Marvel Comics Movies

[Moniker]

Are there any good movies from Marvel apart from Spiderman 2?

I just got done watching the movies leading up to *The Avengers*, and while they were all sorta decent entertainment, none of them were anything special; it seems all the storylines were banged out in a single meeting. Ironman 2 had so much wasted potential in its actors; I feel like if Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke had been given room to breathe it might have had a chance. I also seem to be the only one who was disturbed by the replacement of Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle (who, while being a very good actor, just doesn't work in comedies). I feel like The Avengers is going to solely rely on Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson, who will be playing the respective roles of Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson.

X-Men 2 had some decent moments, but that entire franchise was bombed by the raw quantity of Hugh Jackman's sobbing. And the fundamental problem of making mutation analogous to something: in this case sexual identity. X-Men 1st Class was alright too, mostly on account of good casting choices for Xavier and Magneto. You can take or leave the rest. I guess I don't mind the fact that the scripts completely misunderstand the concept of evolution, so long as it isn't flaunted around so much, as if it made any sense.

I also can't believe that they canned Sam Raimi. I mean, Spiderman 1 & 3 weren't fantastic, but 2 is easily the best comic book movie barring Nolan's Batman.

How can a company fuck up *this* many movies? I'm guessing there's a problem with upper management or something.

[Damocles]

X-Men: First Class literally made me lose my libido.

Seriously.

I was getting all frisky up in that joint then BAM! No dear, not tonight.

[xbl0x180]

Are there any good movies from Marvel apart from Spiderman 2?

I just got done watching the movies leading up to *The Avengers*, and while they were all sorta decent entertainment, none of them were anything special; it seems all the storylines were banged out in a single meeting. Ironman 2 had so much wasted potential in its actors; I feel like if Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke had been given room to breathe it might have had a chance. I also seem to be the only one who was disturbed by the replacement of Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle (who, while being a very good actor, just doesn't work in comedies). I feel like The Avengers is going to solely rely on Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson, who will be playing the respective roles of Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson.

X-Men 2 had some decent moments, but that entire franchise was bombed by the raw quantity of Hugh Jackman's sobbing. And the fundamental problem of making mutation analogous to something: in this case sexual identity. X-Men 1st Class was alright too, mostly on account of good casting choices for Xavier and Magneto. You can take or leave the rest. I guess I don't mind the fact that the scripts completely misunderstand the concept of evolution, so long as it isn't flaunted around so much, as if it made any sense.

I also can't believe that they canned Sam Raimi. I mean, Spiderman 1 & 3 weren't fantastic, but 2 is easily the best comic book movie barring Nolan's Batman.

How can a company fuck up *this* many movies? I'm guessing there's a problem with upper management or something.

I hated the Nolan version of Batman (not a Marvel Comic, btw). I much prefer the Tim Burton version of Batman

[Drum]

The Tim Burton Batmans are pretty dire.

X Men 2 was ok, though it completely fell apart towards the end. I thought the first two Spider-Man movies (didn't see 3) were weak and don't understand why people think they're fantastic. So I guess I rate X2 as best. Really can't stand what I read of the X Men comics.

[GaijinPunch]

The Tim Burton Batmans are pretty dire.

The original played in my local watering hole last week. I was never a huge fan (I thought it was slow-paced even back then). The cast is fine in most stuff they do but I always thought Keaton was miscast as Wayne (not pimp enough) and I don't particularly care for Burton as a director. Even so, I don't think it aged very well at all. One thing I like about the Nolan ones are that even the minor roles are played by good actors (Caine, Freeman, and Nestor Carbonella who is by no means huge, but I think he's convincing. Go Richard!).

Never "got" the Spider man movies. Saw 1. 2 I couldn't get into (saw it on a plane), and 3 I didn't bother with. Looks like I'll get a chance again though! The Iron Men movies were entertaining but that's about all I'll give them.

[Moniker]

I had fond memories of TB's Batman as a young kid, back when I didn't know any of the actors or anything. Then in highschool before Batman Begins came out I suddenly realized: holy shit! Tim Burton, Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton and the frigging OST is by Prince?!

My friends were in the same boat and we rented a copy with great ceremony.. and yeah. Michael Keaton, though awesome in general, didn't work as BW; Prince's soundtrack just doesn't do anything for me; and Jack Nicholson just wasn't enough to save it. I also learned a stern lesson re: Burton's inconsistent track record as a director. For every Edward Scissorhands, Beatlejuice, and Big Fish there's an Alice in Wonderland, Charlie & the Chocolate factory, and Planet of the Apes.

