This looks incredible. Black Panther is one of my favorite comic book characters and it looks like they’ve nailed it. Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) is an excellent director, so I think Marvel could have something pretty special on their hands here.
Thor: Ragnarok comes out in a couple weeks, and is being called ‘the most anticipated movie of the fall,’ and I must agree it, looks awesome. This puts us at about the half-way point of the MCU Phase 3 (I believe Avengers 4 is the final film slated for this phase). What is going to happen with this phase has largely happened, and so I want to turn to speculation for Phase 4.
The phase one movies were largely introductions. We got the Avenger anchor characters (Thor, Cap, Iron Man, and Hulk) setup, and it culminated in The Avengers. Phase two was about expansion, in phase two we had movies like Guardians of the Galaxy who were the Avengers in space, and Ant-Man who is a West-Coast Avenger, as well as filling out the world-building of 3 of the originals (no Hulk movie for so many reasons). And so far Phase 3 has been letting our toys play together. We’ve had Captain America: Civil War (which is really an Avenger’s movie in many ways except they’re split) and Tony Stark is almost a secondary protagonist in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok looks as if it could be called Thor and Hulk against the universe. These mash-ups have been great, and Thor and Hulk look like they’ll be the up there as well.
Here is the thing you need to understand about Marvel’s process (as best as I can understand it): they started us off with characters that may have been B-list to the masses, but they knew wouldn’t require much to make them appeal to people who don’t give a shit about comics (while staying true to the comics), then as time as progressed, as the audience has become more hooked, they’ve brought us into a cinematic comic-book world unlike anything else. They started introducing us to less traditional movie-going experiences, but more traditional comic book experiences. Things are weird, and overall the audience is loving it—can you imagine when Iron Man came out in 2008 if someone had told you Marvel would make a movie about a talking raccoon and a sentient tree that you would have been excited? Maybe if you’re reading on this site I guess, but overwhelmingly I think the answer would be no for those of us not delving into the weird world of comic books.
For Phase 4, we’ve had the cross-overs, we’ve had the mash-ups, we’ve had the weird, now it’s time to get to ‘the replacements.’ By the beginning of Phase 4, the franchise will be ten years old, many of the actors will have been in for 6 or more movies, and it will be time to start changing the line-up. It’s not necessarily what many want as a viewing audience, but it is what the business will begin to dictate, and honestly, I think there are some great potential options for it.
Comic books, unlike movies or TV, don’t have actors they need to replace, and yet they often do replace the characters. Right now in the movies Steve Rogers is Captain America, but both Bucky Barnes (aka The Winter Soldier) and Sam Wilson (aka The Falcon) have both ascended to the role of Cap. Most of the superheroes in comic books have been multiple characters, and it can rejuvenate them, it can change perspective, and I think it can do that for the MCU.
You might be thinking, “I don’t want anyone but Chris Evans playing Captain America,” but just because he doesn’t play Cap doesn’t mean he can’t return as Steve Rogers, or even later to return as Cap if the storyline allows it. This option frees up the actors a lot, because while the paychecks are nice, for the Chris’s (Evans and Hemsworth, and maybe even Pratt) it’s a lot of physical work to keep in their superhero conditions.
As it is, in Homecoming, we basically get Tony Stark having outsourced many of the Iron Man duties to autopilot, and so I think there is nothing that says they have to kill off the characters, or recast, just replace. We need an Iron Man, and a Cap on the team, but do we need Steve Rogers or Tony Stark?
With Ant-man, we’ve already seen the second iterations introduced, largely because Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) is too close of a character to Tony Stark, whereas Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a much different character.
The richness of comic books in adaptation is that there is so much source material much of it conflicting, but all kind of co-existing, and it allows the filmmakers to do whatever they want. It solves a couple of problems that I think are going to occur, one is that inevitably if these films continue going, there will need to be recasting, but this could allow a buffer space, and a shifting of the world/tone to allow new actors in. The second issue it solves is it uses fatigue on the part of actors playing the same characters to further world-build. It also allows different kind of conflicts, the conflict between characters not trusting a new Cap, or a new Thor, or whomever needs to be replaced creates conflict, and this has been Marvel’s strength is the conflict between protagonists, not the conflict between protagonist and antagonist.
