Top 10 BEST and WORST Comic Book Movies : MYFAVORITES

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10 Best Comic Book Movies, 10 Worst Comic Book Movies, Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman Forever, Batman Returns, Best Comic Book Movies, Captain America, Catwoman, Jonah Hex, Kick Ass, Spiderman, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3, The Avengers, The Avengers Review, The Dark Knight, The Punisher, Thor, Top 10 Comic Book Movies, Worst Comic Book Movies, X2

Who isn’t excited for “The Avengers” today!! A HUGE Comic Book flick, and really the first one to merge different franchises together. I can’t wait to see how it turns out, and I should be writing a review soon. But first… here’s something that’s been waiting to get posted for a long while… enjoy!

When it comes to translating classic Comic Book heroes to the big screen, there have been loads of misses and a few great hits. It doesn’t seem like an easy thing to take characters that are decades old with legions of super fans waiting to knock any inconsistency and plot hole. Some film makers try and fail to cater to the fan-boys while some do their own thing to mixed results.
I haven’t seen every single Comic Book film of course, but here’s my attempt to dissect the best and the worst adaptations in the history of film.
(I actually had a listing a few years ago on Flixster, but on this list I’m trying to eliminate Graphic Novels and only talk about the weekly serials that have become iconic over the years. And if I’m wrong about something feel free to leave a comment and let me know)

>> The Worst!
These are the 10 films that for whatever reason did not satisfy the requirements of a great Comic Book translation, or even the requirements of a halfway decent film.

10. The Punisher
The only reason I even know about the Marvel character Punisher is through my Uncle, who was a huge fan. There have been a few attempts to make this violent and controversial comic into a movie and I’ve only seen one. The 2004 Thomas Jane one, and the problem with putting the Punisher on film is simply it can’t work. Unless it’s an Indie film and not aiming for a mainstream crowd, the content is way too risky to work and most times the writers behind the adaptations are too scared to take those risks and it ends up being a stale half-ass version of what made the comic great.

9. Kick Ass
Thank God this movie had Chloë Grace Moretz , the little girl who stole this rather uneventful film about teen heroes. This movie could have been great, but it got really bogged down in trying to be serious at times that a lot of the fun and humor it should have had was totally lost. (And this is where I’m uncertain, I can’t figure out if this was a Graphic Novel or a legit Comic Book! I might have to re-edit!?)

8. Spiderman 3
How to Ruin a Great Franchise 101! 1. Add one too many villains that don’t seem related to each other at all, it will totally ruin the flow of the movie. 2. Endlessly Hype the show down between Spidey and his arch nemesis Venom, and than save it until the very last portion of the movie. 3. Forget about trying to balance dumb slap stick comedy sequences with uber-serious and intense scenes. Just a mess all over.

7. Jonah Hex
Just couldn’t get into this fantastical Cowboy comic crap, Megan Fox seemed totally mis-cast (and gratuitous), and there was no chemistry between her and star Josh Brolin. The story was actually quite interesting, but the execution just didn’t work.
It came off really cheap and way too contemporary styled to sell the Western feel. (Much like the ill fated campy “Wild Wild West” with Will Smith)

6. Spawn
HBO had an excellent animated series based on the gritty comic, I loved that and it made me excited for this live action adaptation. But as with other ultra violent comics, mainstream can never translate them well so it came off pretty cheesy compared to what it should have been. (similar to “Punisher”)

5. Catwoman
This film was built on the fact that Catwoman and Halle Berry are sexy. And, that’s pretty much it. The other components of making a good film were totally missing with it’s flimsy storyline which basically amounted to a few sexed up poses and dozens of un-witty one liners. A cliched love story, an unbelievable villain and some actually uneventful fight scenes. At a point I did try to like this movie, but it truly is just a throwaway.

4. Batman Forever
Joel Schumacher all but ruined the “Batman” franchise Tim Burton rejuvenated. Instead of continuing on the darker, grittier path that Burton set up, Schumacher’s Gotham City was turned into an ultra cheesy, way too colorful, and overloaded Batman chapter. And the sad thing is, he wasn’t done as we’ll see soon enough.

3. Green Lantern
Cheesy graphics, a paint by number cliched script, actors that either phoned it in or just wouldn’t know the words “natural” or “chemistry” if it hit them on the head. Just an awful movie that really had no redeeming qualities at all.

