This genre has been tackled from numerous directions by numerous players.  DC has been playing this field for decades now, but most of their attempts to continue something successful has only come back to bite them (e.g., the Superman, and Batman movies prior to Batman Begins).  Marvel has also attempted to plant their flag and, at least I think, has succeeded in doing what Douglas Adams is famous for stating we as humans are capable of but nearly always fail to do – learn from the mistakes of others.  After hitting some snags letting other studios mung things up, they’ve taken the reins back and brought to the big screen what has always made their comics great – continuity.

Not to say that DC can’t get it right – Batman Begins & The Dark Knight are clear evidence that they can.  But their big screen floundering with any reasonable Superman reboot/continuation hasn’t been confidence building, nor has their 180 on bringing Wonder Woman back to the small screen.  Unlike seemingly most of the critical world, I greatly enjoyed the recent Green Lantern movie … up until the mid-credit bonus scene ruined it (I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but honestly the only way that scene makes sense is as a teaser trailer for the next film, otherwise it goes against the relational dynamics and apparent character stances they built throughout the movie).  And outside of those properties I haven’t seen much to indicate they are putting any significant efforts into any other properties, which is disheartening given that I think they have a pretty deep bench from which to pull.

I also would be remiss to say that Marvel has been pitch perfect.  Clearly they have had faults in the not too distant past (e.g., X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spider-man 3).  But their recent efforts with Iron Man and the converging storyline with other future members of the Avengers have been spectacular.  Not only have the stories themselves stood on their own, but the semi-subtle use of character cameos and post-credit bonus scenes give them even more dimension.  As a result, each of these have been movies that can easily be enjoyed by both hardcore fans and the uninitiated.

So far I’ve caught all of the comic-book genre pics released this season and I have yet to be significantly disappointed.  If you are interested in my grading of these, here is the report card:

• Thor - B - I enjoyed the complexity of this story arc and how they were able to give the characters more depth than I’d anticipated.  Though I have to deduct points on behalf of my kids who found the villains a bit too scary (especially in 3D), and the delayed hero-gratification off-putting.
• Green Lantern – B- – As I said, I really enjoyed this take on this origin story.  Aside from a few flat supporting characters, it was as true to canon as would have been believable and staged things for strong potential continuation of the title (aside from the ruinous mid-credit scene).
• X-Men: First Class – A+ – This proved to be much better than I had expected and depicted an intriguing starting point for the eventual path of Profession Xavier and his long-time nemesis and friend, Magneto.  I really felt the characters were well developed and depicted and that the film did an excellent job of retconning itself into our own historical events.  I look forward to any future development of this franchise.
• Captain America: the First Avenger – A? – Obviously I cannot grade a movie I haven’t seen yet, but if the previews and my own speculations on the gaps based on canonical knowledge are any indication, this one is going to be a winner.  I have a feeling, though, that following this movie (or more likely, during) I will have to explain some of the historical context to my daughter.

Anyway, she and I have managed to work through all 30 levels in Story mode and managed to get a good amount of the minikits and red bricks in Free-play mode (I think we are around 90% complete right now).  Once we get through all of it, we may move on to Lego Star Wars.  But we have discovered some interesting quirks in the game.  For one, we found that there are 5 different extras you can unlock that are score multipliers (scorex2, x4, x6, x8, x10) and it seems you can enable all 5 at the same time thus getting a score multiplier of x3840.  As a result, it has been cake to reach Super-Hero/Super-Villain mode in any levels we hadn’t before.  But also it has led to another discovery – it seems the game has a maximum allowable score of 4 billion studs (the currency of choice within the Lego realms).  So any studs accrued beyond this amount are simply lost in the ether (possibly garnished for Gotham City urban renewal programs?).  Granted, it is a ludicrously high number (though ludicrously easy to reach with all the sore multipliers on) and those studs will never get spent even if I never use the multipliers again.  But it is funny that a cap exists (probably a programmatic limitation).

So my daughter and I now moonlight as Lego billionaires.  It is a complex and lavish lifestyle, but we try not to let it go to our heads.  We try to keep our priorities straight - after all, we still do have a city to save.

