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Post by angilasman on May 6, 2013 22:19:06 GMT -5
Also, come to think of it, my favorite mainstream superhero films of the last two decades are the animated, frequently direct-to-video ones! Mask of the Phantasm, Return of the Joker, and New Frontier.
I think WB should just give the reins to Bruce Timm in regards their live action films. I've only read a few cape comics (and, as aforementioned, do much care for most), but he's the one who, from childhood through adult hood, made me like these characters.
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 8, 2013 1:27:31 GMT -5
I don't know why Don Rosa came up (I never spoke against him), but yes, he is a talent.
And Timm is a treasure, as is his right hand woman Lauren Montgomery. I just wish Warner's would have allowed them to expand beyond the same rotation. Timm always wanted to do a full length Catwoman, Lauren's wish list included Aquaman and Batgirl Year One (which was on the docket, until Warner's killed it). It's a bummer than Timm has stepped down as animation supervisor.
But... the reason I returned to the thread was to point out that IM3 did $175 million this weekend. There's apparently some contract nonsense going on with Avengers 2... I say RDjr has earned every penny, give him more pennies and keep him on board. The man is your ace in the hole.
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Post by angilasman on May 8, 2013 21:30:36 GMT -5
I don't know why Don Rosa came up (I never spoke against him), but yes, he is a talent. I inferred from your post that you were saying I liked things only from the past, with Donald Duck comics as an example. I gave the rebuttal that many of the best Duck comics are fairly recent. This 'Marvel being cheap' thing has been brought up before, right? Wasn't a way around paying RDJ in The Avengers shooting all his scenes in a few weeks and and simply having it always be stuntguy in the suit?
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 8, 2013 23:12:58 GMT -5
Yeah I imagine when the suits in action he's gets a breather (unlike Thor, Cap etc) Course in IM3 there was a lot of Tony Stark. So he earned his pay. And I didn't mean that you 'only' liked older comics, I phrased that wrong. I meant that it seemed from past conversations that the silver age, older material or modern material that echoed them tonally, was what you preferred.
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Post by Joker on May 30, 2013 20:26:22 GMT -5
LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite (2013)
In Gotham City, Batman's enemies unite to rob the awards ceremony where Bruce Wayne is getting some trophy for being a better guy than Lex Luthor. Lex has his own problems despite his resentment over getting snubbed as he's running for President of the United States and is lagging behind all of his opponents. Then he concocts a sceme to win the White House by making a new kind of weapon that can disassemble shiny black LEGOs, so Bats is in trouble. Things get worse as Lex buddies up with the Joker to make this scheme work. Even Batman sometimes needs help, and since Robin is a terrible grandstanding klutz, but that may be tougher than he thinks.
It's a kids movie and it looks like they used a lot of footage from the cinematics from the LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes video game. The animation is still neat to watch as it's all LEGO-based and the same slapstick sense of humor from the games is throughout the film. Bane is in the film and even though he has two lines they managed to get his voice right. Even though it's a fun and goofy movie it still manages to be a smidge more serious than the 60's TV show. The whole movie is quite hilarious and not just for kids, but also DC Comics fans. Recommended.
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Post by RedTom on Sept 2, 2014 3:54:25 GMT -5
Son of Batman (2014)
By far one of the greatest Batman animated features to date! Damien has to be one of the greatest characters in Batman's recent history (surprisingly, created by one of the most God awful hacks the DC universe has seen) and his story shines like the summer sun in this gripping tale of a child coming to terms. The only thing that could have made this story better is if it were longer. With a running time of seventy four minutes, there wasn't enough room for a much-needed development, but the story, while rushed, was still well put together.
The best parts are when Bruce Wayne is introduced to his son, and Damien is introduced to a lifestyle that he is not familiar with. What else could they add to make this story more gripping, you ask? Death Stroke, Slade Wilson just happens to be the villain! While his role is dreadfully one-sided, and not all that interesting, he still plays a great foil to the fighting styles he is subjected to.
The imagery is bloody, grimy and pulls no punches when it comes to action scenes. This movie is not really for kids of all ages, but if you are a true-blue Batman fanatic, it will please all of your senses.
Man of Steel (2013)
First off, this is the best Superman movie that they have made in, literally, decades. It set a great tone, murky and dark in all the right places, while also offering a good sense of comedy, at least in the first half. While it could easily be argued that the movie's run time was far too long, it still used what time it took wisely in both backstory and character development. That is to say, when it's not blowing up everything in sight along the way. The action sequences were very well put together, though some of them could have used some toning down. Overall, it brought a new light of hope for the Superman franchise that Superman Returns missed, and could help rebuild the damage that Lester did back in the 70's with his cinematic atrocities. The characters were very well kept with their roles (with Fishburne making a surprising appearance) and I cannot wait for a sequel to show itself in the next three years. Definitely a proud addition to the DC film collection.
