I read Frank Miller's Batman, The Dark Knight Returns and while some areas the content were a bit dark for my taste, it was one of the most engaging comics I've read. I'd be interested to see a movie based on it.

That was not the comic that the movie was partially based on, though. See if you can find a copy of Batman: Year One. It's still dark, but in a less grim-meathook-future way. I think it's much more compelling, personally.

I'll say it again in case people thought I was joking... Daredevil (yes, the movie with Ben Afleck) was head and shoulders above X3, X-Men The Last Stand. More entertaining in a general sense. I've only ever read a couple of Daredevil comics and that was years and years ago. But even with equal basic knowledge of the characters of both movies, it's easy to see the X-Men were just represented without heart, emotion and above all, without the attitudes found in their print counterparts.

Bitt mentioned the Daredevil story that provided the foundation for the movie was great and that the movie didn't do it justice and was just "ok." I can't say the same for the X-Men movie. The Dark Phoenix saga is what many fans were expecting - and that's one hell of a phenomenal story arch. The movie gave us a confused Jean Grey and that's it. No story elements from the comic beyond the name "Phoenix" - no sense of dread or omnipotent power. Phoenix was an entity and a destroyer of whole races & planets. Instead we got a few people and buildings disintegrating. What we also got was the door slammed on the possibility of doing anything remotely similar to the comic in the near future.

My hope is they let the movie series die for a few years and bring it back when someone serious enough about the subject matter comes along. Just like they did with Batman. As an aside, the Val Kilmer and George Clooney movies were worse than the latest X-Men movie - I'll give that up easily. In fact they belong in the short list of all-time worst movies ever.

Bruno

I'm with you. I too liked Daredevil and The Punisher. I never did see Elektra. I will wait for X3 to come out on DVD before I see it. I'm not much for going to the theater. The experience is generally far worse than watching it at home. I won't get too excited about the movie not following the written story either. It has been my experience that the film that closely follows the written story is a rare bird indeed.

I've heard some people didn't like Batman Begins. No one I know personally, but on the net (as usual ) I thought it was great. Easily the best comic-based superhero movie of the past decade. I also quite liked Hellboy. I feel it was easily better than the first two X-Men movies as well. I certainly found it more enjoyable and hope they continue with at least the same level of quality for the sequel. I also like Constantine - though I'm not familair at all with the source (comic) material.

Bruno

The upside to it being Nick Cage is that he, personally, is a huge Ghost Rider fan. He has a Ghost Rider tattoo. So, with that in mind, I have the feeling that he won't let it turn into a steaming pile of crap. It might anyway, but there will at least be someone important on-set trying to prevent it.

You didn't mention "Birdy" - one of my Nic Cage favorites...

- Jon

Out of the movies you listed, I really did like Raising Arizona and Face Off wasn't bad. When I think of overacting (and specifically my comment on being painful to watch) I was thinking of both The Rock (although the story and Sean Connery helped that one) and Leaving Las Vegas.

You were right about Con Air being ridiculous. I believe that is the only movie with John Cussack that I didn't love.

And out of those, I only liked Lord of War and The Rock. The others I just couldn't stand. In fact, I walked out of Raising Arizona, That's a big deal as I've only walked out of 2 other movies. Kingpin and Natural Born Killers. Blech.