Saturday, July 27, 2013

Weekend Weigh-in: What Director Should Make a Comic Book Movie?

Because what Hollywood needs to make is more comic book movies.

Listen, I'm as tired of superheroes and comic adaptations as you are. But it doesn't look like Hollywood is going to slow down on churning them out anytime soon, so at least we can try to make them interesting. Plenty of big-name directors have already had their turn -- Christopher Nolan, Sam Raimi, Ang Lee, Kenneth Branagh, the list goes on. So who would you still like to see make a superhero movie? And what superhero movie should he or she make?

26 comments:

  1. To be honest, the first person who comes to mind is actually already making a superhero movie, and that's Edgar Wright. I'm super curious to see what that will be like.

    I suppose because I'm such a big fan of David Fincher, I'd be curious to see what his superhero movie would be like, but I feel like it would just be something dark, gritty, and realistic, much like what we already got with The Dark Knight trilogy. Maybe Quentin Tarantino? That would be something. Or perhaps JJ Abrams?

    I don't know, these might not be the best answers, I'll have to think about it some more.

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    1. Oh, and I don't really know what properties any of these directors would be good for, specifically, I just am intrested in what their takes on any superhero movies would be like. Fincher would probably work for Batman, but agian, it may end up being too similar to Nolan's Batman. Abrams might be good for Superman, something with fun action. And Tarantino? Who knows? I just want to see him do something in that genre.

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  2. I keep thinking of Directors who are dead, because how awesome would Kubrick's version of The Spirit have been? Or John Ford's The Dark Knight Returns.

    Kathryn Bigelow doing something like USAgent, or another side character could be good.

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    1. It's hard to imagine what a superhero movie may look like made by Kubrick, but I'm sure it would be awesome.

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  3. I really would like to see Steven Spielberg go all out on a superhero franchise and bring maybe some "wonder" back to the genre. Maybe even tackle a certain superhero who has the word "wonder" in her name.

    We've got Guillermo del Toro tackling a Justice League Dark with Swamp Thing and a BRITISH John Constantine and that sounds like it could be really interesting. Alfonzo Cuaron is another director who could take a thoughtful approach to a superhero, he's already sort of proven his chops in the genre with the third installment of the Harry Potter franchise.

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    1. B-T-dubs, I am actually NOT tired of superhero movies. I mean, we do need some more substantive movies to be made to balance it all out a little more, but I really like the fact that technology has advanced enough to make these stories possible to even produce. I think the popularity of superhero movies speaks more to the society we are living in now than anything else. And as long as the movie viewing public feels a little powerless to the events around them, these kind of myths tend to resonate and provide an escape, a purpose movies serve so brilliantly.

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  4. I only thought this because of Hollywoodland but I would love to see Ben Affleck direct a Superman movie. I think he could get it right.

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    1. Given his current directorial track record, I'm up for seeing Ben Affleck do just about anything right now, so that would be awesome.

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    2. Wouldn't it be crazy to see Ben Affleck star in a street-level comic book movie? Like Daredevil?

      Confession: I like the Daredevil movie.

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    3. You're not alone, Heath. It's deeply flawed, but it's biggest flaw is arguably that it's overly ambitious in trying to pack 20 years worth of stories into a 90 minute movie, and I'll take overly ambitious over cookie-cutter boring any day of the week. Colin Farrel gets a lot of flack for his performance, but he seems to genuinely be having fun. Also, Michael Clarke Duncan was kinda perfect for Kingpin.

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    4. Stick me on that Daredevil liking bench as well and I make zero apologies for it. It has some minor problems but there is a LOT to like about it. Yes, including the Evanescence music.

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  5. As a horror fan, I would love to see David Cronenberg do a Swamp Thing movie. The body-horror he could wring out of a man's transformation into a plant-creature would be the stuff of nightmares, I imagine.

    As for more super-hero-y stuff, I'm tired of how grim everything is, and I think it would be great to see someone with a light touch and fun action movie chops (and a genuine affection for the character) direct my favorite comic-book hero, so I've only got four words to say: Brad Bird for Superman

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  6. I want to see Werner Herzog's take on Daredevil, which I think could have the potential to be fascinating. Affleck or David O'Russell could also do a good job of balancing the attorney/vigilante tension of Murdock's character (not to mention his blindness/enhanced senses), but Herzog is Herzog.

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  7. It could be cool to see Wes Anderson jump out of a fairy tale and into a comic book, I don't know comics well enough to suggest what he might do, but don't the guardians of the galaxy have a raccoon?

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  8. Fincher would do a great Batman. Or Punisher.

    I obviously haven't seen Elysium yet, but based on District 9, Neill Blomkamp has the chops for superhero action. Would it be horrible of me to suggest Black Panther?

    The Iron Fist movie has been in development since forever. The team who made The Raid: Redemption would be an obvious choice. Or, if you want it to be a little bit more lighthearted, get the guys who made District B13.

    About once every other year, Chris Carter comes out of hiding and says he'd like to make the jump to film. Something like The Spectre or the Question or even Martian Manhunter would be great for him.

    If John Hughes were still around, he would have/could have been a great choice for Marvel's Runaways.

    And just imagine Harmony Korine adapting Peter Milligan's version of Shade The Changing Man...

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  9. Heck yes on Cuaron. But then, I say Cuaron for just about everything. Do we realize "Gravity" is his first movie in SEVEN BLEEDING YEARS?! Ohhh, it'd better be good, and his next one had better come a LOT quicker.

    As an unrepentant fan of "Mission: Impossible II", itself a kind of superhero movie, I'd love to see John Woo do some supernatural action.

    Anyway, allow me to tweak the question. After the triple-whammy of "Charlie Wilson's War", "The Social Network" and "Moneyball", I really don't want Aaron Sorkin to do anything other than history-based scripts again (and no, "a glorified sitcom talking about recent history" doesn't count). Remember when he was going to write (hooray!) and direct (eh) a movie about John Edwards? Seems he doesn't, either. All that said, I would be absolutely fascinated to see what kind of comic-book movie script he might write.

    But mostly, I just want a new/good Supergirl movie, not writen by Goyer or filmed in Drab-o-Vision. Possibly written by Pam Brady and the rest of the "Hot Rod" crew. That would be relevant to my interests.

    And I'm not at all sick of comic book movies either, just sick of the Nolan/Goyer ones. And I'm not sorry!

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    1. I consider Cuaron as already having done a superhero movie with his Harry Potter entry, possibly the strongest movie in the series.

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  10. Nicolas Winding Refn for a Daredevil reboot? (with Ryan Gosling of course)

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  11. The Soska Sisters=Tank Girl
    John Hyams=The Boys

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  12. The first thing that came to mind was the Coen brothers doing a movie version of The Walking Dead.

    But a superhero movie? Whedon should get to make Wonder Woman as he's been trying to for ages.

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  13. I would thrown in with John Carpenter. I think he could pull off a decent comic book movie.

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  14. Ridley Scott. I still believe.

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