It’s the New Year and that means that it’s time to look back at the previous year that has passed. And along with most movie sites I’ll be taking a look back at the films that came out this year and sharing my top 8 films. That may sound like an odd number, but there have been only eighteen films by my count released here in the US this year that I would classify as a superhero film or was based on a comic book. In the recent boom of superhero and comic book films, this is actually the smallest number of films released since 2009 as the number has been steadily growing since shortly after 2000. And because of that, I was actually able to watch them all before the end of the year! There were some good films this year, some surprises, and several disappointments. But there are eight films that I wanted to share once again with you as my personal favorites.

#8 28 Minute Epic

This is an extremely indie film made for a mere $4,100 as mentioned in the opening credits. It’s a little bit Kevin Smith’s Clerks, a little bit James Gunn’s Super, and a little bit of Meet the Parents thrown in as two guys working at a porn shop have the worst day in their lives and the best day in their lives all rolled up into one. The humor wasn’t always a hit with
me, but it went places that I never would have expected it to go and I had a good time with it. Not only that, but it’s currently free to watch at their site 28MinuteEpic.com, it’s worth a shot.

#7 Batkid Begins

This is a documentary about a simple wish that ended up going viral and becoming an extraordinary event in San Francisco that was seen all over the world. The actual filmmaking behind the documentary isn’t anything all that special, but the story itself is just so captivating and touching that it makes it worth watching in and of itself. Miles is a young boy battling cancer whose wish was to be the real Batman. And the Make-A-Wish foundation just happened to get all the right people involved to make a child’s wish into something that we can all get behind in one way or another.

#6 Justice League: Gods and Monsters

This was one of three Warner Premier DC Animated movies that were released this year along side several other more kid-oriented DC Animated movies, it also marked the return of Bruce Timm as writer for this alternate universe Justice League. It had several interesting ideas and alternate histories of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but much of it was lost on me as someone with only a passing knowledge of the expansive DC Universe. But it was still a quality animated release as the Warner Premier movies usually are.

#5 Avengers: Age of Ultron

This was ultimately a disappointment for a lot of people, and one reason why I didn’t give it a full written review on release was because I needed some time to let it sit and give it another watch before giving it a fair shake. That still hasn’t happened yet but even as a “disappointment” compared to the original Avengers which I consider the best superhero movie ever made, it’s still a pretty great movie. I don’t think I have to go too much into it right now, but since I haven’t done a written review, the link above goes to my appearance on the Lambcast where the film was discussed.

#4 Batman vs. Robin

I already mentioned Warner Premier and their DC Animated movies just a couple spots earlier, and this is one of their first real ongoing storylines aside from the loosely connected Justice League movies War and Throne of Atlantis. This focuses on the father/son relationship between Batman and his biological son Damian Wayne alongside the reappearance of the Court of Owls who may have had a hand in the death of Bruce’s parents. It has some interesting themes, great performances, and well done action sequences.

#3 Ant-Man

This movie had a pretty sordid history before it ever hit theaters. There was talk about this being Marvel’s first failure as it lost its writer director, fan favorite Edgar Wright in exchange for Peyton Reed who was probably best known for the movie Bring it On. But Reed and star Paul Rudd was able to bring together a great action/heist/comedy with some of the most amazing shrinking effects ever seen on film. One of the few downsides was the major underplaying of Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Pym in favor of a romantic sidekick.

#2 The Subjects

This movie was a complete surprise to me, it was another indie film made by writer/director Robert Mond that takes a very different look at super powers and superheroes. Here, eight strangers take part in a drug test that ends up giving them each different super powers. But they soon find out that learning to control these abilities is a lot more dangerous than the movies make it out to be and the movie takes on the tone of a thriller. It’s just such a different take that I completely fell in love with it. The low budget gets in the way in places, but I easily looked past it for the story and the concepts involved.

#1 Kingsman: The Secret Service

This movie was an early release this year and one of the first big success stories. I was already a fan of many of the adapted works of Mark Millar as well as the films of Matthew Vaughn and this just came together in all the right ways. The action was intense, the humor was spot on, and Taron Egerton as the lead was brilliant. Everything in this film came together as the right kind of jab at a James Bond movie for someone who has seen almost no James Bond movies.

So there’s my list, was there anything that I left out that you think I should have included? Leave a comment and let me know. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.