2012 ComiCinema

Hey there readers! Guess what! We have ourselves a guest writer this week. He is a very knowledgeable young man by the name of Doug Beaver. He is more up to date on movies that are based on comic books than either Danae or I would ever hope to be. I trust his opinion on these things. So read on to see what he has to say about the upcoming comic book centered movies.


2012 ComiCinema
By Doug Beaver

There are a ton of movies that are going to make 2012 a much better movie year than 2011 turned out to be: this year, we can look forward to The Hobbit, The Woman In Black, Casa de mi Padre, The Hunger Games, Expendables 2, MIB: III, Prometheus, Brave, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, among others.

And then there are this year’s comic book movies, or “ComiCinema”. There are really only five that stick out this calendar year; one immediate-looking bomb, one that may not qualify for the category and three others that will compete for this year’s top spot. Here they are in order of anticipated box office:

5. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance
Some questions come to mind: Why was this made? What is Nick Cage even doing in the Marvel Universe when he was formerly auditioning to be the man of steel in a failed Superman movie? Why not go balls-to-the-walls with the “Marvel Knights” brand films?
All the PG-13 Rating does for Ghost Rider is water down the potential for great content, and guarantees an “Unrated Blu-Ray Edition” when it arrives in stores. The Punisher movies have also been a disappointment (though they carried the R-Rating) because the grittiness and darkness they were trying for just felt forced. Marvel Knights could learn a lot from the only great Punisher film, 1989’s “The Punisher” starring Dolph Lundgren; that is a classic that can really be credited as a forefather of the style that Christopher Nolan has now with the latest incarnation of Batman films.
Marvel Knights has not yet produced a real hit, and it doesn’t look like this sequel to the 2007 disappointment will change that trend. The original Ghost Rider is a decent enough movie, but it did not gain a large enough fanboy following or word-of-mouth appreciation to garner this follow-up.
This movie will not make much of a splash at the box office, and unless you are a diehard Ghost Rider fan, the first time you will see this is when you switch your PS3 over to stream Netflix and see it come up under “New Releases.”

4. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Whether to include this as a ComiCinema movie is debatable , because G.I. Joe is a trademark of Hasbro, and yet the product’s love affair with the comic book medium runs deep. Not many other franchises can claim to have been represented by DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Devil’s Due, and IDW. Therefore, it’s been included.
Though it’s technically a toy movie like Transformers, it’s not as bad as making a movie about a board game (Battleship – Really?? Don’t aliens know Liam Neeson can’t be defeated? Didn’t they see “Taken”?).
After viewing the trailer, this appears to be the opposite of what happened with the Transformers first two movies. Where the first Transformers film was really good, the second one was just shy of franchise suicide. Transformers 2 was the most incoherent piece of film garbage that made its money based on the goodwill that audiences gave it based on the original. The second G.I. Joe installment looks like it will earn its wings DESPITE the negative perception garnered after G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, which received poor critical and audience reviews.
This movie will be a hit as long as Paramount continues a strong marketing push with The Rock, Bruce Willis, and shots of the Cobra banners flapping from the roof of the White House.

3. The Amazing Spider-Man
While many people not familiar with comics think that this is too soon, most fans of Spider-Man are optimistic about a reboot. Spider-Man is rebooted in the comics fairly often, also with multiple series happening simultaneously (There has been “Spider-Man”, “The Spectacular Spider-Man”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Web Of Spider-Man”, etc.). So this is actually a good thing for Spider-Fans out there, and a good thing for a new generation of moviegoers that can relate a lot more to Emma Stone being more desirable than Kirsten Dunst.

There is no question that all comic fans will see this movie. The only thing that remains a mystery is if Andrew Garfield will be able to pull off being Peter Parker. He did an excellent job in The Social Network, but this is a different genre with the most critical fanbase, and there is A LOT of pressure to restart the franchise, as Spider-Man is easily Marvel’s most recognizable hero. If this is a “one and done” for Marvel, it could depress the whole company.

2. The Avengers
It’s time to “Make Mine Marvel” with the culmination of a set up that has been building audience’s anticipation for years. This could either be the best thing a production company has ever done, or the biggest letdown in film history (Star Wars Episode I and II included).
Pairing Joss Whedon with the characters of Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Loki, and Captain America (aka the same guy that played The Human Torch in two other Marvel films) seems like a match made in fanboy heaven. Whedon has proven he is trustworthy with characters – but in the past those have been mostly characters he has created himself. Firefly and Buffy were both series that depended on interactions between personalities that were strong and often butted heads, so this seems like a natural fit. The only caveat that remains a question is whether Black Widow could play a bigger role due to Whedon’s historical love for strong female characters. It’s not a problem, but more of a point of intrigue.
The audience for this is also widened by the incorporation of all the characters. People that didn’t like Captain America but enjoyed Iron Man will go to see their favorite character, and vice-versa. It’s almost like all of the individual heroes’ movies get a sequel all at once. So this will definitely be the second highest grossing ComiCinema movie of the year, if not the top spot.

1. The Dark Knight Rises
For people who like their ComiCinema with a bit of social relevance, this movie hits the mark. The trailer has Anne Hathaway espousing rhetoric reserved for the self-proclaimed “99% percent.” And coincidentally enough, the Occupy Wall Street crowd was very close to the filming of one of the film’s final scenes.
Would this final act of the Dark Knight trilogy have had a different crescendo if Heath Ledger had lived? Regardless of the answer to that, Bane makes an interesting villain to close this series on. Christopher Nolan could have gone with the Riddler as an obvious choice, but Bane was selected to challenge Batman “both mentally and physically.”
The main draw to this whole series has been that it looks cool, and treats beloved characters seriously as its fans do. This great series has raised the bar for all ComiCinema, but for Batman fans this could also be a double-edged sword. What directors or actors could touch the franchise again without appearing to be meddling, or failing to live up to this new standard?
This movie will be watched and enjoyed by all audiences – including people who never see movies based on comic books. This series transcends particular audience groupings, and will probably be considered for the next Academy Awards if it even approaches the previous two films’ level of excellence.


I hope you all enjoyed our guest reviewer this week. I know I did.
Until next kids, this has been Hava (and Doug)!