Topic: The Movie Thread

@WanderingBullet He's good in DD - he's really good in BvS, just phoning it in/poorly directed & scripted in large parts of Justice League.

@KALofKRYPTON Don't get me wrong, I thought his performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman was good. Unfortunately, those three movies were bad, imo.

Man, you must really like that film!

@JohnnyShoulder You bet.

Flies in the face of everything I said about preferring my films to be light, throwaway fun, so I have to pick my moments to watch it... but when it works for me, boy, does it work for me. It's a darker, more complex superhero film done right. I never "got" the Nolan films beyond Batman Begins (which is a perfectly fine origin story) and was therefore very apprehensive about Snyder following their blueprint with Man of Steel, but somehow he made it work, and then just built on it for BvS.

If they don't manage to lure Batfleck back for a proper, standalone bat-film, I'll be crushed.

@RogerRoger maaate... The Batman will be a recast I think. My money is on Jake Gyllenahaal.

If it stays stagnating as it is, there's every chance Flashpoint could act as a soft reset for the World's of DC. After that, who knows what could happen.

As poor as I think Miller is in Flash role and how thoughtless the effects are - just the remote possibility that Jeffrey Dean Morgan could actually be Flashpoint Batman...

@KALofKRYPTON Actually, the director of The Batman (Matt Reeves?) did an interview recently where he discussed how everything's going apparently quite well. When he was asked about re-casting Batman, he said that he was still talking to Ben Affleck, in a way that suggested the role would be his if he wanted it. Now that he's had a break from the almost-back-to-back filming and press junkets for BvS and Justice League (in a similar way to Daniel Craig's unfortunate wrist-cutting comments during the SPECTRE press tour), I reckon he'd be up for one more.

Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't look like Batman. At all. He looks like a grown-up Robin. If they are gonna transition to him, there are ways, but I think it's far too soon.

A month or two ago, during all the re-casting rumours and bad news coming out of WB and DC, Ben Affleck spoke to a terminally-ill kid fan, in character as Bruce Wayne. He loves the gig; I think he was just shattered from keeping physically fit and answering all the unfair criticism.

I live in hope.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, meanwhile, has apparently said that Flashpoint "isn't happening anymore" and that they're going with a standalone Flash origin story film. The entire DC brand has ditched the interconnected approach and will make films like Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam! for a while now, with nods and brief cameos to connect them instead of overarching plots.

Amidst all that, a standalone Batfleck film would fit very, very nicely.

Jake Gyllenhaal looks a bit dorky to me. I don't think he'll look good as Batman. Not sure if he can pull off the role but what about Armie Hammer?

I can hardly keep up with all superhero movies I watched through the ages, but here is a list with films I remember. I think the superhero genre in movies is quite overrated. Some of the movies just look so terribly bland, and the writing often can't match that of the comics. That being said, all the ones with a 7 or higher are movies I think that are excellent.

Batman Dark Knight - 9

Watchmen - 8
Spider-Man 2 - 8
Batman Begins - 8

Spider-Man 1 - 7
Batman: Under the Red Hood - 7
Batman Year One - 7

Spider-Man 3 - 6
Batman Phantasm - 6
Batman Rising - 6
Burton's Batman - 6
The Amazing Spider-Man - 6

Daredevil - 5
Man of Steel - 5

Guardians of the Galaxy - 4
Iron Man - 4

Avengers 1 - 3

Batman Returns - 2

Some superhero films I still wanna see: Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man Homecoming, Phoenix' Joker.

@RogerRoger Urgh... Ditching Flashpoint for an origin film is so very dumb.
I read the Matt Reeves thing. I remain sceptical.

Gyllenahaal would make a great Batman I think. He can get in to wicked shape without complaining and he's a great actor.

@WanderingBullet Hammer was cast as Batman for the cancelled JL movie. Wouldn't object to him.

@KALofKRYPTON Oh, hey, I'm probably just being overly-protective of the incumbent cape and cowl, and look at what everybody said about him when he was cast. Same deal with Michael Keaton, too, and Val Kilmer. I think the only choice which wasn't criticised was George Clooney, because he looks every inch the square-jawed leading man (and then he turned out to be almost-universally loathed). So it would seem "instand hatred and dislike" is a prerequisite for success as Batman.

