What was the last movie you watched?

[Johnny Unusual]

Yeah, but D00hickey is saying they all had "Massive profits".  Breaking even after however long it took to do that is not "massive".  (I don't want to know if the budget for Howard was massive or not, since either answer is depressing)

The Faculty

I was hoping this would be more fun.  I'm not the biggest Kevin Williamson fan, but I do like Scream and I thought combining him with Robert Rodriguez would work well.  But while it isn't as offensively bad as some Body Snatcher-type films (I'm looking at you The Invasion), it really squanders the potential of the premise.  It does open up with a tense little chase scene (not as good as Scream's, but not bad and it makes me want to see Rodriguez do something more low key, though I doubt that is in his vocabulary any more), but after a promising start, the characters are mostly flat, the tension is generally not strong enough and the ideas it half explores were much better handled in the Buffy episode "Earshot".  There is one line towards the end that makes me wish the film followed that line of reasoning where a kid who spent much of his life bullied telling the evil alien threat "you'd have hated it here".  I wish it had more of a dark edge to it, not necessarily as hopeless as the good Body Snatchers films (I'm even half-OK with the possessed people being cured at the end, which was a huge bugbear for me in The Invasion), but one that really examines the idea that high school is nightmarish for some people.  Lot of wasted potential.

[d00hickey]

I just want to see a super hero movie where the studio/director actually take some risks and make something unique.

Ang Lee's Hulk was that, wasn't it? It was unwatchable.

Just because one director tried something new and it didn't work doesn't mean it can't be done. I find that notion ludicrous.

Don't straw-man. I didn't say that at all. You said "I want to see..." and I pointed you to one that was a big stinking green turd that fit your criteria.

I agree that Iron Man was a risk. I'd only vaguely heard of him before the movie, and putting terrorists in seemed like a shitty idea at the time.

I didn't intend to use a straw man argument on you, I legitimately thought that was the point you were trying to make. 

[Pak-Man]

Guardians of the Galaxy was an unprecidented risk for Marvel. Those characters have been around for a while in really obscure nooks of the Marvel Universe, but they've only been the Guardians of the Galaxy for like- 4 years. I'm sure it had a following, or there wouldn't have been a book, but even die-hard Marvel fans didn't really know them. Plus they went all space opera on it.

[d00hickey]

I just would like some more variation on the Hero's formula they almost all follow. I want to see more stuff like V for Vendetta, Darkman, Kick Ass and Dick Tracy. I just find it difficult to believe people are so in love with these movies that always follow the same exact formula. I feel like I see the same movie over and over again with new characters.   

[Edward J Grug III]

I just want to see a super hero movie where the studio/director actually take some risks and make something unique.

It seems that way now, but most of the properties Marvel made were risks.

Iron Man was a not a known character before the movies happened, Hulk had a recent flop, Thor was considered ridiculous, and Captain America was considered unmarketable outside of the US. Not to mention setting them all up as a single universe and then making the Avengers.

And then there's GotG.

It's easy to look back from here and think it all is just them making safe moves, but it wasn't before they did it.

With the exception of the Hulk film, I don't recall any of the Marvel films flopping, they had massive budgets and made massive profits.

I'm not sure of your point? You didn't say "I want to seem some super hero movies that flop," you said you wanted to see them take chances, and, as I explained above, that's all that they HAVE done.

Note, those above meovies are the ONLY movies that Marvel themselves have made. The other stuff is from other studios.

[Edward J Grug III]

I just would like some more variation on the Hero's formula they almost all follow. I want to see more stuff like V for Vendetta, Darkman, Kick Ass and Dick Tracy. I just find it difficult to believe people are so in love with these movies that always follow the same exact formula. I feel like I see the same movie over and over again with new characters.

Chronicle, Super, Birdman (upcoming) - Heck, I'd even argue Man of Steel broke the super hero forumla. It stunk, but it doesn't really fit along side the other you're talking about, does it?

What's your super hero movie forumla, by the way?

[d00hickey]

The Hero's Trope, or formula. I personally find stale as I stated above. It's a film makers prerogative to make whatever they like and more power to people who like it. There are over 30 comic book/super hero movies slated for release in the coming years. In my opinion that seems ridiculous. I'm not trying to debate anyone about the merits of super hero movies, I'm simply trying to understand the appeal and the saturation. In under a decade we have had two successful Spider Man 2s, this doesn't seem odd to anyone else?   

[Edward J Grug III]

The Hero's Trope, or formula. I personally find stale as I stated above. It's a film makers prerogative to make whatever they like and more power to people who like it. There are over 30 comic book/super hero movies slated for release in the coming years. In my opinion that seems ridiculous. I'm not trying to debate anyone about the merits of super hero movies, I'm simply trying to understand the appeal and the saturation. In under a decade we have had two successful Spider Man 2s, this doesn't seem odd to anyone else?

Yes, because the second one was boring, but I'm a fan of the genre, so in general, no. Why shouldn't two of the thousands of movies made in those ten years be successful Spider-Man 2s?

I am genuinely curious about your idea of the formula? As in how broad does it have to be drawn to include The Hulk, X-Men: First Class (presumably?), The Dark Knight and Man of Steal?

I'm not trying to pick a fight either, I am just trying to understand your point, as it doesn't seem consistant.

[d00hickey]

The Hero's Trope, or formula. I personally find stale as I stated above. It's a film makers prerogative to make whatever they like and more power to people who like it. There are over 30 comic book/super hero movies slated for release in the coming years. In my opinion that seems ridiculous. I'm not trying to debate anyone about the merits of super hero movies, I'm simply trying to understand the appeal and the saturation. In under a decade we have had two successful Spider Man 2s, this doesn't seem odd to anyone else?

