Having watched all the Superman films, I decided to follow that up with a review of the “90s” Batman films. * This encapsulates Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.
To kick things off, here’s my famous quick and dirty guide to the Batman films:
Batman: directed by the artsy Tim Burton, produced by […]
Having watched the previous Superman cinematic outings one at a time, I decided to watch the entirety of Christopher Reeve’s output in the character in one go. Including both versions of the second film, this runs to five: Superman, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest […]
Sometimes I want to curse the Wayans Brothers. Not that I have anything against their two “Scary Movie” films. The first is really good and the second is at least decent. Even the subsequent installments by Airplane! veteran David Zucker have their charm. But with their scattershot style of comedy, they […]
Okay, here’s where I may be bending the rules a bit. While I intended to only include theatrical films, I am willing to stretch the point for films that were intended for theatrical release only, for one reason or another, didn’t get one. One such case is the infamous 1994 film The Fantastic […]
I get a lot of flack from certain quarters for my fandom of the Fantastic Four film series (on display in my review of the first film). Perhaps I’m more forgiving because I love the original comics so much. But whatever the reason, I also really enjoyed the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of […]
Batman (1966) is my favorite Batman movie. There, I’ve said it and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I know a lot of Batman fans hate the 1960s Adam West TV show and (by extension) this movie, but I simply cannot agree with them.
“But it debases all that defines the character” the […]
Cool World is a crazy quilt of animation and sex jokes, put together by the bad-boy of feature animation, Ralph Bakshi. It stars Kim Basinger as Holli Would, a “doodle” (as cartoon characters are known) who wants to make it with a human in order to become real. Her human of choice is […]
The serial Batman and Robin is a mixed bag as far as improvements over its predecessor are concerned. While it sticks closer to the source material (no need for war propoganda in 1949), its plot and characterizations aren’t nearly as strong.
First of all, Batman and Robin shows the dynamic duo (Robert Lowery and Johnny […]
Atom Man vs. Superman is the second Superman movie serial, the last appearance of Kirk Alyn in the role and a vast improvement over the original Superman.
The main reason this one is an improvement is the appearance of a much better villain (and Superman’s main nemesis at that): Lex Luthor. Played here by the […]
Mystery Men is one of the most underappreciated comic book movies of all time. Really, I don’t understand why people don’t like this film more.
First, it has a brilliant, sublime performance by William H. Macy as The Shoveller. He brings such pathos and resonance to what could have been an extremely silly role. […]
I, like many I’m sure, was introduced to The Wild World of Batwoman through its appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000. But despite the uncut version appearing on the MST3K DVD, I had never bothered to watch it all the way through. Does it stand up un-MSTied? Sort of.
First, it’s important to […]
I previously reviewed Fantastic Four for thelogbook.com (the review can be read here), so I won’t go into great detail, but I will say that I still really like this movie. It’s certainly not among the greats of the comic-book-to-big-screen field, but I think it’s a fun, entertaining movie.
Particularly, I like the interaction […]
Despite the love I felt at the time for Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc., I was not at all enthused by the early previews that I saw for The Incredibles. Much of that early ad campaign (including the first teaser trailer) did not look promising, focusing on the comedy of a fat super-hero. […]
The 1943 movie serial Batman not only marked the first appearance of the iconic comic book character, it marks the first appearance of any DC character. (Superman would not appear for another five years.) As such, it had more of an influence on its subject matter than most adaptations.
One big influence it had […]
The serial Superman marked the debut of the Man of Steel in live action and would help define the character for many years. Even the portrayals by George Reeves and Christopher Reeve, both of whom far outshone Alyn, owe something to his version.
The first thing that impressed me about Superman when I originally watched […]
I decided that the one type of film I didn’t watch last year that I should have was the movie serial. A mainstay for decades, their influence is still felt today in things like the Star Wars Saga and many television adventure series. I figure that if I watch the whole thing, that […]
After delving deeply into the Superman mythos last year, I was in the mood to revisit one of the lesser known corners with 1984’s Supergirl. First of all, it has a lot of problems. The story is a bit nonsensical and the character of Lara/Linda/Supergirl isn’t properly fleshed out. (Is she an […]
Viewed December 29, 2006
Hellboy is a film adaptation of Mike Mignola’s cult comic book series. It tells of a demon brought forth by Nazis to be the key to a worldwide apocalypse, but is instead captured by American military forces and raised as a force for good.
When we meet up again with Hellboy (Ron […]
Viewed November 28, 2006
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a project I feel like I’ve waited for my whole life. (In reality, I only learned about it five or six years ago.) I could go on and on about why I loved this movie and why it’s so much better than the […]
Viewed November 13, 2006
Darna: Ang pagbabalik aka Darna: The Return is an adventure story centering around Philippine super hero Darna and her struggle with her arch-nemesis Valentina.
For those of you unaware of Darna, she was created by Marz Ravelo (under the earlier name of Varga) in 1947 as an answer to the many American […]
Viewed October 28, 2006
Superman: Brainiac Attacks is a straight-to-video animated movie that carries on stylistically from Superman: The Animated Series while reworking the basic characterizations. In fact, these changes to the characters has caused quite a stir amongst fans of the series, who feel that this movie doesn’t properly follow the precedents set.
Okay, I […]
Viewed September 24, 2006
What dooms Catwoman is straying from the source material. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times (and will say it a thousand times more): stick to the source mateial and you’ll be fine. There’s a reason that characters like Catwoman have stood the test of time. […]
Viewed August 15, 2006
Now, I’m not a big fan of the X-Men films. But, then again, I’ve never been a big fan of the X-Men. I’ve never been able to buy the central conceit that mutants can be compared to other oppressed groups (take your pick). The problem with the comparison for […]
Viewed July 17, 2006
Batman: New Times often gets tagged as a “LEGO” film. I want to point out right off the bat (get it?) that it, in fact, uses the C3 figures and blocks from Art Asylum (they’re compatible with LEGO). This computer animated short film was created by students at The Digital […]
Viewed July 11, 2006
I don’t care that it’s comedy. I don’t care that he’s a cartoon walking around in the real world. I don’t even care that the material is basically advertising for American Express. The two short films that make up The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman portray a viable, legitimate […]
Viewed June 30, 2006
I honestly didn’t expect to enjoy Constantine as much as I did. Of course, that’s not saying much, as I’m no fan of Hellblazer, the comic on which Constantine is based. Maybe if I was I would like it less. I’ve certainly seen my share of scathing comments on […]
Viewed June 27, 2006
I put Superman Returns at a big disadvantage before I saw it. I watched Richard Donner’s 1978 film Superman right before going to the theater. Now, normally I wouldn’t place that kind of pressure on a film. I didn’t watch any of the 90s ‘Batman’ movies before seeing Batman […]
Viewed June 3, 2006
With the release of Pixar Animation Studio’s new film Cars mere days away, I decided (in addition to re-watching all my favorite Pixar stuff) to try and track down all the Pixar material that I had not yet seen and watch it before going to the new film. Turned out there […]
Viewed May 15, 2006
3 Dev Adam is an earlier Turkish film from some of the people responsible for the “Turkish Star Wars”. It’s title’s literal translation is “3 Mighty Men”, but it’s alternate English title is more descriptive because it accurately describes the film: “Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man”.
These Turkish films are […]
Viewed January 24, 2006
(sung to the tune of “Maria” from The Sound of Music)
She kills a guy, then starts to cry.
Her costume is all red.
She’s got some kind of ninja skills
And came back from the dead.
But in the end all she wants
Is to play mommy for some kid.
What kind of tough assassin is Elektra?
She’s got […]