2. Batman and Robin
Yes, “Batman Forever” was bad… but compared to this mess of a movie it looks like “Citizen Kane” (okay that’s going too far, maybe something like “Die Hard 4”). Not only are there way too many villains in this one, but they are third rate villains that most people (unless you were watching the animated Batman series of the time) wouldn’t have known. This film killed the Batman franchise for a while before Christopher Nolan dared to pick it back up. Awful!

1. Daredevil
Let’s see, where to start? This movie was so incredibly bad on so many different levels I don’t even know how to begin. What stands out the most is the awful CGI, than we have to think of the D.O.A. acting job of the consistently bland lead Ben Affleck. And, bottom line, it was just dumb! Boring! Not fun or funny! Absolutely no good qualities at all (maybe Colin Farrell, but there’s only so much one actor can do in a movie like this), not only is this my worst Comic Book Movie… but it ranks as one of my Worst Movies of All Time!

>>The Best!
So clearly, these are the few that actually got it right!

10. Batman Returns
Tim Burton’s dark “Batman” was revolutionary, and even though this sequel was just a skoche lighter, it still maintained the gritty world invented in the first film. This script was surprisingly original and new, with very interesting origin stories for the main villains. On top of that, the film was perfectly cast which is probably the main selling point. Danny DeVito was perfect as the creepy Penguin and Michelle Pfieffer treaded the line perfectly from a mouse-y secretary to a sexy fearless (sort of) villain. Christopher Walken’s role is also a great component to make this film worthy of the top 10

9. Thor
I think of Thor as an extremely complicated story to put on the screen. Where this could have fallen apart totally, the team really did their best to make it flow well and get a lot of information out without slowing down the overall feel of the movie. Add great acting as a selling point, in fact some of the stuff that hit the cutting room floor actually proves how good of an effort this was. It combines a mythological world with a scientific world and the real world effortlessly. And there’s no way they could have cast a better leading man as Hemsworth owned this role.

8. The Dark Knight
I had deemed this movie overrated when it was ridiculously hyped upon release, and I still think the last half hour was a mess … but the rest of the movie is undeniably flawless. Visually it’s dark, but still stunning. The writing is very clever and well thought out, and who can deny Heath Ledger’s spine chillingly scary Joker. It’s not the perfect film Fan Boys would like us to believe, but for what it does get right it is pretty frikkin phenomenal.

7. Iron Man
An atypically adult and mature super hero film. There’s actually not a lot of action as compared to the films running time, but what you get is real fleshed out characters dealing with very real (okay, let your imagination run wild a little bit) situations that are relevant in the real world. And Robert Downey Jr is flawless as the rich boy you want to hate but can’t help but love.

6. Superman
Classic! It’s one of the first big budget comic book movies to really be taken seriously. The effects were good for the time, but luckily they didn’t over-use them because the movie really does still stand up some 30 years later. Richard Donner’s Superman has lots of heart, great casting, and just overall a lot fun. Like what a Comic Book is supposed to be.

5. Captain America
Much like “Thor” (and frankly all of the films leading up to the avengers), “Captain America” had so much plot and character details to get through you’d think it would totally fall apart. However this film has almost a perfect balance of action, drama, character development, humor and intensity.

4. X2
X-men is such a great comic book series, it’s really a shame that most of the film adaptations thus far have been a little lack luster. With the big exception of “X2”, which totally grabbed viewers with the intense and non stop opening scene. By the very suspenseful and climactic end, you feel the film might have been too short. What this film had the other two lacked  was that this was all about the action.

3. Batman
This is actually my favorite movie of All Time, simply because director Tim Burton took a totally new approach to the comic book genre. Flipping the corny Batman TV series of the 60’s and turning into a supremely dark and edgy suspense filled thriller with lots of humor with great visuals. This movie really, in my mind, changed the landscape of the comic book flicks and should be celebrated for taking a risk and setting a new trend.

2. Spiderman 2
1. Spiderman

The first two Spiderman movies make the top of my list because I think Sam Raimi and company did the best job of really bringing the comic book feeling to the big screen to life. There’s a certain life to both films that resembles that of an actual comic book, plus some of the visual techniques look like a comic book page re-created. Add to that it’s a fast paced, funny movie with some more than capable actors.

