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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 7, 2015 13:22:10 GMT -5
I thought LoEG was a decent movie 2/3 the way in. The conclusion fell apart and it never approached my high expectations
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 7, 2015 13:56:48 GMT -5
That's how I've always felt as well; it was a fun movie, but a bad adaptation and I can live with that. It was an abominable adaptation. It wasn't a very good movie either, but it wasn't completely unredeeming...like Green Lantern. I wouldn't say it was great cinema but I thought it was entertaining and I think that was its only goal, where as I wasn't even entertained by GL I thought LoEG was a decent movie 2/3 the way in. The conclusion fell apart and it never approached my high expectations Yeah, the end was probably the weakest part, though I did like the post credit scene around Quartermain's grave. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 7, 2015 14:03:21 GMT -5
This is a trivial thing to quibble over but there is no way Green Lantern, Batman & Robin or either of the Fantastic Four movies are worse than The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
TLXG created its own category when it comes to bad comic book movies.
I'd take LoEG over those never-ending ice puns any day... I saw Batman & Robin when it first came out and I thought it was AWFUL!
But every once in a while, I come across it on cable and I actually find it kind of fun. Outside of the context of how bad that movie was as a whole, the individual scenes with Clooney, Thurman and Silverstone are actually kind of fun, in a goofy way.
As soon, as Schwarzenegger shows up, I change the channel or turn it off. He is awful.
TLXG is just straight-through awful. For example, when Allan Quatermain shows Tom Sawyer that the Brits are superior marksmen because Americans have never heard of aiming. Or when Mr. Hyde saves the Nautilus by turning a valve. Or Mina Murray having vampire powers because ... VAMPIRES ARE COOL! Or the inclusion of Dorian Gray because having a magic mirror makes you a Victorian action hero.
Maybe I wouldn't care that much about how terrible it was if I hadn't read Alan Moore's series. And I've also read almost all of the original novels that the main TLXG characters are based on.
I don't mind that they changed things. I actually liked the addition of Tom Sawyer. What I didn't like was how bad most of the changes were and how badly the story was put together at every turn. Pretty much every scene in TLXG is painful to watch.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 7, 2015 14:13:20 GMT -5
I'd take LoEG over those never-ending ice puns any day... I saw Batman & Robin when it first came out and I thought it was AWFUL!
But every once in a while, I come across it on cable and I actually find it kind of fun. Outside of the context of how bad that movie was as a whole, the individual scenes with Clooney, Thurman and Silverstone are actually kind of fun, in a goofy way.
As soon, as Schwarzenegger shows up, I change the channel or turn it off. He is awful.
TLXG is just straight-through awful. For example, when Allan Quatermain shows Tom Sawyer that the Brits are superior marksmen because Americans have never heard of aiming. Or when Mr. Hyde saves the Nautilus by turning a valve. Or Mina Murray having vampire powers because ... VAMPIRES ARE COOL! Or the inclusion of Dorian Gray because having a magic mirror makes you a Victorian action hero.
Maybe I wouldn't care that much about how terrible it was if I hadn't read Alan Moore's series. And I've also read almost all of the original novels that the main TLXG characters are based on.
I don't mind that they changed things. I actually liked the addition of Tom Sawyer. What I didn't like was how bad most of the changes were and how badly the story was put together at every turn. Pretty much every scene in TLXG is painful to watch.
