Category Archives: 10’s movies
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange 2016
It’s already come to the last theatrical superhero movie of 2016, there’s still a couple others that I have to get around to, but that will come later. This film is sparked by a seemingly small amount of controversy by most people, and yet it’s just as an important topic to talk about. I will be discussing the controversy, but I will also be looking at the film separate from the lateral diversity in the form of whitewashing. It’s also yet another origin story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and while there are plenty of differences to separate it from the rest of the MCU, there are still several of the same typical Marvel notes that we’ve seen across the last dozen or so movies. This is the third time Doctor Strange has graced this site in a solo movie, and almost all of my knowledge of this character comes from those two previous movies. And as always is the case on this site, there may be spoilers so be warned.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows 2016
Now that October and Halloween is over it’s time for me to catch up with the last few superhero and comic book movies of 2016, although I don’t think it’ll be possible for me to catch Max Steel now that it’s already pretty much out of theaters and won’t likely be available on home video until early next year. But that’s all besides the point of the film I’m actually discussing today. I did watch the first (technically fifth) one when it came out in theaters and while most people really disliked the film, I thought it was ok. It wasn’t the best thing ever, but I had fun with it. And when the trailers came out for the sequel, I had high hopes. There were plenty of references to the 80’s cartoon which I was familiar with and it brought in Arrow’s Stephen Amell as Casey Jones. But for whatever reason, I ended up skipping it in theaters, and have put it off once it hit home video until now. Without getting too deep into it just yet, I did enjoy it more than the first, but it still had some issues with some annoying tropes and character traits.
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Graphic Horror: Priest
Priest 2011
Happy Halloween everyone! Just when I thought I had finished my list of horror movies based on comics, I look through my stack of DVDs that I bought for this site and haven’t gotten around to yet and see this bluray that I bought on clearance for $2 a while back. About the only things I knew about it beforehand was that it was some type of vampire movie, and it was pretty terrible. I can very easily see why people don’t like this film. It’s very muddled and copies a lot of inspirations from other, much better films. It also seems to try and push its own religion even though it simultaneously condemns some of its practices. It’s an odd mix of a post-apocalyptic western with Zack Snyder-esque martial arts sequences, and while it is very far from being a good movie, I certainly wasn’t hate-watching it either.
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Graphic Horror: Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell
Hulk: Where Monsters Dwell 2016
This might be a little bit of a stretch to call this a horror movie, but it’s a brand new, straight to home video animated movie from Marvel. They seem to be continuing the holiday theme that they started with last year’s Christmas themed Frost Fight and now continue with this year’s Where Monsters Dwell which is quite obviously a Halloween themed movie featuring Hulk, Dr. Strange, and a few other Halloween-themed heroes that most people won’t really be aware of. Similar to Frost Fight and the Heroes United movies before that, this is more of a kid-friendly film with less focus on any real scares or any complicated plot. Just a harmless little romp with a few monsters and a little bit of a lesson to it.
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Graphic Horror: 13 Sins
13 Sins 2014
I feel like I’ve been slacking off a little bit in the horror department this year, but I did manage to get this film in. It’s a bit of an oddity as it’s a remake of a Thai film called 13 Beloved or 13: Game of Death which itself is based on a short comic called 13th Quiz Show from a series called My Mania. It’s interesting that from what I can tell, any reference to the origins of the story isn’t present in the marketing or special features of this film. It’s ultimately a cross between a reality show, a little bit of Saw, and a little Falling Down. There are some interesting ideas presented along with a bit of a distracting conspiracy theory element and a couple half-hearted twists. But overall, the film was an interesting psychological thriller with a bit of gore for good measure, and not only that but a surprising amount of dark comedy spread throughout.
