Chronicle

This is a pretty durn good film.  I had my doubts at first.  It follows the "Found Footage" blueprint which means lots of shaky cam and ugly jump cuts.  Despite that, it turned into what is as close to what an American Akira would look like.

Three teens find a mysterious hole.  They explore it and find a glowy.  They touch the glowy and everything goes shaky and stumply then black.  Cut to some time later and it turns out that the three teens have been gifted with telekinesis.  At first it's only good for small things and You Tube style "funny" videos.  But like working out your muscles they begin to get quickly very scary in what they can do.  The scariest is the quiet one who's under a lot of pressure with a dying mother and abusive father.  Not only is he the strongest, but he begins to get out of control.  They try to take care of this by making up rules, but you can tell where this is going to go.  Eventually it turns into a full scale battle in Seattle with people throwing buses at each other.

This is a great exciting film with many good "Small" scenes as well big budget numbers.  I like the scene where the loner kid first shows how good he is by turning a bunch of legos into the Space Needle.  I also loved the scene where the kids teach themselves how to fly.  Their honest exhileration is just too contageous and soon you are mentally egging them on to fly higher and faster.  Definitely worth a watch.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series

Well I was well prepared not to like this. I thought the movie was pretty much "meh," and that also sums up how I feel about the character of Green Lantern ala Hal Jordan. The animation looked craptastic and then I saw the main villains were going to be Red Lanterns. Red Lanterns! They are so close to a parody of nineties style super heroes that it hurts.

So given all that I was surprised to end up really liking it.  The animation is still craptastic, but it does have a fluidity to handle the battle scenes which helps a lot.  There are a lot of battle scenes!  They mix it up to between Lantern fighting and spaceship battles.  There were parts that just made me cheer like when Hal made a baseball bat with his ring and went to town on some red lantern whippersnapper. 

But a show should be more than a lot of cool fights, though I like me some cool fights don't get me wrong there.  Luckily, the writers here are operating at optimum levels.  They have obviously planned things for a long interesting story arc.   The first thing they did right is they isolated Hal from his little blue bosses who are the eternal kill joys.  Using and then breaking a one of a kind prototype of a green lantern ship they are now 18 months away from any help from the blue geeks of Oa.  They second smart thing was having Kilowog be Hal's wing (ring?) man.  Kilowog is huge alien with a nice sense of humor who keeps Hal from getting to puffed up. 

The even made the Red Lanterns interesting.  They are filled with righteous rage over something the green lanterns and their bosses did.  This is why they are literally burning with red energy and killing any green lantern they can find.  In the pilot, though, one of them has enough conscience to feel bad about blowing up a planet just to kill lanterns.  In the end, he tries to get Hal to kill him to put him out of his misery.  Of course Hal doensn't so it will be interesting to see what happens with that character.

Another thing that made for an enjoyable hour of TV was that there were some mini shorts included based on DC characters.  Nothing earth shattering, but a teen titan belch off was fairly funny.  I can say I definitely enjoyed the entire package and I'd watch it when it starts in 2012.

Super

I don't know Rainn Wilson, but judging by his performance in "the Office" and this film I have to say he's the master of low wattage creepism. He doesn't do a full out Peter Lorre but you just get a vibe off him that says, "he's not a well man." That's pretty much the truth of it in "Super" a film by James Gunn. Here Rainn is keeping a fingernail grip on reality. This grip slips when his wife leaves him for drug lord Kevin Bacon. After a few humiliating encounters he has a vision and decides to become a real life super hero called The Crimson Bolt.

Trouble is, real life is a lot more messy than comics. Folks refuse to just roll over with the POW and BIFF. Rainn finds his weapon of choice in a simple pipe wrench and his warrior cry of "SHUT UP CRIME." You can tell this is hardly Captain America material. This film goes surprisingly dark, specially since James last superhero film was the fun "The Specials." It's a very fascinating shade of dark though and the viewer gets really caught up in it all. There's real tension in viewing this film. On the one hand we want the fairy tale. We want Rainn to beat up Kevin Bacon (hey, who doesn't?) and save his wife. We though are aware though that Rainn's character is really certifiable and he's more likely to get a lot of people killed. I will say the ending does a very good job in sorting it all out in a believable way. Definitely worth a view if you can handle weirdness and violence.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Once again, DC has done better by its property with a cheap cartoon than with a hundred million dollars worth of special effects. "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is a collection of tales about the other green lanterns that make up the green lantern corp. Luckily, the writers were smart enough to for the most part avoid the whole "rainbow of rings" storyline of the recent past. Instead we get a fairly straight forward science fiction/super hero set of tales.

