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PUNISHER: WAR ZONE - REVIEW

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After a sequel to The Punisher  could not get off the ground, studios finally decided to reboot the Marvel franchise with Punisher: War Zone . Ray Stevenson would replace Thomas Jane as the iconic anti-hero. While the 2004 film was a mild success at the box-office, it wasn't exactly the definitive Punisher movie as it lacked a certain edge and emphasis on action, something War Zone willingly delivers. Pushing the violence and gore up to 11, this reboot really tried to outclass both prior movies in terms of sheer brutality and, indeed, that mission was quickly accomplished. This Punisher is not for the faint of heart and critics back in 2008 were probably not expecting such a big difference in tone although anyone who knows the character and the comics knows he usually reduces bad guys to mush. The film sees Frank Castle lose a friend during a shoot-out with mobsters. He then takes out the leader by crushing him in a spinning pile of glass bottles but he somehow survives and pl

BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM - REVIEW

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Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm was the only film based on Batman: The Animated Series to be shown in theatres and, despite receiving critical appraise back in 1993, its rushed release meant it was a flop. It would eventually gain a cult following on home video, though. The film sees Batman (Kevin Conroy, as ever) encounter a mysterious new vigilante called The Phantasm who has been settling scores with various mobsters around Gotham City. It's also something of a prequel as we learn more about how Bruce Wayne became Batman, his relationship with old flame Andrea Beaumont (voiced by Dana Delany) and The Joker's (Mark Hamill) involvement in The Phantasm's revenge mission. This is a tense, melodramatic, layered Batman story every bit as dark and stylish as the best episodes of The Animated Series. The look of Gotham keeps that retro, Tim Burton-esque feel and the whole thing is like a 1940's film noir romance with lots of action and a fascinating mystery thrown in.

TOP 10 BEST DC MOVIE VILLAINS

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And so it's time to list my Top 10 Best DC Movie Villains , to even things out with my Top 10 Worst compilation. I'm not counting the animated movies in this list, just so you know. 10 HECTOR HAMMOND Green Lantern Probably the most underrated part of Green Lantern was Peter Sarsgaard's solid performance as Hector Hammond. The pathetic nature of the character is portrayed really well by the actor who gives the villain a growing edge as he is consistently ignored by his father and eventually turns into a macrocephalic monster. Sarsgaard takes the character seriously, even after his freakish transformation, and you do care about Hammond since he didn't start out as a bad guy so seeing him turn into an evil super-villain is surprisingly tragic.   9 THE RIDDLER Batman Forever Here's a villain that easily could have made it into the Top 10 Worst list in that he's both so over-the-top it's distracting but, on the other hand, he's

TOP 10 WORST DC MOVIE VILLAINS

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After looking at the worst Marvel villains , I thought it might be interesting (and fair) to list some of DC's worst movie baddies. 10 TWO-FACE Batman Forever If you've ever wondered what Two-Face would have looked like in the old Adam West Batman TV series, then you might want to check out Batman Forever . To this day, it's a mystery how Joel Schumacher managed to get such a manic, over-the-top performance out of the typically deadpan Tommy Lee Jones who has never been this nutty. This Two-Face is not only far from sinister, he's basically a more purple version of The Joker and it's pretty clear that Tommy Lee Jones is trying too hard to pull off a Jack Nicholson and compete with Jim Carrey's even more OTT Riddler. A silly interpretation of one of the most tragic, creepy and interesting Batman villains. 9 SELENA Supergirl If you haven't seen Supergirl , Selena is a wannabe witch who, through sheer coincidence, gets her hands on

NICK FURY: AGENT OF SHIELD - REVIEW

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Long before Samuel L. Jackson made the Marvel character his own and assembled The Avengers , David Hasselhoff was Nick Fury: Agent Of SHIELD in a 1998 film which saw Fury come back to SHIELD after leaving the organisation to take on Hydra. While "The Hoff" may sound like a goofy casting choice today and, it frankly did even back then, it's hard to deny that he does fit the look of the character in the comics at the time so could it be that the film was dismissed by critics and audiences solely based on Hasselhoff's reputation and past work? If not solely, then certainly partly because, while the actor gets to say some pretty cheesy lines throughout this film, his performance actually works: he's believably tough and wears the iconic eyepatch well. We first meet Nick Fury at a point in time when he's left SHIELD and is reluctant to join the organisation again but when Hydra kills an old partner of his, he is hired back and is soon ready to kick ass. The f

THE BIG REWIND: ASBESTOS LADY - PODCAST

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In this 67th episode of  The Big Rewind , we review  Captain America: Civil War ,  talk about Fantastic Four , Supergirl and Jumanji . CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  Soundcloud  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind #SuperheroMonth retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST REVIEW - PODCAST

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We review X-Men: Days Of Future Past on episode 36 of podcast The Big Rewind. Is the future truly set?

