tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66483097870156219342012-02-13T01:54:14.103-05:00Amateur movie reviewer Matt Sutton tells you - yes, you - just what he thinks about the movies he watches.Mattnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-9020691251220348902012-02-12T23:36:00.017-05:002012-02-13T01:54:14.116-05:00

The "found footage" style of filmmaking has long been associated with the horror genre. Scary movies pretty much invented and codified the style. "Found footage" movies aren't completely exclusive to horror, though, as science fiction has occasionally dipped its toes into the pool as well. Cloverfield, with its "man on the street" approach to the classic concept of a giant monster rampaging

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-80003347037169616722012-01-20T13:28:00.002-05:002012-01-20T13:28:21.727-05:00

I wanted to begin this review by saying a few words about The Asylum, but those words escape me. If you're unaware, The Asylum is a small film studio in Hollywood that has not only brought us goofy monster movies with titles like Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, but has gained notoriety due to the sheer amount of "mockbusters" they've made over the years. Mockbusters — low-budget movies with titles

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-9696648074154407212011-12-25T13:54:00.004-05:002011-12-30T12:42:16.103-05:00

One element of the Christmas season that I've always enjoyed is the glut of holiday specials that television studios crank out in that span between Thanksgiving and New Year's. A lot of these specials — the classic Rankin/Bass stuff and A Charlie Brown Christmas, for example — have achieved legendary status among Christmas lovers like me. But one special has gone beyond "legendary" and has become

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-32776938944335348182011-12-24T09:17:00.000-05:002011-12-24T09:17:15.190-05:00

When it was announced that Guy Ritchie would be crafting a cinematic reinvention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic literary detective Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role, it was approached by some with great trepidation. It may not have pleased the diehard Holmes purists, but the movie was a tremendously fun action/adventure movie that made a boatload of money at the box

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-53429531260677387842011-12-11T23:06:00.001-05:002011-12-11T23:06:17.859-05:00

In my review of Parts: The Clonus Horror, I posited that more than a few people have wondered what it would be like to have a clone of themselves. But I wouldn't be surprised if a larger number of people had imagined what they'd do if they could turn invisible. While I doubt people having the ability to become invisible will happen in any of our lifetimes, it's definitely something that send the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-59479961590313582322011-12-10T18:59:00.001-05:002011-12-10T19:06:29.627-05:00

Although it was not the first fighting game, Capcom's Street Fighter II revolutionized and redefined the entire genre when it arrived in arcades in 1991. Fighting games were big business for game developers in the years that followed, with imitators and wannabes all gunning for a share of the pie. While the most famous of these is the Mortal Kombat franchise, other games made name for themselves

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-21734967001146192672011-12-03T20:00:00.001-05:002012-01-12T19:19:06.491-05:00

In the unbelievably slim case that you haven't noticed, most of the comic books that Hollywood has adapted into movies have been based on the superhero pantheons of DC and Marvel. But movies based on lesser-known comics from independent publishers haven't always been as successful as their DC/Marvel brethren. Dark Horse's Hellboy might have seen success at the box office, but most movies based on

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-48196570014916596222011-11-30T23:23:00.004-05:002011-12-25T04:24:19.740-05:00

Those bizarre people who consider themselves fans of bad movies have in recent years latched onto filmmakers like Uwe Boll and Tommy Wiseau. Though their respective outputs are pretty awful, you can at least enjoy them because of how amusingly laughable their faults are. But neither Boll or Wiseau can compare to Edward D. Wood, Jr. Often labeled the worst filmmaker ever, Wood made some of the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-18843651024573447342011-11-18T19:23:00.042-05:002011-11-19T01:01:23.602-05:00

I often wonder why I continue to willingly suffer through bad movies and movies I know I'm not going to like. Many times it's pure masochism. Watching a terrible movie for the sake of having watched a terrible movie is nothing new for me. But other times, it's a case of pure morbid curiosity. I just have to know what the big deal with the movie is. Such is the case with the Twilight franchise. I

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-74251571371919041712011-11-03T17:05:00.001-04:002011-11-14T01:02:55.339-05:00

Though it's now widely hailed for its groundbreaking special effects, Tron wasn't met with that same warmth when it was released in the summer of 1982. It barely broke even at the box office, the critical reaction was mixed at best, and it wasn't nominated for any Oscars because its use of CGI was viewed as "cheating." But time has been kind to Tron, though. While I will concede that the effects

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-22452512116435037272011-10-24T17:12:00.001-04:002011-10-24T17:13:00.991-04:00

When John Carpenter remade The Thing From Another World in 1982, the resulting movie sadly didn't do too hot theatrically. My guess is that with E.T. coming out at roughly the same time, people would have rather seen a friendly little alien trying to get home instead of some interstellar monster killing a bunch of people. But time has been very kind to it, and The Thing has earned recognition as

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-6068487823518677412011-10-23T23:42:00.007-04:002012-01-03T17:06:26.238-05:00

Found footage movies are rather polarizing, more so than styles within in the horror genre. This is especially evident in the very successful ones; I know people who to this day will still argue whether or not The Blair Witch Project was good or bad. The same can be said for more recent fare like the Paranormal Activity movies. When Paramount Pictures gave the first Paranormal Activity a wide

