Superhero films aren’t even superhero films anymore. Superhero films used to be straight-forward, with ninety-percent of the movie starring the man in the tights. It was definitely much more about the heroes rise, the man in the mask rather than the … Continue reading Iron Man 3 (2013) Review
I‘ve now offered DC two solid pieces of advice for launching their Justice League movie but I don’t think they’ve even read them! (Incidentally, you can read my previous advice here and here). Now Marvel have launched “Phase 2” with Iron Man … Continue reading Why DC should launch Justice League on TV instead…
Iron Man should have been called Tony Stark. The actual amount of the film dedicated to Iron Man the Superhero is so small compared to how much is dedicated to Tony Stark and that is the secret to Iron Man’s … Continue reading Iron Man (2008) Re-View
The Justice League movie is looking further and further away with every passing month. Script rewrites, lack of a director and an unmanageable release date seem to be casting a shadow over what I believe is a bad idea anyway. … Continue reading What DC should do instead of a Justice League Movie
Last summer was arguably the best ever for superhero films. It had one of the biggest movies ever, let alone superhero movie, an almost-perfect end to an almost-perfect trilogy and a very strong reboot of a series that needed it. This year has … Continue reading Iron Man versus Thor versus Superman!
If what I understand about how films are made is correct, then Roger Mussenden deserves a special award for his work on X-Men. Roger was the person that (if my understanding is correct) has some hand in casting Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto and the biggest, and probably most surprising success of all, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The scenes between Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are brilliantly acted and set up the more serious tone for X-Men. This isn’t a goofy, light-hearted superhero film, like Raimi’s Spiderman had been or the attempt at the Fantastic Four film had ended … Continue reading X-Men (2000) Review
The original X-Men film and its “prequel” are the perfect films to demonstrate how superhero films have been forced to change. Back when the original X-Men movie was released, it was fine to be all flash and very little in the way of story. The novelty was that you were seeing characters you had only been able to read about in comics or watch on television, actually shooting lasers from their eyes or bend metal at will. Soon though, that wouldn’t be enough. If you create enough of the same type of the film, something has to change. Fantastic Four, … Continue reading X-Men: First Class (2011) Review
Kristen from All Eyes on Screen posted an interesting Comic Book Debate about whether comic book films should be serious or not. My opinion (which you can read in a bit more detail in the comments section) boils down to whether the core character behind the whole film is a dark, serious character or a character that you can have a much lighter tone and the freedom to produce a less serious film. I would say that Spiderman, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four are all great examples of characters that have the freedom for lighter films. In fact, most of Marvel’s characters … Continue reading Ghostrider (2007) Re-View
I get nervous watching films that are based on popular characters, particularly ones I love. I get the same nervousness with sequels, films based on novels I love or anything that fits roughly into that category. The key examples that come to mind at the moment are Indiana Jones 4, Superman Returns, War of the Worlds and, quite fittingly, Spiderman 3. In fact, Spiderman 3 is the worst example of this utter disappointment and disbelief. I’ve never been so baffled, amazed and shocked by how you can have two films that are so brilliant, the ingredients for a third film that practically writes … Continue reading The Amazing Spiderman (2012) Review
Iron Man had to be amazing. It had so much riding on its shoulders that it had to be both critically approved and audience approved to stand a chance of fulfilling what Marvel was planning. Luckily, it was exactly that. It was a perfect superhero origin film and even though we’ve seen the formula plenty of times before, it felt fresh because Iron Man, to the general public at least, was a relatively unknown character. That’s why DC’s take on Green Lantern was so infuriating because Marvel has shown, three times now, how to present a character that the general … Continue reading Iron Man (2008) Re-View
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