The Animated Batman Report Card

Posted on June 16, 2008 by Felix Vasquez

It’s become common knowledge among comic book fans that most, if not all, of the animated movies made by Warner Bros. behind the scenes are much better in terms of storytelling, acting, and pure entertainment than any of the original live action Batman movies ever hoped to be. It’s just accepted as fact and looked upon as a damn shame. Because with such bloated budgets and big name actors, Tim Burton barely covered any of the pure excellence that Bruce Timm did with his voice cast.

So, in preparation for the much anticipated sequel to “Batman Begins” aptly called “The Dark Knight,” a sequel that is expected to top Nolan’s first film and thrill us with the new twisted joker, as well as the upcoming DVD release of “The Gotham Knight” another animated Batman film featuring Batman in his early years fighting new versions of his rogue gallery, I thought it’d be a great excuse to go over the list of animated Batman films that have been on Video (and DVD) and in theaters. Granted it was a very, very short theatrical run, but still, it counts. So, on we go.
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Our Top 10 Cinematic Heroes

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Felix Vasquez

Last year, AFI posted their acclaimed list “The Greatest Cinematic Heroes and Villains.” Taking great umbrage with their many choices, I decided to sit down and think about it. Who were my Ten Cinematic Heroes? Who were ten people I’d strive to be, or would want to be in a perilous situation? I’m one of those weirdos who really always side with the heroes. Whether it’s an epic science fiction film, or swords and dragon fantasy film, the heroes have always appealed to me. Comics, Video Games, Cartoons, it’s always about the good guys overcoming an obstacle and or villain who wants to take over the world, or just plain ruin their life.

A hero isn’t always made, a hero is often a figure of circumstance, an individual who blossoms from a horrible situation, or someone who just decides they have to do the right thing against everyone else’s frustration. A hero is one who is willing to lay it down and sacrifice just to help someone they love, or possibly someone they’ve never met. They rarely ever get a pat on the back, or a reward, nor is their decision always justified, but they do what’s right, and that’s enough. These are my top 10 Cinematic heroes.

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Our Favorite Big Bads!

Posted on January 16, 2008 by Felix Vasquez

What do we mean by our favorite big bads? Don’t be fooled, we’re not listing our all time favorite Kaijus, because we’re not big kaiju fans. What we are fans of are giant monsters, monsters that stomp, monsters that destroy, and monsters with a point and purpose. Since “Cloverfield” is going to be stomping into theaters January 18th with incredible anticipation and mystery, we thought ringing in the anticipated film with a list of our all time favorite giant monsters would be a kick.

So we sifted through our library of movies, we googled a lot of giant monsters and we went through some of our favorites. In the end, even though we liked Gamera, and Mothra, and Mechagodzilla, and even though we passed on some like Voltron, and the beast from The Relic, we couldn’t help but feel a giant affection for these monstrous furious baddies who took a small city and made it their bitch. Some of these are commentaries on nuclear war, some of these are commentary on space travel and disrupting our oceanic settings, and some of these are just plain old mean and angry beasts who take joy from eating helpless citizens and hapless police officers.

“Cloverfield” and a mysterious giant monster wreaks pure bloody havoc on New York City soon, and we thought that it was the right time to invite some contemporaries over in hopes that JJ Abrams’ monster ends up as horrifying as these fine individuals. Lock up your children, call the army, and ready your tanks, these baddies are on the prowl!

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Evil Little Bastards

Posted on October 15, 2007 by Felix Vasquez

Untalented hacks as Eli Roth and Larry Clarke may be, they caught on to one thing. Kids are evil little bastards, and left to their own devices and influenced by a cruel world, they get worse and worse and will do awful things to one another and to innocent victims as an old fashioned cynic who rather despises ankle biting snot nosed little punks, “Evil Little Bastards” comes to you near this Halloween season to explore and expose our favorite in little kids who are pure utter monsters. Though we excluded a few notable examples, this is our chronological cinematic favorites of monstrous little children who are merciless, murderous, and collectively harmful to the nearest adult.

Cover your Achilles tendons, arm yourselves, and glance at the Evil Little Bastards.

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