Dragon Age: Dawn Of The Seeker (2012)

Title: Dragon Age: Dawn Of The Seeker
Release: 2012, Video
Starring: Colleen Clinkenbeard, J. Michael Tatum, Chuck Huber
Directed by: Fumihiko Sori
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: In the land of Orlais, the chantry's elite soldiers known as the seekers have tracked down a blood mage cult bent on using a dragons blood and a young girl to free mages from oppression all over Thedas through terror, but as their plot is foiled a much larger and dangerous conspiracy is unveiled.

Watch the review:

The Avengers (2012)

Film: The Avengers
Release: 2012, Theatrical
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johanson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Next in the series: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: At a secret underground facility, The international agency S.H.I.E.L.D. has hired the brilliant Dr. Erik Selvig to develop a sustainable energy source from the mystical tesseract, used by The Red Skull during the second world war, however things turn sour when the tesseract reacts to something not of this world.

Hans' thoughts:

Perhaps one of the greatest gambles in movie making history, The Avengers is the culmination of what is now known as the first "phase" in a large shared universe project for in-house adaptations of various Marvel comics superheroes. The "phase" in this case being the movies that tie in with this one, starting with Iron Man, followed by The Incredible Hulk, then Iron Man 2, Thor and finally Captain America: The First Avenger. All good movies in their own right, this film stands in front of the enormous task of making a satisfactory climax to all the little hints and after-credits scenes that the former movies has made - Iron Man 2 as an example suffered under almost completely being a trailer for this movie. The film is headed by one of the "Kings of the Nerds", Joss Whedon, creator, director and writer of several big name movies and tv-series that have frankly waved between being fantastic and being all style and no substance. 

One could argue in this particular case, the writers pretty much had their work cut out for them beforehand. Most of the characters (with only one notable exception) has not only been established in former films, but films that all sold exceptionally well in theatres meaning they can rely on everyone knowing exactly who the characters are coming into the movie. This makes the entire movie feel like a 2 and a half hour third act, giving us our very first action scene by the 3 minute point. Fans are of course quickly given exactly what they came for, not much time is wasted one explaining why all these characters would be in the place at the same time and our heroes are all pretty much introduced by what we best know them for. Bruce Banner is on the run from the government, Iron Man is out doing something scientific, Capt. America spends his time punching stuff and Thor is introduced with a thunder storm. When they're mentioned in passing, the audiences know exactly what kind of scene is coming up next: "Ladies and gentlemen, now Robert Downey Jr. will say something funny", "give a big hand to Chris Evans being stoic and old fashioned" is what they pretty much could've been said outright by Samuel L. Jackson whose appearance as Nick Fury pretty much works as the stage announcer. It's like a rock band playing their greatest hit as their opening act as the lights are turned on.

The movie doesn't leave you much time to actually think about several missing plot points between the former movies and this one you're quickly distracted by all the things that are constantly thrown at you, to it's credit, the film indulges the fans in both the "who would win in a fight between.." and "Wouldn't it be cool if.." department, the very recognizable nature of the different characters also make them visible even when the action sequences falls victim to modern technique of "shaky-cam". This kind of thing was a big problem in films like The Transformers movies where you literally couldn't tell which giant robot was fighting which but the looks and designs of the costumes of the characters are kept so true to form that it doesn't pose a problem in this instance. Not much time is spent on character development as the little downtime the movie actually has is spent on quarrels between the teammates or someone relaying exposition. The movie actually spends most of it's lines on short immediate exposition to make the audience ready for what is coming next. Introductions between the characters are pretty much reduced to "Hey, aren't you that guy in the metal armor?" "Yeah and I heard you turn big and green sometimes". It feels unnatural but it's pretty easy to understand why they did it this way: Audiences already know all the big name characters and the writers know that they have to give people what they came to see. While it certainly works for most of the established characters, the character of Clint Barton aka. Hawkeye poses a problem in that regard. Aside from a single scene in the Thor movie, audiences are never really introduced to who Hawkeye is. All we really know is that he's a guy who prefers using a bow to using a gun. This is not helped much in the movie, as he spends most of the film being mind controlled by the movie's villain. We know nothing about the character, so rooting for him when he joins the big climactic fight at the end is neigh impossible unless you know the character from other media.

