Author Archives: Bubbawheat
My history with comic books
It may seem odd for someone to start up a site about superhero movies without having a strong connection to comic books. The two things go hand in hand as the superhero genre started with comic books, almost all superhero films are adapted from comic books, and those that aren’t often become comic books after the fact. But I’ve said from the beginning that I’m not a huge comic book fan, I haven’t read dozens of X-men or Superman comics. In fact I can count the number of comics of either of those two that I’ve read on one hand. But that’s not to say I’ve never read any comic books. I’ve read a few, I own a few, and here is where you can get pretty much my entire experience with comics.
The Avengers
The Avengers 2012
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen and read a dozen reviews of The Avengers already. This is one of them. I probably won’t say anything you haven’t already heard before but at least I’ve watched over 40 superhero movies already this year so while I may not be an expert, I may see things at a slightly different angle having seen so many similar movies. But let me just cut to the point here, it was awesome. It was better than any of the Marvel lead ups and while it may not have taken the top spot for my favorite superhero movie of all time, it’s definitely made it into the top 10. But first let me do a quick rundown in case you haven’t actually seen the Avengers yet and would rather pick one or two out of the five lead-in movies to watch first to prepare. If you want more information about the Tesseract, the big blue macguffin that everyone is after then watch Captain America to see what it’s capable of. If you want to learn more about the main villain of the movie, watch Thor to learn why he’s doing what he’s doing, and you also get a hint of the aliens in the universe even if it’s not the exact same ones. If you want to see more from S.H.I.E.L.D., watch Iron Man 2 to see how they began preparing for the Avengers Initiative and a hint of what Black Widow is capable of.
FTMN Poll: What’s Next?
Thor
Thor 2011
I’ve finally gotten to my last pre-Avengers movie, although I did technically cheat a little in my watching order, I just couldn’t wait and I saw the Avengers already. But since I want to keep my schedule going, I am reviewing Thor first and the Avengers will have to wait until Tuesday. I am also doing a slight schedule change and posting my blog topic for the week on Wednesdays now for a full seven day schedule. This may change in the future if I feel that reviewing three movies a week is a bit much for me but we’ll just have to see how it goes for now. Back to Thor, I was never a big fan of Thor, he never really showed up in any of the cartoons I watched when I was younger except maybe in an episode or two of Spider-Man or Iron Man but none that I remember. So watching this movie when it came out on DVD last year was really my first introduction to the character outside of a couple things. I knew that his hammer could only be picked up by someone who is worthy enough to wield it, and I knew he was essentially based on Norse mythology.
Superhero Shorts: Blinky Productions
Superhero Shorts: Blinky Productions
Welcome to this week’s edition of Superhero Shorts where I take a look at a different superhero themed short film and get the creator of the film to answer a few interview questions. This week is a double feature from prolific fan-film creator Chris Notarile of Blinky Productions. He has created dozens of fan films of superheroes such as The Punisher, The Question, The Shadow, Power-Girl, the Joker, and many more. He’s also created many horror fan films as well as full length original horror films. Today I’ll be looking at two of his films, The Protector and Punisher ’79 which you can watch right below.
Follow Friday: At the Back
Welcome to the first weekly edition of Follow Fridays. I decided to do a Follow Friday for a couple reasons, one: I never click on anyone’s blogrolls, and two: I think my blogroll widget did something to cause my posts to miss their schedules. I also liked the way that both the Lamb and Fog’s Movie Reviews feature other blogs in their own post rather than just an easily overlooked sidebar. Now of course, I couldn’t just steal another idea without adding my own little spin to it, so I decided to carry on my Superhero Shorts idea of interviewing the creators of the blogs I feature, and let them choose the blog to feature for next Friday. And my first pick goes to At The Back.
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 2010
I think it’s kind of funny that right after putting up a poll and a blog discussing spoilers I watch a movie that was not spoiled to me in any way shape or form. Here is everything I knew about Iron Man 2 before watching it: Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as Rhodie and he gets to pilot his War Machine suit. Black Widow makes an extended appearance in this movie. Whiplash is the main villain played by Mickey Rourke. And that’s it. I had an inkling about the role of Tony’s father, I had no idea Nick Fury played such a big role, and also had no idea about the subplot about him being slowly killed by the use of his arc reactor core. So everything going into this movie was a big surprise and I must say a delight. I can’t say right now if the sequel is better or worse than the original, but it’s absolutely on par with it.
How I feel about spoilers
There’s not a whole lot that can really be contentious in a review situation. There can be disagreements on how good one movie or another is, but in the end, it’s all personal opinion and everyone is entitled to have their own opinion of a movie whether it’s good or bad. But there is one other thing that some reviews include that many people complain should not be included in a review as it may “ruin” the entire moviegoing experience and that my friend, is the spoiler. A twist, a death, a revelation, a relationship, a sled, they can all fall into the category of a spoiler in someone’s eye, but does it really hurt if a review includes a spoiler? If you found out, and I haven’t seen the movie yet or read any spoiler-filled reviews so this is completely made up, if you found out that in The Avengers that Black Widow died in the movie before seeing it how would it really impact your viewing of the movie? I think I would still enjoy the movie just as much if I had gone in ignorant.
FTMN Poll: Spoilers
With the Avengers out in the UK and reviews pouring in, how do you feel about spoilers? Do they ruin the movie, or just make you more excited to see it. If you hear a big spoiler like the death of a character, do you get mad? Does it make you enjoy the movie more, or less knowing what happens. A study shows that knowing the ending actually improves your enjoyment. What do you think? Leave a comment, share, and tomorrow I’ll give my whole feelings on the subject.
Iron Man
Iron Man 2008
After watching the two Hulk movies that left something to be desired, I was ready to move on to an Avenger that had it all: Great characters, great plot, great action, great everything. I’m talking about Iron Man, the first movie released as part of the Avengers Initiative and arguably the best of the bunch. Disappointingly once again, Jena was disinterested in this movie and I hope it doesn’t extend to when we watch the Avengers in theaters because I’d prefer to not have that experience and everyone else’s around us ruined by an unruly five year old. I’ve heard mixed things about Iron Man 2 so I’m not sure what to expect next, but for now at least, I had a great time with this movie.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 