Mark Steven Johnson
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Batman (1989)
Directed by Tim Burton
influenced Daredevil (2003), Ghost Rider (2007)
Characters Visuals Themes
‘DAREDEVIL,” the blind hero of this poor man’s “Batman” played by Ben Affleck in autopilot mode and a red leather suit, has had his other senses so heightened he has to sleep in a sensory deprivation tank.
Como especie de respuesta a Batman, de DC Cómics, Marvel saca a la luz a un héroe que igualmente perdió a sus padres cuando chico, de personalidad oscura y cuyo traje característico también tiene un par de cuernos en la cabeza.
He’s more like the various aloof Bruce Waynes of the the Batman franchise than the more human heroes of Spider-Man or X‑Men .
The film's gloriously gloomy visuals and rapid-fire editing are clear indicators that Johnson has carefully studied all the successful superhero films, from Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" on.
Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote the script, directs crisply but timidly, in a style that could be summed up as "Batman" meets "The Matrix’’ meets "Spider-Man."
Johnson's inspiration is clearly Frank Miller's baroque and bloody Daredevil books of the early 1980s, deconstructionist comics that led to Miller's ominous mid-'80s reinvention of Batman (and subsequently, Tim Burton's Batman movies).
Venom (2018)
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
influenced by Daredevil (2003), Ghost Rider (2007)
Visuals Characters
Even if we get a sequel to this one, the Venom series feels destined to be forgotten in the same vein of Ben Affleck Daredevil film and Nic Cage Ghostrider movies.
To that end, as you may have heard already, “Venom” feels tremendously dated, seemingly plucked from a timewarp where superhero movies resemble ungainly things like “Ghost Rider,” “Spawn,” “Daredevil” and the likes (throw in a little bit of “The Mask,” “Dude Where’s My Car,” “Weekend At Bernies,” “The Wicker Man,” “Ghost Rider 2” and “Green Lantern” and this is the freaky Frankenstein that’s been created).
Think the likes of Fantastic Four and Daredevil, Batman and Robin and Catwoman and you’ll have an inkling for the flabbergasting, directionless mania of this shockingly bad Sony outing.
Meanwhile, the relationships Brock has with the homeless woman on his street (PTA regular Melora Walters!) and the owner of grocery store he frequents often (Peggy Lu) are charming, feeling like the intimate small-scale world building one would see on Netflix’s Daredevil .
No se trata del equivalente moderno a la “Gatúbela” de Halle Berry o al “Daredevil” de Ben Affleck.
This is more like on the level of The Fantastic Four (either the 2005 or 2015 versions; both are equally mediocre), 2003’s Daredevil (the one with Ben Affleck) or 1983’s Superman III (the one with Richard Pryor and where the Man of Steel fights his drunken doppelganger), meaning this latest comic book adventure isn’t without its moments but overall is still nothing short of a misbegotten waste of time.
Harry drives a 1969 Mustang GTO, modeling himself after Steve McQueen in "Bullitt" (although Bullitt drove a 1968 Ford Mustang).
The film’s central figure, a green-behind-the-ears thief named Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), idolizes the squinty star of “Bullitt,” for all the reasons one might have back in 1972, when most of the movie is set.
The protagonist (he’s not quite active or admirable enough to be called the hero) of this crime flick, Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), is fixated on the eponymous star, so Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair are referenced.
The names of most of the gang members have been altered in the picture, but not those of the main protagonist, Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), a likable lug who admires Steve McQueen and tries to pattern himself after the “Bullitt” actor, and his laid-back, vaguely hippie-ish brother Tommy (Jake Weary).
Harry’s favorite movie is “Bullitt,” and he takes fashion and hairstyle cues from his idol Steve McQueen.
Harry is shown relating his past exploits eight years later to his girlfriend Molly (Rachael Taylor, Jessica Jones ), who loves the film Bonnie and Clyde almost as much as Harry loves Bullitt .
(Anyone annoyed by shortcomings in Spider-Man's special effects can start working out the wording of their angry Internet posts now.)
Unfortunately, Affleck and Garner, the star of TV’s “Alias,” exhibit no chemistry together after this first encounter – even though the film pays homage to “Spider-Man” with a soggy love scene set in the rain.
With the recent comeback success of big screen adaptations of comic books such as "X-Men" and especially "Spider-Man," many are hoping and/or expecting that Affleck's appearance in and as "Daredevil" will take both him and the character to the top of their respective lists.
He’s more like the various aloof Bruce Waynes of the the Batman franchise than the more human heroes of Spider-Man or X‑Men .
Understandably, given the $400 million that "Spider-Man" took in at the box office last summer, the powers that be at Twentieth Century Fox are anticipating "Daredevil" will be an across-the-board smash and the beginning of a franchise.
No, but it has much more going for it than the last “X-Men” sequel, in the end.
But it's a far cry from "Batman Begins," the "Spider-Man" movies and Bryan Singer's "X-Men" films, which have set the bar pretty high for everything that's followed.
But on the heels of such successful comic-book adaptations as X-Men and Spider-Man, Johnson's film makes Daredevil look like the second-rate hero he never really was.
It’s a little darker, a little bloodier, and a little more adult than its Marvel Comics-spawned counterparts "Spider-Man" and "X-Men."
