Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is about to hit theaters soon! And while DC Comics' film adaptations might not be nearly as vast as Marvel's collection of films, DC actually produced the first massively successful superhero film in Superman (1978). Sure, there were superhero serials shown and the old Adam West Batman film, but Superman was the first film to really take things seriously, or at least mostly seriously. For this list, DC's popular collection of Direct-to-DVD animated films will not be included, with a focus on any theatrically released films, animated or not. Also, I am not a DC hater. The Dark Knight is one of my favorite films ever, and, as always, I have not seen every film.
10: Man of Steel
More or less placing tenth by default, Man of Steel is Zack Snyder's attempt to launch the DC Cinematic Universe. Did he succeed? Well, we will have to wait and find out when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters. But as a film on its own, Man of Steel is a moderately fun action flick with dull, lifeless characters, and cool special effects, even if the wanton destruction is disregarded.
9: Watchmen
Another Zack Snyder flick, Watchmen is an interesting film. Based on the legendary graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen is a deconstruction of the superhero, and the source material featured deep commentary on the genre, human characters, and an enthralling narrative. On the other hand, the film contains the shell of the fascinating themes contained within the original story. First, I watched the movie and found it to be decent, yet nothing remarkable, although the sexual content was extreme. Then I read the graphic novel and realized just how incredible the story should have been. But on the flipside, Watchmen serves as a visually stunning adaptation of the graphic novel that accurately adapts many of the visual aspect, while leaving the story and characters mostly wooden. Here’s hoping for that miniseries adaptation of Watchmen!
8: Superman II
Due to creative differences, the director of the original Superman film, Richard Donner, left the project and Richard Lester took the helm. Years later, a second cut of the film, titled "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut," was released using a combination of deleted scenes and the original footage. While I have not seen that cut, the original Superman II is still a fun film. General Zod is an entertaining, theatrical villain, and Christopher Reeve is an exceptional Clark Kent/Superman.
7: Batman
While Superman launched superhero films onto the big screen, Tim Burton's Batman effectively proved that the genre wasn't dead after two failed Superman sequels. Michael Keaton also proved that he was more than "Mr. Mom" as he played a competent Bruce Wayne and Batman. But of course, Jack Nicholson stole the show as The Joker in his iconic turn as the character. Certain elements of the film might not hold up today, but Tim Burton's gothic style was the perfect fit to bring Batman back to the masses! And who can forget that iconic Danny Elfman score!
6: Road to Perdition
Did you think all comic book movies had to be about superheroes? Well, Road to Perdition is an Oscar winning mobster film starring Tom Hanks and directed by Sam Mendes, the man behind Skyfall and Spectre. Road to Perdition is ultimately a story of father and son bonding with the backdrop of a 1930s mobster revenge tale. Mendes' cinematography is stunning, and Tom Hanks' performance is reliably exceptional as expected. If you like crime dramas and want to see one of the more unique comic book films, give Road to Perdition a watch.
Are these any of your favorites? Please comment below and let me know!
If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.
Here is the continuation of my Top 10 Novels of all-time. Please remember that this is a list of my personal favorite novels and that the visual medium of film is more my forte than the written word. For a full explanation of my how I made my choices, you can click here to read the first part of the list, if you have not already.
At Number 7: Watchmen
Blasphemy you say!? How can a comic book make a list of best novels, you say!? Well, if Entertainment Weekly can include it at 13th their list of 50 Best Novels of the last 25 years, then I can surely include it on my favorite novels list, however no other graphic novels will be included. While the Watchmen film was a general disappoint in comparison to the novel, it did serve to spark my interest in the novel. Watchmen is an intelligent and though-provoking deconstruction of the superhero genre that ushered in an era of more mature storytelling in comic books. The story itself is rife with symbolism and metaphors, as well as strongly developed characters with understandable motivations. Too bad the movie could not have the same intriguing characters and thought-provoking themes thanks to Zack Sndyer's lifeless directing, however, he should be credited for bring the novel to life visually, albeit with an excessive amount of sexual content and profanity that is mostly not present in the novel.
