Comic Book and Superhero movie & TV discussion.

[Phil_version_1]

There's lots to dislike in the Ben Affleck DareDevil movie, there's lots to enjoy too though, I liked it at the cinema and I find it easy to rewatch, Michael Clarke Duncan is great as Kingpin and it's one of the few times switching a character's race made sense and didn't seem token, I also maintain that DareDevil's costume is the best movie costume ever at bridging the gap between the comic and movies, it's well designed, doesn't look silly and still looks flashy and colourful enough that it didn't seem like they were trying too hard not to be like the comic.

 

Elektra (the movie) is one of the worst comic adaptations ever though.

I still really rate the daredevil movie also. I still like the fact they used a lot of old school 'wire work' as opposed to cgi. I mean yes there was cgi in it, but the whole film felt like a lot of effort had really gone into the whole look of it. Colin Farrell was ok as bullseye, they should of left Electra well alone

Edited April 25, 2013 by Phil_version_1

[Phil_version_1]

Sorry got to add my thoughts ref Zac Snyder. I am really really looking forward to man of steel and am a huge fan if Zac Snyders films in general, why I hear you ask? Well it's not about the writing, script, feeling etc. As an avid fan of films, I have at home a fuck off massive tv and blu ray system and if there's one thing you can always count on with his films it that they will always look fucking amazing! His obsession with slow motion action scenes are his trade mark in all his films, even to the point that the cgi childrens film "owls of gowlhoon" he directed featured some amazing slow motion scenes. It's just owls fighting, but somehow he makes it epic!

 

Now I love watchmen, I dont have the time, nor be can be bothered to type out all the reasons why. But I for one love snyders films and always look forward to them as I know can I can always rely one thing, awesome massive slow motion HD scenes that will look amazing in cinema and again on my massive telly. Oh also Henry Cavil in the superman outfit gives me a boner.

 

 

I can't decide if that's fair enough and at least you're honest, or if it makes you a total simpleton. Either way that's just a sound and light show, and is absolutely not what I'm looking for out of a film.

 

Back on the Zac Snyder subject, to explain myself perhaps a bit better. I never expect Oscar winning Tarantino esc writing with his films, in fact I wouldn't want that from a Snyder film nor a superman film. If there's one thing, you always know what your getting and Snyder has a way of making things look epic, which I will perfectly suit Man of Steel. Take for example this scene:-

 

 

It's Owls, Cgi owls! But Snyder makes it look & sound epic. Now what really gives me a boner, is superman flying&fighting scenes done in this awesome/slow mo/ lord of the rings/great big bollocks in my pants style. As the flying cgi in Superman Returns (as much as I wanted to love it) was shite. I'm really hoping Snyder can add his trademark to some superman flight and give us some awesome fight scenes.

[Devon Malcolm]

Zach Snyder will never make an awesome fight scene, because he's shit. He's the new Michael Bay except worse.

[chokeout]

His over use of time ramping is very annoying and in the end is just a gimmick. He obviously has some skill. I'm not sure how involved he was in the opening sequences for Watchmen and Dawn of The Dead ( which is a fantastic film and easily the best thing he's done) but they are two of the best opening sequences I can think off but the more control he seems to have over a film the more of a mess it seems to be. His version of Watchmen is a great adaption of the graphic novel but is a total nightmare for people who haven't read the book and the less said about Suckerpunch ( it's been covered in other threads) the better.

I'm sure the studio won't allow him to fuck about too much, it's worth far too much money to them and they can't afford another Superman Returns

[Bellenda Carlisle]

I just got back from seeing Iron Man 3, Unfortunately I didn't think it was very good, I can't believe how hard everyone's coming over it, saying it's the best of the 3 and it's as good as Avengers and stuff, it's just not. I'm not some fanboy who picks things apart for no reason either, I really wanted to enjoy it but for the most part it left me cold, especially the end

 

Beware, there are massive movie killing spoilers within

 

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

The end was horrible, he doesn't even get to deal the killing blow to the bad guy, super Pepper does it while he lies there, then he retires and blows up all his suits to make her happy, I think this is so sexist, why paint the only female character to be so selfish she wants the hero to give everything up and be "normal" for her? It's offensive, why would that make her happy? He's a hero, he's saved the entire planet as Iron Man, giving it all up to be a husband isn't a happy ending, it's shit. Also he just killed a man who's more powerful than him and can regenerate himself, is that really good time to destroy all your arms?

