I have seen Superman Returns, and I declare it to be awesome.

I was seriously surprised at how much I liked this movie. Definitely going to be seeing it again.

One minor nonspoiler that should be comforting to people -- that emo bullshit line in the trailer about how hard it is being alone and keeping secrets does not actually appear in the film, in any form.

I have seen Superman Returns, and I declare it to be awesome.

Well, alright.

Rate it against your personal pantheon of comic book movies.

(Mine starts with Spidey 2, then X-men 2, then...Batman Returns. Then...the first Superman. Batman Begins. Then Hellboy. Then Spidey 1. Sin City. Something like that.)

Err, is that from low to high or high to low?

Err, is that from low to high or high to low?

Pfft. Spider-Man 2 at the top. Vonnie will back me up on this!

::looks around desperately for Vonnie validation::

Swamp Thing #1!!!!!

All I've got on Jennifer Jason Leigh is that in If Chins Could Kill Bruce Campbell describes her as an acting machine. And the screencap from Hudsucker makes her look exactly like her mother.

Good news about Superman! I'm not a Supes person, but I am a total Kevin Spacey mark, so I've been planning to see it.

Rate it against your personal pantheon of comic book movies.

Right now, Superman Returns is my favorite comic book movie ever, but that's 99% residual glow from the fact that it was the last one I saw, and it was AWESOME. I have to see it again and let it digest more before it can be properly ranked.

It's got a grandeur that's completely absent from the X-movies (appropriate for their subject matter, but it was something I wasn't sure Singer could do), and the pacing is very elegant and operatic. You really get a sense of Superman as Big Tragic God, both from Routh's performance and from the arc of the narrative. Like Batman Begins and the Spider-Man movies, it does a great job of matching the tone of the film to the tone of the superhero -- there is no question at all that this is a Superman movie. It's just wonderful.

PS, your list is missing Hulk, Darkman and The Incredibles.

PS, your list is missing Hulk, Darkman and The Incredibles.

'Cept The Incredibles weren't in comic books first....

Neither was Darkman - doesn't matter! Still comic book movies.

(But if we're going strictly by source material and not movie content, the list is missing Ghost World, V for Vendetta and American Splendor.)

(And League of Extradordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, but the less said about those, the better.)

You really get a sense of Superman as Big Tragic God, both from Routh's performance and from the arc of the narrative.

Hmm. See I've never really seen Superman portrayed as tragic. He SHOULD have been (and may well have been in comics I've never read) given the whole last of his planet and all (as far as he knows - that got revised a few times), but I can't recall seeing him done that way.

Confirming postings by director Jon Favreau, Marvel and Paramount announced that Iron Man is staking out a May 2, 2008, release date, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Favreau alluded to the date in a posting on his Iron Man MySpace.com site.

The Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment film will be an adaptation of the Marvel Comics armored superhero. The project marks the first motion picture to be produced by Marvel under its alliance with the studio.

Iron Man is the first feature film to be produced independently by Marvel Entertainment and also marks the first production under former Marvel Studios chief executive officer Avi Arad's newly launched production company, Avi Arad Productions. The film is expected to be financed through Marvel's $525 million revolving film-financing facility.

Nah nah nah-nah-nah. Nahnahnahnah nah-nah nah nah nah.

[link]