Archive for Captain America

THE AVENGERS: WHO WAS THE “REAL” FIRST TEAM?

Posted in 2012, Comic Book Movies, Marvel Comics, Superheroes with tags , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2012 by knifefighter

AVENGERS SCORE CARD
A Refresher Course in Marvel History from L.L. Soares

When X-MEN: FIRST CLASS came out last year, I wrote an article comparing the movie to the “real” first class of X-Men from the comics. People seemed to like the refresher course in Marvel Comics history, so I figured I’d do the same thing with THE AVENGERS.

The Avengers first assembled way back in AVENGERS # 1, in September 1963, (© Copyright Marvel Comics )

So how accurate is the new movie version of Marvel’s THE AVENGERS in comparison with how the group really came together? Well, the movies are always going to rewrite history for their own reasons, but in some ways,  things are pretty close to the source material this time around. Let’s take a look.

Back in September 1963, Marvel was just starting out, and had introduced a bunch of brand new superheroes on an unsuspecting public. Remember, DC Comics already had a bunch of characters from the past to draw from—like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman—but Marvel had to start fresh in the early 60s. They already had one superhero team, THE FANTASTIC FOUR (which was also the first official Marvel superhero comic book), but what about all those other characters that had been created in the meantime? Why not get a bunch of them and put them together in a team that could really kick the butt of any big-time foe? And so AVENGERS # 1 came out.

And  the original AVENGERS were born.

(Note: They weren’t even the only AVENGERS back then! In the 60s, there was a  popular British TV show also called THE AVENGERS (1961- 1969) starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg as classy super spies!)

So who was in that first team? Well, Thor was there, so was Iron Man. They were two of Marvel’s heavy hitters right from the start.

A lot of people either find it hard to believe that the Hulk was an original member, or they will scratch their heads and ask “But he was one of the DEFENDERS,  wasn’t he?” However, both are true. Hulk was in the original Avengers, although he only lasted a few issues before he took off. He wasn’t really that much of a team player back then. And yes, the Hulk was also a member of DEFENDERS, another superhero team, which first assembled in Marvel Feature # 1, in 1971. That team was made up of some of the more “rebellious” characters in the Marvel Universe, including Namor the Submariner, Dr. Strange, and the Silver Surfer (and were eventually joined by memorable Defenders Valkyrie and Nighthawk, and a rotating cast of others). Somehow, Hulk was able to stick with the Defenders for a lot longer than his time in the Avengers. I was never sure why. He just never seemed like a very cooperative character to me.

Captain America didn’t join the team until AVENGERS # 4, when the supersoldier from World War II was discovered frozen in ice. But he became an indispensable member of the team very quickly and became the heart and the conscience of The Avengers.

Captain America joined the team in AVENGERS # 4. (© Copyright Marvel Comics)

Also in the original Avengers were Ant Man and the Wasp, a guy and a gal who could reduce themselves to the size of insects. Scientist Henry Pym and his partner Janet Van Dyne had previously appeared in the comic book called TALES TO ASTONISH, which would eventually showcase stories of the Hulk (and a little later, the Submariner as well). Pym was the one who would invent various cool weapons for the group. And by the time Captain America shows up in issue 4, he had already decided bigger was better and changed his superhero identity from Ant Man to Giant Man.

Where do the Black Widow and Hawkeye come into this? Well, they were both Avengers, just not right away. The funny thing is, both of them first appeared in the pages of TALES OF SUSPENSE, which was where Iron Man stories were published before he got his own comic book, and both of them began as Iron Man’s villains! In those days, most of Iron Man’s villains were either Russian or Chinese (making him probably the most political superhero of his day, even though, unfortunately, a lot of those storylines seem very dated now because of their timeliness back then). Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow was originally a Russian spy (and a bit of a seductress) with exceptional fighting abilities (she first appeared in Tales of Suspense # 52) and Hawkeye first appeared as a carnival archer with exceptional skill who was seduced by the Widow to help her in her attempts to defeat Iron Man (Hawkeye first appeared in TOS #57). So they do actually have a long history together. As you already know, both of them became good guys, with Hawkeye joining the Avengers in issue # 16. But since that time, he’s been one of the most recognizable and steady members of the Avengers. Meanwhile, the Black Widow would come and go, because she often had other matters to attend to (including a brief stint as Daredevil’s “sidekick” in the early 1970s).

Hawkeye the way he should have looked in the AVENGERS movie, with his distinctive mask. (© Copyright Marvel Comics)

And was Loki really the bad guy back then who brought the Avengers together? Well, yes he was! Except in AVENGERS # 1 he was able to take on the appearance of the Hulk to cause some chaos that brought the rest of the Avengers together to stop him, culminating in the rest of the team fighting the Hulk. There weren’t any aliens in the skies helping Loki back then.

S.H.I.E.L.D.  Commander Nick Fury had nothing to do with the Avengers back then. In fact, he was just starting out as the head of  S.H.I.E.L.D. himself, after a stint in World War II (in one of Marvel’s few war comics, SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS). The movies have cleverly been using him as the one who brought the team together, but back in the 1960s, he was too busy fighting the evil forces of the secret organization HYDRA.

Throughout the 60s, there were lots more interesting members of the team, including the android The Vision (one of my favorites) who would control his density at will. And the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, two original members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants who started out as X-Men villains and came over to the side of good (there seemed to be a lot of bad guys turning good back then). Also members at different times were the Black Panther (an African prince turned superhero, who had first appeared in the pages of THE FANTASTIC FOUR), the demigod Hercules (who came from the pages of THOR) and the lesser known Swordsman, the Black Knight, and a one-shot character named Wonder Man (who first appeared and then “died” in AVENGERS # 9), but who would show up again a decade or so later to become a prominent member of the team.

While the Hulk didn’t last long as a member of the AVENGERS, he was a long-time member of another team, THE DEFENDERS, which debuted in 1971. (© Copyright Marvel Comics)

By the time the 70s came around, the team expanded further and had a rotating cast of characters as various members joined, left, and rejoined again.

So the movie is actually more faithful to the source material than it first appears. But this is the “way it began” for the Avengers in the comic books, where they originated.

© Copyright 2012 by L.L. Soares

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THE AVENGERS (2012)

Posted in 2012, 3-D, Aliens, Based on Comic Book, Cinema Knife Fights, Comic Book Movies, Joss Whedon, Marvel Comics, Superheroes with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2012 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: THE AVENGERS (2012)
By Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

(THE SCENE: a massive flying aircraft carrier, hovering in the sky. CLOSE-UP reveals MICHAEL ARRUDA & L.L. SOARES at the controls.)

MA:  For a minute there, I thought I had prepared for the wrong movie, BATTLESHIP.

LS:  Nope. This is a Helicarrier, one of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s prize possessions. If he ever finds out we took it, he’s gonna be soooo pissed. (cackles)

MA:  Yeah, I know what it is. You want to tell me again how it is we’re sitting at the controls?

LS:  Fury and the Avengers are all out celebrating their victory over the bad guys, and everyone else is dead tired, so I slipped a friend of mine who works here some cash, and we get to take this baby for a brief spin. Just long enough to review the movie. Don’t worry. We’ll get her back without a scratch.

MA: I hope so. This is an expensive piece of equipment. I wouldn’t want to have to pay the bill if we damaged it.

LS:  You worry too much. Why don’t you start the review?  I see some buttons and controls I want to play with.

MA:  Today’s movie, THE AVENGERS, is the long-awaited, much-anticipated Marvel superhero movie that’s been on moviegoers’ minds ever since the after-the-credits final scene of IRON MAN (2008) when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) approached Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) about the Avengers Initiative.

There was also some anxiety surrounding this one:  with all the hype and expectation, would it be as good as fans hoped for?  I’ll cut right to the chase and say yes, it’s every bit as good and then some.

