Mixed Tape Movies: Tired of Marvel and DC?

In the eighties it was the-thing-to-do to make a mixed tape (like an mp3 but touchable, always in need of a pencil and definitely cooler). On it you would make a little playlist of all the cool songs. Now the trick was to make each song correspond with the rest of the tape. In this post I will try to do the same with movies.

Every once in a while I will select a general topic and select movies to accompany it. As you can see the more child-friendly movies are at the start of the day, but  when night falls: ‘here be monsters’. Please feel free to give suggestions of other unknown movies.

One rule though: Auteur themes like ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘James Bond’ are not allowed. ‘Spy-movies’, naturally, are.

Theme: Live action, Non-Marvel or DC, comic book movies
I love to watch a Marvel or DC comic book-movie extravaganza. But keep in mind that these two studios aren’t the only two comic producers who had their ink characters turned into a movie. For this edition (hah!) of mixed tape movies I wish to highlight some (lesser) known comic book movies that I liked.

08:00-10:00

Tin Tin and the blue oranges: I, of course, prefer The adventures of Tin Tin (2011). Steven Spielbergs last outing onto Indiana Jones territory. But for a first try at a comic book movie with such colourful characters Tin Tin and the blue oranges is a brave attempt.

Keep in mind that the first Spiderman movie came out in 1977 –

so this whole Marvel/DC thing going on today isn’t truly that new.

What is new is that these fantastical tales can now actually be made.

10:00-12:00 

Lucky Luke: (yes I know that there’s also a 2009 version)
Terence Hill’s pet project which, if you don’t know the title could’ve been any other cowboy movie. Hill plays the titular character but with his white coat and blond hair he looks nothing like the original character.
Still it is a silly fun movie that stuck with me all these years due to one (brilliant) scene: how to resuscitate a horse.

12:00-14:00

Suske en Wiske en de duistere diamant: The Belgian comic. Everybody in Europe knows about these two friends who constantly find themselves lured into yet another adventure. But somehow people never managed to get a satisfactory adaptation out of the (237 albums strong) series.

They tried it with puppets, cartoon animation, 3D animation and (this version) live-action and it always goes awry. This movie tries to stay fateful to the original album but it just doesn’t work.

14:00-16:00

Brenda Starr: And another scene that stuck with me: Brooke Shields waterskiing on two alligators. I don’t understand why people don’t like this movie; maybe it’s trying too hard. At least for me this is one of the ultimate Sunday movies (plus it teaches you how to draw).

16:00-17:00

The Shadow: The Shadow is one of those movies that would have been a lot better if little things had been changed. From the top of my head the whole introduction of Alec Baldwin’s character as some sort of Mongolian warmonger. An later the unneeded facial make-up that makes the actor look like his brother.

These little things harm what is a visually stunning movie that bets on style over substance (the plot is basic enough).

17:00-19:00

The Phantom: To see a movie depicting a man dressed in purple lycra running through the (green!) jungle and still have the audacity to call him ‘The Phantom’ is probably the biggest hurdle this movie needs to overcome. The rest is just a wonderful little adventure tale with a very likable Billy Zane (just before he became a cinematic history villain in Titanic) and a deliciously despicable Treat Williams.

19:00-21:00

The Rocketeer: The sole reason I started on this list. This wonderful movie needs more love. It has everything an adventure movie needs: daring stunts, Nazi’s, smug villains, beautiful damsels and cheeky heroes.

It also features Terry O’Quinn who, after the Stepfather, wanted a friendlier part and found it in his portrayal of Howard Hughes of all people.

21:00-23:00

A history of Violence: I love it when Cronenberg tries his hand at smaller (less bloody) fare like Spider or this one. A history of violence is very small in scale - The story, in all honesty, is equally small- which allows the actors to let their characters shine. As it is Cronenberg it isn’t a pleasant movie but as a character study quite enthralling.

