The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2011 03:12 AM PDT Laddaland – In an effort to provide a better future for everyone, Thee takes up a job offer in Laddaland, Chiang Mai, and moves his whole family there. As the family settles in their new, big house, mysterious things start to happen next door. Apparently, a Burmese maid was brutally murdered there, and her spirit lingers ... This Thai horror stars Saharang Sangkapreecha, Piyathida Woramusik, Suthatta Udomsilp and Apipich Chutiwatkajornchai. Blitz – A detective is asked to bring to justice a serial killer who has been targeting the police. Starring Jason Statham, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen and Luke Evans. Green Lantern – A test pilot, Hal, receives a mystical green ring that gives him otherworldly powers. By accepting the ring, Hal also becomes a member of the Green Lantern Corps, protectors of peace and justice who are warriors from outer space. When a new enemy threatens peace in the universe, Hal is determined to prove to the other members of the Green Lantern brotherhood that he is just as capable as they are. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Tim Robbins. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 10 Jun 2011 03:07 AM PDT With so many superhero movies playing and about to be played, we felt compelled to address the subject. SUPERHEROES come in all shapes, sizes and colours these days. Here, four comicbook/movie buffs share their thoughts and wishes about the much used (and abused?) movie genre. By the ragged rings of Raggador MY favourite comic-book movie was, for a long time, Superman: The Movie. More than 30 years have passed since it came out, and the film is certainly dated. Other movies have come along to knock it off its perch, but no actor has managed to dethrone Christopher Reeve in my book as the absolute champ among actors playing superheroes. He was amazing as both Superman and Clark Kent, coming across as both mortal and otherworldly at once. More than the dodgy special effects ever could, it was really Reeve – backed by that rousing John Williams score – who made us believe a man could fly. One of my favourite superhero flicks, Spider-Man became Supes' successor, then Spider-Man 2, and then The Dark Knight blew everything else out of the water. But for the longest time, Superman: The Movie soared above them all. None of the sequels came close, not even Superman II, and quite frankly, after Sucker Punch, I am dreading what Zack Snyder is going to serve up with Man of Steel. Hope I'll be pleasantly surprised. Now for some other superhero movie "Oscars": Best. Score. Ever: John Williams, Superman: The Movie. Most Comic-like Movie: Creepshow, directed by George Romero and written by Stephen King. Most Misunderstood: Ang Lee's Hulk. It was really close in spirit to the comics when they had all those "psychoanalysing the monster" storylines. And those giant poodles do exist, I've seen them in Bangsar. Honest. Abomination: The Justice League Of America TV movie. Son of Abomination: The little-seen Man-Thing movie from 2005. Grandsons of Abomination: The dreadful Captain America TV movies and equally awful Cannon Films version a bit later on. Cap ... three strikes and you're out. This year's movie had better ace it! Ain't So Bad: The Nick Fury: Agent Of SHIELD TV movie with The Hoff. Hey, it was good for a laugh! Guilty Pleasure: A tie between Wes Craven's Swamp Thing and Tim Story's Fantastic Four. Most folks wouldn't openly acknowledge that they're terribly good but ... heck, Adrienne Barbeau in the bayou? Jessica Alba in blue tights? Duh. My editor won't let me sign off without stating my superhero movie wish. Well, The Avengers next year is many a comic book geek's dream come true already. But, by the Ragged Rings of Raggador and various other alliterative invocations, what I really want to see is a Doctor Strange movie done well. And they'd better get those Steve Ditko-esque spells and funky trans-dimensional effects right. Ah, that would be a film to watch. Preferably after a few beers. – Davin Arul The devil in these guys THE greatest fear among fans of comic books that are made into movies is the project falling into the wrong hands. Getting Guillermo del Toro on board as director for the film adaptation of this Dark Horse Comics title was the first "Yes!" that Hellboy fans gave to the deal because of the man's solid credentials in the fantasy genre – he directed Blade II based on the Marvel Comics vampire hunter which was released in 2002 to massive success; the 2001 Spanish-Mexican gothic thriller The Devil's Backbone; the 1997 American sci-fi horror film Mimic; and the critically-acclaimed 1993 Mexican horror Cronos. Del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola proved to be very much on the same page when the two of them, at a meeting to discuss the movie, revealed that Ron Perlman was their choice to play the titular character. (Yes!!) As further indication of how big a Hellboy fan he is, del Toro co-authored a tale (Yes!!!) that was included in the Hellboy: Odder Jobs (Dark Horse Books, 2004) collection of short stories by "some of today's top names in horror" – the second of a three-volume series, the first being Hellboy: Odd Jobs (1999) and the third, Hellboy: Oddest Jobs (2008). Winning fans over even more was his refusal to go with the studio suits' attempt to mess with the character (Yes!!!!), such as making him a man who becomes Hellboy when he is angry (that's the guy from Marvel, stupid). Hellboy by Revolution Studios was released in 2004 to moderate success at the box office, while Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) by Universal Pictures fared better. This goes to show that Hellboy is still very much a cult favourite despite the big studio treatment, unlike the mass appeal of his mainstream counterparts Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men. Mignola's "boy" was first published in 1994, a relative newcomer to the comics scene when compared to Superman, Batman, Captain America, Thor and other major characters who have been around for 50 years or more. Pretty much unheard of outside the comic book circle you might say. A prince of hell born on earth during World War II, Hellboy was