Reply To: Hobby Weekender 10/05/19 A bit of gaming philosophy this time

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@limburger

 

The Marvel movies are all pretty solid and entertaining for the most part. Thor 2 and Iron Man 2 and 3 are probably the weakest imho.

 

The old Superman movies, imho, haven’t aged well and while a product of their era, aren’t as good as say, Star Wars. Very corny, not too true to the comics, Lex Luthor was ridiculous, well I could go on. A lot of people probably wouldn’t be happy because a lot of folk are fond of these movies and the story of Christopher Reeve beyond them, but they are not my cup of tea.

 

I think a one dimensional superman: either too dark or too goodie, is boring. The character, like many, has evolved over the years. I think an omnipotent paragon is boring, but making stuff grim for no reason is equally redundant. Either way one lacks room for growth or plausibility while the other is reactive and contrived. The animated Superman from the 90s and early 2000s had interesting layers at time; it was one of his fears that he’d harm his friends and love ones. He progressively got stronger and stronger over time so it was pretty interesting to see that be a very human insecurity.

 

With the movies from ‘the Jack Nicholson era’ things are not cut and dry. The first two are noticeably different. The first one was super successful, the one that followed it just as successful but the dark tone was critiscised.  What happened next I copied and pasted from Wikipedia:

 

Although Batman Returns was a financial success, Warner Bros. felt the film should have made more money. The studio decided to change the direction of the Batman film series to be more mainstream. Joel Schumacher replaced Tim Burton as director, while Burton decided to stay on as producer.[47] However, Michael Keaton did not like the new direction the film series was heading in,[48] and was replaced by Val Kilmer as Batman. Chris O’Donnell was introduced as Robin, Jim Carrey starred as The Riddler, while Tommy Lee Jones starred as Two-Face. Filming started in September 1994,[47] and Schumacher encountered problems communicating with Kilmer and Jones.[49]Batman Forever was released on June 16, 1995 with financial success, earning over $350 million worldwide and three Academy Award nominations, but the film was met with mixed reviews from critics.[50][51]

 

The George Clooney Batman movie followed the same trends but was the less financial successful, despite being profitable, as well as being considered one of the worst superhero movies read. So it is not a case of the movies could not decide what they wanted to be: producers and the studios meddled with a successful formula out of greed. Tim Burton left, and the tone completely changed. A reverse Zack Snyder effect, if you will. Though indeed they ran out of steam.

 

The Joker in the Nolan Trilogy stole the show. As for the second one, they only had so much time to show so much and it was an awesome movie. Seeing more would have been great though.

 

Back to BvS

 

Introducing him earlier, and being more normal in Man of Steel would have been great. I think it didn’t happen was because they were afraid to invest in a universe like Marvel after their previous attempt, Green Lantern, flopped like a Magikarp.

 

Now you mention it, I think Lex was kind of like a foil to Bruce Wayne in how he reacted to Superman. So, less is more, as you say. There is a Tropic Thunder reference that is super politically incorrect that I shan’t post, regarding acting.

 

I wouldn’t even call it a snapback. He is still Batman, and he will always be Batman first and Bruce Wayne second, because he still has not dealt with nor moved on from the deaths of his parents. It made perfect sense to me. Also, a thing in the comics was Batman did not drink. In the movie, you see he has an empty thing of wine beside him when he gets up in the morning. Alfred makes a crack about the Wayne family wine cellar being empty; this Batman had a drinking problem that was only subtly referenced in the movie. Not to mention one of the Robins is dead. So, there is more than just the office building baggage.

 

The Batman pacifist thing is ignored frequently; in the early days he killed. I think it is only important if the plot calls for it and it is inconsistent at times. I don’t like a Batman who is too goody goody myself. He did kill plenty of people in this movie.

 

Lois also wasn’t random if you think about it. He knew who Superman was before the ‘snap back’ and he was warned Lois was important by the Flash too in the time travel warning.

 

In the comics, Time Booms occurred when Time Travel was done: a potential vision by characters of the future or a possible future. These were from the Flash comics.

 

Also magic became established in both Suicide Squad and Shazam. Gods appear in Wonder Woman, too. So, go figure.

 

The post credit scenes in Marvel are great; many books have epilogues and this is no different. It teases at what is next, or sometimes not. I love ‘em. Also in this day and age nobody is forced: youtube is there. Movies tend to make more money than tv, regarding the tv series point. Movies also have a higher quality and have more merchandise and licensing opportunities.