Arrow (2012 TV Series)

[BatmAngelus]

While I won't tout it as a cinematic masterpiece, I think The Avengers had the right idea of saying "These are superheroes.  It's a comic book world.  Deal with it."  At this point, I'll take more of Marvel's approach than the "let's make things realistic and deny that they're actually superheroes" take that we're getting here.

[riddler]

While I won't tout it as a cinematic masterpiece, I think The Avengers had the right idea of saying "These are superheroes.  It's a comic book world.  Deal with it."  At this point, I'll take more of Marvel's approach than the "let's make things realistic and deny that they're actually superheroes" take that we're getting here.

And while successful that's what we got with the Nolan bat films;

Nolan had the cast and crew watch blade runner before batman begins and said 'this is what we're making'. Prior to the dark knight he did the same with heat. Both times he said "this is how we're making batman". Why not just make a super hero film like the comics instead of trying to retrofit it for something its not?

[thecolorsblend]

Nolan had the cast and crew watch blade runner before batman begins and said 'this is what we're making'. Prior to the dark knight he did the same with heat. Both times he said "this is how we're making batman". Why not just make a super hero film like the comics instead of trying to retrofit it for something its not?

My personal opinion is that it's incredibly ironic that the same performance-minded community that adores highly theatrical stuff like Shakespeare, Phantom of the Opera, opera in general and other stuff can't see the possibilities inherent to "them funny-book characters". There's a real insecurity a lot of a lot of filmmakers have in the source material.

And frankly, a lot of this crap comes down to ego. There's a reason the Steel movie sucks as bad as it does... and it was a foregone conclusion that it would looooooooong before Shaq ever got involved.

[BatmAngelus]

Since we're discussing this attitude toward comic book movies, here's Greg Rucka on the Nolan Batman films:

I think they're exceptionally well-made films that are inherently ashamed of the fact they're about a superhero who calls himself "Batman."

http://ruckawriter.tumblr.com/post/30045442431/what-has-your-opinion-been-on-the-nolan-batman-trilogy

[Silver Nemesis]

I think Nolan's Bat-trilogy has become a plea for legitimacy from the comic book community. Comic fans desperately want their films to be taken seriously, and by eschewing the conventional comic book movie aesthetics and adopting the visual language of a more critically palatable genre – in this case, that of the crime drama – Nolan's made some headway towards achieving that goal.

I love his Batman films. But like many people on this site, I generally prefer my comic book movies to embrace their fantasy elements and make the most of them. The trick to making a great superhero movie IMO is to do precisely what Richard Donner did – keep it faithful to the source material, but do it really well. It's an absurdly simple strategy, and yet filmmakers hardly ever use it. Everything has to have a subversive spin on it these days.

Grant Morrison recently said:

In terms of movies, you can look at The Dark Knight Rises as the conclusion of a trend and The Avengers as the beginning of one. This doesn't mean a return to '60s camp for Batman. The times are different. But I do expect to see things trend toward the fantastic.

http://ifanboy.com/articles/interview-grant-morrison-on-supergods-now-available-in-paperback/

I hope he's right.

[gordonblu]

I've always found Morrison's work hard to embrace, but I hope he's right about the movie trends too.

[riddler]

I saw the first episode of the Arrow series at a private screening today. Sorry for not doing this as a PM but would a mod/admin be kind enough to let me know how you'd like me to proceed with that? Should I make a spoiler post in a different colour? Should I create a new thread with the word spoiler in the title? Or should I wait until it's on TV before discussing it? Until I get the go ahead, I will not post any spoilers in fear of ruining anything for anyone. I certainly will respond to any PM's I get in the meantime from those asking questions. Here's my general thoughts without spoiling any plot points;
Also the screening was with the 4 main cast members I will post some of their responses to the questions (these are not huge spoilers)
-the cast and crew did speak highly of the show LOST. The first episode has plenty of lost style 'time jumps with a handful of flash backs. The cast and crew did indicate this sort of thing will happen early but it will be cut down. If you watched LOST, it did this pretty much every episode except the first and last. The first 3 seasons had a lot of flash backwards. The last 3 had quite a bit of flashing forward (also amplified by the fact that half the cast goes back in time). They claimed the rationale is that the back story is extremely important but did not want it to be a linear story as it wold take quite a few episodes to get to where we ant to get.
-continuing on the previous point, part of the reason for all the flashbacks is that the entire episode was basically shot like a big puzzle; Quite often they'd show a 'present' scene' and then have a flashback which fills in a missing piece or explained what just happened and/or why it did.
-very minor spoiler here but while many super hero stories try to avoid setting themselves in a specific time period, this once clearly establishes the present as being 2012.
-the topic of smallville came up in the Q and A. Nobody disrespected that series but they basically said they are operating independently. They acknowledged the fact that it must have done something right to stay on the air for 10 seasons and welcomed the comparisons. That being said they will not be handcuffed by any continuity from smallville.
-there's a lot of questions about the star Stephen Amell and why did they not cast Justin Hartley. Seeing the episode and trailer for the full season, the character is very different than smallville and (no disrespect to anyone reading this), a soap opera actor such as Hartley may not have been able to fill that role
-there weren't any big references in the first episode from comic characters coming from outside the immediate Green Arrow verse. But the question came up and the answer was there'd be references to other DC characters and their stomping grounds. They did not say which one. The question of the green lantern came up. The answer was 'never say never' but it doesn't seem to be happening. They did say they'll be shooting it gritty with no super powers, just enhanced skills for the title character and villains.
-this has been brought up in the thread why is the title 'Arrow' and not "Green Arrow'? Amell said the original plan was to call it 'Oliver Queen' and they would have if they could get away with it. He did say the colour green will be prevolent but they felt 'arrow' was the most appropriate title.
-when asked about the comics, here was the vibe; the writes are HUGE comic fans but the cast is being instructed that while they are free to read the comics their source material should be the script. The question was asked 'for fans who want to brush up or learn about the character they are about to see, which comic stories should they read? The answer was green arrow; year one and Green Arrow/Black Canary (the crossovers).

Now to answer the inevitable question of 'will i like it?' I'll just say this: If you can read this post, you will LOVE the pilot episode.

[Paul (ral)]

Create a spoiler thread.

[Silver Nemesis]

I have a non-spoiler question, riddler. Does Green Arrow actually wear a mask under his hood? Or is it just the shadow of the hood over his eyes?

[riddler]

I have a non-spoiler question, riddler. Does Green Arrow actually wear a mask under his hood? Or is it just the shadow of the hood over his eyes?

no mask just the hood.