F4

[Reality]

Very good.

I would not take little ones to this, too much destruction/violence.

Jessica Alba I am officially inviting to become a guest Spurs cheerleader in at least one the 2006 Finals games.

It was not just a cheesy soft pornfest either.  Tasteful shots of Ms Alba.  Jessicas character is super humble, very likeable and actually is very disappointed she can't get the one she likes to commit. :rofl:  :rolleyes:  

[spursfan101]

Glad to hear it. Critics are tanking this flick, I'm a big comic book fan, hope it does well.

[SPURSX3]

Very good.

I would not take little ones to this, too much destruction/violence.

Jessica Alba I am officially inviting to become a guest Spurs cheerleader in at least one the 2006 Finals games.

It was not just a cheesy soft pornfest either.  Tasteful shots of Ms Alba.  Jessicas character is super humble, very likeable and actually is very disappointed she can't get the one she likes to commit. :rofl:  :rolleyes:

"Alba" "soft porn"........I am SO going to see this movie.... :hail:  :hail:  :rofl:  

[Joe Vancil]

Let me start by saying that I'm a DC fan rather than a Marvel fan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film.  I know a bit of the history of the Fantastic Four, and it's close enough for me, albeit I never really followed the Fantastic Four.  It has a few funny moments, and is a very juvenile movie - which is kind of what I was hoping for from the movie.  If you want deep characters and great philosophical thought, WHY ARE YOU LOOKING TO A COMIC BOOK MOVIE?

I was quite pleased with the film, and would recommend it to anyone who's looking to go out an enjoy a fun film.  But if you're the serious, overly-contemplative, deep thought only type, stay home.
 

[Derek Bodner]

But if you're the serious, overly-contemplative, deep thought only type, stay home.

You know, it's weird.  It seems like most people ONLY enjoy deep-thought movies or ONLY enjoy entertaining/fun movies.  Very rarely do peopl enjoy both.  And I never understand it.

[SPURSX3]

Let me start by saying that I'm a DC fan rather than a Marvel fan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film.  I know a bit of the history of the Fantastic Four, and it's close enough for me, albeit I never really followed the Fantastic Four.  It has a few funny moments, and is a very juvenile movie - which is kind of what I was hoping for from the movie.  If you want deep characters and great philosophical thought, WHY ARE YOU LOOKING TO A COMIC BOOK MOVIE?

I was quite pleased with the film, and would recommend it to anyone who's looking to go out an enjoy a fun film.  But if you're the serious, overly-contemplative, deep thought only type, stay home.

I cant understand why joe likes DC Comics.....ugh.   Never got into them myself, Marvel was always the better brand IMO.

[Joe Vancil]

I like deep-thought kind of movies, provided I can find them believable.  Deep-thought movies that have real, believable characters - especially FLAWED characters - make for good movies.  But I also enjoy the sleazy, juvenile comedy, as well as true flights of fantasy.

The funniest movie I've ever seen was a movie called "Ruthless People."  My all-time favorite movie is "Footloose."  Movies like "Eddie and the Cruisers," "The Outsiders," and "The Man From Snowy River" are among the top movies on my list.

I can laugh at sleazy comedies like "Porky's."  I can cry over the heartache in movies like "Terms of Endearment" or "Radio Flyer."  I can shiver in the dark, evil nature of movies like "Sleepers."  I can enjoy the characters and story of movies like "X-Men" or "Spiderman."  I can enjoy Star Wars or Star Trek.

What I CANNOT stand are movies that stretch the boundaries - whether of belief or tolerance - too far.  Among the WORST movies I've ever seen are things like "Ice Pirates" and "Night Patrol," but also in that group are movies such as "The Graduate," which is critically acclaimed.  My gosh, that was such a BBBOOORRRIIINNNGGG movie.  Keep the movie moving along, folks.

A movie that stretches the persistence of the human spirit is generally good - if it's believable.  A good example of that is "The Shawshank Redemption."  A movie with real, believable characters and their struggles is generally good - provided I can understand the struggle:  "A Time To Kill" comes to mind.  But if that struggle is something I regard as either "whininess" or "triviality," then I'll hate the movie:  "Heathers" or "American Beauty."

Movies don't have to be super deep, and being super-deep doesn't automatically qualify a movie as great.

Bottom line:  it's ENTERTAINMENT.  Show me something I'll ENJOY.

 

[Derek Bodner]

I like deep-thought kind of movies, provided I can find them believable. Deep-thought movies that have real, believable characters - especially FLAWED characters - make for good movies. But I also enjoy the sleazy, juvenile comedy, as well as true flights of fantasy.