Clearly, Kevin Feige knows what he’s doing, he’s been slowly sucking us all into a far less generic cinematic franchise, one that does resemble comic books more than traditional films in a lot of ways. So perhaps this will be the eventual route he takes, and if it isn’t I’ll be along for the ride, because on the whole he’s been getting it right, but I suspect if the audience keeps going along as he pushes us further and further, we’re going to see these kinds things happening, and I personally look forward to an MCU in which characters are replaced and not actors (for as long as possible).
Wow, an X-Men horror movie. I’m there. Keeping superhero films fresh and different. Good stuff.
Hey, guys
Check out my review for Kingsman: The Golden Circle in this mini-podcast! Listen here or on iTunes:
Hey, guys
Paul, here. Darren Aronofsky is a fascinating director, responsible for such masterpieces as Requim for a Dream and The Wrestler. His new film “mother!” ( The exclamation point is part of the title) has been controversial more for it’s bizarre nature than anything truly extreme in the film. I haven’t seen it, but I was really interested to get a point of you on the film from somebody I trust. So we sent one of our best men, Mr. Timothy Cuff , into the field to review this controversial movie. Even if you have no intention of seeing the movie, this podcast is definitely fascinating and Tim explaining his point of view on the film is entertaining in and of itself. So please enjoy! Also available on iTunes:
The final (I hope) Justice League trailer dropped last week and being the DC nuts that Tim and I are, we have a nice little chat about it. It’s crazy to think that we’re less than 2 months away from A FUCKING JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE!!!! But a black cloud hovers over this film. We await it’s opening with trepidation and, for me, cautious optimism. The excitement that surrounded the first Avengers film isn’t accompanying the first on screen appperance of DC’s premiere super team. DC doesn’t have Marvel’s on screen track record. I have hope, though! In the immortal words of the Blue Lantern Corps: “All Will Be Well.”
Also, I’m working on a new article for the site that I hope to have up in the next few days and I’ll have a new column from our guest correspondent Mike Cole posted soon. In the meantime, please enjoy Tim and I chatting all about the new JUSTICE LEAGUE trailer:
Here’s Tim’s excellent review of the new hit horror film, “IT”. Definitely give it a listen, I know I’ll be heading to the movie theater this weekend after having listened to this podcast. All of our Podcasts are also available on iTunes.
With Wonder Woman being released digitally on iTunes and other places this week, I thought this was a good opportunity to take another look at the character of Diana. How she’s portrayed in the film, in other media, and the importance the character should play in our pop culture, especially now.
What made Wonder Woman DC’s most successful film thus far, at least creatively, is that the film understood what the Marvel films seemed to have understood from the beginning: character is everything. Marvel understands their heroes backwards and forwards and up until Wonder Woman, it wasn’t clear if DC really KNEW who their characters were and what makes them tick. Regardless of what else they have going on, they nailed Wonder Woman in that department. She was a beautifully realized character on screen.
Filmmaking is a collaboration, but I’m going to give credit to director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot for making this character work so well. Diana is many things, some of them are contradictions. She a warrior and ambassador for peace. She’s a friend, a lover, a mother figure. She’s strong, compassionate, loyal, and resolute. Oh, and she’s also a complete fucking bad ass. These are tough things to make work on screen. But by coming from a place of character first, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot gave us the perfect Wonder Woman. Regardless of where the DC Extended Universe goes from here, we will always have this beautiful, stand alone Wonder Woman film.
(I mean, JESUS CHRIST! She even makes BATMAN her bitch)
I’m always fascinated how news and important events in the real world are reflected in our popular culture. I wish there were more characters like Wonder Woman on film and TV. Someone who embodies both strength and compassion, someone who espouses tolerance and love. I know I’d like to see more of that on my TV every day. Wonder Woman reminds us all that we can be BETTER.
