Category Archives: 10’s movies
Barbie in Princess Power
Barbie in Princess Power 2015
You know that superheroes are getting almost overwhelmingly ingrained in the popular culture when even Barbie is getting in on the action. It’s also a bit of a shame to think that before this movie came along the last superhero movie to feature a woman in the lead role of a superhero movie was back in 2009 with the DC Animated Wonder Woman movie. As someone with an 8 year old daughter, I have seen my fair share of these countless Barbie animated films which typically range from tolerable to ok. There’s nothing special about any of them with the exception of the webseries Life in the Dreamhouse which is actually quite funny. This one falls right in line with the rest of them with a fairly predictable plot, simple one-note characters, and a bit of a moral to the story in the end. It does have the benefit of tossing out a small handful of superhero references, though they are some of the most well known and obvious ones they could have pulled from. Obviously it’s not a film that I would recommend the average movie-goer to go out and pick up, but if you have a daughter between 4 and 14, especially if they like superheroes, this is one of the best choices available. More than that, along with Powerpuff Girls they are the only superhero movies led by females.
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Batman vs. Robin
Batman vs. Robin 2015
April has unintentionally become animation month here at Flights, Tights and Movie Nights as I take a look at a couple home video releases as well as catch up with the last couple Marvel animated movies I haven’t gotten around to yet. Batman vs. Robin is the latest DC Animation release that was originally touted as their first original story, though it is apparently partly based on the Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo as well as a sequel to last year’s Son of Batman which was a decent, though fairly mediocre effort from the studio. It has a much stronger underlying theme of what being a father and being a son means, though it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Road to Perdition which I had just recently watched. It was still a mighty fine effort with some nice performances, impressive action sequences, and a few twists and turns along the way. And FYI, Batman vs. Robin is currently available via digital download, and will be released on DVD this Tuesday, April 14th, and as a warning I will be delving into the film in its entirety, including any spoilers.
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Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service
When I think about the latest superhero film from writer/director Matthew Vaughn, one thing that comes to mind in an odd sort of way is predictability. And the reason why I say that it comes to mind in an odd sort of way is not that the film follows an extremely stereotypical plot. Instead, it sets itself apart from several of the traditional spy movie tropes by pointing them out, and as soon as it does that it somehow becomes predictable in which ways it will then follow the spy movie trope as well as which ways it will subvert them. But what Matthew Vaughn is able to do is to craft a film that is still enjoyable regardless of whether or not you can tell what’s coming next. After Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class, there are a lot of things that Vaughn knows how to do right, and they all seem to come together in Kingsman along wrapped in a James Bond style super spy wrapper.
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The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 2015
Next up on the kids movies agenda is the second foray into the theatrical realm for a certain animated sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. Similar to last year’s Birdman (and this is one of the only places that will ever compare those two movies) it is a stretch to call this a “superhero movie” as the aquatic tee-am mates only take on their superhero roles for about ten minutes out of the entire movie. I can’t say that I’m a regular watcher of the Spongebob cartoon and haven’t actually watched it in years, but I am a sucker for the psychadelic, pun-filled, non-sequitur show. What other show is going to have a reference to the creepy twins in the Shining during a trip inside Spongebob’s cotton candy and rainbow filled brain? Underneath the trippy animation and occasional bathroom humor lies a smartly written tale featuring a Greek Chorus of seagulls, Antonio Banderas hamming it up as Burger Beard, Bikini Bottom turning into a Mad Max-like post apocalyptic wasteland, a supreme being dolphin named Bubbles, and plenty of laughs throughout.
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Lego Justice League vs. Bizarro League
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League 2015
Starting my unintentional batch of superhero movies intended for younger audiences with the latest home video Lego movie release. There’s been a small handful of these Lego home video releases, though many of them are extremely short. Even this one clocks in at just under an hour. If you’re familiar with the Lego brand of entertainment outside of just the Lego movie then you know that it is generally filled with a large number of rapid fire gags and jokes and Bizarro League is no different. It is a bit of a misnomer though, as the entire “vs” aspect of the movie is over within just a few minutes and instead the two groups spend most of their time working together to fight Darkseid. It’s by no means a great film that you should go seek out immediately, but if you have kids of your own, this is a great way to spend an hour together and I bet you will spend quite a bit of it laughing your minifig head off. There’s even a bit of a message buried under all the laughs.
