Kick-Ass (2010)

Film: Kick-Ass
Release: 2010, Theatrical
Starring: Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Next in the series: Kick-Ass 2
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: The nerdy high-schooler Dave Lizewski decides to live out his fantasy as the superhero persona Kick-Ass. Accidentally, he gets thrown into one man's violent war against a powerful drug lord.

Hans' thoughts:

In a world much like our own, Dave Lizewski decides to dress up like a hero. Not because of some revenge-scheme or other normal-type motivations - he just figures it's the right thing to do. 

Kick-Ass came out in 2010, critically acclaimed but bashed by parent interest groups. This is mostly due to a ton of curse words and the movie being littered about with over-the-top violence mostly committed by an 11-year old actress.

Personally? I thought it was a lot of fun! Being laddish at heart and a big comic book geek I could relate a lot to the different personalities in this movie. I think many comic book fans like myself has fantasized at one point or another about putting on a mask of our own, and fighting the people who make the streets unsafe at night. The movie is of course, also a very sobering experience as the very first time our hero actually goes to fight crime, he fails miserably to the point of being nearly fatally wounded. The movie also has a lot of funny moments, some of the best being characters snapping the movie back to reality and putting a mirror up to the audience "Everythings fine?! You're grabbing a fucking bazooka!". Though not the point of breaking the 4th wall, the movie is showing you that it is very much aware of just how insane the premise is.

On the acting side you have Nicolas Cage in perhaps my favorite role he's done yet. His socially awkward, southern Big Daddy has some of the funniest moments and perhaps the best shot action scene in the movie. While Johnson and Mintz-Plasse also both do a very good job of portraying dweeby teenage guys that are in way over their heads, the break-out star of the movie is young Chloë Grace Mintz starring in the role of the ass kicking Hit-Girl. She has the biggest number of action scenes and some of the most badass moments in the film.

The movie does have it's problems though, slight plot holes like how does a single security camera manage to capture an entire hollywood-style fight scene from a single position. Or how amateur superheroes can have such well-made costumes. But really, it's a comic book movie and I really had no problems with suspending my disbelief.

Overall, this is one of my favorite superhero movies, and action movies overall and I look forward to what's going to happen next in this universe.

The Conspirator (2010)

Film: The Conspirator
Release: 2010, Theatrical
Starring: James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline
Directed by: Robert Redford
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: In 1865, The young attorney Frederick Aiken is given his first case - defending one of the accused conspirators of the murder of Abraham Lincoln, and a plot to kill his vice-president and the secretary of state.

Hans' thoughts:

These last few years, the Civil War and every subject surrounding it has been a popular thing to put on the silver screen. Among others were three separate Lincoln biography movies (two of which were purely fantasy), a cowboy revenge movie about slavery, and this. This movie quickly sets a somber tone, the first ten minutes are the conspirators to kill the president being rounded up, and an reenactment of the death of John Wilkes Booth in a burning barn (yes, that actually happened). Our main characters are the young attorney Frederick Aiken, just returned from fighting in the civil war as a captain on the side of the Union and Mary Surratt, the only female accused.

In a way, this movie reminded me of The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It had the same basic premise, a critical attorney is made to defend an accused that seems guilty by any stretch of their imagination but becomes more and more turned to believe the client is innocent while both parties learn something about themselves in the process. The movie even had Tom Wilkinson running around, making the connection even harder to abstain from. Actually, recalling every movie I've seen about attorneys, this was pretty formulaic.

The tone of the movie, as well as the injustices the characters face makes it hard not to make the connection between the events of the movie and the aftermath of 9/11, with a lot of civil liberties being set aside for the sake of revenge in war times and the atmosphere that was in the air in the time. Indeed, the kind of atmosphere that shows up after every massive tragic event. People make up their minds about the ones involved, demonizing everything without knowing the complete picture. A subject matter the Danish movie The Hunt also tackled recently albeit in a much darker and emotionally draining way. This is of course, free association. But the connection definitely feels accurate.

