I don’t think it’s that important for the kids to know the source material. I do really like that Hawkeye run with Kate Bishop though when Clint is losing his hearing.
The D+ stuff is way more interesting to me because they’re clearly taking risks. As @Cristo said all those shows are very good imo.
I do think Marvel has done a decent job of putting feeling in their films, especially the GOTG movies which you already highlighted and Thor 3. I really liked Endgame too, even if the time time travel stuff is a little silly, comics hand wave that stuff all the time.
I don’t want you to think I’m putting comics down. I love comics. Meredith can tell you about all the boxes in our basement I’m saving for Maddie and her sister when they’re old enough. I just don’t know how important it is for the audience to know the source material, especially if it’s being adapted for a slightly wider (and younger) audience. The adaptations may simplify things which is annoying for super fans but also might make things more inclusive like gender swapping characters or fixing things that were part of a less…considered approach to race in comics. (On that front, why the fuck didn’t they cast Lewis Tan as Danny Rand? Was such an easy casting decisions.)
Oh it’s not at all, I’m not one of those snobs who thinks everything needs to a discipline or religion. There are loads of great ways to experience comic book nerdom, be it comics, video games or animated shows and films.
My point is that the directors don’t even seem to know about the source material. As we’ve discussed GotG which is probably they pinnacle of the recent Marvel franchise is so good because Gunn is a huge fan. Same can be said for Raimi and Snyder.
The only reason Marvel films are cranked out anymore are to make money, the actors are tired and so are a lot of the fans. Eventually those graphic novels you’re keeping for your daughter’s will have no relevance whatsoever to the movies that come out every summer because they’ve beaten a dead horse to further death.
It’s just not for me chief, the era of actors owning the role of superhero is played out and I’d like to see a change of pace. Spiderman 2 is my favourite comic book film adaptation of all time and it came out over a decade before this Downey Jr/Stark era. It’s just a shame we seem unwilling to move on from this structure.
I do think a lot of people are bored by this point hence the amazing popularity of fresher, more reinventive adaptions like The Boys and Invincible.
If you have chance watch this, ironically one of the actors from the Marvel Hollywood era conveying my thoughts on this modern structure.
Ooooh idk about Snyder’s stuff. He may be a fan but I cannot stand his movies. He killed Superman for me, and he was obviously enamored with Frank Miller but didn’t realize that The Dark Knight Returns is a critique of Batman and superheroes. He just went, yup, Batman in a mech suit, cool.
I know people like his stuff, but it’s just too cynical for me. He’s the Mourinho of comic book movie directors imo.
I was talking more about Watchmen in regard to Snyder. I do agree with your views on his Justice League work but I think the studio were pretty heavy handed in regard to his artistic vision for the franchise, so I hold off on a little of the blame. I also still need to see the Snyder cut remake to judge and I didn’t completely hate Batman v Superman like everyone else, though I must confess I’m not a Superman fan.
Yeah, I think Snyder lost me when he took Ma and Pa Kent who, at least for me, are the whole reason Clark is a good person at his core, and turned them into total assholes!
In MoS, Pa Kent is like “yeah fuck those kids, let them die to protect your secret!” and then literally lets himself die in a situation Clark could easily get him out of without anyone knowing.
And then the whole Martha nonsense…oy. Adam West didn’t die for this.
I think Snyder may be missing a trick by giving us teasers for the dark Injustice League and not following through with a movie for it (especially when Affleck and possibly even Cavill have distanced themselves from ever resurrecting their respective capes)
The Injustice League would have grossed as high as the Nolan trilogy, in my opinion.
The best thing WB could do is just leave those characters alone for a few years. Then try again. They aren’t doing that though.
Really curious about the new Superman movie. I love the idea of a period piece and there’s so much they can do with an African American Superman depending on when they set it.
I’ve never really been into comic books aside from all of Alan Moore’s stuff, so I’m really not bothered by the Marvel movies not sticking to the source material. However, I do find that a flawed argument given that comic book source material is flimsy at best with the amount of fucking retconning and hand-waving the average comic book series does. Like how many times do characters die just to get brought back in another run of comics. Not to mention like there’s been three different Thor’s (wasn’t there a Cowboy Space Alien that was Thor at one point?), two or three different Spidermen, different Hulks and then a bunch of female versions to boot.
Basically what I’m saying is that there are so many different storylines and universes and alternate realities of each Marvel superhero that I’m really not bothered if Marvel Studios do a bit of hand-waving because Comic Book storylines are sometimes just too ridiculous to even put on screen.
I’m not into the MCU for the close adherence to source material or the believable story arcs, I’m in it for the spectacle and the popcorn action.
I’m in it for Iron Man’s “I am Iron Man” or when Iron Man by Black Sabbath plays while he walks out of that cave in his homemade suit. I’m in it for Immigrant Song playing while Thor jumps onto the Bifrost full of lightning and starts fucking shit up, or when Thor turns up in Wakanda with his battleaxe and starts fucking shit up. I’m in it for Thor and Hulk going at it, and Hulk throwing Loki around like a toy. Captain America picking up Thor’s Hammer, Captain America saying “Avenger’s Assemble”, Captain America and Iron Man’s fights in Civil War.