23:00-01:00
From Hell: Like anybody I have a healthy interest in the Jack the Ripper mythos. Who was he (The 1997 movie Ripper is my favourite movie on the subject)? From Hell offers a possible answer but, most of all, uses the dark style of the graphic novel in the visuals of the movie.

01:00-03:00 

Barbarella: I never knew this was a comic book movie until I compiled this list. When I saw the title I knew Barbarella had to be included. What’s not to love about this sex-minx from space singlehandedly wearing out an orgasm organ.

One could call this movie borderline porn; but I prefer to see Barbarella as a wonderful adventure that dares to tell another type of story with –to be honest- a pretty strong and confident female lead in Jane Fonda.

Honourable mentions:
Before we start with the honourable mentions two points of note.
First, the premise of this article is ‘lesser known comic book movies’ so there are a lot of famous movies in this list that I simply couldn’t include. I think I already cheated by including Barbarella.

Second, comic book (or graphic novel) movies allow for all kinds of genres. There are cowboy comics, football comics, social critique comics and many (many) others. So some of the honourable mention here I left out of the list because these movies fit better in another mixed tape list.

Also, I haven't seen I kill giants, le petit Spirou, Kiekeboe and My friend Dahlmer yet so they are currently excluded.

Thirty days of night: A brilliant horror movie that deals with vampires. So obviously this picture would be better placed in a vampires mix tape list.

Ghost World: A movie that can stand on its own perfectly without mentioning the preceding comic. This is a coming of age critique that works marvellously due to the impressive leads.

The end of the f***cking world: A TV-show, but short enough to qualify as a (long) movie for me. I wrote a lengthy review here (link). There are some flaws in the tale but the silliness of all the f*cked-up things that happen to our heroes makes up for it.

300: “This is Sparta.” Enough said. If there is one beautiful, testosterone fuelled epic this is it.
Yes there is a sequel but you’d better stay with the original.

Dick Tracy: Comic-books have always been adapted. Dick Tracy, was a noire TV-show in the 1950s. The big gimmick of the movie is twofold: first the make-up that managed to let famous actors disappear in their parts. Second, the well thought out colour palette.
The story is a bit weak though; but Madonna made a nice soundtrack.

Hellboy: Hellboy has always been a mixed bag for me, I love Del Toro’s first one but hated the sequel (The golden army). I guess it had to do with the shift from strange grounded fantasy to all out elves and goblins fantasy.

And the fact that the John Myers character was dismissed so easily.

Still, the first one is a hard movie to beat as it has every kind of monster plus Rasputin teaming up with a mechanical Nazi.

Kick-ass: Don’t mention the sequel – it doesn’t exist. Having that said the first outing of Kick-ass, Big Daddy and Hit-girl is a brilliant parody on the brave, bloodless, superhero fare. I’m certain that without Kick-ass R-rated movies like Deadpool and Logan would never have seen the light of day.

The mask: I remember this movie as the first movie that managed to make good usage of computer-animation.

That and Cameron Diaz in a very short dress.

Not that the movie needed it though – Jim Carrey’s elastic face at the time was enough to bring the laughs.

Road to perdition: This movie goes in the mobster genre. But, sufficient to say this movie is brilliant.

Scott pilgrim vs. the world: A strange movie filled to the brim with pop-culture references. You have to accept the silliness of it all – if you can’t do that than this movie isn’t for you.

Sin City: Visually a wonderful movie. Violently, however, pretty much over the top (a bit too much for its own good). Again this is the original movie that’s better off without knowledge that a sequel exists. It think the theme/message I’m trying to convey is clear now.

V for Vendetta: The movie that shaped Anonymous. But its far more than people using the Guy Fawkes narrative as a means to fight back against oppressing forces. V for Vendetta is, in my opinion, a very clever tale about the ‘ease’ of dictatorship. The various conspirators V kills throughout the tale all let the dictatorship happen because of selfish reasons. This is something you see throughout history; too many people letting things happen and too few can stand up against it. That’s why the final image of the movie works so well.
But, alas the movie is too well known so I didn’t include it in my list.