Best of 2014: Movies – Best Comic Book Movie

Another year is in the books, and we here at Hush Comics couldn’t pass at the chance to rank our favorites of this year’s releases in all types of mediums. Some of the winners will surprise you; heck, some of the results surprised  us. The results are completely subjective, and therefore were chosen with infallible logic. We would love to hear your opinions on what we have chosen, or if you thought we missed anything. This should be a fun review before we gear up for 2015.

Click on the link to take you to the “Best of 2014” homepage.

Best Comic Book Movie

• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
• Amazing Spider-Man 2
• X-Men: Days of Future Past
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

WINNER – Guardians of the Galaxy

There’s no way you thought it could be anything else, right? The pelvic sorcery was just too strong with this one. With Marvel constantly putting out sequels and reboots and team-ups, this film of the most rag-tag group of a-holes in the galaxy was a deep breath of fresh air for fans. It might have been a way to say, “look, we can make a movie starring a talking raccoon and a tree and you’ll love it,” or it could be a sign of Marvel’s willingness to finally look outside the box, but any movie that can take that lazy idiot from Parks and Recreation and make him an international sex symbol is worthy of some award. – Sherif

Second Place – Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

What’s not to love here? This movie not only had awesome special effects and fight scenes, but it also had a plot element that reverberated through the entire marvel cinematic universe including the television show. If that wasn’t enough, they even cherry-picked some of the best scenes from the comic books including a snippet from the Civil War storyline where Cap breaks out of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. While this wasn’t the first Marvel movie to follow The Avengers, it is the first one to follow more of the aftermath of that film as most of Thor was spent on Asgard (or at least dealing with that problem). We actually get to see the continuation of that plot as well as the buildup to the next Avengers movie. – Robert

Third Place – Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out this year. That sounds silly, but when thinking about a year in review, this movie’s premiere seems like it was ages ago.  Perhaps that’s because it felt like a classic comic movie to me.  I for one loved this movie.  It had scenes and dialogue that would appeal to all audiences, and at it’s core, that is what any Spider-Man movie should do.  While the ending was controversial, it was cannon and beautifully done.  It’s too bad that there were other films that came out this year that overshadowed this film; it may have done better last year.  However,  I think this is one will stand the test of time. – Adrian

RUNNER UP – X-Men: Days of Future Past

What can I say that anyone who’s been reading comics for more than a minute wouldn’t already know? It’s the movie of one of the best X-Men comics ever made – an apocalyptic future where sentinels readily hunt humans, and a little time travel is needed to fix it. These new X-Men movies are killin’ it, and I couldn’t handle how into this movie I was when I saw it in theaters. I do wish Kitty Pride had been the one to go back in time instead of Wolverine, but, Wolverine is apparently what the people want. Maybe the best thing about this new installment, though, is how it undid the unfortunate events of X3… by making it so that it never existed. – J.H.

RUNNER UP – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This will be a hard one to slice, and no pizza or sword pun intended there. This movie sure received a lot of hate and skepticism before the movie ever came out, and most people never shook that. To me, though, this film may not have been the best made comic book film (which definitely goes to Guardians), but TMNT gave me a feeling harkening back to my childhood and watching the original live-action turtles, which came out when I was only two…weird… Ultimately, they did Michelangelo right and as a man who owns a winter wardrobe where I look just like Mikey I can say that was enough to earn my approval. With Bebop and Rocksteady already confirmed for the sequel, you can bet I will be first in line all dressed up and ready to go. – Jacob

Next Category: Best Straight to DVD Movie

The Fault in Our Stars Movie Review

Genre – Drama/Romance

Director – Josh Boone

Cast – Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolf

Alluring element –  Based on the New York Times Best Selling novel by award winning author and noted nerd, John Green.

Scorecard:

Plot – 9

Acting – 8

Representation of Genre – 8

Cinematography – 7

Effects/Environment – 7

Captivity – 9

Logical consistency – 8

Originality/Creativity – 9

Soundtrack/Music – 9

Overall awesomeness – 9

 

I was lucky enough to see an advance screen of The Fault in Our Stars last week and I am still dizzy from the emotions it surfaced for me. I’ll admit that I am a bit biased when it comes to this movie. The Fault in Our Stars is my favorite book and it means a great deal to me, personally. Author John Green shares a YouTube Channel with his brother Hank called “The Vlogbrothers,” of which I am a massive fan. Their fans are called Nerdfighters (fighting for nerds, not against them) and they are some of the most passionate, intelligent, caring people you will ever meet. While writing the novel, John documented his progress as well as read the first two chapters to his fans via Livestream before the book was even published. The Nerdfighters were even able to catch a mistake in the book before it was printed. So when I say I’ve been with this story since the beginning, I mean the very beginning. Seeing this story finally hit the big screen feels like a triumph.

Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is an atypical teenager living with cancer, oxygen tank trailing forever behind her. While medication and frequent doctors visits have extended her life quite a bit, she is very much aware that she is dying. After being deemed depressed by both her mother and doctor, Hazel begins attending a cancer support group. It is here that she meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a charismatic, sly, metaphoric loving cancer survivor determined to make his mark on the world. Together they find “a forever within the numbered days,” a love that transcends their illness, and an adventure that makes them both feel infinitely alive whilst on the border of death.

Lovers of the novel will be extremely satisfied with the adaptation. Countless scenes have dialogue directly pulled from the book. The casting could not be more perfect. I personally can not see anyone but Shailene Woodley playing Hazel and Ansel Elgort makes the perfect Augustus. While the movie was actually shot in Pittsburgh, set designers and cinematographers were able to make it feel very much like Indiana, scouring out every flat piece of land they could find and recreating the sculpture “Funky Bones”with such detail that the original curator Sarah Green couldn’t tell the difference. Watching the film felt like reading the book all over again. The few scenes they cut I didn’t even notice until later watching an interview with John Green. It is clear that the people behind the movie cared for the book just as much as it’s diehard fans.

While Augustus may be “on a roller coaster than only goes up,” this film takes its audience for an emotionally diverse ride, so much so that DFTBA.com sells a “TFIOS Preparedness Kit” – tissues included. Witty dialogue and ingenious timing create a laughable atmosphere throughout the movie, allowing the audience to believe everything is going to be okay just long enough that when things take a turn for the worse, it cuts all the deeper. However, despite how much the movie made me cry, I still wouldn’t classify it as a sad movie. The Fault in Our Stars is just as much about life as it is about sickness and death. The characters are joyful through much of the film. They are falling in love with each other and with life, despite how little time they have left. In fact, it may because of their mortality that they are able to do this so freely. One thing should be made clear; this is not a cancer story. Yes, it’s a love story about two kids with cancer. Yes, Hazel’s oxygen tank and Augustus’prosthetic leg makes it abundantly clear they’re ill. Still, The Fault in Our Stars is a story about people faced with their own mortality and the mortality of their loved ones. It’s about laying things clean and dry on the table to stop beating around the bush. It’s about two young adults realizing that this life is all they are going to get and that that’s just fine. Their lives are not perfect, in fact they’re far from, but they are still lives that demands to be lived to their fullest. This is a story about overcoming pain and finding joy despite it. This is not a cancer story.

The soundtrack alone could warrant a review. Ranging from big names like Ed Sheeran and Birdy to lesser known, but just as talented artists such as Afasi and Filthy, the album’s mood fluctuates similarly to the film but still manages to be cohesive. “Bomfelleralla,” a personal favorite of mine, may be the only song that doesn’t seem to quite fit until you see the film. It’s plucked directly out of a scene where Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) plays the song for Hazel and Augustus.

The Fault in Our Stars is an important story because it shows that cancer patients are not their illness and have lives outside it. It shows sickness in a light we rarely get to see. So often we look at someone with a cannula and all we see is their sickness. We visualize them as “the other”when they are very much just like us. The Fault in Our Stars breaks down this “otherness”with a story about two lovers who are like every other couple. They just happen to have cancer.

The film comes out June 6th but if you hurry, you can see it early. Theaters all over the US are hosting “The Night Before the Stars”where audiences can see the film the day before it comes out as well as a following livestream including cast members Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Nat Wolff (who plays Issac) , Author John Green, Director Josh Boone, Producer Wyck Godfrey, and performances from Birdy and Nat and Alex Wolff. Attendees will also receive a commemorative charm bracelet and exclusive movie poster. Tickets are $25 and going fast.

