AKA Jessica Jones

Marvel's Jessica Jones is the second MCU property to be brought to Netflix, after Daredevil, which was released earlier this year. Jessica Jones is also noteworthy as it is the first MCU property released to have a female title character.

Krysten Ritter stars as Jessica Jones, a former superhero turned private investigator suffering from PTSD, still reeling from the aftermath of a breakup. Mike Coulter stars as Luke Cage, who will be featured in his own Netflix series early next year. Finally David Tennant stars as Redgrave, a villain with the power of mind control.

The series begins very strongly, and it gained so much momentum within the first few episodes that I wondered if it would be able to maintain this energy throughout, and I wasn't disappointed. The show is genuinely gripping from start to finish, and I watched the show at breakneck speed, to the detriment of exam revision.

The show is so much darker than previous Marvel properties, and much more violence, whereas most mainstream MCU film are targeted at a young adult or teen audience, Jessica Jones is aimed at an adult audience, and thematically it explores themes of rape, free will and sexuality.

I must admit there is something undeniably erotic about seeing two gifted humans with super strength going at it, it's something that's intrigued me for quite a while, and we finally get to see it on screen.

It seems impossible to believe that this was written by Melissa Rosenberg, who wrote all of the Twilight films, in all of their reductive post-feminist glory. More action is crammed into the first episode of Jessica Jones than into all five excruciating Twilight films.

Part of what makes this series so great is just how visceral all the action is, I've never before flinched during an MCU title, watching Iron Man attack the Hulk during Age of Ultron did nothing for me, because I knew it wasn't real. The action in Jessica Jones is scarier, because I feel every punch, every hit, because it all seems so much realer than watching computer generated characters punch each other with no gravity or weight to them.

I'm praying that we'll see a second series of Jessica Jones before The Defenders miniseries comes to Netflix, and given the buzz surrounding this series, I'm confident that we will, for me this remains one of my favorite MCU titles to date. Jessica Jones is dark, thrilling and gripping entertainment.

Big Hero Six

As the first Disney Animated Adaptation of a Marvel property, Big Hero 6 has a lot to live up to, thankfully the film delivers and is a refreshingly original addition to the Disney animated canon.

Big Hero 6 is the story of Hiro, a young robotics genius who is forced to become a superhero after his invention is stolen and his brother is killed in order to save his city and avenge his brother.

Firstly the film is gorgeous, Disney developed new computers and algorithms to animate the world seen, this is apparent as the film features some of the most stunning photorealistic animation yet seen on film, even surpassing many of Pixar's best efforts, which in itself is no mean feat.

The film is based in San Franskyo, described as a mashup of San Francisco and Tokyo, which is more accurately a japanified version of The Golden Gate city. San Fransokyo is laid out entirely like San Francisco down to the placement of the painted ladies and indeed the film makers even dug through city archives to lay out the city exactly.

The result is a world so complete and holistic, so all encompassing that it looks and feels like a real place.

This film is only Disney's second attempt at a science fiction film after Meet The Robinsons, and where Robinsons, though fantastic is a film with obvious caveats, Big Hero 6 is an entirely more well formed work.

The film reinvents the original comic book characters to make them more relatable (and more easily marketable to children) the monster Baymax is now cuddly and lovable, and the weirdos who surround our main character are now a ragtag team of endearing scientists.

It should be said that unfortunately this film is not part of the marvel cinematic universe, it would have been interesting and unexpected to tie this film in with other marvel properties, so its a shame that it is instead segregated.

Overall I really liked Big Hero 6, finding it to be beautiful, thoughtful and entertaining, this is the Disney animated movie that those who typically hate Disney will love, and is amongst the best marvel superhero films.

Evolving The Batsuit

Last week i wrote an essay about the costume design of superhero films, however i barely touched on the design of the batsuit, worn by the eponymous Bruce Wayne. There have been by far more iterations of this superhero than of any other comic book character, and many different costumes, these costumes vary greatly in color, design and material.

The first costume to appear on the silver screen was worn by Michael Keyton, in the Tim Burton 1989 drama and it's sequel. The costume is fairly traditional, it features the immobile cowl, thus reducing movement of the head and neck, the iconic helmet with the ears and all but the mouth covered. The suit is made of a smooth matte plastic in jet black, molded and contoured, featuring anatomic muscles and abdominals. The suit features a golden utility belt, which stands out from the rest of the suit, and a logo in fluorescent yellow. The costume is highly reminiscent of the classic comic book suit, and treads a fine line between the campiness of the television series and the tough aesthetic of later films.