Agree completely Joe.  In fact, I agree with your entire post, even pretty much with your critique of individual movies.  It just seems there are a lot of people who enjoy solely "deep-thought" movies, and don't have the time for "fun" movies.  

I love 'em both.

[spursfan101]

Ahh, DC vs Marvel. I'm a HUGE Marvel fan, and I never really got into DC Comics...until now. As of late, DC storylines are getting intense, and I'm finding the whole Justice League far more entertaining than anything Marvel is putting out.

In fact, other than when I was 8 years old, I never ever read ANY comics until a buddy of mine who is an avid reader got me reading into a few Fantastic 4 and Spiderman storylines. That's pretty much all I needed, now I'm hooked!  I visit my comic book store at least twice a month, and I pickup about 4 or 5 comics a month.  For my wife, she would rather me spend my "beer money" on something like a comic book than on actual...well...BEER!!!  :cheers:

 

[Joe Vancil]

I got into the Justice League story line back in the mid-70's.  Got out of it when I started developing other interests, but always wanted to go back and catch up on those old stories that I missed.

I got back into comics a year or two back, when I heard all the awful things DC had done to my favorite character - Hal Jordan's Green Lantern - turning him into a villain (or prehaps, semi-villian), him returning as a hero only to die, him coming back as the Spectre, and then, returning to life as Green Lantern again recently.  Outside of the Hal Jordan story line, I'm not really into comics any more.

I picked up a few of the other major story lines - Crisis on Infinite Earths, the stuff going on with the Thunderbolt (I forget what the story was called), Emerald Twilight (Hal Jordan goes bad), Zero Hour (with Hal Jordan as the villain), Final Night (with Hal Jordan as the hero), and the return of the Spectre (can't remember what that was called, either).  I collected the entire Spectre series with Hal Jordan as the Spectre (20-someodd issues), and I went back and picked up some '70's JLA stories that I missed.

Since Caleb is into many of these storylines, it's become a very cool thing to discuss with him, and it's kind of fun to have someone to talk comics with - especially with characters that I really like.  And I owe Caleb a lot of thanks for keeping me up-to-date on my favorite character.

Skander is a Marvel-person, through and through.  I simply never could get into the Marvel stories, until I saw the X-Men cartoon years ago.  But I simply regarded that as a TV show...not as a comic book.  So we watch some of the old videos of that on occasion, but I'm not at all well-versed in the storylines over there, nor am I that enthusiastic about them.

But up until the latest Batman, I have to admit that the Marvel movies were FAR superior to the DC ones.  The latest Batman has narrowed the gap considerably.
 

[Skandery]

Yay!  Talking about comics, goodness, I need to visit this forum more often.  To stay on topic first, Fantastic 4 was a fun movie.  Shouldn't be mistaken for the greatest action, greatest character, greatest storyline, true to the spirit type movie.  It's simply enjoyable, good for laughs, and some really good action sequences.  I've never found Jessica Alba to be the absolute hottest thing on Earth which seems to be the latest trend recently.  Actually the guy I really liked was "The Commish" playing Thing.  I thought the relationship between Ben Grimm (Thing) and Johnny Storm (Human Torch) was spot on from what little about the actual F4 I know.  I think they screwed up the background of Doctor Doom and the Richards' a little too much for fanboys to take this movie into their heart.

I've always been a Marvel fan, probably because when I was a kid at the Public Library, Marvel was mostly what they had for us kids in the periodical room.  My other way into comic characters was X-Men: TAS and Batman: TAS of the early 90s.  Two shows that still rank near the top of my list all time.  X-Men always had a slight edge so when I decided to start collecting comics it was the title I chose to pick.  Although Batman is one of the greatest characters ever, surpassing most of the characters Marvel has created, the rest of DC never really took my imagination.  Always thought Superman was cheesy and with characters like Plastic Man, Aqua Man, 2-D, cookie cutter, do-gooder heroes, always thought DC lacked.  While the majority of Marvel characters had issues, problems, life doesn't magically become perfect because you can fly stories.