Even if you haven’t read the book (though I sincerely recommend you do) The Fault in Our Stars is a film you will find yourself thinking about long after the credits roll. From the brilliant cast to the heart wrenching plot, this film is destined to be a Summer hit.

 

All photos belong to 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics

So Far This Week…May 28, 2014

Oh my stars and garters, Hushsters! We’ve skipped an entire week of news. In our defense, we were a little busy. We took a trip to Houston to visit Taylor Lowe, where we went to Comicpalooza. Not only was it a great time, but it was also kind of a milestone moment for us. We went as press for the first time, interviewed Batman artist Greg Capullo (also a first), met Stan “The Man” Lee, geeked out at the Buffy panel, and lots more. Check back on the site, or here for more of our Comicpalooza stuff, including a James Marsters panel and an in-depth synopsis of the weekend.

 

LeVar Burton is Kickstarting to relaunch Reading Rainbow. Will it work? Hell yeah it will; the campaign is “flying twice as high,” already shattering it’s $1,000,000 goal in less than 24 hours. “Take a look; it’s in a book. Reading Raaaainbow!”

X-Men: Days of Future Past was released this past weekend. It was “cool,” but we weren’t really that impressed. Here is my full review (SPOILER FREE) of the movie. On the bright side, they’ve released what the special edition Blu-Ray set will look like (August release?) and we will definitely be picking that up.

Sad times, as we lost one of the world’s greatest poets and civil rights’ activists in Maya Angelou.

A bunch of peeps are being cast for Season 5 of Game of Thrones. If you’re a book noob like me, then you probably don’t know who any of these guys are.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are better at acting than you are.

The Hateful Eight will start filming in November. The Quentin Tarantino film was canned previously when the script was leaked, but the director has since had a change of heart.

There goes more of that #SixSeasonsAndAMovie Community talk, with Hulu being the newest candidate to pick up the freshly canceled show.

Don’t say Denzel is an too old to kick ass… speaking of, when did Hit-Girl start looking like that?

My most anticipated game of the summer came out yesterday. Watch Dogs promises to be an open world adventure of hacking goodness – the game has already broken the company’s record for single-day sales (the same company that owns Assassin’s Creed, mind you). The release hasn’t been smooth sailing, though, as bomb threats and crippling glitches have slowed it down. Hopefully we can sit down and murder this game to have a review to you in the next couple weeks.

If you’re already over hacking, then check out this extended trailer for Arkham Knight, complete with gameplay.

We like to think our Game of Thrones reviews are decent, but let’s be honest: if we could watch Seth Rogan and Snoop Dogg get high and then review GoT every week, we probably wouldn’t write them anymore.

Boardwalk Empire alumnus Charlie Cox will be playing lead Matt Murdock in the Netflix original Marvel series, Daredevil. I loved his work on Boardwalk, so I think this is a great pick-up.

DC Comics has gone through quite the transformation since they launched 52 new books in 2011… but here we are in 2014, and they’re close to canceling 52 books in three years. Yikes.

The guy who played Barry Allen in the 1991 series has been cast as Barry Allen’s father in the new Flash TV Series.

Comic book legend Alan Moore is launching a mobile app called Electricomics, designed to help self-publish independent creators. This could be the answer to what creators do after ComiXology was acquired by Amazon earlier in the year.

Ben Templesmith is releasing his Kickstarter-backed The Squidder, a four issue series post-apocalyptic tale.

Here are this year’s Television Critics Award nominations. Orange is the New Black getting a nomination is HUGE. Could online streaming television really be the future of how we watch shows?

Marvel is looking to do something superhero-ey, but not what you’d expect. Grab your 3D printer and get ready to recharge your imagination with Big Hero 6.

Ooh! That reminds me, ComiXology is giving away a free comic book each day for 20 days. We are currently on day three, where you can pick up My Little Pony: Pony Tales Vol. 1. Check back each day; they occasionally have cool stuff, too (if My Little Pony isn’t your thang).

That Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist webseries we were talking about a while ago? Yeah, well it’s out. And it’s the shit. Devour it all right now.

Here’s Johnny! Depp plays Whitey in next month’s documentary, WHITEY: America vs. James Bulgar.

Jaden Smith wore a Batman costume to Kim K.’s wedding. And it was white. Who wears white on the brides day? Really?

The Mad Men mid-season finale involved a very odd musical number.

