Blog Archives
Superhero Movie Bingo
I had an idea pop into my head the other day, and I just had to see it through to fruition. There’s plenty of common things that happen in many superhero and comic book movies so I thought I’d liven up the viewing experience by making a little game out of it. Just a fair warning though, I won’t be held responsible for you getting kicked out of the theater for yelling “Bingo!” during the movie, and trust me, it won’t be too hard to get one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a movie or two out there that could fill up the entire card. Is there any squares I missed the boat on, or any that I should have added. Let me know. The one that I wanted to add but didn’t because I wanted to keep the images from the more recent movies is “walks away from an explosion”. If I get enough fresh ideas I may revisit this one. Or, I may just revisit this only with an eye towards the bad superhero movies. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
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Superman & Batman Apocalypse
This movie was sort of billed as a sequel to the animated Superman/Batman Public Enemies, although it really is a stand-alone piece with only a brief callback to President Luthor’s impeachment to tie it to the previous movie. I hadn’t really heard much about this movie compared to some of the other DC animation so I really didn’t know what to expect, other than Darkseid considering the title of the movie is Apocalypse even though they went with the traditional spelling of the word rather than the typical comic book spelling of Apokolips. But even with the Superman & Batman title, this really could have been called Supergirl: Apokolips, as she is the main focus of the movie and Batman doesn’t get much screen time at all. But I am a big fan of Supergirl as a character so I really enjoyed this movie and it quickly rose as one of my favorite DC animations. From the great tone that’s set early on to the amazing action sequences towards the end, it’s really an all around great movie and one to check out if you haven’t seen it yet.
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FTMN Spotlight – Building Better Superheroes Infographic
Just last week I shared a Superman infographic and shortly afterwards I received another e-mail from someone else who made a superhero-related infographic. Eddie takes a look at various superhero reboots along with a few bits of trivia and decides which one is better. I don’t think I agree with his estimations 100%, but it looks pretty sweet and I’m happy to share it with you. Click to view the original at his site. Enjoy!
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Why do Superhero Movies Appeal to You?
Why do Superhero Movies Appeal to You?
There’s a lot to like when it comes to superhero movies, there’s action, drama, there can be comedy, horror, suspense, fantasy, any number of genres. But when it comes right down to it, can you specifically narrow down what it is about these larger than life figures that creates that appeal that makes you keep watching them year after year? And if there’s something about them that you don’t like, what do you think that is? Even when it comes to a movie that’s not universally loved, like the recent Iron Man 3, it can pull in some major money. Several of the biggest box office draws in the past ten years have been superhero movies. Is it the escapism? The wish fulfillment of a hero that is able to save at least a part of the world from problems bigger than the ones we face in real life? Is it merely the spectacle of watching two or more beings with amazing powers have a larger than life fight on the big screen? Or could part of it be the personal commitment to that it takes to make the sacrifices that every superhero has to make at one point or another and wonder if you could ever find the same strength within yourself? Along those same lines, is it about seeing a role model, something that you could aspire to be in your wildest dreams, if you happened to be a billionaire or got hit with the right combination of radioactivity that didn’t just give you cancer? Let’s hear what you have to say. Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
What ifs! You could make a sequel to any movie?
What if you had the power to greenlight and fun any sequel to any movie in the world, what would it be? Of course, since this site focuses on superhero related movie I’d love to also hear the answer to which Superhero movie you’d like to see a sequel of. There seems to be a lot of talk lately about the possibility of a Dredd sequel. Even though it received quite a bit of acclaim from fans, it got mixed reviews from critics and only had a less than stellar box office performance. Now there’s a few different possibilities on why a movie might need a sequel. If it’s based on other ongoing work, like most superhero movies are based on comics, then since the comic has continued on then there is still plenty more material to draw from. Even if it’s a stand alone movie, if it’s a good one, then people often wonder what would happen if those characters were revisited. Even in the case of a less than perfect movie, if there’s some element that worked in the original that could be expanded upon at the same time as the weaknesses could be removed. And such is the case for my personal choice for a movie that I would love to see a sequel to. I’ve always had a soft spot for the 2004 Punisher movie with Thomas Jane. Even though I’ve rewatched it last year and it didn’t quite hold up for me in the long run, it was mainly the silliness with the neighbors and the forced love interest that threw me off. I still enjoyed John Travolta as the over the top Howard Saint, and Thomas Jane was a fantastic Punisher, even moreso when he made his own short last year. So let’s hear it, what sequels would you love to see get made?
