Superheroes!

[EgonSpengler]

You could have an edgy Riddler, a la Jigsaw.

He couldn't be wearing a green unitard with a question mark on it, tho.

Or could he???

The Riddler was the villain in the first movie. But I guess I would have to add him to the list of villains under moratorium, in case the other Batman films got any ideas about him. We've seen him twice lately. Move along, people.

Jim Carrey was one of the worst characters in a Batman movie ever

Yeah, that whole movie was pretty bad. So was Batman & Robin (1997). I don't know what anyone in those movies was trying to do. Like, if you're going to take it so unseriously, why are you even bothering? It wasn't even good as satire, or camp.

 

[Patine]

Jim Carrey was one of the worst characters in a Batman movie ever

Batman Forever was bad - a sharp and cliff-like drop from the origiinal two Tim Burton Batman movies, which, themselves, were the best two Batman movies in my opinion. However, Batman Forever did carry on the hyper-gothic-noir Gotham City architecture and ambience, which put Tim Burton's movies, esthetically, over all over Batman movies, and Batman Forever had a great soundtrack.

 

[EgonSpengler]

‘The Fantastic Four’: Julia Garner Joins Marvel Studios Movie As A Shalla-Bal Version Of Silver Surfer

Julia Garner will play Silver Surfer in Marvel Studios' 'Fantastic Four' movie

deadline.com

Marvel Studios‘ The Fantastic Four now has its sights set on who will play Silver Surfer, and it looks like they are going with one of the towns biggest rising stars.

Sources tell Deadline that Emmy winner Julia Garner is set to play the iconic comic book character

Hm. Interesting.

Who Is Shalla-Bal? The Female Silver Surfer In The Fantastic Four Movie Explained

The MCU's Silver Surfer isn't the typical choice.

screenrant.com

When Shalla-Bal was first introduced in Marvel Comics, she was the love interest of Norrin Radd, the first Silver Surfer.

So Shalla-Bal is not a new character. She goes all the way back to the Jack Kirby comics of the 1960s. I'd never heard of her before yesterday.

Does this mean The Fantastic Four is going straight for the proverbial money-shot?

Spoiler :

I sort of hope not, but if they do a good job, then [screw] it, I guess.

I remember when I was watching Iron Man for the first time, I thought they went to Iron Monger too soon. As I was watching the movie's first two acts, I was thinking that Raza (Faran Tahir) was going to become Titanium Man, and then Obadiah would make his heel-turn in the 2nd movie. I mean, I understand now that they had no idea the thing would take off, and didn't know if they'd ever get to make another movie, so setting up a big showdown with Iron Man's arch-nemesis in the 2nd movie might have been foolhardy, but even then, I was thinking in terms of multiple movies.

I feel like they could take their time now, though. If I were doing FF, I would use a villain like Annihilus or Terrax in the first movie, then Doctor Doom in the second movie, then Galactus in the third. Raise the stakes and the threat-level with each film. I guess introducing Silver Surfer in the first movie doesn't have to mean we'll see Galactus. It doesn't even mean Silver Surfer will be a central figure in the first movie. She could appear in the last 30 seconds, or in a post-credits stinger.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Not sure, but pretty sure Kirby has nothing to do with Shalla Bal, creation of, - that was Lee backstory done with, I think, John Romita after Kirby was long gone...

 

[EgonSpengler]

Not sure, but pretty sure Kirby has nothing to do with Shalla Bal, creation of, - that was Lee backstory done with, I think, John Romita after Kirby was long gone...

Turns out we're both wrong. Wikipedia says John Buscema was the penciler on the first 17 issues of Silver Surfer (1968). Kirby took over drawing with issue 18.

Wikipedia also says that there've been eight Silver Surfer comics, although most of them didn't last much longer than a year. The most recent one was 2017. They keep tryin'. I bet if the movie generates interest in the character, they'll try it a ninth time.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Hard to keep those two Johns straight - they were both horribly overworked in the early seventies...

 

[Patine]

Hard to keep those two Johns straight - they were both horribly overworked in the early seventies...

"The Johns," is what Chris Rock jokingly called the Democratic ticket in 2004, followed by, "but when Bush screws us over, he don't give us nothin'." Forgive the nostalgic humour reminded by the post.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Superman’s ‘Action Comics’ No. 1 Sets Record with $6 Million Sale

A rare copy, just one of around 100 in existence, has topped 'Superman' No. 1 as the most valuable comic in the world.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Action Comics No. 1 is exceedingly rare, with just 78 copies tracked by CGC, the service that authenticates and grades the condition of comic books. The service believes there are around 100 in existence total out of 200,000 initially printed by National Allied Publications, a forerunner of DC Comics.