Rating the Rentals : Movie Reviews

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Andy Serkis, Bad Teacher, Bad Teacher Review, Cameron Diaz, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The First Avenger Review, Cars 2, Cars 2 Review, Courtney Cox, Crazy Stupid Love, Crazy Stupid Love Review, David Arquette, Dwayne Johnson, Fast Five, Fast Five Review, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Review, Hangover 2, Hangover 2 Review, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Review, Horrible Bosses, Horrible Bosses Review, J.J. Abrams, Jamie Foxx, Jason Segel, JJ Abrams, Julianne Moore, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, Neve Campbell, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Scream 4, Scream 4 Review, Steve Carrell, Super 8, Super 8 Review, The Hangover 2, The Hangover 2 Review, The Rock, Transformers Dark of the Moon, Transformers Dark of the Moon Review, Vin Diesel

Months ago, I wrote about “The Summer in the Fall” and how I rarely go out to the cinemas to catch movies but end up waiting for them to be released on Blu Ray. I had a list of 7 films I was eager to see, and now they are all out. Some were worth the wait, some… to put it simply… were not. So here’s a quick run down of those 7 films, plus some other ones I happened to see since making that post, I’m ranking them by how much I enjoyed them to the ones I could barely sit through.

1. Captain America: The First Avenger

As you may have read, I loved this movie. Definitely exceeded expectations and was really a excellent movie that was triumphant in so many different areas… acting, writing, special effects, pacing, humor and visuals. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor.

2. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Heard great things about this prior to watching, and yes this movie was really a step in the right direction for Hollywood. Of course, the filmmakers had to have a human interest story at the forefront, but the movie really excels when we get the point of view of ape Caesar. I appreciate the writers for trusting that film audiences aren’t complete morons and can follow his triumphant and inspiring story. And yes, I read an article not too long ago about Andy Serkis the genius behind Gollum, King Kong and now Caesar. Serkis definitely deserves some sort of recognition from the Academy. If he wasn’t as genius in his portrayal, the whole movie would have felt flat and lacked the emotion that makes it stellar

3. Crazy Stupid Love

Really wasn’t expecting much from this film. Though I enjoy nearly all the actors involved (Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling) I wasn’t sure if it would be super melodramatic, or kind of slapstick comedy or lame romantic sappiness. Luckily it wasn’t either of the three, but a rather great mixture with a very nice twist (less of a twist, more of a reveal) towards the end that brought everything altogether. Great flick, very true to life and thanks to the writing as a viewer you really liked all of the characters and wanted the best for all of them.

4. The Hangover 2

When I first saw this on bootleg this summer I had low expectations, just like with the original”The Hangover”. Generally with comedies and horrors, if they are raved about I generally find them to be overrated, but “The Hangover” really was better than the hype and I think the sequel did a great job at delivering. No, it’s not better than the original but it worked with the same components that made the first one so great. It has the same rhythm, and still some drop dead hilarious moments.

5. Fast Five

Very low expectations going into this one, I was a huge fan of the first “The Fast and The Furuious” over 10 years ago. After the third “Tokyo Drift” film (which wasn’t bad) I kind of lost excitement for the franchise (still haven’t seen the 4th one). However knowing all the players were back together for “Fast Five”, I knew I’d enjoy it. And what you get is some great action scenes, some nicely placed comedic moments, and one epic fight between Vin Diesel and The Rock err… Dwayne Johnson. “Fast Five” gives you everything you need from a “Fast and Furious” film, or just any good action film.

6. Scream 4

Another new addition to a franchise that I loved at first, until the third one left a sour taste in my mouth. “Scream 4” isn’t great, but it does a good job of updating the franchise to include Facebook statuses, cell phone apps and just pretty much all things “digital era”. Yet the returning stars of the franchise (Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette) keep the classic feel that we’ve come to expect from the series. The final reveal of the killer was just a tad bit lame, but overall it was still spooky enough and funny enough to make us forget about “Scream 3”, and it worked better than most other slasher flicks these days.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Surprise Surprise, I’m not one of the millions of Potter fanatics, but I have generally enjoy the films. They are fun, and visually stunning, but honestly the only one I have a good memory of was “Prisoner of Azkaban”, with all the rest kind of melding into one. Not being a huge fan probably is the reason I have just lukewarm feelings about the finale. Even as I’m writing this, I don’t really recall what exactly happened. There were a few bits that were pretty stunning, but overall it was just a decent film to me. I’m sure if I did a full on “Harry Potter” marathon, I’d feel more emotionally connected… as it stands, it was just good.