However, by the standards of these types of movies this was executed perfectly. It presented the historical events that was the movie's subject matter in a simple but compelling way, teaching about the reality of the case. If a bit preachy at certain points. The movie is just historically accurate enough to not suck out the entertainment value of the film. I'd wager a lot of people could get curious about the events after watching this movie - so in that regard, it does it's job. As I said though, the movie can get a bit preachy at points, making the other side of the case seem almost cartoonishly evil at points. This movie has a message to tell, and at times it can get a bit desperate to make sure we get the point.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)

Film: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallow Part 1
Release: 2010, theatrical
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Directed by: David Yates
Previous in the series: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
Next in the series: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: All hell has broken loose in the wizarding world. Each day, more and more people, muggles and wizards alike winds up either dead or disappeared. In the midst of all this, Harry Potter is preparing to find all the Horcruxes so he can finally destroy Voldemort.

Hans' thoughts:

Here we are, the second to last movie. The final hurrah before the big blow-out in the final battle. The book of this movie is huge, which is why they decided to cut it in half for these last two movies. Making the number of movies eight rather than seven. Because of this, I decided to watch these two last movies back to back, and it confirmed for me that Part 1 actually works much better as a first and second act of one big movie. With all of Part 2 being the final act. 

The story of this movie is very much in the vein of hard work. It kinda says "Okay we know what to do, now we just have to go do it". None of it takes place on Hogwarts, as Harry instead decides to go on a treasure hunt for the "horcruxes" - pieces of Voldemort's soul that must be destroyed in order to finally off him. The movie also starts something that Part 2 would eventually finish up, that something being that Dumbledore might not be all what he's crammed up to be. Part 2 will eventually give us somewhat of an answer to that question but I have to stress that if you're really curious about not only Dumbledore's past, but Voldemorts motivations as well you really have to pick up the book instead. 

The movie instead decides to stay in the now, being very much an action-adventure story. Harry, Ron and Hermione go around to different places in the wizarding world, some of which we've seen before. It also has a very cool animated sequence narrated by Emma Watson. As a standalone movie, this would fail. It's a bit rushed at places and the characters personalities seem a bit vague. However, considering it's the 7th installment in a continuous story and only the first part of a two part movie it actually works pretty well. Everything is addressed and taken care of so that Part 2 can focus mainly on what we've waited for since the beginning.  The final battle between Harry and Voldemort is looming in the distance and rightfully in this part of the story, everything just seems to be falling apart before everything will be fixed. Just like a first and second act should be.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Film: Hot Tub Time Machine
Release: 2010, Theatrical
Starring: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry
Directed by: Steve Pink
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: three friends have not gone where they wanted to go in their lives and have lost touch with each other. When one of them gets seriously ill from car exhaust poisoning, they decide to go to their old party place to rekindle their friendship - one of them towing along his socially awkward nephew. After a night of drinking, they suddenly find themselves in 1986.

Hans' thoughts:

This movie consists of two things I have very opposite feelings about. First off, this is a time travel adventure. Time travel is just my favorite subject matter in fiction. There's just so many places you can go with that. On the other hand, this is a low brow party comedy movie. Which is very much not my style. What I suspected to see was a movie that just happened to have a time travel setup, but then focused the most on comedic exploitation. Movies like American Pie or Sex Drive. However, this movie fooled me. 

As you can probably tell, this movie has a basis very similar to Fanboys. One of the guys in a group of friends have a near-death experience and go on a trip to rekindle what was lost. This also has a lot of funny little nods to those who are aware of the flavor of the movie. Where Fanboys had a lot of in-jokes for Star Wars fans, this one is cramped with the best and worst of mid-eighties culture. The movie even has a lot of similarities in it's plot to other big time travel movies. However, it manages to balance it out. These characters aren't geeks, and a lot of the references are meant to simply be picked up on by the viewer rather than have a ton of meta jokes.

The acting is pretty okay, though nothing really stood out to me as good or bad. However, as a general complaint I would have liked some better timing in the physical comedy department. This movie actually kinda has, heart to it. Normally when I sit down and see one of these kinds of movies I feel that it was ramped up with drinking and T and A more than needed because "that's what the kids want". But this feels like it was a young buddy movie made for people in their late 20's rather than 17 year olds who would then turn out to get an unrealistic image of what being young is actually like. 

