From Printed Page To Silver Screen #2

Hey folks! Welcome to another edition of Printed Page to Silver Screen. I want to get stuck into this week’s topic, which is the Spider-man franchise, but before I do that I need to cover something which has been bothering me since I posted last weeks edition: The Crow.

I heralded Blade as the first good comic movie and whilst it was the one which brought about the current revolution of comic movies, The Crow was the first GREAT comic movie and deserves it’s place in history. I love that movie and it was a horrible oversight, so I am saying it now… The Crow Rules!! (R.I.P. Brandon Lee.)

Now, on to this week's topic of discussion: Spider-man. On last week's HGC show Kingdom stole my thunder by mentioning the fact that Toby Maguire has been signed on to do the next two Spider-man movies for a whopping $50 million. Not only that but he went on to say that he liked Maguire as Peter… I have only one thing to say to that… WHAT!!!!!


The first Spider-man film was actually pretty good and I liked Toby in this one, I have since discovered the reason he was so good in the first film was because he only had once side of the character to focus on, the transformation from geek to hero. Osbourne was given plenty of time to develop into his own, and a great performance was given by Willem Dafoe, the only thing that bothered me about the first film was the lack of the Gwen story. Instead of the Mary – Harry – Peter love triangle we could have been given the Gwen story and with her death at the end of the film that would have left space for M.J in the second film.

The Second film wasn’t a bad film but it was no where near as good as the first. Octavius was given plenty of space to develop just as Osbourne was in the first film but the rest just didn’t deliver. Why bother having John Jameson if it wasn’t to bring in the Wolf. This space should have been filled by the love triangle from the first which would have resulted in the creation of the new goblin in the third film along with Harry blaming Peter for his fathers death. Maguire started to show why casting him as Spidey was a problem here.

In the second film. The world was seeing Spidey a true hero but even in the suit Maguire portrayal came across as a shallow and his portrayal of Peter also lacked any depth, if you want a contrast to this watch Superman Returns or Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Both Reed and Clark are portrayed as you typical Nerd or Genius without loosing any depth regardless of how badly the film was written or directed.

Then comes the third instalment. And I cried. Everything was handled badly in this film, except Sandman who shouldn’t have been in it in the first place. Venom… Topher Grace … Really!! Where is the muscled hulking monster who could swat Spider-man away, who should have never needed Sandman’s help. And what the hell were Raimi and Maguire thinking when they came up with the Saturday nigh fever scene, with Peter strutting down the street after succumbing to the Symbiote?? It wasn’t funny it was awful, it made me cringe it was so bad!. As for the New Goblin once they had converted him to the side of good it should have taken both heroes to deal with Venom alone. Then we could have finished with an M.J – Peter wedding and hey presto we’re done. The whole thing came off as a total clusterfuck and I hate it.

Now we have a fourth and fifth instalment to dread and I am scared of what will happen to the greatest hero ever created. So that’s my take fellow Geniuses let me know what you think of the first three and what may happen to the franchise in the next two.

It may also interest you to know the Toby Maguire has been attached to the Robotech films which are being released to capitalise on the success of Transformers and speaking of Transformers most of the nest I have gathered this week centres around the upcoming Transformers sequel: Revenge of the Fallen.

Leaked Pictures of Megatron from The Fallen?
Source: Transformers World, Latino Review
September 22, 2008

While I tend to question anything that mysteriously show up in my Inbox claiming to be from any highly-anticipated upcoming movie, I was particularly suspicious when it comes to Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. After all, wasn't Michael Bay boasting earlier this year that he planned on leaking false information to throw the fans off for what to expect in the sequel?

The four pictures that popped up certainly look like concept art for the toy designs and box depicting the new transformed version of Megatron that might appear in Michael Bay's sequel, but are they the real deal? Or are these a part of Michael Bay's campaign of misinformation?

When the same pictures started showing up on Transformers World 2005 and Latino Review and all over our message boards, I started wondering if these pictures might actually be legitimate.

You can check out the pictures in all their glory at one of the links above and decide for yourself.


Roberto Orci Answers Transformers Sequel Questions
Source: Transformers World
September 23, 2008

Slowly turning into one of the best sources for all things Transformers, Transformers World 2005 (no, I have no idea why they're three years behind the rest of us) has had a very special member of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen creative team, co-writer Roberto Orci, join their message boards where he's been (somewhat vaguely) answering questions about the upcoming sequel.

While Orci has been doing the interview rounds as the co-producer of the new action-thriller Eagle Eye, which opens everywhere on Friday September 26, plus he has a new Fox show "Fringe" (both co-produced with his partner Alex Kurtzman), none of these interviews get as in depth into what we may or may not see in the sequel than this message board Q 'n' A thread. (General spoiler warnings if you want to be surprised, of course.)

There's way too much information here to mention just one thing or another but there's a lot of diehard Transformers fans on their forums, so you'll probably want to read it all for yourself here.

Transformers World also confirms that Jetfire will be an Autobot in the movie, rather than a Decepticon, because he'll be combining with Optimus Prime in the new movie. You can read more about that here.


Some Kick-Ass Set Pics!
Source: /Film
September 22, 2008

/Film got their hands on some cool pictures from the Toronto location shoot for Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Kick-Ass, depicting a scene straight from the comic book by Mark ("Wanted") Millar and John ("Amazing Spider-Man", "Uncanny X-Men", you name it) Romita Jr. The scene being shot by the production's 2nd Unit is of a flying superhero being felled and crashing through a taxi cab, which comes from the opening of the story and movie.

/Film reader Dan B. depicts the scene being shot as such:

“Coming back from a Jays game happen to catch what appeared to be 2nd Unit for Kick-Ass. Didn’t see Matthew Vaughn on site. They seemed to be shooting the opening shots of the movie. The camera starts off facing the wrecked taxi and ends up on a close up of the license plate that reads ‘Kick-Ass’ Here are the shots taken with my Iphone.”

You can see some pics, as well as a comparison from the same scene in the comic book by clicking here.


Alan Moore Unsupportive of Snyder's Watchmen
Source: Los Angeles Times
September 18, 2008

With the 20th Century Fox lawsuit against Warner Bros. over Zack Snyder's Watchmen still unresolved, the Los Angeles Times' "Hero Complex" blog recently interviewed comic creator and author Alan Moore and got his opinion on the movie that many have felt might finally get one of Moore's stories right. Moore apparently hasn't had his opinion about Hollywood swayed or changed, because he isn't just against the adaption of his graphic novel finally coming to the big screen, but seemingly against movies in general.

In the interview, Moore says that he finds "film in its modern form to be quite bullying," and as far as the much-publicized lawsuit, Moore seems to be thrilled about the legal problems surrounding the film which is due out on March 6, 2009, two months after the trial date that's been set for the case. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England, and I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

Then again, Moore has never watched any of the film adaptations of his books, and Zack Snyder probably shouldn't feel too bad that Moore isn't positive or supportive of the hard work he's been putting into making Watchmen faithful to Moore's original work.

You can read the rest of the interview with Moore here.