Tag: Super

“Super” failed to find a large audience because it defied traditional Western genres, the film’s star Rainn Wilson and writer-director James Gunn told the audience at the Hero Complex Film Festival. The Q&A — at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles — followed Saturday night’s screening of the film, about a man (Wilson) who loses his wife (Liv Tyler) to a drug-dealing creep (Kevin Bacon), and dons a superhero suit in his quest to save her. In the process, he picks up a sidekick (Ellen Page) and brutally attacks many people, some of whom might be innocent. It’s the kind of character that demanded a versatile actor, Gunn said. “I really needed somebody who could do the acting part, who could do the comedic part, who was a big enough goof that he could think he’s getting picked on by ...

It’s almost here — we’re just one week from the start of the 2012 Hero Complex Film Festival and with the franchise in its third year we’ve moved to a sweet new home (Regal Cinemas at LA Live, where in September we brought you a 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with Steven Spielberg and surprise guest Harrison Ford) and expanded the program (four days now with more than a dozen guests, including three that haven’t been announced). To get a bead on the festival, peruse the photo gallery above — be sure to click the “CAPTIONS ON” option if you don’t see text across the bottom of each image – and you’ll get a snapshot description of all of eight of our separately ticketed screenings. The box here on the right leads to the ticketing page. And how about those fun images in the gallery? ...

Our “Super” screening on May 19 just got even more, um,  super. James Gunn, the writer and director of the crime-busting, bone-cracking and (at times) heartbreaking film “Super,” will reunite with the 2010 indie project’s star, Rainn Wilson, on stage  at the Hero Complex Film Festival. The pair will share the stage during a Q&A session following the 8:30 p.m. screening of “Super,” which dresses like “The Greatest American Hero” but runs off the road of sanity like a hipster version of “Taxi Driver.” “Super” follows a short-order cook named Frank (Wilson) who is gripped by rage and despair after his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a  manipulative dope merchant (Kevin Bacon). At his most vulnerable moment, a cosmic message arrives and shoves Frank down a  new path – he dons the mask of the Crimson Bolt and swings a wrench at evil. Gunn made ...

“Shut up, crime!” As superhero catchphrases go, the Crimson Bolt’s battle cry might not measure up to classics like “Shazam!” or “Up, up and away!” or even “Flame on!” but it gets the job done – just like that trusty pipe wrench the masked man brings down on the sweaty forehead of big-city evil. The fury and the funny of the Bolt are coming to the 2012 Hero Complex Film Festival on May 19 as star Rainn Wilson appears for an onstage Q&A after a screening of “Super,” the subversive 2010 cult hit written and directed by James Gunn (“Slither”) about a feckless fry cook name Frank D’Arbo (Wilson) who decides the best way to deal with his bruising setbacks is put on a mask and punch back. D’arbo is pushed over the edge when he loses his wife (Liv Tyler) to the sordid lures of a drug dealer (Kevin Bacon) before ...

In “Super,” a dark comedy premiering at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, Rainn Wilson is a diner cook who reinvents himself as a masked hero called the Crimson Bolt to rescue his drug-addicted wife (Liv Tyler) from her new dealer (Kevin Bacon). Along the way he speaks to God, cracks some craniums and picks up a very enthusiastic sidekick, Boltie (Ellen Page). Director James Gunn, best known for his 2006 horror comedy “Slither,” talked with Hero Complex writer Rebecca Keegan in Austin about the lack of God in mainstream American cinema, Page’s motivation for taking her top off in a superhero movie and whether we might reach a point of too many superhero films. RK: Why put God in a superhero movie? JG: The topic of God or faith is something that isn’t in movies. It’s more ...

Over at 24 Frames, our sister blog, Mark Olsen writes about the first flight of “Super,” the off-kilter superhero movie that screened Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival. Here’s an excerpt… On Friday night in Toronto, the Ryerson was again hopping with a long line of people waiting for the world premiere of “Super” in the Midnight Madness slot. With a healthy turnout of eager industry buyers as well — some already grumbling about the films they’d seen so far — the scene meant that this year’s festival was in full swing. Just before the screening began, writer-director James Gunn said, “Let’s see something different.” He wasn’t kidding around. It’s different all right, an alternately wild and moody film that is equal parts love story, portrait of mental instability and raucous comic-book-inspired action picture. The story follows a sad-sack diner cook ...