Category Archives: 00’s movies
The Specials
The Specials 2000
I continue with my spree of superhero comedies with a little known movie from 2000 called The Specials. It’s a low budget movie with a lot of moderately well known comedians or comic actors, like Rob Lowe and Thomas Hayden Church, playing what is essentially a third or fourth tier superhero group. It also seems to draw inspiration from other superhero comedies such as the Tick, where the majority of the plot revolves around what happens in between natural disasters and super villains. In fact, in this movie there’s not a single action scene, and only a slight hint of what the heroes powers actually are. Instead it revolves around what happens with their interpersonal relationship in a pseudo reality show format, complete with confessional moments talking directly to the camera. While it does have some funny moments, there’s really too much going on and too many characters to try and service, so it felt like most of the runtime tries to work all the characters into the plot more than it tries to be funny.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
My Super Ex-Girlfriend 2006
After watching Megamind the other day, I considered moving on to some more animated movies again, but I finally decided on a movie that’s been sitting in my collection for a couple months ever since I picked it up for two bucks at the used DVD store on clearance. I’ve been vaguely dreading the day I actually sat down to watch it because even from the trailers, I knew it was not my type of comedy, and boy was I ever right. Through the entire movie, there was only one moment where I wasn’t laughing at a joke because of how ridiculously stupid I thought it was. It also doesn’t help the movie that none of the characters are likable except for Anna Faris, and I don’t even remember her characters name, or any character’s names except for Jenny aka G-Girl played by Uma Thurman and Barry aka Bedlam played by Eddie Izzard. Which is why I will generally refer to the actors rather than the characters, because honestly they felt more like it was just the actors. The one saving grace, if you could call it that, is that it does feature a female superhero, which is quite rare in Hollywood. But it continues the trend set by all the other movies led by a female superhero by being a bad movie.
Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels
Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels 2002
After watching Confessions of a Superhero, I thought it would be a good idea to watch a couple more superhero themed documentaries, and since I actually own this one, I figured it was a no-brainer. It’s not a traditional documentary, in fact it’s almost more of a bonus disc to a non-specific movie. It was released right around the time Spider-Man came out in theaters, and the first part of the film is strictly about Spider-Man. It’s basically just director slash writer slash podcaster Kevin Smith, interviewing the father of Marvel comics, Stan Lee. As I mentioned, the first part of the interview is all about Spider-Man, and the second part covers pretty much the rest of his career. It’s quite interesting, as both Lee and Smith are both great speakers, even though it’s essentially just the two of them sitting down talking to each other for about an hour and a half.
Confessions of A Superhero
Confessions of a Superhero 2007
I was asked by Dusty of Dusty On Movies to write a guest review for his Quirky Documentary Series. I had heard a little bit about this film, Confessions of a Superhero, but when Dusty asked me to review it, I thought it was a good change of pace. It’s presented by Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, but he doesn’t really have anything to do with the documentary. The main focus is on four Hollywood street performers, although performers is kind of a strong word for what they do. They dress up as superheroes, pose for pictures, and take tips. The four heroes featured in this movie are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Hulk. Although Superman seems to get the most screen time out of the four. They all claim to be actors who just haven’t gotten a gig yet, and they’re all varying degrees of normal.
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight 2008
Or as it might more appropriately be called when compared to the recent movie, “The Dark Knight Falls”. Not because of the quality of the movie at all, but just because of what happens to Batman at the end of the movie, especially with where he starts the new movie. Ever since this movie came out in 2008, it has moved to the top of nearly everyone’s list of favorite superhero movies, and with good reason. The most memorable thing about the movie is definitely Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. He was able to create something different than we’ve ever seen before, something much darker, close to many of the comics, and yet still likable. But there’s more to the movie than just the Joker, the overall plot is extremely tight and engaging, and the level of realism is really bumped up from what we saw in Batman Begins. Not only all that, but even the relationships between the characters are all very strong, and the movie still manages to have a huge heart in it. It really is one of the best superhero movies of all time, if not the best.
