What is everyone's top comic book based movies?

[flickchick85]

I love The Incredibles more than most of the favorites I listed up there, but it doesn't fit the criteria of the title of this thread, so I didn't list it.

 

[DACrowe]

Just the best ones:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Spider-Man 2
3. V For Vendetta (not faithful, but a way better film than super faithful adaptation Watchmen)
4. Kick-Ass
5. Batman Begins
6. The Dark Knight Rises
7. Batman (1989)
8. X-Men: First Class
9. Spider-Man (2002)
10. A History of Violence
11. The Avengers
12. Sin City
13. Iron Man
14. Batman Returns
15. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Those I think are the real gems of the genre.

 

[StarLord]

1. The Dark Knight
2. Superman II
3. The Avengers
4. Batman Begins
5. Spider-Man 2
6. X-Men 2
7. Batman 89'
8. Iron Man
9. Thor
10. X-Men First Class

 

[gwynplaine]

TDK
IM
Avengers
Road to Perdition
Men in Black
The Crow
Blade
Oldboy
American Splendor
The Baby Cart films
Heavy Metal
Dredd

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Mine are:
The Avengers. (After seeing it 13 times in theaters, it's a new favorite)

WTF? How can someone watch a movie in theaters that many times in one run today?

 

[OutRiddled]

WTF? How can someone watch a movie in theaters that many times in one run today?

I haven't even seen The Avengers and don't care to.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I haven't even seen The Avengers and don't care to.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I haven't even seen The Avengers and don't care to.

 

[Tequilla]

Hmm

Ghost in the Shell , Nausicaa and then everything else where i include

Nolan's Batman
Akira
The Hulk
A History of Violence
Persepolis
Spider-Man 2
Superman
Oldboy
Hellboy 2
Patlabor 2
Lone Wolf and Cub (all 6 of them)
Lady Snowblood
Ichi the Killer
Innocence

I think that's it. Im probably missing a bunch .

 

[Bim]

Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

The Avengers
Batman Begins
Iron Man
X-Men
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
Superman: The Movie
The Dark Knight
Spiderman
X-Men 2
Spiderman 2
X-Men: First Class
Batman (89)
Batman Returns
300
Superman II

 

[-JKR-]

Just the best ones:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Spider-Man 2
3. V For Vendetta (not faithful, but a way better film than super faithful adaptation Watchmen)
4. Kick-Ass
5. Batman Begins
6. The Dark Knight Rises
7. Batman (1989)
8. X-Men: First Class
9. Spider-Man (2002)
10. A History of Violence
11. The Avengers
12. Sin City
13. Iron Man
14. Batman Returns
15. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Those I think are the real gems of the genre.

D'OH! I totally forgot those!

Kick-Ass is a step away from being on my top list. I've got to rewatch it, though.

 

[ChukNoris]

1. Watchmen
Didn't get all the hate for this one. I never read the comic however, I don't know

2. The Dark Knight
Always been a sucker for the dark, surreal, crime stuff

3. Iron Man
Model superhero origin/film awesome

4. X2
Absolutely great story and visual effects

5. V for Vendetta
Loved it.

And rest of the top 15
6. Avengers
7. Batman Begins
8.Spider-Man 2
9. X-Men First Class
9. Kick-Ass
10.Sin City
11. X-Men
12. Dredd
13. Spider-Man
14. X-Men the Last Stand
15. Iron Man 2

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

^^^Spider-man 3 over ASM and Spider-man 2?

 

[ChukNoris]

^^^Spider-man 3 over ASM and Spider-man 2?

Completely forgot Spider-man 2
And I never really liked ASM
List updated

 

[jacobed]

Dark Knight
Amazing Spiderman
Dark Knight Rises
History of Violence
Batman Begins
Avengers
X2
First Class
X1
Watchmen

 

[titansupes]

The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Batman Begins
Superman: The Movie
Batman Returns
Batman
Superman II
X-Men 2
Iron Man
The Avengers

I struggled for the last 4 or 5. I'll be honest, other than the two Dark Knights, there's none that I still genuinely love as movies unto themselves, other than for nostalgia or because they're about characters I love/like.

 

[Silvermoth]

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE LIKE COMIC BOOK FILMS?!

Kidding, Mine is X2

 

[Brain Damage]

I'm going to keep my list short as it is after all top comic book movies.

1. The Dark Knight - Perfection. My favorite Batman stories are where he is pushed to his limit by the Joker testing him ideologically or one that plays up the tragedy of his supporting cast in the corruption of Gotham. Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face because he dared to work with Batman and Gordon to bring down the mob ties into that perfectly. What? I get both of those in one movie told by one of the great up and coming auteurs of this generation?

2. Spider-Man 2 - Some may not like the details of exact characterizations of Raimi's Spider-Man movies, but he gets the overall tone and spirit of the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko and Stan Lee/John Romita comics just right in his first two movies. And this one is nearly flawless in execution. With a visually stunning villain in Doc Ock and one of the most compelling character arcs for a protagonist ever in a superhero movie with "Spider-Man: No More," this one pulls at the heart strings and feels remarkably human. It is the quirky dramedy about neurotic New Yorkers of the superhero genre.