On the other end of the spectrum we have The Incredible Hulk, Mark Ruffalo being the third person to play the character in the span of merely ten years and the second person to play him in the Marvel Shared Universe continuity. The last person before Ruffalo to play Bruce Banner was Edward Norton, an award winning and hugely popular actor, so Ruffalo stood before the task of being accepted by audiences in a role that has not seen much stability. This is very reminiscent of the comic book Bruce Banner as different writers also tended to treat the character very differently, some having the Hulk persona take over entirely for extended periods of time to simple not deal with having to write drama for the character. Thankfully, Ruffalo does a very good job of making a very withdrawn but hot-headed professor, nervously joking about his condition as a means to cope with the stressful situations he's put into. That combined with his version of the Hulk being the most entertaining thing in the movie, makes sure he more than lives up to taking up "the mantle", if you will. Though it does seem like The Incredible Hulk, incredibly shrunk sometime between it's appearances. The movie, as I said, doesn't go into much detail during it's explanations and one can't help but ask: Where was Col. Rhodes aka. Warmachine who had his origin story in Iron Man 2 during this entire debacle? The question is pretty much ignored in both this film and Iron Man 3. We're just asked to accept that a government agency would rather ask for the help of a loose cannon billionaire than an actual military officer who has a very similar suit of armor. 

On the villain side we have the least substance of all. As with the original first comic book appearance of The Avengers, our main villain is Loki the god of mischief. Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as the character from Thor and in this film he just seems a lot more threatening than his initial appearance. From his very first scene in the movie, he quickly shows off that he is clearly more than enough of a feat to have to be taken on by the entirety of Earth's Mightiest. However, It is never explained what happened between his final scene in the former film and how he ended up allying himself with such a powerful force - force of what exactly? This is the problem with having the film focusing mostly on spectacle, we know next to nothing about the alien race of "The Chitauri" (as race that was made up for the movie by the way) and why they have a reason for attacking the planet earth, instead we have an army of grey-ish monster beings that doesn't talk and pretty much works a living punching bags and cannon fodder for the writers to show off the heroes and their individual superpowers. Had it not been for the talent and charisma of Tom Hiddleston in the role of Loki, the villains of the movie had not been interesting at all. 

The Avengers, while perhaps one of the most accurate and entertaining comic book movies in recent years is a classic example of trading in substance for the sake of style and spectacle. What little drama there is in the movie is simply used as a catalyst for having the heroes go out and punch things and if you expected a film that would work well on it's own I'm sorry to disappoint. The Avengers is pretty much just one long third act of a much larger story, like the last episode of a season of a TV-show. Wrapping up the overarching immediate plot that's been developing little by little in the background throughout the last couple of episodes. Therefore it highly necessitates having watched one or more of the former films in order to be enjoyed properly. If you haven't, all you're left with is a series of spectacle scenes, really well shot and sometimes funny action scenes to be sure but you're not given much explanation for what is going on. For fans, the film is a dream come true: Actually seeing these characters fighting alongside each other in a movie that's not only accurate but actually entertaining and successful is something no one would've ever thought possible - be warned though, while fun and entertaining while you watch it it can pretty easily be picked apart in the plot department. I recommend this film by all means, but I also highly recommend watching the former films in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" first to truly get the most of it.

Frankenweenie (2012)

Film: Frankenweenie
Release: 2012, theatrical
Starring: Charlie Tahan, Atticus Shaffer, James Hiroyuki Liao
Directed by: Tim Burton
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: After the death of his dog, the child genius Victor Frankenstein decides to bring him back to life. When the other kids in his class catches wind of it, they try to steal his secrets in other to win the upcoming science fair

Hans' thoughts:

It's starting to become general consensus around Tim Burton fans that the director is at his best when he sticks to making movies based completely on an original idea, rather than adapting someone else's work in his own unique style. So what happens when the man decides to adapt one of his own former creations for the big screen? Well, let's take a look at Frankenweenie.

