From Deadpool to Captain America: Civil War to X-Men: Apocalypse to Suicide Squad, we are truly living in the age of the comic book film. Studios pour hundreds of millions of dollars into films that try valiantly to remain true to the source material and translate the artwork of a splash page onto a movie screen.
It wasn’t always this way.
“This was a murdered movie.“
So begins Roger Ebert’s home video review of Once Upon a Time in America, the final film from legendary director Sergio Leone.
The snow is coming.
Note: I originally published this in early 2016 and in the 18 months since, I still have not seen any of the films on this list, including the two most recent Best Picture winners. The list continues to grow…
When my wife and I first started dating, I lived in Philly and she lived just outside New York City. Every week, we would meet halfway and have dinner before seeing a movie. For that year, I saw everything, including Batman Begins two or three times.
Quentin Tarantino has come a long way from his 1987 amateur film, My Best Friend’s Birthday. He’s a genius and an auteur and when he stops making movies, it will be a loss for us all.
Sisters, the new film starring Tina Fey Pierznik and Amy Poehler, comes out today and I don’t know why.
Jim Casey has a great YouTube page full of fascinating videos, but my favorite is this quick look at the way Quentin Tarantino’s films have evolved over his career, from his amateur film all the way to now. And it’s only four minutes.
In 1993, three eight year old boys, best friends, from West Memphis, Arkansas were found murdered and hogtied. Although there was very little evidence (and several other more plausible suspects), three teenagers were arrested, charged, and ultimately convicted of the murders, which the prosecution claimed occurred as part of Satanic rituals.
It is often said that so many things need to go right on a movie set that it’s amazing that any films survive long enough to make it to the theater. Also, many scripts and plans take years to develop with various directors and actors becoming attached to productions before dropping out of them and pursuing other avenues of work.
Here is a short list of just some my favorite what ifs in the film industry:
Christopher Pierznik is the author of eight books, all of which can be purchased in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, and many more. Subscribe to his monthly reading review newsletter or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
In the mid-to-late ’90s, Warner Brothers began development of a revival of Superman. Kevin Smith even wrote a script for it before Tim Burton became attached and brought in his own writers. He immediately cast Nicholas Cage as Clark Kent and there are rumors that Jim Carrey was in talks to portray Brainiac.
The project never took off for a variety of reasons, a major one being the fact that Batman & Robin was so awful that Warner Brothers decided to remove itself from the entire comic superhero universe for a few years. So Joel Schumacher, who has made some great movies in his life, ruined not only Tim Burton’s Batman franchise but also his Superman franchise.
Still, this is a fascinating film about a film that was never made. Seeing Nicholas Cage with the giant S logo on his chest and listening to what they had planned makes one wonder how it all would have turned out.
Update: The film has been ripped off YouTube so here’s the trailer:
Previously in Documentary Tuesday:
Room 237 | Exit Through the Gift Shop
Christopher Pierznik is the author of eight books, all of which can be purchased in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, and many more. He has been quoted on Buzzfeed and Deadspin. Subscribe to his monthly reading review newsletter or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 