Films

[jump]

Well Sin City 2 sucks, it reminds me when a film's sequel is done by a different director.

[Amy Lawn]

Well Sin City 2 sucks, it reminds me when a film's sequel is done by a different director.

Yeah, like the Empire Strikes Back!

Sorry! Can't not bring Star Wars up, maybe it should have its own thread...

I was actually really glad Sin City 2 was a flop. Frank Miller is a bigoted son of a bitch, there are few people who I take pleasure in seeing fail, but he is one. The recent Daredevil TV series prompted me to read through his Daredevil work, it's astounding stuff, where did it all go wrong for him? He's going to be putting out a second sequel to The Dark Knight Returns in the near future, it's coming under the working titled "The Master Race", which is very worrying. Brian Azzerello is involved, so I hope Frank's contributions are minimal... not that I'm giving any money to that fascist either way.

[viberunner]

Frank Miller is a bigoted son of a bitch, there are few people who I take pleasure in seeing fail, but he is one. The recent Daredevil TV series prompted me to read through his Daredevil work, it's astounding stuff, where did it all go wrong for him?

Well, Batman in particular and hooded vigilantes in general are fascist w*nk material for disempowered teeangers. (A blind lawyer has to really not be a blind lawyer but instead a radioactive mutant lawer ninja to be justice-effective). And it's not that I mind fascist w*nk material (I enjoyed playing the Modern Warfares) but I'm saying it's not surprising that Frank Miller is the most obviously actually fascist-minded man working in comics... the surprise is there aren't many more of them.

The readers are awful. There have been many #Comicgates that you never got to hear of because they were before twitter... the avalanche of virgin nerdrage that She-Hulk had shagged Juggernaut (instead of the comic book reader) forced a "it was a She-Hulk from another dimension" retcon. And that's just the tip of a very large frustrated adolescent / broken adult iceberg.

Anyway, Miller's creative decline in comics is attributed to the 2005-2008 All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder. By that point he seems to be a parody of Frank Miller.

As for the film, personally I quite liked SIN CITY 2 but I think I am the only person ever to say that. Also I saw it shrooming.

[Amy Lawn]

The stereotype of comic readers being angry men is outdated now, I saw a figure lately that showed around 47% of regular comic readership is female. This isn't usually the most apparent because the old guard still mainly dominate the comic shops, cons and forums, but more and more females have found comics through less unfriendly new outlets like mainstream bookshops and digital, Twitter and Tumblr have opened the doors for them to get in on the online discussion as well. Recent Marvel/DC successes like Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel and Batgirl show that things are changing, and outside of the big 2 we're seeing equal representation push forward with things like Saga, The Wicked + The Divine and Lumberjanes being the big success stories of the past few years.

Millar really lost it with 9/11, he had got a little bit ropey before that with the later Sin City stuff and 300 (the latter being a fist in the air, fuck yeah fascism and eugenics spaff fest), but 9/11 was clearly where he had some sort of mental breakdown and you could see that you weren't reading the work of a sane individual. I've only ever pirated one comics, Holy Terror because fuck him, it's the work of a complete crank, the man is out of his fucking mind at this point. DKR2 went from ill-advised yet readable, to batshit and fucking stupid becuase 9/11 happened right in the middle of its production. I've not read All Stat Batman & Robin, but I heard somebody say that it's not actually that far from the Batman of DKR, he's not the detective Batman in DKR, he's a psychopath that turns up and uses extreme force on all the problems he comes up against, it's just not as apparent because of the massive threats he's facing.

[viberunner]

I'd like to think 47% of comics are bought and read by females but I'm skeptical. Turns out that a Facebook self-survey click-thing, but the Nielsen Company’s market research for DC Comics showed 93% male readership.

Miller lost it with 9/11 so did a lot of Americans, and Holy Terror is as laughable as it is outrageous, but his creative decline happened quite a bit after. His Sin City film work was 2005 and 300 followed after that. And it's insane to criticise 300 for fascism and eugenics... the Spartans really were like that. It's not invented... it's like criticising Platoon for showing a Mai Lai-like massacre.

