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I agree. Take out the playground fight, Jennifer Gardner, and the Kingpin, and it would have been one of the best Marvel movies. Contrary to universal opinion, I actually liked Ben Affleck as the character. Think he did a damn good job, and I hope they can lure him back again one day... The best thing about the movie, which kinda made you look at the comic books and say "Why the fuck did nobody think of this sooner?", was the sense deprivation tank. I even liked Farrell as Bullseye, I thought he was perfect in that role!
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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The best thing about the movie, which kinda made you look at the comic books and say "Why the fuck did nobody think of this sooner?", was the sense deprivation tank. Totally agree! That was one of the stand-out points for me. It rounded the character's world out in a more realistic fashion. I even liked Farrell as Bullseye, I thought he was perfect in that role!
A bit OTT sometimes. But, all in all, menacing. I think he would reign it in just a hair, it would be perfect. I'd love to see an all-out, full movie showdown between the two characters in a sequel...
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Am I the only one who didn't like Daredevil killing someone? Wasn't that the biggest break from the comic books?
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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I dunno. He chased one dude till he had a heart attack so..
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The Once, and Future Cunt 15000+ posts
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Also, it's not like he's Batman.
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I've always thought of him as the Marvel version of Batman.
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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Kneel! 10000+ posts
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Am I the only one who didn't like Daredevil killing someone? Wasn't that the biggest break from the comic books? i wouldnt have been as mad if it had been consistent. he kills that guy at the beginning but then wont kill the kingpin (who killed his father and the woman he loved) because hes one of the "good guys"? Gay.
big_pimp_tim-made it cool to roll in the first damn place! Mon Jun 11 2007 09:27 PM- harley finally rolled with me "I'm working with him...he's young but, there is much potential. He can apprentice with me and then he's yours for final training. He will remember the face of his father... Some day, Knutreturns just may be the greatest of us all...."-THE bastard
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Batman killed people in the Burton films, and that still never bothered me cause its a movie.
Same as it never bothered me that Punisher was set in Miami, or Doom was on the rocketship with the FF.
Only times I hate stuff is when it adds nothing to the film itself, like introducing Gwen Stacey in Spidey 3, when it added nothing to the plot (they could have made up a character for the role she played).
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Batman killed people in the Burton films, and that still never bothered me cause its a movie.
Same as it never bothered me that Punisher was set in Miami, or Doom was on the rocketship with the FF. Or Ra's al Ghul being one of Bruce Wayne's teachers and the absence of the Lazarus Pit. Only times I hate stuff is when it adds nothing to the film itself, like introducing Gwen Stacey in Spidey 3, when it added nothing to the plot (they could have made up a character for the role she played). Yeah, I agree. I didn't see the point of including her or her father if they weren't going to do anything important with them - it was such a waste (as was most of the movie, sadly). DD killing people...I can see it happening, especially the way he was in the movie (which had the fanboys foaming at the mouth - heh heh heh). Although yeah, it didn't make sense for him not to kill The Kingpin (or for The Kingpin not to bring about his own demise). I guess they were expecting the movie to be more fiskally beneficial, and they'd bring a vengeful Kingpin back for revenge.
This is not vengeance. This is pun-ishment.
"The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability." — Edgar Allan Poe
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Batman killed people in the Burton films, and that still never bothered me cause its a movie. Thats one of the things I didn't like about the Burton films.
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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I've got more guns than you. 6000+ posts
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I've got more guns than you. 6000+ posts
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Batman killed people in the Burton films, and that still never bothered me cause its a movie.
Same as it never bothered me that Punisher was set in Miami, or Doom was on the rocketship with the FF. Or Ra's al Ghul being one of Bruce Wayne's teachers and the absence of the Lazarus Pit. Only times I hate stuff is when it adds nothing to the film itself, like introducing Gwen Stacey in Spidey 3, when it added nothing to the plot (they could have made up a character for the role she played). Yeah, I agree. I didn't see the point of including her or her father if they weren't going to do anything important with them - it was such a waste (as was most of the movie, sadly). DD killing people...I can see it happening, especially the way he was in the movie (which had the fanboys foaming at the mouth - heh heh heh). Although yeah, it didn't make sense for him not to kill The Kingpin (or for The Kingpin not to bring about his own demise). I guess they were expecting the movie to be more fiskally beneficial, and they'd bring a vengeful Kingpin back for revenge. fiskally? Anyway. In the comics, Daredevil has shown willingness to kill, though he doesn't always wind up having to kill someone.