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-42220759814715744622011-10-21T11:37:00.025-04:002011-12-22T12:56:49.340-05:00

Though its origins can be traced back to 1980 and entered the cultural mainstream in 1999, the "found footage" genre has only recently become fairly commonplace. And with the genre's surge in popularity over the years, one of its most talked-about entries has been Paranormal Activity. Premiering at film festivals in 2007 and released theatrically in 2009, the low-budget haunted house story was a

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-13524750110847820922011-10-13T15:16:00.003-04:002012-02-10T03:44:49.963-05:00

When some people find a niche, they like staying there. That's probably why half of Kevin Smith's directorial efforts feature his beloved stoner duo, Jay and Silent Bob. The six movies Jay and Bob appear in are comedy gold, but unfortunately, Smith's efforts to make movies without them haven't really been accepted all that well. Jersey Girl and Zack and Miri Make a Porno underperformed at the box

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-45051360503548961702011-10-07T00:46:00.001-04:002011-10-07T00:48:51.503-04:00

Though I'll admit that I haven't seen as many of them as I'd like to, I'm still a sucker for '80s slasher movies. I don't know what it is about them that I enjoy so much, but I can't help but sit down and watch them when I get the chance. That's largely what drew me to Adam Green's Hatchet a few years ago. The movie was hyped by practically every horror news website there is as the second coming

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-11703952746630297832011-09-26T14:28:00.002-04:002011-10-17T17:03:46.093-04:00

Everything must come to an end, be they good or bad. And eventually, even the longest-running horror movie franchises will end as well. Some even proclaim the latest sequel is "the final chapter" yet still have enough steam to keep on chugging along. You'll even see the rare instance of a horror franchise with multiple final chapters (I'm looking at you, Friday the 13th). While this mostly

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-7231587034517307122011-09-06T23:50:00.003-04:002011-09-10T21:24:21.357-04:00

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for "found footage" movies. Maybe it's the added sense of realism the style provides. Maybe it's the fact that, with the right tools and enough imagination, I could probably make one myself. I don't know what it is, but I've always found myself intrigued by them. But most of them don't really differ too much from one another. There've been some that featured

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-2353414836031065362011-09-03T22:30:00.001-04:002011-09-03T22:34:29.028-04:00

I've started noticing a slowly-burgeoning trend in Hollywood where moderately successful movies will get sequels (often in name only) that go direct-to-video. It doesn't even matter if the movies are twenty years old, as Tom Hanks's Bachelor Party and Matthew Broderick's WarGames both got sequels in 2008. But it's usually more recent movies that get the direct-to-video treatment. There's a ton of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-61736141393283862922011-08-31T18:44:00.003-04:002011-08-31T18:44:00.465-04:00

Thanks to the success of Scream in 1996, horror movies were suddenly cool again during the second half of the '90s. Studios couldn't crank out their latest teen-oriented scary movies fast enough. And unlike today, where they probably would have just made a few remakes, Hollywood toyed with the idea of sequels. And not just new entries in long-running franchises, either. I mean digging old movies

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-38605000883037706232011-08-31T17:07:00.002-04:002011-09-03T22:31:54.091-04:00

Of all the names that have been associated with the horror genre in its various mediums over the years, few are as immediately recognizable as Stephen King. Author of some of the most memorable scary stories of all time, King has long been one of the biggest names in horror literature. But everybody has to start somewhere, and for King, his start came in 1974 with Carrie. The first of his books

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-57571905010898269032011-08-26T12:29:00.001-04:002011-08-26T12:29:50.886-04:00

Batman may lay claim to the title of "the world's greatest detective," but that only accounts for superhero comics. When it comes to crime comics, no detective can top Dick Tracy. The creation of cartoonist Chester Gould, the square-jawed Tracy debuted in a comic strip published by the Detroit Mirror on October 4, 1931. The syndicated strip grew in popularity (due largely to the bizarre-looking

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-44751396989187498322011-08-19T11:30:00.000-04:002011-08-19T11:30:50.981-04:00

George A. Romero has long been a beloved figure among horror fans. It's because of him that zombies as we know and love them today even exist. But outside of his zombie movies, he hasn't really had a whole lot of success. I mean, Creepshow was great, and The Crazies has found some cult popularity, but it's Romero's zombie movies that people want to see. So I guess that's why, with the surge in

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-87133946320193772422011-08-10T23:42:00.019-04:002011-08-17T12:18:28.403-04:00

With everyone packing cameras built into their cell phones, dozens of news networks airing 24 hours a day, and widespread Internet access, information can travel faster than ever before. It's that sort of thing that can change the world, as evidenced by how quickly news of the recent political protests and revolutions in the Middle East spread and sparked other countries in the region to do the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-52734640315349718952011-08-07T17:29:00.000-04:002011-08-07T17:29:36.425-04:00

Call me crazy, but I always get a kick out of movies that come right out and tell you everything you need to know right in the title. Snakes on a Plane had, get this, snakes on a plane. Zack and Miri Make a Porno saw the titular characters do exactly that, and the Harold & Kumar movies — ...Go To White Castle and ...Escape From Guantanamo Bay — had Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and escape

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-76810241194556714292011-07-25T15:02:00.003-04:002011-12-31T03:10:50.956-05:00

