The Problem with Dark Superhero Films.

Ever since it was announced, there has been much speculation on whether Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice would be any good. Would director Zack Snyder be able to do better than the overly long, stupidly grim, terribly paced Man of Steel?

Nope

Much like it's title, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice appears to be overly long, awkward, and dumb. I feel like this is a troubling sign for the DC Cinematic Universe. All the films seem to be trying to go as dark and serious as possible, which causes them to forget the most important aspect of a superhero film; it's supposed to be fun. 

That's the biggest problem with Zack Snyder's films. They're not fun. Now that doesn't mean you can't be serious and dark, we all know what happens when a movie goes too far in the other direction...

Garbage

But look at the Nolan Batman trilogy. It was able to be a dark and serious superhero film but it allowed itself to have fun while doing it. It's hard to take a world where there are a bunch of people running around in spandex, or in this case a man dressed like a bat, too seriously. That's partially why I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been much more successful. They are able to tackle serious topics and have very emotional moments and still have a lot of fun. 

Take a look at the first Avengers film. Throughout a massive battle on which the survival of Earth hangs in the balance, the heroes are still able to smartly quip at each other or even crack a joke. Even Captain America: The Winter Soldier which is perhaps the most serious of the MCU films still finds time to for fun and bits of humor. These bits of humor don't take away from the film, in fact they often help it out. If you have constant dismal darkness (cough cough Man of Steel cough cough) The audience will get so bogged down by the sullen teenager that is your movie that they won't be able to enjoy it. 

There are however instances where trying to be both dark and fun backfire. 

Family Troubles

A common technique used to create conflict, especially in children’s film, is killing off the protagonist’s parents.  This happens in many superhero films and Disney movies, including The Lion King, Frozen, Batman, and Superman.  

    This technique is used for many reasons.  For one, it isolates the protagonist.  They must now navigate in an unfamiliar world and no longer have a support system.  The protagonist must not only overcome the grief of losing a parent, but also solve their own problems as opposed to getting the answers from someone who knows more than they do.
  
 Though killing off a protagonist’s parent does create conflict within a film, I would like to pose a question.  As opposed to killing off a parent, is it more effective to include a flawed parent whose actions are toxic to their child?
  

 Including an estranged parent is a more effective way to create both internal and external conflict in any plot.  Often times an estranged family member will have chosen something over or instead of the protagonist.  Though the family member is still present, the protagonist is in a constant state of doubt as to whether or not the family member actually cares about them.  This creates a much deeper internal conflict for the protagonist.  When a parent dies, often times a protagonist knows that they were loved before the parent’s death.  It is obvious that the parents did not choose death over their child.  However, when parents choose as drugs, money, or their own selfish wants over their child, the conflict becomes more intense.  Keeping an estranged parent also helps to create character vs. character conflict.  The protagonist must not only struggle through internal conflict, but also stand up to their parent or family member and confront them.
  
 In Million Dollar Baby, Maggie’s parents don’t care about her health or her dreams, but only the money she will make from boxing.  This takes a toll on her and causes her distress throughout the film.  Not only does she not have the support system that she needs to be successful, but she is also taken advantage of by her family, making it clear that they only associate with her for the money. 
 

  In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Gilbert’s mom, Bonnie,  spends her time wasting away in front of the television and letting herself be overcome by her misery.  Gilbert is forced to be the man of the household and take care of his siblings.  This puts him under a great deal of stress and pressure and it frustrates him to see his mother not doing anything to help her family or herself.

    Although many children’s films use the technique of killing off the parent in order create conflict for the protagonist, it is much more effective to write a movie with an estranged parent, creating greater internal and interpersonal drama within the film.

Spider-Man Vs. Batman

     As the semester is running to an end I am running out of things to talk about so now I'm posting about who is a better superhero, Spider-Man or Batman.
     Spider-Man is a teenage high school student named Peter Parker that receives his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. He's lived with his aunt and uncle since a young age ever since his parents died. Peter's powers give him the ability to cling to walls, and have the proportionate strength and speed of a spider. Along with that he gets a "Spider Sense" which allows him to detect danger and avoid it making it nearly impossible to hit him. Peter is also naturally very intelligent which is how he invented "Web Shooters" that allow him to swing from buildings and trap foes.
     Batman is Bruce Wayne the worlds best detective and also a billionaire. The origin story of Batman changes very often, but one thing usually agreed upon is that a young age little Bruce saw both of his patents murdered which makes him want to put an end to crime in Gotham city. The most interesting thing about Bruce is that he doesn't actually have super powers. He is a normal person that is a master of stealth, extremely intelligent. He can also afford to create a seemingly endless supply of cool gadgets.
     But who would win in a fight? This is an argument that I have gotten into on countless occasions with a surprising number of people. Spider-Man has always been my favorite superhero ever since I was a young lad so obviously I think he would beat Batman. However most people I come across do not agree with me. I attribute that to the movie portrayals of the two heroes. Batman's recent movies have been excellently done and are extremely popular, whereas pretty much every Spider-Man movie hasn't been too great.
      Thanks to the internet questions like "Which fictional character would win in a fight" can be easily answered by people with more than me. Fortunately there is a youtube channel called ScrewAttack that does just that. The team takes the two characters makes stats for them and decides a winner. Afterwards they create an animation to show the outcome.

