Rated ‘D’ for Doom: A Look at Superhero Movies in 2014

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THOR 2 ABOUND. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE MOVIE.

DOOM DELUISE: So Thor 2.

You attentive readers out there may remember, when Jim and I sat down to review the first Thor a few years ago, we were in agreement that we both enjoyed the movie.

As Jim said at the time, he thought it was better than Iron Man 2, but not quite as good as Iron Man 1.

Now that some years have passed, and we’ve seen several more Avengers-related movies, how would you rank this new Thor edition in the Marvel pantheon?

JIM DOOM: Well, since you teed it up that way, I’d like to say that I recently re-watched Thor 1, and I thought it held up incredibly well.

DOOM DELUISE: Ditto! I liked Thor 1 even more the second time I watched it, about a week and a half ago.

JIM DOOM: And in some ways, I would put Thor 2 above it.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Thor 2 — it did much of the things I loved about Thor 1, and improved on the things I didn’t.

I did not see that coming.

I figured it’d be enjoyable, but I heard it was getting some poor reviews, so at best I was hoping for a decent filler movie.
I guess when it comes to the Marvel movies that set up the Avengers movies, I should’ve known better.

Though I’m glad I went in with low expectations. That’s always more fun. (more…)

DOOM DELUISE: Several years ago, after the abysmal X-Men 3, Fox funded a Wolverine standalone movie, which took place prior to the events of the X-Men movies, that everybody pretty much agreed was stupid.

Somehow, though, at the same time, everybody agreed that Hugh Jackman is still a pretty great Wolverine.

Flash-forward a few years, and we have The Wolverine, another new Wolverine standalone, still starring Hugh Jackman, which takes place AFTER the events of the X-Men movies, which is still, in my opinion at least, a stupid movie.

The main difference between the two is that this is a bad Wolverine movie, whereas that last one was a bad Wolverine movie that included idiotic depictions of fan-favorite characters like Gambit and Deadpool.

But, far be it for me to be the only person with an opinion around here. Jim, how would you compare this movie to the first Wolverine movie, and how do you think this one does on its own?

JIM DOOM: Well, I remember the first Wolverine movie being awful, but not long ago, I went back and re-read my review at the time and realized I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I remembered I did.

That said, I think this new one was much better, and this one could have almost been — dare I say — a GOOD movie, if they had made one somewhat minor change.

And that would be to eliminate that stupid Viper lady. (more…)

Welcome to the latest installment of Doom and Doomer, where Jim Doom and I take a back-and-forth look at comic book movies.

Today we discuss Man of Steel, which most of you probably saw awhile ago. To explain: We live on opposite sides of the globe, so it’s difficult to find times where we’re both awake and not busy with other things. But we finally did it! Enjoy.

DOOM DELUISE: So Man of Steel came out a couple of months ago. Its success in its first weekend led to all of the key players almost immediately signing on to do a sequel, and, in the subsequent time, we’ve learned a lot about where they’re headed with this franchise.

The main question, though, is whether or not that direction will be any good, and in order to figure that out, all we have to go on is the quality of Man of Steel.

Based on Man of Steel, how confident are you in the much-hyped Superman/Batman team-up movie?

JIM DOOM: Well, it’s funny you ask it that way, because I think Man of Steel was truly terrible in almost every way, but I don’t know if it necessarily makes me any less interested in the sequel.

I shared my thoughts on the Ben Affleck casting in the comments of Fin Fang Doom’s post, and the basic idea there was that by casting such a well-known name, Affleck has the potential to overshadow the character.

But I also think that he has matured enough as a film presence that I could see him maybe not wanting to be in a movie as bad as Man of Steel was.

I was also under the initial impression that they were going straight from Man of Steel to Justice League, so I’m somewhat relieved that they’re going in these relative baby steps.

DOOM DELUISE: Yeah, it’s interesting how everybody online is reacting to this news as if they just cast Reindeer Games Ben Affleck. He’s changed a lot in the past few years.

