Superman: Doomsday (2007) (DVD)

To this day, “Superman: Doomsday” is still one of the most gut wrenching graphic novels I’ve ever read. As a hardcore Superman geek since the age of five, Superman has been one of my recurring beacons of heroism and courage, and something that’s still very representative of what man is capable of. Superman is possibilities, and that’s why I still stick by this character for better or for worse. And as you can imagine, reading the entire graphic novel as a young boy, seeing Superman’s lifeless body in Lois’ arms as he faded away from the vicious attack from Doomsday really bummed me out. And quite frankly, it left a pure lump in my throat. “Superman: Doomsday” truncates everything about the graphic novel into a movie that’s a little over an hour. And I accept that. Due to DC’s issues with superheroes in multiple formats, we couldn’t have had all the guest stars and the Reign of the Superman in this movie. Instead, Timm and co. focus on the meat and bones of the story: Superman vs. Doomsday, and then Superman’s death.

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Scary Movie 4 (2006)

“Scary Movie 4,” and the franchise the bred it, is one of the worst examples of this sub-genre. It’s a lazy, hackneyed, and utterly irritating mess that relies on different movies references for laughs without spinning it into comedy. Feature someone who looks like Napoleon Dynamite, spoof some recent current event, perhaps have a pop culture figure spoof themselves and expect laughs; and that’s just the first five minutes alone. But that’s just not how it works.

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Idiocracy (2006)

idiocracy

“And the number one movie in the country was called “Ass.” And that’s all it was for ninety minutes. And it won Oscars…”

Our current society needs to be spoofed. In our current state it should analyzed, satirized, and cast into the darkness, because you’re all idiots, and you need to know that. You’re reality show watching, God fearing, literacy phobic, sadistic, consuming, ignorant drones, and someone needs to fill you in on that. “Idiocracy” is a step in the right direction as it’s a merciless satire on our society which is, by the way, currently run by pure idiots. It’s not surprising that “Idiocracy” wasn’t a hit because, risking repetition, movie goers are idiots as stated above, but it’s thankfully been praised among the movie geeks as a bonafide cult classic, a term that Mike Judge has become synonymous with.

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Æon Flux (2005)

B1aFTc8I was never a fan of the techno-punk, cult series “Aeon Flux” from MTV, and for good reason. While, I’m always up for an animated series about a hot woman kicking ass, “Aeon Flux” was dull, lifeless, and ached to be as entertaining as fare like “Ghost in the Shell” from day one. Thus was MTV’s prime goal back in the days: make every series hipper than the last. And with this they failed. So it was only a matter of time for a movie to be made and eventually flop. You can blame America’s hesitation to enjoy a female superhero, you can say that they mishandled the character of Aeon Flux, but whatever excuse you create, at the end of the day “Aeon Flux” is a pretty bad film, clear and simple, and worse yet, it hearkens back to the absolutely excruciating “Ultraviolet” on many occasions.

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Universal Soldiers (2007)

universalsoldiersNo, this is not connected in anyway to the Van Damne turkey “Universal Soldier.” And it’s not a sequel, remake, or spin-off. It is indeed yet another rip-off from none other than Asylum, who insists it’s much better than the original. And trust me, if you’ve seen “Universal Soldier,” it is not a claim to be proud of, in any respect. In either case, it’s probably one of the most laughable attempts to mimic and blatantly steal from another established property, while also basically stealing a title.

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Right At Your Door (2006)

Right_at_your_doorWe live in alarmist times. We live in times where we’re constantly in fear of terrorism, terrorist activities and are influenced to be xenophobic to a certain extent. We are a people de-sensitized with violence, a people who always fear death at our door, and ultimately have an unspoken paralyzing fear of the apocalypse entering into our windows, and it’s reflected in our culture and pop culture. Be it through zombies, a plague or what have you, we’re in times where our fear of Armageddon is difficult to ignore, and that’s due to increasingly violent circumstances involving the realistic likelihood of some sort of bomb or toxin entering into our neighborhood and destroying everything we love.

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Renaissance (2006) (DVD)

Renaissance_11552555341472Almost simultaneously released alongside Richard Linklater’s equally high concept animated film “A Scanner Darkly,” Volckman’s “Renaissance” is a little bit of George Orwell and Phillip K. Dick with the same neo-noir atmosphere of Frank Miller with a Dystopian twist, and it composes itself as an equally high concept animated science fiction installment that focuses on a society that’s not too much in the distant future from ours. The world is ruled by vanity and the search for eternal youth, and this is all spearheaded by an ominous corporation called Avalon that markets on society’s youth obsession and rules over all of society. Ads pop up from thin air, follow pedestrians, and always seem much more omnipresent than they should.

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