Superheroes
News, Reviews, Features, Trailers & Rants...
Posted by
Ali at 18:58 on 23 Apr 2010
How do you outdo Iron Man? You don't. As well as their big-budget blockbusters, Marvel Studios are to produce smaller, cheaper movies for their 'third tier' characters. Hint: they're the ones that ain't so super.
Posted by
Ali at 17:15 on 01 Sep 2009
Time was a reboot used to mean a second shot at a failed franchise - a chance to put things right a la Hulk. So what exactly was wrong with Fantastic Four's $600 million plus box-office takings first time around?
Posted by
Ali at 23:55 on 27 Apr 2009
Straight off the bat: this movie features more shots of muscle-bound men looking up at the camera and yelling “RAAWWWRGH!” than any other I can remember. It's the shoutiest film of the year: guaranteed. But in the X-Men Origins universe, cursing skywards is short-hand for tragedy – it's emotion, spelled out in capital letters in...
Posted by
Ali at 23:28 on 26 Feb 2009
Dear Alan Moore,
Hi. How are you? We hope Northampton is nice this time of year. I mean, obviously it's not, but unlike Zack Snyder, at least we're aware that it isn't in London. In fact, that Snyder fellow is the reason we're writing to you. We're sure you're aware his adaptation of your timeless graphic novel Watchmen is ab...
Posted by
Rich at 10:48 on 21 Feb 2009
Push is a sign of things to come. Licensed comic book movies have made more than a bajillion dollars since Spidey swang back into town, so it's only natural that movie studios will want to continue this trend, without having to send wheelbarrows of money to Marvel or DC. This means they'll have to come up with original IP, whi...
Posted by
Ali at 21:16 on 03 Jan 2009
There's no question Frank Miller's graphic novel Sin City – and the subsequent Robert Rodriguez movie adaptation – glorified violence. In Miller's own adaptation of Will Eisner's '40s superhero serial The Spirit, he's guilty of glorifying something else: tits. Rather than swing with Sam Raimi's light and frothy Spider-Man movies...
Posted by
Ali at 13:32 on 28 Jun 2008
Holy shit, Batman! An original superhero story! No stigma attached; no fanboy preconceptions; no bitching about bad casting; no in-built audience to pander to. Just an honest to Zod, original idea for a film about a superhero that’s not ripped from the pages of a comic or a TV show or a website or a painting or a dirty limerick....
Posted by
Ali at 23:46 on 09 Jun 2008
It’s no real mystery that Ang Lee’s Hulk failed to set the box-office alight. What do you expect when you hire the director behind films like The Ice Storm and Sense And Sensibility to adapt a comic-book about a big green ball of rage? You get what you pay for. For Hulk 2.0, Marvel have realised just that, and in hiring the dire...
Posted by
Ali at 10:05 on 05 May 2008
There’s now a very clear sliding scale on which any new superhero movies must be placed before they’re pushed into production. At one end is the candy-coloured, day-glo fluff of the Fantastic Four, while at the other is the dark and brooding sincerity of Batman Begins. In other words, you’re either in it for the money, or you’r...
Posted by
Ali at 00:58 on 21 May 2007
Spider-Man 3 is long. It’s very long. In fact, before going to see it, you might want to check what time it finishes, because if you’re anything like me (i.e. a dunce) and don’t check the train times, you might end up stranded outside your local Odeon at 1am with no buses in sight and a minicab that’s destined to eternally be ...
