The Photon Effect
The Photon Effect 2010
With only a couple weeks left to go, I finally reached my goal to watch and review 100 superhero movies in 2012. Not only that, but this is what I feel as the perfect movie to be number 100. When I started this site, I had planned to only write reviews. But as the site evolved and grew I added other elements, blog posts, polls, blogger interviews, and most importantly short film reviews and interviews. I remember when I first decided to add Superhero Shorts to this site, I was listening to one of Kevin Smith’s podcasts and heard about a guy who made a fan film based on the fictional origin of that podcast. I thought it was a fun little short, and since he’s just a regular guy I figured he would be easy to get a hold of, so I asked him for an interview. He agreed, and Babble-On Begins became the first edition of Superhero Shorts. Since then, I’ve talked to many fan filmmakers as well as a few who have made a name for themselves. One of the earlier fan filmmakers I contacted was Dan Poole who made a short film called The Green Goblin’s Last Stand. Several months later, I got a reply saying that he didn’t even realize that he had made the e-mail account I had sent my inquiry to, and that most of his time was spent working on the Photon Effect. So I checked out the site, thought the trailer was pretty sweet and said that I’d still be interested in interviewing him, but would like to also watch the Photon Effect so I could talk about that experience as well. So be on the look out for my next edition of Superhero Shorts in the near future.
Hellboy: Blood & Iron
Hellboy: Blood & Iron
This movie finishes out my Hellboy marathon and is my 99th superhero movie review of the year. I’m very happy to finish out my goal of watching and reviewing over 100 superhero movies this year. My 100th movie is a great one and a nice way to cap off my goal, though I will keep reviewing over the last couple weeks of the year. But back to Hellboy, Blood & Iron was the second animated movie and even though it came out after Sword of Storms, it takes place before the first Hellboy movie, focusing quite a bit on Professor Broom and shedding some light into his backstory. After many years of retirement from active duty, Broom takes on one more assignment that was initially introduced as a publicity stunt, though it ends up bringing back an old horror from the Professor’s early days in the BPRD. In other words, this is Hellboy’s take on vampire mythology. Taken as a whole, the Hellboy movie series really runs the gamut of different mythologies, giving them new life and putting the Hellboy spin on it. Instead of the typical vampire origin, this brings in the Greek Goddess of the witches, Hecate, and a figure from history just as infamous as Vlad the Impaler, Elizabeth Bathory. I was actually somewhat familiar with the story of the Blood Countess due to a City of Heroes player who created a custom mission arc with her history which I made a trailer for. Vampires, especially nowadays, are such a popular topic they have almost been done to death, and yet this movie was able to breathe some new life into the undead creatures, even though once again it briefly reminded me of Vampire Hunter D, the sequel this time. There was also a bit of Memento inspired chronological order shifting, with the flashbacks being intercut with the current day story in almost the same way.
Hellboy: Sword of Storms
Hellboy: Sword of Storms 2006
In between the two Hellboy movies, there were a couple animated movies that were released on DVD. Apparently they also aired on Cartoon Network, but I never knew that until just now. It’s a little tough if you really want to nail down the timeline between all four of the movies, but since this one doesn’t include any references to Professor Broom, I imagine that it takes place after the first movie, while the next animated movie: Blood & Iron takes place before the first movie. It doesn’t really matter much though, because they are all separate stories that really have no connection to anything else. They are both very stand-alone BPRD missions, but in the context of what Hellboy and the rest of the BPRD do, it makes perfect sense. One of the things I greatly enjoyed about this movie is its exploration of Japanese mythology. In fact, taken as a whole, each Hellboy movie seems to explore a different facet of the world’s mythology, with Cthulhu in the first movie, Irish and other European folklore in the second movie, Japanese mythology in this movie, and vampire mythology in the second animated movie. And yet they all are tied together with a slightly tongue in cheek yet at the same time completely serious tone.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2008
It had been a long while since I had seen this movie. I actually bought it on Blu-Ray before I even started this site and had not gotten around to watching it again until now, and that’s a real shame because this is such a gorgeous and amazing movie. It has so many things that are very different from the first movie, but what it does keep is the sense of fun and the fantastic visuals. What the first film did for the Cthulhu mythology, this movie does with a completely different set of mythology. Not only that, but it gives many of the characters extra depth, there aren’t really any bad guys, there’s a lot more moral ambiguity and really explores the grey areas of what Hellboy and the BPRD does. And mixed in through all of that are some amazing action setpieces.