During World War II, American comic book publishers started cranking out tons of patriotic characters as a way to boost morale. While many of them would disappear as quickly as they were created, one would stand the test of time to become one of the most enduring characters in the industry. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for Timely Comics, Captain America was introduced before the United

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-47475079401367045762011-07-22T13:21:00.005-04:002012-02-12T15:09:14.446-05:00

In my previous review, I spoke of how Marvel Comics teamed with CBS in the '70s to create a number of live-action television projects based on Marvel's characters. And with the exception of The Incredible Hulk, none of them really turned out that well. Of particular note was the movie based on Captain America, which was not only boring, but just a poor adaptation of the character in general. It

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-38265770811061437332011-07-22T11:13:00.006-04:002012-02-12T15:13:16.988-05:00

For the last decade or so, Marvel Comics has been cornering the market on superhero movies. But you younger readers might be surprised to learn that before they started showing up in movie theaters, live-action adaptations of Marvel's characters were all over television instead. After the successes that DC Comics had with TV shows based on Batman and Wonder Woman in the '60s and early '70s,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-84522058901787492011-07-18T22:29:00.002-04:002012-01-05T08:40:36.479-05:00

When Grindhouse was released in 2007, one aspect of it that really stuck with people was the fake trailers sprinkled throughout the movie. These advertisements for non-existent exploitation movies were so well-received that fans began clamoring for them to become real movies. Robert Rodriguez did just that with his Machete trailer last year, making it the first to go from fake trailer to real

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-57435436337987326752011-07-12T13:41:00.000-04:002011-07-12T13:41:39.553-04:00

Not every movie can age well. The passage of time can ravage them, leaving them outdated relics from days gone by. This is especially true of comedies, as what was funny when they were released may not be funny in the future. There are some, though, that can withstand the test of time. One of those movies is This Is Spinal Tap, a movie that is as funny now as it was twenty-seven years ago. A "

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-55437201625885628422011-07-01T23:49:00.018-04:002012-01-01T03:14:08.009-05:00

People seem to really enjoy bashing Michael Bay. His movies make boatloads of cash at the box office, yet every review I read treats him like he's the Antichrist. They hate the movies he directs, they hate the movies he produces, and they hate him for his involvement with Platinum Dunes, the production house that specializes in remaking classic '70s and '80s horror movies. But I can't say I have

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-54302834249207263402011-06-30T20:43:00.000-04:002011-06-30T20:43:04.713-04:00

While there are some who will lump sequels in with remakes and reboots as evidence of Hollywood's lack of originality, I don't have a problem with them. Me and sequels are cool. What I don't like, though, are bad sequels. You know what I mean, those sequels that are so awful that they make you resent the original movie. Take, for example, the sequel to Michael Bay's live-action adaptation of the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-79349515190939658402011-06-29T11:09:00.012-04:002011-06-29T11:09:01.134-04:00

I've never made my affection for the 1980s a secret. I'm still a sucker for the cartoons and toy lines of the decade, but one I never particularly got into as a kid was Hasbro's Transformers. Based on two separate Japanese toylines, the Transformers were a huge success, thanks to the Marvel comic book and the immensely popular animated cartoon. Although the Transformers have been around in some

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-83766713138843466772011-06-22T14:08:00.002-04:002012-01-23T01:13:02.557-05:00

If you read the review of Kickassia that I posted back in April, you'll know that I'm a fan of TGWTG.com, a website dedicated almost exclusively to geeks giving their own sarcastic takes on pop culture. The site features dozens of contributors, some whose work is more prevalent than others. Of them all, one of my absolute favorites is Brad Jones. He produces a number of shows for TGWTG.com and

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-10555040145667073222011-06-19T11:09:00.004-04:002012-02-12T15:39:50.816-05:00

There's more than a few comic books that I follow on a regular basis, but among my favorites are the ones featuring the Green Lantern Corps. While the name "Green Lantern" is most commonly associated with the group of heroes who've called themselves that since the '60s, it's been around for a lot longer. It was originally coined in 1940, when Martin Nodell and Bill Finger created Alan Scott, who

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-28347205387201987782011-06-05T16:31:00.004-04:002011-07-18T16:45:10.803-04:00

Of the thousands of characters that have appeared in the pages of Marvel's comic books over the years, some of the most prolific have been the X-Men. Though their book wasn't the hottest of sellers when it debuted in 1963, the X-Men have since become one of Marvel's biggest cash cows. There are at least ten different X-Men comics currently in publication, and they've been adapted into cartoons,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-34406106791251503322011-06-03T23:51:00.014-04:002012-01-10T03:20:41.102-05:00

Biographical movies don't come out all that often, but when they do, they're usually inspirational stories. They're tales of respected celebrities who've conquered personal demons or of people who have overcome tremendous adversity. A lot of them are either critical darlings or box office successes, but there are some that don't really come up in conversation. Some are made for TV or select

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-78228184533761705022011-05-30T23:17:00.002-04:002011-05-31T00:52:09.512-04:00

I can't say that I expected Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl to be the runaway success that it was. It was a movie based on a ride at Disneyland, for crying out loud. But the box office success, critical acclaim, and Oscar nominations proved that I really don't know anything about movies. And the fact that its back-to-back sequels — Dead Man's Chest and At World's End —

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-58686948199709804572011-05-14T21:55:00.001-04:002011-06-24T23:10:18.930-04:00

