2 February 2009
The Spirit (Gabriel Macht)
The Spirit is an adaptation of an acclaimed and influential 1940s comic strip by revered comic artist and writer Will Eisner. The Spirit (played in the film by Gabriel Macht from The Good Shepherd and A Love Song for Bobby Long) is a sharply dressed, masked crime fighter who is loved by the ladies and supported by the police. He has no superpowers but is mysteriously invincible, as is his arch nemesis The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson). Frank Miller, a contemporary comic book legend, has written the screenplay and directed the film. Miller is responsible for the Batman comic story that influenced Tim Burton’s films Batman and Batman Returns, and he also created the comics Sin City and 300, both of which were very faithfully adapted for the big screen. Miller shared a director credit with Robert Rodriguez for the film version of Sin City so you would think that he was an ideal candidate for directing The Spirit film. But you would be wrong. Miller’s director credit for Sin City was very much an honorary title and he clearly didn’t learn much from watching Rodriguez work because The Spirit is an extremely amateurish effort.
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1 Comment | 
Film review | Tagged: 300, Batman, Batman Returns, Edward D. Wood Jr., Eva Mendes, Frank Miller, Gabriel Macht, Len Wiseman, Robert Rodriguez, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Sin City, The Spirit, Tim Burton, Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Will Eisner, Zack Snyder | 
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Posted by Thomas Caldwell
7 August 2006
Director Paul McGuigan’s best film to date is still the English gangster film Gangster No. 1 from 2000. However, the major problem with Gangster No. 1 is the same problem that plagues McGuigan’s latest effort Lucky Number Slevin. Both films suffer from a very weak final third act but while Gangster No. 1 was salvageable, the direction that Lucky Number Slevin takes completely ruins what initially promises to be a good film.
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Comments Off on Film review – Lucky Number Slevin (aka The Wrong Man) (2006) | Film review | Tagged: Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, Cary Grant, Donnie Darko, Frank Miller, Gangster No. 1, Hitchcockian, James Bond, Jason Smilovic, Josh Hartnett, Lucky Number Slevin, Lucy Lui, Morgan Freeman, Paul McGuigan, Robert Rodriguez, Sin City, Stanley Tucci, The Wrong Man, Wicker Park | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
13 September 2005
Film adaptations of comic books are at the peak of their popularity since 1989’s Batman revived the genre. Films as diverse as Spider-Man, Batman Begins, Sin City and American Splendor are achieving critical acclaim and packed houses. A documentary on this cultural phenomenon would have been welcomed, which is why it is so unfortunate that Comic Book: The Movie, directed and starring Mark Hamill (Star Wars’s Luke Skywalker), is an embarrassingly amateurish 2004 mockumentary.
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Comments Off on DVD review – Comic Book: The Movie (2004), Region 4, Force Entertainment | DVD review | Tagged: American Splendor, Batman Begins, Bruce Campbell, Citizen Kane, Comic Book: The Movie, Force Entertainment, Frank Miller, Hugh Hefner, Kevin Smith, Mark Hamill, Matt Groening, mockumentary, Orson Welles, Police Academy, Rob Reiner, Robert Pulcini, Robert Rodriguez, Sam Raimi, Shari Springer Berman, Sin City, Spider-Man, Stan Lee, This Is Spinal Tap | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