LS: That might be a bit premature, but go on.

MA: In THE AVENGERS, the villainous Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s half-brother, is still bitter from having to live his life in the shadow of his famous sibling, and so he accepts a role from the Chitauri, an alien race that wants to conquer the galaxy. Loki will help the Chitauri conquer the Earth, and in return, Loki will become King of the Earth. To do this, Loki steals the Tesseract, an energy source of unlimited potential that had been in the possession of one Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

LS: Yeah, a lot of this stuff comes from the previous Marvel movies. The Tesseract (called “The Cosmic Cube” in the comics) is something we last saw the Red Skull trying to get in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) . Loki,  the sniveling brother of Thor, was also the main villain in THOR (also 2011). THE AVENGERS just brings this all full circle.

MA: To save the world and stop Loki and the Chitauri, Fury activates the “Avengers Initiative,” which pretty much means rounding up the local superheroes to battle the bad guys. The Avengers include Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.,) Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

LS: Yeah, we previously saw the Black Widow in IRON MAN 2 (2010), and Hawkeye in THOR. So these are familiar faces as well. It’s actually pretty cool that all of the actors returned to reprise their original rolls. Too often in blockbusters like this, some actors, for whatever reasons, have to be replaced, and it’s just not the same. In THE AVENGERS, the only original actor who isn’t returning is Edward Norton, who was Bruce Banner in 2008’s THE INCREDIBLE HULK (or, for real hardcore Hulk fans, Eric Bana, who was played the role in Ang Lee’s 2003 movie, HULK). Here, Banner (and the Hulk) are played by Mark Ruffalo. A great actor, who actually makes you forget those other guys, so I wasn’t too sad to see him as part of this cast.

MA: What makes this movie so interesting is none of these guys like each other nor do they trust each other, and they don’t even trust Nick Fury, so even before they’re battling the bad guys, their battling themselves, and it’s these skirmishes that make up the best part of the movie.

LS: Well, yes and no. Not all of the skirmishes are equally good.

MA: Nit-picker!

LS:  I wonder what this big red button does?

MA:  Should you really be pressing a button that’s big and red?

LS:  Too late. I already pressed it. Hmm. Harmless.

(MA looks out his window and sees an engine falling from the Helicarrier.)

MA:  Do me a favor and don’t press any more buttons.

Where was I?  Oh yeah.

But these folks are superheroes, and so eventually, they all patch up their differences and set their sights on working together and defeating Loki and the Chitauri in a climactic battle sequence that is one for the ages. I joke about this, that they’re superheroes and so of course they eventually work together, but one of the strengths of THE AVENGERS is very little of it plays like a predictable superhero tale. The movie is exceedingly fresh.

LS: I’m not so sure about that, either. The movie is good, it’s exciting. But “exceedingly fresh?” That might be pushing it a little bit.

MA: I absolutely loved THE AVENGERS. It’s the best movie I’ve seen this year. It just has so many things going for it.

Probably the most impressive thing about THE AVENGERS is with all these characters in this movie, I never felt cheated. Not only do all these guys get sufficient quality screen time, with plenty of key moments, but some of them, Captain America and Thor in particular, were more enjoyable and more satisfying here than in their own movies CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR.

LS: What about the Hulk?

MA: Yeah, the Hulk, too.

Robert Downey Jr. also returns to top form, capturing the magnetism and seemingly endless “bad boy” playboy energy he showed back in IRON MAN. He too is much better in this movie than he was in IRON MAN 2.

The cast is downright impressive. Downey Jr. is my favorite here, because I really enjoy his interpretation of Tony Stark, but he’s far from being alone in this movie, although I would say he’s the unofficial leader of this group and its most captivating and entertaining character.

LS: Yeah, Downey is great as Stark/Iron Man. But “the most captivating and entertaining character?” I don’t know about that. What about the Hulk?

MA: The Hulk’s cool, but Tony Stark is more fun to watch than Bruce Banner.

Chris Evans shines as Captain America, and I liked him better here than in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, as his character is better defined. He’s out of place in the 21st century, at first, and he’s disappointed that the nation isn’t quite the bastion of patriotism and heroism it was when he last saw it during World War II. But he adapts, and he brings his sense of patriotism and pride to the fight. On the battlefield, he’s also the Avengers’ strategic leader, directing the team and giving them their duties.

LS: Yeah, Evans is better here than he was in the CAPTAIN AMERICA movie. I also think Cap is a much more interesting character in the modern world. I’m not as psyched about his adventures in a fictionalized past as I am with him being a fish out of water in current times. He’s more compelling now. And his “boy scout” image isn’t so black and white anymore. The time change forces him to develop more as a character.

By the way, WHAT ABOUT THE HULK?

MA: What is it with you and the Hulk, anyway?  Hey!  Watch where you’re going!

(The Helicarrier accidentally takes off the top of a skyscraper)

LS: Woops. Now we’re in for it. Fury is bound to lower our security clearance for this.

MA: Our security clearance? I just hope he has some good insurance on this thing. Anyway, now that you have us back on track, I’ll get back to the review.

Mark Ruffalo enjoys a strong debut as the Hulk.

LS: Finally!

MA:  Honestly, I didn’t miss Edward Norton one bit, and this surprised me, because I thought I would. Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner is very likeable, and he plays him less haunted and more introspective. I also like the way they made the Hulk’s face resemble Ruffalo’s.

LS: Yeah Ruffalo is great in this role, and you’re right. The reason why the Hulk finally works so well here, is because he doesn’t take himself so damn seriously. Banner has a really sarcastic/ironic sense of humor that sets him apart from the more angsty/tortured previous Banners. And the Hulk himself actually has some funny scenes. While I like the darker, more tragic Hulk, I thought this version was a breath of fresh air and more interesting for the movies. And yeah, the CGI effects, where the Hulk’s face actually does look like Ruffalo’s, are pretty good here. And for the record, I thought Hulk was the best thing in this movie.

MA: What a surprise!

Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor, and although I mentioned I enjoyed him more here than in THOR, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy him in THOR. He’s excellent in both moves. I just enjoyed his scenes a bit more in this one.

LS: I like Hemsworth and Thor a lot. For some reason I thought he was a bit more subdued here than in his own movie, but Thor is always an enjoyable character. And I thought the skirmish between Thor and the Hulk was the best of the Avengers’ infighting battles.

MA: Scarlett Johansson is excellent as Black Widow, and she just might have more screen time than any of the Avengers!  And you know what?  I didn’t mind one bit!  When will she have her own movie?

LS: That might just happen, because she is very good here. I wasn’t as excited about her scenes in the midst of battling aliens, where I thought she was outgunned, but the one-on-one scenes of her and the other characters are terrific. It would have been nice if she at least tried to have a Russian accent, though.

MA: Jeremy Renner is very good as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson finally gets to do a lot as Nick Fury, and he doesn’t disappoint.

LS: I think you’re selling Hawkeye short.

MA:  No, I just thought I’d let you talk about him.

LS:  Yeah, right.

Renner does a fine job as Marvel’s master archer, even if he does spend half of the movie in the thrall of Loki. But where the hell is his mask? It’s not like the character’s costume in the comics is so complex. That cool mask of his would have been nice. Are Hollywood actors so egotistical that they have to show their faces as much as possible? In Iron Man’s case, it makes sense that we see Stark’s head inside the armor, because Iron Man’s mask is completely expressionless. But if the characters in the comics have masks, I think the characters in the movies should as well. Even Captain America here “loses” his mask in the midst of battle toward the end. Although I didn’t think that was necessary.

Masks are important!  (reaches into a bag. )  Here, put this on. (places a mask over MA’s face. Then puts one on himself.)

MA:  Cool. Thanks!

