Retro-Blog: Comic Book Movies on Cable

I have to say, I was pretty impressed with Painkiller Jane which debuted Saturday night on the Sci Fi Channel. For something that premiered on cable, it was actually pretty good. If you missed it, it's supposed to be showing again Thursday night. Although it was obvious from the movie, the buzz is that they'll probably use it as a pilot for a series. If the series is as well made as the movie, I'll be watching it.

Retro-Blog: More Comic Book Films

My two favorite mediums are movies and comic books. Most of all, I love movies based on comic books. One of my favorite past-times is finding little-known comic book movies (superhero movies count, even if they're not based on comics). Whether it's the movie that's not well-known (The Return of Captain Invincible), or the comic (Mystery Men), or both (American Splendor), it's just something I enjoy doing. As you can tell, I also like to review them. (Sorry for the shameless self-promotion. Hey, that's alliterative! Hey, alliterative's a word!).

The Sci Fi Channel has been jumping on the bandwagon lately. In April, it premiered Man-Thing, based on the Marvel comic, which was coming out on DVD a month later. I was finally able to see it. I had it TiVo'd it back when it premiered, and finally tried to watch it a few weeks ago, but about 10 minutes into it, I realized it was very edited (very edited? I'm sure somewhere a copy editor is having convulsions). So this weekend I finally got the DVD from the rental store. It was edited for good reason - being a horror film, it's a pretty solid R and cable wouldn't have been able to show it uncut. It was better than I thought it might be for a straight-to-video. My review is at the above link.

I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but as coincidence would have it, I was scrolling through upcoming events on Sci Fi Channel and Cartoon Network last night, and found that Sci Fi was premiering Painkiller Jane today. From what I can tell, this is a comic book previously published by Event Comics (which I can't even find when Googled), but now seems to be with Dynamite Comics? Sounds complicated to me. I don't know anything about it, except what I've seen in the movie previews, but my curiosity is peaked. If you're interested in seeing it, it will also be on at 9 (Eastern?) Thursday night (Dec 15).

Retro-Blog: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman

Now that Marvel Comics has shown that superheroes can be done right with the X-Men and Spiderman movies, DC has hopefully finally learned their lesson and has enlisted some serious talent to make some serious comic book films. First of all, Christopher Nolan (Memento) wrote and directed Batman Begins (opening June 17). Second, Bryan Singer (X-Men) has been hired to do Superman Returns (slated for June 30, 2006). And finally, announced the day before yesterday (though rumors had been flying long before that), we find out that Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will be writing and directing Wonder Woman.

Ever since X-Men came out in 2000, I've been wondering when DC was going to turn around their Batman failings and come up with something good. Well, it appears to be on the horizon.

Quote of the Day
Most of the things "everybody knows" are wrong; the rest are merely unreliable.
-Batman, Black Orchid

Retro-Blog: Day 1

Went to see Constantine last night. Premiering the same night as another comic-inspired movie (Son of the Mask), I have a feeling it will be around quite a bit longer. It was pretty good as comic movies go, but pretty awful, theology-wise. I guess I can't expect much better speculation on God from comics and Hollywood, but I can always hope. I often find it fascinating to see people's views of spiritual warfare, but I get tired of the depiction of God as a "hands-off" deity who only uses us as pawns in His games. The film, otherwise, was well done, and Keanu Reeves turns a good performance in the title roll. Constantine was based on a DC Comics character from their "Mature Readers" line. Maybe things bode well for other upcoming DC Comics movies (you know: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman...)