I don't think that aiming bit was meant to be taken literally, but rather as a jab at rate that Americans spend ammunition in gun fights in popular culture which I thought was funny. The rest? Yeah, I got nothing. Still, I liked the energy and tone the movie had and the effects were pretty fun, especially the designs of the Nautilus and Nemo's car. None of that is to say its on my list of favorites, just that I don't think its that bad of a flick. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 7, 2015 14:40:07 GMT -5
TLXG is just straight-through awful. For example, when Allan Quatermain shows Tom Sawyer that the Brits are superior marksmen because Americans have never heard of aiming. I don't think that aiming bit was meant to be taken literally, but rather as a jab at rate that Americans spend ammunition in gun fights in popular culture which I thought was funny. If that was the intent, then the joke didn't work for me at all. Maybe it would work better if there had ever been a version of "Tom Sawyer" where Tom wastes a lot of ammunition shooting indiscriminately at ... Injun Joe? Huck's father? John Brown and his anti-slavery militants? Quantrill's Raiders? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 15:26:26 GMT -5
I thought LoEG was a decent movie 2/3 the way in. The conclusion fell apart and it never approached my high expectations - I was very, very disappointed in this movie and I never, ever watched it again after I saw it once on the big screen. This was a major disappointment despite having a decent cast. I had very high expectations of it and never looked back. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 7, 2015 17:11:39 GMT -5
I don't think that aiming bit was meant to be taken literally, but rather as a jab at rate that Americans spend ammunition in gun fights in popular culture which I thought was funny. If that was the intent, then the joke didn't work for me at all. Maybe it would work better if there had ever been a version of "Tom Sawyer" where Tom wastes a lot of ammunition shooting indiscriminately at ... Injun Joe? Huck's father? John Brown and his anti-slavery militants? Quantrill's Raiders? If it didn't work for you, it didn't work but it was a jibe at American pop culture in general(think of all those tales of cow boys fanning out lead from their revolvers like Clint in Fist Full of Dollars) with nothing to do with Tom Sawyer. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 7, 2015 17:16:24 GMT -5
If that was the intent, then the joke didn't work for me at all. Maybe it would work better if there had ever been a version of "Tom Sawyer" where Tom wastes a lot of ammunition shooting indiscriminately at ... Injun Joe? Huck's father? John Brown and his anti-slavery militants? Quantrill's Raiders? If it didn't work for you, it didn't work but it was a jibe at American pop culture in general(think of all those tales of cow boys fanning out lead from their revolvers like Clint in Fist Full of Dollars) with nothing to do with Tom Sawyer. I took it the way you did, Guardian. Definitely not aimed at Sawyer but more at the Ned Buntline/Dime Novel that was the predominant American literature at the time that Tom Sawyer was published. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 7, 2015 17:50:35 GMT -5
If that was the intent, then the joke didn't work for me at all. Maybe it would work better if there had ever been a version of "Tom Sawyer" where Tom wastes a lot of ammunition shooting indiscriminately at ... Injun Joe? Huck's father? John Brown and his anti-slavery militants? Quantrill's Raiders? If it didn't work for you, it didn't work but it was a jibe at American pop culture in general(think of all those tales of cow boys fanning out lead from their revolvers like Clint in Fist Full of Dollars) with nothing to do with Tom Sawyer. And I think another element that would have improved the joke a tad is if the movie itself hadn't been so incredibly over the top in every action scene. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202 
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Post by Confessor on Jan 7, 2015 23:41:46 GMT -5
For what it's worth, I was disappointed with LoEG, being that I'm a big fan of the book. But, but, but...I do think it works quite well as a film in its own right, just not as an adaptation of Alan Moore's work. I mean, really, it has nothing to do with Moore's book, other than utilising some of the same fictional characters. I thought it was an attractively designed, well directed action movie, all in all. Not a masterpiece or anything, but I've learned to enjoy it somewhat for what it is.
Green Lantern was really, really bad.
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Post by Pól Rua on Jan 8, 2015 0:20:35 GMT -5
I think the one thing that could've saved the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film would have been a change in tone. If, instead of the post-Blade Runner monochromatic gloomfest (this is my serious face. this is a serious story), they'd gone with a bright, technicolour palette and presented it as a glorious Victorian romp a la 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' or 'The Adventures of Doctor Doolittle'.
As to the original question, it is very difficult to go past 'The Rocketeer' which feels like a film that was specifically made for me. It just has ALL the good things in it.
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Post by dupersuper on Jan 8, 2015 3:11:31 GMT -5
I like LoEG as an action movie, but then I never read the comic. I also saw it before reading the book, which is very much the way to do it. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2015 10:18:49 GMT -5
I'm going to have a stab at rating the ones I've seen (or at least all the ones I can remember clearly; I have also seen the Crow & Rocketeer and liked both, but so long ago that I can't really judge them fairly), so the list is approximately in order from best to worst The Good- Avengers
- Cap 2
- Cap 1
- GotG
- Thor 2
- Thor 1
- Iron Man 3
- Iron Man 1 (would have been much higher except for the crappy ending)
- X-Men: DoFP (basically a really good film, but some weird plot holes. Like how does Kitty get the mind transfer power?)