LS:  Gee, it’s dark in here.

MA:  Dark?  Your mask doesn’t have any slits for eyes!  Take that thing off!  (rips off LS’s mask and his own. )  What are you trying to do?  Get us killed?

LS:  Stop your worrying. This thing can practically fly itself!

As for Nick Fury, I never really cared for the character much in the comics, and he doesn’t do a lot for me here, either. I like Sam Jackson, and he does provide a link between all the characters, so he makes sense in the movie. But I could take him or leave him.

MA: Clark Gregg returns as likable agent Phil Coulson, and when your cast includes Stellan Skarsgard and Gwyneth Paltrow in supporting roles, you know you’ve got something good going. Skarsgard of course plays Selvig, the brilliant scientist we met in THOR, and Paltrow is Pepper Pots, Tony Stark’s love interest.

LS: In some ways, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson is actually more compelling than Nick Fury, as a character, although his slavish worship of the superheroes (like his wanting Captain America to sign his trading cards) seemed a bit condescending at times.

MA: I thought it was pretty funny. Besides, Coulson is the stand-in for us. He’s the fanboy of the group.

LS: I realize that. But they make him look a little too geeky, when he’s supposed to be a professional. His “big scene” here, though, is pretty good. Although I think they put way too much importance on him as an inspiration to the others.

MA: I liked that scene.

LS: Also pretty good here is Cobie Smulders as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. Most people will recognize Smulders as Robin on the hit CBS sitcom HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. But she’s very good in this more serious role, as well.

MA: And Tom Hiddleston turns in a fine performance as Loki, although Loki is still not one of my favorite villains. He’s simply not powerful enough, either in strength or mind, to really wow me. I never get the feeling he’s actually powerful enough to defeat the heroes. Not a good trait to have if you’re a villain. He’s like the Rodney Dangerfield of villains. No respect. Well, he hasn’t really earned it.

LS: Now we’re getting into what I didn’t like about the movie. THE AVENGERS has a lot going for it. It’s a lot of fun, the fight scenes are great, the characters—for the most part—are very well done. But my biggest beef with this movie is that it just didn’t have a strong enough villain. I thought Loki was a letdown. We’d already seen him in the THOR movie, and didn’t need to have him be the bad guy here, too (even if, in the original issue of THE AVENGERS # 1 way back in 1963, it was Loki who brought the team together to fight him – and he didn’t need Nick Fury back then to do it).

I just don’t think Loki is a strong enough character. And the generic aliens didn’t help all that much. It was like these great heroes get together to fight an inferior bad guy and a bunch of flying CGI effects. A strong villain would have made for a better movie. And if there is one flaw with THE AVENGERS, I’d say that’s it.

MA:  I can’t disagree with you there. THE AVENGERS lacks a compelling villain, but I liked the actual Avengers so much, I didn’t really care.

LS:  Also – what is up with Loki? Sometimes he seems to have unlimited power. Other times he doesn’t use his powers at all and seems kind of lame as a bad guy. Which one is it? Is he as formidable as Thor or not? If he’s taking on an entire team, you’d think he would have to be pretty impressive, but he’s not. The same goes for the aliens. Sometimes normal people like the Black Widow and Hawkeye are able to fight the aliens off. Other times, they are able to take on Iron Man (even if he is weakened at that point). And they just didn’t seem scary enough. Their living whale battleships were pretty cool, though.

MA: But the true star of THE AVENGERS is writer/director Joss Whedon. What a few weeks it’s been for Whedon. He wrote THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012) which came out a few weeks ago, which was an excellent movie, and I have to say, THE AVENGERS is even better.

LS: Yeah, Whedon does a good job here. I could see a lot of other directors dropping the ball here, but Whedon does a great job juggling everyone throughout the movie and keeping them all—well, most of them—consistently interesting. It’s tough to direct a movie like this and turn out something as good as Whedon has here.

MA: Whedon does everything right here, and for a guy to do that with such an ambitious project like THE AVENGERS, that’s incredibly impressive. So yeah, there are so many ways this movie could have been disappointing, and Whedon avoids all of them.

The best part is he gives all these characters key scenes, and lots of them. You certainly don’t watch this movie and think there’s just too many characters involved. It’s the opposite. You’ll find yourself not getting enough of these characters.

LS: I agree there.

MA: I loved the interactions between the superheroes, and these scenes of in-fighting and bickering make for some of the best moments of the movie. When Iron Man first bickers with Thor and makes fun of the way he speaks, it’s a hoot. You have a three way fight between Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America, a memorable bout between the Hulk and Thor, and the tension-filled scene with all of them at each other’s throats on board the Helicarrier. And we haven’t even gotten to the main battle to protect the world yet!

LS: I liked the in-fighting for the most part, even if I do think that Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk were in a completely different class from the rest of the characters. Captain America seemed pretty useless in comparison to the big boys, and the Black Widow seems completely out of her depth once the aliens show up. Hawkeye would to, except he has those amazing gadgets on his arrows, to keep him interesting.

Another thing about Hawkeye is, in the comics, he’s more wise-cracking and enjoyable. I thought Renner played him way too serious. And he could have worn the damn mask!

MA: You and that mask! Whedon’s screenplay also gets the humor right in this one. There are plenty of funny moments in THE AVENGERS, some are laugh out loud funny. Whedon’s dialogue is fabulous.

There are also some really impressive battle scenes here, very cinematic. The battle on and around the Helicarrier was amazing, and the climactic battle between the Avengers and the Chitauri is not to be missed.

LS: The big battle between the Avengers and the aliens is great because of the Avengers themselves. But the aliens are so generic, the team could have been fighting robots and it would have been the exact same thing. They needed a more exciting enemy.

MA: I saw THE AVENGERS in 3D, and I thought it looked excellent, though to be honest, this movie is so entertaining I bet it plays just as well in 2D. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

LS: I saw it in 3D, too. And while I thought it was fine, I eventually just forgot I was wearing the glasses, and didn’t really see why it had to be in 3D. I’m sure in 2D, it would have been just fine.

MA: THE AVENGERS runs 2 hours and 22 minutes, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It held my interest from start to finish.

LS: Me, too. I wasn’t bored at all. It is an exciting movie, despite my few complaints.

MA: THE AVENGERS is my pick for the most entertaining movie of the year so far. Yeah, I’ll admit, I’m biased because I really like the Marvel superhero movies, but as those things go, this one is one of the best. It just might be THE best. I love IRON MAN (2008), and I really enjoyed last year’s X-MEN FIRST CLASS (2011), and THE AVENGERS is every bit as enjoyable as these movies. What just might make it even better is THE AVENGERS is a bit more cinematic than those two movies. Joss Whedon includes some grand and memorable action sequences that lift this one to a higher level. Plus you’re dealing with an ensemble cast of characters that you’d be hard-pressed to match elsewhere.

LS: Yeah, THE AVENGERS is one of the best Marvel movies so far. Also, when I went to see it on Friday night, every single showing was already sold out. I had to see it at a Saturday matinee instead. So I’m sure this one is going to be a huge box-office hit. (Editor’s Note: since this review was written, THE AVENGERS went on to have the biggest movie opening weekend in box-office history, with over $200 million in the U.S. alone).

MA: Hands down, THE AVENGERS is a winner. I give it four knives.

LS: Well, it does have a lot going for it. A great cast, great heroes, and great fight scenes. But it’s not perfect. The first half of it, as S.H.I.E.L.D gathered up the heroes, did move a little slow at times. Not boring, mind you, but I found myself thinking “hurry up and assemble already!” And I still say the “big bad” left a lot to be desired (you’d think Joss Whedon, who added the phrase “big bad” to our lexicon in his BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series, would have been more conscious of the need for a worthy bad guy).

