Better trilogy: Sam Raimi's Spider-Man or Nolan's Batman?

[Nagamura]

Spider-Man 2 is my favorite comic book movie ever, so that alone beats out Nolan's Batman. I love both trilogies to death though.

[Jay Mammoth]

Batman

[El Rey]

Hmm a bit of a draw for me. Both had really good first films, great second films and the last chapters were letdowns. In Raimi's case it wasn't really his fault though.

[DCW]

Gah, i love both trilogy's so much...but if I had to pick one it'd be Nolan's.

(And wtf are we talking about man of steel for?)

Edit:

^ I was beaten to the punch...

[HotTastyChili]

Originally Posted by DCW

(And wtf are we talking about man of steel for?)

Originally Posted by AmrlKJaneway

Did you make that chilli? It looks good!

I think this is about as relevant as this Superman discussion...

Some guy claimed that the "too serious" criticism of the Nolan films was invalid, I told him I believed that was incorrect, and listed an example of a movie that took Nolan's seriousness to the next level on a character that didn't deserve it. Man of Steel was definitely inspired by Nolan's work, and even operates within the same genre. But you're right, it would seem we have reached an impasse, and I'll abstain from discussing it further.

And no, I didn't make the chili. The username is based off a lyric in a song I wrote as a young lad that was about pooping your pants and blaming it on another person. It's an epic meditation on the complexities of the human digestive system, and an artistic masterstroke. I can't recite it here though, as it's socially unacceptable. Still need to finish recording it. It's in "advanced demo" stage. Send me a PM if your curiosity gets the best of you.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by HotTastyChili

Some guy claimed that the "too serious" criticism of the Nolan films was invalid, I told him I believed that was incorrect, and listed an example of a movie that took Nolan's seriousness to the next level on a character that didn't deserve it. Man of Steel was definitely inspired by Nolan's work, and even operates within the same genre. But you're right, it would seem we have reached an impasse, and I'll abstain from discussing it further.

And no, I didn't make the chili. The username is based off a lyric in a song I wrote as a young lad that was about pooping your pants and blaming it on another person. It's an epic meditation on the complexities of the human digestive system, and an artistic masterstroke. I can't recite it here though, as it's socially unacceptable. Still need to finish recording it. It's in "advanced demo" stage. Send me a PM if your curiosity gets the best of you.

I had a garage band in High School. We wrote songs with lyrics that would derail a Senate confirmation hearing.

[Mephariel]

Originally Posted by HotTastyChili

While I don't really agree that the Nolan films are too serious, I would think that the argument is that Nolan's films seem self-important, pretentious, and dark for the sake of being dark, because that's what's hip right now. I think Nolan sort of kicked off that trend of everything being of life or death importance in films, with dark blue and black dominated cinematography. I think the criticism is that a man dressing himself up as a bat is taken to an operatic level of stone-faced intensity. The criticism is that Nolan wants people to think that his films are a lot deeper and more important than they really are. I like all three Nolan Batman films (the last one a lot less), but I can definitely see where the people who say they're too serious are coming from.

Being so serious works with Batman, but it's why I think Man of Steel was absolute shit. Superman isn't dark and depressing, he's supposed to be an endearingly campy distillation of patriotic hope. Him saying that "Do you bleed?" line in Justice League made me want to vomit. Totally contrived "edge". Which some people think Nolan's Batman films are.

I am sorry, but that is just a dumb explanation. So anytime you make a film where a guy wears a mask, you are not allow to make a serious movie? Why can't a comic book movie be serious and self-important? Why is that limited to art films or whatever you are thinking about?

[Mephariel]

Originally Posted by HotTastyChili

Some guy claimed that the "too serious" criticism of the Nolan films was invalid, I told him I believed that was incorrect, and listed an example of a movie that took Nolan's seriousness to the next level on a character that didn't deserve it. Man of Steel was definitely inspired by Nolan's work, and even operates within the same genre. But you're right, it would seem we have reached an impasse, and I'll abstain from discussing it further.

And no, I didn't make the chili. The username is based off a lyric in a song I wrote as a young lad that was about pooping your pants and blaming it on another person. It's an epic meditation on the complexities of the human digestive system, and an artistic masterstroke. I can't recite it here though, as it's socially unacceptable. Still need to finish recording it. It's in "advanced demo" stage. Send me a PM if your curiosity gets the best of you.

Man of Steel's issue is not that it is serious. The issue is, Snyder is bad with characters.

