BRIEF MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CASUAL MOVIEGOERS


Showing posts with label movie adaptation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie adaptation. Show all posts

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Marvel mania

Immediately after the rousing success and huge weekend opening of Iron Man, Marvel Comics' first fully self-financed movie, the comic book giant announced the release date for its sequel (30 April 2010), as well as a few other titles including Thor (4 June 2010), The Avengers (July 2011) and most interesting of all, Captain America (6 May 2011).

When I was barely out of my tod years, I was already a Captain America fan. I was too young then to understand the nationalistic inclinations of the character, but I was very much mesmerised by the superhero's cool, colourful costume and indestructible throwing shield. There was also something cool about him battling the Nazis during World War 2, who were led by a memorable villain called The Red Skull (who literally had a red skeleton for a head like Skeletor).

In restrospect, my little infatuation with the Cap seems a little embarrassing. Not just because he's a blatantly patriotic figure of another country, but because the whole concept of Captain America is as corny as the idea of a Sargeant Singapore or Major Malaysia. Today's movie audiences are more matured and cynical, and you can see it in their taste for flawed, complicated heroes (e.g. Iron Man, Spider-man, Blade, The Crow, Batman, etc.) Superman is probably the closest in terms of colour scheme and American ideals, but although Superman Returns' box office draw wasn't too bad, it got mixed reactions from critics and fans. Perhaps some people aren't very receptive to the traditional, wholesome, good-natured superheroes anymore. (My problems with Superman Returns had more to do with the handling of the story than Supes' outdated goody-two-shoes-ness, which I think could still work.)

Thus, an update to the concept seems inevitable. What would they need to change then? Make the character black, as one movie journalist had suggested? Update the costume to a trendier, darker colour like they did in X-men? Or maybe even change his name entirely? The First Avenger, anyone? How about giving him an Uncle Ben-like backstory to brood and sulk about and plot a revenge with?

I say a resounding "no" to all of these. You take away the stuff that makes this character unique - his name, his costume and what he stands for - and make him modern, darker and edgier, you might as well call the movie Blade 4. There is only one era where the Cap would not look entirely out of place, and it's in the early 1940s, on European soil, battling Nazi supermen. Think Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, or Indiana Jones or the opening sequence of Hellboy. If there's one thing the silver screen lacks today, it's superhero movies set in World War Two.

Of course, in The Avengers movie, Captain America would have to be transported into modern times to head a team of superheroes consisting of him, Iron Man, Thor and others (via WWII-era cryogenics technology; a la Demolition Man). I wouldn't know how the character's going to work then, but that's for the writers to fret about in these coming weeks.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Justice League: The Movie is a go!


Well, at least Warner Bros. sounds determined about it. What's certain is that George Miller of Happy Feet, Babe and the Mad Max trilogy fame, is directing. They're still iffy about whether the movie's live-action or animated, while the actor playing the current celluloid Batman, the Grammaton Cleric Christian Bale himself didn't sound too keen about it. Keep an eye out for this in 2009 - this is going to be a tough one to pull off.
Read the original article from Variety.com here. Thanks to Empireonline.com.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Robotech: The Live-action Movie!


I'm beginning to suspect that I have a sixth sense. In my review of Transformers, I predicted that the movie studios would start adapting other robot-related anime such as Robotech, and lo and behold it has come true! Ok, maybe I was stating the obvious, since Robotech is really one of the most highly regarded classic anime around. What's even nicer is Tobey Maguire's involvement in this adaptation, which will guarantee some class in the acting department. Anyway, it's time we see some more fricking robots kicking the crap out of each other... in space! I'm pretty bored already with them superheroes and pirates and medieval crap. Check out the original article here to find out which other robot anime* also got greenlighted!
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*Highlight for answer >> It's Voltron!

Reviewed: The Simpsons Movie


WTF??? Street Fighter: The Movie Part II!

Want to know how I feel about the Street Fighter sequel? Well, FEEL THIS!

Directed by the guy who brought you Romeo Must Die and Doom. You just know that disaster's inevitable.
Go to EmpireOnline.com to see the full article.