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Post by coke & comics on Mar 27, 2024 11:34:29 GMT -5
I love Christopher Nolan. I love his take on Batman. I think The Dark Knight is the best of the three and one of the best superhero movies ever and my favorite film of 2008. A close contender though for all those things is Iron Man.
After that I'll go with Taken. I mentioned a couple posts back that Casino Royale had reinvigorated an interest in the action genre, and this movie sealed that. Simple, straightforward but entirely engaging. It's absurd how many clones this movie has had in the last 15 years. It's absurd how many of those clones also star Liam Neeson.
And then Wall-E. I agree with Slam's assessment that the latter parts of the film don't live up to the glorious opening. It goes from a unique cinematic experience to a solid sci-fi yarn.
And then on the odder side of superhero movies, I'll round out my top 5 with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
For honorable mentions, I'll mention how Speed Racer is better than it has any right to be. And that Justice League: The New Frontier is a rather close adaptation of one of the best comics. But then, you may as well just read the comic.
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 26, 2024 11:23:09 GMT -5
I think I'll concur with Hot Fuzz for the #1 film of 2007. Followed by Ratatouille.
It's been too long since I've seen Persepolis, but I'll stick it at #3. A great adaptation. Some local history gets explored in Fincher's Zodiac.
And then I think I'll go with Ang Lee's erotic historical spy thriller, Lust, Caution.
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 26, 2024 11:20:45 GMT -5
2006 is a shakier ordering. Just rewatched Casino Royale a couple weeks ago and I think I'm happy enough with it at the #1 spot. It's easily my favorite Bond film, and renewed my interest in action films at a time I felt the genre had been moving away from me.
But Pan's Labyrinth is a strong contender. Overdue for a rewatch. A clever blending of genres.
Then we'll go with The Prestige, A Scanner Darkly, and Children of Men.
Strong contenders are Clerks II, Inside Man, and Deja Vu. And I have a fondness for Grandma's Boy, but haven't revisited it in a couple decades.
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 26, 2024 11:14:33 GMT -5
A pretty solid top 5 for 2005.
Serenity is a top 20 film of all time for me. I think the first hour of Batman Begins is perfect. Then is slowly dips in quality building to a weak climax. But Christopher Nolan is my favorite modern director and almost shares my name.
Great year for comic adaptations with A History of Violence and Sin City.
And yeah, Good Night and Good Luck rounds out a top 5.
Contenders are Pride & Prejudice and Lady Vengeance.
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 26, 2024 11:09:04 GMT -5
Looks like I left off with 2004.
A very big year for me with 3 of my all-time favorite films, making it a tough call.
For a couple decades, I would have told you the easy answer was Spider-Man 2, which held as my favorite superhero film until Tom Holland put on the suit and left me confused as to what even is my favorite Spider-Man film.
These days, I think I have that at #2, and my #1 film of the year is the great sci-fi romance, and one of the smartest sci-fi concepts to ever debut (as far as I'm aware) in film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
But also right at the top of my favorite movies of all time is Before Sunset, which I consider equally good to its predecessor. Which you prefer is all about what type of ending you want.
Then I could go a lot of ways. For my #4 pick, I think I'll take the movie I credit with starting the modern lo-fi-sci-fi craze: Primer.
And then probably... Hellboy.
Or maybe Sideways. Or A Very Long Engagement. I think Prisoner of Azkaban is the best Harry Potter film.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 24, 2023 8:06:22 GMT -5
1. Dick Grayson This was not as popular a choice as I thought, so that's interesting. He was on my early list drafts, but fell off. Ultimately I decided I was ranking spin-off series, not characters. I'd have gone with the Dixon/McDaniel stuff, but it fell off.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 24, 2023 6:47:31 GMT -5
1. Warlock
Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-15, Avengers Annual 7, 1975-77, by Jim Starlin and Joe Rubinstein The Beehive created a perfect artificial man, but he rejected his creators. (Maybe because they were evil; it depends if you ask Lee or Kirby.) He then wandered aimlessly across other titles for a bit, before High Evolutionary gave him purpose as the Messiah for his creation Counter-Earth. But then what? Then Starlin took over and told some of the best comic stories I've ever read. Magus. The Universal Church of Truth. Gamora. Thanos. Pip. Cosmic suicide. Star Thief. Eros. The Avengers. The Soul Gems. An armada of alien rogues. A loop completed. And so it ended. Merry Christmas.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 23, 2023 5:31:06 GMT -5
2. Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer #1-18, 1968-70, by Stan Lee, John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins, Chic Stone, and Herb Trimpe My final two entries are dedicated to Slam Bradley. He was the herald of Galactus in Fantastic Four #48, by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott. Alicia taught him to be more. For his betrayal he was condemned to prison on the planet Earth. Kirby had likely imagined a creation of Galactus, a being of pure cosmic energy learning for the first time what it is to be human. Lee had other ideas. He imagined a person who had surrendered his humanity to save his world, and was now rediscovering it, while trapped in a world he never made. He misses a woman he left behind. He faces off against the devil incarnate. And he tries to find a place for himself in our world. Lee gives Kirby all the credit for creating Silver Surfer, but seemed to prize the character the most. Long after Lee stopped regularly writing, he picked up the pen every few years to tell a new Silver Surfer story. And there seemed an unspoken rule for 20 years that nobody but Lee would write Silver Surfer stories. Finally, that rule faded and Englehart told an excellent series of tales, succeeded by Jim Starlin, who brought the Surfer into conflict with Thanos.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 22, 2023 18:46:14 GMT -5
