A Slew of Super Hero Movies

Now I was born in the mid 80′s but grew up in the 90′s.  I still remember the days when most of us eagerly awaited for the next Batman film.  Now I know there were more that came out during this time period, but this is the top franchise I remember.  Throughout the time period there was talk of another Superman, but it never escalated until 2006.  There were films that came out at the end of the decade, X-Men came out in 1999 I believe and then came 2001 and Spiderman.  I would have to say that X-Men and Spiderman started the new trend of superhero films that still goes on.

Now I love a good superhero or comic book movie.  I can hate a movie, but I’m normally pretty open minded to at least one thing in movie.  I have to admit that I own movies that I like only certain things about it, but I still own it.  With superhero movies, there are few that I can’t stand.  I absolutely hated Ghostrider, and that’s about the only one I can think of right off the top of my head.  I wasn’t a big fan of Ang Lee’s Hulk, Spiderman 3, and I have issues with Superman Returns but I own all three movies and I am a HUGE Superman fan.

My whole thing I want to talk about is the slew of them that seem to be coming out each year.  I mean we have Thor, Captain America:  The First Avenger, The Avengers, Green Lantern, Batman 3, Superman reboot, Spiderman reboot, Iron Man 3, Wolverine 2, X-Men first class, and a WHOLE bunch of others that could take forever to name.  Like I said, I love pretty much all these movies.  And I think that people love to see a great superhero/comic book film.  Even if the movie doesn’t follow the original comic, people still love them, especially the non comic book readers.  Hollywood tackles anything that sells, and I hope we don’t burn ourselves out on all these movies.  I know that I won’t be, because escaping into that world is a nod to my childhood.  I constantly was dressing up as someone from the comics or from the movies.  But I think they are important to us, and I think they show us that even a hero has challenges they have to tackle in their lives, bigger than ours, but they have issues too.  So I love the slew of superhero movies and I you all do too!

One last thing, I have to say I’m a DC fan, but I’m not slamming Marvel because I love them too.  Am I upset Norton isn’t playing the Hulk in The Avengers, yes but that’s a different story.  I’m a Superman fan myself and I am very excited about the remake.  I was so excited for Superman Returns, and I liked it and it was a good nod to Christopher Reeve, but we need the Superman of the 21st century and I really do think Zach Snyder can do it, that’s my opinion alone.  I loved what Snyder did with Watchmen.  I can’t wait to see more superhero movies and I hope you enjoy seeing your heroes on the big screen again, no matter who it is.

Thanks for reading,
Mason

Citizen Kane

I thought for some time what my first post about movies was going to be.  I decided to talk about the famous Citizen Kane, which has been the top movie of all time over and over, so what better choice for a first post.  I have seen the movie once, I saw it for the first time just over a week or so ago.  I’ve wanted to watch it so many times, but never have gotten the chance.  Well TCM showed it one night and I finally got the chance to sit down and give a look.  Now I am not here to give you any kind of synopsis.  I also have found lots of controversies about the film, I will allow you too look those up yourself.

The movie revolves around the life and death of Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) who creates an empire with the newspaper industry, but also has his own issues to deal with in life.  A young Orson Welles co-wrote, directed, and started in the famous movie.  Many of the other actors in the film were actors from Welles’ theater group, with some of them becoming big names later in Hollywood. 

The picture would go on to be nominated for 9 Academy Awards in 1941 and only win for Best Screenplay.  There was definitely some criticism from everyone on the film, and it has been said that block voting made sure Welles didn’t win for Best Picture and Best Actor.  People in Hollywood did not want this movie to be shown.  The film was based upon the life of William Rudolph Hearst (the owner of the New York Times) and Welles.  Hearst hated the fact that the film was loosely based off him that he banned anything about it in his papers.

So I’m not here to give you the synopsis of the film, you can find that anywhere.  The question that rolls around in my head is this, ”Is Citizen Kane the greatest film of all time?”  I have seen a lot of movies in my 24 year life time and I mean a lot.  Old and new!  I would have to say it really does run up there as one of the top films ever made.  Now this is coming from a guy who has seen the film one time, but I could see the brilliance of the film, forgetting about all the controversy, you can find that elsewhere if you would like.

It’s a five out of five stars from me, and I think everyone should try to find the chance to see one of the biggest films of all time, Citizen Kane.  I’ll leave you with this one quote from the movie, “Rosebud.”

Thanks for reading,
Mason