I think Spiderman 2 is really everything a comic book movie ought to be. It really gets you into being Peter Parker, so that you really care about all the disparate and frictional elements in his life. The villain was well-acted and was treated with just enough pathos. There were lots of little obvious-but-effective film effects, e.g. the quick panning and zooming when Octopus is on the operating table, and the brief freeze-frame at the end of the Burt Bacharach montage. But most of all the tone of it was just right: self-aware, shamelessly romantic, and boasting the perfect level of camp. Nolan's Batman is better only because it chose to go so far beyond its source material.

[GaijinPunch]

The problem w/ Burton's Batman is that, as dark as it is, it is not sinister. Nicholson's Joker didn't scare me. In fact, all the killings seemed kind of funny. Unlike in Nolan's, where they imply three hooligans have to fight over two sticks for "try outs".

[xbl0x180]

That's what I hated about the Nolan versions of Batman. It tries too hard to be "realistic" and "gritty" that it became a 2-hour movie of Bruce Wayne shopping on-line. Couple that with the brown tint in some of the movie's sequences, and it was like watching one prolonged Disarono commercial. Sure, Bale looks the part, but his lisp is distracting as hell; he sounds like he's wearing a mouth guard the whole time hahaha. Anyway, I'd have to be severely alcohol-incapacitated to finish watching that tripe.

Addendum: I think the music scores for the Tim Burton Batman films were done by Danny Elfman. Who the hell was responsible for the crappy music in Nolan's version? I've never heard of anything by that guy; he has no coined sound of his own, just blah background music.

[Moniker]

Sure, Bale looks the part, but his lisp is distracting as hell; he sounds like he's wearing a mouth guard the whole time hahaha.

lol. Yeah his subvocal grunting leaves something to be desired. What's really jarring is in the English dub of Howl's Moving Castle, when Howl gets wounded in beast form and all the sudden Batman shows up.

[GaijinPunch]

Sure, Bale looks the part, but his lisp is distracting as hell;

I'm usually too lost staring into his dreamy eyes.

[neorichieb1971]

The problem with all super hero movies is making kids like them. The bad guys always lose and although they cause collateral damage they rarely ever cause anything else.

The movies should introduce some extraneous characters which are expendable and utilized to balance the good vs evil thing.

Recently watched Transformers 3 and Captain America. TF3 has Shia Le Boeff or whatever his name is, who comes across as invincible in all 3 movies. Its ok to have lucky escapes, but 25 in a row just makes the movie unrealistic and pathetic, especially without a scratch. Putting a band aid on ones forehead doesn't really cut it.

Captain America suffers in different ways. Once CA gets in his stride everyone becomes cannon fodder. I hate American movies where the good guy ploughs through 500 villains like they ain't even there. Its stupid.

People go to movies always expecting Hollywood would get more right than last time. But more often than not they don't, and sometimes go backwards instead. So in essence Hollywood rakes in mega profits based on this expectation.

[Moniker]

The problem with all super hero movies is making kids like them. The bad guys always lose and although they cause collateral damage they rarely ever cause anything else.

The movies should introduce some extraneous characters which are expendable and utilized to balance the good vs evil thing.

*spoilers*
That's where I thought The Dark Knight did well. Someone important actually dies, and I guess you could count Two Face there too. When the Joker escapes the crime unit and is swaying in that cop car, I really felt like he had the upper hand and was basically unstoppable. I mean, I knew Batman would eventually win, but in that one it was more like a "One more victory like that and we're done for," kinda win.

Recently watched Transformers 3 and Captain America.

Transformers is unmentionable. Bay & LeBoeuf must die in obscurity.

*spoilers*
Yeah once Cap starts to kick ass he doesn't really let up. And I didn't really care about Bucky either. Did that ending make any sense to anyone else, btw? He's able to crash the plane into a glacier, but he isn't able to just turn it around and land it... or something? Did the flight stick only go up & down?

[GaijinPunch]

I hate American movies where the good guy ploughs through 500 villains like they ain't even there. Its stupid.

So why watch? It's hardly a secret that those movies will use that formula.

[Moniker]

I hate American movies where the good guy ploughs through 500 villains like they ain't even there. Its stupid.

So why watch? It's hardly a secret that those movies will use that formula.

If it's done well, though, it can be marvel-ously entertaining. Like in 300, though I'm guessing that was published by DC.

[xbl0x180]

Uh, Rambo II is, like, the best in the series - and he blowed up the whole viet cong AND the soviet armies with flaming arrows! I love the part at the end where Rambo yells over the phone "MURDOCK! I'M COMING FOR YA!" and he shows up at their hut and machine guns the whole f****n' place. I think James Cameron wrote the script for that and it rocked my face off as a kid