Is it good then? Hell no, it's sort of mediocre. But I found it entertaining.

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (2010)

Film: With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
Release: 2010, Television
Starring: Stan Lee, Joe Simon, Joan Lee
Directed by: Terry Dougas, Will Hess, Nikki Frakes
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: A biographic documentary on one of the most iconic writers in comic book history, Stan Lee.

Hans' thoughts:

Stan Lee is one of the few comic book writers that even non-fans has heard about, they may not be aware of all he's created but they know that he's the guy always doing a cameo in Marvel movies, to my friends and I, spotting Stan has become a little game of ours. This is a nice little documentary that gives us some insight into the life of a creator of icons. However, the film seems to spotlight only the good things, while the darker sides such as the Jack Kirby lawsuit has been left out. The ones being interviewed in the movie also has varying levels of relevance. You have Stan and his family, some big name editors, but then for whatever reason they have chosen to bring in almost every single actor that had protrayed a Marvel comics character on the big screen, this distraction made me sometimes rewind the movie because I would miss all the important stuff. This movie also speeds through the major events, seemingly in a hurry to get to the creation of The Fantastic Four, his first major success. All in all, while the movie did inform, it just did it's job poorly. This could honestly have been done so much better, even for a television feature. Stan Lee deserves so much better. Nerds only.

DC Showcase: Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam (2010)

Film: Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam
Release: 2010, Video
Starring: Zach Callison, James Garner, Josh Keaton
Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: This DVD holds 4 showcases of classic DC Universe characters in the form of animated shorts, In Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam a new superpowered foe has come to Earth, destroying everything in his path. He seems focused on the orphaned boy Billy Batson for mysterious reasons. In Green Arrow, the title hero thwarts the murder-attempt of the young heir to a European throne. In Jonah Hex, the title hero tracks down a group of vigilantes operating too heavily on the wrong side of the law and in The Spectre,  the murder of a popular Hollywood producer brings out supernatural forces and mysterious killings begin to occur.

Hans' thoughts:

Okay, So since this one is a special case I've decided to give each short it's own text blurb. This one's a long one let's go!

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam:

This one is definitely the strongest of the bunch, which explains why it got top billing. It recounts the origin story of Captain Marvel or - as he's named now, Shazam! It's a very nice little introduction for people who are new to the character, as it's very much grounded in the behind-the-scenes history of the character. Ready for a short history lesson? Back when superheroes was a new thing in 1939 Captain Marvel was actually the property of a rivalling company: Fawcett Comics.  In 1953, DC Comics sued Fawcett comic alleging that Captain Marvel was a blatant copy of Superman and Fawcett ceased publishing his books. In 72', DC Comics aquired the rights to the character and his sorrounding cast. However, in the meantime Marvel comics had created their own "Captain Marvel" character (long story short, an alien) so DC has henceforth promoted the character under the name "Shazam!" finally renaming the character entirely in 2012. Back to the actual movie, the animation style is very nice but it is fairly obvious that a japanese studio was hired to do this one. This movie also felt like it could've been the pilot of an animated series or a shortened script for what would have been a full movie. It could also have been an episode of Justice League: Unlimited from the feel and the atmosphere. Supermans prescense isn't entirely neglected, but he does seem to have put in the movie to have a familiar face to draw people in.

Green Arrow:

This doesn't actually work all that well as an introduction to the character (as he already seems to have an established relationship with follow Justice League member Black Canary). So this one also feels like a scrapped episode of Justice League: Unlimited. While the plot is fairly simple, it is nice to see Green Arrow get some solo action in animated form and the voice actors all did really really great. While I can objectively see that this one is one of the weaker ones it is inarguably my favourite of the bunch. But that mostly comes from my love of the character. Overall, Green Arrow made me smile every time he was on screen, and they definitely managed to capture the spirit of the character. But again, this one may not work as a "Showcase" for the character as I would argue that the best way to introduce someone to a new hero is almost always to explain or retell their origin (like the top billing title did). It was also a bit distracting that a well-established liberal character like Green Arrow would be given a plot to protect monarchy, but I guess that only comes into play when you like me are familiar with him beforehand.