It’s interesting that Diana is the DC character on screen right now that most embodies the concept of HOPE. Hope is usually the domain of the Last Son of Krypton, Superman. After all, that isn’t an S on his chest, its Kryptonian, the symbol of The House EL, it means hope.
I really hope they eventually nail the character of Superman like the nailed Wonder Woman. I think the problem is that most people agree who Diana is and what she’s all about. I don’t think that’s neccesarily the case for the Man of Steel. For a lot of writers out there, Christopher Reeve and everything his Superman was, is all that Superman should be. I not only vehemently disagree, I believe this thinking hurts the character. My Superman will always be the guy from Bruce Timm’s Superman: The Animated Series and the subsequent Justice League shows. The Superman of Man of Steel was a little closer to that guy, which is one of the reasons I like that film.
Anyway, I’ve got Wonder Woman on as I’m writing this piece and for now it’s nice to have one undeniably great stand alone DC film.
Diana’s message regardless of the medium is a powerful one: love, acceptance, equality, and compassion. When I watch the news, that’s not the world I see, I wish it was. Encourage your friends who haven’t seen Wonder Woman to give it a try. Because if even a little piece of Diana seeps into their subconscious, who knows? Maybe they’ll try a little harder to exhibit some of Diana’s wonderful attributes I was talking about earlier. Since the world can be a pretty scary place these days, that idea, that possibility, makes me feel just a little bit better. She came her to save “Man’s World”. Let’s ALL beat her to it…
Last week, the best Batman film ever made finally came to Blu Ray. But wait, isn’t The Dark Knight already on Blu Ray?! It absolutely is, but I’m not talking about The Dark Knight. The best Batman film ever made is Batman: Mask of The Phantasm. Right now you’re thinking: “Paul! Are you fucking nuts? The Dark Knight is HANDS DOWN the best superhero movie EVER made! Are you on fucking crack, bro?” First of all, No, I’m not on crack, I’m on cocaine and a little morphine but it doesn’t affect my judgment whatsoever. Secondly, of course I love The Dark Knight! The movie is a fucking masterpiece. Not only the apex of superhero films so far, it’s the movie all other superhero movies are judged against. It’s one of the best films ever made… period.
What makes Mask of the Phantasm so special to me and what differentiates it from the Nolan films and the Burton films (I love both), is that the story focuses on Batman and his journey more than any other character. Burton’s first two Batman movies get overwhelmed with villains that overshadow Batman and in the second film Batman Returns he has a significantly less screen time then in Batman 1989. Meanwhile, Nolan and his films were a huge step in the right direction, but this still wasn’t the Batman that I knew and loved. The Joker looms so large over everything in The Dark Knight and the most important character arc in that film is Harvey Dent’s. So again, we have an excellent Batman movie that doesn’t necessarily have Batman as the focus of the story.
As many times as we’ve seen Batman on the big screen, we’ve never really a gotten theatrical film that delves deep into Batman and his psychology, what drives him, and the pain from his past that haunts him in the present. Even though we’ve had some excellent portrayals of Batman on film, we haven’t had a movie that gets inside the characters head like this film does. Mask of The Phantasm is such a exceptional Batman film because FINALLY it’s a story about… Batman.
After the massive success of Bruce Timm’s classic Batman: The Animated series, Warner Bros. wanted Timm and company to produce a feature length Batman animated movie. It was an extension of The Animated Series, taking place in the same universe as the show (kind of like how they started making the early Star Trek movies. They weren’t a reboot of the show, but a continuation, another chapter in the adventures of these characters). Even though the film was not a financial success, largely due to poor marketing, it was critically acclaimed at the time and has since been viewed as a masterpiece of the superhero genre with an enormous cult following. Like the TV show it came from, Mask of The Phantasm was dark, adult, smart, and with beautiful noir style animation and music. The movie was able to captivate an adult audience with the same emotional complexity and moving storytelling that the animated series did so well. As a cherry on top, we get to watch Mark Hamill give one of the all-time great super villain performances as The Joker in this film.
