One of my favorites

If I told you to guess what may favorite comic book based movie was, I’d bet you guess one of the Batman movies.  Knowing my fandom of Batman, it would be a safe guess.  A wrong guess.  That’s right.  My favorite comic book movie is not a Batman movie.  It’s not even a superhero movie.  And while you’re making your next guesses, Sin City is also wrong.  My favorite comic book movie is Road to Perdition.

This movie, released in 2002, was based on the graphic novel of the same name and written by Max Allan Collins and released by Paradox Press.  Admittedly, I’ve never actually read the book, but that’s beside the point.  The movie was directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall), and stars Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Paul Newman, and Daniel Craig.

The movie takes place during the Great Depression.  Tom Hanks plays a mob (or is it mafia?) enforcer for Paul Newman.  He goes on a job with Newman’s son, played by Daniel Craig.  Things go horribly wrong, and Craig ends up killing someone.  All of this is witnessed by Hank’s son.  Because he witnessed this murder, Hank’s has to take his son and go on run.  Newman hires a hitman, played by Jude Law, to go after Hanks and his son.

Yes, of course, there is more to the story than that.  I just don’t want to spoil anything for anyone that hasn’t seen the movie, yet.  Because it really is a wonderful movie.  Personally, I hadn’t heard about this movie, until stumbling across at a Blockbuster (remember those?).  And with this cast, it’s surprising that this movie didn’t receive more publicity.  Maybe no thought that a Tommy gun wielding Tom Hanks was a marketable thing.  But that’s part of the allure, to me.  It goes against most of the roles I had ever seen him play.

So, if you’ve never seen this movie, I just you find a way to watch it.  I’m not saying that you should do anything illegal to watch this movie.  But you do whatever it takes to watch this movie.

R.I.P.D.T.

HERE IT IS!  The long-awaited team up between Green Lantern and Rooster Cogburn.  Yes, I went with Jeff Bridges character from the True Grit remake.  You wanna fight about it?  But now that I think of it, thinking of this movie as a Green Lantern sequel might make it more interesting.  Think about it.  Ryan Reynolds character dies (spoiler alert), and then becomes The Spectre.  More or less.  He hunts being that should be in the underworld, or something like that.  Watch the trailer and judge for yourself.  Have any of you read the comic?

Comic Book Movie Review – Iron Man 3

With the release of Iron Man 3, so begins Marvel Studios’ Phase 2.  Well, that’s just a fancy way of saying that you’re going to get three sequels and one original movie in Guardians of the Galaxy.  But it does have some significance with the stories.  No longer will the filmmakers have to be primarily occupied with introducing the main characters and setting them up for The Avengers.  Combined with this new freedom, was also a new Iron Man director in Shane Black.  Gone, but not very far was Jon Favereau.

Iron Man 3

Directed by Shane Black

Written by Drew Pearce & Shane Black

Starring
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron ManGwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes/Iron Patriot
Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian
Rebecca Hall as Maya Hensen
Jon Favereau as Happy Hogan
Sir Ben Kingsly as The Mandarin

See, Iron Man 1 and 2 director Jon Favereau didn’t go far.  He just didn’t direct.  But anyways, the movie begins in Berm, Switzerland on New Year’s Eve 1999.  There, Tony Stark is hitting on “botanist” Maya Hensen, all while ignoring Aldrich Killian, from Advanced Idea Mechanics.  In Hall’s room, she shows her ferns (yes, the actual plants) that are part of her experiments.  Despite being told to leave it alone, Happy breaks off a small branch.  Shortly after, it’s shown growing back, but there is then an explosion in that room.  But this doesn’t keep Tony from spending the night with her, and not saying good-bye in the morning.  He also told Aldrich that he’d meet him on the roof, but never did. 

Verily, thou should watch this trailer

Here’s the first trailer for Thor:  The Dark World.

Trailer of Steel

The new Man of Steel trailer is here.  What do you think?  I’m holding onto my cautious optimism.  And by the way, any arguments against putting the origin story in the movie are invalid.  Superman’s origin hasn’t really been explored in film since 1978.  Smallville doesn’t count.  It was a television show, and only 2-3 million people watched.  I imagine Warner Bros. is hoping more people than that see the movie.