"Ah good. Now I'm on the internet clearly saying I like tranny cleavage. This shouldn't get me harassed at all." -- Lothar of the Hill People
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Hip To Be Square 15000+ posts
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Do you really need everything explained to you?
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I've got more guns than you. 6000+ posts
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I've got more guns than you. 6000+ posts
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I knew it's a pun, it's just a cringeworthy pun.
"Ah good. Now I'm on the internet clearly saying I like tranny cleavage. This shouldn't get me harassed at all." -- Lothar of the Hill People
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Once again, you fucked up and cant admit it!
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Whatever you say, Nowhereman.
"Ah good. Now I'm on the internet clearly saying I like tranny cleavage. This shouldn't get me harassed at all." -- Lothar of the Hill People
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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I don't have a problem with comic characters killing people in their movies, if they're just as likely to in the comic book universe. Now, when I say that, I mean that I think it's only logical that guys like Batman and Daredevil would end up snuffing some lights if it came to it. The movies aren't limited by the narrow editorial vision of a child's franchise. They must be allowed to explore the characters beyond the rules of a comic book. So, I loved seeing Keaton take some fuckers out. I dug that Daredevil isn't afraid to spill a little blood (although I agree about the uneven-ness of it all). What I hate is when a character is forced to have to get around the killing stuff by, what is so obviously, an editorial decree, rather than the flow of the fiction. I think Batman Begins trailed that line pretty perfectly with Ras at the end. I like that he didn't save him. But, on the opposite end of the spectrum, I think any Wolverine movie that isn't rated NC-17 because of brutal violence is weak. For characters like that, they should always be true to the nature of the character...
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See, I can see why a Wolverine movie would not be adult rated (by allowing kids to see it, it ups the box office takings), but in this day and age of directors cuts etc, I dont see why there cannot be a dual release.
An edited kids friendly version, and a gore n guts adult version!
It'd only be a matter of off camera violence for the kid friendly version!
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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I knew it's a pun, it's just a cringeworthy pun. The best/worst ones always are. A great American writer understood that (see my sig) That's why I can never ab Stane from making them.
This is not vengeance. This is pun-ishment.
"The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability." — Edgar Allan Poe
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But, on the opposite end of the spectrum, I think any Wolverine movie that isn't rated NC-17 because of brutal violence is weak. For characters like that, they should always be true to the nature of the character...
They can have Wolverine rack up a bodycount without it needing to be NC-17 or even R, depending on how they film it. Use the right camera angles and some lighting, and we can have Wolverine chopping up people left and right without needing to go overboard on blood and guts. Remember when Wolvie had Mariko's father shingen his swan song in the Frank Miller mini-series, back when Miller could write? We know what happened to Shingen, and we know it was bloody, but we never saw the death blow. It was actually cool that way, because our minds fill in what we don't see.
This is not vengeance. This is pun-ishment.
"The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability." — Edgar Allan Poe
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Actually, Claremont wrote the mini-series that Miller illustrated...back when HE could write
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Pun-damentalist nutjob 400+ posts
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Actually, Claremont wrote the mini-series that Miller illustrated...back when HE could write Oh...whoops. Yashida seen the embarrassed look on my face when I read that.
This is not vengeance. This is pun-ishment.
"The goodness of the true pun is in the direct ratio of its intolerability." — Edgar Allan Poe
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I've got more guns than you. 6000+ posts
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"Ah good. Now I'm on the internet clearly saying I like tranny cleavage. This shouldn't get me harassed at all." -- Lothar of the Hill People
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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This keeps looking better and better.
November 6th, 2012: Americas new Independence Day.
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Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
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Inglourious Basterd!!! 15000+ posts
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Inglourious Basterd!!! 15000+ posts
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Uschi said:I won't rape you, I'll just fuck you 'till it hurts and then not stop and you'll cry. MisterJLA: RACKS so hard, he called Jim Rome "Chris Everett." In Him, all porn is possible. He is far above mentions in so-called "blogs." RACK him, lest ye be lost! "I can't even brush my teeth without gagging!" - Tommy Tantillo: Wank & Cry, heckpuppy, and general laughingstock ![[Linked Image from i6.photobucket.com]](http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/JoeMama13/RedSoxBanner05.png)
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Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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Regenerated 15000+ posts
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I am stoked. That looks like perfection.