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Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders 2016
I was disappointed during the last theatrical event for one of these DC animated features because I had car trouble and wasn’t able to go. Even though I wasn’t quite as excited for this film as I was for Killing Joke I figured it would still be a fun time at the theater and I was right. I don’t really have a whole lot of experience with ’66 Batman aside from the one movie, but even with only having that little bit of background I could tell the amount of care that went into this animated feature. There were plenty of references to the rogue’s gallery from the show and it captured the feel of the original show while still tossing in plenty of jokes geared towards someone who is familiar with Batman lore at large, seemingly poking fun at the darker, more modern version of Batman while celebrating the joy and camp of the earlier days.
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Graphic Horror: The Chair
The Chair 2016
This is one of the few movie fundraisers that I actually contributed money to. At the time (and now, and always but that’s not important) I didn’t have enough spare cash to contribute more than the minimum $1, but dammit I helped! But since this is an independent feature and I am an independent movie reviewer, I managed to get a hold of the screener of this film to watch it early so I can review it here for you ahead of its release here in a couple weeks and you can search for a theatrical release at tugg.com or host one of your own. The film itself is based on an indie comic from the founder of an indie comics label called Alterna comics and from the beginning it owes much of its visual style to what you might think of when it comes to a horror comic. It’s a film that doesn’t make you feel comfortable during its brief run time, and I honestly believe that’s entirely intended. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, you can see the seams of its budget show through here and there, but for the most part, it’s an intense and riveting psychological and visceral horror.
Graphic Horror: The Curse of Sleeping Beauty
It’s already that time of year again. October means that it’s time for horror movies, and while I also try to fit some horror movies in March, I don’t have any other horror plans around so I figured I’d finish off the rest of my Graphic Horror list over at Letterboxd which I realized has hit 31 movies, one for every day. There are also a couple of new films that have come out this year and I’ll be starting with those before doubling back on some of the ones that I’ve missed until now. But I’m kicking things off with a movie that I actually watched a few weeks ago because my wife picked a random movie out on Netflix. I was looking it up online afterward and realized that it was based on a comic book which meant that I had to watch it again since I was only barely paying attention the first time around. As you might be able to guess, I wasn’t a very big fan of this movie the first time around, and while I did find a little bit more to appreciate the second time around it still has plenty of problems. And as this is a new movie I will mention that like always, I will be talking about this movie in full.
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Spaghettiman
Spaghettiman 2016
You’d think that when I told you that there’s a movie about a guy who develops incredibly weird super powers and is a bit of a schlubby roommate with his overweight friend that it’s also a movie unlike anything else I’ve seen. But when it comes to this site and the amount of indie movies I’ve seen, there are actually quite a few bizarre similarities. This is not the only movie I’ve seen where the hero as a main character has the power to shoot food out of his hands. This also isn’t the only low budget movie involving superheroes where two friends and roommates have a friendly-yet-contentious relationship with each other. This isn’t even the only movie I’ve seen that seems to have chosen a random word out of the dictionary and added “man” to the end. The point is, I’ve seen quite a few of these movies, and I’m not trying to say that any of them are copying off each other, I highly doubt that any two projects had ever even heard of each other. But I have, and when looking at them comparatively, this ends up falling somewhere in the middle of these quirky, low budget, superhero movie concepts.
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Doomed!
Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four 2016
In the superhero movie world there’s one big secret out there that’s very poorly kept, the fact that there was a Fantastic Four movie fully produced, completed, and then shelved never to be released back in 1994. It’s also fairly widely known to those with any hint of an interest that the film was made merely to extend a deadline for the filmmaking rights to the characters. The only problem was that everyone below the line was never aware of this, from the director to the actors, and all of the crew. This documentary tries to tell the rest of their story and is able to fill in quite a few gaps in this story, though the entirety may never be fully known since the executives who know the other side of the story aren’t exactly keen on sharing. But regardless, this doc paints a fascinating picture through the eyes of people who were passionate about making this little movie that could despite a low budget, a rushed schedule, and a practically non-existent post production. This is an early review and the film will be released digitally on October 11th and available on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 20th through distribution by Uncork’d Entertainment.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 