[eternalbiz]

Batman and Spider-Man are my favorite super heroes. Ever since I was a kid. Both trilogy's are amazing. Like many others I agree that the third film in each series is the weakest and the second being the strongest.

Such a difficult question. Oddly enough I am leaning toward Spider-Man.

[HotTastyChili]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I had a garage band in High School. We wrote songs with lyrics that would derail a Senate confirmation hearing.

Originally Posted by AmrlKJaneway

I was in a grindcore band and we wrote stuff that was intentionally offensive, but when I look back I wish we’d put more effort into both the lyrics and music.

We should start our own thread over in music. Maybe we could collaborate on something distasteful.

Just to keep things on topic, here's one of my favorite scenes in Spidey II. So Evil Dead!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm1n...ature=youtu.be

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by AmrlKJaneway

I was in a grindcore band and we wrote stuff that was intentionally offensive, but when I look back I wish we’d put more effort into both the lyrics and music.

Our lead singer/songwriter (again...High School) was going through a breakup with his girlfriend, and next thing you know I'm doing backup keyboards on a punk rock thrash song about his ex girlfriend. Can't even hint at the lyrics. That was 30 years ago. I still have the tape.

[frogmort]

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by Predatorix38417

I like how both trilogies had a decent first film, fantastic second film, and then underwhelming third film.

Pretty much this, although I'll take the original Spider-Man over Batman Begins any day. Spider-Man 3 isn't a bad film, just mediocre and disappointing compared to the excellent first two films. At least Sam Raimi seemed fully aware that Spider-Man 3 was heavily flawed, and a lot of the blame goes to Sony's executive meddling. IIRC, Christopher Nolan was allowed to pretty much do whatever he wanted with The Dark Knight Rises, and the result was the pretentious slog we got.

Both Spider-Man 2 and The Dark Knight are masterpieces, although I think Spider-Man 2 did a fantastic job of balancing a fun, thrilling atmosphere with deep emotion, powerful themes, and well-developed characters, some of which The Dark Knight wasn't really trying to do. The Spider-Man films are more my taste, but I enjoy both. My favorite Batman film is Batman Returns by far.

[Star Lord]

Spider-Man 3 is an enjoyable mess...TDKR was well just a mess.

[eternalbiz]

I still really enjoy TDKR yet I find it a bit unforgivable to have a 2 and a half hour movie and the title character is in it for like 30 minutes it seems.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by AmrlKJaneway

Lol. We were all metal heads and used to joke that all punk songs were about you girlfriend leaving you, and how it happened at the mall. We joked that if Slayer were a punk band they would sing “god hates our mall!”

You need to regroup and write that song..."God Hates Our Mall".

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by AmrlKJaneway

Man, I haven’t spoken to any of those guys in over a decade. Would be fun though...

No better excuse for a reunion. Of course, we would all need to hear it.

[Krizzle1]

Hands-down Nolan's trilogy is better, ive watched Dark Knight multiple times and Rises a couple of times, I've only seen the Spider-Man trilogy once, that was enough for me. As im writing this, I did enjoy that scene where Spidey stops the train by webbing the buildings on either side, think that was the 2nd movie.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by Kaiju

Those 3 shots are literally the only moments I think he actually cracks a smile.

"Not enough SMILING! Not enough JOKES! Not enough MARVEL!"

[AaronJ]

All this talk of Man of Steel being "too dark" or having too little humor or whatever is ignoring the fact that really, for the good majority of the movie it isn't a Superman movie: it's a film about Clark Kent coming to grips with his reality. He's trying to understand what he is, who he is, why he is the way he is, how to deal with his father's death, his budding relationship with Lois, etc.

The film certainly has its problems, the last act being the main one. It's a mess and it goes on for way, way too long. That's not entirely rare for a comic book movie, as they often have finales and final acts that just don't seem to end. But it is a big problem -- the primary one. But I think this idea that it isn't full of humor is crazy. What is Clark supposed to be joking about, exactly? His father's death? The realization that he's an alien? The dilemma of not wanting to reveal his true nature versus the desire to save people?

It doesn't seem like his situation is exactly ripe for humor or light-heartedness. If one views it as purely a "Superman movie," then the complaint *might* be somewhat valid to some viewers (I'm not one of them, but at least the argument could be made). But that's not what this movie is. It's again a sort of coming of age story for Clark. It's not really until the final (flawed) act that it becomes a Superman movie.