3. Kick-Ass - The most fun I have ever had watching a comic book movie. It was simply an exhilarating joy to watch. All the nods to previous movies were funny and it intelligently satirized superhero movies while executing their tropes in the third act better than most. Plus, Hit-Girl is one of the best "hero" characters in recent memory and this movie always leaves you grinning.

4. V For Vendetta - A bit dated now, this movie packed a wallop in 2006. A none-too-subtle rebuke of the Bush Administration and its "War on Terror" told with amazing imagination and two incredibly compelling and fantastically played central characters with V and Evey (even if Natalie Portman's accent was a bit dodgy). This movie was just compulsively viewable during the Bush years and still is relevant to this day. Is it accurate to the graphic novel? Not at all. But it is a great movie.

5. Batman Begins - The Batman origin done right. This is (for the first two acts) a character-driven superhero origin movie written for adults as well as younger audiences. The third act descends into action movie/superhero cliché, but the characters are so well developed and the Gotham Nolan creates feels so real, I happily go along with it for the ride at that point.

6. Batman (1989)
7. Spider-Man (2002)
8. The Avengers
9. X-Men: First Class
10. Iron Man
11. Superman: The Movie
12. Batman Returns
13. Sin City
14. A History of Violence
15. The Road to Perdition
16. X2: X-Men United
17. Watchmen
18. The Amazing Spider-Man
19. X-Men
20. Thor

Okay, I guess that was not so short.

My exact same top 5
My order for the rest my differ a bit, but they would all be in there except for Thor. I'd swap it out for Hellboy.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Thought I'd add a line or two of justification for my top 5:

1. Watchmen - I'd never read the GN. So this was the first time I was exposed to the ideas it presents. It blew me away.

Not only is it the most interesting and unpredictable superhero stories, with layers and layers to unravel or repeat veiwing/reading. It still holds that centre of absolute fantasy that The Dark Knight Trilogy sort of had to loose in order to take on serious subjects.

It is visually breath taking, the casting is fantastic (particularly for Rorchach and Dr Manhattan) and the words that worked so well on paper work even more beautifully out loud with an great score and intonation to back them up.

I wish more people loved it. It is so underrated.

2. The Dark Knight Trilogy - I enjoyed the old Batman films well enough, but I'd never have called myself a fan of them. But from the moment I saw BB I fell in love with this characterisation of Bruce Wayne.

BB made me cry like a baby when his parents were killed. Right then, I was with him, and I've been with him ever since.

The films maintained intelligent plots, faithful but exciting versions of various characters, some incredible themes and quotes, and possibly the best Bruce/Alfred relationship dynamic I've seen.

The Dark Knight Rises was my fave. It was just the greatest cinema experience for me. The anticipation built up from my love of the first two combined and I was just on such a high the whole way through. People can say it's flawed, but I never noticed and those flaws don't bother me on repeat viewing. It was just an incredible end to the journey, and I loved how much they referenced the first film.

The trilogy deserves all the praise it gets.

3. Kick Ass - Kick Ass is a gem of a film to me. One that manages to get the exact right balance between dark comedy and childlike wonder.

Unlike most of the people I've encountered who loved this film, it's not because 'hit girl's awesome' or 'big daddy is badass' (though of course they are ), it's because the message of Dave Lizewski himself is so endearing and so inspiring. Just a person who doesn't wanna just stand by and watch anymore... Who wants to help people, and goes about it in the most naively ridiculous way.

I absolutely adored him as a protagonist, and I thought the film was incredibly well written. Not to mention those fight choreographies where fantastic

4. Thor - Wasn't expecting much from Thor when I went to see it, but it pleasanly surprised me, and has remained the only Marvel Studios film I go back to for repeated viewings (yes, even Avengers).

It's just a great classic story. I love the family dynamic between villain and hero. I love the father's lesson the child must learn, and the idea of having to earn the right to be a hero.

It has one of the better (if a little rushed) love stories, and a wonderful sense of humour. Hemsworth is great in the role, not playing him too 'silly' or unlikeable arrogant... I can't even explain how he remains likeable, because a lot of the time he's just being an ****! But he manages it

I also thought Asgard was stunning, and the whole mythology of that world added this extra element you don't usually get with Superhero films these days. It's something I hope MOS and even WonderWoman can follow in the footsteps of.

5. Spiderman/Spiderman 2 - I really wanted to love ASM more. I know that probably sounds really bad, but it's just because there are so many things about the original Spiderman triology that I thought could be improved upon.

Unfortunately, while they did sort of improve some of the things I'd been hoping for... They also lost a lot of the things that made the originals so successful. And so, when I look at it realistically, these are still the better films (I don't count Spiderman 3 in anything...)

The villain plots are so much stronger, the fight scenes so much more skillfully crafted, and the plots so much tighter. (Not to mention little things I preferred like Uncle Ben's death scene and the following chase... It is just so much better at evoking emotion in me).

It's been almost 11 years since I saw the first film for the first time, and I still think it stands up next to the rest.