One thing, though. Like most of these movies, there’s a hidden scene or “Easter egg” once the credits start rolling. But this time, it happens pretty early on and you don’t have to sit through all of the credits. In THE AVENGERS this extra scene gives us a major teaser as to who’s going to be the enemy in THE AVENGERS 2, and he’s way more lethal than half-assed Loki. So that got me excited, knowing what they have in store for next time. I’m not saying a word about who the classic villain is, though. You have to go see the movie if you want to find out. But I will say that Jim Starlin fans (of which I’m one) will be very psyched!

MA:  But if you do stay to the very end of the credits, there is an additional scene, but it’s played strictly for laughs and it’s not as important as the prior scene you just mentioned. Still, it cracked up those of us still sitting in the theater.

LS:  I liked this movie a lot, but I just didn’t think it was as perfect as you did. I give it three and a half knives. As in, it’s great and people should go see it, but it could have been even better!

MA: Well, there you have it. Shouldn’t we be returning the Helicarrier now, before Nick Fury notices it’s gone?

LS: I guess so.

MA: So what are you going to tell him when he asks about the giant scrape on the side of the Helicarrier?

LS: I’ll blame it on aliens.

MA:  Good idea!

—END—

© Copyright 2012 by Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

Michael Arruda gives THE AVENGERS ~ four knives!

LL Soares gives THE AVENGERS~three and a half knives.

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Garrett Cook’s SIX BEST MOVIES OF 2011

Posted in 2011, Best Of Lists, Garrett Cook Articles, Nicolas Cage Movies, Superheroes with tags , , , , , on January 7, 2012 by knifefighter

My Top 6  Movies of 2011
By Garrett Cook

6. Drive Angry

As much as I can’t stand excessive CGI or Nicholas Cage, this movie was everything Hobo With a Shotgun claimed to be but fell short of. A pure adrenaline rush.

5. Chillerama

Transgressive fun. Giant sperm. An AIP beach movie gone horribly wrong and Hitler plagued by an insubordinate golem. What’s not to like?

4. Super 8

A little bit Stephen King, a little bit Stephen Spielberg. A surprisingly sincere and sweet movie.

3. Rubber

A movie that makes you root for a psychotic and psychokinetic tire and reexamine how you think of storytelling. An impressive Bizarro feat.

2. The Last Circus

An amazing piece of work. A union of Guillermo del Toro and Todd Browning’s aesthetics, with a dose of Jodorowsky. An eyepopping and moving struggle for love between two clowns in Fascist Spain. It’s streaming on Netflix and you should watch it.

1. Captain America

Finally, a comic movie that is not ashamed of being a comic book. Full of Marvel history and a balance of action and emotional content, which is a difficult one to pull off. Dieselpunk genius. My favorite Marvel movie hands down. Maybe my favorite superhero movie.

© Copyright 2011 by Garrett Cook

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Quick Cuts Presents THE MOST PLEASANT SURPRISES OF 2011

Posted in 2011, Fantasy, Horror, Kids Movies, Quick Cuts, Superheroes, Vampires with tags , , , , , , , , on December 23, 2011 by knifefighter

QUICK CUTS – Most Pleasant Surprises – 2011
Featuring the Cinema Knife Fight Staff!

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  Today, we’re asking our panel the question:  What movies were the most pleasant surprises for you this year?

Not necessarily the best films of the year, but those movies you weren’t expecting anything from but really liked.

DANIEL KEOHANE:  I was very happily surprised with GREEN LANTERN.

(A collective groan breaks out among the rest of the panel.)

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  GREEN LANTERN?  Really?

DANIEL KEOHANE:  I know.  People panned it, but I really liked it.  I wonder if the DVD version was slightly altered.

L.L. SOARES:  Stop making excuses for yourself!

DANIEL KEOHANE:  No, really.  Everyone said the back-story was too long in the beginning, but it was only about a minute long on the DVD.  I watched it, alone, and really found it an enjoyable DC Comics movie.

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  Whatever you say, Dan.

DANIEL KEOHANE:  I sense I’m being patronized.

JENNY OROSEL:  I’m going with SOURCE CODE.

There’ve been a ton of “go back into the past and make changes” flicks made since the advent of sci-fi. But this one totally kept up with the suspense, which is impressive considering just how much of the movie is the same scene being repeated over again.

L.L. SOARES:    One movie that surprised me in a good way was RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. As a long-time fan of the original series of APES films, I was crushed when Tim Burton ruined the concept with his horrible 2001 remake of PLANET OF THE APES. It was so bad that I feared it would bury any chance of the series continuing, and for a while there, it looked like I was right. But RISE gave us a prequel to the first film, telling us how intelligent apes were created and how they began their “conquest” of humankind. While it had a lot of CGI effects, RISE gave us a straightforward, smart little movie without the grandiose trappings of Burton’s failed remake, and breathed new life into the series. Let’s hope RISE leads to more good APES films to come.

To a lesser degree, I was also surprised by SHARK NIGHT 3-D. I went into this one with no expectations. It was rated PG-13, it had cheap CGI effects, and it was yet another movie made in 3D. And yet, I had a good time watching this one. It was a lot more entertaining than it had any right to be.

NICK CATO:  For me, the most pleasant surprise for 2011 was CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011).

As a life-long fan of all things CONAN, I went in to this 2011 CGI-enriched epic not expecting all too much. But halfway through the film, when I realized they had taken parts from several of Robert Howard’s classic Conan stories, I couldn’t help but love this film (CGI and all). The early scenes of young Conan making his mark among his clan are fantastic.

MICHAEL LOUIS CALVILLO:  The movie that took me places I didn’t expect to go (I felt a lump in my throat a few times), was HUGO. We all know Scorsese is the man, a master of cinema and all, but this family film blew me away. Hands down, it’s the best “kid’s movie” ever made.

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  You liked HUGO more than I did.  While I thought it was a really good movie, I wouldn’t call it the best “kid’s” movie ever made.  I actually found it more of a movie for adults than for kids.

L.L. SOARES:  I think HUGO appeals to kids and adults alike.  I liked it, but it didn’t grab me like it should have. And I wouldn’t call Scorsese “the man” anymore, unfortunately. His glory days have been over for a while. That’s not to say he won’t find his mojo again someday, however.

MICHAEL LOUIS CALVILLO:  I stand by my high opinion of HUGO.

MARK ONSPAUGH:  My turn to get in on the action.

Both CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR are my picks.  I was never a fan of the comics, but I’ve always loved Norse mythology and anyone kicking Nazi butt since I was a kid…

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  You can’t go wrong with kicking Nazi butt.

MARK ONSPAUGH:  Both movies are well done and a lot of fun – especially CAPTAIN AMERICA.

L.L. SOARES:  I liked both of them. I’m a longtime fan of Marvel Comics and it was cool to see these characters come to the big screen. But I’m much more partial to THOR. Not only did I like the comics a lot more as a kid, but I just think he’s the more interesting character.

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  I liked these movies, too, but I was expecting to like them, so they didn’t exactly surprise me.

COLLEEN WANGLUND:  I was really looking forward to HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 but I’m generally leery about sequels. I have to say I enjoyed it even more than I thought and I liked it better than the first HUMAN CENTIPEDE.

(L.L. SOARES & NICK CATO both applaud):  Great pick!

MICHAEL ARRUDA (rolls his eyes):  Puh-lease!

As for me, there were a bunch of films that surprised me this year, but the one that surprised me the most, in terms of how bad I thought it was going to be and how good it turned out, would be the FRIGHT NIGHT remake.  I was dreading this one big time since I’m a huge fan of the original, and I had no faith in Colin Farrell as a vampire, but I was proved wrong.  The folks who made this one got it right, and Farrell made an excellent vampire.

SUPER 8 was another movie I expected not to like, but I ended up liking it a lot.  RED RIDING HOOD was another.

