Superman has long been Hollywood’s toughest nut to crack: the original superhero, yet often labelled “too perfect,” “too square,” or—worst of all—“boring” for modern audiences. Since Richard Donner set the gold standard in 1978, filmmakers have tried to solve the Superman problem by darkening him, complicating him, or basically turning him into Batman. James Gunn,…
Tag: comic book movie
The Phantom (1996) – Review
The 1990s saw many a studio scrambling to snatch up comic book properties, hoping to launch a franchise to rival the one Warner Brothers had with their Batman movies, and in 1996 Paramount Pictures would take their shot at the superhero genre with an adaptation of Lee Falk’s comic strip hero The Phantom. Would they…
The Rocketeer (1991) – Review
In 1982 comic book writer/artist Dave Stevens created “The Rocketeer” a character that was a brilliant homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes from the 1930s through the 1950s. It’s popularity among comic book fans led to Disney and director Joe Johnston doing their best to bring that comic book hero to the big screen,…
The Shadow (1994) – Review
Following the success of Tim Burton’s Batman many studios were scrambling around to get their hands on their own comic book-type property, so that it could turn into the next big thing, this led to Universal Pictures teaming up with producer Martin Bregman who had acquired the rights to the pulp action hero The Shadow….
“It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman!” (1975) – Review
The first Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve Superman movie was three years away when this Broadway musical adaptation was forced on the unsuspecting public and despite being well-reviewed on Broadway it was the biggest flop to hit “The Great White Way” at that time. This led to the creation of a heavily reworked TV special which was…