Author Topic: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?  (Read 22136 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2013, 03:10:09 pm »
Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Andrew Garfield, and Henry Cavill - I'm also drawing a complete blank when hearing these names.

I know Chris Evans mostly from the fantastic Cellular and from this somewhat-less-fantastic but still pretty watchable romcom in which he starred with Anna Faris. I know Andrew Garfield mostly from The Social Network.

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I think superhero movies and with them the actors are a 'victim' of their own success. The oversaturation mentioned in the article.

Agreed. Over the years, I have enjoyed ones that stood out from the crowd somehow. The early ones like Superman stood out because they were pioneering, Spider Man featured some amazing FX, Tim Burton's Batman and then later Christopher Nolan's Dark Knights (at least the first two) took tone and artistry in new directions, Ironman had Robert Downey Jr., and so on.

But whenever I go to a superhero movie nowadays, even one that's critically acclaimed, I find myself falling asleep. Sustained action sequences bridged with little dialogue or character development just shut off my brain. I slept through the so much of the third Dark Knight I can't even honestly claim to have seen it.

Superhero/comic book movies have become a boring, immature, oversaturated genre that annoys me because their ubiquity implies that, to Hollywood moguls, the tastes of 15-year-old boys trump every other demo's.


Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2013, 05:15:01 pm »
Superhero/comic book movies have become a boring, immature, oversaturated genre that annoys me because their ubiquity implies that, to Hollywood moguls, the tastes of 15-year-old boys trump every other demo's.

It's all about who spends the most money in the theaters.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Monika

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2013, 05:30:43 pm »
I agree about most superhero movies being pretty bad - and sometimes terrible. With one exception - the Spider Man saga - I like the movies staring Toby McGuire and the latest one with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (both very good actors. Btw - Andrew Garfield was in The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus) as well. The Spider Man movies are quirky and are as much about Peter Parker as they are about his superhero alter ego.

I find the Christopher Nolan Batman movies....ok. But who really gives a damn about Bruce Wayne/Batman? It´s all about the supporting roles.

As for the recent Superman movies....ouch. Brandon Routh was so bad he has hardly gotten another movie role since, and Henry Caville hardly showed a single emotion.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2013, 06:06:17 pm »
It's all about who spends the most money in the theaters.

True, but if that assumption shapes the content, it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn't it?

It's true older people don't go out to the movies as often as teenagers, and they're less likely to see a movie multiple times. But I have seen figures lately suggesting that boomers, having more diposable income than other age groups, are a more powerful market force than "old people" are usually given credit for.

I should add that I think the actual key demographic isn't even age, it's nationality. The more a movie appeals to/can be understood by people who aren't American and perhaps don't speak English, the better. A superhero movie or action thriller translates better than a quirky little dialogue- and character-driven indie. And it's the global box office that counts, in the end, these days.


Offline delalluvia

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #14 on: November 08, 2013, 08:46:31 pm »
Nah, I still think you're wrong. They could follow the example of Ryan Gosling, who has never appeared in a superhero blockbuster movie--though I just discovered that he played Hercules as a teenager ( :o ) in a TV show that I never heard of.

Ryan Gosling from the blockbuster The Notebook?  That Ryan Gosling?

Offline delalluvia

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #15 on: November 08, 2013, 08:50:41 pm »
Am I the only one who likes superhero movies?  It is my goal to see every one that comes out, even though I miss a few.   :)

Nope.  I love them, just not all of them.

Superman and the Hulk are boring.  Movies about them always have to focus on their social and emotional lives because otherwise, they're invincible, no one can match them.

Batman is boring.  The last one I saw was the one with Heath Ledger and I only saw it because of him.

Ironman is annoying.  I can only take just so much of RDJs smarminess.


I love Thor, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and Captain America.  Green Lantern was cute, but I just don't like Ryan Reynolds that much.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #16 on: November 08, 2013, 10:06:14 pm »
Ryan Gosling from the blockbuster The Notebook?  That Ryan Gosling?

Yes, that Ryan Gosling. However, The Notebook, I submit, is not a superhero blockbuster, and we are talking here about superhero blockbusters.

You can't wiggle out of this one, Del, by switching blockbusters in midstream.  ;)
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #17 on: November 08, 2013, 10:09:08 pm »
True, but if that assumption shapes the content, it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn't it?

Yes, it does, but it is what it is, I suppose.

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It's true older people don't go out to the movies as often as teenagers, and they're less likely to see a movie multiple times. But I have seen figures lately suggesting that boomers, having more diposable income than other age groups, are a more powerful market force than "old people" are usually given credit for.

And by the time Hollywood catches up to that, we'll all be dead.  ;D

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I should add that I think the actual key demographic isn't even age, it's nationality. The more a movie appeals to/can be understood by people who aren't American and perhaps don't speak English, the better. A superhero movie or action thriller translates better than a quirky little dialogue- and character-driven indie. And it's the global box office that counts, in the end, these days.

That's a good point.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline delalluvia

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #18 on: November 09, 2013, 02:25:26 am »
Yes, that Ryan Gosling. However, The Notebook, I submit, is not a superhero blockbuster, and we are talking here about superhero blockbusters.

You can't wiggle out of this one, Del, by switching blockbusters in midstream.  ;)

No, we were basically talking about why some actors do mainstream movies that make a lot of money.  ;D

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Why can't new superhero movies make their actors into superstars?
« Reply #19 on: November 09, 2013, 04:07:36 pm »
No, we were basically talking about why some actors do mainstream movies that make a lot of money.  ;D

I don't know that anyone expected The Notebook to be a surefire blockbuster from the get-go. Yes, the Nicholas Sparks novel book on which it is based was probably a bestseller, but a lot of bestselling novels make insignificant movies. Neither Ryan Gosling nor Rachel McAdams was particularly famous at the time. I myself didn't see it until years after it came out on DVD.