And then there were DRIVE and X-MEN:  FIRST CLASS, two movies I had zero expectations for, high or low, and both turned out to be among the best films of the year.

So, there you have it, our picks for the most pleasant surprises for 2011.  We’ll see you next time on another QUICK CUTS.

—END—

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CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

Posted in 2011, 3-D, Blockbusters, Cinema Knife Fights, Comic Book Movies, Marvel Comics, Superheroes with tags , , , , , , on July 26, 2011 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)
By Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

 

(THE SCENE: A battlefield somewhere in Europe during World War II. Allied forces are caught in a fierce crossfire with Nazi stormtroopers. Suddenly, a man with a shield appears. On the shield are the letters CKF. The man is dressed in a red, white and blue costume. It is MICHAEL ARRUDA.)

MA: Back, you evil forces of darkness! (There is stunned silence.) What’s the matter? Who did you expect? Captain America?

ALLIED SOLDIER: Well, yeah! Who the hell are you?

MA: I’m Michael Arruda, Cinema Knife Fighter, and humble movie reviewer!

SOLDIER: Big friggin deal! What the hell are you doing here on the battlefield?

MA: This is a review of the new film, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. It’s not the actual movie. And so I’m not the real Captain America. I’m just reviewing the movie.

SOLDIER: Well, tell that to that guy!

(A man in a RED SKULL costume stands before them holding a massive ray gun. It is L.L. SOARES. Suddenly, the ray gun goes off and hits some of the fighting soldiers, smashing them to atoms).

MA: Whoa! You take these characters much too seriously! You weren’t supposed to actually shoot anybody.

LS: It went off accidentally. Besides, I’m supposed to be the Red Skull. What do you expect me to do? Hand out candy?

MA: Okay. You have a point.

LS: By the way, no Allied Soldiers were harmed in this reenactment. The ray gun only hit Nazis.

Okay, let’s get started.

MA: Sure thing. I’ll start us off.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) is the latest Marvel superhero movie, and the latest to tie in with next year’s highly anticipated superhero team extravaganza, THE AVENGERS.

It’s World War II, and young Steve Rogers wants desperately to enlist and help the American cause, but he’s having a difficult time getting accepted into the army because he’s both scrawny and unhealthy. He has asthma, for starters, along with a host of other maladies. However, Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) is attracted to the young man’s earnestness and persistence, and he offers Steve a chance to get into the army, as a test subject to one of his experiments.

LS: The Super Soldier program!

MA: The experiment is a success, as it turns Rogers into a new man (Chris Evans) who is muscular, strong, and nearly unstoppable. As Erskine explains it, his formula takes a good man and changes him into a better man, but it also could take a bad man and make him worse, which is exactly what has already happened, as back in Nazi Germany, the brilliant and demented Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) was Erskine’s first test subject (of course, over there, Erskine was forced to do this) and it turned him into the supervillain, the Red Skull.

With his newfound strength, Steve soon dons a costume and becomes Captain America, and helped by British agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), and millionaire Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), he takes on the Red Skull in order to save the world.

LS: Yeah, Atwell is the love interest. Tommy Lee Jones is good, but playing yet another war-weary officer, and Dominic Cooper plays the inventor father of Tony Stark, who we know better as IRON MAN.

MA: I thought CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER was a very good movie, and I enjoyed it a lot. However, that being said, it wasn’t quite as good as I expected it to be.

First off, I loved the look of this movie. It really did a good job recreating the World War II era, and many times I felt as if I were looking at a moving painting of the United States circa the early 1940s. The film is a feast for the eyes. It also captured the emotions of what it was like to be an American during World War II.

LS: Yeah, this movie did a good job of capturing the time period. A few times I thought that it almost felt like a recruiting commercial for the Army – except these really are the roots of the character. Captain America was created by writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby back in 1941 when Marvel Comics was called Timely Comics, and he was meant from the start to be a hero to punch out Hitler and help our boys win World War II.

MA: I also really enjoyed the Captain America character. He’s a very likeable superhero, and he’s easy to root for. I thought Chris Evans delivered a solid performance. I liked him better here than as the Human Torch in the FANTASTIC FOUR movies. Surrounded by extravagant special effects in a superhero fantasy world, Evans made both Steve Rogers and Captain America very believable.

LS: Yeah, I thought Evans did a good job, too. Even if Captain America is kind of a goody goody character, like Superman. The movie is pretty faithful to the comics, as far as the character’s origin story. And yeah, this is a bit more substantial role than the Human Torch, where he just made wise-cracks – he’s the lead character here instead of just another member of a team. He was cocky and “hot-headed” as the Torch, but he was supposed to be. Here, he plays good and earnest pretty well, too.

MA: The film enjoyed less success with its villain, the Red Skull. While I loved the look of the Red Skull a lot—.

LS: Gee, thanks!

MA: Not you! The real Red Skull! Though your make-up looks pretty good too.

Anyway, the Red Skull was really cool-looking—and while Hugo Weaving delivered a very good performance—the character doesn’t really get to do all that much as a villain in this movie. Most of the film, he’s on the run. He’s really not in control for very long. I wish Red Skull had been more of a menace here, a la the Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT (2008). I also preferred Kevin Bacon’s villain Sebastian Shaw in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) to the Red Skull.

LS: I liked the Red Skull and I think he was a formidable villain—I mean, he wasn’t happy to just be one of Hitler’s minions, he wanted to take over the world for himself, and his plan for world domination was pretty ambitious. I thought he was a lot more interesting than the many Iron Man clones that IRON MAN has fought in his movies (Whiplash, the only villain who was interesting, also wasn’t given much to do).

But you’re right, while I liked Weaving’s performance—and I liked it better than you—I agree that he seems to be fleeing the scene of a battle 80 percent of the time. There is a decent brawl between Cap and the Skull toward the end, though.

Oh, and while the Red Skull here looks a lot like he does in the comics, since it was a movie, he also reminded me a bit of Dr. Anton Phibes, the skull-faced bad guy Vincent Price played in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971) and DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972).

MA: Yeah, he did resemble Dr. Phibes.

Hayley Atwell is beautiful and tough as Peggy Carter, and she’s fun character. I also really enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips. Phillips is a wise-cracking military man, but he nonetheless has the best interests of his men at heart.

LS: Yeah, I agree with you about Atwell, although it sure took them a long time even to have their first kiss! And I liked Tommy Lee Jones, but like I said before, it feels like he’s played this character several times before.

MA: Stanley Tucci is also excellent as Dr. Abraham Erskine. It’s another fine performance by Tucci.

Dominic Cooper delivered a nice performance as Howard Stark, the man who would become Tony Stark’s (Iron Man’s) father. The Iron Man connection here was fun.

LS: Yeah, Marvel is using these movies as a way to intertwine all of the origins of their various characters in ways they didn’t foresee in the original comic books. Even the supernaturally powerful weapon the Red Skull is using to rule the world is from the comics. He calls it a “tesseract” early in the movie (which is a four-dimensional cube)  and alludes to it being an artifact that was stolen from the god Odin (which brings us back to THOR). But in the comics it was called “The Cosmic Cube” and led to a major battle between good guys and bad guys back in the 1970s. We also get a brief explanation of Captain America’s shield, which was here created by Tony Stark’s father.

There’s also Sebastian Stan as “Bucky” Barnes, who was Captain America’s kid sidekick in the old comics. Kind of like Robin to Cap’s Batman. But here, they’re childhood friends and it’s kind of fun how, when the movie starts, Barnes is the one protecting Rogers, and later on their roles are reversed.

And of course, to bring us full circle, the movie begins with Captain America being found frozen in the the Arctic in modern-day, almost 70 years after the events of the movie. In the comics, the Avengers found him floating in suspended animation in an iceberg way back in AVENGERS # 4 (1964).

