Ten Best Comic Book Movies!
Feb 12 '06
The Bottom Line Comic Books come to life!
Many comic books are about Super Heroes, so this seemed the best spot for a list of the ten best Comic Book Adaptations, especially since quite a few on my list are in fact the Movie Versions of Comic Book Super Heroes!
Honorable Mention: Dick Tracey Many may forget this bright flashy comic adaptation from 1990, but it really captured the comic style with its use of costumes, sets and colors. Warren Beatty played the yellow coated watch talkie wearing detective and the movie had Madonna in it too! This was one comic book movie that looked like a comic book.
Ten: Batman / Batman Returns This series started off well with fine direction by Tim Burton. This was the dark vision of Batman I liked until Nolan reimagined the dark knight last year. Burton had captured the story and brooding darkness of Gotham City quite well. Throw in performances by Jack Nicholson as the Joker, the beautiful Michelle Pfieffer as Catwoman, and a comic performance by Danny Devito as the Penguin, and then we even get Christopher Walken and Kim Basinger, the first two Batman movies were actually quite good.
Nine: American Splendor Many super heroes fight their arch nemesis, a super villian with super powers. The arch nemesis of everyman real person Harvey Pekar was the DMV, traffic, a bout with cancer, and every day life. He made it into a comic book. The comic book was made into a movie, which starred Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar, and it was fun to watch.
Eight: X-Men Rebecca Ramijn as a shape shifter Mystique covered with blue paint. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, lots of action and a good story made the first X-Men a great movie to watch. This movie blended action, romance, and a good comic book story in one fun to watch movie.
Seven: Superman The first comic book movie I saw, and I believe the movie that made it okay to make movies based on comic books. Christopher Reeves will always be Superman to me. His nemesis was the perfect villian, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Sadly, the second wasn't as good, and the third and fourth were terrible.
Six: X-Men 2 Sequels can be even more fun than the original, and this sequel had more mutants, more interesting plot and more action than the original. Is it okay that I was rooting for Ian McKellan's Magneto instead of Jean Luc Picard, err I mean Patrick Stewarts's Dr. Xavier? Alan Cummings as the Night Crawler was fun too.
Five: Batman 2005 directed by Christopher Nolan. Who knew that an American Psycho could be such an all American Pscyho with an obsession for bats? Machinist Christopher Bale was the best Batman yet. Throw in Gary Oldman as future Inspector Gordan, and newcomer bad boy Cillian Murphy, and we have a great movie that far surpassed any vision of Batman I have seen to date. I hope they keep this director and cast in place for some sequels and it doesn't go the way of the last franchise.
Four: Ghost World As I said, I put this list here, because it was the best place I could find for comic book movies. Are there super heroes in Ghost World? I don't know, does Thora Birch in a batman leather mask count? How about Steve Buscemi in a cardigan green sweater? This was an outstanding adaptation of a comic book called Ghost World, about two misfit teenage girls, Enid and Rebecca just graduating high school without a clue as what to do in the real world. Thora Birch (American Beauty)as Enid, decides it would be fun to answer a personal ad from a loser who turns out to be Seymour (Steve Buscemi - the guy thats in EVERY indie film you've ever seen) a record collecting anti social loner. A friendship and then a relationship actually begins to develop between the two. Enid's friend Rebecca was played by a young Scarlett Johanssen (Match Point, In Good Company, Girl with the Pearl Earring)!
Three: Spiderman With Great Power comes great responsibility Sam Raimi at the wheel, a cameo by Bruce Campbell, a super hero with real human emotions and problems? Willem Dafoe was a great movie villain, and Tobey MacGuire really gave Peter Parker / Spiderman a vulnerability that was missing from most super hero movies. Kirsten Dunst was also terrific as Mary Jane Watson. This movie broke the mold of previous comic book adaptations. It had much more than action, it had heart!
Two: Spiderman 2 The general rule is that sequels are never as good. There are alway exceptions, and Spiderman 2 was just more developed in every way than the outstanding original. Humor, heart and action all shined in this second Spiderman film. I still laugh when I watch the scene where a sore Spiderman takes an elevator and another passenger comments on his nice costume. More great direction from Sam Raimi,and another cameo by Bruce! No admittance after the play starts.
One: Sin City You will find no super heroes here, only villains and anti heros. Yet, this dark brooding film noir adaptation of comic noir comics by Frank Miller is easily the best comic book adaptation I have ever seen on the screen. The black and white scenes, splashed with color, the comic book like characters, all were captured perfectly in this Robert Rodriguez directed movie.
Some that didn't make the list for good reason:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Yes Eastman and Lairds comics were faithfully followed, but can we really take a bunch of men in large strange Turtle costumes seriously? Not only that, April O'Neil was much better looking in the comic books. The Ninja Turtle sequels? Even worse!
The Hulk Ang Lee what were you thinking??
Daredevil Note to Hollywood, Ben Affleck cannot act! For that matter neither can Colin Farrell.
Electra and Catwoman Please, do we even need an explanation of why these two films bombed?
Batman and Robin How can you take so many stars, and deliver such a bomb! This was the WORST batman movie I have ever seen, including the original ones, which were SUPPOSED to be campy.
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