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Post by Mod City on Apr 13, 2016 14:33:42 GMT -5
There was a time when I thought we had a comic book movies thread, then a time when I couldn't find it and thought I was dreaming. Now I scroll right down and find the thread I was thinking about and it's been sitting dormant since 2014. Odd. Either way, a lot has gone on in the last two years that hasn't been covered here, but since I didn't know where else to post this, I figured this would be a good spot. The first Doctor Strange trailer debuted on Jimmy Kimmel last night, and I personally loved it. It has a considerably different tone to it than a lot of Marvel films, which works for me. I've been a huge fan of Strange since the mid-80s, and I can honestly say I never thought he would get his own feature film. It seems as though it's been well-received, even though some people are saying it borrows too much from Inception or rips off Batman Begins. To be fair, while the visuals do have a similarity, I don't think a teaser trailer can tell you just how much a movie borrows from another. And for the Batman Begins thing – the Doctor Strange origin story predates the Batman-goes-and-learns-from-ninjas story by more than two decades. If anything, Batman Begins (and the corresponding comics) ripped off the Doctor Strange origin. Deal with it, DC fanboys. Looking forward to this
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Apr 13, 2016 19:27:32 GMT -5
I used to post in here all the time, but all the CBM regulars had seemed to have checked out so I just let the thread die.
Doctor Strange trailer is epic win though.
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Post by RedTom on May 5, 2016 14:27:51 GMT -5
Alright, I'm here to help!
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
One thing against this movie is that the title Batman V Superman is very misleading, and distracting from what the movie truly is. This movie is extremely overbearing and crowded with subplots and overstuffed character development. This does, however, bring about a great rivalry between our two titular characters.
Superman is extremely underused as a whole, pretty much shooting himself in the foot on a regular basis. It's usually so clear what he actually should do, and he ends up doing the opposite. Instead of paying attention to what goes on around him, he's saving people from floods and burning buildings.
Fittingly, Batman is the one who does what is needed, and is easily the greatest part of this entire movie. When Batman does Batman, the movie takes on a life of its own and you are brought to the edge of your seat! Ben Affleck is not the greatest Batman by any means, but he does his job well. Viewers must be warned, though, this is not the modern Batman we've come to know, he is very much based on a much darker age of himself.
The fight between the two, while disappointing, is hardly the point to begin with. Though, it is not the true disappointment in this film, the true disappointment is Lex Luthor. Eisenberg is not even serviceable when it comes to playing one of the more iconic villains, he's childish, and sporadic. Honestly, the movie could have been far better with a different actor.
The film is flawed, and overstuffed with setup for the new Justice League franchise. They tried to do a sped up version of the Avengers Initiative, and honestly, it's clumsy to say the least. Still, it's what we have to go on so far, so we may as well take it as it is. It is entirely worth watching, perhaps even buying if you are a fan of the DC Universe.
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Post by RedTom on May 6, 2016 23:27:29 GMT -5
Captain America: Civil War
Wow, talk about overcoming expectations. The fact that critics have been accused of taking bribes from Marvel to write positive reviews about their movies seems to be a desperate attempt to flatter DC movies, and make them feel better about their obvious lack of sales at the box office. Marvel clearly knows how to write a story, while giving their fandom what they want at the same time. Civil War is a blatant example of just that.
You really cannot help but go crazy over seeing how these characters have grown over the course of all of these movies. The action is spectacular without drowning out the other elements of fun. It put its focus on a single idea, and even when you thought it was going to trail away from that idea, it surprises you by going right back to it. The sideplots do not out stay their welcome, in fact some of the sideplots are very welcome. Every character was incorporated well, even though it made the movie runtime go on for a bit long, it did not make the movie drag.
In the first few scenes, yes, the pacing was a little off. This was when everything needed to be set up, and after it was set up, the entire movie took off running, and the action was glorious.
It was not a perfect movie, but any real complaints to be had are nothing more than nitpicks. It is a perfect addition to the Marvel collection, and a great movie all around. Yes, you need to watch the rest of the Avengers and Captain America Movies to know what is really going on, but that's the price of being a third sequel. As third movies go, this one is among the very greatest of its kind.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Aug 13, 2016 14:00:15 GMT -5
Just saw Suicide Squad.
Geeze... if you go to this movie, go to see how crazy it is and not with the expectation of a good film. It came *so close* to actual quality that the resulting badness is magnified, I think.