@WanderingBullet Armie Hammer's a little bit gorgeous, which isn't a quality I associate with Batman but, as I've said above, I'm happy to be proven wrong. I've never seen him act in anything; same as Ben Affleck before BvS, so I'd probably (and hopefully) end up nicely surprised.

@RogerRoger I was always happy with the Batfleck casting. He's good at it and looks the part and despite the popular revisionist rhetoric, DareDevil is a good flick, and he's great in it.

Keaton was good for Burton's style over substance and action averse direction. I still think Alec Baldwin would've been the better choice (as proved very much in the Shadow). Post Keaton was just the standard Hollywood 'star in the lead' deal really.

Hammer is a good actor - as I said, he was cast as Bats and did a fair amount of preproduction (all the way up to costuming) on George Miller's canned Justice League movie.

As for his roles - he saves The Social Network from being little but an exercise in watching lots of awful people be awful, he's good in Free Fire, he (with Cavill) save The Man From Uncle from its boorish Guy Ritchy-ness and he absolutely saves The Lone Ranger from it's abhorrently long run-time too.

@KALofKRYPTON

Hammer was cast as Batman for the cancelled JL movie.

Yeah, I know. To be honest, I thought DC would cast him for BvS after George Miller's Justice League movie was cancelled.

@WanderingBullet too young looking for what they were going for I guess.

Totes Gyllenhaal:

My entire problem with the Watchmen movie. It's a perfectly competent production, but the writing is completely lacking in nuance compared to the original GN, and the transgressive moral issues it tackles are dumbed down in favor of explicit sex and violence (SO edgy rolls eyes).

I was particularly annoyed with how they removed the atheistic existentialism almost entirely from Rorscach's thinking and backstory. His worldview extends beyond just being misanthropic, and it's a major motivating aspect of his character.

@KALofKRYPTON You've made me realise that I've told a lie; I have seen Armie Hammer in something, I have The Man From U.N.C.L.E. on Blu-Ray.

The fact that I'd totally forgotten about him and that film speaks volumes, though.

@RogerRoger Honestly - it's not a good film. I watched it again not long ago as it showed up on Netflix. Performances are generally good though, Hammer and Cavill are given very little to do. I recommend The Lone Ranger. It is way too long. Depp's casting and direction is a misstep (Jack Sparrow, but Native American) but Hammer is very good.

Actually - you could just watch the last half hour and be suitably entertained.

@Ralizah I actually prefer much of the Watchmen movie to the comic. It's a well streamlined, beautifully presented adaptation.

I partially agree with you on Rorschach - though I find much of what Moore writes to be page filler.

@Ralizah I agree with you on the lost nuance. It's definitely something I hold against that film. But I never expected it to hold up against the book. So on its own I still think it's a fine movie. And I really admire how great the movie looks, it's just like a comic book every single shot. That's also something I do like about the Burton Batman films, but I digress.

I can understand how for someone else than me that might ruin their experience, but also how other people than me could care even less about it.

@KALofKRYPTON "page filler" Not sure if trolling. With Moore every word is their for a reason, more than most comic writers.

@KALofKRYPTON I really didn't appreciate most of the changes. And it's "stylish" in that obnoxious, slo-mo, overly glitzy way only Zack Snyder films are (this aspect of his films are VERY love it or hate it, I find).

And, this might just be me, but the fact that pretty much every piece of music in the movie was licensed music really grated on me.

One thing I did like in the movie is the changes they made to Ozy's plans at the end. The "space monster" is a bit goofy these days, and it would have conflicted with the tone of the movie. I think the alternative they found made a lot of sense.

@Ralizah
Watchmen is an inherently violent story - in depiction and tone; the film is only as gratuitous as the comic.
I agree a lot of extensive slow motion effects can grate in some instances. I felt with Watchmen it served to frame the scene as a panel - just in a slightly less literal way as Ang Lee's Hulk, but with something so closely framed, scene by scene to what was on the page, it works rather well.

I think the music was an important part of dating the period. The comic is littered with cultural references for the same ends. I don't mind it - but it's a nice contrast to the reverent 80s settings of many current projects.

Regarding the writing - well, if some things aren't condensed or omitted, you risk becoming verbose or at the very least a slave to exposition. OK in a book, not so much a film of this type.