The Mandarin thing was weird, in a way I thought it was a clever twist, I certainly didn't see it coming but it seemed to happen too fast that the payoff wasn't there, the weirdness of it was saved by Ben Kingsley though, who was absolutely brilliant as "both" roles.

 

[quote the raven]

I was really let down by IM3 i just didnt like it.

 

Im a huge marvel fan boy but.......no i didnt like it

[Dai]

I just got back from seeing Iron Man 3, Unfortunately I didn't think it was very good, I can't believe how hard everyone's coming over it, saying it's the best of the 3 and it's as good as Avengers and stuff, it's just not. I'm not some fanboy who picks things apart for no reason either, I really wanted to enjoy it but for the most part it left me cold, especially the end

 

Beware, there are massive movie killing spoilers within

 

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

The end was horrible, he doesn't even get to deal the killing blow to the bad guy, super Pepper does it while he lies there, then he retires and blows up all his suits to make her happy, I think this is so sexist, why paint the only female character to be so selfish she wants the hero to give everything up and be "normal" for her? It's offensive, why would that make her happy? He's a hero, he's saved the entire planet as Iron Man, giving it all up to be a husband isn't a happy ending, it's shit. Also he just killed a man who's more powerful than him and can regenerate himself, is that really good time to destroy all your arms?

The Mandarin thing was weird, in a way I thought it was a clever twist, I certainly didn't see it coming but it seemed to happen too fast that the payoff wasn't there, the weirdness of it was saved by Ben Kingsley though, who was absolutely brilliant as "both" roles.

 

 

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The huge point that youre missing is that Stark himself doesnt want to be Iron Man any more. Youre acting like it was all done solely for her, which clearly isnt the case. You also seem to miss the point that loads of superhero films have, and thats the "Hes a hero to millions, hes saved lots of lives, but he himself isnt happy".

 

Not sure why you have a problem with Iron Man not being the one to deal the fatal blow. It all made sense as far as I can remember.

 

This one was better than 2, but probably not as good as the first one. This one had loads of great one liners from Stark, the boy was excellent, and it had some great action scenes (even if I was disappointed with the final battle), ie, everything you would expect from an Iron Man film. Cant really see how people were THAT disappointed with it.

 

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[Duke]

I saw Iron Man. It's a great film, but....

 

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Really surprised and disappointed to see a great character like The Mandarin, Iron Man's arch nemesis, relegated to no more than a punch line. It a embarrassing. I mean, it was good for a cheap laugh and it served the story they were trying to tell but it just felt sour to me as a long time comic fan

 

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That said, there's a lot to love about it. It's very much a Tony Stark movie and showcases both how brilliant a character he is and how perfect Downey Jr is in the role. His best turn as Tony for my money and if this is his last solo outing then it's a strong and fitting finale for him. He just has that perfect blend. Rhodey was much better utilised in this one too which I really enjoyed. Also highlights that Shane Black needs to direct more, he's awesome.

 

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He wasn't. Who you *thought* the Mandarin was was a punch line, but the real Mandarin was Killian the whole time. Apart from the fact he yelled it at the end, he also had all those dragon tattoos. He's a reimagining, but they had to reimagine the character tbh

 

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[chokeout]

Saw Iron Man today.

 

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I liked it. Not as good as I was hoping. It's a good move having it basically be a Tony Stark movie and shows how well they've done with the character/RDJ that they can have him not be Iron Man for 3/4 of the film and it still works. I can't imagine them being able to get away with doing it for any of the other characters (imagine a Spiderman film with him being just Peter Parker. It'd be like that that shitty emo bit from Spiderman 3 strung out for an hour)

I hated the Mandarin swerve. It just neutered the character and took me out of the film. I know it means nothing to people who aren't more aware of the character and was a funny twist but it left me with the same feeling that they had wasted a character as with Bane in Dark Knight Rises. They could have easily used the same plot but kept the Mandarin character a possibility by having him portrayed as some sort of urban myth type character that no one has ever seen and they were using the Ben Kingsley character to play up on peoples fear of him. It was just a shame to use what could have potentially been a great villain for a punchline.