The next costume was worn by Val Kilmer, this version is not dissimilar from the Michael Keyton suit, the anatomical features of the suit are now more exaggerated, Bruce Wayne now looks like he is on steroids, the suit contains defined pectorals and even the legs of the suit are muscular and overly defined. The suit contains the same cowl and helmet of the first films, but the neck of the cowl is contoured and ridged. The same utilities are present on the suit, however the belt is black, and the logo is now a bronze color. The suit is still black, however it is now shiny and reflective.

The suit worn by George Clooney would make this next film infamous, Batman & Robin was released in 1997, and would feature Clooney wearing first a suit featuring anatomically correct pectorals with nipples added, and an enlarged codpiece and buttocks, the suit also features the bat logo in silver. This suit was reviled and mocked at the time, and remains undeniably camp. The second suit Clooney wears in this film, breaks the cardinal rule of Batman wearing only black or grey. For this adventure Wayne would wear a silver suit, featuring the same unfortunate codpiece, but including silver panels on the suit, and a huge silver bat logo. This film will go down in history, for the presence of these suits alone.

The Christopher Nolan films would present a tougher, grittier and edgier aesthetic. Filmed a decade after Batman & Robin, the film uses a batsuit supposedly invented for the military, the suit is a matte black kevlar, featuring flexible panels, and a utility belt in a dark bronze, tthe batsuit is also subtly incorporated into the costume. The second suit Christian Bale would wear in this series solves the batsuit's biggest problem, it allows Batman to turn his head, the suit uses interlocking panels to make it flexible. the logo is smaller and more discreet and the neck is slim and allows Wayne to turn his head. The suit overall is tougher and more realistic.

The batsuit has gone through numerous iterations from the ludicrous to the uninspired to the realistic, the Nolan suit is  realistic and by far the most removed from the source material, the most inspired and the most realistic.

Costuming Superheroes

Comic Book adaptations are very en vogue right now. With the global success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Dark Knight Trilogy, more and more characters are finally being adapted to the big screen. The first series to be adapted was the superman series in 1974 starring Christopher Reed, subsequently the Batman and X-Men series were released followed by an explosion of superhero films, seen this summer when over three superhero and comic book adaptations were released.

The first films adapted their comic books very literally, Christopher Reeve's Superman costume is virtually identical to the comics, and Michael Keaton's costume is highly similar to the now iconic Batman costume. Likewise the Spider-man films have followed their source material almost exactly, whereas most series, when they are rebooted, alter the costumes of the original series, in order to differentiate themselves. Spider-man didn't do this, and the costume in The Amazing Spider-man is almost identical to that of Sam Rami's original trilogy.

Other series have been less literal, the X-Man series offers one of the most radical alterations from it's source material, instead of the bright spandex costumes featured in the comics, the characters are instead outfitted in sleek leather costumes, which have much more consistency and which were more cohesive. The costumes of the comic books are brightly coloured, tight and iconic, Wolverines costume in particular is an iconic comic book image, yet even in his spin off movies, Wolverine sports his now iconic leather jacket.

Since 2006's Batman Begins, superhero costumes have taken on an even more utilitarian image, the batsuit used in this incarnation is like modern, military armor, sleek and jet black, with the batman logo noticeably disguised. After this series, costuming in superhero films became incredibly lifelike and more military inspired. Iron Man's costume is very grounded in reality and realistic, and evolves from a more amateurish armor to the sleek gold-titanium alloy seen in the later part of the film and it's sequels.

Other marvel films also take this route, Captain Americas costume is even upgraded from the spandex colors seen in the comics, to a less sleek and more realistic costume seen in the first film, and finally into the sleek kevlar inspired costume, less brightly colored than the comic book and more practical. The only exception to the mold is Thor, who retains his brightly colored red cape and slightly more ridiculous costume than the others on this list, however his costume is still slightly less ludicrous than in the comic book, the bright blue being downgraded to a subtle gray and the spandex being changed to a tough almost roman armour.