Batman Begins
Batman Begins 2005
I am equal parts overjoyed and annoyed by all of the Batman reviews that have been popping up these past couple weeks. I especially enjoy it when some of the lesser reviewed gems come out of the woodwork, like a review of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, or some of the DC Animated films. But I’m also annoyed because one of the reasons that I started this blog as a niche review site instead of a general movie review site was to stand out, and yet now I’ll be blending in as I take another look at Christopher Nolan’s already legendary Batman Trilogy. Today I start with the beginning, as that’s typically the best place. This is yet another origin story, but it’s unique in the fact that Batman is one of the few superheroes that kind of skipped over the whole origin story. Yes, Tim Burton’s Batman movie has that pivotal moment in Crime Alley where his parents are murdered, but when the flashback is over, he’s Batman in full force. This is the first time that audiences actually got to see how Bruce Wayne turned tragedy into vigilante.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog
Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog 2008
This may seem an odd choice to review, it’s a musical, the main character is a villain, it was made to appear on the internet, and it’s only 42 minutes long. It actually seems much more like a choice for a Superhero Shorts. But it’s become such a phenomenon that I had to give it it’s own review. It was made during the 2008 writer’s strike over a very short period of time and yet it somehow managed to become this incredibly popular thing that really helped pave the way for all of the internet media we have today. I mean, there’s lots of people that actually make a living from revenue earned from their web series and videos that they post on YouTube. I won’t go so far as to say that Dr. Horrible made all that happen, but it did help prove that it could happen. When you look at it now, it can be hard to see why it was so popular, it was a musical, it was about a villain created for this short, none of the stars were very big names, and it was going to be released for free on the internet. But one person was able to make it a success: Joss Whedon. His talent and his online following helped make it what it is today. I’ve watched it over a dozen times, and I love it every time.
Unbreakable
Unbreakable 2000
I’ve been a fan of M. Night Shyamalan a lot longer than most. He snuck onto the scene in the nineties with a pair of low budget independent movies (Praying with Anger and Wide Awake). But in 1999 he made The Sixth Sense and was instantly hailed as the next Hitchcock. Instead of another psychological thriller, as everyone anticipated, Shyamalan followed with Unbreakable, an understated, ultra-realistic, and altogether atypical take on the superhero origin movie. Although it went on to earn more than $100 million at the box office, many still considered it failure since it didn’t live up to the $300 million take of The Sixth Sense. Unbreakable shatters the mold created by previous comic book adaptations: there are no big budget effects or action sequences, no costumes or masks, and no secret identities. Nevertheless, it is every ounce a superhero movie, and easily claims a spot in my personal top ten.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2002
I end my trip through Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy at the beginning, rewatching the first movie so I can aptly compare it to the new Amazing Spider-man movie this weekend and there have been a lot of ups and downs. It was an interesting experiment and I think it was mostly successful. Of the three, I definitely enjoyed the second one the most. There were a few misgivings I had with this movie compared to the second, and the second had very few flaws. But this was easily head and shoulders above the third movie. I’m really looking forward now to seeing the new one and am just hoping it doesn’t rehash the story too closely or else it will feel pointless.
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2 2004
If anyone else is thinking about rewatching all three of the Spider-Man movies before going out to see the new one, I would really recommend watching them in reverse order. Going from Spider-Man 3 to Spider-Man 2, it’s hard to believe that they were made by all the same people. They feel like such completely different types of movies. Where Spider-Man 3 was filled with action setpieces, fan service villains, and bland love triangles, yet feels empty and lifeless. Spider-Man 2 however still has a fan service villain, but only one of them, a love triangle, but only one of them, and still manages to come up with exciting action sequences. Overall, Spider-Man 2 has the heart that Spider-Man 3 is completely missing, even though the third movie tries to replicate it with the Sandman, but fails due to not enough screen time. Aside from a few minor moments, I enjoyed this movie from start to finish. It’s one of the superhero movies done right.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 