The first is a story of the origin of the corp. The second is about Kilowagg who is the tough yet kind at heart drill sergeant of the corps. The third is story of having to choose between family loyalty and loyalty to the corp. There is an amusing little story about the biggest lantern named Mongo. The final story concerns Abin Sur who gave the lantern to Earthman Hal Jordan, and Sinistro who trains Hal and will later betray the entire corp by taking the yellow ring. All the stories are wrapped around the lanterns having to fight Krona who created the dreaded anti matter universe and now seeks to destroy all the lanterns.

The animation is brisk is fun. Hall Jordan is being voiced by Nathan Fillion and that is just shiny if you ask me. the whole affair is great fun and definitely helps non-lantern fans get an idea of what the whole corp is all about. Definitely worth a watch.

Wild Cards

Before he was doing "The Game of Thrones," George R. R. Martin was the editor and writer over one of the most successful shared author series ever. "Wild Cards," is the first book of the series and sets the tone for superheroes with all the sex and violence they didn't put in the comics.

The story starts just after WWII when a space ship lands. Out pops out the foppish Dr. Tachyon with wild stories of a canister containing a plague that can do anything. Well the authorities are slow to act and so said canister wound up exploding over New York City.

The plague called the Wild Card virus is nasty indeed. Most people who get die because sometimes a little super powers is a bad thing. Consider super strength. Pretty cool right? Now imagine if just your HEART became super strong. First pulse and blood shooting out at 50,000 PSI turns you into a blood bag. The end.

Now some people survive. Most though are left as freaks. They will be later dubbed jokers. Some few jokers at least get a little extra powers which help. It might be awkward looking like a big lizard but folks are less likely to tease you about it when you pick up a car with ease. A very few survivors are granted true super powers and they'll be called Aces by the media.

The novel weaves the saga of the Wild Card into the history we know of, so for example there was an Ace in Korea and Jokers would later become part of the civil rights movement. One cute way this is cemented together are little essays done in the style of other writers like Hunter S. Thompson addressing various wild card issues. It also introduces us to various characters that will become important as the series progress. Ranging from the paranoid Croyd to the Fortunato master of sexual magic, to the all powerful Turtle. All the characters are interesting to say the least.

This is definitely a good series to rediscover. The authors work hard and Martin keeps this wild circus in line. I don't know about the late books in the series but at least the first four are worth rereading.

Thor: Tales of Asgard

This is a nice animated version of Thor.  More specifically it is a young teenage Thor learning some tough life lessons.  First lesson:  If you are the bosses son, the guys are going to let you win even when you shouldn't.  When he's clued in on that, it bums him mightily and he decides to go a quest to prove himself.

His dad Odin says no, but he sneaks aboard an asgardian ship with his brother Loki.   Their quest?  To seek the fabled flaming sword of Surtur.  Along with the warriors three they have a nice bar fight before getting serious.  But finding the sword is just the start of things.  Frost Giants are not happy and threaten a war, and there is a schemer behind everything.  Can Thor learn some important lessons BEFORE he's killed? 

It's all very nice animation with a good story.  It's not ground breaking or anything but kids will like it and adults won't feel the need to scratch their eyes out.

Spider Woman, Agent of S.W.O.R.D.

Spider Woman was always a super hero I liked that I thought was very under used. Not really associated at all with Spiderman, she had an interesting range of powers. Super strength, speed, and durability. The ability to stick to walls, glide, and fire energy bolts from her hands, and finally the ability to release pheremones to cause feelings of either love or fear. Originally something of a private detective, she had a couple of years of her own book and cartoon. One problem was her villains were never too interesting, about the best was Gypsy Moth who liked to telekinetically control "Soft" things like clothing and flesh. The other was that she was basically created to secure for Marvel the trademark to the name "Spiderwoman," and with that being done they didn't seem to have too much interest in her.

Well, decades later they picked her up again, dusted her off and preceeded to totally screw with her life. The person doing this is a fellow named "Bendis" who writes for the Avengers and seems to have quite the anti fan following. As far as I understand it, the basic complaint is that Bendis screws with characters left and right and he thinks he's a big hot writer when he's not. Oh well, we now have "Spider Woman Agent of S.W.O.R.D." and it wasn't too bad at all.