The Batman vs. Superman film finally got a full title, Dawn of Justice.

BATMAN… IN SPACE!!! LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham was announced. We’re just add that to the list of things we’re going to go broke for.

 

Written by Sherif Elkhatib and Adrian Puryear

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past Movie Review

Genre – Comic Book/Action

Director – Bryan Singer

Cast – Hugh Jackson, Jennifer Lawrence James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, a bunch of other people that you never see

Alluring element – A classic X-Men story that tries to make up for The Last Stand

**check out our review of the graphic novel if you’re interested in reading it.

Scorecard:

Plot – 8

Acting – 9

Representation of Genre – 6

Cinematography – 7

Effects/Environment – 8

Captivity – 7

Logical consistency – 6

Originality/Creativity – 6

Soundtrack/Music – 7

Overall awesomeness – 7

 

 

After the foul tail-end of the original X-Men trilogy, followed up with two more poorly-received Wolverine movies, Bryan Singer and company attempts to start all over with Days of Future Past. Do they succeed? Yes, but like its source material, it is not without its flaws.

When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men in the 1960’s, the team was spawned from a reflection of the Civil Rights movement. Social commentary through badass super-powers became the norm. So when Chris Claremont progressed the subject into one of total annihilation with Days of Future Past, it was as much a nod to the mutually assured destruction of war as it was about saving the world from evil sentinels.

That’s not to say that I wanted the movie to be preachy, but at the heart of the X-Men concept is that of a team. The idea that everybody can have their own favorite X-Man, and they were all useful tools in the struggle, was one that appealed to me as a kid, watching the X-Men animated series. However, this movie was really boiled down to four main characters: Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine and Mystique. The movie was marketed as including a slew of side characters from the future, as well as a reunion of the original cast; instead, they showed up to be collateral – with their forced dramatic deaths failing to make me feel the gravity of the situation.

Meet the cannon-fodder, er, I mean “supporting cast”

 

X-Men has always been a team concept, and this movie turned it into an excuse to flaunt their biggest stars. We get it; Huge Jacked Man and the glory of Jennifer Lawrence’s Bloobs are hard to pass up, and the McAvoy/Fassbender chemistry feels just as authentic as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen do. However, if you’re going to sell this as X-Men movie, can we get some more X-Men in there? Not every team movie needs to be The Avengers (thanks Joss, for setting the bar impossibly high), but the camaraderie here doesn’t even hold a candle to the original X-Men, or even First Class.

“I thought you liked my bloobs…”

All of a sudden, having an all-star cast is more important than a well-rounded cast – a sentiment I’d be fine with on almost anything that wasn’t the X-Men. They do a decent round-about way of making Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine the centerpiece over Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde, until you realize that Kitty Pryde never had the ability to send anybody else’s consciousness back in time. It’s not that I’m that upset Singer’s Kitty Pryde didn’t get the main role, since Bishop filled in the role quite well in the animated series. There were a ton of other logical brain-farts we saw throughout that seem to be credited to tying in the horrible Last Stand in order to make the whole saga canon – a valiant effort, but still a sham.

One place DOFP absolutely succeeds is in the portrayal of Quicksilver, who helps the team break into the Pentagon and free Magneto from imprisonment. Played by American Horror Story‘s Evan Peters, Peter (Singer felt his comic book name, Pietro, isn’t a realistic name for a teenager) Maximoff is self-indulgent and hilarious, but is intrigued by the challenge of the prison break. There’s a particular sequence where Quicksilver shows off his skills that gave me the butterflies like a superhero movie is supposed to (something I definitely did not feel throughout the rest of the movie), and was around just long enough to make me want more.

Mystique also takes center stage here, and she kicks ass. Jennifer Lawrence absolutely owes it to her stunt double. Lawrence herself is not believable as Mystique, often coming across as a rebellious teenager. There’s just something about her face that doesn’t fit the look (we debated on whether it was the chin, cheeks or her large forehead that we didn’t like), but the fight scenes were incredible. She isn’t the only character that falls flat with me; Michael Fassbender’s Magneto, who had one of the most amazing displays in First Class turns into nothing more than a caricature of himself here. It’s a shame to see a character so complex turned into a one-dimensional bad guy.

