FANBOYS #2: Hidden Comic Gems

By Aaron 7/15/2007

 
In the past few years, since the success of Spiderman, the movie industry has been over-saturated with over-hyped comic book movies. This recent success has made us forget the comic book movies that came before these new blockbusters. Some of those movies were really good, and there are A LOT of them. Most of these movies had solid acting and were good enough to capture a cult following while still small enough to fly under the radar. Hopefully you will realize what you’re missing out on – and take note of the strong showing of 1994.

 
The Phantom (1996)

My friend Billy Zane slips into The Ghost Who Walks’ skintight purple costume to become The Phantom, the defender of good. The forest legend who cannot die fights against the evil Singh Brotherhood who have resurfaced in 1930’s New York to collect a series of relics that harness an all-powerful force. This is my favorite movie on the list – I’ll admit to buying this movie on VHS. The movie is a fast paced actioner, but it’s also a good origin story. The movie also has well cast actors – besides Zane, there’s Treat Williams, Kristy Swanson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones (bet no one knew that). 8/10 salty stix.

 
The Crow (1994)

This popular nineties cult movie features the late Brandon Lee as Eric Draven, who is brutally murdered along with his girlfriend. A year later, Eric returns, guided by a mysterious crow, to seek revenge. Sure, we’ve had a slew of revenge flicks from The Count of Monte Cristo to Payback to Kill Bill, but this one was a little different. Actually, it wasn’t – but it did have a comic book edginess. The movie would probably be even better if the story hadn’t been watered down by all of the sequels that muddled the story and bludgeoned the cult following to death. It also makes you wonder what movies Brandon Lee would have put together if he hadn’t died. 9/10 salty stix.

 
Timecop (1994)

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in another 1994 comic flick (albeit one with less press) as Max Walker, a policeman recruited to police time travel. Put simply this movie is sweet. This is my favorite Van Damme movie, and probably one of his best (I know that’s not saying a lot). But I am a sucker for time travel movies. While this movie doesn’t have any DeLorean sweetness, it does have Mia Sara and Ron Silver. Sara finally shows us exactly what Ferris’ girlfriend looks like without her clothes on, while Ron Silver turns in an amazing performance as a corrupt politician manipulating the folds of time. 8/10 salty stix.

 
The Rocketeer (1991)

Cliff Secord is a down on his luck pilot who somehow discovers a jetpack in his car. After realizing the dangers of flying everywhere, Cliff designs a protective helmet, becoming the Rocketeer. The movie has lots of action and lots of surprises (even I didn’t remember Jennifer Connelly is in this movie). What really makes this movie tick is two great performances – Bill Cambell and Timothy Dalton. Cambell is great as the young superhero struggling to hold onto his girlfriend who is being plied away by a charming movie star. Dalton is great here as a villain bent on possessing the Rocketeer’s jet pack – and turning it over to the Nazis.  9/10 salty stix.

 
The Shadow (1994)

The Shadow always knows. Played by Alec Baldwin, the Shadow races to prevent his nemesis, Khan, from building an atomic bomb. The plot is kind of hokey and makes little sense, but you look past that because the movie is fun and it is the Shadow. Alec Baldwin is pretty sweet in this movie and Ian McKellen and Tim Curry are along for the ride. While the movie feels a little too much like an early nineties action movie, there are some good things here. 6/10 salty stix.

 Click here to read FANBOYS #1: Bond vs. Batman

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.