Blog Archives
100 Essential Superhero Movies – The Originals
I decided that I wanted to make a list of 100 superhero movies that I thought were the essentials, the ones that everyone needs to see at one point in time if they want to be a fully fledged superhero movie afficionado, and while I am having guest bloggers this month help me fill out the list, there are many much more obvious choices that were easy to make and I’m here to share some of those with you. I’ve looked at plenty of movies that came from DC and Marvel, but there have been quite a few superhero movies that came from original creations made specifically for the movie that weren’t just parodies of other superheroes and it’s high time to honor some of them.
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The Amazing Cynicalman
The Amazing Cynicalman 2012
One of the joys I’ve come to find in running this site over the years is finding these little known indie superhero movies, whether they are fan films, short films, or a feature length film. So a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a listing for a movie called Cynicalman that I had never heard of and had come out a couple years ago. Looking it up, I found that it was a self-funded movie based around a web comic called Cynicalman, so I took a shot and sent an e-mail requesting a screener for review. Based on the trailer, I thought it looked like an ultra-low budget, cheesy, fun movie with bad acting, but obviously made with a lot of heart, and that’s exactly what I got. There won’t be any awards for acting, directing, cinematography, or sound editing here, but it was definitely made with a lot of heart and has some genuinely funny moments in it, which is helpful because it’s a comedy. If you would like to know more about the movie and pick yourself up a copy, be sure to check out his site for yourself.
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100 Essential Superhero Movies – You Decide! Daredevil
Part of finishing off this list of 100 essential superhero movies is bringing in my audience, and so when I got down to the last 15-20 movies, I decided that I would let you decide. And what better than to reach out to other movie critics and reviewers to let them argue the case for a superhero movie that they are a fan of and at the bottom of the post, there is a poll where you can vote whether or not you agree if it should be included in the 100 Essential Superhero Movies list. But I didn’t want them to have all the fun so today I will be defending the case for Daredevil, the much maligned outing where Ben Affleck plays a blind guy in red leather.
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Filmwhys #30: The Thing and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
It’s time once again for another episode of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Lackey from The Nightmare Gallery who asks me why I haven’t seen John Carpenter’s The Thing from 1982 which is a marvel of practical creature effects, tension, and paranoia set in the Antarctic wastes. And in return I ask him why he hasn’t seen Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Edgar Wright’s homage to video games, anime, and comic books as Michael Cera battles seven evil exes in order to win the heart of Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
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The Phantom
The Phantom 1996
I vaguely remember when this movie was coming out back in 96. It was during that second comparatively small wave of superhero movies after Tim Burton’s Batman, and when the movies were still trying to stay true to the look of the comic book heroes but not always everything else, and while there was a minor change to the Phantom’s typical striped shorts making them solid purple it looked almost exactly like how the Phantom looks in the comic books, and in my opinion it looked completely ridiculous, and purple is my favorite color. While it’s billed as a superhero movie, it plays much more like a much lesser Indiana Jones adventure movie as it is set in the late 30’s, takes place mostly in the jungle, and they are even going after some skulls with crystals in them. I remember hearing about how bad of a movie this is, but it ended up being a lot more fun than I expected. It’s quite cheesy at times and has plenty of silly dialogue and plot elements, but I went in expecting a flop and came up with a halfway decent pulp adventure.
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100 Essential Superhero Movies – You Decide! Swamp Thing
Part of finishing off this list of 100 essential superhero movies is bringing in my audience, and so when I got down to the last 15-20 movies, I decided that I would let you decide. And what better than to reach out to other movie critics and reviewers to let them argue the case for a superhero movie that they are a fan of and at the bottom of the post, there is a poll where you can vote whether or not you agree if it should be included in the 100 Essential Superhero Movies list. But I didn’t want them to have all the fun so today I will be defending the case for the 80’s DC pseudo-horror movie Swamp Thing directed by none other than Wes Craven.
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100 Essential Superhero Movies
After running this site for a few years where I have been trying to seek out, watch, and review every superhero and comic book movie that I can find, I decided that I wanted to make a definitive list of superhero movies that captured the essence of the range of superhero movies. Going through the decades and choosing the most influential, the biggest disasters, and simply the best superhero movies out there I hope to try and capture what I like to call the 100 Essential Superhero Movies. If you are a fan of superhero movies at all, these are the first ones that you should seek out. Not all of them are great, but when studying history it pays to not just look at the successes, but to also look at the failures. Also, as this list is being made in 2014, this only includes movies made through 2013.
