Author Archives: Bubbawheat
Heavy Metal 2000
Heavy Metal 2000 2000
It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a blogathon that I didn’t host, but when I saw the O Canada Blogathon over at Speakeasy all the way back in October I figured I could come up with something Canadian to join in. Although my first two thoughts were shut down for various reasons, I knew there was a very obscure Canadian independent film called Sidekick, but it’s also so obscure that I’m having trouble getting my hands on it. I also knew about a French/Canadian production called Crying Freeman, but looking into it I realized it was based on a manga rather than a comic and I’m holding off on those for the moment. So last on my list was this one. I had watched the first Heavy Metal last year but hadn’t heard good things about the sequel and since I didn’t care for the original all that much I didn’t have high hopes for this one. And for the most part my fears were right.
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Tamara Drewe
Tamara Drewe 2010
This is one of those movies where I end up drawing a bit of a blurry line as to what I consider a comic book movie and I realize that I don’t think I’ll ever come up with a set of criteria that won’t be too exclusive without also being too inclusive. But similar to Dick Tracy, Tamara Drewe actually started out its life as a weekly serialized comic strip that ran in the UK newspaper the Guardian starting in 2005. Then it was released in a collected form as a graphic novel in 2007 and then just a few years later it was turned into a movie. It’s a loose retelling of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd but that’s not really a story that I’m familiar with so any references and allusions to it would have been lost on me. There were some funny bits, but the more I think about the film, the less it really sticks with me.
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Filmwhys #64 Unforgiven and Watchmen
The Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Dwight Hurst from the Broken Brain Podcast who asks me why I hadn’t seen Unforgiven, one of Clint Eastwood’s highly regarded films that kicked off his older years before he mostly retired from acting to direct and created a spin on the Western where there aren’t really any white hats and black hats. And in return, I ask him why he hadn’t seen Watchmen, the adaptation of one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Even though it’s not highly regarded by everyone, it’s as close as an adaptation to the work as possible while still being an entertaining piece of work.
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Almost Super: Remo Williams
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins 1985
Lately, I’ve gone back and forth about what movies I include in the comic book and superhero category. Often times in the past, I have preferred to err on the side of inclusion, but lately I’ve started to go against that considering I decided to exclude the “superhero” movie The Adventures of Food Boy that really had nothing to do with superheroes. Remo Williams is one of those that falls closer to the lines of Buckaroo Bonzai, plus the fact that he has some extraordinary abilities learned through the martial art of Sinanju, and he has his identity changed from his previous life as a cop. But I decided that those for whatever reason just aren’t quite enough for me and this film falls a little bit more on the line of a martial arts/spy film rather than a superhero film. There were even comic books made based on this character, but they came out after this film. The film itself was a lot of fun mired behind a lack of focus and pacing, almost a parody of action/spy films while still taking itself mostly seriously.
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Batman: Bad Blood
Batman: Bad Blood 2016
I can’t believe it’s already time for the first superhero movie of 2016, and like most years it’s a DC animated movie released digitally. This is the continuation of the story that started with Son of Batman and continued in Batman vs. Robin. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Son of Batman, I really enjoyed the continuation in Batman vs. Robin. This continues the story even further with some nice action beats and a huge increase in the Bat Family. Unfortunately, it introduces a large number of characters that feel like they have a long history with the rest of the characters, but really just come out of nowhere unless you’re aware of them already from the comics. But as usual, the action, the story, and the animation are all on great display. And, as usual with current and classic movies, I will be talking about this film in full, including any possible spoilers.
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Griff the Invisible
Griff the Invisible 2010
I have decided at some point in the past couple weeks to have a New Year’s Resolution in regards to this site and film watching. I intend to watch every movie on my list that I can find since 2010 before the end of this year. I figured that this is something that is very do-able and doesn’t lock me into a goal that I have to focus on 100% of the year or it won’t get accomplished. At the moment, I have about 30 movies left to watch & review and at the moment I’m starting with 2010 and working my way forward. This movie in particular I’ve heard somewhat mixed things about. It’s occasionally lumped in with three other films that came out around the same time: Special, Super, and Defendor. They all deal with a main character who thinks they are a superhero, but have some mental issue where part of their exploits or inspirations are delusional. Of the four, this one is probably the least comedic, and unfortunately the one that I connected with the least even though it has some good performances, especially from the lead Ryan Kwanten.
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FTMN Quickie: Watchmen Director’s Cut
Similar to what I did with the Punisher Extended Cut a few months back, I finally got around to watching the Director’s Cut of Watchmen that I’ve owned on DVD for well over a year now. And similar to the Punisher cut, this version doesn’t have a huge amount of changes, instead there are many small additions to the film that adjust the pacing and shift the tone a little bit here and there. If you want to read my thoughts on the theatrical version of the film, you can find that right here.
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Firebreather
Firebreather 2010
I tend to be a fan of certain directors and writers, especially when it comes to animation. When I was younger, Peter Chung was likely one of the first few animation directors that I knew by name. He was the director behind the unique Aeon Flux and has also done several other projects over the years. His art style tends to be very unique as well, favoring a slight anime influence though his characters often are even more exaggerated with long limbs and skinny bodies. This film follows that style, but takes it into the realm of CGI where it originally aired on Cartoon Network. Coming into it, I knew nothing about it aside from the fact that it was based on a comic book. Walking away from it, I was pleasantly surprised by this tale of a hybrid kid coming of age in a world of high school and Kaiju although the high school half of the film was extremely cliched.
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Filmwhys #63 The Rock and the Dark Knight Returns
The Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is James Lindorf from Channel: Superhero who asks me why I hadn’t seen the Rock, one of Michael Bay’s best movies that actually utilize the action movie tropes in the best way possible and have the best parts of Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery along with a bit of Ed Harris to seal the deal. And in return, I ask him why he hadn’t seen the Dark Knight Returns, Parts 1 & 2 which had come out recently but are some of the best work from DC Animation in recent years that takes on one of the most iconic Batman comic book arcs in recent history.
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The Amazing Bulk
The Amazing Bulk 2013
When I look at lists that talk about the “Worst Movies of the Year” or even the “Worst Movies of All Time” and when I read those lists, they include generally well made films that have some plot element or character that the list-maker didn’t like at all. But then I see a movie like the Amazing Bulk and know that it has to be up there quite literally for some of the worst movies of all time. It was filmed 100% on a green screen, but unlike movies like Sin City or 300 where it was combined with top level special effects, make up, and costumes, it was a horrid mess of low level actors and extremely amateurish CGI backgrounds. And yet, even though it was extremely poor, it was absolutely hilarious to watch this train wreck of a film unfold before my eyes.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 