes of the TV show). Spider-Man. The X-Men movies. Superman and Superman II. Blade. Men in Black.

Both Superman and Superman II have cheesy stuff in them that almost robs the great bits of the greatness, but I saw them when I was young enough that I can force a blind spot.

Obviously this was long before the Matrix movies...

search, um, spiderman, the first batman, ghost world, the superman with richard pryor

destroy: still havent seen the x-men movies but all marvel adaptations before that, all the batman movies after the first

But I'd advise anyone who's ever counted themselves a fan of Superman to see it again, especially the recent DVD release with loads more psychedelic Krypton stuff. Fantastic movie.

That's the problem right there. Too many villains. You've got three -- Christopher Walken, the Penguin, and Catwoman. You don't need three. You don't even need two, really. But they wanted to top Nicholson's Joker somehow, and figured the only way to do it was with three big-name actors. It set a bad precedent for the rest of the franchise.

Leading to Batman exponential wherein the caped crusader had to fight no fewer than eighty-one A-list Hollywood stars (okay they weren't all A-list, they needed to pad a little, but you still gotta admit that that fight scene atop the Police Headquarters with Anna Paquin, Lisa Kudrow, Roberto Benigni and all of the cheerleaders from Bring it On was fantastic, if a little confusing, and who could forget Kate Hudson's poignant delivery of the line "I'm Kate Hudson before going on fire and faling into the ineivitable arms Ricky Fucking Tomilnson eh? Eh?)

I was fairly sure Darkman wasn't based on a comic, but am I wrong?

I really can't stand the first Batman movie. It's as if someone thought that the Dark Knight Batman needed to be brought to the screen, and completely pussed out, and made this half-assed movie that's really dark looking, but boring as watching flies fuck.

And by that you mean, blonde overly-made-up Catholic-schoolgirl-lesbian flies, right, Kenan?

(D'oh! You've been X-posted!)

I like part two too, only on re-watching it I think the first one is superior. Also on the DVD version you get to see a little Zod in number one.

Oh, a small thing about both: I don't like Margot Kidder. It's not a real huge deal -- with the exception of Spider-Man, I don't think I ever like the love interests in superhero movies, or see why the hero should bother with them -- but she just rubs me the wrong way. Especially in the musical flying "can you hear what I'm thinking" sequence in the first one.

Don't get me wrong: the first two Superman movies are classics. They just have these little things in them, or big wincy aaaaaah things like the fly-around bit.

(And I still love the way the Phantom Zone looks.)

also search: the shadow (pretty good), teenage mutant ninja turtles, x-men

destroy: judge dredd, spawn, supergirl, mystery men

??: the crow, spiderman

i didn't subject myself to "daredevil."

1) the CGI. The swinging over the city bits were convincing enough, but the whole sequence with the Green Goblin and the balloon had that now-familiar weightless claymation problem. Threw me out of the movie in an almost unrecoverable way.

2) The Green Goblin. Not the most interesting villian. I understand his importance to the story as a whole, and why he had to be in the origin movie, but still. I have to think fairly hard to understand his motivation, and I shouldn't have to do that. And Defoe, God bless him, was often just taking pages out of Nicholson's Joker book for his performance, and Nicholson's Joker was very disappointing to me. A little edgy, I guess, but mostly it was just... Nicholson. I tire easily of movies where Nicholson is doing little more than being Nicholson. I like him in "A Few Good Men," and of course his 70's stuff is brilliant, but the whole "I'm a crazy guy! Watch me be crazy!" thing has been worn down to a nub. But I guess I'm talking about Batman again, aren't I? Anyway... The Green Goblin mask was totally stupid. No reason it had to look like it did.

3) (OMG I'm turning into Harry Knowles! Gut... bulging... hair... reddening... GAH!) They didn't sell me either the idea that Spiderman has a girlfriend, or that there's a solid reason he should reject her at the end. But maybe I'm just nitpicking now.

2) I liked Willem Defoe a lot. And I like that Spiderman calls him "Gobby" in one scene.

3) Totally.

"superman iii" has its moments.

i can't bring myself to destroy Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
because it's so earnest and big-hearted. but it is terrible.

(maybe just 'cuz I love Brando in that white suit.)

I have nothing against the woman personally, but the way her character is written in both movies seems intentionally annoying. Here is her direction: "Talk really fast. Have no spine. Scream a lot. Have as little sex appeal as possible. This is a family movie, you know."

Never liked The Crow much. Didn't see the sequel because I knew a lot of people at Kitchen Sink Press at the time (the publishers, at that point), and I had heard so much behind-the-scenes stuff that ... I've just never been able to see the movie. Actually, I guess that's part of why I don't like the first one either, or the comic -- a friend of mine worked with J.O. at Caliber, and I'd heard a lot of anecdotes before actually reading his stuff.