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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Living the dream 15000+ posts
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He tastes of America 15000+ posts
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He fixes the cable?
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The conscience of the rkmbs! 15000+ posts
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The conscience of the rkmbs! 15000+ posts
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This movie is looking awesome. Iron Man Exclusive Trailer
Add to My Profile | More VideosThis movie is looking awesome. The only thing I'm afraid of is that they turn Tony into some kind of anti-war figurehead. In the comic, he's a stanch conservative in love with his own rugged individualism. If he's anything less in the movie after his little experience, it's gonna deflate itself.
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Son of Anarchist 15000+ posts
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Hip To Be Square 15000+ posts
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This movie is looking awesome.
<a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=29294971">Iron Man Exclusive Trailer</a><br><embed src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" flashvars="m=29294971&v=2&type=video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="346"></embed><br><a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.addToProfileConfirm&videoid=29294971&title=Iron Man Exclusive Trailer">Add to My Profile</a> | <a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.home">More Videos</a>
This movie is looking awesome.
The only thing I'm afraid of is that they turn Tony into some kind of anti-war figurehead.
In the comic, he's a stanch conservative in love with his own rugged individualism. If he's anything less in the movie after his little experience, it's gonna deflate itself. Nice of you to post a video that we have never seen before.....sorry, I mean, that has already been posted! Now, from my memory of Tony Stark in the comics, didnt he do exactly what has been shown in these films? Turn a company that makes weapons into a company that didnt!
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8====D 25+ posts
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8====D 25+ posts
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Nice of you to post a video that we have never seen before.....sorry, I mean, that has already been posted!
He's been distracted ever since I started posting.
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The conscience of the rkmbs! 15000+ posts
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The conscience of the rkmbs! 15000+ posts
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This movie is looking awesome.
<a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=29294971">Iron Man Exclusive Trailer</a><br><embed src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" flashvars="m=29294971&v=2&type=video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="346"></embed><br><a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.addToProfileConfirm&videoid=29294971&title=Iron Man Exclusive Trailer">Add to My Profile</a> | <a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.home">More Videos</a>
This movie is looking awesome.
The only thing I'm afraid of is that they turn Tony into some kind of anti-war figurehead.
In the comic, he's a stanch conservative in love with his own rugged individualism. If he's anything less in the movie after his little experience, it's gonna deflate itself. Nice of you to post a video that we have never seen before.....sorry, I mean, that has already been posted! Now, from my memory of Tony Stark in the comics, didnt he do exactly what has been shown in these films? Turn a company that makes weapons into a company that didnt! Wow! Really!?
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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The Iron Man book always walked the fence. It was anti-Communist when it first started being published, but quickly switched to Tony questioning building weapons that kill due to the rising anti-war sentiment of the 60's. He's developed weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. over the years, but I think the character justified that as a way to continue being Iron Man and updating the suit to keep it non-lethal.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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some RKMB'ers are Obsessed with Black People Hmmm? 5000+ posts
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some RKMB'ers are Obsessed with Black People Hmmm? 5000+ posts
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Sunday's Calendar had a big story on Iron Man being the 1st of the new MARVEL Studios films. March 9, 2008 Marvel is on a missionThe new studio, with superheroes on its side, seeks to conquer Hollywood. First up: Iron Man. By Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer BUILDING a superhero from scratch is noisy and hazardous. "Let's find a place where it's quieter!" The man shouting was Kevin Feige, the president of production for Marvel Studios, the Hollywood start-up that takes flight on May 2 with its first film, "Iron Man." Feige was walking, carefully, through one of the film's massive Playa Vista sets where a whirling metal saw was kicking up a cascade of bright orange sparks.
Once in a quieter corridor, Feige gushed about its special effects, but then said the greatest asset of the film is a hero with weakness hard-wired into his psyche. "That's what makes Marvel characters special, they are people who become heroes but also have flaws and they struggle with them," he said. "Look, the costumes can easily be the stars of these movies if you let them be . . . you have to flesh out the character. They battle bad guys, but they also battle these things within themselves."
