General Discussion

Is there anything more controversial in film than the best comic book movies?! From my experience on Screened I think it is likely one of the most heated and controversial debates I have so. This is Devin Faraci's list. What do you think of it? Is he a crazy comic book man that doesn't like any of the right movies? Alternately, is he so right on you wish you had put this list together yourself? Watch and stew and comment!

Definetly a few on here I haven't seen but always thought about watching, thanks to Netflix. I agree with the choices of his I have seen however, except Spider-man 2. While I really enjoyed both 1 and 2 of Raimi's films I didn't think the second felt different enough and didn't accomplish enough and I thought he rehashed the same feelings (Peter Parker not wanting to be Spider-Man) in the third film with actual resolution.

Also I would have sworn Superman mentions or acknowledges that he is indeed reversing the Earth's rotation. I guess I'll have to rewatch it.

Glad he snuck History of Violence in there at the end. Great film.

Road to Perdition is an underrated comic book movie. It gave us Tom Hanks with a Tommy Gun killing people! As well as the last time Paul Newman was in theaters on the silver screen.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a really great adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki's manga. The manga covers so much more than can't be in the film, but Miyazaki captures the essence really well. Plus it has Patrick Stewart in it, so you can't go wrong there.

the Avengers is NOT the best superhero or comic book movie of all time the Dark Knight is.

the Amazing Spider-man is the best Spider-man movie

Good list. I would probably include Men in Black which is one of the rare cases where a comic book movie was actually better than the comic that inspired it. I also have a soft spot for the Rocketeer for it's great pulp feel, though it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Great list and really well explained.

My belief is that by far and away SPIDER-MAN 2 is the best and second is 300. Also, I would say that the concept of superhero movies didn't really begin with Donner's SUPERMAN but with Burton's BATMAN. Sure, BATMAN is a very flawed film, but it ushered in the idea of superhero films with darker themes and complex characters, and it also has some fantastic imagery.

I had no idea OLDBOY is based on a comic. I guess this means...Spike Lee is doing a comic book movie?!?

@ScottyHawkeye said:

the Avengers is NOT the best superhero or comic book movie of all time the Dark Knight is.

the Amazing Spider-man is the best Spider-man movie

no SPIDER-MAN 2 is the best super-hero, comic book, and Spider-man movie. By far.

also, he said THE AVENGERS wast "the best superhero movie" but then later he said is about SPIDER-MAN 2 so I think that is just a thing Devin says and not something meant to be taken literally.

@JackLumber said:

Glad he snuck History of Violence in there at the end. Great film.

I never get HISTORY OF VIOLENCE fans. It is not a bad film, but nothing extraordinary and even, dare I say, stupid in parts. Mortenson did a great job with his performance, though.

@etragedy said:

Good list. I would probably include Men in Black which is one of the rare cases where a comic book movie was actually better than the comic that inspired it. I also have a soft spot for the Rocketeer for it's great pulp feel, though it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

you are right. the MEN IN BLACK trilogy deserves some recognition. It is wittier and has more heart than THE AVENGERS.

Devin's list is solid all the way through. The inclusion of American Splendor and Ghost World make me happy.

Personally, there are three I would take out and replace with something else. While I love Ichi The Killer and Oldboy, I would take them out due to being manga and put them into a separate list of "Top 10 Manga Movies" type of thing. In place of those two, I would put A History of Violence and The Crow.

If anything, I'm pretty surprised that The Crow ISN'T on this list. It was dark and gritty in a way that, for the time it was released, wasn't something you saw happening in cinema very much. Beyond that, it captured the mood and atmosphere of the comic very well and still holds up to this day. The soundtrack was on point as well, which helped add to the overall aesthetic. There's also the whole thing about Brandon Lee being perfect for that role, as well as how sad and tragic the circumstances of his death were. Nonetheless, you could see he was putting his all into that role, and it's one that still stands firm today. The Crow was THE movie that showed you can make a successful movie from a comic book.

As for A History of Violence, I love that Cronenberg went more with the vibe of the comic, kept the color palette light, and wasn't afraid to tackle the rougher areas of where that comic could go. Sure, it wasn't 100% accurate, just like many other comic book films. Nonetheless, I was happy to see that someone was willing to give the "comic book movie as a character and actor performance piece" a chance.

For my bonus movie...*sigh*... I'm going to catch shit over this, but I'd put either Tank Girl or Daredevil on there. I KNOW! I FUCKING KNOW, OKAY?! They are terrible...TERRIBLE...movies. However, Tank Girl was part of my childhood. I loved the comics, and no matter how bad the movie was, it played well to the '90s generation of teenagers growing up during an interesting musical and cinematic climate. When you think of how fucking weird that movie is...and then look at how fucking weird something like Liquid Television is, I think you can see where the love for that film comes out. Plus, anyone who claims they didn't pop wood when Lori Petty is cutting up her stockings while Bush's "Bomb" plays...is a fucking liar. Women included.

As for Daredevil, I know it's a really bad movie, but I also find some level of schlocky fun with it, much the same way I do with Lou Ferrigno and his version of Hulk. Mark Steven Johnson is not a good director by any means, Jennifer Garner was wooden as hell, and Colin...his Bullseye was just...ugh. However, I give it to Ben Affleck for being someone who is genuinely and passionately in love with Matt Murdock and Daredevil in real life to see it through to the end, Joey P. for being one of the best actors in the movie doing what he does best, and Michael Clarke Duncan for saying "fuck your stereotypes, I'm playing a white dood's role." I genuinely love MCD in that movie, even before his death. You could tell that he was just having fun with it.

@jakob187 said:

Devin's list is solid all the way through. The inclusion of American Splendor and Ghost World make me happy.

