Batman: Bad Blood
Batman: Bad Blood 2016
I can’t believe it’s already time for the first superhero movie of 2016, and like most years it’s a DC animated movie released digitally. This is the continuation of the story that started with Son of Batman and continued in Batman vs. Robin. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Son of Batman, I really enjoyed the continuation in Batman vs. Robin. This continues the story even further with some nice action beats and a huge increase in the Bat Family. Unfortunately, it introduces a large number of characters that feel like they have a long history with the rest of the characters, but really just come out of nowhere unless you’re aware of them already from the comics. But as usual, the action, the story, and the animation are all on great display. And, as usual with current and classic movies, I will be talking about this film in full, including any possible spoilers.
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Griff the Invisible
Griff the Invisible 2010
I have decided at some point in the past couple weeks to have a New Year’s Resolution in regards to this site and film watching. I intend to watch every movie on my list that I can find since 2010 before the end of this year. I figured that this is something that is very do-able and doesn’t lock me into a goal that I have to focus on 100% of the year or it won’t get accomplished. At the moment, I have about 30 movies left to watch & review and at the moment I’m starting with 2010 and working my way forward. This movie in particular I’ve heard somewhat mixed things about. It’s occasionally lumped in with three other films that came out around the same time: Special, Super, and Defendor. They all deal with a main character who thinks they are a superhero, but have some mental issue where part of their exploits or inspirations are delusional. Of the four, this one is probably the least comedic, and unfortunately the one that I connected with the least even though it has some good performances, especially from the lead Ryan Kwanten.
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FTMN Quickie: Watchmen Director’s Cut
Similar to what I did with the Punisher Extended Cut a few months back, I finally got around to watching the Director’s Cut of Watchmen that I’ve owned on DVD for well over a year now. And similar to the Punisher cut, this version doesn’t have a huge amount of changes, instead there are many small additions to the film that adjust the pacing and shift the tone a little bit here and there. If you want to read my thoughts on the theatrical version of the film, you can find that right here.
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Firebreather
Firebreather 2010
I tend to be a fan of certain directors and writers, especially when it comes to animation. When I was younger, Peter Chung was likely one of the first few animation directors that I knew by name. He was the director behind the unique Aeon Flux and has also done several other projects over the years. His art style tends to be very unique as well, favoring a slight anime influence though his characters often are even more exaggerated with long limbs and skinny bodies. This film follows that style, but takes it into the realm of CGI where it originally aired on Cartoon Network. Coming into it, I knew nothing about it aside from the fact that it was based on a comic book. Walking away from it, I was pleasantly surprised by this tale of a hybrid kid coming of age in a world of high school and Kaiju although the high school half of the film was extremely cliched.
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Filmwhys #63 The Rock and the Dark Knight Returns
The Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is James Lindorf from Channel: Superhero who asks me why I hadn’t seen the Rock, one of Michael Bay’s best movies that actually utilize the action movie tropes in the best way possible and have the best parts of Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery along with a bit of Ed Harris to seal the deal. And in return, I ask him why he hadn’t seen the Dark Knight Returns, Parts 1 & 2 which had come out recently but are some of the best work from DC Animation in recent years that takes on one of the most iconic Batman comic book arcs in recent history.
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The Amazing Bulk
The Amazing Bulk 2013
When I look at lists that talk about the “Worst Movies of the Year” or even the “Worst Movies of All Time” and when I read those lists, they include generally well made films that have some plot element or character that the list-maker didn’t like at all. But then I see a movie like the Amazing Bulk and know that it has to be up there quite literally for some of the worst movies of all time. It was filmed 100% on a green screen, but unlike movies like Sin City or 300 where it was combined with top level special effects, make up, and costumes, it was a horrid mess of low level actors and extremely amateurish CGI backgrounds. And yet, even though it was extremely poor, it was absolutely hilarious to watch this train wreck of a film unfold before my eyes.
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300
300 2006
I’ve reached a couple milestones as I write this review. This appropriately marks my 300th review for a comic book or superhero movie, on top of that I’ve also recently passed my fourth year writing on this site and it’s been a lot of fun and I’m finally getting down to the nitty gritty of superhero and comic book movies. Along with the new movies and just a small handful of notable films I’ve yet to cover there will likely be a lot more obscure and foreign films in the future. But as for the film that I’m actually discussing here today is one of the reasons why Zack Snyder went on to make Watchmen, Man of Steel, and is currently in charge of the DC Extended Universe. It’s a film that I’ve seen before, likely when it was in theaters, I used to own, and spawned a second movie that’s a prequel and sequel all at the same time. It’s been years since I’ve seen this film and it has suffered a bit from being parodied to death, but for the most part it still holds up as an enjoyable film with lots and lots of abs.
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Top 8 Superhero & Comic Book Films of 2015
It’s the New Year and that means that it’s time to look back at the previous year that has passed. And along with most movie sites I’ll be taking a look back at the films that came out this year and sharing my top 8 films. That may sound like an odd number, but there have been only eighteen films by my count released here in the US this year that I would classify as a superhero film or was based on a comic book. In the recent boom of superhero and comic book films, this is actually the smallest number of films released since 2009 as the number has been steadily growing since shortly after 2000. And because of that, I was actually able to watch them all before the end of the year! There were some good films this year, some surprises, and several disappointments. But there are eight films that I wanted to share once again with you as my personal favorites.
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The Subjects
The Subjects 2015
I’ve done it once again, and before the end of the year this time. I have seen every superhero and comic book movie that has come out in 2015 in the US (though I still have to re-watch & review Avengers: Age of Ultron for real). And like last year with Squid Man, I ended with a low budget indie movie that I absolutely fell in love with. This is technically an Australian movie, but it is available through several channels digitally worldwide. The Subjects is funny, it’s tense, and above all it’s surprising. It’s not exactly a superhero movie, but more like the deconstruction of a typical superhero origin story where things don’t go the way that you think they would. It’s more than a little ambiguous at times, but I really fell into the world that director Robert Mond was able to create.
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Filmwhys #62 Leon and the Amazing Spider-Man
The Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Hadas from The Common Room who asks me why I hadn’t seen Leon aka The Professional, one of the best films from Luc Besson which introduced the world to the amazing actress Natalie Portman. And in return, I ask her why she hadn’t seen the Amazing Spider-Man, the quickly rebooted, then tossed aside origin story that gets some things right when compared to the Raimi trilogy but messes other things up instead.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 