[Amy Lawn]

I'd like to think 47% of comics are bought and read by females but I'm skeptical. Turns out that a Facebook self-survey click-thing, but the Nielsen Company’s market research for DC Comics showed 93% male readership.

Miller lost it with 9/11 so did a lot of Americans, and Holy Terror is as laughable as it is outrageous, but his creative decline happened quite a bit after. His Sin City film work was 2005 and 300 followed after that. And it's insane to criticise 300 for fascism and eugenics... the Spartans really were like that. It's not invented... it's like criticising Platoon for showing a Mai Lai-like massacre.

I'm not saying he invented anything, but the way he chose to portray them, to glorify very specific aspects, the take-home message essentially being "kill the cripple". If you want an alternative take on the Spartans, I highly recommend Kieron Gillen's excellent Three - which is a direct rebuttal of 300's portrayal of the Spartans, it's also historically interesting as Gillen is an obsessive history nerd, and is using aspects of Spartan society that have only just come to live and never been portrayed in popular fiction before (to my knowledge). Speaking of Gillen, I think the 47% figure came from a podcast on his workblog, which was a taping of an "equality in comics" panel from a recent Irish con, some big names were involved; off the top of my head I can think of Paul Cornell, Becky Cloonan, and she who colours seemingly all mainstream comics, Jordie Bellaire. I'm not 100% sure if that's where I picked it up from, but it's well worth a listen, as are most of Gillen's podcasts http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/5824/decompressed-023-dublin-international-comics-expo-comics-are-for-everyone-panel/

[viberunner]

I'm something of a history fan and have read relatively widely on the Spartans both fiction and nonfiction.

A quick look at 3 does bring up something which did jar in the film... the concept of freemen. The Spartans owned and hunted slaves. Then again their (literally) Laconic humour on that subject was beautifully put to the Athenians, after a lengthy diatribe on the virtues of democracy a Spartan's response was "let he who wants democracy try it in his own home first" (Athenian democracy being for, well, the rich white men - not the women, slaves, or lower classes). Another example was a non-Spartan Greek asking how they could have some much farm/land just by working-out and concentrating on physical and military ability, the response is they have their lands because of their physical and military ability.

So yeah 3 is debunking Miller's anti-slave thesis I'll grant it that, and that did jar (to a ludicrous extent) in the film & I'd forgotten about that. They didn't care about freedom, and they certainly didn't care about democracy... they cared about their own continued supremacism.

It's also not true they had the Lambda shield, not at at that time, they were distinct family emblems.

http://www.300spartanwarriors.com/battleofthermopylae/armorweaponry.html

PS, that site generally has great historical information, and reviews of 300, comic and film, and 300 Spartans the original film, including the debunking of the Hollywood William Wallace "FREEDOM" thing.

http://300spartanwarriors.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/darius-kadivars-review-of-1962s-300.html

PS, their racial supremacism was their ultimate downfall. After some disastrous battles they were unable to repopulate from their stock and their racial bloodline views meant they couldn't introduce any new blood into Spartan society. But the irony is them being violent fascists saved (unintentionally) the development of Greek enlightenment, the resurgence of which in the Renaissances are the candle of our own enlightenment.

[jump]

Ah so 9/11, the lack of slavery in 300, comic fans either being too male or too female and Batman is the reason Sin City 2 sucks.

[The Nal]

I see what you have done. Confused Game of Thrones with Star Wars

Edited May 12, 2015 by The Nal

[viberunner]

Edited May 12, 2015 by viberunner

[jump]

If you have read 10 comics you have read them all...

A similar concept applies to the films of comics...

What are you on about?

[Celery]

Watched Avengers last night. What a load of crap, almost nodded off. Really unsatisfying ending too - you don't even find out how old Ultron is!