The Spectre:

This one is done very tongue-in-cheek. The whole movie has a 70's quality filter on it, with the frame jumping at times and the colours being faded. It oozes the atmosphere of a grind house feature which makes it even more sad that this one is actually the weakest of the bunch. While Green Arrow did a poor job at showcasing the character, this one actually does a disservice to the casual viewer by not explaining most of what's going on at all. We are expected to accept the events of the movie through-out the most of it and is given a short dissatisfying explanation at the very end through monologue. Number one of any visual medium: Show, don't tell. That said, like the others the animations are well-done and the voice acting is also top notch. They can't save the movie from a, sadly, sub-par script and this one is very forgettable. I honestly recommend the casual viewer lets this one play for the toilet break.

Jonah Hex:

The best one besides the main attraction, this one actually showcases the character of Jonah Hex very well without retelling the origin. Set in the old west, it has all the clichés of spaghetti westerns. Jonah Hex is like Batman in the old west however and the sheer personality of the character is enough to hold ones interest. While the plot is perhaps the most straight forward of them all, this one has the most action. It also has some downright cruel moments so I hesitate to recommend this one to younger viewers. This one is shown last on the disc, after The Spectre and it's apparent that they've saved some of their best for last. The animation of this one out-ranks all of the others and the art style is dark and gritty, befitting for one of the darkest characters of the DC Universe. Do not miss out on this one, even if you did not like the rest. It is the one I think casual viewers will enjoy the most.

Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

Film: Batman: Under The Red Hood
Release: 2010, video
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, John DiMaggio, Jensen Ackles
Directed by: Brandon Vietti
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: A new threat has come to Gotham - A person calling himself "The Red Hood" has taken controls of the cartels, tipping the scales of power in Gothams criminal underworld. It turns out however, this new villain is more than just another druglord.

Hans' Thoughts:

Old lady Joker

Normally, movies that go direct to video are thought to be either not by a mainstream company or just very low budget - This is not the case on this one. Under The Red Hood is one of the finest animated DC universe movies out there, chronicling one of the game-changing storylines of the Batman comic books.It's really hard to talk about this movie without spoiling it, but I'll do my best. This movie marks John DiMaggio's debut as The Joker, a role he's later revises in the new game Injustice: Gods Among Us. The challenge for new voice actors that take on The Joker is that they will be compared to the absolutely fantastic voice acting of Mark Hamill. A man that's for my generation has been the definitive voice of The Joker since Batman the animated series. That said, John DiMaggio manages to deliver his own take on the character while saluting the characters voice under Hamill.The other voice actors also did a fantastic job, and while the art style is great most of the time at some points I felt The Joker looked more like an old VERY pale lady. Like the villain from The Little Mermaid. Normally, the art style was great and the designs of Nightwing and The Red Hood in particular catch the original art from the comics it's based on pretty well. The art also reminded me of the show "Young Justice". This being a story arc from the comic books, it could mean it would be kinda hard for newcomers to get into but I feel that the newcomers I've watched it with has managed to follow the story just fine. This could also be because the story bears no mention of the major DC event Infinite Crisis which the story arc was part of the aftermath of. Having watched other DC movies which also spawned from comic book story arcs, this one is by far the best of the bunch. Especially newer animated movies like Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Superman as he looks in "Batman/Superman: Apocalypse" 

are sub-par by comparison, even taking into account my gripes with the art style (in my opinion the lips are way too detailed in the new ones). On the right you should be able to a screenshot from aforementioned movie as an example.  Overall though, The Red Hood is definetly a movie you should track down if you like Batman at all. In my opinion it sits up there even with the very best live-action ones.

EDIT: Turns out "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" is from later in 2010, same year as the release of The Red Hood making this a bad example. However, my preference of the artstyle of the latter still stands, even compared to titles like "Superman/Shazam: Return of Black Adam" or "Justice League: Doom".