Taking a middle school spin on the classic tale of the man who created a monster, Frankenweenie is a lot more heartwarming story about a boy and his dog - and how the boy decided to play god in order to have the dog stick around post mortem. The original Frankenweenie was only about 25 minutes long and the story has certainly gone through some changes in order to better fit the big screen. More plots have been added, more characters and the film is now littered with references for the horror fans to pick up on. The movie is of course, as many other Tim Burton originals, done entirely in stop-motion animation. It's a great way to pick up on the creepiness that the Burton artstyle entails, if you've seen any of Burtons other animated features (Corpse Bride, Vincent, The Nightmare Before Christmas) you can easily recognize the style. The big and heavily shaded eyes being as present as ever. This kind of story is also where this artstyle "belongs", so to speak. While I love the style personally, it is kinda off-putting to see the style used for classic childrens stories as has been done with Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. Another thing they decided to do was make the entire movie in black & white, possibly to enhance the feeling of the story taking place in a 1930's Universal Pictures horror-movie, this also means that the movie has absolutely beautiful work with shadows - akin to that of the german impressionism and the movies of which it parodies. This isn't the first time Burton has delibaretly chosen to shoot in black & white, both the original Frankenweenie and his bio-pic of the desperate 50's director Ed Wood were done in this style. This isn't something tacked on, Burton has a geniune love for the era.

This is where I unfortunately have to put the praise to a halt, because while I definitely enjoyed myself during the movie it wasn't shot with my age group in mind. No, this film was supposed to be a childrens movie and I very much doubt that a superior number of kids would get much enjoyment out of this film. Much of the humor in the film comes from references to monster movies, little gags such as the japanese kid pulling out a camera at the sight  of a giant monster or a female poodle getting a white line in its hair much akin to the look of the Bride of Frankenstein. While I certainly got a laugh out of some of them, I picture a lot of kids wouldn't. Then again, I'm just some guy what the heck do I know what the kids are into these days? However, many countries must've felt the same because while the movie certainly got a theatrical release, it wasn't dubbed into all that many languages. In Denmark, for one, the movie was only released with subtitles. 

One the other hand, the extended story is actually pretty cute. I commend the ability of the animators to really capture what an animal would act like. Frankenweenie isn't some super intelligent dog who knows exactly what to do in all situations. He's still just a dog so he will act irrationally and misbehave sometimes, just like a real dog would. I don't know for certain if I should commend the movie on the animals being the most convincing characters however. As for the acting of the humans, they do a well enough job with what they've been given. The characters aren't particularly deep, but taking into account what the actors were given to work with, well there's not much else they could do than just sticking to their guns and try to deliver a great performance - which they do. The characters of the movie, while all fun to look at (sporting the burton artstyle helps) none of them are "normal". With the possible exception of Victors parents, all the main characters of the movie have some kind of absurd character trait. One kid looks, as an example, exactly like the stereotypical hunchback lab assistant that would show up in a Frankenstein movie. It is off-putting at first but fortunately the movie and the story is actually well-written enough to make the characters work and in spite of their absurdity I still found the characters likeable - I wanted them to succeed in their endeavours. You cannot ask for much more when the focus of the movie is elsewhere. 

Frankenweenie is a cute version of the classic Frankenstein tale, and had the movie not relied too much on referencing the entirety of the horror genre from a certain era the film could've been a truly great introduction for kids to the story. Key moments from Frankenstein are certainly present in the film to some extent, but the extra layer of movie references is just way too much to take in at once at some points. There is fun for horror fans, Burton fans and animation fans alike in this film - as for the rest of you perhaps you will find something in the tale of a boy and his dog, and how hard it can be to let go when the time finally comes.

Series of Events: Another (2012)

In "Series of Events" we take a look at finished TV-shows.

Series: Another (アナザー Anazā)
Release: 2012, Television/Simulcast
Length: 12 episodes
Starring: Atsushi Abe, Natsumi Takamori
Directed by: Tsutomu Mizushima
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: The young Kouichi transfer to a new school and class in a small rural town. However, there is a mysterious girl in his new class who everybody seems to ignore deliberately, and his meddling soon opens the door to a mystery and a horrific curse that has haunted the Yomiyama Middle School for ages.

Hans' thoughts:

Based on a novel by the same name, Another proves once again the aptitude the Japanese have for horror. Setting the tone with a low retelling of the beginning of the curse, and some really creepy music, we're introduced to the tale "Mizaki", a person in the 9th grade class 3 who died 26 years prior to the story's beginning. This is just a very good example of things to come, the entirety of the series has the feeling of a really well-told ghost story and the music throughout manages to hold this level of creepiness.