At Number 6: Star Wars: Dark Force Rising
The second book in the Thrawn Trilogy, Dark Force Rising was not really The Empire Strikes of the trilogy, however, it was a nice followup that follows everyone's favorite Star Wars heroes. Too bad the trilogy can never be adapted into films, or at least live-action films, but please Disney, do not forget the years of these fantastic Expanded Universe stories in your upcoming films!
At Number 5: Star Wars: Heir to the Empire
Considering that Luke, Han, and Leia are basically my three favorite characters ever, it should be no surprise that a continuation of the greatest story ever told is something I would enjoy. The books capture the great feel that made the Original Trilogy classic, while throwing in some political intrigue, espionage, and a deeper exploration of the characters makes for a story that surpasses the prequels for sure (which I like more than most). Also, Heir to the Empire was my first introduction into the Star Wars Expanded Universe books, and it is where I believe everyone should start if you love the Original Trilogy. Of course, the novel introduced the first iconic EU (Expanded Universe) character to make an impact on the Star Wars universe, Grand Admiral Thrawn.
At Number 4: Star Wars: The Last Command
The Last Command concludes the Thrawn Trilogy perfectly with shocking revelations and a climax that completely satisfies. The interplay between Mara Jade, one of the best EU characters, and Luke Skywalker was a lot of fun, and so was reading more about Han and Leia. Even though some of the plot conflicts with the prequels, which were made several years afterwards, the story is fun with the classic Star Wars feel, and Timothy Zahn really knows how to capture these iconic characters on the page. As a whole, the Thrawn trilogy felt like a blast from the past that reminded me how much I miss these characters, and the unabridged audiobook by Marc Thompson is positively magnificent!
At Number 3: The Fellowship of the Ring
If it was not obvious enough, the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring takes one of the top three spots on the list. It is one of the best work of fiction ever written. Tolkien created a mythos that set the standard for all fantasy works to come. The difficult part about writing the Lord of the Rings trilogy is that everything can be said about the trilogy has already been said.
At Number 2: The Two Towers
As enjoyable as the Fellowship of the Ring was, The Two Towers bested by the slightest of margins. Even though I might rank one Lord of the Rings book above another, they really are one giant story that was originally intended to be one book. You cannot read one without the other.
At Number 1: The Return of the King
How could I choose any other book for the number one spot? It's the Return of the King, the epic conclusion of one of the greatest stories ever told. The Lord of the Rings trilogy are undeniable classics, and there is almost nothing that can be said that has not already been said. Sure, Tolkien can be a little wordy and the books are not light readings, but he crafted a brilliantly realized world that has few rivals in terms of scale and detail. It is essentially perfect. If you have never experienced the Lord of the Rings, go watch the movies and read the books, like right now!
What did you think of my list? Please comment below and check back soon for my review of on Friday for my review of "Spice and Wolf" and a couple of guest posts on Wednesday and Thursday.
If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.
You voted for it, so here it is, my Top 10 Favorite Novels.
Before we had movies to tell us epic quests to save the world or whodunit murder mysteries, there were books and novels. While not the earliest form of storytelling, literature, particularly fiction, has captivated the masses for centuries. Novels are not really my area of expertise. Even though my ability to decipher an author's meaning and better analyze literature from a critical perspective has certainly improved since taking English 2 in college, which I received an A in, I am not particularly experienced when it comes to literature. While I am no expert on movies, having seen around 800 movies and having written well over 100 reviews, my knowledge of what defines a "good" movie is most definitely higher than my knowledge of books. Why am I telling you this you may ask? Unlike my list of favorite movies, this list of my favorite novels is heavily based on my personal preference and the fact that I am a fan of certain franchises, however the top three on my list are undeniable classics. Also, unlike movies, reading highly recommended books is not an easy task. Reading a book takes a lot of time that I simply do not have. Ever since I started college, all of my book reading has been relegated to the Bible and the tons of textbooks. If I wanted to read more books, I would have to stop writing this blog and stop reading your blogs, and that is not something I would ever want to do. I know a lot of avid book readers follow my blog and basically all of my friends are aspiring authors (online and real life), so I do not have anything against reading books in the slightest. That being said, I much rather watch 6 movies than read one book because reviewing movies and other visual media is my passion. One last thing to keep in mind while reading my list, I am a massive Star Wars fan, and even though some of the Star Wars books are not necessarily "great" books, they are the ones that I typically enjoy more because they are about some of my favorite characters in all of fiction. I have read a few "classics" but few have interested me to a great degree. If most of your favorite novels are "classics" that is great, but they are not my favorites. Keeping all of that in mind, here is my list.
