Filmwhys Casting Call for Fans of Obscure & Unloved Superhero Movies
Hello fellow superhero movie fans! I’m beginning a new series of Filmwhys Extra podcast episodes and I am looking for guests. Each episode of this series will take a look at a single superhero movie through the eyes of the fans that love it. Now, this would be an easy thing to do for films like Iron Man, Spider-Man, or the Dark Knight. No, what I am aiming for are the more obscure and cult films like Griff the Invisible, Tank Girl, or Sky High. That as well as the films that aren’t typically well regarded by movie fans like the Fantastic Four, Ang Lee’s Hulk, Supergirl, or Daredevil. I’m currently building a guest list and hope to record and post the first episode by the end of April. What I’m looking for are people, preferably with some podcasting experience or at least a microphone that’s not embedded into a laptop who want to talk about one of these films. Once I get around to one of those movies, I will start contacting guests to set up recording times, generally no longer than 15-20 minutes. I would especially like to include as many female voices as I can since it often feels like podcasting is dominated by male voices. If you are interested, leave a comment below mentioning what film or films you would be interested in discussing, or you can e-mail me at Bubbawheat@msn.com, and please share this post with anyone you know who might be interested in joining as well.
C2E2 2016 Recap
Another year has gone by and once again I was able to check out one of the comic book conventions that took place quite near me. This year’s C2E2 felt very similar in a lot of ways to last year, but my experience was quite a bit different for more than one reason. This year I saw fewer panels, but actually talked to a couple celebrities. I also managed to bring my nine year old daughter along for Sunday which was also kid’s day. It did feel a little bit smaller than last year, but at the same time it also felt busier.
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Batman vs. Superman
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
In the past couple years there hasn’t been many other films that have had the amount of buzz and hype that this film has had next to Star Wars and Civil War. And once the early reviews hit, they hit pretty hard. So even though I technically saw this film on opening day, I went in with a whole lot of trepidation. As far as my history with Zack Snyder, I’m generally more in favor of his films than against. While I haven’t seen his first feature film, Dawn of the Dead, I have enjoyed more than I haven’t. In fact the only film of his that I’ve actively disliked was Sucker Punch. And while Batman vs. Superman is weighed down by some of his shortcomings, there was enough mystery and nuance to the film that I enjoyed seeing where it was going. It mainly suffered from two things: it constantly mired itself in artistic flourishes to make it feel like it’s tackling serious topics rather than two guys in costumes fighting each other, and like Age of Ultron it had to spend a lot of time making it known that there’s connective tissue linking it to other films coming in the future. Finally, as is usually the case there may be spoilers ahead so tread carefully if you are worried about that sort of thing.
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Filmwhys #67 Notorious and The Shadow
Episode 67 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Kristen Lopez from Journeys in Classic Film among various other sites who asks me why I hadn’t seen Notorious, one of Alfred Hitchcock’s great tales of intrigue and suspense with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. In return, I ask her why she hadn’t seen The Shadow, the 90’s revamp of the classic radio drama starring Alec Baldwin set in the 20’s with an oddly classic Hollywood feel to it though it was set in New York.
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Graphic Horror: Vampirella
Vampirella 1996
Continuing on into Graphic Horror March, I decided to go a little ways back and check out this 90’s B-movie based on a comic that I know very little about except for the very iconic-and-barely-there costume that the main character wears. This was a Roger Corman production two years after his only unreleased movie the Fantastic Four and directed by Jim Wynorski. The film is more or less what you might expect from a Roger Corman production, it was made on the cheap, the acting is passable, there’s a couple explosions, and there’s a couple moments of gratuitous nudity. For the most part the plot was nonsensical as was the costume design. It never devolved into the so-bad-it’s-good territory, but there wasn’t much in the film that was good enough to latch onto. It was a bizarre mix of a space movie, a revenge story, a vampire movie, and cop movie all rolled into one, but all of the elements of the film were just half-assed and unmemorable.
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Filmwhys #66 Cloverfield and Superman and the Mole Men
Episode 66 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is James Thompson from the Meanwhile… podcast who asks me why I hadn’t seen Cloverfield, one of the first twists on the found footage style of filmmaking and an attempt to give the US a giant monster worthy of Godzilla from producer JJ Abrams. And in return, I ask him why he hadn’t seen Superman and the Mole Men, the first feature length superhero film ever made and the precursor to the long running Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves.
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Graphic Horror: Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night 2010
I’m continuing my two pronged attack of watching horror movies based on graphic novels as well as movies from 2010 with yet another film that for some reason wasn’t on my list. When this movie first came out, it came and went without me hearing very much about it one way or the other aside from a very vague idea that it was a pretty bad film and that it starred Brandon Routh, one time Superman. The film surpringsly reminded me quite a bit of Constantine and the more I looked into it, the more similarities popped up at me. Like Constantine, Dylan Dog was based on a comic book about a supernatural investigator who wasn’t really supernatural himself. The film changed several aspects of the comic including moving the locale from London to New Orleans, changing the sidekick significantly, and changing the darker tone and social commentary to more of an action mystery. They both even have Peter Stormare in a small role as well as a character named Gabriel. On the downside, Constantine is a much more visually stylistic film while this film tries to fall on the comedic noir side of things which is an incredibly odd choice and doesn’t even manage to do that very well. And it’s a shame because it is directed by Kevin Munroe who did a great job on the 2007 animated TMNT.
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Graphic Horror: 30 Days of Night: Dark Days
30 Days of Night: Dark Days 2010
It’s March and I’m continuing my recent tradition of making March Graphic Horror month where I seek out and review horror and thriller films that are based on comic books and graphic novels. And while I haven’t made an official blogathon this year, if you would like to join in, here’s a list of films that fit the bill, just let me know via e-mail or Twitter and I’ll check it out and share the link. But for the first film I decided to go back to my other goal for the year and continue watching movies made in 2010 and later with this sequel to 2007’s 30 Days of Night. Unfortunately, while it did have a few moments of inspiration, it mostly fell flat into a rather trope-filled horror movie that fell into all the same routines filled with a rather boring cast. It wasn’t awful to watch, but there were way too many decisions that I questioned concerning the characters, the vampires, and mostly everything else.
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Friday Foster
Friday Foster 1975
As February nears its end, it’s time for me to wrap up my short lived celebration of Black History Month in superhero and comic book movies since this is absolutely the last one that I could find. It’s a mid-seventies Blacksploitation film starring the great Pam Grier along with a very impressive cast for the time and film company possibly most well known for their exploitation films like Blacula. The film itself was based on a serialized comic strip of the same name that ran for just four years and actually ended the year before the film was made. Considering I don’t have an extensive background at watching many exploitation films aside from the parody Black Dynamite I don’t have much to go off of, but this ended up being a rather fun watch. Even without the experience of those films to go off of, it was bogged down a bit by a rather nonsensical and drab plot as well as a lack of any notable action or nudity which I would have thought would be more present in one of these types of films.
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Filmwhys #65 Black Dynamite and Hancock
The Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Adrian King from Adrian Has Issues who asks me why I hadn’t seen Black Dynamite, the pitch perfect send up of 70’s Blaxploitation films made in 2009 by Michael Jai White. And in return, I ask him why he hadn’t seen Hancock, the film where Will Smith plays Superman if he were a jerk who drank too much and didn’t remember who he was until he randomly found his wife who was also super powered but was hiding it all this time. It’s weird, but the first half works. Also a bonus to bring things back just a little bit to Black History month with a double shot of Black cinema even though Will Smith is the only Black character in Hancock.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 