The Best Comic Book Superhero Movies (revised Aug. 10)

I just saw X-Men: First Class and it’s awesome.

Why do the X-Men movies have the worse posters? 

This international poster for First Class is the best of the bad bunch.

Top Ten Superhero Comic Book Movies (*)

1. The Dark Knight (2008)
   
2. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
   
3. Iron Man (2008)
   
4. Watchmen (2009) **
   
5. Spider-Man (2002)
6. X2: X-Men United (2003)
   
7. X-Men (2000)
   
8. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
9. X-Men: First Class (2011)
   
10. Hellboy (2004) 

Honorable Mentions
Batman Begins (2005), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Fantastic Four (2005)

Let me know of your top ten or top five in the comments section.

* I tried to keep the list to contemporary/modern era films. I’m not counting Superman (Christopher Reeve, both one and two would be on this list).   Superman Returns should probably be an honorable mention too.  Christopher Nolan's Batmans are so real that they don't feel like superhero movies (i almost don't want to put them on the list--almost).

** I know Watchmen is an anti-superhero movie but it has superheroes nevertheless. I dis-included action movies based on comic books such as The Losers, Red, 300, Sin City, etc. (perhaps Kick-Ass? and Scott Pilgrim is not a superhero). 

Revision (6-25-11): moved X-Men First Class from 7 to 6, X2 from 9 to 7, and Batman Begins from 6 to 8. 
Revision (6-29-11): added X-Men at 8, bumped everything down, and moved Thor to honorable mention.  
The X-Men movies hold up a lot better than I had previously thought (re-watched them all on bluray).
Revision (8-10-11): revised the list to include Captain America and Hellboy; repositioned X-Men: First Class.

I Am Love (2010) / Two Lovers (2008)

Directed by Luca Guadagnino / James Gray

Both Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love and James Gray’s Two Lovers look to melodramas of the past, with Joaquin Phoenix and Tilda Swinton as the leads in their own miniature operas set in Brooklyn and Milan/San Remo.  Themes of love/lust and following/breaking tradition drive each film.  John Adam’s score swells in key scenes of I Am Love in contrast to the film’s subtle pacing.  While in Two Lovers, the scenes play out as if they’re on stage but the textures of the interiors and exteriors of the apartment and Brighton Beach are very real—like its characters and their choices.

Trailers: I Am Love and Two Lovers (the UK version is less revealing). Both films can be seen on Netflix streaming.

Other reviews: I Am Love by John Powers and Two Lovers by A.O. Scott, Roger Ebert, and Bartleby (Pop Culture Ninja).

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011); times two, one hundred words for two films.

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

There are transcendent moments in Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love when the characters play-act the roles of their spouses (involved in an affair).  Simultaneously, you feel their pain, empathize with their spouses, and experience their connection—pushing you to understand what has happened, is happening, and could happen. 

Here's the french movie trailer and an extended trailer/montage with great images from the film.
The image above is the original Hong Kong poster from Posterdemic. Watch the US Criterion Collection release. 

Film reviews in fifty words (2011): Movies in need of a bluray release.

Faye Wong: Movies & Video Games

I like movies; I like video games. I like Chungking Express and Final Fantasy VIII.

Thanks to a YouTube search, I found this:

It seems like wolfking1981 edited together concert and video game footage with audio from the original music soundtrack (according to some acute comments).  For more Faye Wong, check this out (but don't mind the tv-show host doing the backing vocals).

Now go watch the Criterion Collection version of Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express.

That was the US trailer.  See an additional trailer here.

Late Spring (1949) / Late Autumn (1960)

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Late Spring (1949)

Late Autumn (1960)

Ozu revisits his own work with Late Autumn (1960)—recalling Late Spring (1949)—and puts his muse Setsuko Hara at the heart of both.  She plays the daughter in 1949 and the widowed mother in 1960.  Both plots are similar, with the daughter in each film not wanting to marry and leave their widowed parent alone (a father played by Chishû Ryû in Spring and a mother played by Setsuko Hara in Autumn).  While Late Spring is generally more regarded of the two, it’s the storytelling and structure of Late Autumn that feels like it continues to open and bloom.

Here's some links to a trailer for Late Autumn and a fan-made montage from Late Spring.

Both films can be streamed in HD using Hulu Plus along with other works by Ozu. How to get a free month.

If you have Netflix, you can stream Tokyo Story (one of my top ten movies that should be in my top ten list but is not).

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011); times two, one hundred words for two films.

Please Give (2010)

Directed by Nicole Holofcener

Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give tops my list of best movies for 2010.* It’s a great New York movie filled with characters concerned with self value/worth and image/perception.  I love this movie because of its pitch perfect writing, imagery, and tone; for being sincere; and for having irony without being ironic.

*Best picture Academy-wise, I saw The Social Network, The Kid’s Are All Right, Inception, Winter’s Bone, and Toy Story 3; I will see The King’s Speech, The Fighter, and Black Swan within the next week and True Grit when it releases on DVD.

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011). 

Woody Allen Opened the Cannes Film Festival Today

My favorite filmmaker, at 75 years, opened The 64th Cannes Film Festival with Midnight in Paris—his 45th feature film.

Filming in Paris with Marion Cotillard, Alison Pill, and Owen Wilson.

When I first watched this trailer, I was happy for Owen Wilson and his new role (not knowing the director). I was really responding to it, thinking "this movie's going to be great, who made this?" Around 45 seconds in, Mr. Wilson says "pseudo-intellectual" and I had my suspicions.  The reveal is at the 1 minute and 25 second mark.

 
I can't wait until its wide US release. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on May 20th. 
I didn't like the poster that much, but here's the official website.
Here's a nice article from guardian.co.uk on the opening.

SWEET SCOTT PILGRIM POSTER

by Martin Ansin.   
Check out his works here.

He also made those sweet Archer Season 1 and 2 posters.
@the Rican: see his El Topo poster.

Have you seen these Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, and Paul Thomas Anderson montages?

These are by Kees van Dijkhuizen. 

Also, check out his Cinema [Year] montages and [the films of] Danny Boyle and David Fincher on YouTube.

[the films of] Wes Anderson

[the films of] Sofia Coppola 

This is by Joel Walden (heresjohnny1991). 

 

Paul Thomas Anderson - The Works

The Exploding Girl (2009)

Directed by Bradley Rust Gray

Zoe Kazan is luminous in Bradley Rust Gray’s The Exploding Girl. It plays like an indie/mumblecore film filtered through the lens of David Gordon Green’s early work.  Its images—like its storytelling—are graceful and sharp. I only wish Mr. Gray didn’t tilt his camera back down at the end.

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011). 
This movie is available on Netflix streaming. Oscilloscope and film website.