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Today:
Best Comic Book Movies
Posted: Apr 29, 2008 in Movies
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"Iron Man" marks the start of the official summer movie season, so of course the first of my corresponding posts this week will look at some of the best comic book movies. I will disclaim that I have never seen "Ghost World," which I've seen in many places listed with the best of the genre. So feel free to break in if you've seen and love this or any other comic book-based film I do or do not list here.
Here goes:
Spider-Man 2 (2004): The current standard for mainstream summer-blockbuster funny-paper movies. It isn't exactly groundbreaking, but does everything right, even if none of it is especially original. Most of the visual-effects kinks from the first Spidey story were worked out, and it continued the first film's thread with Harry without taking away from the main story, featuring to date the best-conceived Spidey villain: Doctor Octopus. Dynamic, compelling action, it is wholly family-friendly, and captures the angst of Peter Parker perfectly.
Batman Begins (2005): THE definitive version of Batman, with no Zaps, Pows, or ridiculous action-figure-cash grabs from the filmmakers. A slow burn of a film that never stops being interesting, and keeps Batman heroic but still frightening to the bad guys as he should be.
American Splendor (2003): A touching, funny, and creative high-concept film that tells the real-life story of Harvey Pekar, a file clerk who got mixed up with Robert Crumb and his underground comics movement and ended up not only with his own comic, but a semi-regular spot on Letterman. Paul Giamatti is excellent as Pekar, and the film bounces between a dramatized portrayal of the characters and the real people interacting in the film.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980/2006): An improvement on the "original" version of the film, where Donner, after finishing about 2/3 of "Superman II" was summarily fired by the Salkinds, who were financing the operation, and replaced by Richard Lester, who made a bit of a different film. This version restores Brando's involvement and the intended ending of the second film, which was aped by the Salkinds and tacked on to the end of the first Superman film (where Superman turns back time). It also loses the silly "teleporting Superman" and "cellophane shield" sequences. It does add some scenes using test footage, where Christopher Reeve is wearing some funky glasses, but it's hardly distracting.
X2: X-Men United (2003): The "Empire Strikes Back" of the X-Men franchise. Wolverine gets more of a backstory, Nightcrawler is perfectly realized, and story arcs are masterfully woven into this backstory of oppression and fear of mutants. Bryan Cox is excellent as Stryker, a government official who wants to eradicate mutants using his own mutant son.
I am looking forward to seeing Iron Man but my favorite are still the old Superman movies. I was disappointed with Batman Begins because I love the original so much. However, my HB who never saw the original liked Batman Begins more (after seeing the first later on). I am so happy that the old comics are making such a comeback...now for an Archie movie!
No "Howard the Duck"?!....Jokes.
Great list...some of my favorites also include:
Sin City, it was filmed like an actual comic book, quite entertaining display and effects...
Men in Black, that made for a classic flick.
A History of Violence, based off of a Graphic novel...that movie was great.
Blade 2 was pretty stellar too.
No "Howard the Duck"?!....Jokes. Great list...some of my favorites also include: Sin City, it was ...
Re: Howard the Duck, I am planning a "worst comic book movies" thread for later in the week! :)
I do like your other choices as well. Sin City especially is right there among the best also.
"V for Vendetta," "300," "Sin City," "Hellboy," "Blade" and the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" are all notable. I enjoyed all of them. And yes, "Ghost World" is an excellent movie. Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch are hilarious together. If documentaries count, I'd also add "Crumb" to the list.
It would require another post to cover all of the excellent anime movies based on manga comics.
"V for Vendetta," "300," "Sin City," "Hellboy," "Blade" and the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" ...
I came thisclose to adding "Oldboy" to the list.
Re: Howard the Duck, I am planning a "worst comic book movies" thread for later ...
Can't wait for that post...bring on the Catwoman sequel already!
I disagree with everybody. The original Batman movie made with Adam West was by far the best. It carried the spirit of the comic at the time and still holds up today. I could watch it everyday and never grow tired of it, it's entertainment in every sense.
The second best was the version of Batman made with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Jack's turn at playing the Joker made the movie a classic.
Don't even mention Sin City in this list, I couldn't even make it through viewing it at the theater. Anytime a plot utilizes child molestation to advance the story, I will never, ever respect the talents of the writer. If a person wants to profit off of such misery and abomination, it just shows their lack of skill as well as respect for their fellow human beings.
I disagree with everybody. The original Batman movie made with Adam West was by far ...
I had considered a "best gadgets" thread as well, and the shark repellant Bat-Spray would have been on the top of the list.
I have a definite warm spot for the first Burton Batman, but that film has some flaws. The final battle was really underwhelming, for one, and it definitely kicked off the "villain is more important than Batman" tone for the rest of the films, which got tiresome really quickly. And WTF is Robert Wuhl doing in that movie at all? But Nicholson's Joker is great, no doubt.
Interesting comment about Sin City, and that's an excellent topic of conversation that I don't think we've had on indy.com. I'll post a thread about it soon and we can discuss it at more length.
I disagree with everybody. The original Batman movie made with Adam West was by far ...
So a plot about murdering someone is alright, but molestation is too taboo? The kid didn't get molested, it never ended up happening....that was the whole point of the comic, to stop the villain. The good guys wins, for me it put a real feel to the whole comic. Bad guys don't always just want to kill and take over the hero, they are corrupt and don't just care about money. Sin City is a little more realistic comic than Superman.
To me, murder is worse than molestation...and murder is all that goes on in comic books. The Joker murdered Batman's parents in front of their son in the Burton Batman you praise. Spiderman's uncle was murdered...death is all around. The villains are trying to murder a bunch of people, kids included in most cases, it just might not be directly stated. Green Goblin tried to kill a whole train cart full of people...a lot of kids were in there. So why is talk of molestation soo horrible...but murder is fine?
So a plot about murdering someone is alright, but molestation is too taboo? The kid ...
I posted a thread about this topic...let's move the discussion for it over there, shall we? It's an interesting topic that deserves full discourse away from the trifle of "best comic book movies." :)
Ghost World is a favorite of mine and fairly faithful to the original comic as Daniel Clowes wrote both the film and comic. Strangely, he chose to change much of the plot and dialogue for the film, although the original feel and concept of the comic is kept intact. It's definitely not a traditional comic book movie, however, and wouldn't necessarily appeal to fans of super hero comics or films.
Men In Black, I thought, was much better than the comic book, which I have read.
Sin City was probably the most faithful adaption of a comic book ever, and deserves a special place in comic film history for proving the Hollywood doesn't have to change anything about the comic to turn it into a successful film.
Ghost World is a favorite of mine and fairly faithful to the original comic as ...
That's exactly why I was sure to include "American Splendor," which is also not a superhero movie as the rest of them are. Good point too about Sin City.
No Sin City????
Whoops, Rictor mentioned it, helps to read threads sometimes hehe.
American Splendor is one of those movies that I watch every few months to get inspired. Great stuff.
As for Sin City, ugh. I couldn't care less about the use of child molestation in the film. Jebus knows it's a common enough occurrence that to strike it from movies, books, etc. would create an utterly false representation of the world. My problem with Sin City was that, although it looked spectacular, the writing was a big slice of rancid Velveeta. Nearly bad enough to be good, but not quite. It's precisely the kind of writing that comic books were made for, which is probably where that kind of writing needs to stay.