Toys have long been separated into two categories: dolls and action figures. And if there's anyone to thank for the term "action figure," it's Hasbro's G.I. Joe toys. G.I. Joe debuted in 1964 as a series of 12-inch action figures representing different branches of the American military. The toys were successful, but most people will more than likely associate the G.I. Joe name with the "Real

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-27036826604472904402011-05-07T14:36:00.000-04:002011-05-14T23:40:13.030-04:00

I'm not sure if I can properly explain just how disappointed I was with Alien vs. Predator. When it was released in 2004, I was excited. Paul W.S. Anderson might have screwed up Resident Evil, but he couldn't possibly screw up a crossover between the Alien and Predator franchises, could he? Turns out that's exactly what he did. Alien vs. Predator was a big stupid mess wrapped in a PG-13 bow. But

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-39035466575681261622011-05-06T13:27:00.037-04:002011-09-18T01:20:56.881-04:00

With the vast amount of powers that comic book superheroes have been able to tap into, they've practically become godlike entities whose stories exist within comic books and their adaptations. But while many are godlike, there's at least one superhero who is a literal god: the mighty Thor. Based on the god of thunder from Norse mythology, Thor was created in 1962 by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, and

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-78753575571315823722011-05-05T21:20:00.004-04:002012-01-01T03:19:01.116-05:00

The FCC had strict regulations governing television's commercial content prior to the '80s. But when said regulations were eliminated, it not only saw the rise of the infomercial, but toy companies started cranking out a ton of cartoons made to advertise their products. These animated toy commercials started trickling onto TV sets in 1983, but really hit full force when those regulations were

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-22451745187284553482011-05-04T23:05:00.000-04:002011-05-09T13:07:50.815-04:00

When Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson made Scream in 1996, they ended up sparking a post-modern slasher movie revival. Studios were knocking out Scream wannabes right and left, practically all of them having an ironic (almost to the point of being farcical) take on horror as a whole. But this trend, along with the Scream franchise, came to an end at the turn of the twenty-first century. It was

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-92162077575078508862011-05-03T19:42:00.027-04:002011-05-03T23:05:18.282-04:00

If there's one true thing about horror movies, it's that success spawns sequels. That's the reason why Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger have appeared in thirty movies combined (counting the remakes). Practically nothing will stop Hollywood from making a sequel to a hit movie, even if it goes straight to video several years after the appropriate window of opportunity. But most of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-2892052869164782622011-04-29T22:59:00.027-04:002011-05-02T11:06:04.926-04:00

Thanks to the Internet's potential as a creative outlet, countless scores of people have used it as a resource to let their voices be heard. Whether it's through artwork, music, writing, or uploading things on YouTube, the Internet remains a safe haven for creative expression. Many have carved niches for themselves by critiquing pop culture. Reviews of movies and TV shows, comic books, video

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-43720735684756576642011-04-27T14:46:00.009-04:002011-05-05T21:23:31.833-04:00

When it was released in 1996, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's Scream was met with box office success and a ton of critical acclaim. It sparked a renaissance of the slasher movie style during the second half of the '90s, simultaneously birthing a number of self-aware horror movies that were all released in its wake. So of course Scream just had to have a sequel. And true to the '80s slasher

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-81983422038679527892011-04-17T23:48:00.016-04:002011-04-18T00:17:35.117-04:00

In my review of Alien 3, I wrote that I was curious why the third and fourth chapters in the Alien franchise were not as heralded as the first two. And in watching them, I figured out why. Alien 3 is thoroughly mediocre due to terrible writing, and Alien: Resurrection is... well, it's bad. It's not overwhelmingly terrible, but yeah, Alien: Resurrection could have been a million times better. So

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-860096861531687182011-04-15T12:34:00.006-04:002011-10-05T12:53:33.489-04:00

As the '80s came to a close, so did what was termed "the Golden Age of slasher movies." While they were still around during the first half of the '90s, they weren't as successful or as prevalent as they were in the decade prior. The entire genre itself was suffering from lowered box office returns at the time. But things changed when legendary horror auteur Wes Craven teamed up with Dawson's

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-41796072341953943632011-04-06T23:37:00.021-04:002011-04-07T01:00:48.888-04:00

Of all the classic sci-fi movies that have been released over the years, Alien and its sequel are two of my all-time favorites. Alien and Aliens are legitimately two of the best movies I've ever seen, and the acclaim and success they've achieved over the years have actually caused some people to overlook that there were actually two more sequels in the franchise. One of them, Alien 3, is the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-72837751640726104282011-03-30T23:47:00.010-04:002011-07-01T12:39:01.116-04:00

I've only seen two of Zack Snyder's past directorial efforts, but I can say that I did enjoy them very much. And I'm surely not the only one, as Warner Bros. recently pegged him to helm their upcoming relaunch of the Superman film franchise. But all the affection I may have for his remake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead and his adaptation of Watchmen, I have about as much sheer hatred for his

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-42204442990655658182011-03-23T13:30:00.004-04:002012-01-10T03:36:34.117-05:00

While some great movies are followed by sequels that are less than stellar, some sequels actually rival the quality of their predecessors. While The Godfather Part II remains the torchbearer for awesome sequels, it's not the only one that is as good as the one that spawned it. There's more than a few, and among them, one of my favorites is Aliens. The sequel to the classic piece of science

