What was the last movie you've seen?

[Retrodude]

I have no clue what Ghost Rider comics Retrodude read, but the ones I read were pretty damned serious for a story about a guy who becomes a flaming skeleton.

I've only read the ones from the seventies and they're essentially B-movies in comic book form, so it seems only natural that the adaptations would be B-movies. Nothing wrong with that.

[BurningDoom]

I have no clue what Ghost Rider comics Retrodude read, but the ones I read were pretty damned serious for a story about a guy who becomes a flaming skeleton.

I've only read the ones from the seventies and they're essentially B-movies in comic book form, so it seems only natural that the adaptations would be B-movies. Nothing wrong with that.

I've been reading comics a very long time, and I'm with Luke on this. The Ghost Rider comics have always been serious. Both Johnny Blaze and the later Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch, were tortured souls that were seeking redemption. And the atmosphere and artwork in the comics were always very dark.

If Nicholas Cage wasn't cracking one-liners every 2 minutes, Ghost Rider would have been a good movie. But that completely pulled you out of that dark atmosphere and it took a lot of that sympathy the audience should have had for the character of Johnny Blaze away.

And a smaller nitpick: Blackheart was disappointing. In the comics he's this black, hulking, inhuman looking demon. In the movie he's this pretty-boy who's eyes get dark, whoopdy-doo.

[MrPopo]

I have no clue what Ghost Rider comics Retrodude read, but the ones I read were pretty damned serious for a story about a guy who becomes a flaming skeleton.

I've only read the ones from the seventies and they're essentially B-movies in comic book form, so it seems only natural that the adaptations would be B-movies. Nothing wrong with that.

My understanding is that pretty much every comic in the 70's was incredibly silly.

[BurningDoom]

I have no clue what Ghost Rider comics Retrodude read, but the ones I read were pretty damned serious for a story about a guy who becomes a flaming skeleton.

I've only read the ones from the seventies and they're essentially B-movies in comic book form, so it seems only natural that the adaptations would be B-movies. Nothing wrong with that.

My understanding is that pretty much every comic in the 70's was incredibly silly.

Some recommendations for you, then:

-Amazing Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga
-Amazing Spider-Man: The Death of Gwen Stacy
-The Avengers: Korvac Saga
-The Avengers: Kree-Skrull War
-Jim Starlin's Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) run
-Dr. Strange
-Ghost Rider
-Neal Adams' run on the Batman books
-Jack Kirby's Fifth World Saga (DC Comics, Superman, Darkseid & The New Gods)
-The Original Thanos Saga (vs. The Avengers & Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell))

[Retrodude]

My understanding is that pretty much every comic in the 70's was incredibly silly.

They were.

I've been reading comics a very long time, and I'm with Luke on this. The Ghost Rider comics have always been serious. Both Johnny Blaze and the later Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch, were tortured souls that were seeking redemption. And the atmosphere and artwork in the comics were always very dark.

No, the seventies GR comics (which, again, are the only ones I've read) were extremely cheesy and most definitely not serious in any sense of the word. If the series became serious later on, that's fine, but that's a case of the writers showing that they could do more with the character than the original comics did. It's like Pryde Of The X-Men vs the later X-Men animated series. They're both legitimate, enjoyable versions of the characters, but the latter is serious while the former is clearly not.

[BurningDoom]

My understanding is that pretty much every comic in the 70's was incredibly silly.

They were.

I've been reading comics a very long time, and I'm with Luke on this. The Ghost Rider comics have always been serious. Both Johnny Blaze and the later Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch, were tortured souls that were seeking redemption. And the atmosphere and artwork in the comics were always very dark.

No, the seventies GR comics (which, again, are the only ones I've read) were extremely cheesy and most definitely not serious in any sense of the word. If the series became serious later on, that's fine, but that's a case of the writers showing that they could do more with the character than the original comics did. It's like Pryde Of The X-Men vs the later X-Men animated series. They're both legitimate, enjoyable versions of the characters, but the latter is serious while the former is clearly not.

So the stories of Ghost Rider, Mephisto, and Zarathos all vying for Johnny's soul were a comedy to you? The parts about it physically hurting him to change to Ghost Rider in the early issues? Or maybe when he found his family killed?

[Fragems]

For whatever reason I had the urge for some cheesy star trooper action the other day and ended up picking up Starship Trooper 2&3 for a buck a piece at the pawnshop. Went through and watched them both last night . I have to say damn where do they get all the cheese.

Number 2 had some of the worst acting I have ever seen, way to little soldier bug action, and some of the crappiest characters ever. It was like watching cardboard cutouts fight and screw each other for 2 hours while the bugs waited outside around a bug zapper killing themselves to escape such a horrible movie. I do have to give them credit on the ending though I couldn't think of a cheesier ending if I tried.

3 I went into thinking was going to be at least a little bit better since it was shot much more recently, had a decent budget, had mechs, and had Rico returning with the same actor. God did they ever screw that up though. They apparently felt that people weren't watching the movies for the turn off your brain cheesy action and bug hunting and instead needed something more. So they inserted a shitload of religion and politics into the mix. Like Troopers 2 we once again end up with a crappy 2 hour romp with cardboard characters bitching at each other about god and politics while the bugs get a cameo every 20 minutes or so for about 2-3 minutes before scurrying off stage . The most disappointing part of the movie by far had to be the mechs though. With Marauder being in the title I expected plenty of Mech vs. Bug action, but instead got about a 5 minute fight with some of the worst CGI I have seen outside of a SCIFI original movie :X. Finally I have to say the directing and editing department really freaking dropped the ball on this movie. There were a lot of inconsistencies through out the movie that unless they were blind the editing team had no excuse for missing. The most notable was a desert scene in which 6 people are on screen walking through the desert even though there are only 5 survivors left . Plus character the personalities of the characters do an unexplained 360 every now and then it is hard to tell if horrible acting or bad directing or a combination of both are to blame for this, but either way they screwed the pooch .

Overall I would probably rate Starship Troopers 2 a 1/10, and Starship Troopers 3 a 2/10. I was a fan of the original Starship Troopers movie and the animated series but after watching these movies I have to say if you haven't seen these films yet you would be best off to pretend like they don't exist.

[BurningDoom]

That's a shame. I love the original movie, and I just saw that Starship Troopers 2 was added to Netflix's streaming library. So I planned on watching it.

I'm still probably gonna give it a go at one point, but now my expectations are pretty low.

[Nintendork666]

For some reason, Pacific Rim really made me want to re-watch Starship Troopers again.

It'll probably be the next blu-ray I pick up. Nice to know I need not bother with the sequels.

[Luke]

That's why these movies have to be judged as cinema, against other works of cinema and not be given a special pass because they're based on a comic book character because that doesn't mean anything.

I could kiss you.


edit* Forgot that Donkey saying "This is a nice place. A very nice place" was an homage to Trading Places.