Month: May 2007

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comics movies top 10 writing

Top Ten Superhero Films Part 1

Let’s count down.

10. The Shadow (1994)
I like that The Shadow isn’t a victim of a horrible accident or scientific experiment gone wrong. I don’t quite understand where his powers come from and the film doesn’t really explain properly, which is all to the good – leaves some ambiguity. Is he some reincarnated warrior, or an immortal? Why does he change from handsome Lamont into ugly-mug Shadow? But the psychic aspect is really intriguing. The 30s-art-deco thing is done perfectly here, not overstated but consistently elegant. Alec Baldwin when he was still very hot, is deliciously inaccessible to the feisty blond sidekick who wants to get her paws on him. This movie is under-rated as far as I’m concerned. A certain amount of cheesiness is called for in superhero movies.

9. Batman Returns (1992)
Utterly classic! For Batman fans, this has it all – the scenes of Arkham Asylum – the lunatic, disfigured baddie (Penguin), the introduction of the sublime Catwoman (Michell Pfeiffer giving Julie Newmark a run for her money), and Batman before he became, as he is wont to do, a self-parody.

What is about The Bat that makes him eventually descend into bad self-parody? The new incarnation of Batman was allegedly influenced by Frank Miller, great reinventor of Brucie as a tough, angsty crusader. But by the third movie all that was forgotten and we were lurching back into Adam West territory. So now, with Batman Begins, we’re back with the Miller-esque Batman. Let’s hope it sticks. But 1992 was still a heyday for long-time Bruce Wayne fans like me.

8. Batman Begins
Comic books films grow up! said the critics. hey! Who said we wanted them to? This explores not just the origins of Batman and his early years, allegedly based on Frank Miller’s Batman Year One (and presumably Year Two, not written by Miller, but which introduces Ras Al Guhl to the early-Batman lore). Quasi serious and quite violent action movie. Brilliantly explores the psychological dimension of Bruce Wayne’s incarnation as the Batman, in a similar way to the best Batman comics.

7. X-Men (2000)
Now I’ll confess to never having read X-Men comics. I don’t like multi-protagonist comic books; there I’ve said it. With the exception of the brilliant Watchmen. This is my beef with Marvel. If one hero is good then two is better, seems to be the prevailing thinking. I always worry when I pick up a Daredevil that shows MM battling a few demons with the help of Spidey et al. Oh, boo, demons v the Marvel crowd, I go. So I don’t read JLA or XMen or Fantastic Four.

I prefer my superheroes to fly solo and preferably to be in big trouble, suffering. (Which is why Miller’s Daredevil is my favourite stretch of comic books stories ever)

This meant that I didn’t expect the movie of X-Men to be so damn great! Who knew?! It’s awesome. If I had time I’d go back and read the comics. But I don’t. And now I’m probably too old to properly enjoy them.

Part of the movie’s brilliance are the performances of Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman, amongst others. But the writing and effects are also terrific.

6. Superman (1978)
People forget how amazing this was. It was fabulous! Christopher Reeve made it look simple to be goofy Clark Kent and Superman too, but it was a genius performance. And Marlon Brando as Jor-El, the whole Krypton thing, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. This is where great superhero movies all began.

Categories
movies raves

A Guilt-Free Pastime

Watching an Almodovar movie late last night, I dimly remember hearing a terrific line before sleep overwhelmed me. It was something like “A real Chanel? Babe, how am I going to justify spending money on a real Chanel with all the suffering that there is in the world.”

It’s a hilarious line, intentionally so. But I know people who actually think like that – for real. Well, one person at least (and she’s Spanish too). imagine living your entire life with that kind of anxiety. Obviously, you can’t GO to the movies. That would mean spending a shocking amount of money for something that you’ve already paid for, if you own a TV.

Which is why I’ve decided to spend the afternoon giving some serious thought to the Top Ten Superhero Films. As a pastime, it’s almost guilt-free – I don’t even have to hunt for a carbon-offsetting website onto which to download my guilt. If I decide I want to watch one of these movies, I can download one or walk to the local video rental place. Somehow I’ll have to live with the guilt of the electricity that I use to play the DVD, or the computer I’m using to write this blog.

I mean, it’s not even solar-powered. Just shocking.

Categories
comics movies

Spidey 3 – Best Comic Book Movie Ever?

Spiderman 3 starts with such sunshine and happiness in the eyes of young Peter Parker that you just know things are going to get real, real bad.

But what a movie! It has romance, massive action including Green Goblin (2) on his board, two laugh-out-loud-for-ages-funny comedy scenes, pathos; heck, it’s got it all!

In the tradition of Marvel superhero comics, the climactic scenes feature a titanic battle between the improbably-abled, unfortunate victims of scientific-experiments-gone-horribly wrong. In this case, that would be Green Goblin (2), Spidey, Venom and Sandman (not Neil Gaiman’s…the Marvel one).

Those clashes-of-titans can be a a bore to read for the ‘mature’ comic book reader, but heck, they look good onscreen. What makes it much, much better here is that, true to the recent vogue in some comic books – since the early days of Frank Miller and Alan Moore – the superheroes are motivated solely by human tragedies and personal demons. The whole story is constructed on the relationships between the characters.

