Movies inspired by comics

For good or bad, the movie industry was invaded by the comics culture and not only by super-heroes (Do you remember Ghost World and Road to Perdition?).

Well, what is your favorite movie? or your least favorite? or your deception? or your dream movie?

Open your heart!

Ooo, good question! I'm going to have mull this one over for a while ...

V for Vendetta would have to be up there for me.

Indeed, V for Vendetta is good, and pretty much Moore's only decent piece of work, IMO. On the flip side, Watchmen would almost certainly make my #1 worst.
Most favorite, though... probably the earlier X-Men ones, or Hellboy. Yeah, Hellboy. Nicely done, follows (a very small piece of) the comic pretty well, good stuff, good actors, good effects, has the right feel & mix of dark broody & humor.

Dream movie would probably be Sandman, here's hoping JGL is doing a good job with that.

Just re-watched the Spawn film, which I enjoyed. I also liked the animation series. Never actually read the comics.

Oh Spawn, I liked that one too. I never read those comics either.

>3 tottman: I still haven't watched that one, it's been on my "up next" list for quite some time and at this point, my memory is getting fuzzy on the source material.

>4 .Monkey.: Here's where I think we have to agree to disagree because Watchmen is one of my favorite books. I've come around quite a bit on the movie version, but it still has issues that trouble me.

Like a lot of people, I enjoyed the newer-ish Batman movies from Christopher Nolan. In the past year, I finally watched the Tim Burton ones and was (unpleasantly surprised) by how comically absurd they were ... and I usually like Burton's films.

Are we limiting ourselves to movies exclusively with this discussion or shall we branch out to TV as well?

Oh and in terms of least favorites, I'm not a fan of ANY the more recent Marvel ones in the Avenger universe (X-men are ok). Obviously, given how wildly popular those movies are, I'm in the minority with that opinion but I've now seen enough of them with a variety of characters in the central role (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America) to know that they're not my cup of tea.

I enjoy the Marvel ones as standard run of the mill action movies. And as I've mentioned in the past, I detest Alan Moore and his misogyny & rape fixation, so yeah, I keep away from pretty much anything he touches. :|

>9 .Monkey.: I don't really care for action movies at all, hence my dislike of the Marvel ones.

With the Watchmen movie, big problem for me was having Zack Snyder at the helm, who is also known for having issues with misogyny and rape fixation ...

Favorite films based directly on comics (in no particular order):

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Christopher Nolan, 2005-2012)
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Jay Oliva, 2013)
Sin City (Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, 2005)
The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012)
Spider-Man (Sam Raimi, 2002)

Favorites films that weren't based on comics (but could have been):

RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004)
Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000)
Chronicle (film) (Josh Trank, 2012)

Honorable mention:

Crumb (Terry Zwigoff, 1994), about comics great Robert Crumb and his family. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen.

>7 sweetiegherkin:
No limits. Silver screen, direct to video, TV, animation. Everything is worthwhile.

>12 apokoliptian:

Ah, so TV counts :)

Netflix's Daredevil is one of the best translations from comics to the big/small/computer screen.
CW's Arrow/The Flash are quite entertaining despite some weak moments

Last year's Constantine was not that bad at all - I really liked it.

More in a bit...

>11 artturnerjr:
My honorable mentions are American Splendor and Dear Mr. Watterson.

Dream movies
Love & Rockets - I think that the sci-fi visuals, retro futuristic technology, super guys and comedy would make a great film (like in Fifth element).

Mister X - The claustophobic landscapes and noir intrigue. I think Brazil is almost an unofficial adaptation (I know it isn't :)).

New Gods - It is Kirby. No explanations.

Like a velvet glove cast in iron by David Lynch!!!!

>13 AnnieMod: I really love Daredevil, too, fabulous series and folks are definitely right in tossing about how "unlike everything else Marvel" it is. I never read the comics though, but this series does make me curious. Affleck's movie, while decent as far as action flicks go and I think not so worthy of the endless heaps horrible criticism people love to pile on it, did not. Lol.

I enjoy Agents of Shield as well, but it's definitely much more basic action-packed entertainment than something to sink your teeth into. Agent Carter is better though.

I loved the Kick-Ass movies. Sin City, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Guardians of the Galaxy were good, too.

OK, since TV shows are in the mix now, need to give an honorable mention to Izombie. I never read the comics (hadn't even heard of them until the show came out) so I can't compare the two, but I'm loving the show! Season 2 just started this week.

Ooo, and back to movies, how could I forget Persepolis? Great book and I think even better movie. Equal parts funny and sober, and so well done.

>18 sweetiegherkin: Oh, I haven't seen the Persepolis movie. You're inspiring me.

I loved American Splendor, Ghost World, and Crumb. I'm not much into the big screen superhero films (Joss Whedon, get back to doing tv shows!).

On the television side, I'm enjoying Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, and iZombie (though I've never read that comic). I liked Constantine, and was sorry to see it cancelled.

Three shows I initially liked and then didn't: Arrow, Flash, and Gotham. With Arrow & Flash, I lost interest in the characters and their motivations. Gotham just got way too gruesome for me, though it has some great characters.

>20 edgewood:

Gotham has to be dark - Batman did not become what he is in a nice and civilized town. Although they can dial some of the craziness down a bit :)

Nobody has mentioned "Annie". Both incarnations are great movies and 100% based on comics.

On TV, The Walking Dead, Agent Carter and Gotham are the best followed by Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Arrow, one of my favorite comics back in the day has way to many attractive people in the cast. Flash is more realistic in that way but I have not seen enough episodes to decide if I like it.

On the big screen they all blend together for me except for Guardians of the Galaxy. The attachment Star Lord has to his mother is a welcome change. Batman's entire reason for being is the death of his parents but none of the movies show his connection to them.

edited for spelling

I didn't neccearily LIKE Scott Pilgrim vs the World, but I thought it was a really good adaptation of a comic book. I am surprised no one has mentioned Fritz the Cat!

I like most of the Marvel series films. Antman was really funny, and perhaps my favorite. Sin City, V for Vendetta get raves in my book. Watchmen? Meh.

>20 edgewood:
I think that Ghost World is a case in which the movie was better resolved than the source material.

I have heard that Scott Pilgrim's series wasn't finished when the movie was opted and the last part of the movie was written before the comic book itself (there is an alternative ending in the DVD).

All in all, I like both of them.

Amid Amidi commented that Steven Spielberg's movie The Adventures of Tintin was inspired by the comics of Hergé but had reinvented how a film studio operated during the production of a film.
Inspired by The Crab with the Golden Claws and The Secret of the Unicorn, this innovative way to render 2D comics on screen is for me truly innovative and brilliant.

>19 jnwelch: It's so good! I highly recommend it.

>20 edgewood: Yay, fellow Izombie fan! :)

>23 Arctic-Stranger: I didn't read any of the Scott Pilgrim books; the movie was entertaining enough but obviously not so memorable as I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it!

>25 Artymedon:
Thanks for the Amid Amidi tip. I didn't know his work, but I'll check it.