about Maverick 管家仔囉哩叭唆

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Natalie Portman

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ron Perlman (Hellboy), John Hurt (Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm), Selma Blair (Liz Sherman), Doug Jones (Abe Sapien)

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Michael Keaton (Batman/Bruce Wayne), Jack Nicholson (The Joker), Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon), Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale)

Directed by: Richard Lester
Cast: Christopher Reeve (Clark Kent/Superman), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Terence Stamp (Zod)

In many ways, Superman II is a better film than in its predecessor, but somehow, in the final reckoning, it’s not the superior film.

Directed by: Bryan Singer
Cast: Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Patrick Stewart (Professor Xavier), Anna Paquin (Rogue)

There’s a moment in X-Men when Wolverine questions the black leather uniform he’s just been given to wear. “What would you prefer – yellow Spandex?” comes the rather deft, tongue-in-cheek response.

Directed by: Joe Johnston
Cast: Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Hugo Weaving (Red Skull)

As true-blue as its pure-hearted hero, Captain America is a film out of time – a modern Marvel blockbuster with an authentic Saturday matinee soul. Maybe it’s the fact that director Joe Johnston served an apprenticeship in the house of Lucas and Spielberg (he storyboarded the matchless truck chase in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and there’s a drop of that film’s bloodline in Cap’s occult-plundering Nazis and tangible, two-fisted action sequences). Or perhaps it’s the period setting – as invigorating a twist for the Marvel canon as Thor’s other-dimensional realms – that allows Johnston to expel the moral ambiguities and tainted patriotism of the 21^st Century and revel in a clear-eyed, sepia-tinted idealism that’s as far from the smart-ass zing of Iron Man as it’s possible to imagine.

Directed by: Alex Proyas
Cast: Brandon Lee (Eric Draven/The Crow), Michael Wincott (Top Dollar), Ling Bai (Myca)

Stylish adaptation of an underground comic about a rock musician who comes back from the dead to avenge his own and his fiancée’s murders. Visually stunning, it’s about as noir as films come, with an almost tangible atmosphere of brooding menace that’s punctuated by some severely graphic action scenes. The script may not be Oscar-standard, but among the (rarely critically lauded) supernatural revenge genre, this is a standout movie.

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Michael Keaton (Batman/Bruce Wayne), Michelle Pfeiffer (Catwoman), Danny DeVito (The Penguin)

If Batman was playing second fiddle to the Joker in Burton’s first film, then he’s right at the back of orchestra giving an occasional ping on the triangle this time around. Burton seems to have lost all interest in his hero, placing the Penguin and Catwoman up front and centre. But while Pfeiffer’s purring, PVC-clad femme fatale is one of superhero cinema’s most iconic performances, DeVito’s Penguin is just too blustering and unsubtle to work.

Directed by: M Night Shyamalan
Cast: Bruce Willis (David Dunn), Samuel L Jackson (Elijah Price), Robin Wright (Audrey Dunn)

Certainly the most unusual superhero film in this list (it takes a long while before you even realise that it is), and arguably the last great film directed by Shyamalan, Unbreakable is a typically glacial piece of cinema from the director, but totally, engrossingly hypnotic at the same time.

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Selma Blair (Liz Sherman), Doug Jones (Abe Sapien), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Luke Goss (Prince Nuada)

God, we love Guillermo del Toro. He talks about cinema so passionately and so intelligently. Every time one of his films comes out, we’re willing him on to success. Which is why it pains us to admit that Hellboy 2 is a little bit of a disappointment. The big fella’s first adaptation of the Mike Mignola comic laid a solid foundation for his labour-of-love franchise, but part two never quite becomes the world-conquering triumph you’re hoping for.

Directed by: Joe Johnston
Cast: Bill Campbell (Cliff Secord), Jennifer Connelly (Jenny Blake), Timothy Dalton (Neville Sinclair)

You might assume from this film’s art deco designs, gangsters, Nazis and airships, that this is an adaptation of a genuine ’30s pulp comic hero. But no. The Rocketeer was actually created in 1982 as a pastiche/homage to early heroes such as Commando Cody. He wasn’t exactly the most successful comic character ever, though, starting life in Starslayer, before starring in three issues of his own comic. But the concept was cool enough to inspire this movie. And Starslayer has never had a movie, has he?

Directed by: Kinka Usher
Cast: Hank Azaria (The Blue Raja), Janeane Garofalo (The Bowler), William H Macy (The Shoveller), Ben Stiller (Mr Furious), Geoffrey Rush (Casanova Frankenstein)

Mystery Men is much funnier in theory than it is in practice. A description of the film leaves you convinced that it must be hilarious. Captain Amazing, concerned that he’s going to lose his sponsorship deals because the public is growing bored of him, releases his arch enemy, Casanova Frankenstein, from prison so that he can fight him again and raise his profile. Instead, Frankenstein captures him and so it’s up to a band of superheroes with powers as useless as an inflatable dartboard to rescue him: The Blue Raja, who throws cutlery; The Bowler, whose weapon is a kinetically-charged bowling ball; the flatulent Spleen; The Shoveller, with his trusty spade; and Mr Furious, who, erm, gets angry.

