Two Daredevil reviews

[stevelabny]

ok... i just got back from the movie and i have to jump in here with some random comments. (no spoilers necessary)

NOBODY on this movie is embarassed by this being a "comic-book" movie. this movie is so far over the top, it broke atmosphere. listen to the soundtrack for the first appearances of kingpin and bullseye and tell me theyre not having a great time.

comparing any of the modern comic book movies to the captain america movies or the fantasic four movie is ridiculous. those movies didn't even get released in theatres.

there IS a problem with movie people thinking that comic-costumes won't work on the big screen, which I disagree with but hopefully daredevil's great costume (the collar is unnecessary but not that bad) will change that stance.

this movie is fun. its not a masterpiece but its definitely worth watching. and i'd be willing to bet money that the reason the comic writers didn't like it is because it is too over the top and doesn't take their "professional" writing seriously.

(any comic fan knows that you can never change any part of continuity that a writer wrote without him being annoyed, but he can change anything someone else wrote at will) ugh.

steve
and how cool did that x2 trailer look? BAMF

 

[Assenpfeffer]

Roger Ebert gave the film a moderately positive review:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-daredevil14f.html

 

[Villano]

Both of the Captain America movies were really bad and it shows that they were uncomfortable writing about the subject and really didn't know what they were doing.

There are actually three Captain America movies. Two were made for tv (I'm pretty sure, although they did air theatrically in Europe) and starred Reb Brown. The third was made in the mid-'90's.

comparing any of the modern comic book movies to the captain america movies or the fantasic four movie is ridiculous. those movies didn't even get released in theatres.

there IS a problem with movie people thinking that comic-costumes won't work on the big screen, which I disagree with but hopefully daredevil's great costume (the collar is unnecessary but not that bad) will change that stance.

I don't think it's ridiculous at all. Captain America was actually intended for the big screen (I even saw a trailer for it in a theater). It wasn't until the studio realized how bad the film was that it got shelved for years until quietly given a video release.

FF, OTOH, was never going to be given any kind of release and was just made to hold onto the license. However, no one involved in the making knew this (which is a shame since actors and crew presumably passed on other projects to make this and some of the fx people cut their prices to make it because they loved the comics).

You don't even need to use Cap or FF as an example of writers disliking their source material. Look at Batman & Robin. The hacks who churned that out obviously weren't comic readers. Hell, that film is just dripping with hate of comics.

Anyway, getting back to Cap. Cap's terrible script led to the movie being sealed away, which is my point. The writer was given a superhero project and didn't want to include a superhero. Instead he wrote a bunch of crap with Ned Betty.

In the end, you had a movie about Captain America which only had Cap in it for 10 minutes. Not to mention that he did away with the Red Skull's trademark red skull (and made him Italian for no reason whatsoever).

There's no greater sign of contempt for your source material than taking away the costumes in a superhero film.

This is what worried me about Daredevil. DD's costume is changed (for the worse, IMO), Elektra is given a totally different one, and Bullseye's is dropped totally.

I plan to see it when it plays localy. I'm hoping that I'm wrong.

Actually, my expectations are so low, I'll probably be pleasently surprised. That's what happened when I watched Attack Of The Clones. I went in there expecting another Phantom Menace and, when it wasn't, I enjoyed it, even though it wasn't great, or even good, movie making.

Also, of the reviews I've read, they've all be positive. The only negatives I've heard are the music and Affleck.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Endur]

the third Cap movie

yes, I forgot about the third Cap movie. I had hoped it would redeem Hollywood's rendition of Cap, and then found out it was even worse then the Cap movies from the 70's.

Tom

 

[jdavis]

FF, OTOH, was never going to be given any kind of release and was just made to hold onto the license. However, no one involved in the making knew this (which is a shame since actors and crew presumably passed on other projects to make this and some of the fx people cut their prices to make it because they loved the comics).

It was my understanding that this movie was bought and shelved by the people making the present Fantastic Four movie, when it was made it was planned on being released but they sold it to another company instead that shelved it. I have seep pieces of it (a friend of mine had a Leaked copy of it) and by what I remember it wasn't that bad, it was horribly low budget looking and I didn't see enough of it to pick up any plot but it was definatly better than Captain America. (90's version)Captain America didn't even make sense, it had plot holes in it's plot holes, that movie deserves it's own thread for how crappy it was.

