Blog Archives
Megamind
Megamind 2010
After going through a few documentaries, I figured it was time to get back to some more lighthearted fare. And it also helped that the newest announced acting school over at the LAMB is for Brad Pitt, who conveniently voices Metro Man in this movie. This movie is a real mash-up of different superhero tropes looked at through different angles, and there are quite a few surprise twists along with several unsurprising twists, which I will be mentioning farther down in this review in case you haven’t seen this movie yet. I don’t think knowing any of the twists beforehand really affect the outcome of the movie, but this is your spoiler warning anyway. There are also a few nice touching moments, and throughout the whole thing is a lot of laughs.
Superhero Shorts: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Game
Superhero Shorts: 8-bit Dr. Horrible
Welcome to this week’s 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 Doctor Octoroc who was inspired by Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog to create an animated video of what it would look like if Dr. Horrible was actually an 8-bit era RPG similar to Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, complete with pixel driven cutscenes, time sink fetch quests, a world map, an inventory, and even a boss battle. You can check the whole series out at Doctor Octoroc’s website, his YouTube playlist, or watch the first act right below. You can also visit his YouTube channel for other classic game style animation.
Follow Friday: Bonjour Tristesse
Welcome to another edition of Follow Friday where each week I feature and interview a fellow blogger and follow their suggestion to another blog to feature next week. I prefer this over a blogroll because it gives each blog their own time to shine, plus I personally rarely click on blogrolls so why would I expect you to? Not only that, but I get the chance to check out some great blogs I might not have found otherwise found, talk to some great people, and share the conversation with you. Of course, if you would rather see something like a blogroll, I have collected all of my previous Follow Friday sites in list form which you can find right at the top of the page. This week I was directed by Jessica over at The Velvet Café to find out a little bit about the man behind Bonjour Tristesse.
Superhero Me
Superhero Me 2010
I’m finishing up this week of documentaries with Superhero Me, which I found by randomly searching “superhero” over at Hulu and this was the first movie that popped up. It’s an odd mix of comedy and interviews based around the recent real life superhero movement combined with the filmmaker, Steve Sale’s quest to become a real life superhero himself called SOS. The humor comes from the affable nature as well as the general absurdity of the whole process. There is a large amount of charm in this movie, and it was made completely on the cheap, with practically no budget, which is really the biggest downside to the movie.
Bad Planet, and it’s been a good week
First off, I’d just like to say that in general, it’s been a really great week for me. There’s been a lot of good stuff coming my way and I really appreciate all of it. One of the biggest surprises came when I actually managed to reach the biggest name I’ve ever tried for with this site. If you follow me on Twitter, you know who it is, for everyone else I will reveal it farther down this post. On top of that, I got tagged with a couple blog awards that have been making there way around this neck of the blogosphere. Thanks very much Cinematic Katzenjammer and Two Tickets For… for passing on the Liebster Award to me.
Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels
Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels 2002
After watching Confessions of a Superhero, I thought it would be a good idea to watch a couple more superhero themed documentaries, and since I actually own this one, I figured it was a no-brainer. It’s not a traditional documentary, in fact it’s almost more of a bonus disc to a non-specific movie. It was released right around the time Spider-Man came out in theaters, and the first part of the film is strictly about Spider-Man. It’s basically just director slash writer slash podcaster Kevin Smith, interviewing the father of Marvel comics, Stan Lee. As I mentioned, the first part of the interview is all about Spider-Man, and the second part covers pretty much the rest of his career. It’s quite interesting, as both Lee and Smith are both great speakers, even though it’s essentially just the two of them sitting down talking to each other for about an hour and a half.
FTMN Poll: What’s your favorite type of Superhero?
So what’s your favorite type of Superhero? Do you enjoy the more sci-fi aspects of heroes like Superman, Green Lantern, and the Avengers? Or do you enjoy the more grounded in reality heroes like Batman? There’s also the attempts at more realism like in Unbreakable, Super, Chronicle, or the first half of Hancock. Or do you prefer fantasy heroes like Percy Jackson, or going farther back to Greek Mythology and Hercules or Jason and the Argonauts? Let me know.
I also wanted to take a moment to direct you to the site of the artist who originally created all of the minimalist posters I featured on Facebook this Monday thru Friday, you can find him at deviantArt, so be sure to check out some of his other stuff. He’s done a lot of minimalist posters for video games and some other movies I didn’t use.
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.
Superhero Shorts: Death of Spider-Man
Death of Spider-Man Motion Comic
Welcome to this week’s 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 Andrew Bates and Drew Lawson who came up with their own motion comic for Ultimate Spider-Man #158-160 written by Brian Bendis where Peter Parker dies. It’s very high quality both in terms of the animation as well as the voice work, it’s on par if not better than the few professional motion comics I’ve seen before. It’s a bit longer than many of the shorts I feature here with a runtime of just over 20 minutes, but it’s worth the watch.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 