Why can\'t they do it?

[Ebonbuddha]

Rant rant rant...

I just saw Ghost Rider yesterday. Disappointed is an understatement of what I felt while I watched it. I actually liked Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, but the story was just silly. The love interest is a beautiful woman. I have liked her since I saw Hitch (Yes. I watched it with my wife.). But she is supposedly this professional report who shows up forcing her ass and chest sticking out. The only cool part was when he was riding and Ghost Riders in the Sky was playing. It sounded like the version with Johnny Cash. The end credits had a remake. But I guess it was tolerable.

Back to the question;why can’t Hollywood make a decent movie out of a comic with out completely ruining it?

The list of casualties just keeps growing:
X-Men
The Hulk
Spawn (Dear god I nearly cried)
Spider-Man
The Batman movies (3-whatever)

 

[supervike]

I never was a Ghost Rider comic book fan, but I did see the movie. I can\'t even say I was disappointed since I had low expectations for it. My 10 year old loved it....Nicholas Cage makes me cringe anyhow, as far as I am concerned, he\'s only had one good movie (Raising Arizona)...and Eva Mendez, is incredibly hot, but why can\'t she find a shirt that is not 3 sizes too small?

Anyhow, I do beg to differ with you on the comic book movies....The X-Men series is probably the best ones ever....but I don\'t disagree with the rest on your list.

The latest Batman was decent, Spider-man has some redeeming qualities (not many)...I enjoyed Daredevil (but I got the extended \'directors\' cut\' so maybe that helped) Fantastic Four was cringeworthy at times, but still watchable, same goes for the Punisher....Of course, Sin City, based on a comic, is phenomenal.
Hellboy is great too.

I have heard they are doing a \'new\' Hulk...with Ed Norton Jr. as Dr. Bruce Banner....and I thought I heard about a Wolverine movie too...

 

[Ritual]

I think the second and last Batman films are the best comic book adaptations (unless you count graphical novels, in which case I would name Ghost World as the best). The rest of the ones I\'ve seen are generally pretty bad. Contrary to many, I think Sin City is a pretty bad film. It\'s very stylish, but if you remove the surface there\'s not much left. Therefore, I\'ve got no expectations whatsoever on 300 which I\'m reluctantly going to see on Saturday.

I think the answer lies in that comics make for very poor film scripts. Thus they have to be treated and tweaked to be useful. The film makers are generally unwilling to change too much as that would alienate comic fans. Thus, the result ends up being something that neither makes for a good film or a film that is true to the comic.

 

[Highbulp Billy]

I think the biggest problem with comic book/film crossovers is that Hollywood forces a certain formula on all it\'s high budget movies. There must be a love interest (whether it\'s appropriate or not), the hero must generally reveal their secret identity in every film (big pet hate of mine) and, wherever possible, the baddie must die. Being a huge fan of Batman graphic novels in particular this really bugs me. I enjoyed the Tim Burton films (first more than second) and the Christian Bale version but they were both far from perfect - mainly because of the Hollywood formula. I just wish that DC had the balls to stand up to the Hollywood producers and demand at least one \"true to the books/comics\" version to see if audiences could cope with it.


Ps. I love Sin City

 

[lono]

Best comic book adaptation for me, I guess I would have to go for Spiderman 2. It\'s a near perfect action movie in terms of the pacing, barely missing a beat, and great pacing is the thing I most enjoy in decent comics too. I also think it does a fine job of conveying the mood of the comic, whilst not sticking so adamantly to it that it isn\'t a good movie.

Recently I also really enjoyed Superman Returns. I loved that it felt like an homage to the earlier Superman films a lot of the time. Batman Begins was also very good and Hellboy, although far from perfect, was also far from awful.

There are also the less obvious ones like Road to Perdition, Ghost World, A History of Violence, American Splendor (OK, so that\'s kinda obvious, but not superheroey) etc.

I have to say I admired what they were trying to do in the Hulk too. It\'s not a classic, but it\'s important in the grand scheme of better quality comic book movies.

I don\'t think Hollywood are doing so badly with comic conversions at the moment to be honest.

And as for only liking only one Nicholas Cage movie - surely you are forgetting Con Air Supervike.

How can you resist an action blockbuster that has a scene featuring a completely off his trolley (but scarily collected and calm) Steve Buschemi, holding a Barbie and singing \'he\'s got the whole world in his hands\'? And let\'s not forget \'Put the bunny back in the box!\'.

Leaving Las Vegas was a good, if not enjoyable film too I have to say.

EDIT - Eek, and how can I forget Wild at Heart too?

 

[supervike]

I love sin city too....

But, yeah Highbulp...to expand on that \'formula\'...another Pet Peeve of mine is that it always has to be \'made personal\' for the hero. (Ie, the love interest is kidnapped by the baddie)...Part of the charm of the Superhero is they try to rescue EVERYONE...they do it for other than just personal gain....

@lono....I guess I just struggle seeing Nick Cage as the \'action hero\' type. Con-air certainly had its moments, but it would have been fine with anyone in Cage\'s role.