IRON MAN & HULK: HEROES UNITED - REVIEW

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This direct-to-video animated feature sees Iron Man and Hulk team up to face a powerful new enemy created by Hydra pretty much accidentally. Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United  was Marvel's first attempt at a CG movie using a new 2-D wrap technique. Unfortunately, the one thing bringing this venture down is the animation which could be a little more fluid when it comes to the characters' faces and definitely needs more shading, texturing and overall polish. It's a shame since the designs and the plot are all-around faithful to Marvel's recent movie output, this particular movie giving us an Avengers: Age Of Ultron test run of sorts while also bringing back The Abomination thereby linking The Incredible Hulk to Hydra in a clever way. The latter organisation's goal initially being to use Hulk's gamma energy to create a weapon but, in the process, they give birth to a new sentient electrical life form called Zzzax and it's not too keen on humans. Soon en

IRON MAN & CAPTAIN AMERICA: HEROES UNITED - REVIEW

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In 2014, Marvel Animation followed up their Iron Man/Hulk team-up animated feature with Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United , another Avengers duo movie. Using the same 2-D wrap technique which gives 3-D characters a more "drawn" look, the film sees Captain America and Iron Man discuss their respective fighting styles before Hydra, led by Red Skull and Taskmaster, invades Tony Stark's training facility and not only steals some of his more destructive technology but captures Captain America himself as well. Iron Man, with the help of trusty artificially intelligent assistant Jarvis, sets off on a rescue mission while Red Skull reveals his evil plan to Steve Rogers. The goal being to build an army with the exact same physical strength and fighting moves (and shield) as Captain America. Taskmaster, using Stark's stealth suit, would then mimic all of Iron Man's moves and, once the world is force-fed the Super Soldier Serum, Red Skull would then easily g

STEEL - REVIEW

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Back when Shaquille O'Neal was in movies because... basketball (?) we got Steel , a superhero movie based on the DC comics character with good old Shaq in the lead. Willingly ignoring the whole Superman connection to the character save for a shot of Shaq's "Man Of Steel" tattoo, the film instead decides to do its own thing with Steel by packing the story with new supporting characters and giving him another, simpler origin story. Released the same year as Spawn , Steel unfortunately failed to wow critics and audiences alike and it's still seen as one of the most misguided comic-book films out there. Despite a healthy budget, Steel still managed to look cheap somehow with the hero's costume not looking metallic so much as it looked rubbery and thrown together. Shaq's performance also left a lot to be desired as his constant toothy grins and stiff demeanour didn't exactly sell Steel as a moody tough guy going around the streets of Los Angeles making

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE - VLOG 01//06/16

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I talk briefly about X-Men: Apocalypse . 80's style!

AVENGERS CONFIDENTIAL: BLACK WIDOW & PUNISHER - REVIEW

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Released in 2014, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher was an anime-style animated feature produced in Japan taking The Punisher and throwing him in an Avengers storyline led by Black Widow, of all people. How does that work? As it turns out, surprisingly well. Taking a page out of DC's book, Marvel lends its characters to a group of competent animators who, much like most of the Batman animated features, not only deliver a visually appealing film but respect the source material. The film doesn't take the easy route either: it would have been a breeze to just make an Avengers movie like the poster suggests, packed with familiar characters throughout, but the fact that this focuses on The Punisher and his unlikely collaboration with Black Widow is refreshingly daring and original. The plot sees S.H.I.E.L.D. clash with The Punisher (voiced by Brian Bloom) over a specific case which Nick Fury explains goes deeper than Frank Castle knows. The latter therefore