Modern superhero movies place a huge amount of importance on realism, their costumes are grounded in reality, made of tough and strong materials, and not from thin spandex or lycra. The colours of the costumes is also more subtle with bright yellows and blacks, royal blues and reds being replaced with jet black and gray and navy blues and burgandies, this gives the films a darker more sleek aesthetic which is refreshing and which is tonally more realistic.

Prizefight: MARVEL vs DC

Both these comic book companies have had huge success in the field of cinema, and both are still producing films, this post will analyze the differences between the ways these companies have adapted their universes to film, the completeness of their franchises and how coherent their film universes are.

DC have been making films for significantly longer than Marvel, DC first created a franchise with the release of the original superman film in 1978, which spawned four sequels and a semi reboot. The first batman film was released in 1989, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, the film became a blueprint for superhero movies released over the next decade, being dark and brooding, featuring graphic imagery and being unabashedly violent, and influencing the way superhero films were marketed and promoted. These films were both released by Warner Brothers, and to date the whole of the DC universe has been produced exclusively by Warner, giving the franchise a sense of cohesion not present in the more fragmented Marvel franchises.

Marvel Comics properties have had a significantly more tortured road to the big screen, the first movie produced was X-Men, which was released in 1999, to great critical acclaim, and which to date has spawned five sequels and two spin offs. This film was released by 20th Century Fox, as was The Fantastic Four, which itself spawned a sequel. The next property to be adapted was Spider-Man, released by Sony in 2002, spawning a trilogy of films and a rebooted franchise. In 2009 Disney purchased Marvel entertainment, and thus set up Marvel studios, which started producing it's own films financed and distributed by Disney, this gave birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a shared world which some Marvel characters inhabit, notably the avengers.

Although the DC Universe may seem to be the least fragmented and the most complete, their films have all been based around only a handful of characters, and they still have not successfully created a shared universe, despite all efforts. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most complete shared universe ever seen on film, and Marvel remain the only studio that has managed to unite it's heroes in a single film. The universe has been hugely influential, and DC and Sony are now attempting to piece together universes, with Dawn of Justice being a clear attempt to replicate Marvels success.

The way Marvel franchises have been portrayed on film feels more complete than DC's attempts, despite the films being spread over various studios, more characters have been adapted to film, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels incredibly cohesive and a very impressive undertaking. Whereas the DC universe, while once great now feels tired and in need of rebuilding, and their attempts to create a shared universe between the Batman and Superman franchises feels rushed and forced.

Five Favorite Cinematic Superheroes

This may come to a surprise to my readers, but i am actually a huge fan of superhero movies, these tentpole flicks have come to be the highlights of the summer movie season, and now prop up studio finances. There have been a great number of superhero movies over the years, and the pace is only increasing, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the new DC shared universe and spider-man properties comic book adaptations are as popular as ever. This is a list of the best super heroes to have been portrayed on film, over multiple franchises and multiple movies, sometimes by multiple actors. I will be posting my favorite actors to have incarnated these roles below!

• Iron Man portrayed by Robert Downey Jr

Iron Man has only been portrayed in one franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and only by one actor, the character, who in spirit could be likened to Batman, is differentiated by the east coast setting and the virtual butler, J.A.R.V.I.S. Iron Man is a fantastic hero visually, and the long ariel fight scenes taking place over the ocean are glorious and kinetic.

• Batman portrayed by Michael Keaton and Christian Bale

One of the most represented heroes on screen, Batman has a long and cherished screen history, originally incarnated by Micheal Keaton in Tim Burton's Batman, and recently played by Christian Bale, Batman has offered some of the greatest superhero movies, and some of the worst. Batman is a fantastic hero on screen, given his dark nature, and the original Batman film set the stage for some of the most visually ominous superhero films to date.

• Mystique portrayed by Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence

One of my favorite X-Men villains, Mystique has confusingly been played by two different actresses in one franchise, first by Rebecca Romijn, in the original X-Men trilogy, and subsequently by Jennifer Lawrence in the prequel series and Days of Future Past. Mystique is a fantastic fighter, a skilled martial artist and has blue skin, which is pretty cool!

• V portrayed by Hugo Weaving

Despite having appeared in only one film, V is already an iconic and beloved character, he acts as a consciousness of the people, fighting for their freedoms and becoming a symbol of hope. V is the only character on this list, and perhaps the only superhero in cinematic history to be actively political, and the use of guy fawkes masks by various groups protesting censorship and government control is a testament to the iconic status of the character.