A few saving graces: any scene with Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, or Deadshot as a focus was very watchable. Will Smith as Deadshot was surprisingly nice, and an entire Deadshot movie with just him is something I'd love to see, but the fact that the movie had too many side characters really kept any of the awesome people from truly shining. The movie also kept walking right up to major questions that the comic actually talked about, but didn't say much about them (they came *this close* to talking about what the difference is between a soldier, a mercenary, and an assassin as long as the government is the one paying the checks, but never actually discussed it.)
Unlike Batman v Superman, people generally had good motivations for doing what they did, but the movie didn't always do a good job of reminding the audience what those motivations were.
Jared Leto's Joker was weird. I think he was *going* for weird, but I don't think he hit the kind of weird he was going for. Instead of a Joker inspired by people like the Marx Brothers, Burns & Allen, and The Three Stooges who dresses like someone out of Guys & Dolls, imagine a Joker inspired by 1990s Jim Carrey and Edgar from the movie Men In Black who dresses like someone out of a Saints Row video game.
Pretty much every female character in the movie is oversexualized and dismissed as crazy. I can't recall that with Amanda Waller, but it'd be easy for me to miss her being called crazy (though the general consensus seems to be that she's "evil" and "ruthless" more than crazy.)
Having said all of that: I'll *still* be more likely to rewatch this movie than Batman v Superman. I'll take a movie about heroic villains over a movie about superheroes made by a director who doesn't believe in heroism any day.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 17, 2016 22:50:39 GMT -5
My response to Suicide Squad was pretty much that it's a worse movie than Batman v Superman, but it's far more entertaining. It was sad it was such an editing mess, because if they found a pace that worked for the film it could have been the best of DC's cinematic universe.
And hey, at least it wasn't as sh*tty as X-Men: Apocalypse.
Personally my favorite parts were the J-horror inspired parts with Enchantress. The image that lasted the longest for me from this movie was that transormation scene where Enchantress's fingers wrapped around the girl's hands and flipped them over. That was badass. The rest of the movie was disposable but fun action movie junkfood. I can't wag my finger at it because I own and watch many movies that are junkier action flicks than this (it's pretty much Expendables with super powers), so I'll take it for what it's worth.
Really have no opinion on Leto's Joker. He was basically just a clown inspired mafia boss. It was interesting, but not really memorable. As far as big screen Jokers go, he falls at the end of the pack unless/until he proves me wrong in another movie.
2016 has been disappointing so far. DC had two chances to step up to the plate and they bunted both times. This doesn't bode well for Wonder Woman, which looks good, but so did Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. I've been waiting decades for a Wonder Woman movie, and I feel uneasy that it's likely going to be mediocre with this track record.
At least we got Civil War and Deadpool this year, and damn good seasons of Daredevil, Agents of SHIELD, The Flash, and Gotham. Hopefully Doctor Strange can end the cinema year on a high note.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Dec 31, 2016 21:15:05 GMT -5
As I close this New Year, I'll just itterate my ranking of this year's comic book films...
1. Captain America: Civil War 2. Deadpool 3. Doctor Strange 4. Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders 5. Batman: Bad Blood 6. Justice League vs. Teen Titans 7. Batman: The Killing Joke 8. DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year 9. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 10. Suicide Squad 11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 12. X-Men: Apocalypse
Have yet to see either of this year's Lego Justice League movies or the new Batman Unlimited. I'm very behind on those.
If I were to extend this year into superhero films in general, Kung Fu Panda 3 would be about number five and Ghostbusters would be dead last. Haven't seen Max Steel. Not sure I want to, though I probably will.
Anticipation of next year's comic book/superhero flicks:
1. Wonder Woman 2. Power Rangers (don't judge me) 3. Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders sequel (with William Shatner as Two-Face!) 4. Spider-Man: Homecoming 5. Justice League 6. Thor: Ragnarok 7. Kingsman: The Golden Circle 8. Justice League Dark 9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 10. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract 11. The Lego Batman Movie 12. Logan 13. Transformers: The Last Knight 14. Batman and Harley Quinn
And of course there will be some DTV Lego movies and Batman Unlimited. Haven't looked too deeply into those. Maybe a DC Super Hero Girls if that movie hit it off.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Jan 1, 2017 4:15:50 GMT -5
Wait, they're making a Judas Contract movie? Oh, sweet...
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 1, 2017 4:48:55 GMT -5
It was originally supposed to come out after Justic League: The New Frontier, but I guess WB was nervous about how a more mature Teen Titans film would go down after the animated series. It was finally put into production after the success of Justice League vs. Teen Titans.
I'm glad they're finally making it, but at the same time I'm hesitant because the DC DTV line has hardly been consistent lately. I enjoyed last year's movies more than the last few, but I still don't have my faith restored in it.
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