 

Super Hero Movies

During my usual week check on Rotten Tomatoes, I noticed that the new Captain America movie scraped in 95 million dollars at the box office. It really made me think, why the hell are these super hero movies grossing so much money? What makes them so appealing these days. Well for one thing Super Hero movies are a form of escapism. We love rooting for the underdog, and in every super hero movie the underdog quality is always there. One interesting fact I noticed that the last time super heroes were so big was during their debut in the 1930's. The 1930's was the time of the Great Depression, comics like Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Women were all made to help people escape via reading during tough times. I find it so fascinating that these films have becomes so popular during tough economic times. "In the 1930s, the American Dream had become a nightmare, and I think comic books and superheroes in particular provided an escapist form of entertainment that allowed the American public to go into a fantasy world where all the ills of the world were righted by these larger-than-life heroes," says Erin Clancy, a curator at the Skirball. Despite weather you like these films are not, they definitely give us a lot of hope during tough times. 

Hero or Villain?

The Batman movie franchise has had a long tenure and been interpreted by many actors, directors and writers. While the characters and stories follow the general plot lines of original DC comics, their portrayals have varied from each iteration to the next. The Christopher Nolan era of Batman could be argued as one of the most masterfully depicted stories of Bruce Wayne.

Over the span of 3 films he incorporates numerous villains and delves more deeply into the darker side of Bruce Wayne's psyche. The character development seen in the films strikes me as odd, however. The villains of this trilogy seem to be more dynamic characters.While watching, I find myself enjoying the "bad guys" more often than the hero. They have more personality and pizzazz which in turn causes me to almost root for them. One of my favorite of the villains is The Joker, portrayed by Heath Ledger. Yes, he's maniacal. Yes, he's murderous. But most of all he's exciting, unpredictable and so irresistibly captivating to watch. There are so many wrinkles that begin to unfold from the moment the movie begins and for the span of the film he steals the show.
 

Our hero however seems to take the back seat to these master villains. Bruce Wayne as portrayed by Christian Bale is more and more as the trilogy progresses a self-righteous, self-loathing billionaire with a perceived obligation to his city. He seems to be the only character that tries to escape their true self. He does this by becoming Batman. At first a noble pursuit, Batman soon becomes an escape for Bruce. He uses it to avoid the constant pressure of being a celebrity, the pain of lost loved ones and a possible means to a final end, his death. Throughout the series this character is pretty static, filled mostly with anger and grief with occasional hopeful moments which are usually snuffed out. While he's not as exciting to watch as say The Joker or Bane, his role is the backbone on which the story is built. His unwavering and steadfast behavior is what allows him to survive again and again no matter what he faces. While he may not be as likable, he is still the hero.


Next time you find yourself watching The Dark Knight trilogy, ask yourself, "Who's better?" The Hero? Or the Villain?

Batman vs. Superman: not just a 2015 event

There's been a lot of buzz going around recently about the new 'Batman vs. Superman' movie coming out in 2015. Much of it has been directed at Ben Affleck, who was just confirmed as the new Batman. These two characters are getting a lot of attention right now with the Dark Knight series well on their way and the Superman series just starting up again. Their history goes far beyond the last 5 years though, and I'd thought it'd be fun to take a quick peak at what these characters have gone through in the past.

Firstly, let's go back to the dinosaur ages of 1966. Phrases like "gee wiz" were actually said, as you'll notice only 4 minutes into this episode from the Batman TV series:

The series was never viewed as especially good though, and they clearly had a struggling budget. 

Okay, maybe they were struggling with a little more then their budget. But before this show even existed, there was the "Adventures of Superman" TV show that started back when the pyramids were being built. AKA 1952. 