The copy sold on Thursday has a grade of 8.5 out of 10, meaning it’s in excellent condition for a comic of its age. Only two other unrestored versions have ever graded higher. Demand for Action Comics No. 1 is so high that a version graded at just 0.5 sold for $408,000 in September.

---

Olivia Wilde, LuckyChap, Simon Kinberg Teaming to Adapt Rob Liefeld Comic ‘Avengelyne’ (Exclusive)

Robbie will produce along with LuckyChap's Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, as well as Kinberg.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I'm not super-familiar with Avengelyne. I remember it, but it wasn't something I collected or read regularly. Still, I think Wilde is shaping up to be a decent director. Note that Margot Robbie's involvement is, at least at present, solely as a producer (LuckyChap is her production company). Kinberg has written some good stuff (X-Men: Days of Future Past; the recent Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot with Donald Glover & Maya Erskine) and some bad stuff (The 355; Dark Phoenix), but also appears to be just producing here.

 

[Clubber Lang]

He's not alone anymore.

 

[Patine]

The Riddler was the villain in the first movie. But I guess I would have to add him to the list of villains under moratorium, in case the other Batman films got any ideas about him. We've seen him twice lately. Move along, people.

Speaking of the Riddler, I found this article about a disagreement between the Nolan Brothers about the villain in, "Dark Knight Rises."

MSN

 

[EgonSpengler]

Speaking of the Riddler, I found this article about a disagreement between the Nolan Brothers about the villain in, "Dark Knight Rises."

MSN

David Goyer did an episode of Happy Sad Confused a while back, that's worth listening to if you're into that sort of stuff. I wrote about it here back in September. He talks about a lot of things, not just The Dark Knight. I'll have to listen to that Jonathan Nolan episode. I didn't realize he was involved in the Fallout show (although, can anybody tell us what an 'executive producer' on a film or series actually does? I have no idea ).

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Usually, it's the plain Producers who make all the decisions and do the work, and Executive Producer is a courtesy title for money men and original creators and the like, who do little or nothing.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Usually, it's the plain Producers who make all the decisions and do the work, and Executive Producer is a courtesy title for money men and original creators and the like, who do little or nothing.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I've always interpreted it. A kind of catch-all title for people they want to (or have to) acknowledge in the credits, but who didn't really do much.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

It's not a hard rule - producers are about the only people on a picture who don't have a union - thus, no firm standard for credits.

 

[Patine]

Yeah, that's pretty much how I've always interpreted it. A kind of catch-all title for people they want to (or have to) acknowledge in the credits, but who didn't really do much.

Well, "not doing much," is relative if it's the IP creator - as the movie or TV show wouldn't be happening without them. And, in some cases, they may have veto or strong consutation abilities. Plus, Lucas and Spielberg are credited as BOTH Executive Producer AND Director in a fair number of films they've made. Matt Groening is credited as, "Executive Creative Consultant," in, "the Simpsons," credits - a title I don't recall, offhand, seeing elsewhere.

 

[Plotinus]

It means they didn’t really do anything for that specific production. So in the case of an original IP creator it’s basically a courtesy title. If someone is a director and executive producer then it’s just a way of making them seem that much more important.

It’s basically the production credits equivalent of an OBE.

BTW, just got round to watching The Batman. It was OK, but I thought inferior to both the Nolan and Burton versions. Pattinson was fine as Batman but I thought dreadful as Bruce Wayne. The character just seemed to have nothing to him. The whole “Batman as detective” thing was rather disappointing too - simply a matter of following one riddle after another rather than doing any proactive detection that might put him a step ahead of the Riddler. It felt like there was an awful lot of things happening without a whole lot of meaningful plot. And the final climax was very tacked on, having nothing to do with the rest of the Riddler’s scheme.

The Riddler is one of my favourite villains. This was a reasonable take on him, but I still prefer the Arkham Asylum-style besuited version (anything but a lyotard!).

 

[Patine]

It’s basically the production credits equivalent of an OBE.

Well, if I'm not mistaken the British Monarch doesn't hand out OBE's anymore (Order of the Garter/Thistle/Bath is typical now), so those who have it have a premium title - like owning a DeLorean - or being a Righteous Among Nations, if any are still alive..

But, I don't necessariily think an IP creator who istill active in their creation, even if not actively for a particular production - is exactly a nothing.

 

[EgonSpengler]

BTW, just got round to watching The Batman. It was OK, but I thought inferior to both the Nolan and Burton versions. Pattinson was fine as Batman but I thought dreadful as Bruce Wayne. The character just seemed to have nothing to him. The whole “Batman as detective” thing was rather disappointing too - simply a matter of following one riddle after another rather than doing any proactive detection that might put him a step ahead of the Riddler. It felt like there was an awful lot of things happening without a whole lot of meaningful plot. And the final climax was very tacked on, having nothing to do with the rest of the Riddler’s scheme.

