Filmwhys #72 The Elephant Man and Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher
Welcome back to another episode of The Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Tony Cogan from Coogs Reviews who asks me why I hadn’t seen the Elephant Man, quite possibly David Lynch’s most accessible film to date about the life of Joseph Merrick from the point of view of doctor Frederick Treves. And in return, I ask him why he hadn’t seen Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, the most recent and possibly last anime collaboration between Madhouse and Marvel after a handful of TV seasons centered around different characters and one of the very few Marvel movies to date including their animated offerings to have one of their female heroes in the title, even though she shares the spotlight with the Punisher.
FTMN July Update
It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve written a more or less general blog post just to give an update on the state of the site. Things are moving along more or less smoothly where I have been shifting towards more themed months to help guide my superhero and comic book movie watching. Last month has just finished up with my June-ing the Cult where I checked out quite a few obscure and cult films, several suggested by my cult movie blogging friends and others chosen by myself. Now let me tell you a little bit about what I have planned for the next month and possibly beyond.
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June-ing the Cult: Elwood Jones and Zebraman
Zebraman 2004
June has come to an end and as I try to squeeze my foot in the door I don’t quite make it so this last June-ing the Cult post is showing up on the doorsteps of July. This has been a fun month of movies that range from odd to awful to just plain bizarre, but they have all been a treat to watch. Wrapping up this month is the second film from Japan and is easily the most bizarre of them all, almost moreso since it comes from acclaimed and prolific director Takashi Miike. Zebraman starts out as a look into the life of a sad teacher who tries to live out this superhero fantasy based on a cheesy show that he watched as a kid until it eventually turns into something much more bizarre involving super powers and alien invaders. It was a nice way to wrap things up even though I doubt I’ll get around to the vastly different sequel any time soon. But before we get too far into the film, let’s hear from Elwood Jones who chose this film for me to watch.
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June-ing the Cult: The Movie Rat and Zokkomon
Zokkomon 2011
My June-ing the Cult month is winding down as I get to my last two which are also the two most recent films in this line up. Over at the The Movie Rat, Bernardo suggested that I check out Zokkomon, which is only five years old at the moment and was actually distributed by Disney World Cinema. Aside from that, I had no idea what I was getting into other than I assumed there would be at least some musical numbers based on what little I’ve seen out of Bollywood. What I ended up getting was a weird mix of Batman, Harry Potter, with a little Matilda and even the Karate Kid thrown in for good measure. The high point was the colorful characters and the touch of a greater message that was only slightly heavy handed. Very fun film and easily recommended.
Superhero Podcast Review: Super Zero
Welcome back to another edition of my Superhero Podcast Review where I take a closer look at one of the many podcasts that focus on the world of superhero and comic book movies. This is one of the few times that I will feature a podcast that has technically ended its run because I did listen to the majority of the show and since the show does focus mainly on the movies with little to no talk about news, there’s no real deadline on the content’s freshness. But I will say it here, when asking for suggestions & submissions for future podcast reviews in the future, it should be a show that’s still currently being produced. And if you know of one, or if you host one yourself, feel free to contact me by leaving a comment, shouting me on Twitter @Bubbawheat or sending me an e-mail Bubbawheat@msn.com.
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Filmwhys Spotlight: Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Filmwhys Spotlight where Bubbawheat shines a light on an underappreciated superhero film through the eyes of the fans who love it. This time around we are discussing the Edgar Wright theatrical bomb that is now a cult favorite with several of its biggest fans. Joining me are Stefan Gagne, a webnovelist whose work can be found at StefanGagne.com, Amy Taylor, writer and director of the webseries Jess Archer Versus which can be found at their YouTube channel, Debbie Rolf, podcaster who can be heard on her podcast You Haven’t Seen?!, and Nikhat Zahra, blogger and podcaster who can be heard on her podcast Across the Universe, the Chicks with Accents and her currently inactive film blog Being Norma Jean.
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Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman 1974
Continuing my month of the more obscure and cult superhero films I’m taking a look at probably the least well known version of a popular superhero going back to the first TV pilot of the Wonder Woman TV show. Most people are familiar with the popular Lynda Carter show from the 70’s, but before they cast Carter they actually shot, filmed, and aired a very different version of the show with actress Cathy Lee Crosby as Diana Prince. And while I haven’t really seen any full episodes of the Carter version aside from a few clips, this felt very different than what I would imagine the later show went on to be. It had much more of a serious tone to it and felt more like a detective show rather than a superhero show. She barely wore the costume, there were no special effects to show off any super powers to speak of, and there was actually quite a bit of death and danger. It was quite fascinating to look back at this version of the character even though it barely resembled anything I knew about Wonder Woman aside from her name and the name of Steve Trevor.
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Superhero Podcast Review: Cinematic Universe
It’s time yet again for another round of Superhero Podcast Review where I take a closer look at a podcast that focuses on superhero and comic book movies. I’ve gone through most of my regular listens and have a couple more that I’ve listened to before but don’t listen to for every episode which actually has me adjusting my Subscribe/Unsubscribe rating ever so slightly which you can read more about when I get to it. Next week I’ll be back to a podcast that I’ve listened to most of the episodes but is currently on extended hiatus, and after that I’ll be switching to a bi-weekly review schedule. But first, let’s take a look at this week’s podcast.
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June-ing the Cult: Silver Emulsion and 3 Dev Adam
3 Dev Adam aka 3 Giant Men 1973
We’re halfway through this trip across a handful of cult superhero movies thanks to several of my cult blogging friends. Throughout the month of June, I’ve asked several bloggers that I know who often tackle their own fair share of obscure and cult films and asked them to each choose a superhero movie for me to check out and review. Thanks to Will from Silver Emulsion for picking today’s movie, if you go visit his site make sure to check out his thoughts on every Superman movie made, including many foreign knock-offs, including Turkish Superman.
Justice League of America
Justice League of America 1997
While I’ve delved through the entire depths of the Marvel film catalogue including their awful TV movie roots, I have yet to do the same for DC. I have seen nearly all of their films, but there are a handful of early animated movies from the 90’s and a couple TV movies including this one that was initially intended to be the pilot of a new TV series coming hot off the heels of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. But they also took a page out of the popularity of MTV’s the Real World which would have been on season 4 or 5 when this went into production and also would be near the height of the show’s popularity. So this show combines the superheroics with the daily life of the heroes alongside several “confessional” segments where the heroes talk directly to the TV audience. It’s bizarre how this managed to even make it to the pilot movie stage, the costumes and effects were lackluster, the characters were unlikable and barely resembled their comic book counterparts, and overall it feels roughly five years behind even 1997.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 