After the polarizing “adaptation” from 2007, DC and Warner take another crack at the taking one of the most controversial and news making comic book storylines of the nineties and bring it to the big screen. With a little tweaks, of course. The whole of “The Death and Return of Superman” is compact, but it takes a good effort in streamlining the entire arc for a movie. The whole epic storyline spanned a ton of DC titles from Supergirl, Green Lantern, and Justice League, so Jake Castorena and Sam Liu have to squeeze it in to two whole movies, and they do a pretty great job of it, save for glaring flaws here and there.
Tag Archives: Science Fiction
C.H.U.D. (1984)
I’ll plead guilty in admitting that I’ve never understood why “C.H.U.D.” is considered a horror classic. The title is great, as it completely lays the cards out on the table for the audience. The concept is golden, as underground mutants that eat random people in the big city is ripe for a great monster movie. But when you get down to the actual movie itself, it’s a romance drama, mixed with a political thriller, with man eating underground mutants that kind of sort of appear in the finale for a bit here and there. You go in to it expecting a creepy monster film, but what you get is “The China Syndrome.”
Disney’s Gargoyles 25 Years Later
Premiering in 1994, during a time where Disney was really trying to create series with mythos and complexities, Gargoyles stands out as one of company’s most ambitious animated series of the nineties, and a bonafide masterpiece of the decade. Gargoyles came with an unparalleled production quality that was just impressive all around. From an excellent score to a massive cast of voice actors (comprised mostly from “Star Trek” alums) right down to the amazing animation, Gargoyles was anything but a gimmick. The writers unfolded a complex mythos, and great back stories for each of the gargoyles (many of whom had their own strengths and weakness) all delivering an episodic fantasy with substance.
Five Favorite Childhood Horror Themed Toys
We couldn’t afford too many toys when we were kids, but for we always appreciated what stuff our parents could grab for us for Christmas or our birthdays. My toy preferences mostly narrowed down to action figures and play sets with TMNT and superhero figures some of my biggest choices on wish lists as a kid. Along the way I did have some toys that were horror themed, including the Ghostbusters, the Mighty Max play sets, and much more. I was even around during the first wave of McFarlane’s Spawn figures, which were hot commodities for a while, there. These are five of my favorite and most fondly remembered horror themed toys from my childhood.
What were your favorites?
Blood Machines (2019) [Fantastic Fest 2019]
A sequel to Carpenter Brut’s video for their track “Turbo Killer,” the sequel titled “Blood Machines” is a wonderful and beautiful feature. Written and Directed by Raphaël Hernandez, and Savitri Joly-Gonfard, “Turbo Killer” is a memorable amalgam of cyber punk, science fiction, fantasy, erotica, and so much more. The movie, at fifty minutes, is very hard to peg down and that’ll be a benefit for Carpenter Brut fans that want to see a follow up to “Turbo Killer.”
Shorts Round Up of the Week: The Fantastic Shorts of Fantastic Fest 2019 [Fantastic Fest 2019]
Fantastic Fest 2019 has come and gone once again and we were lucky enough to take in some of their line up from this year’s festivities. There was some damn good short films at the fest this year, and we thought we’d spotlight the line up that played as “Fantastic Shorts,” “Short Fuse,” and were “Paired Shorts” with feature films in the festival. The festival had no shortage of genre shorts; if you’re ever near a film festival or are attending one, be sure to look out for these titles.
TV on DVD: Manifest: The Complete First Season (DVD)/ Teen Titans Go! Lookin’ for a Fight (DVD)
It’s shocking that “Manifest” lives on to see a second season, as the series is thick in mystery and mythos and it might drive fans nuts if it ends without some answers. I’m not usually a fan of series like “Manifest” that practice the tradition of an ensemble of characters uncovering a mystery that connects them a la “Lost,” but “Manifest” is a pretty good science fiction drama all things considered. I don’t know if the show is going to dip in to science fiction or religious realms soon, but the series digs in to some unique material with a prologue that is pretty damn compelling.