For being a movie based off a two-issue comic book, Days of Future Past does a good job of spacing the story out over its 2 hr 11 min runtime. There are a handful of awkward stares off into the distance I could have done without, and there’s a Magneto scene involving a entire stadium off the ground that feels forced and anti-climatic, but that’s neither here nor there. The sentinels looked spectacular (both past and future), and Peter Dinklage’s Bolivar Trask was a great addition to the movie. In the comics, he is the creator of the sentinel program, and his role is practically a seamless swap for Senator Robert Kelly (the target in the books).

Cleverly enough, the DNA swipe of Mystique, which is used to create the chameleon-esque sentinels of the future, isn’t impossible to believe. The genetic engineering process as we know it, “the direct transfer of DNA from one organism to another,” was invented in 1973, the same year the past events take place. The snippets of 70’s style reel film to capture the mutant attacks were also a nice touch. Some of it didn’t really work for me. Weeks after the new Godzilla film blamed Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Godzilla himself, Magneto takes the fall for the assassination of JFK. Nice try, guys. What’s next? Did Aquaman knock over the levees in New Orleans, too?

This was supposed to be the resurgence of the X-Men franchise. To be fair, a lot of the complaints I had about the movie were fanboy-driven, but I feel like this formula is really starting to wear on me. The need to make this an “epic,” detracts from the point of the story, and clutters it with a bunch of nothing. I mean, when the half-hour animated episode does a better job at telling a story than the $200 million budgeted film, I can’t help but leave disappointed.

The magic of Days of Future Past comes from Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask and Evan Peters as Quicksilver.  Those aside, its been over a decade later and we’re still relying on special effects to sell creativity, forcing dramatic stare-offs to make people feel like important scenes are unfolding, and using Scott Summers to cock-block Wolverine. The more things change, the more they stay the same. And that’s the problem…

All photos belong to 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics

So Far this Week… February 19, 2014

With the expansion of Hush Comics, we have decided to give bi-weekly news updates.  Anything we find news-worthy will be posted here bi-weekly.  Have anything to add?  Post it in the comments!

Our home town of Denver is going through some Comic-Con strife.  Published in the Westword today, one of the co-founders lists the indiscretions of the Board of Directors.  Denver Comic Con has released this statement.  As a side note, our sister, Sara, is the girl dressed as Wonder Woman in the second picture of the article.  What a gem to find in such a depressing article…

Speaking of Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot is getting buff.  Back off, naysayers.

Guardians of the Galaxy has a new trailer.  What a bunch of A-Holes.  (and yes, we are hooked on a feeling.. that Rocket Raccoon is gonna be the best thing ever.)

The May cover of The Walking Dead issue 127 features a new character and double the pages.  What does this mean for the future of all of our beloved characters?  Sound off in the comments!

In May, DC will release Future’s End #1featuring a time-traveling Batman Beyond.  Check out the schway cover here.

Also in May (wow May is gonna ROCK!) Alex Ross will have a variant to All New X-Men #27 and it is awesome.  What a great artist.

Is Superman: Doomed a way to turn the Man of Steel into Doomsday?  Read the interview with writer Greg Pak here.  Action Comics #30 is due out in April.

J.K. Rowling is going to release a sequel to 2013’s The Cuckoo’s Calling called The Silkworm under the pen name Robert Galbraith.  Be warned: it isn’t anything like the Harry Potter series.

Robert Kirkman and Norman Reedus are …. going to work on another project together!  Kirkman will produce and Reedus will star in a new sci-fi film titled Air.  Read more here.

Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!  Is the new Vanilla Ice Kraft Macaroni and Cheese advertisement making anyone else want to buy your local grocery store out of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shaped noodles?!  No?  Is that just us?

X-Men: Days of Future Past has a bad-ass website now.  Check it out to learn more about the mutants.

Jada Pinkett Smith will play the villain in the new Gotham series.

Jack Bauer is that much closer to gracing our television screens again.  The 12 episode 24: Live Another Day premieres in May.  But if it is only 12 hours, does that mean that he only lives for another half day?

Comcast and Time-Warner are merging.  They are waging war against Netflix.  Who will land on Park Place first?  Read the details here.

And right at publishing, the new Fantastic Four reboot cast was announced.  Just in the nick of time!

Written by Sherif Elkhatib and Adrian Puryear