Called a "Motion Comic Book," it really lacks um motion. It's basically a series of still art manipulated before the camera with a sound track. For all that, it's actually pretty good. The art work is dark and moody and would have been a bear to really animate. The story picks up after some big alien invasion. Apparently Spider Woman got really screwed up because of it and she's at loose ends. A shadowy organization called "S.W.O.R.D," hires her and sends her to an exotic location to kill or capture the few renegade aliens left on Earth. Nothing is ever that simple though, and she has to deal with her wicked "stepmother" who happens to run a huge terrorist organization, and posse of second string heroes who are bringing her in.. um just cause. Done in ten minute episodes it really does work.

Thor

It's not often that I get to the movies even though I love them so much. So seeing "Thor" was a special treat. A big thanks to the Fab Man for that. He's a good friend even if he got my big dog drunk.

So Thor was great fun and I deem it a success. Maybe not a best picture oscar, or the type of film you come running out of a theater saying "I want to see it again right now!!" But in baseball terms this is the type of hit that might not be out of the park but you got to home on it, and that dear readers is what matters.

So let's go over some things here. There might be "spoilers" but with the film out in the second week I'm pretty sure you folks are already up to date on all this. First, this whole deal about Kenneth Branagh being a good choice cause he's done some Shakespeare is total poppycock. I mean, there is very little even of faux Shakespearian dialog here, for which we should all be thankful of. I'm sure Kenneth could show the folks here how to work a cape, or walk in armor without looking like a dork. That's not why he was a good director for this project. The reason is that Kenneth Branagh is a good director with actors and that was what was really needed to keep folks from blending into the special effects.

Some folks seem to really dig the Earth scenes while others liked Asgard more. I think both were good and I liked how balanced the film was between the two worlds, or realms as they are called. I also liked how they really stressed that the Asgardians were really aliens. It helps avoid theological speculations over Thor's place in cosmology. The look of Asgard was great, and really harkened to Jack Kirby's work and the costumes weren't embarrassing as they could have been. Volstagg wasn't quite what I wanted, but I'm adult enough to realize the chances of finding an eight foot tall, eight hundred pound, man who can act was pretty slight.

The earth scenes were best generally with the comedy. Thor was definitely a fish out of water, one that was extremely loud and strong. He definitely didn't blend in. Unfortunately, the script failed Natalie Portman making her the usual romantic cypher. It's only her acting that gives Jane Foster some life here.

Speaking of acting, I can't give enough credit to Chris Hemsworth. It's not easy playing a character like Thor without falling into parody or a stoic nonentity. Here we have a fellow with a big heart but still has issues. Mostly with his father but that bleeds into other authority. He's brash, and doesn't think things through, but ultimately his heart and honor is in the right place. Love the guy. I hope to see him again soon.

The villains are good and dastardly. Loki was a sympathic villain but still evil enough to plan a genocide and stick it to his brother at the same time. The Destroyer, a part of old Thor stories, is a mindless machine but very nasty indeed. Sort of Thor's Gort. The Frost Giants while maybe not as gigantic as I liked were a decent threat, and even humans had a good run at Thor when he was depowered for a time. There was a lot of fighting in this film, but the action scenes never felt forced, and they all served the over all story.

Definitely this is a good film to see. It's another positive step in Marvel's grand "Avenger" plan. And remember to stick it through all of the credits. Nice easter egg at the end. Thank you all.

Needless

Probably not a great thing to name your work. "Needless" easily plays into a critic's hand if it is indeed ... well.. needless. So is it? Eh, let's say it doesn't cover new ground.

It's the future, but its the gritty post nuke future. But that's ok, cause folks sometimes get super neat mutant powers. Even though they can kick everyone's ass, they are called "Needless." Now a rogue corporation is hunting Needless for testing and spare parts. Whatever resistence there was was slaughtered and the only survivor is on the run. Luckily he finds the one Needless who can stand up to the corporation. His power is that he can take other people's powers. His weakness is he is highly distractable and doubly so in the case of pretty women.

So this is pretty standard anime. Some fighting, some hijinks involving near naked ladies, and some humor. Pretty much everything you've seen before.

Marvel The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Well it's an awkward title to be sure. The series itself though is much more in balance. It's the story of course of the Avengers which is the goto team of superheroes in the marvel universe. As with any comic property with multi decade backlog, the creators of this cartoon choose the streamline things a bit. That's not a bad thing to be sure, there are simply many issues of the comic book that wisely should be forgotten.

So the story begins with Tony Stark. He's the same brash smart ass as in the movies, so that's a big plus. He's butting heads against SHIELD cause he doesn't want to make weapons any more, but he realizes his creations have already become weapons in the hand of villain organizations such as Hydra.

