Doom and Doomer:
Doomkopf.com movie reviews
Doom and Doomer is Doomkopf.com’s regular comic book review feature in which several of us sit down and chat about the latest big-screen attempt to capture comics on film.
300
Fin Fang Doom, Jim Doom and Doom DeLuise discussed the film adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel.
JIM DOOM: Well I’ve never read 300, so I can’t assess this movie as an adaptation. But as something that sought out to be a testosterone-fueled action and fighting movie, I thought it was awesome.
And as something attempting to bring the energy of comic book art to life, I thought it was amazing.
FIN FANG DOOM: 300 definitely succeeded as an action movie. The battle scenes were just great fun to watch. But I felt it was trying to be much, much more than just an action movie, and in that respect it didn’t live up…
The Dark Knight
Doom DeLuise, Jim Doom, Colonel Doom and a bunch of other people join in a discussion about the highly-anticipated sequel to Batman Begins.
DOOM DeLUISE: I didn’t feel it much during the movie, but after I left and realized we had about two hours worth of travel time ahead of us to get home, it dawned on me. That movie was really friggin’ long.
Still, though, that was really enjoyable. A great experience.
JIM DOOM: I’ve thought of a lot of things that didn’t make a lot of sense or were kind of flimsy in their logic in the 6 hours since coming home, but that was only after thinking about what I had just seen. While I was watching it, I was totally wrapped up in it. There were a few times I became aware of how long the movie was getting, but on the whole it nearly fulfilled my unrealistic expectations…
Ghost Rider
Jim Doom and Doom DeLuise discuss the Nicolas Cage take on the motorcycle-riding spirit of vengeance.
JIM DOOM: Well let me say that I have lost all sympathy for Mark Steven Johnson. I watched Daredevil, thought it was entertaining but bad, but then I watched the DD Director’s cut where he talked about all these lame stuff that the producers wanted to add in to make it more “Hollywood.”
DOOM DELUISE: Like a plot?…
Incredible Hulk
Doom DeLuise and Jim Doom take on the Incredible Hulk’s return to the big screen after the 2005 movie that never happened.
DOOM DELUISE: The new Incredible Hulk movie sought to reinvigorate a character that was pretty bungled in his first go ’round in movie form, ala Batman Begins’ attempt to reboot that character a few summers ago. Batman Begins was successful for a variety of reasons, and the sequel to that, The Dark Knight, is one of the most anticipated movies of the summer. Do you think the Incredible Hulk succeeded in what it was trying to accomplish, and do you think sequels will be in the wings, or was this just another big green dud?
JIM DOOM: Well, yeah, it definitely rebooted the character…
Iron Man
Jim Doom and Doom DeLuise discuss Iron Man’s cinematic debut.
JIM DOOM: A few days ago, you left me a voicemail that said that “I just saw Iron Man, and not to spoil anything, but it’s my favorite movie of all time ever, and it’s the best thing that’s ever been created by mankind, even better than everything.”
Care to elaborate?
DOOM DELUISE: Certainly. Human beings, aka homo sapiens, evolved over many generations from monkeys. Since their development, they’ve come up with many amazing inventions, creations, works of art, etc. The wheel stands out as a good one, for example. The movie, “Iron Man,” starring Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, is, to date, the greatest accomplishment humans have achieved…
Justice League: The New Frontier
Doom DeLuise and Jim Doom discuss the animated adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s “New Frontier” miniseries, released to DVD in March 2008.
Doom DeLuise: Hello, everybody. Welcome to our latest joint review of the new WB-produced direct-to-DVD animated version of the Darwyn Cooke story “New Frontier.” I’m here with my fellow blogging cohort Jim Doom to discuss our thoughts on the flick.
To start with, going into this movie, what was your knowledge of the New Frontier story? Had you read the miniserieseses? I suppose my question is, what were your expectations upon sitting down?
Punisher: War Zone
Jim Doom and Doom DeLuise discuss the latest and not-so-greatest reboot of the Punisher franchise, starring Ray Stevenson as the title character.
