Movies (recently seen)

[Dragavan]

Anyway, did anyone see any of the new super hero movies that came out? (Thor, Green Lantern, yet another X-men movie) The only one that's sort of catching my interest is the Captain America one which can't possibly be worse than the version that came out in 1990.

Not a super hero movie, but I definitely want to see Cowboys & Aliens next week.

Yes, No, Yes... Thor was actually far better than I expected. Still no Iron Man, but way better than I expected. X-Men: First Class was also pretty good. Definitely better than X3 or Wolverine Origins. I just had little interest in GL, so I will wait for NetFlix or whatever for it.

I will most likely be seeing Captain America this weekend, as my friends are really excited to see it (and I have to admit that I am sorta too).

C&A also keeps looking more interesting the more I see of it.

[dreamshell]

I can vouch for the shittiness of Green Lantern. I haven't see any others yet.

[End Master]

Other than Batman, DC hasn't been very successful at making super hero movies it seems. They do a lot better with cartoon series.

[Dragavan]

Other than Batman, DC hasn't been very successful at making super hero movies it seems. They do a lot better with cartoon series.

I would argue for Watchmen, but that's not really part of the normal DC universe of character.

Then you get into the far less related ones that were actually good... Like V For Vendetta, Stardust and Red.

[Usoki]

I really don't understand the fascination with Captain America. He doesn't really... do anything. He's just... strong. Does he do anything else? Does he even have any recurring villain? Does he have any weaknesses? Other than Bucky? I have no idea. I think his shield is a boomerang, but I might be confusing that with Thor's hammer. He's average, but at least Batman has the utility belt to add variety. Or, if he's more like Superman... at least Superman has a wider variety of powers.

Ugh. I understand that they need to get this one out of the way so that they can release an Avengers movie, but... ugh. I'm not even remotely interested in this one.

[Dragavan]

He is the Super Soldier. Strong, smart, tactical, and patriotic. He does have the unbreakable shield that he can throw and it comes back to him (usually), but mostly by skill of the throw and not some magical power.

As for enemies.... umm Nazis, Communists, Terrorists, etc. If you want named bad guys his major villain is the Red Skull (a Nazi). He is also often leading the charge against HYDRA (an evil organization in the Marvel universe)... But really, do you need more than Nazis?

[End Master]

I don't really keep up on super hero stuff, but I've heard that Red Skull is generally considered one of the worst villains in the Marvel universe terms of flat out evil shit he's done without even the advantage of any superhuman abilities. He's just an evil genius with some above average fighting skills.

That might also help explain some of Cap's popularity too, as heroes tend to be only as good as their villains. Certainly works for Batman and Spiderman.

[BatCountry]

Very true endmaster. The most popular super heroes tend to have the best bad guys. Thats why Batman, Spiderman, X-Men and to a lesser extent, Superman have always been popular. Kinda proves the importance of well written antagonists eh? Magneto and the Joker my personal favorites because they are usually so well written.

While on the subject of super heroes I did see Thor and the new x-men and thought both were done very well. X-Men I was suprised with in fact, while Thor was similar to the first IronMan. Good humor, lots of action while telling the basic story of the hero. I also like to say movies like Iron Man and Thor are just fun to watch. Mindless summer fun. The Dark Knight and Watchmen are probably my favorite comic based movies of all time, but they are so dark and heavy, I like to have a mindless fun fest sometimes where the hero comes out the clear victor.

Probably going to end up seeing Captain America today, I'll post my thoughts later.

And to the earlier responses, Pulp Fiction and Resevoir dogs are both equally great in different ways. If i had to give one the edge though it would probably be Pulp Fiction imo.

[Usoki]

Okay, no. I agree with EndMaster's statement, but BatCountry is trying to apply it to too many things. Take the average John Q. Idiot, since popularity has to come from the masses. Batman has 4-5 recognizable villains. Spiderman has 2-3. The X-man have... eesh, a bunch, unless you don't count flip-floppers. Superman just has Lex Luthor. I'm not convinced that Brainiac and Bizarro are well known, and they don't show up much even if they were.