Comic Book Movie Review – Superman vs. The Elite

Superman vs. The Elite

Directed by Michael Chang

Written by Joe Kelly

Starring
George Newbern as Clark Kent/Superman
Pauley Perrette as Lois Lane
Robin Atkin Downes as Manchester Black

Superman vs. The Elite is based on the story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way” that was written by Joe Kelly, and appeared in Action Comics #775.  I am not certain how much this movie deviates from the comic, because I’ve never read it.  Maybe when I read the digital copy that came with the Blu-ray I’ll comment on it.  But for now, we’re focusing solely on the movie.  And overall, it was a pretty good movie.  Maybe one of the best that DC has produced.  Spoilers after the break. 

This preview is the best there is at what it does

Preview posted by joblomovienetwork

Well, first impressions are that it looks better than X-Men Origins:  Wolverine.  Of course, you wouldn’t think it’d be difficult to make one better, but if they made one that bad, then they can make another.  Not much else to say about it.  It’s just a preview after all.  You all have any thoughts?

Comic Book Movie Review – The Dark Knight Rises

And so we have come to the end of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.  The big question facing everyone coming into this movie is would it be as good as The Dark Knight?  The short answer is not really.  But that’s not the same as saying it is not a good movie.  The fact is, The Dark Knight Rises is still a good, enjoyable movie.  The fact that it is not as good as The Dark Knight is not a real slight against this movie.  The fact that it isn’t the greatest comic book movie of all time isn’t anything to be disappointed about.  The rest of my thoughts will be below the break.  I promise to keep spoilers to a minimum.

The Dark Knight Rises

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Written by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer

Starring
Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Tom Hardy as Bane
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake
Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon
Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth

Batman in Theaters Part 3 – The Nolan films

And finally, we have come to the Christopher Nolan films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  Without a doubt, these are my favorite.

Batman Begins (2005)
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Written by Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer
Starring
Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard
Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon
Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow

After watching the death of his parents, Bruce Wayne decides to fight crime, and is taught by Henri Ducard.  In Gotham, he must deal with the mob and the Scarecrow’s fear gas.

Specifically to this movie, the only really bad thing I have to say about it is that Katie Holmes was awful.  In the middle of a bunch of pretty good actors, she stuck out like a bad cliche.  It really is sad.  The opposite of Katie Holmes was Liam Neeson.  I greatly enjoyed his performance, and the revelation at the end was perfectly played.  I sat through the beginning thinking that Neeson would have made a great Ra’s Al Ghul.  But I never thought that a trick was going to be played because Henri Ducard is an actual character that plays a role in Batman’s origin.  It was a brilliant ploy. 

Batman in Theaters Part 2 – The Burton/Schumacher run

In this part of my look back at how Batman has been portrayed in theaters, we look at the films from the ’90s (and 1989).  Those include the Tim Burton directed films Batman and Batman Returns, along with the Joel Schumacher films Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.  The animated Batman:  Mask of the Phantasm also was released during this time, but I’m going to hold off on featuring it until a later date.

The Burton films

Batman (1989)
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren
Starring
Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Jack Nicholson as The Joker/Jack Napier
Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale
Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox
Jack Palance as Carl Grissom
Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon

Batman tries to stop the Joker from poisoning the citizens of Gotham City, while also dealing with an investigative new love interest named Vicki Vale.

So, in this movie, Jack Napier/Joker is the one that killed Bruce’s parents.  I really don’t like that.  I just think that it turns the story of Batman wanting to stop crime into a story of Batman wanting revenge.  And why would Alfred just bring Vicki Vale into the Batcave.  Seriously, they’ve gone on a couple dates, and Alfred brings her in right after Bruce found out that Joker killed his parents.  That makes no sense.  Alfred wouldn’t do that because revealing that Bruce is Batman isn’t his call to make.  (Heh, just saw the scene in Batman Returns where Bruce questions Alfred about that.)

I still enjoy Michael Keaton’s performance in this movie.  To me, he’s the one that portrayed the difference between Bruce Wayne and Batman the best.  And I really don’t have a problem with Nicholson’s Joker in this movie.  It was a nice psychotic madman.  Maybe a bit silly at times, but you can get away with that with a character like the Joker.  Grant Morrison in Arkham Asylum described it best when he said the Joker’s mind is a jumbled mess, causing him to one day go on a killing spree, the next want pull silly pranks on everyone.