It’s disappointing that this is where we’ve arrived with the DC Warner animated movies. We went from stellar to “Its fine, I guess.” That’s exactly what “Apokolips War,” the sequel (?) to “Justice League Dark” is. It’s fine. It’s okay. It has all the ingredients to be a damn good epic, but instead chooses gruesome pointless violence, over heart and substance. I’m not one to complain about violence in more mature aimed films, but “Apokolips War” often watches like it’s compensating for the lack of any real substance or entertainment value by splashing the screen with ridiculous violence and gore.
Tag Archives: Animation
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2021) [4K UHD/Blu-Ray/Digital]
As a bit of warning, I never played the “Injustice” video game series, nor have I ever read any of the comic books or spin offs. I’m vaguely aware of what the general premise is of “Injustice,” but that’s as far as it goes for me. Considering I was excited about it being adapted in to an animated movie, when the dust settled, I’m very disappointed by what we’re ultimately offered. What is it about DC and Warner unwilling to make a movie that’s longer than eighty minutes? It can’t possibly be for the child audience, as “Injustice” is as gory an Elseworlds tale that I’ve ever seen.
Encanto (2021)
I am elated that Disney and Piax have begun finding the value in and delving in to tales that revolve around people of color. There’s so much rich heritage in the latinx community involving spirituality, honor, love, and the power of family. There’s so much amazing folklore that could really stand to be passed on to a new generation of movie lovers with great respect as presented in “Encanto.” Although it’s primarily about a Latinx family, it’s deep down about generational trauma, and the burdens that our elders can place on the youth, whether they realize it or not
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) [Digital]
After four “Hotel Transylvania” movies it’s pretty obvious that by now, even Genndy Tartakovsky. I think despite his name being plastered all over this new sequel that he probably didn’t have much to do with its creation. Now that the series is four movies deep, along with a short lived TV series, “Transformania” feels so much less like a high stakes sequel, and a lot more like an extension of the TV series. Watching it, it felt like the studios merely took four scripts for the cancelled series, and stapled them together to create this hodgepodge adventure.
The Best Animated Movie Satire I’ve Ever Seen
Part of what made the Looney Tunes and Warner Bros. dynasty so great beyond its characters, was its limitless ability to mock and satirize Hollywood. At a time where Hollywood was adored and enamored by so many, Warner Bros. actually did a great job of taking the piss out of people like Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable. In 1993, Fox Studios and Warner brought back the formula that they’d abandoned for decades with “The Animaniacs.” While the show was primarily a series filled with segments primarily aimed toward children, some of the segments brought back a lot of the classic Warner Bros. traditions, including satirizing modern Hollywood.
The 5 Worst Films I Saw in 2021
I didn’t offer up best or worst of lists in 2020, mainly because I spent all of December fighting off COVID. I was sick as a dog but thanks to Phil Hall and Emilie Black for keeping the site chugging along like a well oiled machine!
In either case, 2021 was sadly hard enough to keep up with, what with there now being at least five or six new movies released every week on twelve streaming services (and in theaters) in America. In either case, opting for less cynicism (and because I subconsciously avoided a lot of movies that I thought would stink, sue me) this year, this is five of the worst movies of 2021.
The Bootleg Files: New Year’s Eve
BOOTLEG FILES 790: “New Year’s Eve” (1948 Soviet animated short).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Not that I can determine.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe in an anthology collection of Soviet-era cartoons.
Here we are at the end of another year, and to say goodbye to 2021 I decided to lean back into the Cold War era and dig up a wonderful but obscure animated short from the Soviet Union that takes place on New Year’s Eve. The film, not surprisingly, is called “New Year’s Eve” and it is one of the most delightfully odd relics of the house that Lenin built.
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