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Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis 2015
And right onto the first new release of the year. This seems like it’s one of the first follow ups in the DC Animation home video releases as it almost directly follows last year’s Justice League: War. Even though Son of Batman was also part of DC’s New 52 continuity, that movie felt much more self-contained where this really felt like a sequel, especially when I did revisit War shortly before watching Throne of Atlantis. While Aquaman is often the butt of many jokes, he is actually a popular and powerful member of the Justice League and long since deserving of his own movie. There are a few jokes tossed at the king of the sea’s expense, but for the most part it’s a typical origin story with a very similar tone and feel to War, with a few of the same voice cast returning along with some new and familiar voices like Rosario Dawson who got upgraded from Artemis in the Wonder Woman movie to Wonder Woman herself, and Nathan Fillion returning to voice Green Lantern. I thought it was a decent sequel to War, but if there’s one aspect of superhero movies I have had my fill of, it’s origin stories and this didn’t really do anything different or interesting to set it apart from any of the dozens of other origin stories I’ve seen already.
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Squid Man
Squid Man 2014
Finally, my quest to watch all of the films released in 2014 (that I know of) is finished with Squid Man. Even though it is yet another one of those questionable release dates. It was completed in 2012, ran the festival circuit for a couple years, and was released online early this year. It’s a low budget comedy/drama about the life of a third rate superhero down on his luck. Even though most of the comedy in the film is low-key and situational, the characters are quite fascinating and relatable with just enough fantasy thrown in to remind you that you are watching a superhero movie in a world full of superheroes. There’s a few special effects, a couple fights, but it’s mostly just the life of Squid Man when he’s not out fighting crime. And at the start of the film, he’s not doing much of anything besides drinking at the bar with his friend.
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We Are the Best
We Are the Best 2014
I can see the finish line I’ve set for myself to finish all of the 2014 releases that I’ve found to cover for my site. After this there’s just one more film left to watch and then shortly afterwards I will post my top 10 for the year. This movie is a Swedish film that I didn’t hear about until sometime around October or November, it’s another one of those questionable release dates as it did come out in festivals and in Sweden in 2013, but had a limited US theatrical run in May of this year and recently came out online. It’s a relatively simple story about a young girl growing up in Stockholm in the 80’s. She’s in the middle of a full-on awkward stage and is coping with it through her and her friends immersion in punk rock culture. There’s little to no conflict here, no big revelations, no character arcs, instead what is there is a lot of simplicity of story, characters that feel real, and very funny situations. I’m glad I got the chance to watch this before making my top 10 list, because there’s a pretty good chance that this will crack its way on there.
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Tiger and Bunny: The Rising
Tiger and Bunny: The Rising 2014
Once again finishing up my quest to have watched every single 2014 comic book and superhero movie with this anime film that came out during the early part of this year. It’s a spin-off of the Tiger and Bunny anime TV series which I have yet to watch, though I did watch the first movie, Tiger and Bunny: The Beginning. It came out after the show, but encapsulated the beginning of what happened in the show, as mentioned in the title. This movie takes place after all of the events of the show, but there weren’t too many things that I wasn’t able to follow having not seen anything other than the first film. I would recommend at least watching either “The Beginning” or the first couple episodes of the show to get a better introduction to all of the characters. That said, I really enjoyed getting back into the world of this film where superheroes are both TV stars and methods of advertising, where each hero has their own sponsorship, and usually several. It adds a unique element to the story where we get to see not just the heroes and villains, but the challenge of filming the fights and the people who are watching the events at home. The overall story of the film wasn’t anything special, but it was great to get back to these characters I’m familiar with within this fascinating world. And I did end up watching this in the original Japanese with subtitles.
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I, Frankenstein
I, Frankenstein 2014
I have decided that I am close enough to the end that I will finish seeing all of the 2014 films on my list before doing my full, written year-in-review including a top 10 list as I have only 3 movies left to watch and hope to knock at least 2 of them out this weekend. But this film I have been almost dreading ever since it came out back in January. I believe it has missed hitting many worst-of-the-year lists (which I haven’t been reading) merely because it has been forgotten about in favor of more recent and/or more high profile disasters and cannon fodder. But I am a fan of Underworld and I liked many of the actors that signed up for this film including Bill Nighy, Aaron Eckhart, and Miranda Otto. Unfortunately, the biggest mistake this film makes is that it is essentially a mid budget B-movie that thinks it’s a big budget serious action movie. I can’t say that this was a very good movie at all, the action was mediocre, there was too much exposition, the effects were overly flashy and not very good, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t have a lot of fun watching this film. Admittedly most of that fun was through making jokes at the film’s expense on Twitter, but fun was had nonetheless.
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