Posts Tagged ‘superman’

Movie Review: Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice

Wow. There are an awful lot of different opinions circling around this movie at the moment.

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Starring:
Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Jessie Eisenberg
Director:
Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, Watchmen)
Rating: M
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a whole lot of things, but to me, what’s most surprising about the Warner Bros/DC Comics take on “shared universe” filmmaking is that it isn’t primarily a prequel to the upcoming Justice League movies, or primarily a sequel to Man of Steel, or even primarily a new take on Batman. What it is, more than anything else, is a Zach Snyder movie. If that makes a chill run up your spine then I understand your trepidation. If that makes you intrigued, read on. Continue reading

The Problem With Today’s Comic Book Films

We dive into the second half of Guest Week with an Iranian-born movie/gaming fanatic packing some prior experience writing for entertainment media publications in his home country.

—Written by XVSting—

—Edited/formatted by Vagrantesque—

July 2008. The latest installment of Gotham’s caped crusader was released and unexpectedly, it changed the face of comic book movies forever. The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan was not only the most appreciated comic book even to this date, but it elevated the comic book genre from cheesy-colorful costumes to award winning dark tales. With extraordinary performances and breathtaking action, The Dark Knight shattered every single barrier and expectation audiences had from a comic book movie. 2008 was also the birth of the first installment of Disney’s fresh cinematic universe that would revolutionise the genre with their masterfully planned strategy. The question is, did titles like 2012’s The Avengers benefit audiences and related movies by creating a new standard, or has their greatness damaged the smaller and solo franchises?  Let’s get started and see how far our beloved and flashy comic book movies have come!

The battle is on.

The battle is on.

While the world didn’t end at 2012, it was definitely a landmark year for comic book movies. As a kid (and I’m positive this was the same for all comic book fans), all I ever wanted was to see a crossover between characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men together in a movie (Even a small reference would make me happy). Hence the reason why I loved games such as Marvel vs Capcom or Marvel Ultimate Alliance so much – they were one of the few entertainment media sources where fans could experience all those characters together in one picture. As I grew up, and essentially got more informed about the industry, that dream slowly faded away due to the multiply copyright dramas of each character and their respective rights holders.  As much as I love and appreciate the greatness of The Avengers for turning mine and probably all comic book fans’ dream into reality, it has created a set of fresh expectations for viewers and related studios. In short, Avengers was so good, everyone is now taking their own approach to catch up with Disney’s meticulously planned universe. Does that help us to see more extravagant movies with all-star characters? Yes. Has it affected the quality and progress of titles that are following this path? Well… this is where I think comic movies and generally most of the blockbuster trend might be going wrong.

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Movie Review: Man of Steel

Here it is: The latest big and blockbusting effort to make Superman relevant to the masses again. I saw it four days ago.

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Starring:
Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, Amy Adams
Director:
Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen)
Rating: M
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man-of-steel-poster-3
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Man of Steel was one of my most anticipated films of 2013 and it had been so for a while, despite the fact that I am not a comic book reader and never have been. There were just so many fascinating questions to be answered – could Christopher Nolan‘s influence on the Superman mythos translate into another superlative movie despite the unavoidable need for the inclusion of superpowers? Would General Zod prove a worthy villain in yet another reboot of the character? And how would Zack Snyder‘s post-Sucker Punch direction factor into things? Having seen it now, when all is said and done, it turns out Man of Steel is a rather difficult film to review. Or at least to score. It has been tormenting me for days.

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Why You Should Be Excited For Man of Steel

This article was written by deldog30, a high school teacher with a deep fondness for comic books and the culture surrounding them.

—Written by deldog30—

—Edited/formatted by Vagrantesque—

Man of Steel is the upcoming Superman reboot from director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) and producer Christopher Nolan. I have been counting down the days until this film’s release for some time now, and my level of anticipation has grown to the point where I have been consuming as much Superman-related media as a can. From comic books, animated movies/TV shows, even the classic films starring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel himself (Yes I have even been dabbling in some Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman).

Below (in no particular order) are five reasons why Man of Steel has the potential to be the best film of the year.
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1. Superman is a great character.

Superman is indeed a great character and has been since his creation in 1932. It is only the greatest of characters that stand the test of time, and lend themselves to a variety of interpretations. Superman, alongside Batman and Wonder Woman, is no doubt among the greats. I cannot wait to see another interpretation of this character, this time on the big screen. It will be interesting to see how Snyder chooses to handle Superman’s great power combined with his compassion for humankind and his willingness to protect life even at the cost of his own. Here’s a taste of Superman’s sheer awesomeness: In the comic book All-Star Superman, after learning of his imminent demise he wastes no time and goes to work to help as many as he can before his time is up. Rather then searching for a cure for himself he literally cures cancer for the benefit of others; it is this selflessness that makes him so great.
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