Batman Forever
Batman Forever 1995
It’s been a while since I’ve seen this movie, though I remember loving it when it first came out. I was 15 at the time and remember going to Six Flags that summer and getting that question mark logo you see in the poster below on a t-shirt that I wore quite often for probably a year or more afterwards. I also find it somewhat interesting that there are actually several inside jokes that I don’t think I ever got when I was younger because I wasn’t that knowledgeable about the Batman universe outside of the movies or the animated series. There’s a brief reference to Nightwing, and at the end the psychologist’s name is Burton. After the very dark and gothic version of Gotham from Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher took over the reigns and lightened it up both in terms of his garish neon lighting as well as his pun-filled humor. None of this really sat well with me and it only portends things to come in the next movie Batman and Robin. It was filled with too many jokes and silliness that it barely felt like a Batman movie. While there are still some decent action sequences and other moments here and there, it’s a far cry from the quality seen in the Burton movies previously.
Comic Strip Double Dip Blogathon: James Marsden
James Marsden Double Dip
Cyclops / Richard White
There’s still a couple more weeks left in this blogathon before I call it to a close and I’d say it was pretty good for my first one. If you haven’t done your article yet, be sure to get it in. There were another two entries these past couple weeks so head over to the blogathon main page to go see them. For my third entry in this blogathon I chose another member of the X-Men who followed Byran Singer to his other superhero project and played both Cyclops and Richard White. I’m talking about James Marsden.
Wonder Women!
Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroes 2013
Wonder Women is more or less a documentary about the history of Wonder Woman and her effect on feminism in America. It’s interesting how closely Wonder Woman has been connected to the feminist movement throughout the years. The documentary is presented as a series of interviews with both figures connected with the Wonder Woman character, like comic writer Gail Simone and actress Lynda Carter, as well as figures prominent in the feminist movement like Gloria Steinem and the lead singer of Bikini Kill. All of the people represented in this doc are interesting to listen to and presented a lot of information I never knew about. And all of it is connected with plenty of artwork from Wonder Woman comics animated in a somewhat motion comic-esque way.
Nominated for a Lammy!
If you’re a film blogger, you should know about the Lamb already. If you don’t, it’s the Large Association of Movie Blogs with over 1,500 member blogs and growing. They’re currently running their yearly awards for movie sites like this one and I’ve made it to the finals in the category of Best Genre Blog.
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The Invincible Iron Man
The Invincible Iron Man 2007
Over a year before Iron Man hit theaters welcoming our Marvel Studios overlords they released another origin movie for ol’ Shellhead direct to DVD. There are honestly very few similarities to the two movies, and this is only the third animated Marvel movie after the Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2 and honestly it shows. After seeing what Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau did with the character in the years that followed, it feels so weird to go back to the totally selfish, uncaring playboy shown here. The other characters also feel much more shallow than they have become with Rhodey being the only character to come off as good or better than he’s seen in the movies so far, though he disappears halfway through the movie. It’s interesting to see a different take on the origin story, and they do even introduce the Mandarin, though I highly doubt there will be any connecting thread between this Mandarin and the one in Iron Man 3, but there are so many better versions of Iron Man to watch out there.
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Does a Film’s Budget Impact Your Expectations?
I review a lot of superhero movie on this site, not only the big budget summer blockbusters, but there’s plenty of low budget independent superhero-themed movies out there, and there are especially many different low-to-no budget fan films out there. And I notice that I tend to judge a movie’s special effects more forgivingly if it’s coming from a low budget film. If a no-budget film can manage special effects that look like they came from the height of the 90’s, I’m happily impressed by it. But on the other hand when a megabudget blockbuster comes out with special effects that don’t look 100% amazing, like many people felt with the recent Jack the Giant Slayer, then I’m disappointed.
Superhero Shorts: The Legacy
Welcome to another edition of Superhero Shorts where I share a superhero short film and talk a bit with it’s creators. This time I’m talking with Mike Doto and his film the Legacy, I was pleasantly surprised when it was he that actually reached out to me with his Superman inspired short film. You can watch it below or visit the Seaside Pictures official site.
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Iron Man Rise of Technovore
Iron Man Rise of Technovore
This is a home video animation produced by a collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and anime studio Madhouse. It’s a follow up to the 12 episode Iron Man anime series, though it’s a stand alone story that I was able to follow without having seen any of the previous episodes. There were four different Marvel properties that were turned into anime series, though I think Iron Man seems like it would be the easiest transition from Western Animation to Japanese Animation considering anime has a prevalence of mecha similar to Iron Man and some of his enemies. It ended up being an interesting mix of the two mediums with the obvious Japanese style combined with some of the more American personalities. I loved it for the most part, although I thought some of the philosophizing was a little slow and overly cerebral.
Comic Strip Double Dip Blogathon: Halle Berry
Halle Berry Double Dip
Catwoman / Storm
I’d like to thank everyone for their support so far in my first blogathon, it’s going at a nice steady pace and I hope it keeps up through the next four weeks through to the end. We’ve got two new entries this past week so be sure to check out the blogathon main page to go see them, and there’s still plenty of room and time to sign up for the blogathon yourself. But as for my own entry this week, I went with one on the lower end of the spectrum, considering one of the roles is in what’s often considered the worst comic book movie of all time, I’m talking about Halle Berry who starred in the pseudo-Batman spinoff Catwoman, and also played a small-yet-ever-growing role as Storm in the X-Men series.
2013 Summer Superhero Movie Preview part 2
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights Presents
The 2013 Summer Superhero Movie Preview
Welcome back to part 2 of this summer’s superhero movie roundup where I check out all the comic book and superhero movies coming out on home video and in theaters through the second half of the summer. While less focused on actual superheroes, there are still several comic book-centric movies coming out in the latter half of the summer and at least one potential blockbuster. So let’s take a look at them, shall we?
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 