• The Joker portrayed by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger

 Nicholson played the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman and was rightly lauded for the role, his performance is magnetic and captivating, and he successfully looks into this psychopath's head, however far more magnetic is Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight. Ledger's, performance, which is surely one of the best performances of all time, is stunning because he transforms into The Joker, he becomes the character, manages to transform himself into this maniac, and the results are impressive. The Joker is an interesting villain, because he seems to be without boundaries, he is not motivated by money or power, only by explosions and death, he kills for the sake of killing, and is the perfect antidote to Batman's poised control.

Days Of Future Past

The wait is over, and Bryan Singer's magnum opus is finally here, and by wait i mean waiting for the nearest multiplex to schedule a screening in English. Days of Future Past is a 2014 superhero action film adapted from the iconic Days of Future Past storyline written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. The film focuses on an alternative future, in which sentinels have wiped out many of the mutants, and most of the few who remain live in work camps, what remains of the X-Men and the Brotherhood must come together in order to alter history.

In the future, Kitty Pryde phases Wolverine's consciousness back into his younger self, so that he can alter time, stop the creation and implementation of the sentinels, and stop the assassination of Bolivar Trask by Mystique, Wolverine must find Charles Xavier and Magneto, must reunite what remains of the X-Men and alter the course of history. Days Of Future Past features a phenomenally large and diverse cast, Wolverine, Storm, Kitty Pryde, Mystique, Beast and Iceman all return to the franchise. Both Charles Xavier and Magneto appear in their modern and prequel roles, and newcomers include Omar Sy as Bishop, Evan Peters as Quicksilver, Fan Bingbing as Blink and Boboo Stewart as Warpath. The film is successful in juggling such a large cast and also features a large number of cameos. Part of the reason for the films success with such a large cast is that it streamlines the story to revolve around three lead mutants, Wolverine, Charles and Beast, two villains, Mystique and Magneto, in addition to Bolivar Trask.

The action scenes of the film are also very contained, rather than resorting to a The Last Stand battle in which every single mutant imaginary gears up to fight each other leaving the audience struggling to decipher who belongs to which team, in this film, Singer limits the action sequences to five mutants maximum, in the final battle of the movie, our three heroes battle against two villains, and in the future segments of the film, the director limits the action to a small group of mutants. By streamlining the action sequences the director allows them to be much more character driven and feature less collateral damage, each loss feels meaningful and important. The fight segments are highly choreographed and visually stunning, and have the advantage of being highly paced, whilst at the same time allowing the audience to understand what is actually going on. The use of the 3D is effective and not overbearing, Singer knows how to effectively handle the medium without it becoming superfluous or irritating, and the added dimension, whilst certainly bringing something to the film, is not entirely unmissable.

The film is highly relevant  today, i mentioned in a previous X-Men review how the films are essentially a metaphor for what is happening in the world today, the film is a very powerful message about what will happen if we don't change our course. The film shows a world divided, a world where mutants are rounded into camps, a world at war. Magneto and Charles again essentially want exactly the same thing; peace for mutants, but they have hugely disparate methods of achieving their goal.

The film contains a highly complex storyline, far more complex than a film of this genre deserves, and perhaps the most exciting, successful and rewarding superhero film since The Dark Knight. Days of Future Past is easily one of the best films of the genre and features a powerful story, strong acting, strong emotional connection to the characters and thrilling action sequences. Director Bryan Singer is able to effectively juggle the disparate elements of the story in order to create a powerful story with a strong moral ethic. Days of Future Past is thrilling, tantalizingly plotted and powerfully acted, making this by far the most successful film of the X-Men franchise. Rating: A

Professor X: Mutants, we now find ourselves on the edge of extinction.

X-Men

As we are on the dawn of the release of Days Of Future Past, and given that i recently rewatched the original X-Men, i had some thoughts about the X-Men series, which is, to my eyes, one of the most complete, and detailed superhero franchises. The series has mainly been helmed by Bryan Singer, who has directed 3 of the 5 films of the series so far, and who is due to direct a fourth.

