how fuggin miserable are warner execs right now about marvel movies...

[JackKnight]

It's not just DC. When Marvel veered too far from the source material or tried to make them a bit more grounded in reality they were terrible films too. Whether it was Daredevil, the FF movies, Elektra, etc. I'm just talking superhero movies in general. Not over a specific period of time. To me they're just really starting to get them right.

And as a big Green Lantern fan, that film was not only shit; but also wasn't like the comics I've read for years. While most superhero films usually take the classic stories that started the series; what we got with GL was nothing but Johns' revisionism melded with the current crop of shit comics he's been producing.

[Hyperion]

I can certainly see both points of veiw though.  

Nolan's Batman is great because it grounds the one character in a deep sense of "this could happen".  It's edgy, over the top in some spots, but they have that gritty self-awareness that works when taking those movies as a separate entity and not looking past them.

It's something akin to, but not entirely, the Superman movies (Superman I-Returns).  They are set in this one universe and they don't open themselves up to more because they are really too focused on how sad it is to be Clark Kent and not how incredible it is to be SUPERMAN.

What future DC movies need to do is really explore THAT a bit more.  Yeah, we get it.  You've got to tell the origin over and over, but sticking to the sadness and the loneliness and the misery is not really good storytelling.  How totally amazing must it be to be able to juggle Buicks and fly to Saturn during your lunch hour and just disappear when people look away for a second and run fast enough to catch a Broadway opening that you just bought tickets for in LA?  Just once I'd like to see an actor smirk just a little bit when the crook passes out after hearing "I'm Batman!".

And the whole secret ID thing?  The ability to do all this incredible shit and then quietly slip on a pair of glasses and a tie and just walk past people without being mobbed?  How many celebrities would KILL for the ability to do just that?  Oh, and keep the fucking thing SECRET!!  Gah!  Nothing pisses me off more about a super hero movie that when the hero, after struggling the whole movie to keep his ID under wraps, rips off the mask and kisses some bint because they HAD to shoehorn in some half-assed love story.

[Big Raj]

Is Green Lantern really terrible? If so, why? I haven't seen it, so...

Thanks!

I thought it was alright, but still a disappoinment.  Too much time spent on Earth and no chemistry between the romantic leads were the biggest flaws to me, and those are pretty big things.

[Scot Eric]

It has moments that make you realize "Man, this could have been cool."  But overall, it's anything but.  And I don't lay the blame at Ryan Reynolds' feet (though it does fly in the face of "superheroes should be light & fun" idea -- since he certainly was, but the film certainly wasn't).

There are plotting and story holes that make very little sense.  To be honest, I also feel there are some rather obvious problems of that nature in The Avengers as well, but the movie is still so much fun and witty -- that I was willing to overlook them (Whedon himself points out it's an imperfect film -- and I wouldn't grade it as high as TDK either).  But in GL, they're much harder to ignore.

There is zero chemistry or even believability to the relationship between Hal & Carol.  She's so bland and boring in this film, she makes Kate Bosworth look like an EXCELLENT choice for Lois Lane.

The villians are handled in either a truncated fashion or just a non-involving, CGI-laden mess, and the climax felt dopey, dull and not even remotely thrilling or exciting.

If TDK was a 9.5
And The Avengers is between an 8.5 & a 9...
Then GL was...a 3?  Maybe a 4?  Something in that range.

PS: Both the most recent posts from Jack & Hyp have renewed my faith in y'all. A point for ya both!

[Gardner Grayle]

And I still think DC should avoid the low hanging fruit. 

A Planetary movie done by Ridley Scott with a screenplay by Ellis himself would rule the fucking world. 

[Ebon]

A Planetary movie done by Ridley Scott with a screenplay by Ellis himself would rule the fucking world. 

 

[Benjamin Grimm]

Planetary = rotten fruit.

The same as the action figure analogy, let the characters that have been around for decades have their shot FIRST, then the recent stuff can come later.

Peace,

Chip

[Gardner Grayle]

Because Green Lantern was so amazing...

[Ebon]

Planetary = rotten fruit.

how is it rotten fruit?

[Rod Keith]

But see, when we talk about DC vs. Marvel movies, are we really talking about properties that exist independently of the DCU as we know it?