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-62092845185606102822011-03-10T11:39:00.003-05:002011-03-10T11:41:36.246-05:00

It seems like Hollywood has taken to rebooting a franchise rather than try adding a new sequel into the mix. More than a few superhero movie franchises have been relaunched, and both James Bond and Star Trek had decades of continuity wiped clean with recent movie releases. But oddly enough, when Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios was entrusted to breathe new life into the Predator franchise

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-13138258398970075122011-03-05T12:54:00.003-05:002011-04-07T00:57:43.949-04:00

It's a sad truth, but sometimes great movies end up with lousy sequels. The Jurassic Park sequels sucked, the Matrix sequels sucked, and Superman and Batman have had their fair share of bad sequels. Unfortunately, the same can be said for one of my favorite '80s movies, Predator. The movie that saw Arnold Schwarzenegger battle an alien big game hunter in the Guatemalan jungle is a modern classic

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-17367992627436114772011-03-04T12:21:00.003-05:002011-03-27T00:38:24.261-04:00

The Academy Awards were this past Sunday, and just like it is every other year, it was four boring hours of Hollywood slapping itself on the back for creating a bunch of artsy-fartsy movies that are made solely to win Oscars in the first place. But my motto when it comes to watching movies is "screw art, let's party." I'm not rushing out to see King George VI overcome his stutter or a bunch of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-77318870910503222732011-02-17T14:52:00.000-05:002011-02-17T14:52:11.093-05:00

I've written more than once about my occasional journeys into the realm of international horror movies. These "journeys" have taken me to Japan, Spain, Canada, Australia, and England, with more than a few great scary movies coming from these countries. One of them was Neil Marshall's The Descent, a fantastic flick about of a group of thrillseekers who get trapped in a cave system in the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-11830479179953075382011-02-12T13:31:00.000-05:002011-02-12T13:31:40.333-05:00

Like many others out there, I'm claustrophobic. It's not an extreme case or anything, but tight spaces are something that I'd like to avoid. And as a claustrophobic person, one of the worst things I could imagine would be to find myself buried alive. Just thinking about it makes me want to have a panic attack. It was this fear that drew me to the movie Buried. Its whole concept captured my

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-89463134452402162342011-02-04T13:00:00.002-05:002012-01-10T03:44:28.056-05:00

You can turn pretty much anything into a movie. No matter how crazy the idea may be, it can be done. I know this because I've seen it happen. All we have to do is go back in time to the winter of 1985, when Paramount Pictures released a movie based on the classic Parker Brothers board game Clue. No, I am not making that up. A major film studio actually turned a board game into a feature-length

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-59541075719354521082011-01-27T14:51:00.006-05:002011-08-22T01:43:01.143-04:00

Have you ever made a decision that you knew would probably be a stupid one as soon as you made it? I'm having one of those moments right now. I'd recently had the idea to broaden my horizons in terms of the movies I review here, which led me to SpiderBabe, the movie this post will cover. As you might have guessed, SpiderBabe is an obvious parody of Spider-Man, made to cash in on the success of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-39079128313623802542011-01-26T10:17:00.015-05:002011-04-28T00:42:06.129-04:00

While Hollywood has been making superhero movies for a long time, they've been especially big business over the last decade or so. It seems like you can't go a year without seeing two or three movies based on characters owned by Marvel Comics, with a lesser handful of movies coming from rival DC Comics. But on occasion, you'll see some filmmakers who instead create their own superheroes, ones

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-11395722342653520132011-01-24T15:07:00.003-05:002011-01-24T15:10:54.605-05:00

Not every superhero needs extraordinary abilities, enhanced armor, or even a flashy costume. Some of them can make it with just a badass car and a simple domino mask. Case in point: The Green Hornet. Created by George W. Trendle and an uncredited Fran Striker, the Green Hornet made his first appearance in 1936 on a radio program that aired on WXYZ-AM in Detroit before eventually reaching

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-7086260785991269672011-01-15T14:23:00.001-05:002011-01-19T00:53:13.475-05:00

Batman's been done a million different ways by a million different people, but one of my favorite versions of the character has always been the '60s television show that starred Adam West as the titular hero. It's a hard show to take seriously, but it's just so much fun that one can easily overlook its flaws. And I'm not the only one who loves the show, either. Twenty-six years after the show's

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-1319096178208139282011-01-11T13:11:00.001-05:002011-01-11T13:11:00.475-05:00

During the first half of the 1990s, urban struggle became a major theme in African American pop culture. Gangsta rap was becoming more and more popular, and movies about young black men coming of age in the face of adversity in gang-populated neighborhoods were seeing release seemingly all the time. However, the success of gangsta rap and "hood films" like Boyz N The Hood and Menace II Society 

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-51661365788329419372011-01-06T11:01:00.001-05:002011-01-06T11:04:43.786-05:00

Though they've been around since the 1970s, "shock jocks" really hit their peak in the '90s. Radio DJs with a penchant for crude, potentially offensive humor were huge during the decade, and the biggest among them was Howard Stern. Stern was all over the place during the first half of the '90s, with his syndicated radio show and television shows getting high ratings, and his two autobiographies

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-15497887168078481862010-12-31T12:58:00.002-05:002011-12-11T02:09:01.477-05:00

