Thursday 23 April 2015

Thursday Movie Picks - Superhero Movies

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There were superhero films before the 90s, but it wasn't until the 90s where we began to see numerous superhero movies released every year. Ever since then the genre has gone to strength to strength. Trawling through a list of American Superhero films I am staggered by the fact that over the course of five years Marvel have yet to make an objectively bad film with Thor: The Dark World propping all post 2008 Marvel films with a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's perhaps a testament to the talent involved that Marvel have still yet to bore everyone to tears with their endless list of Superhero films. Thus, it is not surprise a Marvel film makes an appearance in my pick of top three superhero movies.

I tried to add a bit of spice to my picks because I don't want it dominated by the big boys, such as The Avengers and the Christopher Nolan Batman films because I expect these films to make frequent appearances in many blogger's lists. So I tried to limit my choices to one from three subgenres of the superhero genre.

1. Comic book movies - Batman, Superman, The Avengers.
2. Non Comic Book superheroes - Unbreakable, Jumper.
3. Average person inspired to become a superhero by other superheroes or the idea of superheroes - Kickass, Super.

My personal favourite Marvel movie is Guardians of the Galaxy. The main villain may be a bit rubbish, but the snappy and witty dialogue and superb character interactions not only makes Guardians of the Galaxy one of the best superhero films ever made but one of the funniest films I have seen in a long, long time.

The pick for superhero movie not based on a comic book goes to M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. M.Night Shaymalan has made some absolutely dreadful films so it's easy to forget he used to know exactly what he was doing and he was once the hottest prospect in Hollywood (he was tipped to direct the first Potter film). 

Unbreakable is a good film and one I think is about depression. Throughout the film, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) claims he has never been ill but throughout the film he wakes up every day with a sadness and becomes distant from his wife and son. He is depressed and this is very much an illness, and I think the film is about how on the surface someone may appear fit and healthy and fulfilled and happy but inside they are fighting a battle. 

I'm not an expert on the subject, but from what I gather depression can be caused by sense of worthlessness. By giving David Dunn these powers and allowing him to realise his powers the film gives him a feeling that he is important to this world and he does serve a purpose, this can construed as his first step to recovery. It's simplistic viewpoint, but I think it's an interesting and touching theme well examined in Unbreakable.


I kind of cheated here, but instead of picking Kick-Ass for my final pick (where an average guy is inspired to become a superhero) I will pick Pixar's The Incredibles even though the person in question didn't become a superhero but a villain instead because of the lack of attention his heroes gave him. Much like Marvel, Pixar's hit rate is astoundingly high, much to our pleasure.

24 comments:

  1. I like UNBREAKABLE* and I love GUARDIANS** and THE INCREDIBLES.

    *Shyamalan used to be my favorite director.
    **I actually liked the villain.

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    1. You should get involved with this. It's good fun.

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  2. Guardians was an awesome movie, a gamble that definitely paid off. I don't think I appreciated Unbreakable that much; I liked the concept but I was underwhelmed by the end of the movie. Maybe I'll give it another go sometime. The Incredibles made my list too.

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    1. Oh yeah, it was a little known Marvel comic from what I understand. Turned out to be one of the most popular Marvel films.

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  3. Great picks! I love GOTG and Shyamalan's Unbreakable for their groundbreaking visions to Superhero sub-genre.
    Yet, I like here you picked The Incrdibles that got a clever take on this genre and blended it with family movie formula!

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    1. the Incredible was a last minute pick, glad you like it. Interesting to see a superhero family dynamic and how they can cheat in daily life.

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  4. I only watch The Icredibles from your list, but I've heard praises for Unbreakble and GOTG.

    Although you cheated, The Incredibles is still a great pick. I really love that film. It's a family film, but still has some weight.

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  5. It's always fun to see our most loved movies shared!

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    1. Haha. Its is but one day I want to pick an entirely original list.

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  6. The Incredibles and Unbreakable are getting a lot of love today! I'm glad you went with Guardians too. I still laugh every time I think of "Nothing goes over my head, I am too fast. I would catch it."

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    1. I remember reading this story about this young boy who had an autistic brother who took everything people said literally. He really engaged with the character who didn't understand metaphors because it was somebody like him and he'd never seen that before in the cinema, I thought it was a really sweet story.

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  7. Love ALL THREE of these picks! I also love that we pretty much followed the same exact formula for picking our films this week :-D

    And two of our films are the same.

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    1. Haha. Did you copy me or did I copy you? Or just a coincidence?

      *X Files Theme*

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  8. Hehehe we share two picks this week! I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy, too, despite the lame/not-well-defined villain. It was just so much fun!

    I'm so glad to see Unbreakable popping up so much today. It's a really great movie and it's nice to see it hasn't been unjustly forgotten!

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    1. Yeah, I was generally surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The trailer didn't have me sold at all.

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  9. Love all three of these movies. Can't argue with any of them. Nice little curveball you threw us before giving us The Incredibles, too.

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    1. It was an accidental curve ball, a last minute executive decision.

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  10. I feel like a broken record today, with all the picks for Guardians of the Galaxy I've been seeing. I'm not much of a fan of this movie, and really wasn't interested in seeing it in the first place mainly because I didn't have a clue where it originated, however I have to say the soundtrack won me over albeit temporarily. I probably won't ever watch it again, but did enjoy myself through that first viewing. I haven't seen UNBREAKABLE yet but have been meaning to for awhile now. THE INCREDIBLES is one of my all time favorite Pixar movies so great pick there.

    Mike's Cinema

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    1. Haha, I can only apologise for picking GOTG again. I too wasn't interested in seeing the film but thought my mates wanted to so I invited them along. Ended up loving it.

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  11. Excellent choices all three! I actually don't think I had ever heard the theory about depression with Unbreakable but it is really made so that there can be several different interpretations of the characters. One other recent analysis that I read about was the use of color and how David's son would end up becoming a supervillain in the future as the color associated with David is green, the color associated with Ezekiel is purple, and the color associated with his son is orange, which is also connected to the killer at the end of the film, and he is often wearing a combination of orange and green.

    Incredibles is also one of my top superhero films of all time, really great film. - Bubbawheat

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    1. Oh. Awesome. It's always nice to break new ground. It'll be interesting to read that theory. Never caught the use of colour myself.

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  12. Love how many people chose Unbreakable! Such a great movie, doesn't feel dated at all

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  13. Guardians is one of the better superhero films of late since it has a sense of humor, so many have become dour. I liked but didn't love Unbreakable, of Shymalan films it's definitely one of the better ones though. I'm not an animation fan so I haven't seen The Incredibles.

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