just going to go ahead and have a Captain America: The Movie thread

integral action vs. window-dressing, i think?

to my reading, in the bourne movies the action has (um) a dramatic purpose and serves to advance the plot, while in the batman they could be excised w/o damaging the plot progression

(sub in 'character arc' or 'genre necessaries' for 'plot progression' if you like)

io9 had a rave review of the film http://io9.com/5823515/captain-america-is-an-incredible-war-movie-that-just-happens-to-star-a-superhero

very detailed review of the plot w tons of spoilers so don't read it unless prepared to know the whole film going in

i just mean like, the action is the selling point of the bourne movies; the movies exist to give context to some incredible, dynamic action sequences. there's definitely some other stuff of value going on in the margins, but you're not going to those movies to spend more time with beloved characters like... Conklin and Nicolette. most superhero movies cant pull off that level of asskickery (especially origin movies, where its just about setting up the status quo), so they gotta do other things to keep you interested. thats why i think raimi's spiderbro movies worked with audiences who dont ordinarily care for this stuff - they're already fun just as these heightened reality melodramas with a kind of timeless feel to them

the problem with cap - i liked this movie btw! - is that he spends the whole movie effortlessly plowing through every obstacle. i dont think chris evans gets a single scratch or nick on him. so you can basically lean back and go 'eh, he's got this' the whole time.

It helps that RDJ is pretty much the walking embodiment of Tony Stark in both look and attitude.

RDJ is easily the best actor playing a superhero in anything since Chris Reeves, I think. Iron Man would be significantly worse without him. I can't say that about any other current superhero films I've seen; the actors are fairly interchangeable.

you'd think audiences would have reached their saturation point by now. this is the umpteenth mediocre superhero film this summer.

the first Burton Batman,

can't believe anyone still reps for this garbage

Yeah, that first movie blows. After all the portent of the beginning, it devolves into ... a countdown plot to poison the water supply of Gotham!!!

I like the number that Comics Alliance did on the first Batman:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/05/23/batman-1989-review/

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/05/30/batman-1989-part-two-review/

(They've been going through all the movies these past few weeks.)

2nd Burton Batman is great fuiud

adding a bunch of people to the enemies list

Oh, wait, I misread Burton Batman as Batman Begins. Regardless, Burton Batman has major issues, but it does strike a nice balance between comic book and dark batman. Second Burton Batman has superior set/costume design; Pfeiffer's cat woman might be the most iconic villain in one of the ultimately least iconic superhero sequels. And also, Batman Returns has ... a plot to poison Gotham's water supply, too?

2nd Burton Batman is great fuiud

^^^agreed!

Oh, wait, it's a killing of the first born plot. But the second Burton Batman does have Danny DeVito eating off someone's face, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7PuqHC8KaE

i do love batman returns - saw it in the theater when it came out, i was 7 years old, its really just a crazy burton movie that happens to have a batman cameo in it. its got tragic penguins, killer performances from devito and walken, plus michelle pfeiffer is the definitive catwoman imo - nobody will ever change my mind on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onHNcxo-Lmk&feature=related

But anyway, Captain America. I laughed but it looks OK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0j-Zrbo7rA

the first movie is a total mess - veers wildly in tone, character motivations make no sense, plot has literally no regard for a coherent sequence of events, majority of the acting is terrible etc

the first movie is hilarious and fuiud

Michael Keaton wtf

batman returns is fantastic imo but its probably not a great 'superhero movie' the carnival atmosphere makes it too ridiculous and lurid but w/e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6hZ4f34II

^^ HILARIOUS

look all i'm saying is if you give a major super hero franchise kick-off to the guy who made frankenweenie you get what you pay for

I mean, come on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxySK01v1os

the first movie is hilarious and fuiud

it is hilarious. because it is SO BAD

They should have Prince play a villain in a new Batman.

Now imagine the movie actually started with this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n4s-lkYm0w

i loved dark knight as much as the next guy who didn't think it was The Greatest Film of All Time but i will take a movie where thugs deface fine art to the sound of prince over Brooding Arguments About Creeping Fascism every day of the week

xpost -- Compare and contrast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-sV-O2-jCY

(Or eight million other films, obv.)

ppl hating on "Batman" need to reexamine their aesthetic priorities IMO

I get the feeling Prince was the only one that realized how ridiculous the whole endeavor was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Bj_So1PuA&feature=related

I am pretty certain Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton got it, too

i am pretty sure nicholson was lol'ing all the way to the bank and i salute him for it

You're goddamn right he was:

http://promovieblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/jack-nicholson-the-joker-money.jpg

and wheeeereee is the BATman...

I kind of wonder if Prince wasn't shown any actual movie footage and just had visual cues of what the characters looked like and someone summarized the script

Thinking about the artistic process of Prince is probably something I could do for decades and still be puzzled, though

i have a feeling prince was shown some sketches of the joker's outfits and combined with some vague memories of the tv show cranked the whole thing out in an afternoon between lunch and his nap.

I wonder what the soundtrack discussions were like. "Who would really nail the feel of Tim Burton's Batman?" "Well obviously someone famous for being horny and funky, right? Horny and funky are definitely the adjectives that spring to mind looking at the storyboards."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt2nc2NkcGE

I am pretty sure the discussion was more like "$$$$$? $$$$$$. $$$$$ PRINCE!" "$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh man I'm going to have Batdance stuck in my head the rest of the afternoon, aren't I?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyrdui5wQmE

^^ classic material

That edit of the boxing glove apparently taking out Billy Dee Williams and then pulling back to show it was hitting the TV screen = A+ still.

still mad at Schumacher for turning Billy Dee Williams into Tommy Lee Jones

haha i remember being 11 and none of my friends understanding why it was so cool that billy dee was harvey dent. "give it a couple movies. you'll see!"

I love Batdance btw

Vicki Vale! Vick - Vick - Vick - Vicki Vale!

This was great!