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE - REVIEW

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As the X-Men franchises continues its journey through time, Bryan Singer is back to direct X-Men: Apocalypse with Oscar Isaac taking on the role of the iconic titular villain. Set in the 1980's, the film follows the timeline of the last two movies and throws in some nods to the original trilogy. If there's one thing the pre-titles sequence promises it's a much bigger scale but also one of the most out-there X-Men movies to date. If you thought a time-travelling consciousness and big evolving robots were too much then wait till you get a load of this adventure which opens in Ancient Egypt and leads us to the world's near-destruction. With the exception of a cool poster (above), the marketing for this new X-flick was clumsy and, as a result, I had little hope it would be any good. The first pictures released of Apocalypse looked awful and the Internet soon compared him to Power Rangers villain Ivan Ooze, then the trailers made it seem like it was essentially The Je

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III - REVIEW

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Following the success of the first two films, it was obvious the turtles trilogy would soon be completed and, sure enough, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released in 1993 and it did well enough at the box-office despite receiving mostly negative reviews. The plot this time sees April O'Neil (Paige Turco) get sent back in time to feudal Japan because of some magical sceptre she found in a flea market. The turtles soon go after her but they find themselves quickly separated and in the middle of a local conflict between Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono) and his own children who disagree with his desire for war and his dealings with shady English trader Walker (Stuart Wilson). Meanwhile, back in the New York sewers, Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) returns to babysit Splinter (now voiced by James Murray) and the Japanese warriors who have exchanged places with April and the turtles. The time travel aspect of the story is promising and yet you get the feeling right off the bat that it c

GOTHAM: SEASON 2 - REVIEW

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Gotham is a weird one. The first season of Fox's Batman prequel series was an uneven mess with the odd clever moment or likeable performance here and there. What should have been a simple detective show focusing on a young Jim Gordon trying to bring the person who killed Bruce Wayne's parents to justice turned out to be packed with over-the-top obscure and familiar villains all entangled in conflicting subplots. For my review of Season 1, you can check it out  HERE . Season 2 promised the "Rise Of The Villains" and we certainly got a few more key baddies including the likes of Hugo Strange, Mr Freeze, Clayface and Azrael. The first half of the season is focused on Theo Galavan (James Frain), a member of the Dumas family out for revenge against the Waynes who supposedly disgraced his ancestors: he hires the help of Jerome (this season's Joker), his niece Silver St. Cloud (Natalie Alyn Lind), his sister Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) and the newly unhinged Barbar

ULTRAMAN SAGA - REVIEW

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Released in 2012, Ultraman Saga was a Japanese superhero movie set in a post-apocalyptic world where cities are being invaded by Godzilla-style monsters as a team of big robot-controlling tough gals and the last remaining giant heroes try to defend what's left. Mixing CGI, colourful anime visuals and dudes in monster/Ultraman costumes, this is a modern precursor to Pacific Rim with a proudly retro look and feel. It is a sequel to Ultraman Zero: The Revenge Of Belial , released two years prior, and stars familiar faces from the series as well as members of the J-pop group AKB48 because pop stars make excellent actors, as we all know. The good thing about this one is you don't need to know anything that happened before because, fear not, the film is packed with flashbacks and exposition so it's all pretty self-explanatory. Hell, even without the subtitles I'm sure any non-Japanese speaker would easily figure out the plot: monsters bad, everyone else good. The afo

RANT N' PLAY - BATMAN RETURNS (GEN)

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I play a little bit of Batman Returns on the Sega Genesis. And rant along, of course.

DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE - REVIEW

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An unlikely favourite comic-book movie of mine growing up was Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze , the 1975 big-screen adaptation of the old Lester Dent pulp magazines. I was later surprised to learn that, not only did the film receive negative reviews and failed at the box-office upon its release but the French dub inexplicably gave Ron Ely a lisp. Don't ask, I don't know... While the film tries to stay true to the character of Doc Savage and his story in the comics, it also keeps a tongue-in-cheek tone throughout, occasionally poking fun at the dated nature the pulp hero. This might have confused audiences back in the day who may have expected a more earnest action film, sort of like how Last Action Hero didn't do well with reviewers who weren't expecting a flood of in-jokes. But although Doc Savage has its cartoonish moments, it's not really a spoof and it captures the spirit of the titular hero and his adventures rather well. Doc Savage is given his own patri

THOR GORDON - MASH-UP

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Here's a mash-up of the Thor and Flash Gordon trailers I made a while back.

10 COOL THINGS ABOUT... SPAWN

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I compile 10 cool things about the 1997 movie adaptation of Spawn starring Michael Jai White and John Leguizamo. Superhero Month goes to Hell and back!