The Spidey points -- no comment on #1, I was indifferent to it pretty much.

#2 -- judging from Defoe in Boondock Saints, I think he camps things up on his own steam without needing to rifle through Nicholson's pages, for better or worse. I liked him as Norman a lot more than as the Goblin.

#3 -- see, this is the one movie in this thread where I like the love-interest angle. The unrequited crush thing in the first half fits both Peter Parker and the whole adolescent-superhero thing so well, and we're actually given sufficient reasons why they should like each other (my biggest complaint about all romance-oriented movies, comedy or otherwise, is that we're rarely really shown why X and Y should dig each other, except that he's handsome and she's hot and they're both quirky). I love that he rejects her! Not because he needs to so much as it makes sense for him to think he needs to. It's the whole adolescent "my life is a big ball of drama" we probably all went through, except his drama involves mutant spiders and crazed exoskeleton-wearing would-be-father-figures, so you figure he's got more to fuel it. It's not just that he's protecting MJ -- it's that he's sacrificing his happiness for his perception of the greater good. The fact that his perception might be wrong makes it even better for me, it makes him more flawed than, say, Superman.

(This is also why Keaton's Batman was so much better than his successors. He was more obviously flawed and a little nutty, almost jittery. He was a fucked up guy who dressed up like a bat to beat people up. That's an aspect I think Schumacher completely ignored except for camp value.)

Oh, that's what I should have said -- I meant I don't like her Lois Lane. Whether it's her doing, or the writing, or the directing, or some combination, it didn't work for me -- I wasn't rooting for Clark to get the girl, and I think I should've been.

at one point John Hughes was negotiating to make a Peanuts movie. I can't think of many film proposals more horrific-sounding than that.

Oh hell, there was a Spirit movie, wasn't there? I didn't see it. I'm assuming it wasn't good. Dammit.

The most interesting thing about this genre is that it by and large seems to render auterist notions of film irrelevant, or at least of less relevance than usual. Directors of all reputations have been alternately successful and (more often) totally defeated in adapting comics to the screen. Most attempts to impose an individual aesthetic on comics movies make everyone look somewhat foolish. "Batman" is a half-exception.

And surely the Shadow doesn't belong here, as it wasn't originally a comic anyway.

There are very few movies that stand up well when compared directly to their comic origins. The first and second Superman movies do, however. Visually, the first couple Batman movies do, but storywise fall pretty short. I thought the first X-Men movie was pretty awful, actually. The second was an improvement, but still had some major issues.

Looking at them as just movies, most of them fall into the harmless fluff category. Some even stand up alright on their own merits (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with some major caveats fits here). Some are simply hopeless (like any third, fourth, fifth comics-franchise film).

Good:
Swamp Thing (the one with Adrienne Barbeau)
Superman III
Batman III
Blade II
X-Men
Road to Perdition

Mediocre:
Death of the Hulk
Punisher
Spiderman (New Version)
Dr Strange
Daredevil
Hulk

Gutwrenchingly Awful:
Batman (Old Version)
Spiderman (Old Version)
Howard the Duck
Return of the Swamp Thing (The one with Heather [thomas|locklear])

I bet League Of Extraordinary Gentlement are not a good film.

Horrible.

Batman (1969)
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns
Batman Forever
Batman and Robin
Blade
Blade II
Daredevil
Dr Strange
From Hell
Ghost World
Howard the Duck
Hulk
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Men in Black
Men in Black II
Mystery Men
Punisher
Road to Perdition
Spiderman (197*)
Spiderman (2002)
Superman
Superman II
Superman III
Superman IV
Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing Returns

I liked The Crow a lot, which is why i haven't seen any of the sequels.

oh yeah, adn they made a Brenda Starr movie, too.

and American Splendor counts as one, dunnit?

Judge Dredd
The Shadow
Spawn
Steel

10: superman (cant remember superman ii but i watched it a thousand times as a kid and i'm sure it was good so it can go here too i guess)
9: batman 1, ghost world
8: batman returns
7.5: spiderman, the x-men films if i'm feeling a bit generous, ditto hulk
7: batman forever, men in black
6: blade (seen most of it , off tv, might be underrating, prob not)
5: judge dredd

[yes that's dirk calloway from rushmore]

There are some terrific long camera takes and incredible lighting as well -- this was very well done! Watching it as an adult, it's a very strange movie, but it seems like a lot more care was put into its making than I would have thought.

And of course Vanilla Ice, nvmd...