As far as the Movies, you've got the first two Batman's and the new one for DC that are great.  
X-Men and Spiderman are the class of the Marvel franchises.  
Honorable mentions go out to Daredevil and Punisher (new one, not Dolph Lundgren one!).  
I consider Hellboy, the Schumacher Batmans, and the Superman's (I've only seen the first two) also-rans.  
Elektra a step below that.  
Catwoman sucked and they screwed Hulk up something fierce! :nonono:  

 

       

[SPURSX3]

I was into Marvel for a few years, I was lucky enough to by dep into the brand for the "Age of Apocalypse" series - Brilliant!  I budy of mine got hooked on that series, and would always want to read the books I bought as soon as i got them.  I stopped reading after Marvel started to modernize all of thier titles - this was just about when X-Men the movie was getting ready to come out.  they started doing this "Heroes Reborn" series, which is when all of our NON-mutant died, except for a couple - spiderman and daredevil I think, trying to fight "Onslaught."   Onslaught was a manifestation created by the fractured mind of Prof Xavier.  I liked that series, but then it snow balled into crap with redesigns and I just stopped buying the books at that point.  I have tried to pick it back up every once in a while, but the price of books has gone up, and the quality of stories - from what i have scanned - just does not seem to make it worth it anymore.

[Derek Bodner]

Ah, the good 'ol days.  I loved Age of Apocalypse.  And Onslaught was probably the best thing (IMO) Marvel has put out during my time.

But you're right, after that, I lost interest in a lot of books.  It really deteriated.

At that point, I went with mostly Image.  A lot of the top names moved over, and I really got into Spawn and The Darkness.  But probably about 4 years ago I stopped reading.  I've bought a few books lately, but it's tough to catch up after I've missed so much.

[Wolverine]

Just thought I'd throw my two cents into the fray (moreso about comics, not the movie).

The FF movie I will NOT see, thanks to them crapping all over the ESSENCE of the biggest villain in the Marvel Universe (sorry Skander, but he is).  It's ironic, because usually I'm the first one to tell "fanboys" to lighten up and just enjoy the movie.  However, that's generally when moviemakers "tweak" certain characters or storylines, not completely turn them inside out (which is the case with Doom).  Just tragic, really.

I'm a fan of both Marvel and DC, although I tend to buy more Marvel books on a weekly basis.  I've never understood why you have to "choose sides" and like one more than the other.  Both companies have their strengths and weaknesses, but for the most part, tend to tell good stories (Claremont's recent run on X-Men notwithstanding).

Like my friend "Skandery", I grew up on the X-Men and Batman animated series.  Both helped propel me into the world of comics, but as I've gotten older I find myself buying less and less.  Part of that is due to being not-so-rich, but it's also because the storylines don't interest me anymore (at least not as much as they had).

Believe it or not, right now my favorite series isn't from Marvel OR DC.  It's from the DC imprint Vertigo (their "mature" line).  In fact, this series isn't even about superheroes.  It's called "Fables" and it's written by Bill Willingham, who has quickly risen near the top of my favorite writers list.  Willingham created the series, and when he's done telling his story, the series is over.  This book is HIS, much like "Babylon 5" was J. Michael Straczynski's television show.

The story is about what the title implies.  Willingham has taken some of the greatest "fables" ever told (Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf - my favorite character and one who, I swear, channels the spirit of Wolverine -, Beauty and the Beast, and countless others) and places them squarely in the middle of modern-day New York City.  The fables have been kicked out of their native lands by the Emperor, an evil bastard who wreaks havoc on all of his subjects.  They get throught the portal and land in NYC, where they're forced to live among us, whom they call "mundies."  While they tolerate us at best, they yearn to return to their homelands, where one day they will dethrone said Emperor and everyone will live "happily ever after."

This is SUCH a fun series to read.  Have you ever wanted to hear Snow White cuss out someone, dropping F-bombs all the while?  Ever liked to see Bigby Wolf rip someone's head off, something Disney would NEVER show?  Then this is the series for you.  Part satire, part dark and sinister, and ALWAYS rip-roaringly funny, this series is one of the best to debut in YEARS, and replaces "Preacher" as Vertigo's top dog.

Sorry for that review, but I love spreading the word about this series.  Anyway, I apologize for the length of this post.  My rambling went on to new heights tonight.

[Skandery]

Just tragic, really.

It's got me up nights, believe you me?

The FF movie I will NOT see, thanks to them crapping all over the ESSENCE of the biggest villain in the Marvel Universe (sorry Skander, but he is).

Alright "Wolverine", you're telling me Doctor Doom some twisted royal transylvanian cry-baby is bigger than the Master of Magnetism.  The end all - be all badass of them all.  This is the guy who ripped the adamantium from "your" bones, the guy whose threatened the planet from an Asteroid of doom, a freakin' deity to those acolytes, the guy who destroyed New York in the first Ult. XM story and proceeded to destroy it again in the Ultimate Lines first big crossover.  Let's not forget that minor detail when his essence (alongside the Professor's evil psyche) KILLED ALL THE MARVEL HEROES.

So why don't we put this to a poll...hmmmmmm?