In the film, Batman must overcome a physical challenge in the form of The Phantasm and an emotional one in the form of Andrea Beaumont, an old flame who could have been the love of Bruce’s life. When a masked vigilante starts murdering mob bosses in Gotham City, Batman becomes public enemy number one when both the police and the criminal underworld think The Dark Knight is the killer. Of course, the mysterious Phantasm is the real killer. To complicate matters for Bruce, Andrea Beaumont returns to Gotham after years of living abroad. This stirs up painful memories for Bruce and a large part of the film flashes back to the days just before Bruce was about to become The Batman.
Mask of The Phantasm was as close to a Batman origin story as the show ever came. In the flashbacks, Bruce is roughly in his early 20’s and has just returned to Gotham. He’s been around the world, learned all the skills and training he needs, but he’s still not sure how to carry out his mission of protecting Gotham City. This is when Bruce meets a beautiful young woman named Andrea Beaumont. He meets her in a cemetery of all places (very fitting for Batman), Bruce is there visiting his parent’s graves, looking for some kind of guidance on how he should move forward with his insane mission. Bruce sees the beautiful Andrea at her mothers grave and overhears her talking out loud to her mother who’s long since passed on. This immediately connects the two, because they both have tragedy in their past that has defined their lives. They strike up a conversation and they have immediate chemistry. Bruce asks her out and they begin dating.
As their relationship deepens, Bruce continues to experiment with his mission. There’s a key scene in the film where Bruce attempts to stop a robbery that involves group of thug’s loading stolen goods onto a truck. There’s a pretty cool action scene and Bruce is ultimately able to subdue the criminals. However, Bruce comes to an important revelation: as skilled as Bruce is, he’s still just a man in a ski mask with a couple of gadgets. In fact, when he first confronts the criminals they laugh at them, they don’t know what to make of this nut. That’s when it dawns on him: they need to be afraid of him. In that moment, the Batman persona is born.
But all this masked vigilante stuff may become a moot point. Bruce didn’t count on finding love or happiness. Ultimately a life with Andrea means more to Bruce than fulfilling the vow he made to his parents that he would rid the city of the evil that took their lives. There’s great scene in the film where Bruce agonizes over this decision, which I’ve posted below:
This settles it, Bruce proposes to Andrea. She says yes and they couldn’t be happier. But all Batman stories are stories of tragedy to one degree or another and Andrea’s father is keeping a dark secret (I won’t spoil it here but it comes in to play in a big way later in the film and it may not be what you think).
* (This is NOT what I would call a good omen for the future of their relationship)
The next day Bruce comes home greeted by a sullen Alfred who hands Bruce a note from Andrea, breaking off their engagement. This comes completely out of the blue and leaves Bruce heart broken (again Andrea’s reason for the abrupt break up come into play later in the film).
In the flashbacks, we see a Bruce Wayne who hasn’t been completely consumed by The Batman. We see him more vulnerable and open than the character is usually portrayed. Before the wall of The Batman is put up, when he won’t let anyone in. There are many reasons Batman behaves the way he does. But this was an interesting insight into one of the reasons he is cold, distant, and keeps the people closest to him at arms length. It’s this deep exploration of the psyche of Bruce Wayne that makes this movie such a stand out. Batman is the main character. It shows him at these two vastly different points in his life and give us a fantastic insight into who he is and why.
