Blog Archives
Second Opinion: Lego Batman the Movie – DC Superheroes Unite
For a little while, I’ve actually wanted to allow other people to share their opinions about superhero movies more than just in the comments section. And while I’d rather not post someone’s opinion on a movie that I haven’t seen or reviewed yet because I am still adamant in my quest to watch and review every superhero movie I can find, I thought it would be interesting to get someone else’s opinion on a movie that I’ve already reviewed. I’m sure sometimes it will be quite different, and in some cases it will be very similar. If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on a superhero movie, just let me know, especially if your opinion differs from my own. But today’s opinion comes from someone with similar tastes as me, and I often use him as a good estimation of whether or not I will like a movie more than just the general critic consensus and he’s got plenty of reviews under his belt over at Today I Watched A Movie.
Read the rest of this entry
Filmwhys #10 Brokeback Mountain and Megamind
I apologize for the lack of posts recently, I’ve been very busy at work this week and have had other things in the works that I wasn’t able to work on until this weekend. I’ve got a great post coming up in a day or two so keep an eye out. Until then, here’s another great episode of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is an old friend of mine, Joel who asks me why I haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee’s epic tale of forbidden love between two cowboys in the 60’s. And I ask him why he hasn’t seen Megamind, a great animated comedy that turns the concept of a supervillain on its head.
Read the rest of this entry
R.I.P.D.
R.I.P.D. 2013
While I have heard all the generally bad reviews for this movie already, barring a couple, I went into this movie really wanting to like it. I felt like the MIB parallels would be there, but they wouldn’t really bother me. And while I was right about that part, the only problem I had was that the movie as a whole never really stood out as anything special. Not in the action department, the acting, the romance, not even the comedy. It was a generally mediocre movie that I do admit made me chuckle a few times so it’s not all bad. I’m also going to refrain from making any of the obvious play on words from the title of R.I.P.D. so there’s that.
Read the rest of this entry
Filmwhys #9 Big Trouble in Little China and Kick-Ass
Welcome back my friends to the show that will probably eventually end, but for now it’s episode #9 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film podcast where my guest is Dan Heaton of Public Transportation Snob who asks me why I haven’t seen Big Trouble in Little China, which isn’t a typical classic or modern classic, but it’s a fun cult classic that’s right up my alley. And I ask him why he hadn’t seen Kick-Ass, a fun & violent superhero flick with a sequel coming out very soon.
Read the rest of this entry
The Flashpoint Paradox
The Flashpoint Paradox 2013
While I haven’t been able to make it to the theaters these past couple weeks to catch up on a lot of the big superhero movies, I did manage to watch DC’s latest animated venture The Flashpoint Paradox which manages to continue The Dark Knight Returns’ trend of pushing the limits of a PG-13 rating with a very adult story and some graphic violence. That said, I’m a big sucker for time travel, and especially timeline altering movies. I always loved those episodes of Star Trek, and I even quite liked the first Butterfly Effect. This is right alongside one of those with a great alternate timeline brought about by Professor Zoom using his super speed to go back in time and alter something, and somehow the Flash retains his memories of his former life, but not his former powers. In this reality, his mom is alive, but Aquaman and Wonder Woman are fighting a war that’s about to destroy the entire Earth. The scale of this movie is pretty epic, the violence is devastating, the themes are mature, and it does great justice to the character the Flash. This isn’t the first time I’ve said this, and it probably won’t be the last, but this has come close to being my favorite DC Animation once again.
Read the rest of this entry
Filmwhys #8 Seven Samurai and the Toxic Avenger
Coming right back atcha with episode 8 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film podcast where my guest is Nick Jobe of Your Face! who asks me why I haven’t seen Seven Samurai, a great classic film by Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. And I ask him why he hadn’t seen The Toxic Avenger, one of the more entertaining of Troma Films B-Movies, and the reason why I ended up watching all of the Toxic Avenger movies.
Read the rest of this entry
Toxic Crusaders
Toxic Crusaders: The Movie 1991
Just when I thought I was done with the Toxic Avenger I noticed that they had collected some of the cartoon episodes and made it movie length. Not only that, but it’s currently available to watch on YouTube on Troma’s official YouTube channel, though for some reason the four live action Toxie movies aren’t available anymore. It’s a weird concept to turn a campy movie with so much sex and violence into a children’s cartoon. Something similar had been done before with Rambo having been made into a cartoon, but this at least has a superhero angle going for it. The animation is typical low quality like many of the mass produced cartoon properties of the 80’s and early 90’s. The writing is very formulaic, the voice acting is generally below average, but it’s sprinkled with moments of humor that hit me in just the right way, and the formulas fell right along with many of the cheesy cartoons I grew up with and I didn’t hate watching it by a longshot.
Read the rest of this entry
Citizen Toxie
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 2000
This is the most recent Toxic Avenger movie to come from Troma films, at least until the slowly developing sequel Toxic Twins finally gets made. Apparently the writer/director suffers from procrasti-pation, a cross between procrastination and constipation, at least according to the teaser. But anyway, this movie feels like it already exists in practically a different universe. There’s no direct follow up from Toxie part 2 or 3, in fact his girlfriend is back to being blind. There are plenty of other additions to the movie that make it seem like they’ve been there all along, like Toxie’s sidekick Lardass or his ability to change into a hot bikini babe. There’s also a lot more nudity in this movie, there are more breasts in part 4 than there were in parts 1 through 3 combined, though there’s always a layer of crass humor to undercut any possible sexiness. This movie also has plenty of “star” power, ranging from Stan Lee who voices the opening and ending narration, famous porn star Ron Jeremy, Troma property Kabukiman, and not-exactly-stars-but-I-recognized-them stand up comedians the Skylar Brothers. And also more than any of the previous movies, this film is filled with humor that is based on being offensive. It is still a cheesy B-movie, and as far as my enjoyment level goes, it is much better than parts 2 & 3, though I’m not sure it captured the original intent or charm of the first movie.
Read the rest of this entry
The Toxic Avenger Part III
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie 1989
After the drop in entertainment quality between the first and second Toxie movie, I didn’t expect very much from The Last Temptation, and aside from a couple minor moments, it follows along the exact same path as Part II. There’s the childlike exposition narration, the usual over the top hammy acting, though another thing I noticed this time around was the horrible pacing. Even though the effects are nothing to write home about, they often linger on them as if they were a multi-million dollar set piece, complete with reaction shots of crowds gasping and screaming as if they’re watching something absolutely horrifying, and while a case could be made for that, they’re often watching something that they should be cheering for in an odd way, rather than screaming in terror over. I’m hoping that what I’ve heard holds true and the final installment brings it back up a notch, if not in actual movie quality, at least in entertainment value, which as fans of bad movies know are not always the same thing.
Read the rest of this entry
Filmwhys #7 Rocky and Under the Red Hood
I’m back with another episode of Filmwhys, or the Why Haven’t You Seen this film podcast. This time around my guest is Joe Guiliano from Two Dude Review and The As You Watch Podcast who asks me why I haven’t seen the Stallone classic Rocky, and I ask him why he hasn’t seen one of DC Animation’s best movies, Under the Red Hood.
Read the rest of this entry
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 