Posted on 03/30/2016 5:05:51 PM PDT by MoochPooch
Another month, another superhero movie staggers to the silver screen, lurching under the weight of its own self-importance, groaning with the expectations of fans, and burdened with a nine-figure marketing budget. I am, of course, talking about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, to give it its full, clunkingly portentous title.
Can we all please grow up? Can we acknowledge that Marvel and DC have scraped right though the bottom of the barrel? Can we call time on superhero films? Films which are too dark for kids the comics were originally written for, yet too dumb for any thinking adult.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Heroes, myths, sagas, etc. have always existed, from Classical Greece to Beowulf to the Lone Ranger.
Superheroes are merely the late 20th/early 21st century manifestation of same. They are the brain’s attempt to deal with dizzying contemporary scientific and technological advances. They were and are also a coping mechanism and/or a revenge fantasy in response to war, despotism, etc.
It may be a stretch to call Godzilla a superhero but he is obviously a mythical creature expressly created as a sort of anguished collective cry in response to the loss of WWII, the loss of empire and/or imperial infallibility and, of course, the very real terror of nuclear weapons on home soil. He has been called a stand-in for the US military.
For better or worse, Marvel took so-called teen alienation and growing pains (often little more than the product of postwar affluence and idleness) and made them the centerpiece of their heroes and books (Spider-Man, X-Men) as the 60s and 70s advanced and the kids reading them ate it up as opposed to a reclusive millionaire (Bruce Wayne) or a mild-mannered newspaper reporter (Clark Kent) they couldn’t identify with.
DC, on the other hand, were way behind on the introspection curve and still issuing the corny wham-boom-biff-kapow put-the-bank-robber-in-jail stuff.
Comics and derivative films are escapism just as westerns and musicals were. Some of the psychological torment hero-as-Hamlet stuff gets old as does the temptation to destroy cities, continents and planets via convincing high-res CGI in every film but the protagonist-antagonist narrative has never and will never really change.
One of my grandsons (18) saw the new movie——said it was so-so.
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Give up Captain America, Iron Man, Thor? Not hardly.
True. Superman fought Nazis. There was a greater innocence then.
Unfortunately, given the extreme amorality nowadays, the comics have taken a dangerous left-wing turn, which would preclude any kind of patriotism.
Graphic novels, a sort of “rich cousin,” I find perverse. All the characters are so alienated.
As for comic books.... yeah... I do not see the appeal for adults to buy them, but that is just me.
Patrick Leahey has a cameo in Batman vs Superman where he gets blown up - that was pretty cool...
I call it “Daily Show Syndrome”. Everybody is just mired in stupid crap.
As a kid, I was not allowed by my parents to possess/read comic books. Couldn’t wait to visit my cousins who possessed a plethora of Archie comic books. My husband, I, and our three children enjoy watching Star Wars movies and The Walking Dead series. Have never read the comics. I have enjoyed reading BOOKS - an escapism of sorts. However, the stories are also adventures that someone else has shared...
For the most part, these movies do tend to take themselves too seriously, even when they go for the laughs. So I’d agree. Except.
The TV batman was kinda campy, and I liked it. Likewise the first Iron Man. Most of the Batmans are too convoluted to enjoy. Plus the stupid things are so dark (meaning filmed in the dark) and noisy.
I hated The Lone Ranger when I saw it first, expecting it to be something like what I grew up with. But the second time I saw it, I saw it did not intend to take itself seriously (Depp’s Tonto: “Did my name come up?) Really enjoyed it.
No self respecting adult should deem themselves the judge of MY choice of entertainment if I like seeing movies that, thanks to technology, can bring comics to life in a high quality fashion. I’ve waited decades for them to not be horrible.
A desperate plea from one whose parents threw away his first edition copies of all the Marvel and DC comics that would now be worth a fortune.......LOL!
“Can we all please grow up?”
Entirely out of the question.
This is the golden age of comic book movies. Enjoy it while it lasts.
The solution? I don't see the movies. And I don't criticize those who do. I have never once called them superannuated pre-pubescent morons with attention spans you'd need an atomic clock to measure, not me, not even once. Well, once. Approximately.
No, my tastes are a little more highbrow than that - Sylvia Plath poetry, for example. "Oh, the tea was cold today / and my little dog Fluffy has the runs / I think I'll slash my wrists." Damn, that sings. Modern art, too. If it can't be done through multicolored wino vomit it's really a little passe, don't you think? Well, I sure do. Class and taste, that's me. No comix.
I hate you all.
You act like WWIII would be a bad thing.
Beat me to it. Winter Soldier Is one of my favorite movies of all time.
I for one will abstain from watching wretched politically correct message movies.
Superhero movies are feel good, old time Hollywood fun, leave the theater happy movies.
This writer can watch all the Michael Moore, Sean Penn, George Clooney, and Jane Fonda movies he wants. - I won’t go near them.
Scrooge McDuck fan here, especially when he went up against evil tycoon Flintheart Glomgold.
Any duck worth eighteen susquetillion dollars has my respect.
I enjoyed “Guardians of The Galaxy”...soundtrack, too...:)
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