This is also partially because of the series intro Kyomu Densei, while upbeat the use of rhythm changes sounding almost like several different songs blending together. This combined with creepy imagery of the abandoned school building, dolls and several accidents happening just serves to up the creepy even more. I have to say though I am not that big on the closing theme, while certainly pleasant to listen to I feel it is way too reminiscent of ending themes from other series, even those not of the same genre. It also feels really jarring to have this peaceful of an ending theme when an episode leaves off on a chilling cliffhanger.

Character-wise this show really threw me through a loop, when I first watched the series I thought I knew exactly how all the characters were going to be - only to be wrong on so many different occasions. Especially the secondary main character Mizaki would throw me through a hoop a couple of times. Unfortunately our male lead, the character of Kouichi, could've have been written a lot better. He seems way too easily manipulated by the events around him, I don't know whether this was intended to be a character fault of his but he comes off as way too interchangeable, however it's worth noting that by the half-way point of the series he really comes into his own and becomes an interesting protagonist - it's just the initial crawl you have to get over first. There is not much to say about the minor characters, they are all your common high school anime fare. You have the no-nonsense class president, the wisecracking male sidekick and the nervous girl.  The death scenes in this show are on the hand pretty well done, often times coming when least expected.

There is not much difference from other shows, art-wise

Another manages to be cartoon show that's actually scary, something I very much doubt could've been pulled off in western animation, in any case I've yet to see it happen. The withholding of information and the absolute oozing of atmosphere is just a testament to the fact that western writers are far too quick to reveal everything about the main villain, a big problem to me about the slasher genre as an example is that once we know what the deal with the killer is, it stops being a scary story and becomes just a series of imaginative death scenes. Another is a good old fashioned ghost story and really, sometimes that's all you really need to make something scary. The show also manages to not overstay it's welcome and instead only runs 12 episodes. Enough to be given enough time to tell a scary story and wrap things out without padding the story once we already know what is going on.

Another was shown on TV in Japan, but Simulcast throughout most of the west. Simulcast means that episodes of the show were made available for streaming online shortly after it aired on TV. The show was simulcast on the website Crunchyroll.com, where it's still available to watch for free should you be curious to check it out.

Brave (2012)

Film: Brave
Release: 2012, Theatrical
Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson
Directed by: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: In the scottish highlands, the princess Merida is more a warrior than a scholar, when she is set up for marriage, Merida runs off into the woods.

Hans' thoughts:

The beauty about Pixar movies is that a lot of the time, they can take a very simple story and give it a cornucopia of layers. Sure, the message may be pretty close to the surface, but it's never the focus of the story. Even the most 'preachy' one, Wall-E, is more of a cute little love story between robots than the environmental message it eventually becomes at least 15 minutes into the movie. Sometimes though, it can be nice with just a fairy tale that's well told and in that regard this movie definitely delivers. 

Brave takes place in Scotland, and all throughout the movie you have this beautiful forest esthetic. The music is for the most part celtic, making the movie a joy to just look at, the character designs are simple yet recognizable and the bright red hair of Merida and her little brothers make the movie really colorful even in it's darkest moments. 

When this movie came out, I noticed it got a lot of flak because people had expected more, this is the first Pixar movie with primarily female main characters and I suspect the lack of a larger message behind the movie is what frustrated some audiences. Pixar has spoiled us with deep movies over the years, so something as simple as this is out of the ordinary. Stick with it though, as it is both funny and heartwarming in it's simplicity. 

Sometimes, with enough icing, the simplest of cakes can be as tasteful as the complicated ones and this is such an occasion. It may not be the deepest of cartoons, but it is wonderfully animated, and with a pretty cute story to boot.

Big Top Scooby-Doo! (2012)

Film: Big Top Scooby-Doo!
Release: 2012, Video
Starring: Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard
Directed by: Ben Jones
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: When Mystery Inc. goes to Atlantic City, hoping for a bit of R&R, Fred's fascination with circuses gets them involved in a hunt for a werewolf who've been doing a jewel heist crime spree throughout the nation

Hans' thoughts:

The first thing that's going to pop out at you when you watch this movie is also one of the first things that hit the screen. This movie absolutely excellent music, peaking at an absolutely wonderful into-credits sequence. The whole sequence is done in such a way that it looks like cardboard cut-out dolls are on the screen, and the imagery combined with the twisted honky-tonk esque motif that many associate with the circus is genuinely creepy. Not scary - creepy. Which is exactly how a Scooby-Doo movie should be able to convey. That I applaud. Music like this, with the occasional exception, plays throughout the movie to varying degrees of success, none as great as the aforementioned sequence.