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100 Essential Superhero Movies
After running this site for a few years where I have been trying to seek out, watch, and review every superhero and comic book movie that I can find, I decided that I wanted to make a definitive list of superhero movies that captured the essence of the range of superhero movies. Going through the decades and choosing the most influential, the biggest disasters, and simply the best superhero movies out there I hope to try and capture what I like to call the 100 Essential Superhero Movies. If you are a fan of superhero movies at all, these are the first ones that you should seek out. Not all of them are great, but when studying history it pays to not just look at the successes, but to also look at the failures. Also, as this list is being made in 2014, only includes movies made through 2013.
Superman Movies # 1 – 8
Marvel Cinematic Universe # 9 – 15
Comedies # 16 – 24
Batman Movies # 25 – 38
Early Marvel # 39 – 46
Animation #47 – 56
Original Heroes #57 – 65
Borrowed Marvel #66 – 72
Indie Comics #73 – 84
100 Essential Superhero Movies by Release Date
- The Superman Animated Shorts 1941-1943
- Superman and the Mole Men 1951
- Batman: The Movie 1966
- The Wild World of Batwoman 1966
- Mr. Freedom 1969
- Super Infra-Man 1975
- Superman: The Movie 1978
- Superman II (The Richard Donner Cut) 1980
- Flash Gordon 1980
- Swamp Thing 1982
- Return of Captain Invincible 1983
- Superman III 1983
- Supergirl 1984
- The Toxic Avenger 1984
- Howard the Duck 1986
- Robocop 1987
- The Punisher 1989
- Batman 1989
- Return of the Swamp Thing 1989
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990
- Darkman 1990
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze 1991
- The Rocketeer 1991
- Batman Returns 1992
- Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 1993
- The Meteor Man 1993
- Fantastic Four 1994
- The Shadow 1994
- The Mask 1994
- The Crow 1994
- Tank Girl 1995
- Batman Forever 1995
- Men in Black 1997
- Batman & Robin 1997
- Orgazmo 1997
- Spawn 1997
- Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1998
- Blade 1998
- The Iron Giant 1999
- Mystery Men 1999
- X-Men 2000
- Unbreakable 2000
- Blade 2 2002
- Spider-man 2002
- X2: X-Men United 2003
- Hulk 2003
- Daredevil 2003
- Catwoman 2004
- Hellboy 2004
- The Incredibles 2004
- Spider-man 2 2004
- The Punisher 2004
- Constantine 2005
- Sky High 2005
- Batman Begins 2005
- Fantastic Four 2005
- Superman Returns 2006
- TMNT 2006
- Ultimate Avengers 2006
- Hellboy: Blood + Iron 2007
- Doctor Strange 2007
- Ghost Rider 2007
- Superman: Doomsday 2007
- The Incredible Hulk 2008
- The Dark Knight 2008
- Iron Man 2008
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2008
- Hancock 2008
- Batman: Gotham Knight 2008
- Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog 2008
- Green Lantern: First Flight 2009
- Watchmen 2009
- Wonder Woman 2009
- Defendor 2009
- Batman: Under the Red Hood 2010
- Megamind 2010
- Super 2010
- Iron Man 2 2010
- Kick-Ass 2010
- Planet Hulk 2010
- Gantz 2010
- Green Lantern 2011
- X-Men: First Class 2011
- Captain America: The First Avenger 2011
- Thor 2011
- All Superheroes Must Die 2011
- Chronicle 2012
- The Avengers 2012
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2012
- The Dark Knight Rises 2012
- Dredd 2012
- Justice League: Doom 2012
- The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 & Part 2 2013
- Thor: The Dark World 2013
- Legends of the Knight 2013
- Iron Man 3 2013
- Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox 2013
- The Wolverine 2013
- Lego Batman: DC Heroes Unite 2013
- Man of Steel 2013
100 Essential Superhero Movies: Early Marvel
I decided that I wanted to make a list of 100 superhero movies that I thought were the essentials, the ones that everyone needs to see at one point in time if they want to be a fully fledged superhero movie afficionado, and while I am having guest bloggers this month help me fill out the list, there are many much more obvious choices that were easy to make and I’m here to share some of those with you. I’ve taken a look at the more recent Marvel Cinematic Universe already, but before they became a movie studio powerhouse partnered with Disney, they tossed around a lot of their characters to other studios with some often disastrous results.
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Filmwhys Extra #9: Blind Spots
Welcome to another episode of Filmwhys Extra, the show between my regular episodes of Filmwhys where I don’t talk about two different movies with a guest, but instead have an interview, a roundtable discussion on a film related topic, or something else entirely. This episode I discussed a major part of the concept of the entire show itself, the Filmwhys or Blind Spot, which is a movie that you’ve never seen but feel like you should have seen already. My guests are Ryan McNeil from The Matinee and Steve Honeywell from 1001Plus. It’s a fun discussion so I hope you will listen.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 