- Sin City
- X-Men: First Class (really enjoyable, but requires an awful lot of stupid actions from the militaries, and Shaw's plan is ludicrous)
- Iron Man 2 (last act is good, but first 2/3 of the film is much weaker)
The Not-bad / OKish / Flawed
- Watchmen (actually better ending than the comic, and excludes all the tedious pirate crap)
- X-Men 2 (decent film, but a really stupid ending)
- X-Men 1 (decent start apart from some wooden acting and Magneto's non-sensical mcguffin)
- X-Men 3 (actually quite liked this, some nice bits of business in the final fight and Kelsey Grammar is a great Beast, but too crammed)
- Wolverine 2 (another stupid ending)
- F4 1 (the bones of a good film. to which is added Jessica Alba and a terrible version of Dr Doom)
- Batman 1966
- Hulk 2
- Mystery Men
- Spider-Man 2
- Man of Steel (the mid-section isn't bad, but the last 30 mins or so are unbelievably stupid. And in fairness, I haven't seen the first third of the film yet)
- V for Vendetta
The Bad but somewhat enjoyable
- Hulk 1
- Spider-Man 1 (mostly for the Green Goblin, the rest was OK)
- F4 2 (Jessica Alba, again. Doom, again. Stupid Army. Stupid comedy power-swap plot)
- LoEG (Tom Sawyer added with a crow-bar to get an American protagonist. But if you pretend it's an original just based on the concept of the comic rather than an adaptation, it's a decent romp)
- Dark Knight (good 90 minute film, terrible 150 minute film - if only that last hour wasn't there, this would be much higher up the list)
The plain Bad
- Batman Begins (very, very boring, and mostly stupid)
- Wolverine 1 (so awful in so very many ways)
- Batman (terrible overacting, generally stupid)
- Spider-Man 3 (Sandman good, the rest terrible)
- Batman Returns (unbelievably stupid plot)
- Daredevil (awful acting, attempting cram 20 years of characters development into one film)
- Superman 2 (idiotic plot, terrible fight scenes, rubbish sfx)
Crimes against cinema- Superman 1 (crappy effects, very very boring - a 70s Superman comic brought to life, manic over-acting and a beyond stupid ending)
- Green Lantern (trying hard for the "worst superhero film ever made" crown, but not quite getting there
- Superman 3 (Richard Prior! Gene Hackman hamming it up even worse than the first two. The video game. Richard Prior!)
- Batman Forever
- Batman & Robin
One of the common themes throughout this lot is how often the ending lets down a potentially good film - it's like no-one has any idea how to come to any kind of a conclusion, other than "X kills the bad guy in a big fight". This is one of the many things that Avengers gets right (though the Chitauri all dying when the ship is nuked is remarkable convenient!) |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Jan 8, 2015 12:24:37 GMT -5
I'm going to have a stab at rating the ones I've seen (or at least all the ones I can remember clearly; I have also seen and liked the Crow & Rocketeer and liked both, but so long ago that I can't really judge them fairly), so the list is approximately in order from best to worst. . . Very interesting list that you clearly put a lot of thought into. The wide spectrum of opinions seen here on the CCF is one of its most appealing attributes. What troubles me is that I have the exact opposite opinion of so many items on your list that I'm afraid I might be nothing more than a perfect imperfect Bizarro version of you.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2015 12:30:43 GMT -5
Very interesting list that you clearly put a lot of thought into. The wide spectrum of opinions seen here on the CCF is one of its most appealing attributes. What troubles me is that I have the exact opposite opinion of so many items on your list that I'm afraid I might be nothing more than a perfect imperfect Bizarro version of you. I am aware that my opinions on a lot of things are off at a tangent to many/most people here - the virtues or otherwise of Superman 1, often rate quite high amongst the list of contentious items. I continue to hope to lead all the deluded ones into the light... Slightly concerned that your opposite view leaves you rating Batman & Robin as the best superhero film ever  (Pretty cool to have my own Bizarro, though) |
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