From that point the story slowly unfolds introducing each avenger one by one. I like this, there's no hurry in becoming the Avengers and we get to know each person. There's Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Ant Man and Wasp. Most are fairly close to their the comic book personas save Ant Man who wisely has been changed from unstable wife beater to super science nerd. We are also introduced to the four jails of the Marvel Universe. Each is designed to handle different types of super criminals. My favorite was the big house which was designed by Ant Man. It shrinks the villains till they are very tiny.

There's an over arcing plot involving Loki, and a massive jail break from all four jails. It's a well paced story, and luckily for us they take the time for character development of both villains and heroes. I like how the series ask the question of what do we do after we capture Dr. Doom. What does the government do? Just contain? Or study for even more weapons? Where are the ethics in binding someone in ten tons of chains, or keeping them in a coma?

It's certainly not all angst. When the fighting gets started it's truely Marvel style over the top. The best was the final fight in this DVD vs. Graviton. Here's a villain who thinks nothing of lifting up Manhattan Island. That's some serious power dudes.

All Star Superman

For longer than I care to count the animation division of DC has been knocking out some incredible takes on their universe. Aided with great writing and good animation they often put the blockbuster live action movies to shame. All Star Superman is another home run for DC.

The story starts with Lex Luthor killing superman. Opps was that a spoiler? Well it was in the trailer so deal. Lex basically gives superman super cancer and Superman doesn't have long to live. So in true heroic fashion he tries to tie up loose ends. It is never that easy though, as various threats pop up. Also, Luther might have more planned for the Man of Steel.

One thing I like, no LOVE, about this film is that it whole heartedly embraces the weirdness of the silver age and updates it for today. A lot of the story is set around Superman's fortress of solitude and it is delightfully weird to an almost wonkaesque level. There's the key made of dwarf star matter, there's the baby star eater that superman feeds tiny suns that he makes on his cosmic anvil. There are all the superman robots keeping things tidy (maybe batman should by one to help Alfred). It really makes Superman fun.

The characters are all fun as well, but they also have a good emotional depth. Superman's goodbyes feel real and heartfelt. Lois and Jimmy were well realized. Even Lex had a lot more depth than usual. His hatred is what sets everything in motion, but behind that hatred is something else. A longing. Also, they made Clark Kent persona the most fun since the days of Chris Reeve.

The Animation is beautiful and has a subtle glow to it you don't generally see. The Action was great but not really the point of the film. It's the quieter scenes that best rendered.

In short, I say definitely give this a look even if you aren't a Superman fan.

Young Justice

Well tonight Young Justice finally goes into action. They are told just to go and observe a plant that makes the drug venom which gives superstrength. I can't believe that Batman actually thinks they would just observe so I'll assume he was planning all along for them assault the plant. True they do sneak in fairly well. Some of them are outfitted with stealth version of the long underwear standard issues costumes. Ms. Martian of course can become invisible (A nice effect with just enough difference from standard "Predator" to be original), Robin can sneak around in bright red and yellow, and the Superboy just doesn't give a damn.

The problem is they are still being dickish. This time about who is to lead the team. Robin thinks of course it should be him, but he is too busy doing his own thing to lead. One thing about this series is that it wants me to kick robin's butt. He's a cocky little so and so with none of the charm shown in "The Teen Titans."

So as they hash out leadership they meet Bane. Now Bane is something of a bad ass to be sure, he broke Batman's spine in the comics. But, really superboy should have no problems mopping his luchador ass up. They still are very inconsistent in how they protray powers.

They also had to fight Cobra (not the GI Joe gang), and of all people the Sports Master. Sports Master is really what third tier villainy? I mean ok they might had have to fight Kite Man, but no superhero is THAT hard up.

When they do get to work together the team is very nice. They still don't have the the girl with the bow and arrow they show in the credits, but I'm in no hurry. Frankly trick arrow acts have never really thrilled me. Also, as an interesting bit of trivia martians blush green.

Hercules Secret Invasion

The Spiderman musical might be the final nail on the coffin of super heroes in mass media, but it won't be the first.  There have always been troubles in adapting comic book properties to the screen.  One problem, is that comic books have gone on even as most people grew up and stopped reading them.  Most people would be surprised to know for example that batman was considered dead for a bit and has a son.  Trying to reconcile the present with the nostalgia most people have for comics is always a challenge.