The series,  which is based upon a series of marvel comic books, originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, follows a band of superheroes, as they attempt to fight evil, and live together. These superheroes are mutants, their powers derive from a mutated gene, the series follow the leader of this group, Charles Xavier, and a select band of mutants, as they battle to save humanity. The main mutants featured in the film series are Wolverine, a mutant with adamantium bound to his bones who has the ability to heal and doesn't age, Storm, and african goddess with the ability to control the weather, Cyclops, a mutant whose eyes give out laser beams, and Pheonix, an incredibly powerful mutant whose true power is only seen in the third film. Also featured are Rogue, who absorbs other mutants powers through her skin, Shadowcat, who can phase through walls and Beast, an incredibly agile mutant with blue furry skin. The X-Men spend much of this series fighting the brotherhood of evil mutants, a group led by Magneto, who is able to control metal, and his right hand woman, a shapeshifter named Mystique.

What makes this franchise so successful is it's ability to handle such a large ensemble cast, the original film is a particularly good example of this. Spider-Man took over an hour of screen time to explain who Peter Parker is and how he became Spider-Man, X-Men has dozens of characters, each with personal stories and powers, and yet it introduces them in half the time. Days of Future Past has an even bigger cast, combining the characters from the prequel series and the original trilogy,

The film series success is also based upon it's real world relevance, the film is essentially an allegory for the oppression and malignation of any minority, particularly in this case, the gay community. The characters of Charles Xavier and Magneto are essentially representatives of Martin Luther King and Malcom X, they both want the same goal, but they attempt to achieve it by different methods, Magneto is more militant and violent, and believes that mutants should be the dominant race, Charles is more peaceful and believes in the good in people. The film's franchise being largely helmed by Bryan Singer is perhaps responsible for the strong LGBT undertones of the series, the scenes of mutants powers evolving and their telling their parents strongly mirror LGBT youths coming out to their parents, and Senator Kelley asking congress if they "want mutants in their high schools" mirror what right wing politicians have been saying for years.

Overall the X-Men franchise succeeds due to it's ability to balance its large ensemble cast, and its willingness to explore conemporary social issues, exploring sexuality, race and minority subcultures, the X-Men franchise is by far the most exciting, well defined and surprisingly even franchise.

Raven: Hank, don't! You're beautiful, Hank. Everything you are, you're perfect. Look at all of us? Look at all we've achieved this week? All we will achieve? We are different. But we shouldn't be trying to fit into society. Society should aspire to be more like us. Mutant and proud.

A Word on Batman Vs Superman

Okay, now I've been thinking about his a lot. Batman Vs Superman is the (working) title of the sequel to 2013's Man of Steel. I think all us fanboys really have to lose our boners now, this will not be a fantastic Christopher Nolan batman film, if Man of Steel taught us anything it is that having Nolan merely produce your film does not a good film make, and Man of Steel really wasn't very good. The idea of having multiple characters of the DC universe is something the studio has toyed with for a while, with a justice league movie having been in the pipeline for an indefinite amount of time.

Now we come to the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, now i am not going to slam on Affleck for this casting, he is an alright actor, Argo was good and it will be interesting to see a slightly older version of batman than in the Nolan films, without veering into George Clooney grey haired territory. One has to remember that despite Nolan returning as producer, these are NOT Christopher Nolan films, and thus it is actually great that Bale is not returning for these films, as it would almost tarnish his work on The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Now we come to Justin Bieber, I really hope that the picture below is a hoax, because otherwise i simply don't understand it. Why would anyone in their right mind chose to even offer an audition to Justin Bieber for the part of Robin, did we learn nothing from Batman and Robin, yeah, that terrible movie. Casting someone really really gay as Robin just doesn't work, and the whole sexual tension between Robin and Batman thing is a little lame if it isn't really explored. I can say that if Bieber is cast, i most certainly won't go and see this movie, because even if he can act which i sincerely doubt, every time i see him i just wan't to punch him in the face, and stunt casting like this simply doesn't work. (Jessica Simpson in Dukes of Hazzard anyone?)

Overall i think this movie is a really really bad idea, and given that Man of Steel was rather weak, it seems ridiculous to reeboot the batman franchise so soon, and plug Affleck into his first role as the caped crusader with superman, without allowing the time to reintroduce his character. However i refuse to pass judgement on the casting of Affleck as Batman as so many fanboys seem to have done already, because he is a good actor, and it will be interesting to see someone else in the boots of the dark knight. What do you think, is anoyone excited for this movie? Leave comments in the box below!