the name given to him by the American paranormal investigator who discovered, and later adopted, him. His true name is Anung Un Rama – the Beast of the Apocalypse who brings destruction to the world with his Right Hand of Doom. Nurtured by his adoptive father Professor Bruttenholm (simplified to "Broom" in the movies), Hellboy, who was given honorary human status by the United Nations, grew up fighting on the side of good against his own kind (demons and devils) and against his destiny to end all life. Seeing Hellboy in the flesh (albeit on the silver screen) is like meeting for the first time the person you have heard and read about all your life. You wonder what he will be like. Is he anything like the comic books? Big, red, more brawn than brains? Wise-cracking tough guy with a good heart? Not what you expected? On that score, del Toro and Perlman got it right. No complaints. If any, it's that there should be more. I want to see Roger the Homunculus, a humanoid created by alchemy who is my other favourite character from the Hellboy series. Among many, actually. Dr Kate Corrigan, professor of history and consultant to Hellboy's special US government unit, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). Sigourney Weaver is my choice to play an ass-kicking on-screen Kate Corrigan. Man up Abe Sapien and more screen time for him, to show his capabilities as a BPRD field leader. There's no word on the grapevine about new characters in the third Hellboy movie though. What we've got is that the next one would sort out the relationship between Hellboy and a pregnant Liz Sherman. Come what may, it's been a thrilling joyride with del Toro at the helm, whose work on Hellboy is indeed, to quote an old cliché, a labour of love. More please. – Lim Cheng Hoe Heroes within Comic book fans have known all along that beyond the garish coloured costumes and speech bubbles, lie meaningful, thought-provoking stories that enable us to understand our humanity better by juxtaposing it alongside superhuman fantasies. The comic-book film adaptations I enjoy range from the serious film adaptations like Zack Snyder's Watchmen, based on one of the most respected graphic novel series, which blurred the lines between fantasy and gritty reality. I also loved Jon Favreau's two Iron Man films, which required less-thinking but had huge amounts of fun and jaw-dropping action moments. I guess the comic-book film adaptations I love best are the ones which lie somewhere in between Watchmen and Iron Man, in terms of thought-provocation and fun, such as Bryan Singer's X-Men and Christopher Nolan's Batman franchises. Both these writer-directors manage to go beyond the obvious special effects and stylistic requisites of a super-hero movie and made their comic-book characters human and believable whilst having important things to tell the audience about the state of society, government and prejudice. These comic-book adaptations, in particular, manage to teach us about power and make us believe that we could be heroes ourselves. Isn't that why we watch these films in the first place? – Jason Lim Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Favourite Comic-Book Superhero movie: The Dark Knight Yes, it's a very obvious choice, but there haven't been many other superhero movies that could actually stun me to the point where I could not get out of my seat even after the credits had stopped rolling. Of course, a lot of it had to do with Heath Ledger's towering performance as the Joker; but the real genius here is Christopher Nolan and how he managed to weave all the absurd, fantastical elements of the comics into a believable and utterly gripping crime drama (that just happened to have a man dressed as a bat in it). Favourite Non-Comic-Book Superhero movie: The Incredibles I've lost count how many times I've watched The Incredibles, and I've loved it more each time I've watched it. Unburdened by the limitations of real world physics (and the whims of diva actors), Pixar created a superhero movie that was well, incredibly exciting, funny, believable, and also had lots of heart as well. It's such a great family movie that I suspect I'll be watching it with my future kids for many years to come. Fantastic Four, eat your cosmic ray-infused heart out. The Brett Ratner award for worst superhero movie ... A few come to mind, actually. Catwoman, Ghost Rider, X-Men: Last Stand, and *shudder* Batman And Robin. But the worst one has still got to be The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen; that horrendous adaptation of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel about a super group of literary "superheroes". How bad was it? It was so bad that Sean Connery quit acting altogether; and cemented Alan Moore's decision to cut all ties with Hollywood after that. My Dream comic book movie I literally want a Dream movie. As in the Dream from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics. OK, he's not exactly a superhero; rather, one of the Endless, a family of entities that control the most powerful forces in the universe, brought to you by the letter "D" (namely Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium). A Sandman movie has been mooted before, but it fell into Lucifer's personal development hell and has not been heard of since. That's probably for the best though; the Sandman books are so expansive and complicated that any attempt to condense it into a two-hour movie (or even a trilogy for that matter) would probably be doomed from the beginning. Rather than adapting the books per se, I would much rather Gaiman himself wrote an original screenplay for a movie featuring the Endless instead. Failing that, a movie about Death (that cute Goth chick who happens to be the most powerful being in the universe) with Zooey Deschanel in the lead role would be nice. Make it happen, Neil. Also, since Disney pretty much owns Marvel these days, it would be great if Pixar devoted some of their genius and resources to make a really awesome Marvel movie. Unfortunately, Pixar head honcho John Lasseter has already ruled out that possibility for now, but hey, one can always dream, right? – Michael Cheang Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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