Bruce finally makes his choice and becomes The Batman. Which we see here in this excellent scene:
I WAS GONNA DO A SPOILER WARNING, BUT AT THIS POINT… FUCK IT
So, basically the reason Andrea had to abruptly end her engagement to Bruce was that Andrea’s father made some bad investments and lost a lot of money. In desperation, he turned to some very dangerous men for a loan. When these men came looking for payments on the money that Andrea’s father owed, he couldn’t pay. They threatened his life and the life of his daughter if he didn’t come up with the money by the end of the week. Fearing for his daughters life, Andrea and her father flee to Europe where they had been in hiding for several years. Eventually, the criminals who her father owed money to, track them down and a man who may or may not, be the man who becomes The Joker, killed Andrea’s father. All the men that her father owed money to, are the mob bosses that The Phantasm has been killing. Andrea Beaumont is The Phantasm. Killing these men as revenge for taking her father’s life
As I said before The Joker plays an important part in this film, of course played by the great Mark Hamill. This movie also flirts with a possible origin for The Joker. And like all of the great possible origins for The Joker, it’s left hazy and uncertain. There are several different possible explanations for who The Joker really is in the comics. In those comics and this movie, they don’t rob the character of his mystique by spelling out exactly who he is, they just give you a taste.
To be completely honest, they don’t necessarily need The Joker to make this story work. They could’ve left the character out and the story still would’ve worked fine. But Mark Hamill is such a great Joker and this being their first big screen showing of this television program, they had to of course include Batman’s best and most iconic villain. Also, this film has one of my favorite Joker moments of all time.
During the films climax at an abandoned worlds fair, there’s a final showdown between Batman, The Joker, and The Phantasm. This is great scene because it’s a brutal, violent confrontation between mortal enemies, with Batman in the middle trying to save the soul of the woman he loves. In a final attempt to save Andrea from the path she’s on, Batman says: “But Andrea, what will vengeance solve?” To which she replies “If anyone knows the answer to that, Bruce, its you.” Wow, Andrea. Burn.
Andrea disappears to hunt The Joker, while Batman tries to get to him first. The Joker has the whole place rigged to explode and after a brutal fight with Batman, The Joker is bloody and on his knees in front of Andrea Beaumont. Andrea has the man who killed her father at her complete mercy. At this point there’s a very good chance that all three of them could die. Just as the bombs go off and everything around them is burning, this wonderful scene culminates in, in my opinion, the greatest Joker laugh in cinema history:
It’s kind of brilliant that Bruce Wayne would fall in love with a woman like Andrea Beaumont. Even before she becomes the revenge driven Phantasm, maybe there was something that she and Bruce saw in each other that they didn’t even realize on a conscious level, how similar they both were. And how willing they both are to do things that would be considered madness in the name of those they love. And that’s the tragedy of this story, had things been different, there could’ve been a real life for Bruce Wayne, a life without Batman. A life without the pain, the fear, the rage, the loneliness. This story showed us his opportunity to let go of his vendetta. The fact that he came so close is the gut punch.
The Blu-ray sales of Batman: Mask of The Phantasm are very important because if this film sells well on Blu-ray, Warner Bros. will finally release Batman: The Animated Series in its entirety on Blu-ray. Right now, the series is only available on DVD and digital download. So I encourage you, if you’re a true Batman fan go out and buy this Blu-ray. Because we want this wonderful, seminal, incredible, classic series to finally be on Blu-ray like it deserves. Plus, you’ll have one of the best Batman movies ever made to add to your Blu-ray collection. This is Batman at his best folks. If you’ve never seen either Batman: The Animated Series or Batman: Mask of The Phantasm, than I’m envious of you, because you’re in for one hell of a treat, enjoy.
As always, thanks for reading everyone!
-Paul
UPDATED:
Here’s the mind blowingly cool COMC-CON trailer for JUSTICE LEAGUE! I can’t help, but get excited for this movie despite all the behind the scenes drama. Check out the trailer here:
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Hey, guys
Here’s a cool piece of promotional material out of COMIC-CON today. The new, very cool poster for JUSTICE LEAGUE. I like that it reminds me a lot of something the great Alex Ross would paint. I still have my fingers crossed that this movie will work out. Take a look at the poster below:
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