 

Apart from that I thought the script was great, the dialogue was what you'd want from Tony Stark and Don Cheadle wasn't in it enough to annoy me. Oh and Gwyneth Paltrow should wear just a sports bra in more films.

 

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[Chest Rockwell]

Saw Iron Man yesterday afternoon.

 

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It was an odd one. I came out feeling like "I enjoyed that, but.....", and I couldn't quite put my finger on what wasn't quite right about it. It wasn't the Mandarin twist - I had no problem with that as an idea (it helped that Ben Kingsley was fucking hilarious).

 

I think my problem with it coming out is that I didn't like Pepper, and I didn't like that he was in a relationship and that whole happy ending stuff. It's not what I want from Tony Stark.

 

But on further reflection I like that they had the balls to give his character some resolution and "finish" the story - in the comics he will always be the character that we've seen in the first couple films - an unhappy loner with addiction problems. That's what Tony Stark is and what defines his character. So I was sad that it felt like the end, but that's a good thing.

 

That said the "fireworks display" was a bit silly and unnecessary. Also, will be interesting to see how this plays out for the next Avengers film.

 

The stuff with the kid was all really fun. Probably my favourite bits of the film, actually. Tony being Tony.

 

Don Cheadle still looks like he is about to cry a lot of the time, but he was alright. Didn't annoy me anyway, I think because Rhodes is a bit chumpatised in the film which I was happy with. Like, he's a good soldier boy. A bit of a fucking wet tool, but can get the job done. I'm alright with that.

 

 

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Overall, definitely a thumbs up. Although I do still glaze over a bit in big CGI-fest action sequences.. but I think that's something I have come to terms with accepting in big Hollywoood Blockbusters, even if I will never really enjoy it.

[Bellenda Carlisle]

Iron man 3/Dark Knight Rises spoilers & whinging

 

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One of the problems for me is that it's integral to the characters that there's "no ending". You could have started reading Batman comics 70 years ago and still be reading new stories every month to this day, there's no happy ending, people don't want Tony Stark to be a happily married normal man, they want to live vicariously through his adventures, these characters do it constantly forever and that's a big part of them. I have no idea why the filmmakers want to tie everything up and finish it. Batman of the comics would never disappear & have a happy life with Catwoman in an Italian cafe and Iron Man wouldn't destroy all his armours when there'll be another threat very soon. With great power comes great responsibility and all that, it's not what the characters are about for me at all, they keep going because they can help people. Plus pepper Potts really ain't all that.

 

 

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[Scott Malbranque]

Iron man 3/Dark Knight Rises spoilers & whinging

 

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Plus pepper Potts really ain't all that.

 

 

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Agreed. I'd say you'd get fierce cuts and dents in your pelvic area from goosing her woof woof style and everything...

 

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Edited April 29, 2013 by Scott Malbranque

[Chest Rockwell]

Iron man 3/Dark Knight Rises spoilers & whinging

 

 

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All of your complaints are attached to your preconceptions created by being a fan of comics. You need to let that shit go and just enjoy it for what it is. If it is just a trilogy where everything is nicely wrapped up with a bow at the end then so be it. I certainly don't want to see another new Iron Man film now with how they've left it*, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the story of what we have had.

 

 

* mostly because I still don't like Gynneth Pawltrow and a film about or heavily featuring super-Pepper will suck

 

 

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Edited April 29, 2013 by Chest Rockwell

[Bellenda Carlisle]

I'm way more open to things being different from the comics than people seem to think but

 

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these are drastic changes to the characters, there's no need to end them like that, is that what people think is a happy ending? Giving up something amazing to be normal? Also they're bad endings regardless of whether you know the comics or not, Iron Man blowing up all his armours? What the fuck? Why doesn't he give them to the peace corps or something if he doesn't want to be Iron Man? Some of those armours at the end looked like they'd be pretty useful at rebuilding war torn cities and helping people but no, he wanted to make a nice firework display to show his girlfriend he was going to stop being a cool superhero. Happy ending.

 

 

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[Chest Rockwell]

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I did say the fireworks display was silly. I don't particularly care for or need the "happy ending" but.. you know, Hollywood, right?

 

There are pretty much only two endings in blockbuster films. Happy wrapped up ending, or needlessy sequel-setting-up unsatisfactory non-conclusions. I prefer the former

 

 

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Edited April 29, 2013 by Chest Rockwell