Launching a major movie production company right now seems like a dicey venture. But the Marvel formula has been a spectacular success for other studios the last eight years. The self-doubting Spider-Man, the bickering Fantastic Four, the misunderstood X-Men and all the other Marvel misfits have racked up a stunning $5 billion in worldwide box office, most of that for Sony and Fox. Marvel now wants its own spot at the table. After four years of planning and winning over Wall Street, "Iron Man" is the first step in the company's quest to go from intellectual-property fount to a stand-alone Hollywood player that can greenlight big-time popcorn movies.
Feige's boss and friend, David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios, is pleased to be standing on the deck of a ship that can go in deep water. "We're the first since DreamWorks started 14 years ago that can greenlight its own $100 million movies. It doesn't happen very often." True, though Marvel is not a studio in the most traditional sense (it has fewer than three dozen employees, no lot, and it will turn to Paramount Pictures as its primary distribution pipeline.)
It makes for an intriguing story arc for the Marvel brand name, which next year celebrates its 70th anniversary. The beginning was not an ambitious one. The year after Superman landed at the newsstands, pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman decided to take a flier on this new "comic book" craze. The venture hardly looked like the stuff of history -- the pragmatic Goodman had a fairly low opinion of his newsstand products. "Fans," Goodman once said, "are not interested in quality."
Still, that first issue produced two lasting characters, the Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner, and they were soon followed by patriotic World War II creation Captain America. But it wasn't until the 1960s that Marvel seized on an identity that really mattered in American pop culture. That's when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and the other creators in the self-styled "House of Ideas" gave the world its first soapy superheroes, masked men who saved the world but somehow lost the girl, bounced their rent check and hid out from the police. Kirby's art, meanwhile, was so kinetic and surreal that Superman, over at rival DC Comics, instantly seemed like a caped Pat Boone, stiff and slow to understand the new rhythm.
For decades, none of Marvel's New York-based success story really mattered to Hollywood. Then in the late 1990s a new Marvel boss, Avi Arad, made it his crusade to get his company's classic heroes on the silver screen. The breakthrough came in the 2000 Fox film "X-Men," which was deeply loyal to the comic book and starred Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Its success started a cinematic windfall for all those old Lee, Kirby and Ditko characters, who were belatedly ideal for a moviegoing public in love with CGI wizardry and outsider heroes.
"The intention now," Feige said with a smile, "is to keep the streak alive."
That's easier said than done, especially since Marvel's most powerful properties have already flown across the screen for other studios. And there's the savage marketplace realities of today. Why go into the movie-making biz now?
Maisel said the question is the wrong one. "We're not in the movie business, we're in the 'Iron Man' business right now. Marvel owns the intellectual property. We have an Iron Man video game coming, the toys, the comics, we have an animated television show coming, a direct-to-DVD animated Iron Man movie last year. We're going to have an Iron Man ride at an amusement park in Dubai in a few years. We have a different perspective."
'Amazing confidence'
THE Beverly Hills office of Marvel Studios has been quite the scene in recent months. One afternoon you might see Robert Downey Jr., the star of "Iron Man," another time it might be Edward Norton, who gets green this June in "The Incredible Hulk." Edge of U2 has dropped by too, working on the music for Tony-winner Julie Taymor's planned Broadway musical of "Spider-Man."
The bright and tidy office has a gleaming statue of the Silver Surfer in its lobby, and in a rear room, behind a locked door, there's a giant "life-size" image of the new Hulk, who will make his first major appearance this week at ShoWest, the Las Vegas gathering of movie exhibitors. Another wall at the Marvel office is covered with storyboards for the film, including an arctic fight scene between the unjolly green giant and a killer whale. That scene didn't make it into the film, but maybe it can inspire the ride designers working on that $1 billion Marvel theme park that was announced in March by the Al Ahli Group in the United Arab Emirates.
"All of this, it's a time of amazing confluence for us," said Maisel, a former protégé of uber-agent Michael S. Ovitz who also made a career stop at Disney and served as president of Livent Inc., the theatrical production company. Maisel came to Marvel in 2004. Feige, a USC School of Cinema-Television grad, had already been there for four years by then and had worked on the "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" franchises.
The two aspire to take Marvel into the realm of Disney and Pixar as a film brand that speaks to audiences with instant clarity. "I believe," Maisel said, "we are doing something very special."