8. Bad Teacher

This movie is so over the top, with characters that are extreme caricatures and a plot that is so textbook “80’s comedy movie”, but somehow it worked. Cameron Diaz does a great job with the heartless uber-bitch role, and her nemesis Lucy Punch was good (if a little over-done) in the “good teacher” turned neurotic revenge filled chick. Justin Timberlake does a decent job of playing the dorky nice guy, and Jason Segel consistently provides laughs and balances the story a little back into reality.

9. Cars 2

Oh Pixar!! Hopefully this film isn’t an indication of the studio going totally downhill. Sure “Cars 2” was visually stunning as always and provided some laughs. But it also felt really bogged down in trying to cater to too many different areas. The 3D aspect, being action packed, and cramming “alternative fuel” propoganda down our throats. In trying to cover all these areas, the film lacked the heart of most Pixar films which is why they are generally so good. Pixar usually keeps things simple and this one felt like it was doing just way too much, not a horrible flick (it’s bearable) but definitely a step in the wrong direction for the normally genius company.

10. Horrible Bosses

There are silly comedies that work in surprising ways, and there are silly comedies that just come off as silly, and “Horrible Bosses” was the latter. There were some funny moments no doubt, and some of the performances were better than expected. (And I loved the little twist with Jamie Foxx’s character in the end) At the end of it though, the movie was just a little too implausible to really take seriously , luckily it provided enough laugh out loud moments, it’s just a movie you watch to escape reality and laugh, nothing to take serious at all.

11. Super 8

After so many great reviews, and even friends recommending this to me, and being a fan of J.J. Abrams… I expected so much more from this flick. The movie was Okay, on the pro-list is that it had some great young talents who were pretty convincing in their acting, and there was a bit of suspense and mystery during the first half. On the con-list, the movie was so incredibly cliche and predictable and almost completely implausible. In the end it just felt like an homage to 80’s kid-friendly classics like “The Goonies”, “E.T.” and “Stand by Me”, but in trying to feel like those old movies it seriously lacked it’s own originality and fell completely flat by the ending.

12. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Horrible. Honestly none of the previous “Tranformers” films have been good by any stretch of the imagination. Just decent popcorn flicks with non stop action and CGI and not much (who i am kidding)… absolutely zero substance. Sometimes they are good for some funny anecdotes, but overall they use any excuse for million dollar explosions and over the top special effects. “Dark of the Moon” was just totally stupid and not even really enjoyable (and me and my friend kept commenting on how the chicks white jacket stayed white the whole movie even with all the destruction). If you’ve seen the first two, there’s really nothing they could do special effects wise that could wow us anymore

13.   Green Lantern

What an incredibly cheesy movie, I don’t even want to waste too many words on this, it was just that bad. A weird mix of something that’s way too cookie cutter, way too desperate for a laugh or an intense moment, yet even with the total desperation to make this a relevant comic book movie, there’s nothing we haven’t seen before and not very memorable. Even Ryan Reynolds natural charisma couldn’t save this sorry excuse for an action flick.

 

(Wow, I’m done. It took me way too long to finally post this!)

Now that “Captain America” is out the way, Rating “The Avengers” : Movie Review

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Captain America, Captain America Review, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The First Avenger Review, Chris Evans, Hugo Weaver, Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Movie Review, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Tommy Lee Jones

This past Tuesday I happily bought “Captain America: The First Avenger” on BluRay. Not only excited to see the film due to the great reviews it’s gotten, but also because it’s the last film building up to next summer’s ultimate Marvel Hero Orgy “The Avengers“. I was excited to see how all of the films in the series stock up, and for the most part, they have all been great.  Managing to be great stand-alone films, with great storylines and character development, but also great in keeping things consistent and offering clues to what is yet to come with “The Avengers”.

First things first though, let’s dive into “Captain America: The First Avenger” which totally lived up to it’s hype and was also the perfect closer before next years extravaganza of a Comic Book film. Probably the most impressive thing about the film, which had a huge hurdle by being one of the most-loved Comic Book Heroes of all-time, was the ease with which they put everything together. There’s an awful lot of information this movie had to get through — from our hero being a wimp with a heart of gold — to his transformation into beefcake War hero — to his stint as a commercial celebrity (a great, cheesy scene that worked so well) — to his ultimate defeat of the bad guy and his assumed death. With all of that, you’d expect the film to be over-long and boring with too much exposition needed.

