Blog Archives
Men in Black
Men in Black 1997
I’m down to the last few films left on my 100 Essential Superhero Movies list and the perfect excuse came for me to revisit the Men in Black trilogy when I was offered to guest on the As You Watch Podcast. Or you could say, offered to make my triumphant return considering that I am one of the founding members of the podcast. But as for the movie, I initially questioned whether or not to even classify Men in Black as a superhero movie vs. a comic book movie, considering the fact that it is based on an indie comic book that was later published under the Marvel label before the movie was made. It does follow enough of my own qualifications for me to include it: It’s set in the modern day, the heroes have superhuman abilities via the alien technology, they also have a costume of sorts, they also have a secret identity of sorts considering that they lose their normal identity when joining, and they are fighting something that is superhuman. I’m certain that I had seen this in theaters back when it was released and the song is ubiquitous with the movie as well. It was a lot of fun revisiting this film even though there were a few moments that definitely felt a bit dated this time around.
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The Worst Movies of 2014
It’s getting close to that time of year once again. The time of year when the bulk of the “best of” and “favorites” of the year come out, but it’s also often time for film writers to take a look at the other side of cinema, the “Worst of” the year. And if you clicked on this link looking for the films that I thought were the worst of the year, then go ahead and click somewhere else because I’m not here today to spend any more of my time talking about film that I didn’t like. Instead, I much prefer to celebrate the films that I did enjoy for one reason or another. I have indulged in calling out some of the worst superhero films, but I’ve also talked about the “best worst” superhero films, the ones that are bad but I still enjoy watching them. Instead, what I’d like to do is to reach out to the other film writers that read this site and encourage them to drop the “worst” lists this year, and instead only celebrate what’s enjoyable to watch.
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Men in Black II
Men in Black II 2002
The way it tends to go with superhero movie sequels is that the first movie is good, the second movie is better, and the third movie is where it all goes to hell. Men in Black surprisingly bucks that trend and instead goes to crap in the first sequel only to redeem itself in the third. It doesn’t help that there is quite a bit of time between the three films. Five years have passed since the first Men in Black and they wrote out what made the original so great: the chemistry between Will Smith’s and Tommy Lee Jones’ Agents J and K. In a lot of ways, this sequel felt like the writers just wanted to recapture what made the first one so great and thought that the best way to do that was to just recreate all the elements of the first film that worked instead of expanding on them. And except for a brief moment here and there, it does not work for me at all. And somewhat surprisingly, even though I did watch all three films in order, it was just so much easier to pick out all of the flaws in this movie rather than try to determine what exactly it is about the first movie that makes it so great.
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Filmwhys #42 Rashomon and The Guyver
Episode 42 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast wherein lies the answer to the life, the universe, and everything. And I welcome my guest Will Kouf from Silver Emulsion who asks me why I haven’t seen Rashomon, one of Akira Kurosawa’s most well known film next to Seven Samurai and a film that handled a storytelling device so well that the term for showing the same event through different viewpoints is referred to as Rashomon. And in return, I ask him why he hasn’t seen the Guyver, a very campy sci-fi superhero comedy based on a Manga of the same name and starring Mark Hamill post-Star Wars alongside Jimmy Walker of all people.
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Birdman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) 2014
It’s a rare occasion that I get the chance to watch a movie that has Oscar buzz surrounding it. I missed out on my chance last year with Blue is the Warmest Color which lost it’s chance due to the release schedule making it ineligible to be France’s choice as a Best Foreign Film nominee. But when you look at movies that specifically take a look at superheroes, really the only other time that was in consideration was back in 2008 with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. And many people claim that film as being the reason why the Oscars changed their rules to allow up to ten films in the Best Picture category was strongly due to the fact that The Dark Knight didn’t make the cut, but probably would have if more films were allowed. I haven’t seen nearly enough potential Oscar nominees this year, and the only ones that even have a small chance at entering into the big categories are this one and possibly Snowpiercer which also has a similar struggle because of its release date. But as for Birdman itself, it has some strong performances from everyone in the cast, and there are some impressive storytelling decisions in the direction of this film. It’s one of those films that I can tell has a lot to dig into that a single viewing can only scratch the surface, but it’s one that I greatly enjoyed and can’t wait to watch again in the near future.