JIM DOOM: DeLuise — you are one of the few fans of the previous Punisher movie. I didn’t see it. Overall, without getting into too many specifics yet, how would you compare this take against that one? Was there anything about this movie in a big-picture sense that struck you as Marvel’s rationale for rebooting the Punisher film franchise?
DOOM DELUISE: Yes. While the last one featured a brooding Tom Jane as the title character, the rest of the movie was, tonally, pretty brightly colored. This one seemed to want to distance itself by taking the setting to NYC (instead of Miami) and making everything darker and grittier and more violent…
Spider-Man 3
Fin Fang Doom, Jean-Claude Van Doom, Colonel Doom and Jim Doom discuss the third installment in the Spider-Man movie series, released in May 2007.
Arguably the biggest movie of the year, Spider-Man 3, opened last Friday to record numbers. Naturally, all of us Doomers took in the spectacle. What’d we all think? Well, here’s what four of us thought, at least.
Jim Doom: My criticism is that the movie lacked the depth and sophistication of the previous two movies. Spider-Man 1 and 2 were good movies, whereas Spider-Man 3 was good for the modern genre of the superhero movie. Its level of unnecessary camp and emotional shallowness was more reminiscent of Fantastic Four or X-Men 3 than either of the first two Spider-Man movies…
The Spirit
Jim Doom and Doom DeLuise discuss the adaptation of Will Eisner’s creation, as written and directed by Frank Miller, released in theatres at the tail-end of 2008. It was not a pretty sight. Proceed with caution.
JIM DOOM: So. We just saw The Spirit.
DOOM DELUISE: Unfortunately, you are correct.
I want my money back.
JIM DOOM: I would imagine that its December 25 release date inadvertently resulted in a record for the highest number of people to curse Jesus on his birthday.
DOOM DELUISE: Happy birthday, Jesus. Hope you like crap!…
Superman: Doomsday
Doom DeLuise and Jim Doom discuss the animated adaptation of the Death of Superman storyline, released to DVD in September, 2007.
DOOM DELUISE: You didn’t think we could pass up doing a “Doom and Doomer” on a movie with Doom in the title, did you? Jim and I even sat through 75 minutes of this so we could bring you Doomkopf’s “Doomsday” Doom and Doomer.
Ok, to start off with, let me ask you, what were you expecting from this movie going into it?
JIM DOOM: I was expecting the Superman equivalent of “Mask of the Phantasm.”
TMNT
Fin Fang Doom and Jim Doom discussed the Turtles’ CGI-fueled return to the big screen in March, 2007.
JIM DOOM: I came into TMNT with the background of being someone who never read the comics, loved the cartoons, and thought the live action movies were pretty awful. And while there were things about TMNT that I didn’t like or wish would have been done differently, I thought it was trying to be a fun kids’ action movie and did a great job of it.
When you’re looking at franchise adaptations, one of the big things is “Did it kill the characters?” The live action movies did for me. This definitely didn’t.
FIN FANG DOOM: I think the main reason i TMNT succeeded is what you just pointed out: the creators of the movie knew what kind of a movie they were making and played that up. TMNT was a kids movie, and instead of trying to bog it down with an overly-complicated plot or unneccesary character development, they just leapt right into a fun action adventure…
Watchmen
Jim Doom and Doom DeLuise discuss the Zak Snyder-directed big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ masterpiece.
JIM DOOM: So I already wrote about what I thought Tuesday night. Want to give me a similar overview of what you thought and we can jump into specifics after that?
DOOM DeLUISE: Sure. Like you mentioned, virtually every important part of the comic book is in the movie, oftentimes word-for-word or shot-for-shot. The amount of effort it took to hit all the high notes should be pointed out, to begin with, and applauded. Also, the fact that Snyder was able to convince the studio to go through with the ending, to give him so much leeway in terms of what he got to throw on screen, is also very commendable…
Wonder Woman
Doominator and Doom DeLuise discuss the latest direct-to-DVD animated DC feature, this time starring the Amazon Princess Diana in her feature-length film debut, released in February of 2009.
DOOMINATOR: So, Doom, we recently perfectly legally watched the direct to DVD Wonder Woman movie.
I find myself with a few words swimming in my head.
DOOM DELUISE: Felony?
DOOMINATOR: None of them are “Oscar.”…