History of Violence, Road to Perdition, Fables, Y: The Last Man, Planetary, V For Vendetta, all that stuff, even Watchmen, could have published by any company with a little vision. While there's no doubt a lot of those were (or could be) good adaptations, and WB should definitely pursue that course, they're not the heart of DC history.

I'm preaching to the choir here, I know, I just want to clarify that these don't really count in discussing what WB could and should be doing, with its bread-and-butter, meat 'n' potatoes of its core superhero universe.

(But, I will also give kudos to DC for the simple fact that Marvel doesn't HAVE that kind of variety in properties from which to draw.)

[Gardner Grayle]

Well put Rod.  It's what I've been saying all along.  And it's not just DC's imprints, it's within the mainstream DCU itself.  The variety is absolutely amazing across the board. 

But yeah.  The real issue is the mainstream stuff.  I just can't shake the feeling that a big budget JLA movie would be the biggest cheesedick piece of shit of all time.  Tough admission.       

[pootboy]

alot of the JLA would look hopelessly cheesetastic on the big screen, too, is another problem, if they go at all comic-accurate.  flash would look ridiculous, green arrow just a big puddle of fucking kelly green, black canary would look like a vegas whore, hawkman-- a shirtless guy in a bird-mask and leggings?  aquaman-- 2 words: gold lamé fish scales.  wonder woman-- jesus, what a trainwreck that would be.  martian mansphincter, assuming he's cgi, would be the only one that wouldn't make people fucking snicker through the whole thing.  course it's not like putting them all in black motorcyle leather with little "JL"'s on the shoulder is the answer either.  i just don't think any of the JLA but Batman really WORKS visually for the sliver screen, but by the same token if you dumb down the costumes too much you lose the feel of the characters.  cock and a hard place if you ask me.

[pootboy]

   
On dirty sheets in blackest night,
Fear for your hole, so brown and tight
Let those who struggle and try to fight,
Burn like when poot pees... Pinestro's might!

also, i want that embroidered on a tiny testicle pillow.

[JSayonara]

alot of the JLA would look hopelessly cheesetastic on the big screen, too, is another problem, if they go at all comic-accurate.  flash would look ridiculous, green arrow just a big puddle of fucking kelly green, black canary would look like a vegas whore, hawkman-- a shirtless guy in a bird-mask and leggings?  aquaman-- 2 words: gold lamé fish scales.  wonder woman-- jesus, what a trainwreck that would be.  martian mansphincter, assuming he's cgi, would be the only one that wouldn't make people fucking snicker through the whole thing.  course it's not like putting them all in black motorcyle leather with little "JL"'s on the shoulder is the answer either.  i just don't think any of the JLA but Batman really WORKS visually for the sliver screen, but by the same token if you dumb down the costumes too much you lose the feel of the characters.  cock and a hard place if you ask me.

I Don't see it.

Black Canary = Hot blonde in fishnets.

Aquaman = Hot blonde in Hot pants.
Have him go topless the whole movie.

No woman will give a shit if Flash looks stupid when they're watching Aquaman rise out of the water.

Hell, have Black Canary rise outta the water topless, and I won't give a shit if Green Arrow looks like a cross between a mediaeval cosplayer and a Bogger village fete.

 

[Gardner Grayle]

alot of the JLA would look hopelessly cheesetastic on the big screen, too, is another problem, if they go at all comic-accurate.  flash would look ridiculous, green arrow just a big puddle of fucking kelly green, black canary would look like a vegas whore, hawkman-- a shirtless guy in a bird-mask and leggings?  aquaman-- 2 words: gold lamé fish scales.  wonder woman-- jesus, what a trainwreck that would be.  martian mansphincter, assuming he's cgi, would be the only one that wouldn't make people fucking snicker through the whole thing.  course it's not like putting them all in black motorcyle leather with little "JL"'s on the shoulder is the answer either.  i just don't think any of the JLA but Batman really WORKS visually for the sliver screen, but by the same token if you dumb down the costumes too much you lose the feel of the characters.  cock and a hard place if you ask me.

I have a horrific vision of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie only starring the JLA.  Same plot, FX, and soundtrack.  I'm in hell.   

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