There's more than one way a filmmaker can approach a sequel to a hit movie. You can follow the same formula as the original movie, or try building upon the mythos it created. You could even go the Blair Witch 2 route and do something so completely different that nobody will believe it was actually made at all. Or you could always aim for self-parody, as Joe Dante did when he made the sequel to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-61107052079581205582010-12-25T12:34:00.002-05:002011-01-04T12:58:45.698-05:00

I've been reviewing Christmas movies every December since 2006. And outside of a tiny handful of exceptions, the movies I've reviewed have been, shall we say, "unconventional." I've never been a Miracle on 34th Street kind of guy. Call me nuts, but I've always preferred the crazier Christmas movies. That's why, for 2010, I chose to review Gremlins. Because when you think of Christmas, you think

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-72745966829456933622010-12-21T22:37:00.020-05:002012-02-03T20:26:42.571-05:00

Over the last few decades, it seems like quiet a few movies have been turned into stage musicals either on or off Broadway. Let's take a look at the list: The Lion King, Shrek, Elf, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Carrie, and even The Evil Dead. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. But the one that always comes to mind for me is the adaptation of Roger Corman's movie The

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-5063232603053101592010-12-11T13:24:00.001-05:002012-02-03T20:29:33.419-05:00

Start listing nominees for the title of "the king of B-movies," and Roger Corman's name will have to be near the top. He's been involved with hundreds of movies during his lengthy career, whether it be as a writer, producer, or director. He's also been credited with helping launch the careers of numerous A-list actors and directors. But as a filmmaker, one of his most well-known movies was his

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-28174338752060786142010-12-03T19:00:00.003-05:002012-01-08T21:09:13.999-05:00

Picking a movie to review for this blog doesn't take a whole lot of effort. A lot of the time, it's just as simple as me stumbling across a movie and thinking it might be fun to write about. But there's been the rare occasion where I'll see a movie and realize that not only am I a fool for having watched more than ten minutes of it, but that I just had to post something about it. Such was the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-80199079004064452622010-11-30T23:32:00.012-05:002011-10-09T00:04:31.059-04:00

As a horror fan with access to the Internet, I've been privy to some of the weirdest, most disturbing ideas that one could possibly come up with. Think up the grossest thing you can, and someone has probably used it in a horror movie. But perhaps the craziest of all the stuff I've seen is a movie titled The Human Centipede (First Sequence). I first heard the title and the movie's concept back in

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-60961025238982984042010-11-22T23:43:00.033-05:002012-02-12T15:44:55.152-05:00

Go through my archives and you might notice that the overwhelming majority of the comic book movies I've reviewed were inspired by American comics. While Marvel and DC have the most representation in my past reviews, even the smaller companies whose material was translated into movies I've reviewed are from the United States. But American comics aren't the only ones that can be adapted into

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-42191093831046574792010-11-19T11:06:00.003-05:002011-06-01T02:31:42.490-04:00

Not all cult films have need to have the same massive audiences that The Rocky Horror Picture Show enjoys. Others can develop their own devoted fanbases through means beyond repeated midnight showings. Some become what they are through nostalgia, with fans who loved it in their youth and still loving it when they rediscover it in adulthood. One of these movies is Tron, a movie that I often heard 

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-8730950323738475312010-11-15T22:51:00.002-05:002011-10-09T00:06:02.620-04:00

Stephen King has long been considered one of the premier names in horror literature. But the movie adaptations of his books have always been hit or miss. Mostly miss, to be honest. For every one like The Shawshank Redemption, there have been five like Pet Sematary Two. There's some, though, that weren't bad, just mediocre. One was Maximum Overdrive, an adaptation of King's 1973 short story "

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-67665441682119671112010-11-14T13:31:00.002-05:002011-10-09T00:09:48.376-04:00

I've already reviewed Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II, so where else is there for me to go? The answer is simple: Back to the Future Part III. Filmed immediately after Part II ceased production and released six months after its predecessor, the third and final chapter in the Back to the Future saga takes much of the formula and transplants it into the Old West. So let's quit

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-63300558929113061802010-11-13T12:27:00.000-05:002010-11-13T12:27:00.114-05:00

After twenty-five years, two sequels, a Saturday morning cartoon, a couple of video games, and its own theme park ride, I think its safe to say that Back to the Future is firmly entrenched in American pop culture. It was a box office smash when it was released in the summer of 1985, turning its lead actor from a TV star into a movie star in the process. The movie was so popular that Ronald Reagan

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-83392565633004299882010-11-12T22:04:00.051-05:002010-11-12T22:04:00.735-05:00

Science fiction is a very broad genre. It can encompass a great many things, from global disasters to alien invasions to robots. But of all the different sub-genres, one of my favorites is time travel. I'm a sucker for a time travel story, as long as it's pulled off right. And in 1985, one of the best time travel stories ever told hit theaters. Produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Robert

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-68642456333924987632010-11-11T12:06:00.005-05:002011-10-11T12:51:59.624-04:00

When I reviewed Tank Girl last week, I called it a bad movie that I just couldn't bring myself to hate. I didn't realize that I would be reviewing its total opposite so soon, but here I am talking about The Pest. It's a movie so tremendously awful that I have no problem whatsoever hating it. If I could kill it and bury it in a shallow grave out in the desert, I would. I don't know what the makers