Moving way ahead in time though, this cartoon was released just last year and features an epic battle between Batman and Superman. I feel like this may give us a good idea of what to expect from the new movie coming in 2015, except instead of a cartoon it's real people and a sh*t load of special effects. 

Affleck Catches Flak for Being the Next Guy to Don the Cowl

Last week it was released that Ben Affleck signed a deal with Warner Bros. Studios and is going to be replacing Christian Bale as The Caped Crusader. The information was released that he would first star along side Henry Cavill in what Zack Snyder has only referred to as "Superman vs. Batman". Since this information has been released, Affleck has been catching a lot of heat from fans of the Dark Knight Trilogy, who believe that Affleck is the wrong person to be portraying one of the most famous pop culture icons of all time. Social Media sites such as Twitter and Facebook has been blowing up over this controversy. Personally as an outside observer who does not like to voice my opinion online... I'm going to take my first shot here and jump on team Affleck.

  

Despite having a rocky period of unease in the early 2000's with films such as Daredevil. Affleck has had an incredibly successful career. With his newer groundbreaking films such as Argo, and The Town, and some of his older classics like Goodwill Hunting, and Dazed and Confused, Affleck has continually showed success not only as an actor but as a director and producer. The Town is one of my favorite action/crime film of all time. The gritty dark style and compelling performances by Jeremy Renner and Affleck really make you have a invested interest in the characters and what happens to them.

Along with my current enjoyment in watching most Affleck films, I recently saw an article on the website buzzfeed that really caught my attention. The portrayal of the Joker by the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight was in my opinion is some of the best character acting I have ever seen in my life. However, before his role as the Joker, Ledger was mostly known for playing the romantic male lead in films such as 10 Things I Hate About You, and A Knight's Tale. When it was announced that Ledger was going to play the Joker, many people believed that he was poorly cast. In fact there was many angry tweets saying that there was no way a "gay cowboy", could play the joker. For those of you who like surfing the web you should check out this buzzfeed article.

At the end of the day there is no denying that Christian Bale really did put a face on the image of Batman, like no one has before. Regardless, his performance is going to be a tough one to follow up, and while I am not one hundred percent sure that Affleck is going to nail the performance of Bruce Wayne, all I am saying is that he is a very accomplished person in the film industry and people should give him the benefit of the doubt.

The Brilliance of Nolan

Last night seemed to be a quiet evening, so what better way to spend it than enjoying a film with my closest friends.  We settled on The Dark Knight Rises, the epic third part of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.  The movie, which came out this past summer, smashed its way into the box office and immediately became a huge success in the eyes of movie goers, and super hero fans.  Christopher Nolan's brilliance was really proven with the release of the 2nd movie from the trilogy The Dark Knight.  

Personally I see such creative, and impressive filmmaking and I can't help but wonder why this movie was snubbed at the Academy Awards as well as the Golden Globes.  The race for the Oscars this year is obviously a very close one however I can't see how such visual storytelling did not emerge it's self into the race.  The Dark Knight was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, winning two: sound editing, and best supporting actor.  In such an impressive movie trilogy, I don't understand how this one falls so short for the critics.  Nolan has produced a series of incredible movies, only receiving 3 nominations total even if he receives praise everywhere else you look.  His 3 nominations were for original screenplay for Memento and Inception, also scoring a best picture nom for Inception.  

I find Nola's work to be incredibly deep, and ascetically imaginative with his directing.  I can never quite understand why the Academy always seems to not recognize Nolan's directing after his phenomenal work in all of his movies.  I think he reinvented the comic book character, and brought an entirely new spin on such a classic story, really bringing it into the modern day world and not a fantasy land of Gotham City.  I can't wait to see what he does with the new Superman flick Man of Steel.  I hope that Man of Steel, much like The Dark Knight Trilogy, and even this years hit Bond flick Skyfall, brings a new generation of movie goers into the stories that are simply outdated, and reinvents them in the way that keep the characters and plots updated with the times, and relevant in today's society.  

The Dark Knight Rises + Joseph Gordon Levitt

Okay, so while doing my usual movie stalking I found out that Joseph Gordon Levitt has signed on for "The Dark Knight Rises." Honestly, who else squealed when they read that? I mean, I'm used to Christopher Nolan reusing his lead actors a lot, but this just got me really excited. Joseph Gordon Levitt went from Indie modern day film noir of "Brick" to romantic comedy "(500) Days of Summer" to "Inception" and now "The Dark Knight Rises." He's becoming a big name actor, and personally, I'm pumped.

3D chalk art

Here's a website with more pics.