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While 2008 was a high-profile year for movies adapted from comic books (Iron Man, The Dark Knight), 2009 had its own army of super properties arrayed on the big screen — nine notables all tallied, including the highly anticipated Watchmen.
So, how did this year's movies stack up? We take a look back, identifying the 2009 Comic Book Movies: Winners and Losers. And here's a bonus tip for studios that just can't be repeated enough: Don't turn an anime property into a live-action movie.
Posted 11.24.09 by reelz -
Check out this extended scene from the February 6th movie PUSH -- a sci-fi action thriller about people with mental powers. In this clip Chris Evans uses his push powers along with some old-school ammo against powerful psychic foes played by Djimon Hounsou and Neil Jackson.
Posted 01.15.09 by reelz -
Forget telepathy vs. telekinesis. Push gets into the details of telekinesis with an extensive menu of different powers that potentially trump and counter one another in a manner not too far off from Dungeons and Dragons. You have pushers, who can insert specific emotions and memories into their targets, movers who work with really tiny objects, even at the molecular level, watchers who have self-induced visions of the future, stitches who are basically psychic surgeons who can heal -- and unheal --, sniffs who work as psychic bloodhounds, shifters who create illusions by manipulating light, shadows who block clairvoyants and sniffs and, most entertainingly, bleeders. These guys are "unique to the Chinese government" and emit high-pitched sonic vibrations that rupture a target's blood vessels. The wild facial expression that goes along with it -- priceless. Check out a full layout of the telekinetic repertoire over at Superhero Hype.
Posted 01.05.09 by reelz -
Paul McGuigan's latest psychic thriller has revealed a new poster. The movie, about a government conspiracy that enables people to have telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities, seems like it should have been adapted from a comic book -- though it did inspire one, a prequel published by DC offshoot Wildstorm.In an interview with MTV, McGuigan promises the movie will focus more on the characters than technology. Push "has some fantastical moments in it, but we wanted to make it feel like, what if this did exist?" said McGuigan. In some comic book movies, "you tend to forget about the storyline and the characterization and I wanted to do something that was a bit more old-school than that. I wanted the technology to become involved later on."
Push, starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning, opens February 6, 2009.
Posted 12.22.08 by reelz -
Movie fans should plan on seeing a lot of Scarlett Johansson in the months to come. Not only is the buxom beauty starring in The Nanny Diaries, which opens next week, but she's lined up three more projects to film over the next year, says The Hollywood Reporter.
She is yet another in the line of stars to sign on for a part in Ken Kwapis's He's Just Not That Into You, which seems to be becoming a bigger deal by the day. Just yesterday, the news was that Jennifer Aniston would be joining the cast, which already includes Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Connelly, amongst others. In it, Johansson will play a singer/pilates instructor who has an affair with a married man.
She has also signed on for Frank Miller's adaptation of the noir comic strip Will Eisner's The Spirit. Johansson will star opposite Gabriel Macht (Because I Said So, The Good Shepherd) as Silk N. Floss, a smart sexy secretary who backs up baddie, The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson).
To complete the hat trick, Johansson will also be starring in Mary Queen of Scots, a biopic centering around the Scottish monarch's romance with the Earl of Bothwell and rivalry with her half-brother James. The indie costume drama will be directed by John Curran (The Painted Veil).
In other news, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America), Dakota Fanning (Charlotte's Web, War of the 
Worlds), Chris Evans (The Nanny Diaries, Fantastic Four), and Camilla Belle (The Ballad of Jack and Rose) will be toplining Push, a new thriller that starts shooting next month in China.
Push will follow the story of a group of clairvoyant American ex-pats hiding out from the U.S. government in Hong Kong, says Variety. It will be directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin).
Posted 08.17.07 by reelz