They didn't even LOOK at my audition tape! I would've made a terrific Nicolas Cage! (that was his character name right?)
I don’t see the point in dwelling on the negative. I see lists like “The 5 Worst Comic Book Movies” and I wonder, “Why bother?” If they’re bad then why are you devoting a part of life dwelling on it? It seems silly to me, because you’re just bringing yourself down. Now, I don’t mind watching a bad movie once in a while. Sometimes it’s fun (especially with beer). But I always try to find the good in a bad movie. Often times, very talented actors are cast in bad movies (not just comic book movies) and despite how the film turns out, they give a great performance. This is either a testament to their wonderful acting ability or the fact that their character was the only one taken seriously in the script. Who knows? Anyway . . . Here is my list for the 5 Best Performances in Bad Comic Book Movies:
ALL FOUR NINJA TURTLES - ALAN RITCHSON AS RAPHAEL, NOEL FISHER AS MICHELANGELO, PETE PLOSZEK/JOHNNY KNOXVILLE AS LEONARDO, JEREMY HOWARD AS DONATELLO IN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES:
Well this past summer saw a reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The resulting film was . . . Well . . . it was . . . It had . . . moments. Ok so the film was not very good. It was shallow popcorn entertainment. You could argue that it's just a kids movie about mutant turtles and it sounds ridiculous anyway, but I would counter-argue that the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1990 was a really solid movie. It dealt with themes of family, loss, and growing up. The newest film had cool action scenes and not much else.
Lucky for us, the spirit of the Turtles themselves was pitch perfect. Putting aside their weird looks and giant statures, the characterizations were spot on. Raphael in particular I thought was very well done. They are teenagers after all and the Turtles in the film felt like actual teenagers. The film itself is not so great but we can at least take comfort knowing that the Turtles were portrayed very well by their actors. And they were funny. That's always good . . .
KELSEY GRAMMAR AS BEAST IN X-MEN: THE LAST STAND:
I've discovered something about X-Men: the Last Stand. It's trying to be two movies at the same time. One movie is about the Cure and the divide it causes among the mutants. The second movie is about the Phoenix and the X-Men struggling to help their friend while she joins forces with Magneto and the Brotherhood. The second movie is not very good. As it turns out, the first movie is pretty good. It's not on par with X2 but it's still a decent film. Part of what makes it great is the pitch perfect casting of Kelsey Grammar as Beast.
The Cure storyline is based on the Astonishing X-Men storyline "Gifted" written by Joss Whedon.
He created Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
Beast plays an integral part of that story. In it, he contemplates taking the Cure for himself due to his increased mutation. The movie touches on it a little bit. There is a scene where Beast meets the boy that the Cure is derived from. Beast attempts to shake his hand and sees himself reverting back to a human. It's a great moment and Grammar delivers it perfectly. Every scene with him in it is great. He brings a lot of weight to what could have been a shallow performance. Now that I think about it, I've never seen a Kelsey Grammar performance that I didn't like. He's a terrific actor.
Arguably, his most famous role to date.
We were even lucky enough to get a small cameo from Grammar in X-Men: Days of Future Past. I'd like to see him return to the role again someday. He makes even that half bad movie worth watching.
IOAN GRUFFUDD AS REED RICHARDS/MR. FANTASTIC IN FANTASTIC FOUR:
The first Fantastic Four movie is passable but the second is widely considered to be awful. Both have their moments but for the most part, they are not as fantastic as the title would lead you to think.
However, despite the films being so-so, 3 out of the four heroes give really great performances and do their characters justice. Gruffudd in particular plays an excellent Reed Richards. Reed needs to be the smartest guy in the room and the dorkiest. Gruffudd captured that very well in his performance. Although it's clear that he does not have much chemistry with Jessica Alba, he does give it a valiant effort.
I felt that the films captured the original flavor of the Fantastic Four comic books from back in the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby days. They weren't afraid to be a bit over the top. Of course, they went a little TOO over the top in the second film, but the first film has its moments. Luckily, a lot of the credit goes to (most of) the cast, especially Gruffudd for making sure his character didn't get brought down by an otherwise campy script.
ANNETTE O'TOOLE AS LANA LANG IN SUPERMAN III:
Superman III is a strange case. On the one hand, it's a mediocre Superman movie. On the other hand, it's an unfunny Richard Pryor movie. So . . . it hasn't got a lot going for it. Anyone who has seen the original Superman films will tell you that Christopher Reeve is without a doubt the highlight of all of them. He truly brought Superman to life and every actor that follows him will be forever based off of him.
The unsung hero of Superman III is definitely Annette O'Toole. One of the better moments in the film came from Clark returning to Smallville for his high school reunion. There he meets up with his former crush, Lana Lang. They get to talking and end up becoming good friends again. Up until this point in the series we had only seen Clark and Lois falling for each other. This might sound strange but what O'Toole does best is not bring too much to the character. Lana isn't meant to be Clark's new love interest or be a rival to Lois. She's meant to be Clark's friend and remind him of the great times he had in Smallville. It's not easy to play a character so simple but not dull. Luckily, O'Toole is a talented enough actor that she gives a great performance without us realizing it. And I do mean that as a compliment. It would have been easy to play a new love interest but it's much more interesting to play Clark's platonic friend. Maybe if Superman IV hadn't gone off the rails, we could've seen more of her . . . Oh well . . . She did get to come back as Martha Kent on Smallville!
MARK STRONG AS SINESTRO IN GREEN LANTERN:
When it comes to Green Lantern I'm very torn. For the most part I do like it. I'll always describe the movie as almost good. It had all the right pieces, the filmmakers just didn't fit them together very well. Luckily, we at least had a stellar cast. If nothing else, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, and especially Mark Strong all play their parts very well. The movie just didn't understand itself or what theme it needed to be.
The theme was supposed to be LOOK HOW BAD ASS THIS PICTURE IS!
Say what you will about Ryan Reynolds and the rest of the film. One thing that truly stood out in the film was Mark Strong's performance. I've mentioned this in a previous blog post, but he was absolutely perfect in this movie. Sinestro is a very complicated character. On the one hand he's completely loyal to the Green Lantern Corps and their oath to protect the universe. On the other hand, he hates the Guardians and believes that they are holding the Lanterns back. I think the biggest mistake of this movie was not giving Hal and Sinestro more screen time together. Their fight scene on Oa is the best scene in the film. It tells us everything we need to know about Sinestro. He's unimpressed by a human Green Lantern, especially the one that took over for his best friend Abin Sur. Strong plays this scene perfectly.
Strong's other shining moment comes in the mid-credit scene where he puts on the yellow ring. You can see that he's being influenced by the power of Fear. Strong doesn't speak in this scene, instead he just silently gives us reason to dread what Sinestro will do next. It's too bad that we won't get to see him continue as the character. The make up was perfect, but more importantly, Strong brought this great character to life and saved an otherwise meh movie.
Well that's my list! The main point of this list was to show you all that you can find the good in bad situations. Comic book fans can be a truly unforgiving lot, and it's a point of annoyance with me (that's a topic for another day). Just remember that even the bad times have a silver lining :)
. . . Most of the bad times . . .
Till Next Time!
JJ - The Comic Junkie
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