Unfortunately, whether his performance is great or not, I don’t see how he can do THAT much to make this series any better or worse than it already is. As far as I’m concerned, as long as they have David S. Goyer writing it and Zack Snyder directing it, we’re in for nothing but absolute crap. Like Man of Steel.

JIM DOOM: So let’s talk about what made Man of Steel such crap. (more…)

Based on “Flashpoint,” by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert

Directed by Jay Oliva, Screenplay by Jim Krieg
Distributed by Warner Home Video
Release Date: 30 July 2013
Running Time: 75 minutes

The Plot: An alteration of the timeline for the superhero, The Flash, creates ripples that disastrously alter the Universe. The Flash must team with other heroes to restore the timeline while the Earth is ravaged by a war between Aquaman’s Atlantis and Wonder Woman’s Amazons. (via the Internet Movie Database)

Review:

This is the latest installment in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, and, compared to the other titles featured under that banner, it’s quite good.

Parts of it are unsettling, and parts of it are just flat-out weird, but, overall, if all you’re looking for is a thumbs up or a thumbs down, I can say that this movie is a solid 75 minutes of superhero action and adventure, well worth the cost of a DVD.

One thing that this movie continues is the trend of late, where DC’s focusing more and more on staying true to the source material from which it’s based; in this case, this is an incredibly faithful adaptation of “Flashpoint,” by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert.

If you remember, Flashpoint is the last major crossover in the Old 52. Its fallout led everything screaming into the New 52. To say that it was a huge event for the DC Universe is fitting, as is the title of the series in describing its impact on the company’s overall direction for the past two years.

So, let’s talk about what works in this little flick. (more…)

It’s that time of week again! No, not Wednesday. Well, I mean, yes, it’s Wednesday, but that’s not what I was trying to get at.

I mean I’m going to review some comics. From last Wednesday. At least I think they’re from last Wednesday. If I’m wrong, blame international date lines for the difference.

This isn’t going well.

Forget all that noise, let’s get this bad boy fired up! Top to bottom! Worst to First!

The Trinity War is here.

And it’s off to a bad start.

Ok, so, in this issue, Billy Batson decides that Black Adam deserves to be properly buried in his home country of Kahndaq, which has some sort of No Fly Zone in place for superheroes, ever since Wonder Woman and Superman intervened there a few issues ago.

Billy doesn’t know about this, though (just kidding), so he turns into Shazam (I think that’s what they’re calling Captain Marvel nowadays, anyway) and heads over to the country (because he’s a jerk), where some sort of international incident will play out upon his arrival (without a doubt).

Here’s where this issue goes from stupid setup to stupid actual story.

To sum up the issue so far: The superhero community will catch a lot of heat if a cape shows up in Kahndaq. Shazam is flying there as fast as he can. An international incident is imminent.

So, what does our ingenious superhero team do to prevent this? They… fly to Kahndaq as fast as they can!

Wait, what? (more…)

Welcome back to “Worst to First,” wherein I give short capsule reviews of each of the past week’s comics that I ended up buying, starting with the week’s worst issue and building up to what I consider to be the week’s best.

If it’s not on the list, it’s because I don’t read it. If you think something’s missing from these reviews, by all means, point it out, and I’ll maybe start picking it up (unless you have terrible taste and recommend I start reading… I dunno, something like Deadpool or something).

I mentioned recently that I’ve been catching up on all the comics I’ve missed out on these past few months, so it should go without saying that I’ve been reading a LOT of comics, including multiple series starring the X-Men.

I read the first issue of this, truly for no good reason, and, by the time I got around to reading this issue, only a couple of days later, I had completely forgotten what happened in that first issue.

Now, about two days after reading issue number two here, I can honestly say that I don’t remember what happened in this issue, either.

Before you start thinking that I must just have a terrible memory, I assure you that’s not the case. There’s something in this about Jubilee adopting a baby (or finding it, or giving birth to it, I really can’t say). And I’m pretty sure there’s a scene on a train.

It’s just entirely forgettable and uninspired. If a series can’t engage me after two issues, I generally give up on it. So, good-bye, X-Men! I’m done with ya!

Verdict: DROP (more…)