Iron Man 3
Iron Man 3 2013
This is the latest in the juggernaut that is Marvel Studios releases, and especially movies with Robert Downey Jr. in a metal suit. The early reviews were mostly blown away by the new sequel and as I had to wait an extra week for it to come out here in the States, I was starting to chomp at the bit to watch the movie. Of course, once it hit theaters around my neck of the woods, there started to be a few more rumblings of failure and a lot more opinion that this actually wasn’t the best of the trilogy. There were plot holes, and weak moments and ill-fated twists, and when I got the chance to watch the movie… I wasn’t quite sure what I really thought about it. It had it’s action moments, and Robert Downey Jr. doing what he does best as he has done in the past three movies including the Avengers, but there were also those plot holes and other things tugging away at the sides of my brain. I decided I couldn’t quite give the movie justice until I gave it a few days thought and watched the movie for a second time. 2D every time all the time for me FYI. I had an article previously where I talked about the Curse of Three, and while the impact has dwindled a bit with the release of The Dark Knight Rises, it hasn’t completely gone away and I still think there are weak elements in this movie that can definitely hinder the watching experience for some and completely ruin it for others. And fair warning, there may be spoilers in this review, I will try to be non-specific where I can, but I’m not going to dance around them if I need to call them out.
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The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer 1991
I know I watched this movie ages ago when I was younger, but rewatching it today I realized that the only thing I remembered from my first watch of this movie was that the guy had a rocketpack and it took place in the 30’s. When watching it again, I was really impressed with the style and the feeling of the movie. I also recognized so many different actors in this movie that I didn’t realize were in here. Mainly it was Alan Alda who I’ve been seeing in a lot of great roles recently. I did think there were some overly ridiculous plot points towards the end of the movie, but overall I quite enjoyed it. It’s been something pretty different than a lot of the movies that I’ve been watching lately for this site. It does slightly make me want to re-watch Captain America which was done by the same director, Joe Johnston. I don’t think it quite lives up to the quality of Captain America, but it still has quite a few charms to it.
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Lego Batman the Movie: DC Heroes Unite
Lego Batman the Movie: DC Heroes Unite
This is a home video release by DC Premier and Traveller’s Tales releasing on Bluray and DVD May 21st, and it’s actually rather interesting because most of this movie is drawn from the Lego Batman 2 video game. Many of the scenes may have been reanimated to improve the quality and make minor corrections, and there has also been some new material created for the connective scenes, but aside from that it’s directly taken from the video game. While there have been many movies based on video games, I believe this is the first video game turned directly into a movie. I’ve been a fan of the Lego series of video games ever since the first Lego Star Wars games were released on the Playstation 2, they have a very irreverent sense of humor and a lot of meta jokes based around the fact that they are in a Lego world and Batman is no different.
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2013 Summer Superhero Movie Preview part 2
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights Presents
The 2013 Summer Superhero Movie Preview
Welcome back to part 2 of this summer’s superhero movie roundup where I check out all the comic book and superhero movies coming out on home video and in theaters through the second half of the summer. While less focused on actual superheroes, there are still several comic book-centric movies coming out in the latter half of the summer and at least one potential blockbuster. So let’s take a look at them, shall we?
2013 Summer Superhero Movie Preview Part 1
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights presents:
The Summer Superhero Movie Preview
It’s now the start of April and next month hails the start of the summer movie season with Iron Man 3. While I didn’t do this last year, I thought it would be in my best interest to let all of my readers know what superhero movies are coming out this summer and when, and which ones I’m looking forward to. So without further ado, let’s start this bad boy off!
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 