Perhaps, but Marvel Studios will have to do it without its biggest names: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and the X-Men, as well as Arad, the Marvel executive who trailblazed the path to Hollywood but left the company in 2006. Fox also has the "X-Men" spinoff "Wolverine" (starring Jackman and now filming in Australia) and a possible second one in "Magneto." Daredevil and Ghost Rider are other fan favorites that have already had their bite at the screen apple.
It's fair to wonder if Marvel already rented out its best properties to others. That view is supported by the fact that the studio's second film will be a do-over of sorts -- Ang Lee's dour "Hulk" was released by Universal in 2003 and didn't energize audiences or critics (its second week U.S. box office plummeted 70%). The studio has also announced Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") will direct "Ant-Man," a character that dates to 1962 but has gnat-sized name recognition with the public.
Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, said that doesn't matter. Marvel has 5,000 characters in its library, and history has shown they don't need to be household names to click; New Line Cinema, for example, made three successful "Blade" films based on an especially obscure Marvel character.
"Only Pixar has the sort of streak going that Marvel has right now. . . . the stories, both the ones people know and the ones they will learn about, are fantastic," Moore said. "There's an awareness when people see the name that, 'Oh, here comes another movie that I can enjoy as an adult and take my kids to.' "
Marvel Studios also has the signature characters Captain America and Thor in active development. Black Panther, Dr. Strange and the Avengers have been circled as other feature film candidates. And the studio is part of a strong company. Marvel Entertainment went public in 1995 at $12 a share; this past week, it was hovering near $25.60.
Still, this is an interesting time to be a new gambler in town. Just over a week ago came the news that New Line Cinema, the studio behind the "Lord of the Rings" franchise, will be gutted and folded into Warner Bros.
In 2005, Marvel Studios secured $525 million in financing with Merrill Lynch, with a strategy to make 10 films in five years with budgets between $100 million and $160 million. But last month, Maisel informed investors that, due to the writers strike, the studio had already been thrown off its plan. There will be only one film next year, and some observers privately say that might not even happen.
Seminal moments
FOR many comics fans, the harrowing opening scene from Bryan Singer's "X-Men" in 2000 was a Hollywood turning point: The sequence in a Nazi concentration camp announced the sub-genre could take its source material seriously and succeed. But Feige, a bit playfully, said he believes the true pivot point actually came three years earlier.
"I tell people the seminal film that's responsible for everything that has happened was 'Batman & Robin,' " he said, referring to Joel Schumacher's infamously bloated 1997 film for Warners Bros. that nearly put the entire sub-genre on ice. "If it hadn't been so bad, things wouldn't have gotten so good."
It was Marvel executive Arad, once a toy designer in Israel, who came to town with the idea of making "serious" comic-book films and putting them in the hands of grown-up fans of 1960s Marvel, such as director Sam Raimi, who had a mural of Spider-Man on his bedroom wall as a kid. Now, the "serious" approach is standard; just look at "Batman Begins," "300" and "Sin City." Marvel is keeping pace -- "Iron Man" may be about a guy with a red metal suit, but it stars three Oscar nominees (Downey, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges) as well as one winner (Gwyneth Paltrow). A decade ago, that would have been shocking; now it's barely noted.
At the Playa Vista set late last year, "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau repeated the mantra that audiences relate best to conflicted heroes. "That's where the story and the character is," he said, "but this film has amazing toys too, believe me."
The story is of Tony Stark, a narcissistic weapons tycoon who enjoys women, booze and the sound of lucrative explosions. But while in Afghanistan (updated from the 1960s comic book, when it was Vietnam), Stark is wounded, kidnapped and forced to design a weapon for the enemies of America. He makes a battle suit that not only helps him escape, it's a life-support system for a coronary injury.
On the set, Downey, looking muscular and especially sly with a new goatee, made no bones about everyone involved hoping a franchise -- and, by extension, a mainstay studio -- is being born.
"There's a lot to the story and the character, and the approach now is no longer, 'Oh, here's a comic book, this should be mindless,' " he said. "This is fun, but we're also taking it seriously."
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,230 Likes: 1
Banned from the DCMBs since 2002. 15000+ posts
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Banned from the DCMBs since 2002. 15000+ posts
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 15,230 Likes: 1 |
Impressive.
And in 2001 I was predicting Marvel would be shut in 5 years.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 53,734
Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
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Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 53,734 |
you also predicted poo would be the new big mac.
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