It Follows, however, was brilliant. A really unnerving watch and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Last 20 bit disappointing but overall it was my favourite horror film for a good few years. Soundtrack worth a listen too.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Celery

[LondonTom]

If you have read 10 comics you have read them all...

A similar concept applies to the films of comics...

Utter tosh, you could say that about any genre of film or book if you are being that generic about a storyline.

Watched Avengers last night. What a load of crap, almost nodded off. Really unsatisfying ending too - you don't even find out how old Ultron is!

Eh? Am I missing something here?

[jump]

Utter tosh, you could say that about any genre of film or book if you are being that generic about a storyline.

Eh? Am I missing something here?

Barry's nonsense isn't even about a genre but rather a medium, I would say it's like saying all rap is about being a gangster but it's more akin to saying all music sounds the same. Off the top of my head non-superhero comics that have been made into movies/shows include Annie, Road to Perdition, Weird Science, The Crow, 300, The Adams Family, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Garfield, Men In Black, Josie and the Pussycats, A History of Violence, Sin City, Walking Dead, Dennis the Menace, Time Cop etc all of which are very different to one another.

The Age of Ultron...Ultron's age.

Edited May 13, 2015 by jump

[Winslow Leach]

As if I couldn't be any more ludicrously excited about Mad Max: Fury Road, it's now causing whiny MRA pissbabies to throw all their toys out of the pram:

http://www.donotlink.com/framed?704311

[LondonTom]

The Age of Ultron...Ultron's age.

.....Ah! Can't believe I didn't see that!

[jump]

It's probably because everyone refers to it as Avengers 2 or the new Avengers movie, Age of Ultron is a rubbish name.

[Amy Lawn]

Barry's nonsense isn't even about a genre but rather a medium, I would say it's like saying all rap is about being a gangster but it's more akin to saying all music sounds the same. Off the top of my head non-superhero comics that have been made into movies/shows include Annie, Road to Perdition, Weird Science, The Crow, 300, The Adams Family, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Garfield, Men In Black, Josie and the Pussycats, A History of Violence, Sin City, Walking Dead, Dennis the Menace, Time Cop etc all of which are very different to one another.

Motherfuckin Tamara Drewe

[Spindles]

I was a comics fan through my youth, teens and 20s. I was never into marvel and DC, more 2000AD and british comics like Deadline, which brought a huge variety of storytelling to the medium. If you think that all comicbooks are like Spiderman, try reading Wired world or Milk and Cheese.

There is alot more to comic books than unfeasible anatomy in spandex.

[Celery]

.....Ah! Can't believe I didn't see that!

I missed it too. Stupid.

Sorry, crap joke. Not as crap as the film though.

[DomDom1984]

The movie has definitely drifted into "shite" territory with me as well.

As for Unfriended... well. That's an interesting 80 minutes. Veers between really good and really shit with such ease that it's hard to tell what my final verdict is. It's extremely well put together at times, and the concept is magnificent, even if it's well over the top. Doesn't rely on cheap scares, doesn't rely on the clichés a lot of the time, and there's some genuinely chilling scenes. At the same time, there's outrageously bad scenes and some horrific dialogue. It gets the big stuff right for the most part. And I was always glued to the screen.

If I had to give it a rating, I'd maybe go as high as 8/10.

[viberunner]

What I have learned today about "the last two Starship Troopers films".

Starship Troopers 3 Marauder... a genius film of unsurpassed genius surpassed only by the insurpassable genei of Crank 2.

Starship Troopers 4 Invasion... proof that even the Japanese can fail at Manga films.

[When Jokers Attack]

Ex Machina in the usual places. My most anticipated film of the year so far.

[FloorFiller]

Ex Machina in the usual places. My most anticipated film of the year so far.

ah been waiting for this one!

[jump]

I was mainly thinking super hero comic to clarify...

Have you actually read a comic superhero or otherwise?