However, this movie has a pretty big flaw in it's monster. As sad as I am to admit it, I could not take the character design of the werewolves seriously as all. The snout looks downright strange and the eyes look way too fake. Now of course I know that the monsters in the Scooby-doo franchise are never real, but this made it to a point that it kind of distracted from what was going on, on screen. Which is a shame for the story is actually not half bad and the mystery kept me guessing as to who the perpetrator was throughout, even wondering at times if the movie was going the "monsters are real route" this time which Scooby-Doo movies have, unfortunately, done a lot. I will give the movie this though, the outcome took me by surprise.

Big Top Scooby-Doo! is, if a bit flawed, still neck and shoulder above some of the other direct-to-video and televised Scooby-Doo movies. As with Scooby Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon this feels less like a cinematic experience and more like an extended episode of the What's New Scooby-Doo? TV-show. Don't take that as a criticism though, because that is what I feel the live-action movie should have been. A well-written mystery with some good comedy starring characters that the audience know and love. Once again, the direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies prove that they're able to give the human members of Mystery Inc. their own appeal that doesn't need to be backed up by Scooby's antics constantly - which is an achievement almost in and off itself. 

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Film: Wreck-It Ralph
Release: 2012, Theatrical
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch
Directed by: Rich Moore
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: Wreck-It Ralph is the villain of a arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr., on the 30th anniversary of his game console, Ralph starts reflecting on his role as a villain and vows to change

Hans' thoughts:

In the 1980's games were at a very different place than it is now. No, literally, home gaming was only just showing up so everyone were going to these mystical places called "arcades". I doubt a lot of kids today even want to go to one of these but to the people who grew up in those times, this was were you spent your allowance. If you had any. I'm from 1990 myself so around the time I was old enough to have enjoyed going to an arcade they were pretty much gone. So why am I telling you this? Well, because even though you may never had set foot in an arcade, you can actually relate to this story. This story is very much like Toy Story in that it's "what happens to the toys at night when the kids are sleeping" but also a bit like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, in that it has a lot of cameos from well-known franchises. Characters like Zangief, Q*bert and Kano all show up in this movie. For a short time anyway.

Thankfully however, this movie does not turn into "spot the character" as it could have. Instead of turning into a marketing ploy it actually has some compelling characters of it's own, playing in a pretty exciting story. The story is a pretty adult one, even if it is targeted towards kids. After 30 years of doing the same thing every day, the game villain Ralph goes on a soul searching journey to find out what it feels like to be a hero, if only just for a little while. Unfortunately, without it's villain the game he comes from can't really function and it stands in danger of being unplugged - the equivalent of armageddon in this universe.

Ralph is played like a very mellow person, he has a temper for sure but most of the time he just seems like he is the straight man to all the other characters antics. He's the audiences eyes after all, and he doesn't take anything too seriously. I have to admit that it took me a little bit to warm up to him, unlike the character Vanellope. Vanellope is most likely the popular character from this movie, she's a sassy little smart-ass who just wants to live out her greatest dream. Fix-It Felix is a very nervous guy like Ralph, but unlike Ralph he's also very conformed to the world he lives in - then again he's never really met any trouble and when he finally sees Ralph breaking out of character he has a hard time dealing with it. The last "main" character is the female officer from the game Hero's Duty, Calhoun. She's the stereotypical hard-ass female who just needs to find love again to warm up to people. All of the characters are archetypes for sure, but it feels appropriate since they're supposed to be characters defined by their role and their programming - a very meta comment about the state of character writing in the videogame industry.

Animation wise the movie is great, this could very well have been a Pixar movie judging by the quality but it's made by Disney's main studio. Being smooth as ever but as a nice homage to classic video games, some of the characters move in "jumps" like say, the bartender at the game tapters. On that note, seeing some of the classic video game characters reimagined in this artstyle was a nice little treat on the side. 

Wreck-It Ralph shows a lot of love for the subject material and it has some genuinely nice original content as well. The music is "digital" as it should be, and the meta gags combined with some pretty well done dramatic writing for a kids film just makes it all the better. 

Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (2012)

Film: Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon
Release: 2012, Video
Starring: Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle
Directed by: Michael Coguen
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: After stopping yet another crook in a monster suit, Mystery Inc. goes to a comic convention where Scooby and Shaggy are hoping to meet their hero - The actor who played Blue Falcon on their favorite TV-show. But as is always the case, problems are never far away as the reveal of a new reimagined Blue Falcon movie is haunted by the original hero's nemesis, Mr. Hyde.

Hans' thoughts:

The existence of this movie is to me - completely surreal. Not only are we talking about Warner Bros. actually mentioning a lot of the old school Hannah Barbera characters again - they're doing so through a parody of their own business practices. Well, to some extent anyway.

If you're more than a little familiar with the Hannah Barbera characters of yore like I am, you will be thrilled by this movie. Most of the movie takes place in a convention hall and for some reason the creators decided to make all the convention goers and posters reference classic Hannah Barbera series. If you're not though, fret not! Because as a Scooby-Doo cartoon this is actually above average as well. As opposed to most of the TV-show episodes, you actually get a lot more face time with the individual members of Mystery Inc. and the writers give them more well-rounded traits. It is much more than telling them apart by looks and catchphrases this time around. Judging by the animation style of the movie, I suspect it was the team behind What's New Scooby-Doo? that created this little gem.

Scooby-Doo has had a ton of Direct-to-Video releases like this, unfortunately most of them seem to be just a teeny bit creatively bankrupt as they seem to have stood around the water-cooler, suddenly snapped their fingers and gone "Wait, what if this time - The monsters were REAL?". Fortunately, this movie actually understands what makes Scooby-Doo entertaining in the first place, the mystery aspect. Making the monster real kinda takes the "whodunit" out of it all. I actually found myself wondering who stood behind the attacks this time, at least for a short while. Still, it is a kids movie and by the last 10 minutes most adult audiences will most likely have figured out at least WHO did it, only waiting for the motive to show up. It does have some nice fake-outs layered out over the course of the movie though and I applaud that. The problem with Scooby-Doo as a franchise has been the tendency to become way too formulaic, to the point of self-parody. 

As I stated, Warner Bros. kinda pokes fun at itself and fan culture a little in this movie. The character of Owen Wilson, the original actor playing Blue Falcon is voiced by cartoon veteran Jeff Bennett, who seems to have channeled actor Adam West during his performance. Which is only strengthened by the fact that the characters backstory is also very much like what West had to deal with after the end of the 1960's Batman live-action TV-Show. On the other hand, the reimagined Blue Falcon costume in the movie looks very much like the reimagined Batman costume from the modern movies. Tons of references like this are in the movie and most people should be able to pick up on them.

The movie doesn't delve too much into the references though, as this is still a Scooby-Doo cartoon. So of course Scooby and Shaggy gets into all sorts of antics, all the physical comedy you could want from a Scooby-Doo cartoon is present here. I have to bring up though, that to me Daphne really stole the show a lot of the time. She is funny in a surprising way in this one.

Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon ends up not only being a fun send off to an iconic character, but also one of the best Scooby-Doo stories to date and a love letter to the golden age of TV-animation. It feels like an episode of the show, only with a longer running time, a more complicated mystery and higher stakes. Which is really all you could want in a Scooby-Doo movie. Nostalgia for the adults and fun for the kids - Go watch it!

Argo (2012)

Film: Argo
Alternate title: Operation Argo
Release: 2012, theatrical
Starring: Ben Affleck, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin
Directed by: Ben Affleck
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: When revolution stirs up in Iran, CIA and Canada conducts a fake film project to extract endangered American diplomats from the country

Hans' thoughts:

One of the dangers of adapting real stories for the screen is making one side look cartoonishly evil. Fortunately, just like the real world this movie is a lot of very grey areas. While the Iran government is still set up somewhat as the "bad guys" the movie constantly reminds you that America started the whole debacle themselves. The movie doesn't seem like it wants to show some kind of political agenda, rather it just tells what is a very good story. This movie is very straightforward in that aspect "here's what happened, with a bit of sprinkles to make it interesting" much in the same vein as Zero Dark Thirty from the same year. The most entertaining part of the movie is the middle part, with John Goodman and Alan Arkin almost paying tribute to The Producers in their performance. Especially Arkin is very fun to watch. However, they manage to lighten up their part of the movie without belittling the situation the movie is depicting. The climax is also very suspenseful and I was at the edge of my seat for most of it. I have to say, while Affleck may not be the most animated of actors, he definitely has his place in the directors chair.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 (2012)

Film: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
Release: 2012, Video
Starring: Peter Weller, Ariel Winter, David Selby
Directed by: Jay Oliva
Next in the series: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: 10 years after the retirement of Batman, Gotham City is once again being consumed by crime. This time a gang turned terrorist organization called the Mutants is slowly taking over the youths. In the midst of chaos, Bruce Wayne decides to don the mantle of the Bat once more.

