Superman and the Mole Men
Superman and the Mole Men 1951
Whenever I see lists of superhero or comic book movies, typically the first movie on that list is this one. Superman and the Mole Men is generally considered the first full length superhero movie even though there were serials for both Batman and Superman before this one. I knew practically nothing about this movie before I watched it other than it was in black and white, it starred George Reeves as Superman as it was essentially the pilot for the television series, and it had Mole Men in it. I was expecting a cheesy, old timey movie with bad fight scenes between Superman and some Mole Men. What I got instead was something a little closer to the Twilight Zone where the Mole Men aren’t actually the antagonists and there is a lot more morality issues going on than I would have first expected. It did have some goofy old timey qualities to it considering that I rarely watch a black and white movie. In fact I can count them on one hand. But it was a lot better movie than I expected it to be. It’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of Superman and you enjoy the occasional classic movie.
Comic Strip Double Dip Blogathon
Comic Strip Double Dip Blogathon
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of a blogathon, but for the longest time couldn’t come up with an idea interesting enough for one. But now I think I’ve got it, so here I am with the Comic Strip Double Dip Blogathon. The idea of the blogathon is based around actors who have appeared in more than one superhero or comic book movie as different roles. The easiest ones to point out are Chris Evans who played one of the leads as one of the Fantastic Four, and then several years later snagged the lead as Captain America. And there’s also Ryan Reynolds who didn’t play a great version of a favorite Marvel anti-hero Deadpool and then went and didn’t play a great version of a favorite DC hero the Green Lantern. There are many of these roles out there, and I’ve collected as many as I could find and listed them below.
Reader’s Recommendations: “Masters of the Universe”
I’m spreading the cheesy 80’s superhero love by introducing Fogs over at Fogs’ Movie Reviews to a classically bad movie and yet ever so much fun to watch. Read his thoughts on the subject over at his site.
Hey everyone, we’re back with another entry in the Reader Recommendations series!
This time up, our movie recommendation comes from Bubbawheat of Flights, Tights and Movie Nights! Bubba has served us all up a delicious serving of cheese today by selecting the 1987 classic “Masters of the Universe”, starring Dolph Lundgren!View original post 950 more words
What ifs! What if you could kill one superhero?
Obviously I don’t mean in real life. But if you had the power of publishing to greenlight the storyline death of any one superhero, which would it be? Would you pick a superhero that’s too popular for his/her own good? Or one that you just personally don’t like? Would you like to see them go down in a big throwdown fight to the finish, or do you just want them gone whichever way possible? Of course, one thing that’s usually inevitable when it comes to superhero deaths is that they never stay dead. Would you like to see that changed in your case? I think practically every major superhero has died at one point in time, most notably Superman. But Spider-Man, Captain America, Green Lantern, Batman have all died at one point in time. If a famous comic book character dies, should they stay dead? Does it count if someone else takes up their mantle? Often times a death raises the popularity of a character rather than ending it. Personally, I think Wolverine is a good choice to die. It’s a tough one to do though, since the X-Men timeline basically has his lifespan extended from the revolutionary war on through two generations of mutants or more in the future. He’s a great character, but I think it would be good for him to go away for a long while, a victim of his own popularity. What say you? Leave your answer in the comments! Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
My top 5 Superhero Shorts
I can’t believe that it’s been a full year since I decided to reach out to my first filmmaker who created a fan film based on a podcast of all things, but he did give it a superhero spin and I thought it was a fun little short. But it grew from there and since then I’ve talked to over two dozen filmmakers, each one as interesting as the next. From college students to animators, from Great Britain to Los Angeles, it’s been a fun year and this has become one of my favorite features to do on this site. So since I’m in the running for this year’s Lammys blog awards for best running feature, I thought it was a good time to share my five favorite editions of Superhero Shorts with you. If you’re a member of the Lamb, be sure to keep me in mind when making your nominations next week. I hope you enjoy!
Jonah Hex
Jonah Hex 2010
I hadn’t heard anything very good about this movie, it pretty much tanked at the box office, even my wife didn’t really like it very much. I don’t watch too many westerns, but I do occasionally enjoy them, especially westerns with a slight sci-fi twist, something along the lines of the rarely duplicated Brisco County Jr. So my expectations were fairly low coming into this movie and I was not let down. I was surprised that it wasn’t a horrible movie by any means, it was just mediocre. There weren’t any laughably bad scenes with cheesy acting nor were there any edge of your seat action setpieces. The concepts were far-fetched, the humor was uneven, and the action was nothing special. I didn’t hate it, but I won’t be eager to watch it again anytime soon.
Follow Friday: Marked Movies
Welcome to the long awaited return of Follow Friday, where each time I feature and interview a fellow blogger and follow their suggestion to another blog to feature next time. I prefer this over a blogroll because it gives each blog their own time to shine, plus I personally rarely click on blogrolls so why would I expect you to? Not only that, but I get the chance to check out some great blogs I might not have found otherwise found, talk to some great people, and share the conversation with you. Of course, if you would rather see something like a blogroll, I have collected all of my previous Follow Friday sites in list form which you can find right at the top of the page. Way back when I last had one of these, Morgan from Morgan on Media directed me to Mark Walker’s site Marked Movies
Wanted
Wanted 2008
I actually got this movie as a Christmas present probably three years ago and never got around to watch it, I can’t believe it took me this long to get around to it. You may not think it’s a superhero movie at first, but there’s definitely some super powers and it was based on a comic book series written by Mark Millar so that’s good enough for me. This movie has some serious action in it, and a lot of humor. It feels a kinda like a mix between Kick-Ass, Fight Club, and Fast and the Furious and I mean that as a good thing. This may not go on my list of top superhero movies just because it doesn’t have quite enough of a superhero vibe to it, but I will likely be making a list of my favorite comic book movies and this will definitely be on that one.
Superhero Shorts: A New Mutant
Superhero Shorts: A New Mutant
Welcome to another edition of Superhero Shorts where I share a superhero short film and ask a few questions of its creators. This time I’m talking with a group of students who created their own short for their college film class led by Eric Limarenko. They adapted a comic story written by Brian Michael Bendis called A New Mutant, as usual, you can watch it below.
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The Curse of Three
The Curse of Three
aka Why is the Third Superhero Movie the Worst?
Sequels have long been a sure sign of a bad movie. Take an existing popular movie, try it again and see lightning strikes twice. Most of the time it didn’t. Then somewhere along the line, maybe in the late 80’s early 90’s, filmmakers started making sequels that lived up to the original’s expectations. Or oftentimes in the case of superhero movies, exceeded them. Especially in superhero movies, once the origin story is out of the way, the sequel is the best place to get a good action filled story in. But then something else happened, it started with Superman III. Where the sequel was as good as the original, the third movie went way downhill in terms of plot, action, and just overall quality. Is it a curse, often times it doesn’t matter whether the third movie has a bigger budget or a smaller budget, the same people behind the scenes or new ones, they almost always end in crap. Is it a curse, and can it be broken?
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 