MA: The rest of the characters weren’t as fleshed out as they could have been. I wanted to know more about Captain America’s special team of soldiers. While they looked interesting, we never learn much about them, and so their battle scenes together are never that compelling.

LS: Yeah, that group of soldiers who join Captain America in battle don’t explicitly introduce themselves, but they’re clearly meant to be Nick Fury’s old unit back when he was Sgt. Fury, They were called his “Howling Commandos”—one of the few war comics Marvel put out in the 60s (in a sea of superhero titles) that took place during World War II—before they turned Fury into a modern-day James Bond type character, leading S.H.I.E.L.D, a little later in the decade. Long-time Marvel fans would probably recognize “Commando” Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough), with his signature bowler hat and  mustache, right away.

MA: The action scenes, while nice to look at, weren’t overly exciting or memorable. I liked the train sequence, where Captain America and his men have to slide down a rope onto a racing train, and there were also a couple of cool chase scenes, one involving motorcycles, but other than this, the battle scenes didn’t do much for me. I also thought the ending, the battle between Captain America and Red Skull, was anticlimactic.

LS: I liked the train scene too, but liked the final battle between the two enemies a lot more than you did.

MA: Director Joe Johnston gets mixed results with CAPTAIN AMERICA. The movie looks great and it’s well-paced, but the action scenes for the most part are just OK. Johnston also directed THE WOLFMAN (2010), and that was another movie that looked great but could have used more memorable scenes.

LS: I liked THE WOLFMAN a lot. I think even a little better than CAPTAIN AMERICA. But Johnston does a good job here, too.

MA: I think they were about equal, but THE WOLFMAN definitely had more bite (heh heh).

(The WOLFMAN suddenly appears behind MA and growls menacingly).

MA: On second thought, THE WOLFMAN might have been a hair better.

(WOLFMAN pats MA on the head approvingly, howls, and leaps away).

LS: What a suck- up!

MA: The screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is OK. The story is fine, and the dialogue isn’t bad, but the characters, other than Captain America, aren’t fleshed out much. I enjoyed the script for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS much better, because it did a better job defining both its main characters and supporting characters.

LS: And there were a lot of them!

MA:  The 3D effects weren’t bad. I enjoyed seeing CAPTAIN AMERICA in 3D, but I bet it looked just as good in 2D.

LS: I saw it in 3D because it was the most convenient show time for me, but I felt robbed, as usual. Except for a few actions scenes where Captain America hurls his shield directly at the screen (and there aren’t many of these) the 3D aspect is hardly used at all. I felt it was completely wasted here. Yet again.

MA: You’re right. The film doesn’t take advantage of the 3D effects with any degree of satisfaction. Other than the depth factor, the 3D doesn’t add much.

I also thought the second half of the film was rushed. We never get to see Red Skull be all that evil. At one point he blows away some Nazi officers. Hmm, that’s pretty good, actually! We also never really see Captain America be tested. Everything he does succeeds. Victory comes easy for him. There’s not much conflict in CAPTAIN AMERICA, and the movie suffers for it.

LS: You thought it felt rushed? I thought, at over two hours, this movie seemed a bit too long. A 90 minute action-packed CAPTAIN AMERICA movie would have been a big improvement. I have no idea why all these superhero movies think they’re powerful epics that need such long running times. If it were shorter and faster-paced, I would have liked it more.

MA: Still, I really enjoyed CAPTAIN AMERICA. It’s not as good as X-MEN: FIRST CLASS which came out earlier this summer, as that movie had a better script, nor is it as good as the two movies that have set the bar for me for excellence in superhero movies, THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) and IRON MAN (2008). THE DARK KNIGHT had the Joker, and Red Skull is nowhere near as effective a villain, and IRON MAN had Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, and while Chris Evans is very good as Captain America, he doesn’t carry this movie the way Downey Jr. carried IRON MAN.

LS: Well, the main reason for that is because Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are very different characters. Because of his rich playboy persona, IRON MAN is always going to be more interesting than someone like the super-earnest Rogers. If Evans had turned in a similar performance to the one Downey gave in IRON MAN, well, then it wouldn’t have been CAPTAIN AMERICA.

MA: True, but as goody-goody Captain America, he still could have carried the movie, and as good as Evans was in the role, he doesn’t carry the movie. Let’s compare his Captain America to Christopher Reeve’s SUPERMAN for a moment. Superman is also a straight-forward earnest superhero, and I think Christopher Reeve in the first SUPERMAN movie (1978) made more of a splash in that film than Evans does here.

LS: Okay, he’s not Christopher Reeve at his prime, but I think Evans was fine. So was Weaving. But I did think the movie was a bit too slowly paced at times, especially in the middle. I liked this one and thought it was yet another decent superhero movie from Marvel Studios, but unfortunately, I’m starting to get a bit tired of the formula. All of these movies are starting to seem way too similar, and there are absolutely no surprises to be had, and for that reason I was a bit more bored during CAPTAIN AMERICA than I was during some of the previous Marvel movies.

MA: I give CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - three knives.

LS: I’m starting to find these movies rather formulaic. It’s not the fault of the filmmakers as much as Marvel’s philosophy – but these last few movies have seemed to be very “cookie cutter.” You go into a Marvel superhero flick knowing exactly what you’re getting. In one way that’s good, because you know there’s a bit more quality control than other franchises, but at the same time, it’s getting harder and harder to maintain excitement for these movies.

That said, I guess I give CAPTAIN AMERICA three knives, too. It was just as good as something like THOR, which I also gave three knives to. It was good, but not great.

MA: I still found this one pretty satisfying, though.

LS: By the way, this is yet another movie where you have to sit through ten minutes of end credits to get to a “secret scene” at the end. Yet another piece of the puzzle leading us to next year’s AVENGERS movie. And it even includes a big preview of that upcoming movie. So, if you’re a fan, you might want to stick around. That said, I am getting SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired of having to sit through tons of boring credits every time I watch a Marvel movie.

MA:  Well, don’t stay. Nobody’s forcing you to stay until the very end. I for one like these end-credits surprises.

LS: I almost am starting to hate the “Marvel Secret Scene” as much as 3D. So, there!

MA: Okay. You obviously feel stronger about it than I do. Anyway, looks like our job is done here.

LS: Yeah, let’s wrap up the role-playing and get a beer. (They both take off their masks)

(The WOLFMAN returns, holding a beer in each hand. He hands one to LS and the other to MA.)

LS: Gee, thanks, Wolfy!

MA: But what are you going to drink?

(WOLFMAN looks at them with narrow menacing eyes.)

MA: Remember, you’re a werewolf, not a vampire!

LS: I don’t think that matters. (Points to MA) Remember, he’s the one who didn’t like your movie as much as I did.

(WOLFMAN howls, then growls ferociously before leaping over them, attacking and devouring a group of Nazi soldiers who’d been sneaking up behind them.)

MA: Looks like Captain America has a new ally. Hmm. A Marvel/Universal tie-in. I wonder?

LS: Shut up and drink your beer, already, before it gets warm!

—END—
© Copyright 2011 by Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

Michael Arruda gives CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - 3 knives

LL Soares gives CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - 3 knives

3 Comments »

Friday Night Knife Fights: MARVEL VS. DC: THE MOVIE EDITION (Part 2 of 2)

Posted in 2011, Action Movies, Comic Book Movies, DC Comics, Friday Night Knife Fights, Marvel Comics, Mutants!, Superheroes with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on July 15, 2011 by knifefighter

FRIDAY NIGHT KNIFE FIGHTS:  DC vs. MARVEL: THE MOVIE EDITION
(Conclusion)
With Michael Arruda & L.L. Soares

 

MICHAEL ARRUDA:  Welcome back to FRIDAY NIGHT KNIFE FIGHTS.  Tonight it’s Part 2 of our bout between DC and Marvel.