The article is a list of 75 comic book properties that are being vetted for a big screen treatment, and there are so many delicious items on this list.  I’m already jonesing for the next chapters in Spider-man, Batman, the Avengers set, and Superman.  It is exciting to hear that Wonder Woman and Green Lantern may be in the works as well.  Many of the indy options they are entertaining have got me intrigued (e.g.,  Y:  the Last Man).  And the team-up/ensembles (i.e., JLA & Avengers) are just a fantasy come true.

Sure I’m also a critic and not all of the attempts have been stellar.  I was skeptical of Batman Begins until I saw it as a result of the previous offerings.  I’m a Marvel fan moreso than a DC guy, but they’ve laid some eggs as well (e.g., Electra).  But they can’t all be winners and I’m not about to lose faith in the genre over the losers.

I’m also prepared for the possibility that the bubble may burst and a lot of the ideas on the list may never make it to the big screen.  But many of them do have the story substance to create compelling dramas and in the end, that is all we all are really looking for – a reasonable balance of fantasy and drama we can relate to.  So as long as no one tries to sell us on another hyber-drama in rubber nipples (a la Batman & Robin – btw, why didn’t Batgirl get rubber nipples too?), I think the trend can carry on.  And if so, I would be very happy.  After all, I am a huge fan.

I have to say that personally I really enjoyed this second installment in the rebooted Batman franchise.  It was dark and broody and full of flawed characters as such a film should be.  It picked up nicely on the heels of Batman Begins (not immediately, but close enough that there was continuity).  It returned with all of the characters you’d expect to from the first (though with at least one face that was less familiar) and introduced an array of interesting new people – obviously including the Joker.

This movie was long without being slow and had both believable action and realistic drama.  At no point did the film ever tread too close to the cartoony unreality that the older franchise seemed to drown in.  There were no rubber nipples or freeze rays or arrays of villian-themed weapons and vehicles.  Just one flawed hero trying to hold himself and Gotham together in the face of chaos.  What really made this movie ring true is the fact that people reacted throughout the movie like real people – Batman was not a hero uniformly lauded by the masses; he had supporters and skeptics and when the chips were down, some questioned their loyalties.  Additionally, the Joker’s plans and schemes were actually reasonably thought out and cleverly executed.  While Batman prevailed in the end, it was not due to the Joker’s failure in his own perverse pursuits.

I cannot speak for my wife’s opinion on the movie as she was rather tight-lipped about it.  She may not be sleeping well tonight as a result of some of the imagery in this movie.  In short, it was a bit darker than the last one and in a lot more graphic ways.  While the filmmakers were careful not to show anything gory, they came really close a number of times and very often you expected things to get gruesome.  It was almost worse than actually being gory because you couldn’t not imagine what they didn’t show you.  And knowing my wife’s great imagination for such things, I can see why she was a bit shaken afterward.  I give it a solid thumbs up.  But if she is interested in doing so, she will have to give her own review.

Now I’m going to write about something that is often excluded from movie reviews – the previews.  I love movie previews.  While some people might plan to get to a movie late so they can skip them, I look forward to seeing them.  I will even watch them on DVDs.  So here are the previews they showed before Dark Knight (that I remember seeing) and my quick impressions on each:

Watchmen - I’m looking forward to this one.  I’m currently in the process of reading the comics and it is really an interesting story arc.  It is interesting to see that DC is actually getting more properties to screen finally.

The Spirit - Another DC production.  It looks interesting, but it is done in the Sin City style and I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I liked Sin City, but if they do too many movies in this style, it will lose its uniqueness.  If I do see this, I may wait for the DVD.  I have to see something more compelling to convince me otherwise.

Bolt – This is a new animated feature from Disney.  I don’t recall seeing Pixar’s name attached to it and I worry that that might be an indication that they didn’t want to be involved in it.  I’m on the fence, but will likely take the kids to see it anyway.

The Mummy 3 - While I like Jet Li and I appreciate that they are taking a fresh tack with this franchise, I think they should have let it die.  I will not be seeing this in the theater and possibly not at all.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a question (for those that have seen the movie already):  Do you think that they could continue the franchise with a third installment?  Do you think they should?  If they do, where do you think they should go with it?