Yes, because the second one was boring, but I'm a fan of the genre, so in general, no. Why shouldn't two of the thousands of movies made in those ten years be successful Spider-Man 2s?

I am genuinely curious about your idea of the formula? As in how broad does it have to be drawn to include The Hulk, X-Men: First Class (presumably?), The Dark Knight and Man of Steal?

I'm not trying to pick a fight either, I am just trying to understand your point, as it doesn't seem consistant.

I basically mean the Hero's Journey and the Hero's Trope, both of witch are outlined in great detail on the web. I love a good story following the Hero's Journey, Star Wars follows it like clockwork and is one of my favorite films of all time. My point is that I personally don't see the value in revisiting the genre so frequently. Super Hero films are consistently at the top of the box office year round so apparently people don't see it as I do. I also feel that, on a personnel level, when huge budget super hero movies are being released one after another it would be nice to see more variation than there currently is.

That's my view and I'm going to bed. 

[Quantum Vagina]

The Hero's Trope, or formula. I personally find stale as I stated above. It's a film makers prerogative to make whatever they like and more power to people who like it. There are over 30 comic book/super hero movies slated for release in the coming years. In my opinion that seems ridiculous. I'm not trying to debate anyone about the merits of super hero movies, I'm simply trying to understand the appeal and the saturation. In under a decade we have had two successful Spider Man 2s, this doesn't seem odd to anyone else?

To understand why Hollywood is churning out every superhero film it can get it's hands on, you only need to look to one man.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You can also look at the decisions made in last year's The Lone Ranger. The only reason Johnny Depp looked the way he did was because he wanted the character to look a certain way, and the last time he did that was Captain Jack. The Pirates movies made a bundle, and Captain Jack was the biggest part of that(Bloom and Knightly were the worst characters, IMO). Clearly letting Johnny Depp have so much freedom in character design is a GOOD thing.

Hollywood doesn't view movies as movies. They view them as money printing machines, and Superhero movies are the best at it right now.

[Edward J Grug III]

The Hero's Trope, or formula. I personally find stale as I stated above. It's a film makers prerogative to make whatever they like and more power to people who like it. There are over 30 comic book/super hero movies slated for release in the coming years. In my opinion that seems ridiculous. I'm not trying to debate anyone about the merits of super hero movies, I'm simply trying to understand the appeal and the saturation. In under a decade we have had two successful Spider Man 2s, this doesn't seem odd to anyone else?

Yes, because the second one was boring, but I'm a fan of the genre, so in general, no. Why shouldn't two of the thousands of movies made in those ten years be successful Spider-Man 2s?

I am genuinely curious about your idea of the formula? As in how broad does it have to be drawn to include The Hulk, X-Men: First Class (presumably?), The Dark Knight and Man of Steal?

I'm not trying to pick a fight either, I am just trying to understand your point, as it doesn't seem consistant.

I basically mean the Hero's Journey and the Hero's Trope, both of witch are outlined in great detail on the web. I love a good story following the Hero's Journey, Star Wars follows it like clockwork and is one of my favorite films of all time. My point is that I personally don't see the value in revisiting the genre so frequently. Super Hero films are consistently at the top of the box office year round so apparently people don't see it as I do. I also feel that, on a personnel level, when huge budget super hero movies are being released one after another it would be nice to see more variation than there currently is.

That's my view and I'm going to bed. 

If you are so broadly simplifying things down to the Hero's Journey, then do you simplify every narrative in the same way? Why do you bother watching anything?

[Kete]

I like movies where my characters are larger than life and DO things instead of just being average guys who live dull lives, or worse, pathetic people who just exist and have bad shit happen.  That's no story.

I think this is the best definition for mumblecore that I've seen....but I still like mumblecore.

[d00hickey]

To understand why Hollywood is churning out every superhero film it can get it's hands on, you only need to look to one man.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A very familiar sight to a Jim Sterling fan.

[Pak-Man]

They say there are seven stories out there. The number and types of stories change, and I'm not sure I agree with "them," but there's at least some validity to it. It seems silly, to me, to write off a movie then, because you've seen X type of story before. It's very likely you have, but how did you like this version?

I can say with firm conviction that Guardians of the Galaxy was the best retelling of the hero's journey that was a space opera and involved a sentiant, anthropomorphic raccoon and his gentle-giant tree friend that centered around a McGuffin hunt.


And that's Cyril Sneer. Watch some of "The Raccoons." Or don't. You're probably better off not. Bert always came off as a jerk who didn't deserve his spotlight. Alvin too, while we're on the topic of anthropomorphic '80s Saturday morning cartoon stars. :^)

[The Lurker]

They say there are seven stories out there. The number and types of stories change, and I'm not sure I agree with "them," but there's at least some validity to it. It seems silly, to me, to write off a movie then, because you've seen X type of story before. It's very likely you have, but how did you like this version?

I can say with firm conviction that Guardians of the Galaxy was the best retelling of the hero's journey that was a space opera and involved a sentiant, anthropomorphic raccoon and his gentle-giant tree friend that centered around a McGuffin hunt.


And that's Cyril Sneer. Watch some of "The Raccoons." Or don't. You're probably better off not. Bert always came off as a jerk who didn't deserve his spotlight. Alvin too, while we're on the topic of anthropomorphic '80s Saturday morning cartoon stars. :^)

Though its theme managed to have its own music video.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/usFFKNRB2z8" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/usFFKNRB2z8</a>