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Comic book movies without capes
“No capes!” Edna Mode memorably fussed in The Incredibles. That’s what this post is about.
When most of us think of comic book movies, we think of superheroes like Superman, Batman or the X-Men, who have their third movie coming out Friday.
But there are also a number of great comic book movies that have nothing to do with capes or spandex. To wit:
American Splendor: Paul Giamatti was robbed of an Oscar nomination for his brilliant portrayal of comic writer Harvey Pekar, who appears three ways in this movie: through Giamatti, in comic book form, and as himself. Truly a mind-bending biography.
Dick Tracy: People went on and on and on about Batman in 1989, but I think this movie, which came out a year later, was much more fun. It’s the comic book movie that most looks like a comic book (a color one, anyway). The actors, whether buried under mounds of latex or not, were having a ball. And it’s one of the few films that proved Madonna could make it in the movies if she were cast correctly.
Ghost World: This teen angst movie was one of the best movies of 2001, and achieved something very rare among fictional comic book films: the protagonists looked and acted like people that lived in the real world. By the way, what’s Thora Birch been doing ever since she made this?
Sin City: One of the few cult comic movies that actually got away with being cool for the sake of being cool. Just to look at it is to be dazzled.
This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list, so fire away with your own choices if ya like.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Sir Critic muses
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By Allie D.
May 22, 2006 1:00 PM | Link to this
There is also Unbreakable, M. Night Shaymalan’s second effort which I think was unfairly maligned by the “We want Sixth Sense 2” crowd.