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Comic Book Movies |
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| Comic book movies definitely fall into the gene of love them or hate them movies. The term "Comic Book Movies" conjures up images of Batman, Spiderman, Superman and more recently the X Men, typical super heroes that we have grown up with. Although some of the best Comic Book Movies aren't about Superheroes, and you probably didn't know they originated from comic books. Films that fall in to this category are Men in Black, Constantine, Blade and more recently Sin City and 300. On the flip side not all Superheroes come from Comic Books. You can see from the chart on the left which was taken a recent show on Sky, the chart is the top 20 rated Superheroes, that some of these heroes definitely didn't originate in comic books. In some cases the heroes are so popular that comic books have been made since about them. These don't count for the purpose of this web site. It is pretty hard to make a good Comic Book Movie. In most cases the comic that is being transformed has already got a good following, otherwise it is not worth making the film. So the writer/director has the tough job of making sure that storyline is consistent to the comic. Then you have special effects to take in to account, especially with the Superhero movies, these need to do the superhero justice and not be to fake. A bad example was in the recent Hulk movie, where the use of too much CGI ruined the film; it is easier to make a bad film than a good film. Back in the 90's a film was made about the Fantastic Four, this film was so bad apparently that it never made it to the cinema or DVD. A few years ago there was another attempt to make the Fantastic Four, this time it made it to the cinema, although not a great movie it gained a big enough cult following for the film company to make a sequel that came out this year. It is rumored that the following comic book movies will be made over the next few years: Batman-The Dark Knight, Superman 6, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Punisher 2, Hulk 2, Sin City 2 & 3, Spiderman 4, Ant Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Constantine 2, Magneto, Namor-Sub Mariner, NIck Fury, Thor, Wolverine and the Watchmen.
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Spiderman 2002 saw the arrival of the first big budget Spiderman movie, although this wasn't the first Spiderman movie, the first one was a 50 minute long film made in 1992 and was meant to be used as a demo for film director David Cameron. Who at the time was planning a big budget Spiderman movie of his own, the film never happened. |
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| Spiderman 1 is about a high school student called Peter Parker who while on a school trip gets bitten by a genetically altered spider. The spiders bite has given Peter Parker the special talents of the spider. Parker uses his new abilities to play pranks and to make money, that is until he sees his uncle get killed, which indirectly he is responsible for. This is the turning point for Peter Parker who decides to use his powers to fight crime and to win the heart of Mary Jane Watson, the girl he has loved since he was a boy, it's not long before the press give him the name Spiderman. There is one criminal that isn't so easy to catch and that is the Green Goblin also known as Norman Osborn the father of Parker's best friend. |  |
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Spiderman 2 starts two years after the first movie, Peter Parker is down on his luck, he has lost his job at the Daily Bugle and still hasn't won the heart of Mary Jane. Parker's luck starts to change for the good when Harry Osborn his best friend and head of the Oscorp Research division gets him an interview with scientist Otto Octavius who happens to be one of Parker's idols. Otto Octavius is planning a big experiment of his recent findings and invites the worlds press. The experiment needs Otto Octavius to use a set of artificial intelligent set of mechanical arms. The experiment goes horribly wrong and ends up killing Otto's wife, the mechanical arms get fused to Otto's spine. Days after the failed experiment Otto Octavius needs more materials to try his experiment again, the only person that has these materials is Harry Osborn. Osborn agrees to give Octavius his materials in return he must kill Spiderman. Otto is so hell bent on completing his experiment he agrees and starts a crime spree. It's not long before the press give him the name Doctor Octopus. |
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Spiderman 3 sees Peter Parker basking in his success, the public love him and he has captured the heart of his true love Mary Jane Watson. Mean while Flint Marko has escaped from prison and is on the run, while on the run he falls into a particle accelerator which turns him into a shape shifting sand manipulator.This isn't the only bad thing that is happening in Manhattan. Harry Osborn is out for revenge now he knows that Peter Parker is Spiderman, the killer of his father. Things aren't so bad for Peter when an Alien Symbiote attaches itself to Peter's Spiderman suit. The suit is now black and boosts Parker's powers. It is while fighting with the Sandman that Peter realizes that the new suit is making him evil. He takes refuge in a local church and rips off his suit, also in the church is Eddie Brook Jr. who had just lost his job at the Daily Bugle because of Peter Parker. Eddie sees Parker rip off his suit the Alien Symbiote feels attracted to the rage in Eddie and engulfs him to create Venom. Now Spiderman has a real battle on his hands as Venom, the Sandman and the new Green Goblin Aka Harry Osborn. |
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Another film based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. This one is about a war between 300 Spartans and a Persian army of thousands. 300 isn't a conventional comic book movie and has no big names in the film. It falls into the Gladiator type of movie and is worth a watch. |
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Batman The first Batman movies came out in the 1940's but most people consider the 1966 movie to be the first. This movie was a spin off to the TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward. In this film Batman and Robin have to battle against the combined forces of The Joker, Riddler, Penguin and Cat Woman. |
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| Batman became a big budget film in 1989 with Michael Keaton playing Bruce Wayne who by night goes by the name of Batman and acts as a vigilante so the streets of Gotham are thug free. On one of his routine crime fighting sprees Batman captures a local gangland boss called Jack Napier played by Jack Nicholson, but has to release him when one of Napier's men has Commissioner Gordan at gun point. While fleeing Napier gets shot and falls in a vat of chemicals. Napier is left for dead, but actually survives, the trauma of his disfigurement drives him mad and spurs him on to plot a major crime wave, he now goes by the name of The Joker. Batman realizes that he has seen Jack Napier before, when he was a child he witnessed his parents been killed, it turns out that it was Napier that killed his parents. Stopping the Joker has now got personal. |  |