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-22182502432688336732010-11-05T13:49:00.003-04:002011-07-18T17:06:31.526-04:00

I've seen more than a few bad movies since I decided to create "Sutton at the Movies" in 2003. Some of them were so bad that I'll get upset just hearing their names. But there have been a few bad movies that were just so silly that I couldn't bring myself to actually hate them. One of these too-wacky-to-hate movies was Tank Girl, a movie based on a comic created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-38833442226621991912010-11-04T10:37:00.002-04:002010-11-04T17:32:14.414-04:00

Cult classics are not born overnight. It takes time for them to earn that status, along with a devoted audience willing to pluck something out of obscurity and turn it into something special. Many movies can claim to be cult movies, but there is one cult classic that others want to be when they grow up. It became an underground sensation after its original premiere, and 35 years later, it

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-18882617036334788962010-10-23T23:51:00.010-04:002011-10-23T14:54:04.474-04:00

When it was released nationwide this time last year, Paranormal Activity was a bigger hit than initially expected. Shot on an unbelievably minuscule budget, it pulled in a worldwide gross of nearly 200 million dollars and got a ton of positive reviews dating as far back as its festival run in 2007. While there was a certain level of backlash from people who thought it was an overhyped bore, it

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-27688371552654654262010-10-19T22:35:00.005-04:002011-07-18T17:25:46.944-04:00

Hollywood just gets out of control sometimes, especially when it comes to milking something successful. I mean, how many 3D movies have been released lately, especially after the success of Avatar? It's getting to the point that just about any movie will be made in 3D nowadays, including the movie I'm reviewing right now, Jackass 3D. Yes, you read that title right. Not only did someone decide to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-77822552714020107072010-10-11T18:51:00.012-04:002011-06-29T11:57:51.838-04:00

With any long-running media franchise, it's possible for the franchise to run out of steam yet still keep trying to have a go at it anyway. But there are cases where a franchise hits the wall just as it begins. This is none more evident than with the Highlander franchise. A ton of sequels, a TV show, an animated series, and two video games have carried the Highlander name, and almost all of them

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-56836034592461392722010-10-08T09:51:00.005-04:002011-08-07T20:42:20.349-04:00

Over the course of a few decades, both Marvel and DC Comics developed their own "shared universes," which allows their characters to co-exist in the same world and justify the occasional crossover. Marvel and DC's universes occurred naturally over a span of several years, but when the comic speculator market reached its peak during the mid-'90s, other publishers tried creating their own universes

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-10885407166594217122010-09-23T13:08:00.006-04:002012-02-07T23:57:06.443-05:00

There was never a greater time to be a fan of action movies than during the 1980s and early 1990s. The movies might have been dumb, loud, full of corny dialogue, and lacking anything resembling plot, but they were so much fun that I can't say anything bad about them. They helped make stars out of guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Steven Seagal, and

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-24207410616327393442010-09-22T20:16:00.003-04:002010-10-21T11:32:49.733-04:00

A couple of months ago, I reviewed No Holds Barred, a movie that was supposed to turn iconic pro wrestler Hulk Hogan into a movie star. I say "supposed to" because, well, it didn't. No Holds Barred was a crappy little movie that is "Exhibit A" in the argument that Hogan should never, ever do anything outside of pro wrestling. But I guess Hogan was unaware of that argument at the time, because he

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-78144929198864228592010-09-11T23:56:00.008-04:002011-07-18T17:27:56.201-04:00

I've been a fan of Capcom's Resident Evil games for a long time, since even before I owned a console on which I could play them. Their combination of zombies, monsters, and the "oh crap, something's gonna get me!" vibe made me fall in love with them as far back as the PS1 days in the middle of the '90s. So when I heard that there was going to be a Resident Evil movie, I got super-excited. And

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-61472156420144147802010-09-06T15:56:00.004-04:002010-09-06T16:07:17.278-04:00

When Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up to create Grindhouse, they probably didn't expect it to be a box office flop. Their ode to the exploitation double features of the '70s did poorly during its theatrical run in 2007, but the majority of those who saw it loved it.A lot of people, including myself, would go on to say that the four fake movie trailers in Grindhouse were the best

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-50360913475273157552010-08-30T12:48:00.014-04:002011-10-05T12:58:20.231-04:00

When horror movies find something successful, they'll run it into the ground. In the 1970s, the chosen theme was religious horror. Movies like The Exorcist, The Omen, and Rosemary's Baby were all the rage. Though it died off with the arrival of the '80s slasher boom, religious horror has recently popped back up with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the remake of The Omen, and two separate prequels to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-15515554696781475832010-08-27T22:04:00.007-04:002010-11-19T01:05:20.338-05:00

I've never been one to keep my affection for horror movies a secret. But the problem is that there aren't a lot of American horror movies being released lately that really catch my eye. I mean, I really didn't have any interest in movies like The Unborn or Orphan, or in cheesy-looking remakes like The Stepfather, Sorority Row, and Prom Night. And even when I do get interested in something, it

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-8530796603006999832010-08-25T12:37:00.003-04:002011-12-26T09:45:52.110-05:00