 

[Villano]

It was my understanding that this movie was bought and shelved by the people making the present Fantastic Four movie, when it was made it was planned on being released but they sold it to another company instead that shelved it. I have seep pieces of it (a friend of mine had a Leaked copy of it) and by what I remember it wasn't that bad, it was horribly low budget looking and I didn't see enough of it to pick up any plot but it was definatly better than Captain America.

The stories of it never being intended to be released have only come out the last few years. I read about it in a magazine, but I can't recall if it was Wizard (which is about comics) or one of the many movie ones.

Actually, from what I recall, when the film was being made, Roger Corman, one of the producers, talked about the great future the director, Ole Sassoon (not sure if I spelled the name right), had. Sassoon later went on to direct tv shows like Xena, including the great musical episode.

Corman seemed proud of the film at the time.

From what I understand, people are now talking freely about how it was never intended to be release. I've also heard that more than one fx guy was pissed because he passed on a big film for this.

My guess is that it was put into production in order to hold onto the licence (which is true...it started filming just before their rights expired), with the idea that they could use it to hold over the head of Chris Colombus (or whoever it was that wanted the rights) in order to be co-producers on the new film and rake in the cash from a big budget release. However, I'm also sure that if Columbus declined they would have released FF, most likely on video in order to recoup their costs.

BTW, here's a little bit of trivia. Back in the early '90's, Spider-Man's film rights were in much dispute. Several different companies all somehow had a legal claim on it, including Jim Cameron. One of the other companies that had it, and the one that seemed like it had the "real" rights was the same company that produced Captain America. In fact, they were about to go into production of a Spidey film when Cameron, or somebody else, filed a lawsuit over the rights, haulting filming in the prepoduction stages.

And do you know who was slated to direct this film? Albert Pyun, the director of Captain America.

Try and imagine what that movie would look like.

I think the same company had the rights to Iron Man (Marvel used to unload licenses in bulk) and wanted to have him fight some non-comic book villain named, with much originality, Doctor Death (the Pyun Spidey film would also have featured a new bad guy).

In fact, if you saw that cartoon they did not too long ago, Iron Man had a briefcase which transformed into his armor. That was an idea for the film and was put into the cartoon in order to bring the two in line (like how Penguin in the Batman cartoon looked like the character in Batman Returns).

The funny thing is that Marvel Comics apparently sold the rights to so many of their projects for so little they didn't make a dime from the Blade or X-Men movies. Not sure how they did on Spidey or DD.

EDIT: I should add that movie makers not being totally honest with the emploees about a project isn't uncommon. I, myself, have worked as a storyboard artist. While my contract was expiring on one show (which was being cancelled), another studio announced they were hiring.

For storyboard artists, they gave out a few pages of script along with model sheets in order to see if you could draw the characters as well as how talented you were (not sure what they gave animators).

The deadline was in 4 or so days (a pretty short time for people currently doing full time jobs).

Now, all the artist at the studio that was shutting down were struggling to do these tests. I did mine while suffering from the worst flu I ever had. I mean I was sneezing so hard my nose was bleeding.

Then it turns out the other studio had no intention of hiring anyone. They just wanted a list of available artists in case they needed to hire anyone in the future.

I know of many people who were angry that they spent their time doing these tests when they could have been looking for real work.

Never dismiss the dishonesty in the entertainment industry.

 

[jdavis]

I think Marvel redid all of their television and movie rights. I don't know any details but I think they either bought a bunch back or refused to renew them when they expired. I don't know how it all turned out but I do remember something abouth them restructuring their movie rights in some way. They have sold the movie rights of just about everything at one time or the other, there is a Long Shot movie in the works out there, has he even been in a comic in the last 10 years?

The rumor on what Corman was paid for the Fantastic Four movie was pretty high (several million), and he made more money selling the film than he could of releasing it, but that has been years since I have heard anything on that.