"Daredevil" is one of the darker Marvel comics, incorporating a grittier detective persona to the title character, and this may be why it's more of a cult comic than a huge fan-based comic like " Spider-Man " and the " X-Men " books.
The protagonist (he’s not quite active or admirable enough to be called the hero) of this crime flick, Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), is fixated on the eponymous star, so Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair are referenced.
In some circles, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has been referred to as more of a "reboot" than a "sequel," although I'm not aware of any reboots that have featured the same actor in the lead role.
Hard as it is to believe, though, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is actually worse than its predecessor.
Idris Elba, Violante Placido, and Nicolas Cage in "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance"…
A "Ghost Rider" film directed by the lunatics who gave us the "Crank" movies promises grindhouse greatness.
Just possibly—certainly the bit where he imitates the skull from Disney’s 1929 The Skeleton Dance (seen earlier on TV in the movie) is meant to be funny.
After a few cursory lines to show off Travolta’s ostensible command of the language (echoes of Sean Connery speaking Russian for a hot second at the start of “The Hunt For Red October”), the cheesy accent kicks in.
Thankfully, "Ghost Rider" plays a lot of this for comedy -- at least until the special effects budget kicks in -- and Cage lets himself go loosey-goosey in a way he hasn't since, oh, "Vampire's Kiss" way back in 1989 .
Basada en el best seller de la escritora R.J Palacio, Chbosky, con un tono alentador, invita a la apreciación de la vida, con sus complicaciones y sus momentos óptimos, sin caer demasiado en excesos lacrimógenos que ofrecen los retratos del bullying y de los individuos que luchan contra la adversidad, como en El Gran Simon (Simon Birch, 1998).
In a nice introduction to young Matt's new powers, the film evokes Cronenberg's Scanners where psychics are driven mad by the mind noises of others.
It’s as if all of the talent he showed in Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation.
Nicolas Cage, having squandered most of his goodwill from his 1995 Oscar for "Leaving Las Vegas," goes "all in" for what is likely to be the first and last entry in the "Ghost Rider" franchise, and yet a project bound for the pantheon of "good" bad movies.
This is not a stretch for the man who gave the brilliant turn in “Leaving Las Vegas.”
Then again, Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman previously oversaw production on the lowest common denominator nerd baubles of yesteryear like X-Men Origins: Wolverine while producer Avi Arad was producer on train wrecks of that era like Elektra and Ghost Rider, so perhaps it isn't so surprising Kraven the Hunter feels like a throwback to the days where “fan service” was something done through gritted teeth.
Rather than really make an effort to change things, the production clearly saw the previous movie’s success as validation of its bad choices, so it regularly succumbs to many of the same issues – maintaining the air of bad mid-aughts comic book movies like Mark Steven Johnson's Daredevil , Tim Story’s Fantastic Four , and Jonathan Hensleigh's The Punisher .
Lejos quedan los años zozobrantes del cambio de milenio, cuando títulos como Hulk (2003), Daredevil (2003), Catwoman (2004), Los 4 Fantásticos (2005) o Elektra (2005) aunaban palos de ciego, efectos digitales cuestionables y ningún sentido del ridículo en sus traslaciones de los personajes de las viñetas.
The screenplay is by Mark Steven Johnson—the fellow responsible for Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005).
Two years later he was the writer and executive producer for Elektra, which got hit by a huge critical bus.
Although he claims to be a huge comic book fanatic, filmmaker Mark Steven Johnson (Elektra, Daredevil) seems to have no good idea on how to create a quality superhero flick.
Writer-director Mark Steven Johnson was also responsible for "Daredevil" (which looked better to me in 2003 than it does in hindsight and is reviled by other comic fans), and he wrote the soporific "Elektra."
Eva Mendes and Sam Elliott fill in as love interest and mentor, respectively, and director Mark Steven Johnson improves on his last outing, Elektra, but without Cage, he’d have little more than an infernal flame-out.
They directly pay homage to the perfect (aside from one early scene because Chicago) romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally…
Young Matt Murdock (Scott Terra, "Eight Legged Freaks") has a traumatic childhood.
Scott Terra (the kid from Eight Legged Freaks) plays Matt Murdock as a young kid (and, frankly, acts everyone else off the screen), who witnesses his idolised boxer father doing some loan shark work and then has A Nasty Accident with some radioactive waste (as you do) which leaves him blind, but with all his other senses intensely heightened as a result.
Jennifer Garner (of "Alias") plays the martial arts princess Elektra Natchios, Jon Favreau (of "Swingers") is Matt's comic lawyer/sidekick Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Michael Clarke Duncan acts the evil ganglord Wilson Fisk/a.k.a.
Affleck is allowed a few funny asides in between masked scowls his Matt Murdock, thankfully, has a personality while Jon Favreau ("Swingers") delivers a punch line every time he opens his mouth as Murdock's fellow lawyer.
Clearly intended to jumpstart a new superhero franchise, Bloodshot frequently feels like a holdover of a bygone era – the type of superhero movie they were making around the time of Ben Affleck’s Daredevil , or Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider .
Clearly intended to jumpstart a new superhero franchise, Bloodshot frequently feels like a holdover of a bygone era – the type of superhero movie they were making around the time of Ben Affleck’s Daredevil , or Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider .