Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut

   As with many movies these days, when they hit home video, there always seems to be an unrated cut, or an alternate cut, an extended cut, but rarely are these versions so important as they are when it comes to comic book movies. Most recently, the highly divisive Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice got an 'ultimate cut' on home video, but lets go back a ways to one of director Zack Snyder's earlier efforts. An almost equally divisive comic book movie from 2009 called Watchmen. It was praised by most critics upon it's release, and it's reception from fans was fairly split, but the general public seemed to be very lost- and understandably so.

Blood Father

   I was holding off on reviewing stuff like this because I really wanted to dig into more animated DC stuff, but cest la vie. Here we are. Mel's back, baby! I mean, it's not like he's been gone that long, or even long at all, considering he's made a movie almost every year since 2010, with the sole exception of 2015. And, with the exception of Get the Gringo, none of those other movies... really did anything for me. But this is Old Testament Mel! This is lean, mean, gritty, Payback Mel Gibson. Blood Father has enough rage and emotion for two movies, but this one will have to do.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

   This is, for all intents and purposes, the ultimate Elseworlds animated movie. Sure, it's about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman... but these aren't the characters you know. Hell, it's not even Clark, Bruce and Diana. In this world it's Hernan, Kirk, and Bekka- respectively. Superman was not raised by Ma and Pa Kent, but instead by two Mexican migrant workers. In point of fact, Jor El isn't even his father. I won't spoil who is, or how, but it's fascinating. And all that is just Superman. Wonder Woman and Batman have completely original origin tales as well. But what's really cool about this movie, beyond all that, is that it tells a story that doesn't hinge on these differences. Let me explain...

Batman: Assault on Arkham

   Despite the fact this is just an elaborate tie-in to the Arkham games, dropping right after Arkham Origins more or less,  it's honestly not even a Batman movie. Sure, he's in it, but this is a Suicide Squad flick. Obviously they couldn't just call it that though. Where's the brand recognition in that? And, without stars like Will Smith and Margot Robbie in it, people would've been like Suicide What? Squad. Suicide Squad. By now most people have already seen the new movie, and despite the amazingly negative critical reception... the secret is out! People actually really like the movie. A lot. So if you're one of them (I definitely am) then you could do worse than this little animated feature to tide you over until we get more on the big screen. 

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

   I guess I'm starting to get the appeal of these one-off animated movies. For the longest time I just had no interest in them. Either the animation was off-putting or the story was just not one I felt drawn to. But between Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and this one, The Flashpoint Paradox, I might be a fan. Once I got past the style of the animation they used here, I found the story pretty engrossing. I'll admit right now that I've never read much of The Flash comics. I like the character, I've read stuff with him in it, and I'm a big fan of both the old and the new TV show, so I figured- what the hell? With a positive recommendation from a friend, I decided to check out The Flashpoint Paradox.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

   This animated offering from DC was originally released in two parts, and then released again in a 'deluxe edition' which combined both 75 minute long parts into one long two and a half hour movie... the way it was meant to be seen. Personally, I'm not nuts about the DC animated movies. My favorites are like... almost 20 years old at this point. Mask of the Phantasm, Sub Zero, Return of the Joker, et cetera. I mean, I've seen quite a few of their subsequent animated flicks, but they never do too much for me. This is the one movie though that's made me consider giving most, if not all of them a second chance. This movie is... simply put, fantastic.

10 Cloverfield Lane

   I'd like to thank the entire internet right now for not spoiling this movie for me. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a thriller with a bag full of twists, turns, and plenty of good old fashioned tension. It's been a while since a movie made me squirm in my seat so badly, but 10 Cloverfield Lane did the trick. I was already down for this movie when I found out it starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead, beyond the fact she's a fantastic actress, I've had a crush on her since 2007's Live Free or Die Hard. I've been watching pretty much whatever she's been in ever since, for better (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) and worse (The Thing). Thus, I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I didn't see 10 Cloverfield Lane a bit sooner.

Hardcore Henry

   I don't get the Call of Duty comparisons. I mean, beyond the basic concept of the first person point of view, and shooting stuff... there's no similarities. I mean, I realize that basic concept was probably the entire point of comparison, but still. Hardcore Henry has more originality and personality than that comparison gives it credit for. I should put it out there right now that I really don't like Call of Duty. There's so many better first person shooter games out there, and if Hardcore Henry was a game, it'd be one of those better games. It's so mercilessly energetic and relentlessly fun. It gets quite a lot of mileage out of it's core gimmick, and at a breezy 96 minutes it's smart enough to not outstay it's welcome.

Suicide Squad

   I'm so confused right now. I went into Suicide Squad, expecting a bad movie. A messy, truncated, badly edited piece of junk. And maybe that's precisely why I didn't see any of that? People had blown this shit of friggin proportion. Suicide Squad isn't bad at all. It's just kinda standard in some regards. To put this into perspective, using RT scores... while the critic's score is abysmal at 26%, the audience score is at 73%. With Batman V Superman, the critics are at 27% and the audience is at 63%. Both audience scores feel accurate to me. I personally liked both movies a lot more than those numbers indicate, but I'm an individual, yo.

Preacher

   As a comic geek, and a movie nerd the list of things I'd love to read/watch will eternally be longer than the list of things I love that I have already read/watched. But sometimes when a certain title on one list, crosses over to the other- I gotta make it a priority. Preacher is one such title. I only just got caught up on the show a couple weeks ago, but I'd been holding off so that I could read the comic book first. Now whether or not you think that's a bad idea is irrelevant. I ended up loving the comic, and I'd only read about ten to twelve issues before starting the show, but either way I've got (almost) nothing but good news.

Zardoz

   "THE PENIS IS EVIL." With those words, this weird 70's sci-fi movie was instantly burned into my memory. There's simply no forgetting a movie with a mostly-naked Sean Connery disrupting a futuristic hippie commune, ripping up children's books, getting mobbed by a bunch of senile old people, and ending up on the losing side of a few staring contests. Amazingly, there's a story to this movie that puts all of those things into a proper, understandable, and cohesive context. Some might argue that fact with me, but I'd make the counter argument that they weren't paying attention. Oh ho ho.