Another challenge are the "Big" events.  Comic book publishers have long ago discovered that their base is very suggestible (dare I say gullible?) and with a little prompting they can be counted on buying issues of magazines they don't usually buy.  Hence, huge events that occur through out that comic "universe" and you wind up having to buy ten different titles to follow the story.

Which brings us to Hercules:  Secret Invasion.  In the Marvel Universe, Hercules is super strong generally fun loving and less smart than Thor but smarter the Hulk.  He's a walking frat party in a leather dress who can crush a tank on his forehead.  As fascinating as this might sound he's never been on Marvel's A list but has bounced around for years. 

The Secret Invasion was a big event in which the skrulls, shape shifting aliens with a bad case of finger chin, seriously try to conquer the earth.  The big draw was that skrulls have been infiltrating the earth in the shape of various characters that the heroes of the earth call friend and family.  So you read it to see who was going to betray who.  Is Aunt May a skrull?   You better buy amazing spiderman #346 to find out.

These two things, a Greek geek god and a sf invasion, don't seem to work together.  The writers of Hercules though came up with a rather fun idea.  The basic plot is Athena gathers the Earthly Gods (who aren't God Gods, but more like super power prod nosers that can't resist meddling and property damage) to do their bit to stop the invasion.  Athena's plan is to gather a "god Squad" and go to where the Skrull Gods and kill them.
Hercules is in charge, followed by his mortal friend who is supposed very smart, Snowbird a Canadian Goddess Hero, Ajak who is a loser of a loser from the old Eternals comic, the Japanese god of darkness, and the God Eater. 

As you might imagine having Hercules lead this crew might not be the wisest of things and at no time whatsoever they get lost and have to go to Nightmare for directions.  Things get worse from there.  It's all a good excuse for a series of beat downs of godly proportions.  Some of the ideas are good, and some bits of dialog are choice.  Overall though, it doesn't hang together.

The Super Hero Squad Show

In Japan there's a thing called SD, aka Super Deformed. It's an animation style where you give a recognizable character a really big head and exaggerated features and play it for fun. Basically the Super Hero Squad Show is the Marvel Universe done in SD. The plotline is simple. Dr. Doom wants to put back together the infinity sword for ultimate power and sends his minions to get the pieces. He is thwarted by Iron Man, Falcon, Hulk, Thor, Silver Surfer, and Wolverine. Other heroes and villains pop in and out. I like it, it's good dumb fun, and besides they basically make MODOK into a mascot. Aww isn't that cute?

Young Justice

Young Justice is a bit more serious than Teen Titans or Bold and the Brave, but a bit less serious than Justice League unlimited.  So it sort of strikes a good comic balance from the git go.  It's the story of the various side kicks of the main heroes of the DC universe.  There's Robin (batman), Speedy (green arrow), Aqualad (Aquaman), and Kid Flash (the Flash).  They are all busting at the bit because this is "the day."  That is, it's the day where they take their first real step to joining the Justice League.

Well, first steps are often baby steps.

Not liking that just basically won the key to the sauna, the bridle at the bit.  Speedy (who is famous in comic nerd history for being a junkie at one point) gives it up and quits.  The others sneak out as the "adults" are busy to help a fire at a top secret facility.  Unfortunately, Cadmus is about as straight as a corkscrew.  Our heroes find out they are gene tampering, mind controlling putzes who have just finished cloning a young superman.  Left on their own the young heroes acquit themselves well and free the superman clone.  The adult heroes decide to give them a bit of leash and give them an old base and a lot of supervision and "Young Justice" is born.

The team certainly has promise.  Young Superman is certainly more edgy than Clark but still very naive since he's stilll wet from being out of the cloning pod.  He's easily the most powerful member but he's still not quite superman yet.  No heat vision, no flying as of yet.  Robin is easily the brains of the group and spent more time hacking systems than beating up genetically modified bad guys.   Kid Flash is the doofus of the group, but at least being able to run at superspeeds doesn't make him a useless doofus.  Aqualad is the utility infielder of the group.  He is super strong, amphibious, and has devices to make weapons out of "hard" water and shoot out electricity.  They are joined by the Martian Manhunter's niece (Huh?? sorry that's the comic nerd in me) who's a shape changer but we don't know much else except she's hot and green.

All in all something worth watching.

Iron Man 2

So it's finally out in DVD now.

Well legally.

After watching it, I felt happy.  It was a good feeling after being let down by too many sequels that had the money but no heart.  Oddly enough, for a tin man with a mechanical heart there is indeed a core of emotional truth to both these films.  You have to cut away nearly all of Tony Stark that you see, all that self absorption and wit, but it's there.  The characters hang together because they do care about each other rather than just staying cause the plot says you are the heroes' gal pal.