 

[Ritual]

I must say I like Nicolas Cage. Not every single film he\'s made (I won\'t try to deny that he\'s done some pretty bad films), but he\'s done a bunch of great performances. Has anyone seen Vampire\'s Kiss, for instance? He does a tremendous job of playing a cruel, sadistic playboy yuppie (yes it\'s from the 80s) who beleives he has been bitten by a vampire. Completely hilarious! The recent Lord of War is also a great film. Leaving Las Vegas, Weatherman, Adaptation, Wild at Heart etc. etc.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by supervike
Nicholas Cage makes me cringe anyhow, as far as I am concerned, he\'s only had one good movie (Raising Arizona)...

I liked him in \"The Rock\"

 

[Dr. Aven]

Ghost rider was the worst movie I´ve seen in long while. It had one almost good joke but the rest was just rubbish, Nicholas Cage is a good actor but even he sucked in that movie.

But the X-men movies are very good.

 

[matty1001]

The only one\'s I have liked are the Spiderman one\'s really.

 

[Sand Rat]

Havent seen Ghost Rider yet - and am not sure I am really rushing to see it.

Having said that,

I really enjoyed Sin City - pretty damn close to the comic book, especially since Rodriguez is a big Miller fan.

Spiderman has all the angst and existential pain that Stan Lee has been pushing into the comic for the last 40 years.

Constantine was actually a surprise, and enjoyable.

First Xmen was OK, havent sat down and watched 2 or 3 yet.

Hellboy Frickin ROCKED!!!

And as for Mr. Cage, his best role was as a Stoner in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

 

[vincegamer]

chiming in to agree about Hellboy.
And to disagree about X-men 3.
I really enjoyed the 1st 2 but 3, while having lots of energy and good moments, killed the franchise. In the end I was siding with the people who wanted to kill all mutants.

 

[treide]

I am amazed by how Nicolas Cage will do a great job in interesting or provocative movies (Adaptation, Matchstick Men, Lord of War), and then wallow in silly roles (Face-Off, anyone?).

Raising Arizona is great. Few other films have such \"rewatchability\". Ferris Bueller\'s Day Off maybe - that one really itches my nostalgia bone.

I also enjoyed Hellboy and Constantine (except for the gold cross gun - was that in the comic?).

 

[DaN]

Not sure if I should dare say this...
But what about a preacher film...?
Anyone ever hear anything?

I know someone on CMoN really likes it (I think it\'s orb) and I think it has the potential for a great film (Or films)

(I never really read any of the graphic novels/comics but Re the films:

I have yet to see sin city, though I hear from everyone that it was great - Also with batman begins.

I did like Hellboy, but thought it could\'ve been done better.

Xmen I thought was brilliant, but I haven\'t seen 3 yet.

I thought spawn was really good, on a par with the crow)

 

[Ritual]

Originally posted by treide
I am amazed by how Nicolas Cage will do a great job in interesting or provocative movies (Adaptation, Matchstick Men, Lord of War), and then wallow in silly roles (Face-Off, anyone?).

He\'s said in an interview that doing these stupid, but very profitable, roles enables him to invest money in more interesting projects. He\'s produced some great films that might not have been made otherwise (Shadow of the Vampire, for instance).

 

[philologus]

I don\'t think Hollywood has ever been particularly adept at estimating what the viewing public will spend money on. When once a script formula works they try to force it on all movies in or out of the same genre. It\'s interesting to look at the top 100 grossing films adjusted for inflation (link below). If you look at the top 10 of all time, they are shockingly different in plot. If you look at the unadjusted list they all seem to fit a couple basic categories. So recent Box-office hits fall into similar genres.


Top 100 US films

 

[rosac]

Originally posted by vincegamer

I liked him in \"The Rock\" [/quote]
so did I.
I have only seen a few \"comic book\" movies, the hulk i saw this week, fantastic 4(i hated that) spider man 1 (the best of the 2) and Xmen 1 and 2(i love the casting for these, the characters look just like the comic book characters)
i have only ever seen ghost rider in a fantastic 4 ephisode, where he did something strange too a guy who wanted to eat(yes, eat) the world. What does he do?

 

[freakinacage]

i liked the spidey films. i enjoyed sin city although the plot of the graphic novels, and therefore the film was a bit crap. 300 was thoroughly enjoyable i also enjoyed the xmen stuff.

also don\'t forget blade - they were awesome (except the 3rd). i enjoyed watching the league of extraordinary gentlemen but it sucked, which i contradictory i know

 

[Ritual]

Originally posted by freakinacage
also don\'t forget blade - they were awesome

I guess \"awesome\" is a relative expression, then...

 

[Onis Lair]

I loved Sin City but it was tough to swallow for most people as the comic was really just a set of several stories that had little in common other then the City itself. However Rodriguez did a fantastic job, due in large part to the fact he demanded Miller be on set and have an active role in making the movie. In fact the movie was almost scrapped as originally the studio refused to make Miller a director so Rodriguez threatened to walk until the studio agreed.

Hellboy was great, nothing close to the comic really but a well done rewrite of the original Hellboy comic. The X-men stuff was pretty good and i liked them expect for the third one, i rather found that one disappointing. Although Beast looked fantastic and Kelsy Gramer\'s acting was the highlight of the movie for me.

There is suppose to be a new X-men movie, possably two. One will be a Wolverine and the other is Prof. X and magneto in their earlier years, same actors but they will use the deageing computer program they used in X-3, In fact McKellen has already agreed to sign on for that movie.

Next year there will be, That i know of, a live action iron Man, Hulk 2, The Dark Knight (Batman), Hellboy 2 and an Animated Doc. Strange movie.