Hellboy
Hellboy 2004
Before watching this movie, I went through and did a full count of how many movies I’ve actually reviewed so far this year. My original goal was 100 superhero movies, and by my current count I’m up to 95. Plus, I’ve reviewed 7 “Almost Super” movies. So that means I’ve got five more movies to watch and review over the next few weeks to hit my goal. I’d like to pick something good for #100, I’ll likely put a poll up tomorrow. But for #96-99 I’ll be watching all the movies in the Hellboy franchise, both live action and both animated. I’ve enjoyed these movies ever since I first watched them, Ron Perlman was and still is the perfect casting choice for the big red guy. There’s so much in this movie to enjoy, from the practical effects to the amazing designs on everything, to Hellboy’s attitude, this movie is one of my favorites and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to watch it. In fact, the poster I’m using to headline this post was actually one of my first movie posters, and hung on my wall for years. Such a great looking poster.
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange 2007
I find it interesting to see where my mood takes me. Several months ago I thought I would have watched almost all of the animated Marvel and/or DC movies by now and yet I’m still less than halfway through. This has been sitting in my binder after picking it up from a clearance bin since then and I’m only now getting around to watching it. And it’s a shame, because without realizing it, it’s got so much stuff in it that I enjoy. Doctor Strange has never really piqued my interest, maybe because of the too-obvious name, maybe because I was expecting some combination of stage magic and real monsters, who knows. I wasn’t familiar with Doctor Strange at all, but I was looking for something short and stand alone to watch while I was sick, and I ended up watching this one twice I enjoyed it so much. Once by myself, and once with my wife, who also really enjoyed it. It has one of the best origin stories I’ve seen in quite a while, and I loved all the Asian influences in it. It’s got some great characters, great action, and some great storytelling. A great feature from Marvel animation.
Almost Super: Krull
Almost Super: Krull 1983
Nostalgiathon 2012
As you may have seen in my previous post, I just recently watched Krull for our latest As You Watch podcast. We decide the movie for each episode based on a short list of movies from the four of us, and Krull was picked from my list. I’ve enjoyed this movie since I was young, finding and watching every fantasy based movie I could find, so I thought this movie would also be a perfect fit with the Nostalgiathon hosted by Cinema Schminema and Andy Watches Movies, because while I still enjoy the movie, it turns out that practically no one else does. Including all four of my co-hosts for the episode. The pacing may be sluggish, the characters may be weak, the story may be derivative, but I still love this movie.
As You Watch: Krull
As You Watch: Krull
This week’s episode was chosen from my list of movies, as you can tell when you listen because I was the only one who liked the movie at all. In the end you can tell that I am just defeated by all the rest of the haters. We also are joined by Kristen from Journeys in Classic Film. And you can find our latest episode, and all our episodes on our new podcast site: AsYouWatch.Wordpress.com where you can leave a comment. And hopefully tomorrow you can hear my mostly positive review of Krull without a bunch of naysayers getting in the way :). Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
Almost Super: Wreck-it Ralph
Wreck-It Ralph 2012
So once again this year I made the trek to my local movie theater. More than superheroes, I’ve always been a big fan of animation, and on top of that, I’ve grown up with video games. Starting with a trusty Commodore 64 playing Jumpman, Circus, Snoopy, and other games before moving up to a Coleco Vision. I eventually moved up through the Sega Master System, NES, SNES, Playstation, PS2, and DS before moving onto the PC MMO City of Heroes, heck I even work in an arcade. I recognized many of the video games referenced, especially some of the classic arcade cabinets, as well as the games that inspired the original games featured in this movie. While Fix it Felix Jr. is an original game, it has its roots in Donkey Kong, Crazy Climber, and a touch of Rampage. Sugar Rush which is a candy version of Mario Kart/Nicktoons Racing, and Hero’s Duty is essentially every modern rail shooter ever. This movie was pretty much made for me to like it and I was in from the very opening.
Special Features, do you still watch them?
Dec 1
Posted by Bubbawheat
I remember when I first started getting into DVDs. I was never very much a VHS collector. When I was in college, I had a massive collection of 10 VHSs. My DVD collection numbers well over 1,000. If I can remember well enough, my VHS collection consisted of: Monty Python’s Holy Grail, Seven, Disturbing Behavior, The Nine Inch Nails music video collection, The Game, and a couple others I don’t remember. But when I first got my Fight Club DVD (I also remember at the time that the DVD came about a full 9 months or so before the VHS was due out) one of the things that intrigued me was the four commentaries and a full second disc of special features. I watched at least 3 out of 4 of the commentaries, and I quite possibly watched them all, I also explored most of the special features on the bonus disc. And from the very start, I was hooked. If there was a choice between a single disc release and a two disc release, I went with the extra special features. I own the 3 disc Hellboy: Director’s Cut, the 3 disc Sin City, all three of the four disc extended Lord of the Rings movies, the ultimate Matrix box set with a full 3 discs of special features… which brings me to the point of this post.
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Tags: Blog, commentary tracks, discussion, movies, special features