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Tales of the Black Freighter/Under the Hood
Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter/Under the Hood 2009
Even though I’ve watched the Watchmen already, I’m not quite done with it enough to write a review of it yet. But since this is presented as somewhat of a stand alone feature, I’m going to go ahead and give it it’s own review. One of the first things I realized after watching this is that even though this is presented as somewhat of a companion piece to the Watchmen, it’s really much more like a bonus disc to the movie that you can buy on its own. If you’re a fan of the movie, it’s worth picking up, but the actual bulk of the movie is extremely short clocking in at just under half an hour. It felt much more like an animated episode of Tales From the Crypt. That said, it also felt like a really good episode of Tales From the Crypt. It’s dark, twisted, and you’re never quite sure where it’s going, although when it gets to the actual twist, its fairly obvious. There are a couple other things on the disc that I didn’t even realize were on there at first. The biggest thing is the not-quite-a-mockumentary “Under the Hood” which takes a look at the autobiography of one of the original Minutemen within the world of the Watchmen, along with brief looks at the other members of the original Minutemen. It’s interesting in that it fills in a lot more information for characters we briefly see in the Watchmen, but I wasn’t overly fond of the overall presentation.
Superhero Shorts: Arkham Rising
Superhero Shorts: Arkham Rising
Welcome to another edition of Superhero Shorts where I take a look at a superhero themed fan-film and talk a little bit with its creators. This time I was clued into a new Batman short film by the director himself, Tito Guillen. It’s called Arkham Rising and it fills in what Christopher Nolan left out when it comes to some of the inmates within Arkham Asylum. You can watch it at ArkhamRising.com or right below.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Superman II: The Donner Cut 1980/2006
Ever since I had heard about this movie, I was quite curious about it. More so after I actually watched the theatrical cut of Superman II way back when I started this site. For those not in the know, I’ll do a brief re-cap. Richard Donner originally was shooting Superman & the sequel concurrently, and had shot about 80%+ of the film before they had to stop production. For various reasons, when they restarted production Richard Donner didn’t return and was replaced with Richard Lester who re-shot much of the film with a different tone in mind, as well as a smaller budget. While both films follow essentially the same plot, this is a very different film, and well over half the movie is new or alternate footage. The overall tone is much more serious and the humor that is still there is less campy. I personally enjoyed the Donner cut much more than the Lester cut, at least up to a certain point.
Superhero Shorts: One on One
Superhero Shorts: One on One: A Superman Story
Welcome to the latest edition of Superhero Shorts where I take a look at a different superhero themed short film and get the creator of the film to answer a few interview questions. This week I’m talking with Jake Thomas, the man behind a more unique superhero short film called One on One. Instead of focusing on the superhero everyone knows and loves, he instead makes it a more real world story with the superhero reporter with the glasses. You can check out the short film below, or you can visit his YouTube channel which also has some other fun superhero shorts.
Words without pictures: A Superhero novel
Infinite Crisis by Greg Cox
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve moved to the Chicago area and am now facing an hour’s train ride each way to work. To my surprise, my sister is a moderate fan of superheroes as well and she lent me her copy of Infinite Crisis: A Novel to read. I was familiar with the storyline and the previous event Crisis on Infinite Earths in name only. This is the first superhero novel I’ve ever read. When I was in my teens/early twenties I read a ton of fantasy books, mainly all of the Forgotten Realms series that was published at the time, as well as the Weis/Hickman written Dragonlance novels and Robert Jordan’s massive Wheel of Time series. One of the things I noticed fairly early on is how much is lost without visuals. Comic books and superheroes are very much a visual medium. And I understand that fantasy can be very visual as well, but for some reason reading about superheroes without the visuals to back it up felt a lot more silly to me. Especially when you get to the fact that this novel covers a huge crossover comics event that features literally hundreds of heroes and villains and has about a dozen main characters. And on top of that, seeing Batman survive being strangled by some superhuman villain is one thing, but reading several times how he’s only surviving because of his armored neckpiece just sits the wrong way with me. But aside from a few qualms, I generally enjoyed it.
As You Watch #5: Batman
In our fifth episode, myself, Joe from Two Dude Review, Nick from Cinematic Katzenjammer, and theVern from Vern’s Video Vangaurd discuss movies and lead up to our feature discussion about Tim Burton’s Batman.
Batman
Batman 1989
It has been ages since I’ve seen the original Batman. Tim Burton’s vision of Gotham has long been one of the most iconic and especially known for being one of the first movies to bring a darker side to superhero movies and help bring them more into the mainstream, even if the big superhero movies were pretty much limited to Batman until X-Men comes along over 10 years later. It really helped turn Batman into a household name, and Jack Nicholson’s performance as the Joker is one of his most iconic, as well as one of the best performances in a Batman movie period. But watching this movie after seeing what Batman has become in the years since, it’s almost like looking at a shadow of his former self. Now, the Tim Burton movie is almost like a bridge between the pure camp of the Adam West Batman TV series and the extremely dark and realistic Batman of the Nolan trilogy and the DC Animation movies. And as much as I loved both extremes of Batman for very different reasons, this movie is kind of stuck in the middle and falls behind. But Batman is still Batman, and I enjoyed almost every minute of this movie. It’s still a great movie even if it’s lost some of its luster.
The Dark Knight Returns Pt. 1
The Dark Knight Returns Pt. 1 2012
No, this isn’t a typo of some shortened cut of the Dark Knight Rises, instead it’s a brand new DC animation. There are a few similarities, but in this version Batman retired for 10 years, not 8. He was in his sixties, not his forties. He’s fighting the Mutant leader and the Mutants, not Bane and the League of Shadows. I believe this also in some way follows Under the Red Hood, as they refer to Jason’s death, who was the second Robin. I’ve been a fan of DC animation for a while now, and they haven’t personally let me down yet. I know there are some people who have issues with the way they don’t entirely follow the comics in some of the features, but since I don’t follow the comics, they’re all fresh to me and just plain amazing storytelling. The movies just keep getting better and better and this one is no exception. I especially like the fact that while this movie is labelled with the sometimes accursed “part 1”, it doesn’t feel like only half of the story. There is a full fledged story told entirely within this one movie, but it also does a great job at laying the groundwork to make you excited for the upcoming part 2 next year.
Confessions of A Superhero
Confessions of a Superhero 2007
I was asked by Dusty of Dusty On Movies to write a guest review for his Quirky Documentary Series. I had heard a little bit about this film, Confessions of a Superhero, but when Dusty asked me to review it, I thought it was a good change of pace. It’s presented by Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, but he doesn’t really have anything to do with the documentary. The main focus is on four Hollywood street performers, although performers is kind of a strong word for what they do. They dress up as superheroes, pose for pictures, and take tips. The four heroes featured in this movie are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Hulk. Although Superman seems to get the most screen time out of the four. They all claim to be actors who just haven’t gotten a gig yet, and they’re all varying degrees of normal.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 