L.L. SOARES:  That’s right, it’s DC vs. MARVEL: THE MOVIE EDITION, where we decide which comic company has fared better on the big screen.

MA:  And now, since we answered all the introductory questions in Part 1, without any further hesitation, it’s time for the moment of truth.  Who has fared best in the movies, DC or MARVEL?

LS:  DC movies have always had the bigger budgets and the higher profiles. The Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN movies were blockbusters, as were the Tim Burton BATMAN movies. I’ve always wished that more DC characters were given a shot at the movies, especially Wonder Woman, but over the years the main thrust has always been Batman and Superman. A lot of people must think those are the only two characters DC has.

MA (laughing):  You mean there are more?

LS:  So it was a pleasant surprise to see a GREEN LANTERN movie come out – even if it was a letdown.


Marvel has had a much more checkered history with movies. A lot of people’s first exposure to Marvel heroes was through clunky cartoons in the 60s (little more than comic book panels moving slightly), then on to better SPIDER-MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR cartoons (which were still rather primitive compared to a Saturday morning staple everyone watched as kids back then, like SUPER FRIENDS (1973-1986).

MA:  I remember liking those old SPIDER-MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR cartoons.  I never liked the SUPER FRIENDS though.

LS:  You didn’t like the SUPER FRIENDS?  How un-American of you!

MA:  I don’t know. They were all too— friendly.

LS:  Even much earlier on, DC had the majestic SUPERMAN cartoons that Fleischer Studios did in the 1940s.

MA:  I love the Fleischer SUPERMAN cartoons!

LS:  Yeah, they had some beautiful animation.

(And, for other early representations, I won’t even go into the early movie serials from the 40s and 50s that featured DC’s Superman and Batman. And yes, even Marvel’s CAPTAIN AMERICA, before there was a Marvel!)

Marvel also had a few live-action television shows in the 70s, the most well-known being THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1978-1982) with Bill Bixby and SPIDER-MAN (1977-1979) with Nicholas Hammond. The Hulk show was pretty much a remix of the David Janssen 1950s show THE FUGITIVE with a big green guy who popped up when David Banner (they even changed the character’s name from the alliterative “Bruce Banner”!) got mad.

There were also some Marvel-related movies in the 70s and 80s, like the goofy CAPTAIN AMERICA TV movies with Reb Brown: CAPTAIN AMERICA (1979) and CAPTAIN AMERICA II:  DEATH TOO SOON (1979), (and don’t forget Matt Salinger in yet another movie—in 1990—called CAPTAIN AMERICA!) and Dolph Lungren’s lame attempt to play THE PUNISHER (1989). But almost everything Marvel did up to this point was low-budget, as opposed to the big, flashy movies based on DC characters.

The first three X-MEN movies (and Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN movies) were a departure from that. They had bigger budgets and were much more high-profile projects. The fact that they were also big hits meant that Marvel was ready to join the big leagues. Suddenly, Marvel characters started to get the same respect as DC’s biggest characters.  The success of IRON MAN, a lesser known hero (to the mainstream – he’s been around in comics since the early 60s), was another big boost. Right now, I’d say the two companies have about equal clout in Hollywood, which is a big change from the 1980s.

MA:  I give the edge to Marvel.

While my favorite superhero movie of all time is THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), a DC comic movie, I’m still going with MARVEL as the one that’s faring better, and that’s because their recent run, beginning with X-MEN in 2000 and SPIDER-MAN in 2002, has been nothing short of incredible.  Even the films I haven’t loved, I’ve enjoyed.

Look at this list of movies:  X-MEN (2000), SPIDER-MAN (2002), X-2 (2003), SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004), FANTASTIC FOUR (2005), X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2006), SPIDER-MAN 3 (2007), FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (2007), IRON MAN (2008), THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008), X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009), IRON MAN 2 (2010), THOR (2011), X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011), and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011), and this list doesn’t include the BLADE movies or the PUNISHER movies.

The folks churning out the Marvel Comics movies have been on an incredible run, and it’s not over yet.  The march continues towards the AVENGERS movie in 2012, and who knows where it will go from there.

And the key to these movies is quality.  These films are all high quality movies.  They look good, they have talented directors at the helm, they have strong acting, and my favorite part— the writing in these films as a whole is pretty decent.

This Marvel run reminds me a lot of what Hammer Films did with vampire movies in the late 1960s/early 70s, when they were churning out vampire films left and right, and most of them were pretty darned good!

The difference is these Marvel folks are operating with a bigger budget than Hammer ever had, so they’re able to pour a heck of a lot of money into these superhero movies, and it shows.  Of course, big budgets alone do not good movies make, so the Marvel people deserve a lot of credit for the quality of these movies.  Sure, the money helps, but without the talent of everyone involved, these movies wouldn’t be as good.

One day people will look back and marvel (heh heh) at this Marvel run.  It’s truly something special.

Ls: You’re right – as far as sheer volume – Marvel’s run has been pretty amazing. Unlike DC, who seem to focus on two or three characters on film, Marvel has been ”spreading the love,” getting as many of their heroes onscreen as possible. And that means more variety and more chances that you’ll find a hero you like.

It’s like Marvel is making up for lost time. For so long, they haven’t had the chance to get their characters into movies – or if so, they were low-budget flicks. Now that they had some big successes, it has opened the door for lots of blockbusters. And you’re right about the high quality. Marvel is very conscious of its brand name and its characters are perceived, and is very protective about what they’re putting out lately (especially now that there is a company called “Marvel Studios”).

That said, Superman and Batman remain the two most famous superheroes of all time and they are well-known throughout the world. But Marvel shows no intention of slowing down and are trying to make their characters as iconic and universal as DC’s.

MA: DC’s recent run hasn’t come close to Marvel’s.  Their recent run began with BATMAN BEGINS (2005), and was followed by SUPERMAN RETURNS (2005) which I didn’t like all that much, and continued with THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), WATCHMEN (2009), JONAH HEX (2010), and GREEN LANTERN (2011).  Not bad, but it doesn’t measure up to the quantity and quality of the Marvel movies.

And the earlier DC movies, BATMAN (1989), BATMAN RETURNS (1992), BATMAN FOREVER (1995), and BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997), and SUPERMAN (1978), SUPERMAN II (1980), SUPERMAN III (1983), and SUPERMAN IV (1987) were a mixed bag.  I strongly liked the first two movies in both the Batman and Superman series, and strongly disliked the last two movies in each of the original eries.  Of course, you can go back to the Adam West/Burt Ward movie BATMAN (1966) which is still a hoot today and remains one of my favorite movies.

LS: Great TV show too!

MA: Awesome TV show!

LS: I didn’t mind the old  ADVENTURES of SUPERMAN (1952 – 1958) TV show, starring George Reeves, either. It was goofy in its own way, too. But not half as much fun as the Adam West BATMAN show.

All in all, it’s a pretty close race, because the best of the DC movies match up pretty well with the best of the MARVEL movies, but I give a slight edge to MARVEL, because the quality and quantity of their movies since 2000 has been consistently impressive.

So, in conclusion, you called it a draw between the two, and I gave Marvel a slight edge, and so by the thinnest of margins, Marvel Movies win out over DC movies.

LS: On second, thought, I think you make a good argument for the sheer volume of quality Marvel movies. I think they’ve pulled out ahead as well. So it’s not that narrow a margin.

MA: There you have it. Marvel wins this month’s FRIDAY NIGHT KNIFE FIGHTS!

That about wraps things up for us here.  Good night, everybody!