And no sign of a Pinky-and-the-Brain plot, whatsoever.

(Pinky: ” Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?”
The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky – Try to take over the world!”)

PS. I’ve just remembered Superman 2. (Old-skool Superman, the one when Supe gives up his superpowers so that he can ahem! Lois Lane). Is Spidey 3 better…? Hmm, tough call.

Categories
raves

Bank Holiday In The Telly Zone

I’ve never been comfortable with the English obsession for fresh air and walks but my English stepfather did a good enough job impressing these as ideals for the family weekend that I still feel guilty if we haven’t put the time in on one such activity.

“I don’t want to go for a walk,” our little five year-old says. “I want to watch TV.”
“You’re not expected to enjoy it,” we tell her, tersely. “It’s just the rules. At weekends you have to go for a walk.”

Rain, of course, is the big saviour in such a situation.

I looked at the sky hopefully this morning, for any sign of being rained in. But no. Then I thought, heck, why can’t I watch TV all blessed day, if I want to? I’m grown-up now!

So I did. Ahh, bliss. Three episodes of Doctor Who season three – which I’d been saving up, and the final two episodes of Stargate SG1. Yes, that’s how far behind I was on my TV viewing, on account of Cuba and writing and even reading.

I like the new Doctor Who assistant, Martha. I like that she’s allowed to be smart and ask technical questions and actually understand the explanations. I loved “As far as I’m concerned you have to earn the title ‘Doctor'” Too right, Martha; ask to see his MD/PhD certificate!

“Smith and Jones” was a good new-assistant introduction episode. Hospital teleported to the moon because it’s beyond the Earth-bound jurisdiction – pretteh, pretteh good. Haven’t seen that before.

“The Shakespeare Code”…hmmm. Liked the Harry Potter references and the witchy magick as another manifestation of alien power, but the ending… “You’re dead clever, Shakespeare, you’ll think of the right thing to say!” The problem is that it’s a strategy that can only disappoint in execution. What would the writer of Shakespeare’s plays say in such an event? We can never know…we can only guess and that just can’t be good enough.

“Gridlock”. Brilliantly original concept, or at least I’ve never come across its like. Stuck in traffic for years…the obvious solution would be to walk, but as we understand at the end, walking ain’t an option. That Face of Boe…he’s such a tease. “You are not alone…” Could that mean that the Master is still around? The Black Guardian? White Guardian? Rassilon? All of the above?

I don’t get why the Doctor can’t go to Gallifrey in the past. Maybe I’m missing out on some bit of DW lore here, not that the RTD version is necessarily sticking to old DW canon (and that’s fine with me), but is there some reason why if Gallifrey is destroyed in the year, lets say, 1 billion, it can’t exist in the past? Did the Time War erase Gallifrey from the space-time continuum for all time? If so how can the Daleks come to exist in the first place? The Doctor was present at the Genesis of the Daleks and if I remember correctly he was sent there by the Gallifreyans.

I’m painfully aware that all of the above will be discussed at length on some DW discussion board. But I’m not going to look. I’m NOT.

The Stargate-SG1 finale was inspired. Wow, Sam Carter has to take a realistic amount of time to work out a solution to a fiendishly difficult problem! What’s wrong with you, woman? Ten seasons of performing scientific miracles, coming up with solutions of pure genius with nothing more than “Major Carter, we need that fix right now… ten seconds before the galaxy explodes…” to spur her on. But finally, finally, finally, she goes “Hmm…tricky one…gonna have to think about that.” Fifty years later, she figures it out.

Yes, you see that IS how long scientific advancement actually takes.

Luckily, Rodney McKay of Stargate Atlantis can still be relied upon for the just-in-time Nobel-prize-worthy fix. Wait until he hears how long it took Carter to solve that problem. His ego will finally rest easy – he IS smarter than her! It may be all that’s needed for him to finally be able to woo her – an excuse to drop all his insecure posturing when he’s around her.

I can still get a couple of episodes of “Life on Mars” in before bed, to make today a day in which I’ve watched as much TV as in the last month.

I didn’t do my chores. And we ate a whole bag of Thorntons peanut brittle.

Categories
movies nostalgia raves

Bridge to Terabithia – I cried AGAIN!

If you are reading this blog post when ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ is still playing in the cinema, and you haven’t seen it, may I make a suggestion?

Move AWAY from the computer. Get your purse/jacket/wallet and head out to see it. Right now.

This is the best children’s movie I’ve seen for years and not only made me cry but is beautifully adapted for the screen, and captures perfectly what it is like to be a child who lives in a make-believe world. It wasn’t just the storyline that made me cry, it was being reminded so sharply of what it feels like, as a child, to lead a younger sibling into a magical world you’ve created just for them.

Ah, but you’re writing children’s books now, you may say. You’ll be doing that for your readers.

It isn’t the same. Writing is hard, technical work. But as a kid I once led my baby brother into an old, overgrown and walled orchard at sunset and convinced him that the apples were enchanted, that we had to cross the orchard without looking back ONCE. I swear…as we crept across, my brother trembling with excitement, in the corner of my eye I saw those trees move.