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| Batman Returns sees the Cape Crusader having to Battle against two new Super Villains, The Penguin played by Danny Devito and Catwoman played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Batman has mixed feelings when he has to stop the Catwoman. This film sees Bruce Wayne having a romance with Selina Kyle. This romance comes to a sudden halt when he realizes that Selina is in fact The Catwoman and he is forced to fight him under his alter ego of Batman, |  |
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| Batman Forever sees Val Kilmer taking over the role of Batman. As Bruce Wayne he attends a charity circus and it is here that he witnesses a killing spree by two new super villains Two Face/Harvey Dent played by Tommy Lee Jones and the Riddler played by Jim Carey. Dick Grayson is one of the performers at the circus and is orphaned by the two criminals. Bruce Wayne takes him and looks after him. After a while Dick Grayson works out that Bruce Wayne is Batman and decides to tag along. Alfred the Butler makes his a uniform and he calls himself Robin. Together they Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson become Batman and Robin the Dynamic Duo. |  |
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| Batman and Robin had George Clooney playing Bruce Wayne/Batman. This time Batman and Robin have two new enemies to face, Mr Freeze played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Poison Ivy played by Uma Thurman. Batman and Robin have some extra help, this time from Alfred the Butler's niece who takes ont the role as Batgirl. |  |
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| Batman Begins goes back to the very start and shows how and why Bruce Wayne become Batman. This time Bruce Wayne/Batman is played by Christian Bale. The main villain in this film is Dr Jonathan Crane, he has created a toxin that makes his victims fear him. Dr Crane goes by the pseudo name of The Scarecrow. This is probably the darkest of all the Batman films, but in my opinion the best. |
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This film is based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller, The film is about the goings on in Basin City also known as Sin City. Within Sin City there is 3 stories going on at the same time. Characters from each of the stories end up at some stage inter acting with the characters from the other stories. The film has been filmed just like it was a comic book. Some scenes mix black and white with just little patches of colour. The film is packed with stars like Mickey Rourke, Elijah Wood, Rutger Hauer, Clive Owen, Brittany Murphy, Bruce Wllis, Jessica Alba. |
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X-Men X Men are a team of mutants put together by Professor Xavier. Mutants are people that for what ever reason have been born with slightly different genetics to normal humans. These altered genetics give the mutants special talents, while most mutants look like everyday people, some stand out from the rest due to their powers altering their features. |
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| X Men 1 starts with Professor Xavier recruiting two new Mutants, Wolverine and Rogue to join the rest of the X Men: Cyclops, Jean Gray, Storm back at Professor X's School for the young gifted. It is tough times for mutants as humans fear mutants and want to either imprison or wipe out the mutant race. While on the other hand their are a group of mutants called the Brotherhood of Mutants lead by Magneto believe that mutants are the more superior species and want to take over the world. Magneto's team includes: Toad, Sabertooth and Mystique. It is the down to the X Men to convince the humans that mutants and humans can live together in harmony, as well as trying to stop the Brotherhood of Mutants from taking over the world. |  |
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| X Men 2 sees Magneto in a plastic prison (this is due to his power of metal manipulation, a normal prison would not hold him). Mystique uses all her charm and powers to rescue Magneto. Meanwhile Professor X has recruits a new mutant called Nightcrawler and Wolverine goes to Canada to track down some information about his past. Wolverine is quite unsuccessful in his trip he only has the name of William Stryker to go on and therefore returns back to the School for the gifted to join the rest of the mutants. Professor X and Cyclops fall into a trap and get captured by Stryker and his genetically modified bodyguard Lady Deathstrike. As well as the kidnapping Stryker sets up an attack on the School for the gifted. With Storm and Jean Gray out of town recruiting Nightcrawler it is down to Wolverine and Rogue to get the students out of the school safely. They rely on some of the more advanced students to help the evacuation: Colossus, Iceman and Pyro. Once they successfully evacuate the school the team need to find and release the Professor and Cyclops unfortunately the only way they can do this is by teaming up with their enemies Magneto and Mystique. |  |
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| X Men 3 sees Cyclops returning to the lake where Jean Gray had sacrificed her life to save the rest of the team. Cyclops can't believe his eyes when he witnesses Jean Gray rise out of the lake alive. Jean has become really powerful and evil which sees the demise of Cyclops. Meanwhile a pharmaceutical company called Worthington Labs announce that they have discovered a cure irradiate the mutant gene, the first test is to be on son of the owner of the company Warren Worthington III, he decides that he can't go through with it and spreads his wings like an Angel and escapes. The mutant population are split, Some mutants believe that they are not freaks and do not want the so called cure, while other mutants are cuing up to be cured and then you have the Brotherhood of Mutants who still believe that they are the master race and want to destroy the cure. The X-men are short of numbers due to Rogue leaving to get cured and Cyclops and Professor X killed by Jean Gray, Shadowcat and The Beast join the team. Magneto is also recruiting for his Brotherhood of Mutant team, a fumbled rescue attempt to save Mystique sees Mystique being cured of her mutant powers, but two new mutants being released and joining the team, Juggernaut and Multiple Man joins Magneto and Pyro and the most impressive addition is Jean Gray, now going by the name of Phoenix. While Magneto leads his team to Alcatraz Island to destroy the cure, the X-Men also go to Alcatraz but they decide to help the humans, believing that mutants should have the right to choose if they want to be cured or not. |  |
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