Hans' thoughts:

This is probably the best example of an adaptation improving on the source material I have ever seen. The source material of course, being the excellent graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. The movie is the first one in a two-part series of the adaptation, which is for the best. The original work has a lot of subplots going on. I'm actually astonished that it has taken this long for an adaptation to be made, seeing as the original work was very cinematic.

If you're familiar with Millers work, 300 and Sin City, you'll notice the very strong opinions being thrown at you in this movie. It almost serves to poke fun at liberals a lot of the time. You have the psychologists who are made up to be whining, and even a guy who comes with a real "peoples rights" speech but turns out to not actually be a citizen of Gotham City. However, the movie manages to tone it down to serve the broader appeal, making the movie bearable in this aspect, even if you disagree with Miller a lot of the way like I do.

You also have a very cool version of Harvey Dent, delving into what happens when medical treatment just comes way too late. I'll also like to highlight the art style: This movie pays tribute to the source material while updating it to be a little more easy on the eyes. It is though, very recognizably an adaptation. If you'd like to see what the Christopher Nolan Batman movies is most likely based on, or if you're just a Batman fan in general you definitely won't be disappointed with this movie.

The Cinema Snob Movie (2012)

Film: The Cinema Snob movie
Release: 2012, Video
Starring: Brad Jones, Jake Norvell, Noah Antwhiler
Directed by: Ryan Mitchell
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window
Description: The exploitation filmmaker Graig and his friend Neil can't get filming permits from the snooty members of the local filmboard. So Graig dresses up as the snobbiest critic ever to infiltrate their weekly meetings and cheat them out of the permits.

Hans' thoughts:

The Cinema Snob is one of the most popular and most productive critics affiliated with the company Channel Awesome. This movie (written by actor and creator Brad Jones) serves to give the character an origin story of sorts, cementing the differences between himself and the character. This movie is pretty good, but let's first get my gripes out of the way. First off, as with the other movie starring Brad Jones I've reviewed on this site (Paranoia) the sound quality is not the best. The lighting however, has been vastly improved. Even though some of the night shots are still VERY dark. Gripes put aside, this movie presents both very dry and very gory comedy, it is also littered with references to exploitation and b-list films and creators. The main character himself assumes the name of Vincent Dawn, a known pseudonym by the filmmaker Bruno Mattei who stood behind such infamous movies as SS girls and Caligula. I imagine it can be fun to see how many references a fan of exploitation can pick up on. That being said, I'm not that well-versed in that particular part of cinema so I was glad to see that there was something for us lesser beings as well. The best comedy in this movie certainly comes from the dialogue. If you like the Cinema Snob, there is well enough reason to watch this. If you're not, give it a try anyway. You may find something you like.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

Film: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Release: 2012, theatrical
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie
Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
IMDB page: Link opens in a new window 
Description: In this retelling of the life of one of Americas greatest presidents, vampires lurks the night and he makes it his personal mission to eliminate all of them

Hans' thoughts:

Assuming you're not put off by the title and the premise, there is good times to be found in this movie. This movie sounds like a comedy, but in fact it takes itself completely seriously and straight-faced. While the premise may be silly, the actors managed (in my case at least) to sell their emotions and the action scenes were pretty well done. This movie has bullet-time but it's careful to not overuse it, making it a thrill to look at. This is also a movie of spectacles, as some of the actions scenes has pretty catastrophic things happening around it (especially the climax). Not having read the book which the movie is based on, I couldn't tell you how faithful this is to the source material. However, if you're the kind of person who can look past the silliness of an American president fighting vampires with a wood choppers axe, and engage in the sheer action and indulgement this movie presents, you will most likely not be disappointed. I wasn't.