I totally get why people aren’t into it and might have superhero fatigue, but I just love the films as big blockbuster action films with huge set pieces that I can smash a load of popcorn too and not have to think too much about the plotholes.
Yeh I get where you guys are coming from too and I was very much in the same train of thought a few years ago I just think as you put it superhero fatigue is very real. And most of those amazing moments happened in the first half of the era before the actors and directors seemed to get bored.
I’m very much on Mackie’s line of thinking now that they are not being made to honour the story’s but simply to fill seats.
I don’t necessarily believe just because a lot of comic arcs are whacky it doesn’t mean there isn’t real poignant stories to be told, as I mentioned before Watchmen is a masterpiece. Also moving across to anime and manga Attack on Titan is being transformed into a live action by the director who did Pennywise- Kings novel wasn’t easily translated but he smashed it. Now AoT is a crazy fucking story but it’s also very good with a lot of political and social commentary and nuance. It could be an amazing cinematic experience but it has to stay true to its source. If they make it 12a just to fill seats then something will be lost from the story.
Resident Evil is another series, my favourite games of all time, something was lost during the transition to film and it’s a real shame.
I really just feel like we’re getting to the point where these hero’s and story’s may as well just be cooked up in a screen writing lab. For every Marvel/DC etc adaption made with love and care we get 4 made to fill seats and waste your time. Sort of waters it down for me but I have no objection to anyone enjoying them for what they are.
I found a lot of the Iron Man stuff with AC DC really on the nose and trying too hard to be cool but when they got it right man they got it right.
Guardians soundtracks 1 and 2 are some of the best soundtracks in a movie ever. Those films are a bit like Supernatural where the soundtrack feels like a living breathing part of the set. Like the movies wouldn’t be half of what they are without such perfection.
Guardians 1 soundtrack is one that’s stuck in my mind as being a film soundtrack, not even just within the Marvel staple, just generally. The scene with Peter dancing at the start is great, as was the one in Endgame when two characters (shit memory) were watching him dance about in silence and were like “this guys a fuckin idiot” loll
Bit like Pulp Fiction or something like that, it’s a soundtrack that people would legit go out an buy in numbers.
I do like a film where the soundtrack is woven seamlessly into the actual film, Baby Driver was probably one of the other good recent examples that you could put up there with Guardians.
Baby Driver is one of those films I can watch repeatedly, gave me everything I wanted in a popcorn flick.
About three years ago in a work call I described something as being “pretty neat” and I honestly think about that moment at least once every week and cringe.
Yeh man Baby Driver is such a cool film, right before Spacey turn into a full on psycho rapist, which I think in turn probably hurt a very cool films popularity when it should be a cult classic in the making.
Another one I’ve liked recently was Synder’s Army of the Dead, had a really cool rendition of Bad Moon Rising sung by Thea Gilmore. It was really soft and poetic and just amazing- the type you go and add to your driving playlist while you’re still watching the film. All the Vegas show tunes in general were a blast in the film. To be fair to Snyder for all his flaws he really knows how to add a fantastic soundtrack. Zombie by The Cranberries at the end lol, so on the nose but so good
Bob Dylan’s The Times are a Changing at the start of Watchmen will forever stick in my mind.
Good soundtracks are such an afterthought in modern cinema, especially Hollywood blockbusters and it’s really a shame.
That films seems to really divide opinion, I don’t know for a fact, but maybe seems the majority opinion is that its fucking shit. But I’m pretty sure nobody disputes that the opening credits are absolutely phenomenal. Incredible how well it articulates the history of Watchmen and Minuteman to the audience, while establishing that this is an alternate timeline in which Nixon got a third term.
Personally, I quite like the film, and not because I’m a noob who isn’t familiar with the source material, which it’s detractors seem to often assume must be the case. But the best part of the film is absolutely the opening credits imo lol. After that, I’d say the highlight is Rorschach, fuck me that role was perfectly cast.
I haven’t seen Army of the Dead. I’m really not much of a zombie film kinda guy, I’m not well versed in the genre, I haven’t seen the classics, so it didn’t necessarily stand out as a must watch. From what I’ve heard it seems like it’s pretty fun, if not amazing. Definitely not time wasted.
I went to see it in the cinema with a bunch of people who had read the source myself included and we all came out loving it but I can understand why certain elitists would be upset by the final act being so dramatically shifted. Honestly though in a standalone film it would have been very difficult not to make the ending look completely stupid.
My entire belief when it comes to honouring the source material isn’t just copying it line for line chapter for chapter but trying to capture the essence of a story and the characters. I think Snyder did that. The recent TV show did try to stick a little closer to the giant squid premise and truthfully it came off a little silly though I still did really enjoy that show. It’s why I loved Burton’s Batman so much, as we talked about before it’s not strict to the comic but he does get it, he’s added his own slant while still respecting the character and Gotham has never looked better.
Yeh Army of the Dead is amazing fun, both it and Dawn of the Dead, once again Synder makes Romero’s Of the Dead series his own but while still paying homage of the legacy that Romero created. Purist’s will say booo Zombies can’t be fast in this universe but honestly it’s just fun and it’s made well and that’s what I want from my directors.
film soundtrack, not even just within the Marvel staple, just generally. The scene with Peter dancing at the start is great, as was the one in Endgame when two characters (shit memory) were watching him dance about in silence and were like “this guys a fuckin idiot” loll