Directed by: Stephen Norrington
Cast: Wesley Snipes (Blade), Stephen Dorff (Deacon Frost), Kris Kristofferson, (Abraham Whistler)

Sometimes you really wish CGI had never been invented. Watching the end of Blade is one of those times. The film starts promisingly enough as a kind of martial arts Godfather with vampires, full of political power struggles within a bloodsucking Mafia. Sadly, it ends up as Raiders Of The Lost Coffin with a badly-judged computer generated finalé in which Tom and Jerry cartoon violence replaces gore.

Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Cast: Ben Affleck (Matt Murdock/Daredevil), Jennifer Garner (Elektra), Colin Farrell (Bullseye)

Not as bad as some remember, but far from a classic either (hello Ben Affleck, hello Colin Farrell). Mark Steven Johnson was the director charged with bringing the Man Without Fear to the big screen, his previous experience writing Grumpy Old Men obviously convincing someone that he was the man for the job. Borrowing mainly from Frank Miller’s run, the movie focuses on Matt Murdock’s doomed relationship with the assassin Elektra (played by Affleck’s future wife Jennifer Garner). It’s not exactly remembered fondly by its stars, however. Affleck has since said: “Wearing a costume was a source of humiliation for me and something I wouldn’t want to do again soon.” Garner went on to play Elektra in the character’s own underwhelming spin-off (2005) and her ex-boyfriend, Michael Vartan was quoted afterwards as saying: “Jennifer told me it was awful. She had to do it because of Daredevil. It was in her contract.” The director’s cut, however, is very well regarded.

Directed by: Leslie H Martinson
Cast: Adam West (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Burt Ward (Dick Grayson/ Robin), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler), Lee Meriwether (Catwoman)

These days it takes two years to make a Batman movie. Back in the ’60s, well, let’s just say the TV show premiered in January 1966 and this movie spin-off was in the cinema by July the same year. To be honest, it’s just an extended episode of the TV show, with little discernible increase in budget (although there are new bits of hardware on show, including a Bat Boat). But it’s fun, with four of the Caped Crusader’s best-known enemies teaming up to out-camp each other, then being soundly beaten by Batman. The stand out moment is Batman repelling a rubber shark with Bat Shark Repellant. Very silly, but eminently watchable.
.

Directed by: Gavin Hood
Cast: Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Victor Creed), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine may be remembered more as a scandal than a screen experience. A notoriously leaked workprint turned it into a poster child for torrent download culture; a Hollywood flashpoint that coincided with the blocking of Pirate Bay in a number of countries. It also ensured a level of media chatter that this adequate but middling piece of superhero cinema could never have won on its own.

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Wesley Snipes (Blade), Kris Kristofferson (Abraham Whistler), Ron Perlman (Reinhardt), Luke Goss (Nomak)

After some not-too-great experiences on Mimic, Guillermo del Toro proved he could handle a big studio movie with this vampire follow-up. More than just a continuation of the first movie, Blade II sacrifices plenty of comic book conventions in favour of gore and its director’s obsession with twisted, grotesque monsters. While Wesley Snipes’s Blade is still a rather bland leading man, del Toro shakes things up by teaming him up with a team of vampire commandos on the trail of Luke Goss’s bloodsucker-plus Reapers. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he found room for his future Hellboy, Ron Perlman, in the cast. Vampires don’t come much cooler. Shame about the bendy CG stunt doubles, though… Sometimes Blade appears to be fighting Morph.

Directed by: Bryan Singer
Cast: Brandon Routh (Clark Kent/Superman), Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor), Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane),

There’s a mighty fine line between the second coming and a nostalgia trip. Not so much a reimagining as a preimagining, Superman Returns is so in thrall to Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie that you’re continually poised for a loving cameo from the pimp who told Christopher Reeve: “Whoa, Jim! That’s a bad outfit!”

Directed by: Louis Leterrier
Cast: Edward Norton (Bruce Banner/The Hulk), Liv Tyler (Betty Ross), Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky), William Hurt (General Ross)

In an effort to get the franchise back on track after Ang Lee’s “challenging” movie, The Incredible Hulk plays it straight down the middle. This is a no-nonsense commercial venture designed to appeal to fans and the masses alike. Certainly, the former are well catered for with a succession of not-terribly-subtle allusions and in-jokes: a snippet of the original TV theme tune; “D Banner” scrawled on a package; Lou Ferrigno as a security guard; a small-screen glimpse of Bill Bixby; references to both Nick Fury and SHIELD… Yup, this iteration certainly pays due homage to its comic book and TV heritage.

Directed by: Tom McGrath
Cast: Will Ferrell (Megamind), Brad Pitt (Metro Man), Tim Roth (Emil Blonsky), Tina Fey (Roxanne Ritchie)

Ollo! He’s blue, a dude, and smarter than you – that’s right, we’re talking about Megamind, Will Farrell’s contribution to the superhero genre and a worthy addition to the list. Why? Well, first and foremost, it’s a great twist on the Superman origin story – what if two kids escaped a dying planet, one crash landing some rich folks house and the other landing in jail? Secondly, it’s damned funny: Megamind’s crazy pronunciations alone had me in creases, and Will Farrell is clearly enjoying himself. The plot is full of enough twists and turns to put it up there with any number of live-action superhero movies, but what really makes it a fine example of super-powered film making is that it’s got a heart, and a great big mushy one at that. Entertaining family-based fare, well animated and with some great spins on traditional superhero tropes, Megamind’s big blue head thoroughly deserves its place on this list.