Superman is popular because he is one step away from becoming God. Some of the plotlines involving Superman are utterly painful to watch, because it's clear that they're trying to balance out his god-mode powers.... but they can't. Not very well. It's boring to have a hero that can't ever be defeated, so they have to come up with some really dumb stuff to try and make it work. Kryptonite has become ridiculously easy to find for being a special rare rock, and the cancer really doesn't help much. And, seriously... the light of a red sun? Really?

[BatCountry]

Mmm...I'll agree with that Usoki. Superman is too powerful hence why all the superman movies, to me at least, are somewhat boring. There are incredibly well written Superman comics such as "A Superman for all seasons" and "Red Son" which if put in movie form, would be fantastic as it captures the true fears and weaknesses of Superman.

I consider Braniac, Bizarro and Doomsday to be well known superman villians besides Lex Luthor, but tbh they are all quite weak plot wise usually. These villians obviously don't even matter though because they are never used in the movies. It's always Lex Luthor, Lex Luthor and nobody cares about him anymore. He's not a dangerous enough threat to a god like being, most movie goers don't buy it.

[End Master]

I don't know why they didn't at least try to use Brainiac in one of the movies. They could've even used Darkseid who is a credible threat to Supes, being an evil god and all.

Well he's in better shape than Wonder Woman, I guess. Who the hell is even in her rogue gallery? Cheetah? Lol.

[BatCountry]

Wow idk how I forgot Darkseid. Not well known but he would probably be the best Superman villian for a movie. Yeah, Wonder Woman is screwed lol. She can stick to tv.

Superman deserves a good movie though, he's a cultural icon for petes sake. Batman seems to always take the crown though.

[Usoki]

I have no idea who Doomsday even is. Is that the guy who is responsible for one of Superman's deaths?

I did remember that Darkseid existed, but as I only know about him through the Justice League, I didn't know whose hero canon he came from. I wouldn't have pegged him for a Superman villain, but I guess it makes sense. I dunno who else could be powerful enough to stand up against him.

Yeah, I can't think of anyone else for Wonder Woman. ...Wait, what about Toyman? Or, whatever his name was, with the weird Jester head?

...and who has Solomon Grundy?

[End Master]

Toyman oddly enough is primarily a Superman villain. Yeah real threat there, but I'm guessing he does stuff like threaten a bunch of innocents rather than Superman himself.

I think Solomon is just a random villain they use against any hero when they feel like it.

[Hi! My name is: Katie]

I feel like I am late to the party, but...

I saw Green Lantern with the girls, we went so they could enjoy drooling over Ryan Reynolds. There's something innately annoying about him, but I guess if you turn off the sound? EH. I wouldn't recommend it.

X-men was worth watching. The little blue girl was so CUTE, I wanted one until I realized that she grew into the girl that is playing Katniss in the Hunger Games movies then I was less enthusiastic. I can say though that it was the first Kevin Bacon movie that didn't make me hate his face. But seriously, on a less shallow level, there were nazis and good explosions and the scenery was decent, so not bad.

I saw HP7P2 twice. The first time with i-max in 3D on opening night at midnight sitting beside a mouth breather that I kind of wanted to throw over the balcony. I kind of felt like the 3D stuff was a distraction. In Avatar it was all about the 3D graphics, but in Harry Potter there's a story, so why use all the extra junk? I love Maggie Smith, I want to be like her when I grow up... a wizard that turns into a cat and brings stone men... oh, wait, I don't want to spoil anything. Anyway, I preferred the movie in a crap theater with 2D effects, but that might be because I didn't have to focus so much on saying goodbye to the characters. Man, I'm going to miss those characters. I was shocked to discover that Bellatrix is actually my favorite character in the movies.

I fell asleep during Black Death... so I wouldn't recommend it, but maybe I just didn't make it to the good parts?

Can't wait to see Cowboys vs. Aliens or Game of Thrones.

I usually watch a ton of movies during the summer, but I guess I've been catching up on my summer reading.