At Number 10: Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet
"A Study in Scarlet" is currently the only Sherlock Holmes story I have read to completion in recent years. Despite the odd side story with the Latter-day Saints and the lack of clues given to the reader to solve the mystery, "A Study in Scarlet" is a fun origin story of sorts for the iconic detective. Reading how Sherlock and Watson got started is fun, which, as a fan of multiple adaptations, is a lot of fun to read.
Note: I did not read the graphic novel of A Study in Scarlet, but I could not find a good cover picture for the book.
At Number 9: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan
Being a massive fan of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game, which I still hold as the second greatest story ever told in video games, "The Old Republic: Revan" continues the story of the game and it provides a satisfyingly bittersweet conclusion to the character. The novel is far from a masterpiece, but fans of the video game and Star Wars will sure find something to enjoy. *Massive spoilers for the video game* Since you, the player, are literally Revan in the game, although you do not know it through most of the game, reading about what you basically did was a unique reading experience. That is particularly emphasized by the fact that I unknowingly made choices that fall in line with the cannon version of Revan's story, which made the connection even greater for me. *End Spoilers*
At Number 8: Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
In Revenge of the Sith, Emperor Palpatine tells Anakin the story of Death Plagueis, a Sith Lord that had supposedly discover how to prevent death itself. The novel essentially tells this story in great detail. Darth Plagueis is an intriguing character with a lot of depth that could be explored in a film, if Disney so chooses. Since many of the events of the book affect the events of the Phantom Menace, reading the novel makes the Phantom Menace a better movie in retrospect since it fills in most of the plot holes from the film. Throughout the book, there are references to The Clone Wars and other Star Wars expanded universe works, which fans of the franchise will surely enjoy.
Hopefully you have enjoyed the list thus far, even if almost no would rank these books so highly on their lists. Also, since I had such a long opening, I have decided to only three entries of the list on this post and have the rest on the next one so that the word count is even.
If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.
Note: Since this review was written before I watched Man of Steel, it may refer to it in the future tense. Also please check back tomorrow for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Book Vs Film.
Thoughts: Watchmen, directed by Zack Sndyer and based on Alan Moore's legendary graphic novel of the same name. Watchmen is often considered to be one of, if not, the best graphic novel and was the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's "100 Best Novels." It takes place during an alternate 1980s where Nixon is in a third term and masked vigilantes are either driven into retirement or work for the government, except for one vigilante named Rorschach. The Watchmen graphic novel is known for being a "deconstruction" of superheroes and how flawed heroes would most likely be in the real world and, Dr. Manhattan is the only character with actual powers. To me at least, the importance placed on the themes are a little overrated in that respect. However, the film does not portray those themes nearly as well as the novel. Unlike many comic books, Watchmen is a self-contained story with characters made solely for the story.
Watchmen the film received mixed reviews from critics resulting in a serviceable rating of 64% Rotten Tomatoes.com, which would seem fairly accurate to the quality of the film.
At the time of watching the movie, I had not read the graphic novel, recently I have and it was an excellent novel, definitely for mature readers only though. Reading the novel made the film better in retrospect. In terms of being an accurate adaptation, Watchmen is kind of mixed. While many of the comic panels were accurately translated to screen, some of the main characters came off as flat and not believably human enough, mostly due to the actor's who played the characters and writing of said characters. Laurie/Silk Spectre was the worst of the group, especially considering her significant amount of screen the character received. Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias was poorly written and acted, *Major Spoiler* the twist of him being the villain was barely a surprise due to his villainess performance. *End Spoiler* Jon/Dr. Manhattan was much better than the other two, but still could have been executed better. Conversely, Rorschach, Nite Owl, and The Comedian, were great characters, accurately transferred to the big screen. Rorschach in particular was the highlight of the film. Nearly all of his scenes were fantastic, it would be great to see an entire Rorschach film. Also there are multiple cuts of the film and I believe I have only seen the original cut (I happened to catch the movie on cable), however, after reading the novel I am more interested in seeing those alternate versions.