The movie does have a lot of plot threads but generally that's how comic books run, they are manly soap operas for all intents and purposes.  Here, as you no doubt already know, we have Tony slowly being poisoned by his own invention, he doesn't want to tell Pepper because she's as close as someone he could really love so he just makes her the CEO of his company instead.  He's being pressured by the government to turn the suit over to them.  This creates friction between him and his friend Rhodes who is also the military's attache so he's being pulled like taffy all over the place.  Meanwhile, Justin Hammer a Stark wannabe wants to make his own splash and thinks this crazy Russian guy who hates Stark and just happened to have jury rigged his own super suit with super whips could be the guy to help him out.

Yeah it's a little complicated.  Throw in a little alcohol abuse and daddy issues, and a dash of S.H.I.E.L.D. wanting Stark to lead the Avenger's and you see how the film's pacing can get a bit boggy at times.  Yet for all this it never quite stops in its tracks and soon enough it is booking like a squirrel in a disco. 

Once again, Robert Downy Jr. holds this ship together with a seemingly effortless grace.  His character is so shallow he's deep.  He plays with the suit like it's his biggest toy, but under that there a sense of duty that keeps him from being a total ass.  Which is good, you don't want asses with battle suits or they all be like Sam Rockwell's Hammer.  He is so sleezy, cheesy and thinks he's all that and all so slick that it is truly sad that he thinks he's anywhere in Tony Stark's league.  He'd be a joke if it wasn't for Mickey Rourke, as Ivan Vanko, standing behind him.  That combo dear readers is like seeing a three year old holding a cocked and ready 50 caliber desert eagle.  You know it's going to go off and it won't be pretty.  Vanko was obviously in a lot of Russian jails and is tougher than anyone else in the film.  He's like Kevlar with tattoos and eyes.  When he's at the races swinging those crazy energy whips it is totally believable badassery. 

Aided with a little help by Nick Fury, and the Black Widow, this is a wonderful film set in the Marvel Universe.  It makes me hopeful about "Captain America," "Thor," and specially "The Avengers."  It has taken a lot to make me trust this new trend in Marvel movies.  I still sometimes get flash backs to "Electra," or "Ghost Rider."

Sucking Scraping Sound

So you people remember "Theodore Rex?" You Don't? Gee how can you not remember Whoopie Goldberg and dinosaurs? Or how it was at the time the most expensive movie to go straight to video (now DVD). Maybe because it was a godawful mess, if you don't believe me on that check out the Nostalgia Critics rip on it.

The point being is sometimes, for reasons unknown to us the little people, stars will do some godawful mess for a check. Rarely though have I seen so many shining so little in one place. In "Super Capers" we have Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Clint Howard, Michael Rooker, Joe Polito, and Tom Sizemore in various states of non, or over acting. Only Clint Howard and Tom Sizemore, as "Mugger" and "Lawyer" respectively, keep a little dignity and provide a very little bit of entertainment.

The rest of "Super Capers" involves a useless guy in the suit with the name of Ed Gruberman (A name which is a steal from the incredibly funny "Boot to the Head" sketch to which the writer/director should be profoundly embarrassed for soiling) who is ordered by a court to be a part of a team of super losers. Said losers are for the record: A professor X type with mother issues, a very cold woman, Mr. Super Vanity, and a guy who turns into a puffer fish when scared. They try to fight crime from their mansion and super winnebago.

Really I was hoping for a little dumb fun. What I got was a long stretch of no fun at all. If you want to see a fairly funny zero budget super hero film let me suggest "The Specials." Not, however, "Super Capers."

super what?

There's not much I can say about "The Superhero," it's a british film that fancies itself something of a super hero film. This is rather odd first because the brits never really embraced the whole super hero thing. Oh the brits have their comic books, and they do have a few super hero ones. They just never went the whole hog on it like the americans. One of those little endearing mysteries of culture. Americans get tights, Brits just seem to naturally think that's so silly.

But anyway "The Superhero" is about a boxer trying to do the right thing and uncover a dark crime. The film is dark. By that I mean I can barely see a thing. I don't mean this in a good way either ala Tim Burton, but more like in "murky." Also the film claims it is animated in part. Hint to the wise, if you are going to claim animation do NOT instead have still pictures that every now and then move. Stone-fucking-henge shows more animation.

I can see the film has a good heart, and tries. But really I couldn't get into it. It didn't thrill me, and really I'll forget all about it tomorrow.