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 22, 2023 18:19:27 GMT -5
3. Lucifer
Sandman Presents: Lucifer #1-3, Lucifer #1-75, Lucifer: Nirvana,1999-2006, by Mike Carey, Scott Hampton, Chris Weston, Peter Gross, Jon J. Muth, et al. Sandman had a lot of great spin-offs. Death and the Dead Boy Detectives were both strongly considered for this list. And plenty of great one-shot spin-offs not eligible like Merv Pumpkinhead or the Little Endless. Or the Endless. This one stands out. A series that found its own identity and lived up to the quality of its progenitor series. In Sandman, Lucifer had surrendered the Key to Hell, and opened a nightclub. What happens next? Is it that easy to escape God's Plan? Is he sure that this too wasn't all part of the Plan. How can he be his own man when ever in the shadow of his all-powerful Father. He will not be his Father's son. He will be himself. Or he will be nothing.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 21, 2023 7:25:17 GMT -5
And think of all the characters who became central to Thor's comic book mythos who debuted not in the main series but here in “ToA”: Sif! Frigga! Karnilla! Surtur! Ymir! Hela! Geirrodur! Fandral! Hogun! Volstagg! Fafnir the Dragon! The Valkyries! The Einherjar! At the risk of falling for a nerd trap, of course we first saw the Valkyries in Journey Into Mystery #91, when they brought Thor his magic belt. (I'll give you Frigga, though we got a glimpse of Fricka from the back in #92)
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 21, 2023 7:24:25 GMT -5
4. Inhumans
Inhumans #1-12, 1998-99, by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee Fantastic Four #36. Lee/Kirby/Stone. Human Torch foes Wizard, Paste Pot Pete, and Sandman decided to team up to defeat the entire Fantastic Four, not just the teenager they could never defeat. But to better mirror the Fantastic Four... and because every 60s Marvel super team (hero or villain) with 4 or more members was required to have precisely one woman... they needed a woman. The found Madam Medusa living in a cave on a Mediterranean island. She liked to revel in evil and flirt with the rest of her team, and was entirely committed to the destruction of the Fantastic Four for no discernable reason. For the next 7 issues. But then came Gorgon. Now Joe Sinnott was the inker, and Medusa just wanted the Fantastic Four to save her from Gorgon. She was desperate not to be captured by him, and Gorgon was ready to level a city to get her. But then Dorrie turns Johnny down for a date, and he goes for a walk. There he sees a girl named Crystal and instantly forgets that Dorrie Evans ever existed. Crystal has a dog named Lockjaw. Since Johnny has flaming powers, he must be welcome in the sanctuary the quiet Black Bolt has built. There he finds Medusa seemingly content and best buddies with Gorgon. She insists Human Torch not be harmed, despite having recently left him to die in a nuclear blast. There's also Karnak, who knows the flaw in all things. And Triton, who says enigmatic things like, "What will be will be!" And of course The Seeker, who wants to bring them all back to the Great Refuge, at the command of Maximus. The Inhumans are the other dominant species on this planet, evolving in parallel to humanity. They had built advanced civilizations during the time of dinosaurs and cavemen. They have mastered genetics, and are genetically altered to have super powers. As the story gets quickly convoluted, let's fast forward 30 years. I was 17 and pretty much only reading Marvel superhero comics, but ready to read more more varied comics. Soon after I'd start reading things like Gaiman's Sandman or Moore's Swamp Thing. My stepping stone from Marvel superhero comics to broader things was this rather unique superhero comic. Stylish art by Jae Lee, who'd been a few years absent from the art scene and returned much improved. A complex tale of a society with strange rituals, political turmoil, schemes and counter schemes. One issue might tell us about teenagers undergoing their Terrigenesis. Another may focus on the lower caste of their society. Another may be entirely from the point of view of a dog. Compelling throughout, and all came together in a finale, that asked a silent man what we would say if he could just say one thing.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 21, 2023 3:24:48 GMT -5
This came out back when I still thought Warren Ellis was brilliantly clever and original, I was SO excited to see Doom actually win! How cool is that! What really made the series though was the character interactions... I know most of the virtual stuff in 2099 was a bit hokey, but I loved Wire for some reason. I'd never heard of Ellis prior to this. And I still didn't really take note of his name at the time. I learned who he was when he started doing the X Books, I think.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 20, 2023 17:58:37 GMT -5
On the Eighth day of Classic Comics Christmas I'm going with... #5: Miles Morales Brilliant choice. Didn't even occur to me. And I just rewatched Across the Spider-Verse last night. Best movie of the year.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 20, 2023 12:33:36 GMT -5
The Eighth Day of Christmas: This Conductor doesn’t run the North Pole Express-M Sleeper is such a great choice that I now find myself unable to explain why it's not on my list. I am sure I thought about it while making the list. But I think it got a bit lost in the shuffle that is my brain.
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