Personally, there are three I would take out and replace with something else. While I love Ichi The Killer and Oldboy, I would take them out due to being manga and put them into a separate list of "Top 10 Manga Movies" type of thing. In place of those two, I would put A History of Violence and The Crow.

If anything, I'm pretty surprised that The Crow ISN'T on this list. It was dark and gritty in a way that, for the time it was released, wasn't something you saw happening in cinema very much. Beyond that, it captured the mood and atmosphere of the comic very well and still holds up to this day. The soundtrack was on point as well, which helped add to the overall aesthetic. There's also the whole thing about Brandon Lee being perfect for that role, as well as how sad and tragic the circumstances of his death were. Nonetheless, you could see he was putting his all into that role, and it's one that still stands firm today. The Crow was THE movie that showed you can make a successful movie from a comic book.

As for A History of Violence, I love that Cronenberg went more with the vibe of the comic, kept the color palette light, and wasn't afraid to tackle the rougher areas of where that comic could go. Sure, it wasn't 100% accurate, just like many other comic book films. Nonetheless, I was happy to see that someone was willing to give the "comic book movie as a character and actor performance piece" a chance.

For my bonus movie...*sigh*... I'm going to catch shit over this, but I'd put either Tank Girl or Daredevil on there. I KNOW! I FUCKING KNOW, OKAY?! They are terrible...TERRIBLE...movies. However, Tank Girl was part of my childhood. I loved the comics, and no matter how bad the movie was, it played well to the '90s generation of teenagers growing up during an interesting musical and cinematic climate. When you think of how fucking weird that movie is...and then look at how fucking weird something like Liquid Television is, I think you can see where the love for that film comes out. Plus, anyone who claims they didn't pop wood when Lori Petty is cutting up her stockings while Bush's "Bomb" plays...is a fucking liar. Women included.

As for Daredevil, I know it's a really bad movie, but I also find some level of schlocky fun with it, much the same way I do with Lou Ferrigno and his version of Hulk. Mark Steven Johnson is not a good director by any means, Jennifer Garner was wooden as hell, and Colin...his Bullseye was just...ugh. However, I give it to Ben Affleck for being someone who is genuinely and passionately in love with Matt Murdock and Daredevil in real life to see it through to the end, Joey P. for being one of the best actors in the movie doing what he does best, and Michael Clarke Duncan for saying "fuck your stereotypes, I'm playing a white dood's role." I genuinely love MCD in that movie, even before his death. You could tell that he was just having fun with it.

I dont think DAREDEVIL is a bad movie. It doesn't capture all of Frank Miller's work in the way Nolan and Snyder did in their adaptations (or, for that matter, Miller himself did with his own work in SIN CITY). However, it comes close and is thoroughly entertaining.

What I don't get is when you say "THE CROW was THE movie that showed you can make a successful movie from a comic book." THE CROW came out in 1994. That is after BOTH Burtonverse batman films. Now THE CROW is a fine movie with good acting, even if it is interminably long. But it didn't revolutionize the industry or anything.

@VioletEyedDragon: I haven't seen The Crow, but both burtonverse batman movies may have been financially successful, but they're really poor movies.

@Tylea002 said:

@VioletEyedDragon: I haven't seen The Crow, but both burtonverse batman movies may have been financially successful, but they're really poor movies.

The Butonverse Batman movies aren't all that great especially when Schumacher tried to continue them then they became bad The Nolanverse Batman are the best comic book, super hero, and Batman movies ever

@Tylea002: @ScottyHawkeye

Fuck you guys, the first two Burton flicks kicked ass. I'll take either of 'em over the shitfest that was "Dark Knight Rises."

-

Also, Superman II is the definitive film of the superhero genre. "Comic Books" are a literary source, an art form. Not a genre.

@Tylea002 said:

@VioletEyedDragon: I haven't seen The Crow, but both burtonverse batman movies may have been financially successful, but they're really poor movies.

@ScottyHawkeye said:

@Tylea002 said:

@VioletEyedDragon: I haven't seen The Crow, but both burtonverse batman movies may have been financially successful, but they're really poor movies.

The Butonverse Batman movies aren't all that great especially when Schumacher tried to continue them then they became bad The Nolanverse Batman are the best comic book, super hero, and Batman movies ever

they aren't fantastic, but they are both decent, and the first one is actually quite good. anyway, they reinvented the super-hero genre for the better.

RISES is a good film and TDK has its merits, but BEGINS is no way as good a film as Burton's BATMAN. The best Batman film, though, is actually not by Burton or Nolan, but the animated BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM. It was released in theatres between BATMAN RETURNS and BATMAN FOREVER and didn't do so well, even though it was absolutely fantastic. It totally got Batman and it has a surprising emotional punch.

Anyway, SPIDER-MAN 2 is far better than any Batman film has been.

@Redemption said:

@Tylea002: @ScottyHawkeye

Fuck you guys, the first two Burton flicks kicked ass. I'll take either of 'em over the shitfest that was "Dark Knight Rises."

-

Also, Superman II is the definitive film of the superhero genre. "Comic Books" are a literary source, an art form. Not a genre.

I agree with you that "comic book movie" is not a good term, as comic books/manga/graphic novels are a media not a genre. It is dumb that lists like these have a spot dedicated to GHOST WORLD but not HANCOCK, even though the latter is far more in keeping with the rest of the films on this list (though it isn't based on a comic book). The problem with having "Best Super-Hero Films," though, is that too broad an undefined term (technically, STAR WARS is a super-hero film and BATMAN is not, since the characters in STAR WARS have powers but no one in the Nolanverse Batman films do). I think the list should be "Comic Book Action Movie." Sure, it means that a few clear super-hero films are ineligible (such as THE INCREDIBLES) and a few question marks are allowed (like 300), but I think it is the best way to create a comprehensive list.