Normally I do not fact the content of a film into my review, but Watchmen does contain things that I consider completely unnecessary in terms of overt sexual content, even more so than the graphic novel. Also in scenes taken directly from the novel there were added profanity for no real reason, the dialogue of the novel did contain some profanity, but nearly as much as the movie.
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Genre: Comic Book,
Release Date: March 6, 2009
Running Time: 162 minutes
MMPA rating: R
The Good: Excellent visuals, Translates many panels perfectly to screen, A few cool actions scenes, Looks like the graphic novel, Some social commentary came through the adaptation, Rorschach was awesome, Attention to detail in the sets,
The Bad: More style than substance, Lacks depth of novel, Too much sexual content, Malin Åkerman and Matthew Goode were miscast, Pacing issues, Lacks a human element,
Extreme Warning: Due to the amount of sexual content, the film is only recommended to mature audiences (unless censored). Also the blue guy in the trailer, who is a completely computer generated, Dr. Manhattan is shown to be stark naked throughout most of the film.
Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
The 'Minutemen', a collection of costumed crime fighters, formed in 1938 in response to a rise in costumed gangs and criminals, and the 'Watchmen' similarly form decades later. Their existence in the U.S. has dramatically affected world events: the super powers of Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) help the United States win the Vietnam War, resulting in President Richard Nixon (Robert Wisden) being repeatedly reelected into the 1980s. The existence of Dr. Manhattan gives the West a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which by the 1980s threatens to escalate the Cold War into nuclear war. During that time, growing anti-vigilante sentiment in the country leads to masked crime fighters being outlawed. While many of the heroes retire, Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) operate as government-sanctioned agents, and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) continues to operate outside the law.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.
Plot: 7.3/10- As stated previously, some of what made the novel great does come through in the film, other aspects fall flat. Pacing is probably the biggest issue. It really dragged in a few areas, in retrospect however, the pacing was not a big problem if you have read the novel. The mystery was intriguing but it was not terribly difficult to figure out.
Action: 7.4/10- In typical Zack Sndyer fashion, the action is stylized, bloody and brutal, using a lot of slow-motion effect. My main criticism is that there could have been more action, because what is there is fantastic and even better than Sndyer's previous film 300.
Acting: 6.4/10- Jackie Earle Haley kills it as Rorschach. Easily the best performance and aspect of the film. Most of his scenes were the highlight of the film. Patrick Wilson as Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl was great in his role, the second best performance of the cast. In his limited role, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake / The Comedian did an excellent job at bring his character to life. Billy Crudup as Jon/ Dr. Manhattan was neither good nor bad in his role, he was decent. Matthew Goode as Adrian/ Ozymandias was miscast, his performance was far too over-the-top. Malin Åkerman as Silk Spectre was poorly miscast. Her performance was noticeably weak throughout the film. The other cast members were fine but nothing special.
Special effects: 8.2/10- As with any Zack Sndyer film, the special effects were spectacular! Even a few years since its release, the effects are still effective. The attention to detail in the set design is excellent, most sets appear to be taken directly from the page. In general the character's costume look fine, although some of them have a cheap, almost corny look to a few of them, which can be off-putting to some viewers.
Soundtrack: 7.0/10- Watchmen soundtrack consists of many licensed, most of which are from the 80s. Some viewers may fine this the choice of music odd, and I normally dislike songs during serious films, but it worked well within the context of the film.
Comedy: 4.9/10- Watchmen is certainly not a comedy, however Rorschach's remakes are great and humorous in a dark and twisted way, similar to Clint Eastwood in his earlier films.
Would I Watch This Again: After reading the graphic novel I do need to watch the "Ultimate Cut" of the film.
Before Reading Novel Rating: 6.2/10- Due to the slow pacing and other issues the film is decent but never reached its full potential.
After Reading Novel Rating: 7.7/10- Even though the novel is superior because it has so much more time to develop the story and characters, reading the novel makes me appreciate the attention to detail of adapting the film, particularly in the visual sense. Usually reading the book a film was based on makes said film worse, however it makes a subpar movie better than it would have been otherwise.
Closing comments: For those who enjoyed the movie and have never read the graphic novel, it is highly recommended that you do so, however both the film and novel are intended for mature audiences only.
Recommended for *Mature*: Comic Book fans, Zack Sndyer fans,