I've mentioned my affection for USA Up All Night and MonsterVision more than once, both here and my personal blog. And when Up All Night was a regular staple of my weekends, I would always look forward to when they would air the Toxic Avenger trilogy. I'll be the first to tell you that the movies aren't great or anything, but to quote someone else, a movie doesn't have to be good to be awesome.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-80119238293400599302010-08-24T12:12:00.008-04:002011-12-26T09:45:49.695-05:00

When Troma founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz set out to make a sequel to The Toxic Avenger, they may have gone a wee bit overboard. The production's final result was over four hours of usable footage. Doubting that anyone would want to sit through a movie that long, Kaufman and Herz chopped the movie in half. The first half became The Toxic Avenger Part II, while the second half was turned

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-39585533776266511962010-08-23T13:30:00.009-04:002011-12-26T09:45:47.285-05:00

When Troma Entertainment created The Toxic Avenger in 1984, they stumbled upon a formula that would make them the kings of goofy, no-budget sleaze. With their combination of cheesy effects, bad acting, and general outrageousness, Troma makes the kind of movies that only a fan of Z-grade schlock could love. And while Troma has never really reached mainstream success, they've had their share of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-82235025442965934192010-08-22T10:56:00.008-04:002011-12-26T09:45:54.155-05:00

If you're a movie fan looking to broaden your horizons and sample some B-grade schlock, you'll find none greater than the movies produced and distributed by Troma Entertainment. Founded in 1974 by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman, Troma got its start distributing raunchy sex comedies before making a transition to cheesy monster movies and horror flicks. I was introduced to them primarily through

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-4006458944748209912010-07-29T14:50:00.004-04:002010-07-29T15:25:20.018-04:00

If you were a fan of action movies during the '80s, then there was no way you could avoid Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though he got his first real taste of fame with Pumping Iron, a documentary about his training for the 1975 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, his big break in Hollywood came in 1982 with Conan the Barbarian. The movie was a hit, and Schwarzenegger was on the fast track to stardom.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-77254136613171323182010-07-28T13:32:00.006-04:002011-08-11T12:24:05.835-04:00

I became a fan of professional wrestling in 1993, not too long after the end of its boom in popularity that had began in the '80s. For numerous reasons, the industry had fallen into a sharp decline, one that it wouldn't pull out of for several years. It wasn't until the beginning of what's been dubbed "the Monday Night Wars" did pro wrestling start regaining the massive mainstream popularity it

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-22688664823628992312010-07-28T12:21:00.002-04:002012-02-06T18:20:07.089-05:00

Of all the different forms of entertainment out there, one of the most bizarre is professional wrestling. What began decades ago as a way for carnival workers to scam unsuspecting people out of money has become outlandish characters staging choreographed fights in front of a paying audience. And despite the negative stigma that being a fan carries, I'll confess that I do watch pro wrestling. I

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-76891258811860701862010-07-17T21:40:00.010-04:002012-01-20T05:12:19.886-05:00

I am continually amazed by the existence of The Asylum. These innovators of the "mockbuster" have somehow managed to stay afloat on a business model of nothing but cheesy knockoffs of mainstream movies. I usually just ignore their movies, since they generally aren't anything I'm interested in. But a couple of them have caught my eye, however. One was Monster, which I reviewed this past Sunday.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-29922092208910766852010-07-11T22:24:00.007-04:002012-01-20T05:12:12.192-05:00

I've seen more than a few bad movies over the years. I've seen three Uwe Boll movies. I've seen DC Comics crank out Steel, Catwoman, Batman & Robin, and Superman IV. I've seen movies like The Room, Gymkata, Hobgoblins, and Manos: The Hands of Fate. But oddly enough, until recently, I'd never seen a movie from The Asylum. For those of you who have yet to discover The Asylum, they're a Hollywood

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-78652857184096879322010-07-06T13:44:00.007-04:002011-08-07T20:35:48.378-04:00

I've reviewed nearly 250 movies in the last seven years, movies that have ranged from awesome to awful. But none of them are as bizarre, as weird, and as confusing as Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. Read that title again. Go on, I dare you. I'm not making that up. There is a real movie titled Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. It sounds like it should have been one of those fake trailers from

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-3097932063895133092010-07-02T12:12:00.015-04:002012-02-12T15:59:13.597-05:00

Among comic book fans, there are certain writers and artists that are held in very high esteem. People like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko are all cited as important figures within the industry. But few are as respected as Will Eisner. Eisner began his career as a cartoonist in the 1930s, and as the years rolled by, he would become one of comicdom's most influential creators. The

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-6919482854189643212010-06-30T18:11:00.002-04:002010-12-08T23:41:47.550-05:00

I've been writing these reviews for the better part of a decade. And in that time, I've seen quite a few bad movies. Some of them I went into with high hopes, only to be disappointed. Others I knew were bad from the outset, but I sat through them because I wanted to test my endurance. But of all the bad movies that have been reviewed since I began "Sutton at the Movies," few have left me as

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648309787015621934.post-74197754684443452872010-06-23T14:10:00.004-04:002011-07-18T16:24:43.425-04:00

There's more to comic books than just superheroes. While tales of cape-wearing crimefighters may be the medium's dominant genre, there's also horror, fantasy, romance, and science fiction to be found at your local comic shop. And though they are nowhere near as prevalent as they may have been decades ago, Western comics are still around. Among the rare Western characters still in publication is

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0