Agreed. I've only watched it once, but it didn't make a huge impression on me. I liked the car chase with The Penguin. That's basically the only thing I can remember about it, 2 years later. I went back to Letterboxd to see what I thought of it at the time. I gave it 3½ stars, which I guess sounds right. Two-thirds of people on that site gave it a higher rating than I did, though.

The Riddler is one of my favourite villains. This was a reasonable take on him, but I still prefer the Arkham Asylum-style besuited version (anything but a lyotard!).

I rewatched Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) last year, and that was a much better 'Batman vs The Riddler' type of story, except of course that John McClane is nothing like Batman. I recommend it, if you haven't seen it yet, and if that sort of thing is your bag. I hadn't seen it in years, and I thought it held up really well.

 

[Plotinus]

Well, if I'm not mistaken the British Monarch doesn't hand out OBE's anymore (Order of the Garter/Thistle/Bath is typical now), so those who have it have a premium title - like owning a DeLorean - or being a Righteous Among Nations, if any are still alive..

No, that's not correct - they're still awarded, though not by the monarch really, of course. For example, since we're talking about films, Ridley Scott got one this year. Obviously they should have been discontinued a long time ago, but that applies equally to the monarchy itself, and yet here we are.

But, I don't necessariily think an IP creator who istill active in their creation, even if not actively for a particular production - is exactly a nothing.

No, of course not, but you can see the difference between that and somebody who has directly participated in making that particular production.

Agreed. I've only watched it once, but it didn't make a huge impression on me. I liked the car chase with The Penguin. That's basically the only thing I can remember about it, 2 years later. I went back to Letterboxd to see what I thought of it at the time. I gave it 3½ stars, which I guess sounds right. Two-thirds of people on that site gave it a higher rating than I did, though.

Yes, the car chase was very good.

Also I appreciated the fact that the real-world laws of physics applied, so no gliding effortlessly through the sky with the cape.

I rewatched Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) last year, and that was a much better 'Batman vs The Riddler' type of story, except of course that John McClane is nothing like Batman. I recommend it, if you haven't seen it yet, and if that sort of thing is your bag. I hadn't seen it in years, and I thought it held up really well.

I have - at least, at the time - and yes, that's an interesting take on it. Also that's from when John McClane was still a relatable everyman and not the appalling arsehole they turned him into for the later films, so maybe I should watch it again if I get a chance.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I have - at least, at the time - and yes, that's an interesting take on it. Also that's from when John McClane was still a relatable everyman and not the appalling arsehole they turned him into for the later films, so maybe I should watch it again if I get a chance.

Like The Batman, With a Vengeance drags a bit at the end. I had completely forgotten about the whole portion of the movie aboard the ship. I recently listened to a podcast about the movie, and they noted that the first script for a third Die Hard was originally going to take place on a cruise ship. When Under Siege came out, they scrapped it, but parts of the script ended up in Speed 2: Cruise Control, and I couldn't help wondering that slightly-tedious 4th act was a remnant of that first script. If you want to listen to the podcast after your rewatch, it was Blank Check with Griffin & David, and the Die Hard With a Vengeance episode was on March 31st. They do runs of rewatches & podcasts for a particular director's oeuvre, and they're doing John McTiernan right now. I see they just posted The 13th Warrior. Their episodes are too long, though. Their With a Vengence ep is 2:19:00, which tried my patience a little bit. Their episodes on The Last Action Hero is 3:45:00 and I'm like, "guys, wtf." I'm not listening to that one. Their episode on Die Hard from Feb 25th was 3 hours, but I listened to most of that one 'cause Kevin Smith was on it, and he has a massive [girder] for Die Hard. Nevertheless, when I'm GodKingEmperor, podcasters will receive a light electrical shock at the 2-hour mark, increasing in frequency and intensity as the show wears on. If the movie itself is very long or very complicated, petitions for an exception will of course be entertained. I'm not a tyrant.

I think I had my head in my hands for the entire 4th act of The Batman, when I wasn't checking what time it was. I think the whole last 15-20 minutes of that movie should've been cut. The 4-act structure is one of those things that storytellers should mostly stay away from, imo (flashbacks; voiceovers; multiple endings). It's just fraught, and the juice usually isn't worth the squeeze. I'm trying to think of a movie that had a 4th act that really elevated the story, and I can't, off the top of my head. Maybe I'll Google it later, to see if there's any good examples of good 4th acts. There can't be none, or it wouldn't be a thing. A 4th act isn't necessarily the same as having multiple endings, but in the case of The Batman, it was.