—END—

© Copyright 2011 by Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

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CKF COMING ATTRACTIONS: JULY 2011

Posted in 2011, 3-D, Aliens, CGI, Cinema Knife Fights, Coming Attractions, Magic, R-Rated Comedy, Superheroes, Westerns, Wizards with tags , , , , , , on July 1, 2011 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT
COMING ATTRACTIONS: July 2011
by Michael Arruda and L.L. Soares

(THE SCENE:  The stark surface of the moon.  An astronaut slowly makes his way through zero gravity.)

ASTRONAUT (crackly audio):  Mission Control?  Come in.

MISSION CONTROL:  Mission Control, here.  Go ahead.

ASTRONAUT:  I don’t believe this, Mission Control.  We’re not alone up here.  I can’t believe what I’m seeing.  There’s—-.

MISSION CONTROL:  Transformers?

ASTRONAUT:  No.  Cinema Knife Fighters.

(MICHAEL ARRUDA & L.L. SOARES are seated in front of a wide screen TV set watching the trailer for APOLLO 18.  They both turn towards the Astronaut.)

MA:  That’s right.  We’re here on the moon.

LS:  We were here before you, and we’ll be here long after you’ve left, through the power of cyberspace.

ASTRONAUT:  How is it you can breathe without a space helmet?  There’s no oxygen up here!

MA:  We can do whatever we want.  We’re writers.

LS:  For example, when we’re sick of talking to you, we can make you disappear, like so. (Snaps fingers and Astronaut disappears with a poof!).

MA:  That wasn’t very nice.

LS:  That’s why I did it.

MA:  Anyway, we’re here on the moon to bring you our COMING ATTRACTIONS column for July, and we’ve chosen this setting because the first new movie to be reviewed this month is TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON.

LS:  I’d rather be reviewing APOLLO 18, but that one’s coming out in August.

MA:  Actually, it’s just been changed to September.  No lie.  Get this, the release date for APOLLO 18 has already changed 5 times!  Right now, it’s slated to open on September 2, but I’m not holding my breath.  Five release date changes?  That’s crazy.  Anyway, this one’s not opening in July, so we’ll move on to the July releases and talk about APOLLO 18 later, whenever the hell they decide to release the damn thing.

So, we begin July with a review of TRANSFORMERS:  DARK OF THE MOON, or I should say, I begin July, as you won’t be reviewing this one with me.

LS:  Nope.  I’ve given you the honor.  (Laughs hysterically).

MA:  I’ll actually be reviewing TRANSFORMERS 3 with Dan Keohane, as he’ll be filling in for you that weekend.

I really don’t like the Transformers movies.  The first one was tolerable, but the second one was awful.  They say that #3 is going to be really good, and the previews don’t look half bad, but I’m not holding my breath on this one, and I fully expect not to like it.

It’s directed by Michael Bay.  ‘Nuff said.

LS:  On July 8 we’ll be reviewing the R-rated comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES.

This one actually looks pretty good. It stars Jason Bateman, Ed Helms (from the HANGOVER movies) and Charlie Day (from one my favorite shows, IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA) as put-upon workers out to get rid of their bosses (played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston, respectively). I like Charlie Day a lot, and he seems to be popping up in a lot of movies lately. I also thought Aniston looked the hottest I’ve seen her in the trailer for this movie.

MA:  HORRIBLE BOSSES looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  It’s directed by Seth Gordon, who directed a documentary several years back called THE KING OF KONG:  A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (2007).  The film was about two men competing for the world record high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong, but I liked it because it was filmed at a place I visit regularly, the Fun Spot arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, which bills itself as the largest arcade in the world.

On July 15, it’s time for HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2.  This one will be covered by Dan Keohane.

(A great cheer erupts, and suddenly a humongous crowd of little green moon men stand applauding.)

What are they cheering for?

LS:  That they don’t have to see HARRY POTTER either.  Thanks, Dan, for sparing us all!

MA:  Yes, thanks, Dan!

LS: As fans of the series know, DEATHLY HOLLOWS PART 2 is the final Harry Potter movie, so this is a big deal for Potter-heads, or whatever fans of Harry call themselves. Dan has been following the series –first in book form and then the movies – since the beginning, so he’s best qualified to review the last film.

MA: Also, we don’t want to see it.

LS: And it’s in 3D, too!

MA: Okay, on July 22, it’s CAPTAIN AMERICA:  THE FIRST AVENGER.

I’m looking forward to CAPTAIN AMERICA.  I think the previews look great, and dare I say it, even the 3D effects look good in the previews!   So, I have high hopes for this one.

It’s directed by Joe Johnston, who also directed THE WOLFMAN (2010) remake, so this bodes well for CAPTAIN AMERICA.  The screenplay was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the same two writers who wrote the screenplays for all three CHRONICLES OF NARNIA movies.  This does not bode well for CAPTAIN AMERICA!

LS: It could be worse. It could be written by writers who gave us the TWILIGHT movies.

MA: Captain America will be played by Chris Evans.  Let’s hope he has better luck this time around as a superhero, because he failed to wow me as the Human Torch in the FANTASTIC FOUR movies.  However, Evans was memorable in SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010) as one of the evil ex’s.

LS: I actually don’t mind him that much. I hope he makes a great Cap!

MA: Hugo Weaving will play The Red Skull.  Weaving has been in a ton of movies, like the MATRIX series, and he played Inspector Abberline in THE WOLFMAN.

LS: The Red Skull is a classic bad guy. I think Weaving should be pretty good in the role.

MA:  The cast also includes Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones.

LS:   Captain America hasn’t had the best luck with movie versions so far. In fact, some of the past ones have gone straight to video, or have been TV-movies. This is the first time Cap gets the real big-budget treatment. I’m hoping this one turns out great, and, at this point, Marvel’s movie line has become pretty reliable. I’m not expecting anything here that will blow me away, but it should be fun, at least.

MA: And we finish July with COWBOYS AND ALIENS, opening on July 29.

LS:  This one could go either way, but the trailer actually looks pretty decent. And I like Daniel Craig, who’s the star of this one.

MA: I’m not sure what to make of COWBOYS AND ALIENS.  I love the cast.  Teaming Daniel Craig with Harrison Ford is inspired casting, and I can’t wait to see them in action together.

It’s directed by Jon Favreau, the director of the two IRON MAN movies, so this is a good sign, and it was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, and— yep, one more,  Hawk Ostby.  Five screenwriters.  Incredible.

LS: Hey – Damon Lindelof was one of the creators of LOST, with J.J. Abrams!

MA: Well, that’s good news.

And the wild card— COWBOYS AND ALIENS is produced by Steven Spielberg! He just produced another movie we reviewed here – J.J. Abrams’ SUPER 8. Actually, he’s just one of the producers involved with COWBOYS AND ALIENS.  Just how many producers were there?  Ready for this ?  Fifteen! 

I have to say that number again.  Fifteen!  And in addition to Spielberg, Ron Howard is also in the mix.  With all that talent behind it, the film has to be good?  Right?  Not really.  We’ll find out for sure on July 29.

Well, that about wraps things up for us here.  I might as well stay here on the moon since I’ll be reviewing TRANSFORMERS 3 this week.  I think I’ll join the little moon men for a drink while I wait.  (to LS)  Care to join us?

LS:  Sure.  As long as I’m gone before the movie starts.  I’m glad you’re seeing it without me.  I hear that the TRANSFORMERS movie is in 3D too, which means you’ll have to pay more for a ticket!  (Laughs hysterically).

MA:  Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.

LS:  I am!

(Small moon men walk by, carrying packages of something called “Green Cheese”)

MA (to little moon men):  Any of you guys want to see the new TRANSFORMERS movie with me?  (They all start laughing.)  I didn’t think so.

Well, folks, it looks like I’ll be boldly going where many have gone before but few want to return.

See you at the movies!

—END—

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