What you ended up getting was a really well-done, fast paced, action packed film with actors so good that the hokey and very implausible story felt almost real and genuine. A combination of things worked together on this film to make it as good as it really is. Mainly Chris Evans, who we are used to seeing as a cocky jock in other films, really went out of his comfort zone to play the lead character Steve Rogers a charming yet humbled man with a genuine passion for being a hero and defending his country. Evans plays the role to perfection, as does his two nemesis’ in the film Hugo Weaver and Tommy Lee Jones. Weaver plays Red Skull, the “badder than Hitler” villain whose performance was so sinister it almost felt like there wasn’t enough of him. And Tommy Lee Jones plays the army captain that continually doubts our hero Rogers, until he witnesses a display of his bravery. Jones and Evans’ love/hate relationship was a great component of the movie.

Aside from the acting, and the writing, the visual aspects were great as well. The techniques to shrink the hunk that is Chris Evans into a 100 pound weakling could have failed, but it worked so well. And just the attention to detail with the scenery gave a true 40’s feeling to the whole movie. Overall, this movie blew me away. I had high expectations and it still surpassed them.

Captain America: The First Avenger, 5 of 5

So how does it stack up with all the rest of “The Avengers” films thus far!?

Well easily the worst has been “The Incredible Hulk“, a re-boot from a far superior version starring Eric Bana. Being that the versions were just 4 years apart, the Edward Norton fronted re-boot felt like an after thought really. It sort of picked up where Bana’s “Hulk” left off, just with a brand new cast and a new look. The visual effects were slightly improved (mainly because this version chose mostly night shots which are probably easier to animate), but there was nothing interesting about this version at all. So much so that I remember watching it, but don’t really remember anything that happened other than the final fight scene and Tony Stark’s cameo. Funny enough, on “The Avengers”, we’ll be seeing athird actor portray Hulk in a span of just 7 years as Mark Ruffalo takes on the beast.

The Incredible Hulk, 2 of 5

If you read my recent review of “Thor“, you’ll know I think highly of it. Like “Captain America”, this movie has a lot of information that needed a clever way of getting it out there. And the writers managed to deliver, as well as the cast and the director who kept this movie both action packed and intense, but also really light and funny. And Chris Hemsworth made a fantastic leading man, it’ll be interesting to see how his character interacts with everybody else in this “Avenger” initiative.

Thor, 5 of 5

The series that began this “Avengers” initiative with a huge bang was the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle “Iron Man“. Both the original and the sequel have a great balance of living in somewhat of a real world, sci-fi tech goodness, great action scenes, and a real heart and humor. The success of the films can be placed almost squarely on Downey Jr., who does an amazing job of making a character whose obnoxious, arrogant and selfish into an actual likable guy. If he didn’t have such a great finesse with this character, the movie clearly would have fallen apart. Luckily he’s a master actor, and really because of him we’re getting “The Avengers”.

“Iron Man”, though it provided less action than it’s sequel, was a great film in that in tackled some current issues of war and weaponry intelligently and the overall feel of the film was way more mature than your standard Comic Book Flick. Still it provided the youthful fun that people expect when going to a movie like this. “Iron Man 2” may have been just a tad less mature, but provided some great fun that maybe the first one lacked.

Iron Man, 4.5 of 5
Iron Man 2, 4 of 5

The next big question will be, how will “The Avengers” film do. The first official trailer was released a few weeks ago and it does look pretty sick. I think the film has potential to be incredible, since it won’t get bogged down in having to introduce each member (except we’ll need to know who this Hawkeye guy is, he was only briefly shown in “Thor”) it should flow nicely. I’m really most intrigued to see the chemistry between everybody — who’ll get along with each other and who won’t. The only issue I foresee is maybe too much, which is often a problem in Comic Book movies where there’s maybe one too many villains. But just based on the films we’ve seen leading up to this flick, “The Avengers” should be fun, funny and relate able. We’ll see this coming May.

Stay Tuned for my ultimate Best and Worst Comic Book Movies of All Time