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San Francisco, 3:46 PM
Sun Nov 8
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/05/09
09/05/09
09/06/09
Well, that's an awful lot of qualifiers. Yes, it's the second highest grossing R rated movie of the year, but the highest grossing one (The Hangover) beat it by nearly twice its gross "13th highest grossing DC adaptation" (actually, according to Boxofficemojo, it's 9th) puts it behind the unadjusted gross for the first two Superman movies, which came out 30 years ago. and every other Batman except for Batman and Robin. 18th highest of the year? That's nothing to be proud of , putting it behind Paul Blart, Fast And Furious, The Proposal, and Night At the Museum. It made 180 mil worldwide, and if you factor that it you have to factor in that GI Joe made 264 mil worldwide and Transformers made nearly a billion. So "failure" is not quite the right word, but it was by no stretch a success.
I still say that Snyder took the wrong approach. They should have done a less literal adaptation and made a far more interesting movie.
09/04/09
WB wants a 'dark' Superman movie? And Nolan is ambivalent for Batman III without the Joker?
How about a 'World's Finest' movie as Batman III? It was already being talked about once. There's great drama inherent in the mutual friendship of Superman and Batman given their starkly different origins and worldviews.
I think my favorite example of this was written in the first arc of the Superman Batman comic, paraphrased: 'Clark's parents taught him to be the best he could be. My parents taught me a different lesson, twiching and bleeding in the alley.'
Tell me Nolan couldn't do something worthwhile with that.
09/04/09
I think it could be done if they really think over the script. Maybe have Bruce a little freaked out because all of a sudden there's this superpowered character flying around. But it's hard to say whether Nolan would go for it.
09/05/09
09/06/09
Funnily enough, there's a movement to get Stephen Colbert to play the Riddler. It's not as crazy as it sounds...
09/04/09
Shazam shouldn't be dark EXCEPT for Black Adam. Everything about him should be dark and serious, to counterpoint Billy Batson's youth and enthusiasm as Captain Marvel.
Watchmen was really an exception because it didn't have a general audience to cater toother than fans of the source works. I mean it's not an action flick, it's not a straight drama, it's just escapist fantasy and taking the superhero/vigilante idea to an extreme and I loved it. But then again I am one who the movie was made for. "Zack Snyder's movie version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic graphic novel was everything the studios were saying they wanted: dark, controversial, morally gray, challenging — and it didn't resonate that well with audiences." And that's simply because most people thought they were going to see your run of the mill comicbook flick and it wasn't. it made them think (gasp!)and that's not what they signed on for.
09/04/09
Watchmen (the movie) didn't make me think, except thinking how much Snyder trashed the book.
09/04/09
Seriously, being a huge fan of the Bat, I say what works for Bruce Wayne doesn'T work for everyone else. Gotham is supposed to be the dark, gritty sister of Metropolis and a dark Superman just doesn't work, execpt for few special occasions maybe. Every hero by his own style (or hers, of course).
09/05/09
The thing is Howard The Duck was an awesome comic. It's always bugged me that its reputation was soiled by the movie.
I truly think that a new version that with a CGI Howard that stays true to Gerber's vision would be brilliant. My first thought for the voice would be Steve Buscemi, but now I'm leaning towards Larry David.
09/03/09
09/03/09
i would have to say that you really needed to read the graphic novel before you watched the movie.
i went with a couple people who never read the book or even really heard of the novel
and they would not stop asking me questions at the end of the movie
i hadn't realized the movie left so many questions unanswered.
But because i had read the novel my brain automatically filled in gaps and led me to hail the movie as a great adaptation.
yea so read the novel then watch it again.
i think you will enjoy it a bit more
09/04/09
Yeah, that's exactly the opposite of a great adaptation.
09/03/09
09/03/09
09/03/09
However, a lot of people who wanted to look cool by calling TDK a great movie quickly became overwhelmed by the masses, and decided it would be more cool to call it overrated. So now you have to be careful not to be lumped in with that crowd.
09/03/09
09/04/09
Ledger was great despite being over-hyped, but Bale wasn't and I found myself bored during most of the movie.
Claiming someone is a liar, just seeking attention or that they have bad taste just because they don't agree with you, or even the majority, is just ignorant though.
09/04/09
09/03/09
I think it was really Watchmen and T4 that did it. Well, and Star Trek. TDK made everyone want to do Dark things, but then Economic Crisis and election of Obama and everyone said hold your horses, maybe not. Let's see how watchmen does. It crashed and burned so we got a pg-13 that crashed and burned when it went up against the bright Star Trek.
09/03/09
Watchmen did peter out like Ang Lee's The Hulk and Superman Returns, but I think it's going to see good DVD sales.
Star Trek is weird. It was a success, but a lot of people are neither praising or condemning it at this point. It's almost like the movie never came out.
09/06/09
Watchmen is doing okay on DVD sales, but not fantastic. And remember, it has to compete with all the movies that also did well in the box office.
I personally didn't like Watchmen, but I wouldn't begrudge it being a hit if it was one. But... it wasn't.
09/03/09
Dark, however, has more to do with atmosphere. Sin City and Batman Returns are dark movie. Their aesthetic and atmosphere is dark, brooding. A lot of gothic imagery and film noir ambiance.
TDK isn't dark. A good part of the movie is set in daylight. The building are contemporary, ultra-modern even.
What do other people think of this?
09/03/09
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09/03/09
- No villain is ever going to shine in the wake of Ledger's Joker. He set the bar, and more over-the-top performances will be compared to him.
- How many more iconic heroes -- that enough non-comics readers will buy tickets to -- are left to explore dark themes amidst complex plots?
- TDK was what, $250 million to make? Hardly viable in this economy without the sure bet of being spring boarded by the wildly successful and well-liked Batman Begins. Everyone knew TDK would rake in a billion before they began shooting.
- There's no sense in going dark for the sake of it. F4 can't be dark without the kind of suspension of disbelief it would take a bottle of pills to conjure. Superman is a gentleman and Boy Scout; he doesn't work all angst-ridden and tortured. Dark is Batman's thing, and because of it he's darker than most *villains*; let him keep it.
Don't go 'dark' just because a movie with that word in the title made a billion dollars. Take the material seriously, tell a good story in a fresh way, let the characters motivate the plot, an impress us with some fresh (and in-context) visual stunts.
And don't cast Shia TheBeef. In *anything*.
09/03/09
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09/04/09
I think that this is the tone they should use for Green Lantern. I realize this is a strange thing to say considering that Blackest Night is the current GL arc, but there's something about a guy who flies around in a bright green costume that doesn't say "dark" to me. If it's going to be Hal Jordan, it should be basically Chuck Yeager with a power ring - the idea that good can come just around the horizon - or is that way too corny?
09/04/09
09/05/09
Well, actually, if you read the original Gil Kane GL comics, the idea is that Hal Jordan is not unlike Peter Parker after he got bitten but before Uncle Ben died. He's an arrogant hotshot, and it's his encounter with Abin Sur that humbles him. TOny Stark in iron Man would be another examp[le.
09/03/09
Spidey became fail because of the ridiculous attempt to make it more of an 'epic' and the fact that they never had any real Spidey humor in the series at all. Need a Brian Michael Bendis script if they're gonna reboot that.
09/04/09
Actually, I thought with Spidey 3 they went for dark and ended up with emo Parker.
09/03/09
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09/03/09