Blog Archives
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four 2005
I recently talked briefly about this movie in my top 10 guilty pleasure superhero movies list even though it had been years since I had seen it last, I also think that it is one of the last few big superhero movies that I’ve yet to review here on this site along with its sequel, Elektra, TMNT, and just a couple others. While I did enjoy it the last time I saw it, I’ve had years of internet loathing to soak its way into my brain as well as years of quality cinema, superhero and otherwise to better allow me to see the flaws in this movie and boy did I ever. Of course, behind all the bad writing, dated special effects, and questionable casting choices there is still some fun to be had watching this movie and above all else, it’s still the Fantastic Four.
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Assault on Arkham
Batman: Assault on Arkham 2014
There were two straight-to-home-video superhero movies from the two big comic book companies that came out about the same time on streaming services, and depending on how you look at it I chose poorly by watching Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United first, or just saved the best one for last. The only thing I knew about this movie was that it was based on the recent Arkham video game series which I haven’t played. I had no idea that it was more specifically about the Suicide Squad which I had only just heard about earlier this year when they were teased in an episode of Arrow. Many of these DC Animated movies have been getting darker and darker, and while this movie has plenty of moments that border on the “R” side of its “PG-13” rating, they are handled with a lot of fun. It also helps to set the tone right from the beginning with the introduction to the suicide squad themselves that feels like it could have been pulled from a 70’s cop show. I loved this movie from start to finish and it’s another quality title in the series.
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Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Superhero Movies
It feels like I’ve been running or planning my own blogathons quite a bit around here, I thought it was only fair to finally take part in some other blogathons. One I ran across just today was a fun little blogathon called Guilty Pleasure Movies over at Flick Chicks. And even though I did recently take part in a Guilty Pleasures Lambcast, I didn’t mention too many superhero movies and I knew I could easily come up with a whole top 10 list of Guilty Pleasure Superhero movies. These aren’t some of the best movies out there, and I’m sure I might catch some flak from true superhero fans for liking these, but there’s just something about them that I happen to like.
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Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United
Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United
It seems like it happens quite often when a straight to home video release catches me unaware until it is actually released as is the case with this movie which is a pseudo-sequel to Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United from last year. It has the same kinda cell shaded CGI animation style and the same voice actors for Iron Man and Hulk, though it doesn’t quite feel as young skewed as the previous attempt, it’s not too deep either. And similar to Iron Man and Hulk, I didn’t really connect with this movie aside from a couple fights and a couple laughs, it was too simple, too silly, and didn’t really feel connected with anything. Even my daughter Jena didn’t give this one a whole lot of interest. It’s interesting that while Marvel is dominating the box office, and has quite a few TV shows out there, but its home video animated movies are severely lacking.
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The 10 Best Superhero Movies of All Time Blog Relay
I’ve always been a fan of blogathons and there’s one type of blogathon that has really captured my imagination as far as ways to make it a bit more interesting for me. Some may say that I like to overcomplicate things, but when it comes to these relays there is the idea that it becomes this ever-changing list, but there are some items that stick around for a long time, and others that come in a go out a bit more often. I wanted to take this concept of a blog relay and twist it in such a way that it has a definitive ending. That when all is said and done, there is a single top 10 list that is agreed upon by the most members. But before I get into the rules and what not, I will start out with my own list that’s not specifically just my favorites, but what I think are the best superhero movies of all time.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy 2014
There are a few things that I don’t do lightly, one of them is to go to the movie theater not just on opening weekend, but on opening night. Of course, it does help that these days opening night isn’t the midnight showing, I was able to catch a nice early 8pm showing and it wasn’t even the first one. But the reason why I ventured out to do this is because I was really excited to see this movie and my usual time to go on Saturday morning wasn’t nearly as early as I would have liked. But that’s all beside the point, I’ve been excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy from the first teaser and the fact that it’s directed by James Gunn. While he doesn’t have a perfect track record, I could really get behind what he’s trying to sell here. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Specials, but Tromeo and Juliet was my first Troma film, I enjoyed the live action Scooby-Doo movie for what it was, and I’m a big fan of his Super. It’s still crazy to think how Gunn was chosen for this movie in the first place, but I’m glad he was. The humor hit in all the right places for me, the soundtrack was amazing, and the ecclectic cast somehow managed to mesh in just the right ways. I don’t think it’s the Star Wars or Empire Strikes Back of the Marvel Universe as I’ve heard it called, but it’s another well placed entry in the universe.
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Pizza Man
Pizza Man 2011
This is another one of those lesser known, indie superhero movies that flew under the radar for me. And to be honest, I don’t often go digging for these gems, but I always keep an eye out for them to cross my path and this one did through one of my favorite movie sites to read Today I Watched a Movie who picked this up at Wal-Mart and gave it such high praise that I had to check it out, and so I picked it up for myself a few days later and it sat on my DVD shelf for a couple months before my wife finally put it in our DVD player for us to watch. I’m not as fully sold as TIWAM was, but it’s still a solid superhero send-up with a fun plot and quite a few recognizable characters.
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Filmwhys #33 The Graduate and All-Star Superman
Episode 33 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Bruce Leslie from the Heroes and Villains Podcast and the Hero Movie Podcast who asks me why I haven’t seen the Graduate, the classic comedy that gave Dustin Hoffman his breakout role and made the name Mrs. Robinson famous. And in return, I ask him why he hasn’t seen All-Star Superman, the DC Animation adaptation from a well known comic book story arc about Superman’s last days on Earth from writer Grant Morrison.
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Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 1993
This is one of the very few superhero movies left that I had not yet seen before that I really felt like I was missing out on an important and/or great movie. There’s still plenty out there for me to watch, but most of the rest of them are more obscure and/or pretty bad. When I ask the question “What’s your favorite superhero movie?” this movie has come up on more than one occasion so it’s got to be a pretty good movie, and it’s more or less a spin-off of the amazing 90’s Batman: The Animated Series which I watched and loved back when it was coming out with new episodes, and I’ve also seen and enjoyed every one of DC Animation’s home video Batman movies so I was looking forward to finally watching this one and I’m pleased to say that for the most part it didn’t disappoint. My only qualms come from the fact that I did watch this one out of chronological order and so many story elements that were used in this movie were done as well if not better in later movies that I was already familiar with. But aside from that, it was great to finally see this movie and the nostalgia from the animation and music style from the animated series.
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Filmwhys #32: The Big Lebowski and Flash Gordon
Episode 32 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Nolahn as the last member of Your Face! to be a guest on this show and he asks me why I haven’t seen The Big Lebowski, the classic slacker/bowler/stoner comedy from the Coen Brothers starring the Dude. And in return, I ask him why he hasn’t seen Flash Gordon, the campy sci-fi movie starring the music from Queen and star quarterback from the New York Jets Flash Gordon which was recently referenced heavily in Seth MacFarlane’s Ted.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 