|
|
|
Comment |
Sorted by
Date Written |
DAREDEVIL?!... (Reply to this comment)
by lammet
Great piece Lorendiac, much enjoyed it. When you will update it I hope you will include 'Daredevil' in your new top 10. Loved the comic in DC pulp form, then - against my early reservations because of Afleck in the lead role - loved the movie too.
Vasilis
|
May 14 '05
7:46 am PDT
|
|
Good Commentary. (Reply to this comment)
by alexdg1
Wow! You really do know your stuff about comics!
I'm more of a Star Wars/Star Trek kinda fellow, but I do like the first 2 Superman movies and (so far) the Spider-Man flicks. Those are my favorite comic-book adaptations.
I did not like Superman III or IV. I thought Richard Lester (III) emphasized the comedic aspects way too much, and IV was not even produced by the Salkinds. I thought Reeve's idea for the fourth film was admirable, yes, but the execution was awful.
|
Jun 22 '04
10:33 pm PDT
|
|
Batman???? (Reply to this comment)
by JBduckling
Numbers 1,2, and 3 on your list? Gotta add you to my WOT! It's a mandate! Great review, I agree with your comments on pulp heroes. Only one "modern" hero has got my interest, Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger. JBD
|
Sep 11 '02
7:59 pm PDT
|
|
:-) (Reply to this comment)
by jankp
Enjoyed THE SHADOW and SUPERMAN movies, but haven't seen the others. What about The Greatest American Hero or was that just a TV show?
Jan
|
Sep 03 '02
7:03 pm PDT
|
|
Okay, since you asked... (Reply to this comment)
by WilliamJones
I haven't actually seen every superhero film that's ever come out of Hollywood. I am particularly deficient in watching pilot episodes of "feature" length for TV shows. Though I've done the best I can using the local video stores, it's possible that I'm missing a couple of really good items that have faded into obscurity. Let me know.
Okay, since you asked I'm going to suggest to you something you've probably never heard of (let alone actually watched). But it strikes me as a better film than a lot of what's on your list.
The movie: Georges Franju's Judex (1963).
It's about a crime fighter who uses magic as his primary weapon. A very unique and beautiful film.
Regards,
Bill
|
Aug 15 '02
1:38 pm PDT
|
|
Re: A round of applause ... (Reply to this comment)
by lorendiac
As I recall from when I was watching all the Batman movies again back around the holiday season, there is a scene in Batman Forever where Dick Grayson, not yet aware of the Bruce=Batman thing, is wondering what a certain locked door leads to in Wayne Manor. He asks Alfred, and Alfred says deadpan, "Mr. Wayne's dead wives." At the time I thought Alfred was just harking back to the fairy tales of his youth, specifically Bluebeard, in making a joke to conceal the fact that the door led you closer to the Batcave.
But now it appears that you are suggesting that Alfred, overcome (for a moment) with remorse, blurted out the truth or nearly the truth! (Bruce may not have married them before he strangled them.) I feel embarrassed at admitting that this interpretation of his enigmatic line simply never occurred to me. I guess I need to keep practicing before I can match wits with Batman as a detective, especially if he's been covering up a series of murders all this time with no one suspecting, much less being able to find evidence to prove anything.
Come to think of it, the monthly comic books about Batman have just recently wrapped up a lengthy storyline wherein he (as Bruce Wayne) was, in fact, accused of murdering an ex-girlfriend right in the middle of Wayne Manor. Even his own proteges (the original Robin - now called Nightwing, the current Robin, the original Batgirl - now called Oracle, and the current Batgirl) were starting to worry about whether or not he might have cracked under the constant strain of his chosen career path. At one point, Nightwing was reconstructing a way for a really clever intruder to have gotten in, committed the crime, planted evidence, and gotten out without leaving much of a trail, and then says morosely something to the effect that "Of course, Batman could have faked all these faint traces we found, to make it look like he was very cleverly framed." Batgirl says pointedly, "But he's Batman. What couldn't he fake?" And Nightwing realizes this Socratic question has a nasty twist and admits that the answer is "not much."
|
Aug 12 '02
9:45 pm PDT
|
|
Re: Good stuff. (Reply to this comment)
by lorendiac
Robocop didn't quite qualify as a superhero for my money. For one thing, he didn't really have the trials and tribulations of a secret identity. He carried heavy artillery and used it as an officer of the law. That makes him a super-tough cop, but I don't see that being a very well-armed and well-armored cop makes him radically different from any other cop hero in an action movie who fires off lots and lots of ammunition.
You also said: How do we know that it wasn't an African American that decided on the change of character in the original Batman? Just a thought.
Well, the simplest answer is: I don't claim to know anything about the details of what went on behind the scenes as they planned the third movie. I freely admitted that there were multiple possibile explanations, and when I ended that part of the piece, I called what I had just suggested "wild speculation."
Beyond that, I point out that even if your suggestion that an African-American studio executive might have had the final say proved to be correct, I don't see that this discovery would do anything at all to invalidate my first suggestion for the reasoning behind abandoning the previous precedent of Harvey Dent as an African-American. An African-American can be just as sensitive to potential accusations of racism, right or wrong, as any other type of American, right?
|
Aug 12 '02
6:33 pm PDT
|
|
A round of applause ... (Reply to this comment)
by AdaDavis
for such a fun trip through superhero-dom. I really love your comments on the movies.
Somewhere back in time when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, a group of friends had a little game about movies. In describing the movie, you had to find a completely different "spin" to put on it based on "secret information" not revealed in the actual movie. (Er ..well, it kept us amused.) It is particularly fun when your "spin" seems to hold for the sequels. For instance, were you aware that while Batman is a Superhero, Bruce Wayne is actually a psychopathic serial killer? The bodies are stuffed and placed in little tableaus in a secret room in the basement. I greatly anticipate the final movie, when all of the withered bodies of the Wayne "love interests" finally turn up. {evil grin}
|
Aug 12 '02
7:14 am PDT
|
|
Superheroes galore (Reply to this comment)
by green1
I couldn't believe you included "Batman Forever" in your list! The only good thing about it was Nicole Kidman, looking hotter than ever.
I did like the "Mary Jane's nipples showing through her T-shirt" scene in "Spider-Man", which makes it a vritually perfect movie for me.
Now, please. "Superman IV" sucked the big rubber titty. IMHO, of course.
However, I gave you a "VH" on this because your writing is so good, and you were wise enough to include "The Mask of Zorro" and "The Rocketeer", two of the most pure fun movies of the 1990s.
Still waiting for Hollywood to make a film version of "Elseworlds: Kingdom Come"......
|
Aug 11 '02
11:36 am PDT
|
|
Good stuff. (Reply to this comment)
by paper-trail
However, I take it you never considered Robocop for the list. It was, afterall, a superhero film, and a well-acted, if not a bit gory, one at that. I also think you spent too much time thinking about the Harvey Dent/TwoFace situation involving Williams. How do we know that it wasn't an African American that decided on the change of character in the original Batman? Just a thought. I was confused about it too, for the record. I agree with you about Superman IV too. It wasn't as bad as many say it was, in my opinion.
|
Aug 11 '02
9:29 am PDT
|
|
|
|