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Guyver: Dark Hero
Guyver: Dark Hero 1994
After watching the first Guyver movie and seeing how campy it was, I was very curious to see how the follow up would be considering that it is one of the very rare cases where it goes from PG-13 to R instead of vice-versa and completely loses the comedy angle. Unfortunately, when you take out the comedy angle of the Guyver, what’s left is the same amount of poor acting but without nearly as much camp to make it as enjoyable as it was. There is still some laughs to be had at the cheesiness of it all, but it ends up being a lot more boring than the first one and the small handful of really interesting practical special effects have been replaced with really crappy looking first generation digital effects. It aims at being a more serious story, and yet it also tosses in a large number of cliched and soap opera-ish plotlines that don’t make it any more interesting. Which is disappointing, because there is the seed of a good story that could be told within all of this greater mythology, it’s just being presented in one of the poorest ways possible.
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Filmwhys Extra #19 Tales From the Crypt
I know Halloween is a few weeks passed, but I had a lot of fun re-watching the first four seasons of Tales From the Crypt and just had to discuss it with someone. So, episode 19 of Filmwhys Extra, my guest is Kristen Lopez from Journeys in Classic Film and we discuss the HBO series Tales From the Crypt. From our first experiences with the show to some of our favorites and some of our less favorites and even touch on the spin-off movies briefly.
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The Guyver
The Guyver 1991
I was always a relatively big fan of anime. I watched a lot of the anime films shown on cable in the 90’s as well as the cartoons and shows inspired by anime and Japanese shows. This movie reminded me a lot of those types of kids shows with a mix of Ultraman, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, and whatever else got in the mix. It also has a couple icons of TV and cinema, albeit for completely different reasons, as well as a small stable of horror regulars from both behind the camera and in front. The one thing this movie does well is a large number of creature effects including a small handful of amazing transformation. On the other hand, even though there are a few noted actors, there are plenty of amateurs and it definitely shows. There’s not a Troll 2 or the Room level of bad acting, but no one is winning any awards for their delivery here. There’s an overly complicated setup that makes very little sense when you get right down to it, and yet the whole thing is more or less supposed to be a comedy. While it did make me laugh out loud a small handful of times, it was often for the wrong reasons.
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The Chair Interview at my 2nd Home, Talking Horror
I wanted to take a quick moment to shout out my second home on the internet. While I love watching and writing about superhero and comic book movies and TV shows here, it’s nice to stretch my legs a little bit and delve into other genres. So when Tyson Carter put a call for help to make a new horror site, I thought it was high time I spread my wings a little bit. Over there, I will mainly be writing articles on horror Kickstarter projects and the like, seeing what’s interesting, what’s worth your money, and what might not have a bat’s chance in hell of getting funded. And once in a while I might toss out a horror movie review or two as well. So make sure you follow the new site Talking Horror. But not only that, I also have my first article over there that I’d like to share. I got the chance to talk to a recently successful Kickstarter project for a horror movie based on a graphic novel called the Chair. So check out my interview with Peter Simeti and leave a comment, why don’t you! Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
Elektra
Elektra 2005
After the moderate success of Daredevil, Fox decided that instead of going ahead with a sequel they would instead make a spin-off movie based on what they thought was the most successful part of Daredevil, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra. Here, she is a full-on assassin who ends up caring about her next targets and decides to save them from the evil clan of ninjas called the Hand, she eventually battles against a group of supernaturally powered ninjas while protecting the treasure, which is similar in nature to the key from Buffy. And while Daredevil is considered a bad to ok movie with an ok to good director’s cut, Elektra is pretty much considered on of the many bad movies with a female superhero as the lead and performed dismally at the box office. I vaguely remember watching this in theaters when it came out because I was (and still am) a fan of the Daredevil movie and enjoyed it at the time. However there is probably a reason why I waited so long to revisit this movie as it did not hold up to my memory at all. I am now in agreement that this is a pretty awful movie with a small handful of redeeming qualities to it. I’m also not sure if an R-rated director’s cut could help redeem it in the same way that Daredevil’s did, nor do I think anyone is really clamoring for one.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 