The Superhero Marathon’s Best of 2009

I should have done this years ago – ah well better late than never. Here’s the first (and perhaps) annual Superhero marathon awards banquet. Unlike 2008, the year 2009 was not rife with superhero flicks. Soooo, that made my job pretty easy!

Best Live Action Film
Watchmen
While you can't swing a dead Comedian without hitting a fanboy who will cry foul, Zack Snyder created a faithful adaptation, which also took successful liberties (especially with the ending). A technical and thematic marvel, the directors cut improves the narrative. Highlighted by several top notched performances (Patrick Wilson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

Best Animated Film
Wonder Woman
Though it's to Warner's shame that it can’t get a live action film on the big screen, they at least managed to release a superb animated feature, the best direct to disc since "Batman: Mystery of the Bat Woman". While the Wolverine story in Hulk Vs. was a kick and Green Lantern a high-octane blast… WW told an overall tighter story and displayed superb character designs by director Lauren Montgomery. I liked the lean, crisp animation and there was solid voice work, most notably by the guys - Fillion, Molina and Oliver Platt. Wonder Woman was a funny, violent, romantic and robust adventure.

Best Original (Not based on a comic)
Push
The comic book actually came after the movie. While not perfect, this complicated 'X-Men meets Heroes meets Firestarter' tale always held my interest. I liked the washed out indie look of the picture - the performances and story drew me in and I enjoyed the labyrinthine twist and turns the film took on rout to its satisfying finish.

Best Made for TV Movie
Ben 10: Alien Swarm
I didn’t have many (any?) options on this category, but no matter as Ben 10s teen-geared adventure was all kinds of action packed fun.

Best Actor
Jackie Earle Haley, Rorschach "Watchmen"
Perfect casting, Haley nails this broken soul, who sees things in black and white and never compromises. The pulp detective narration spoken through raspy growl… that frantic snarl when he screams at cops to give him back his face --- the mix of anguish, resignation and loss as he demands that Manhattan do what he must at the end… all of it packed a wallop.

Best Actress
Dakota Fanning, Cassie "Push"
As a child actress Dakota was one of the most dependable these past few years. How would she do as she approached adult hood? We get a taste of that here - and she proves to be memorable. She gives a shaded performance as Cassie. A snarky teen who comes off tough, but also has her confidence rattled by an older watcher who's better than she is. The scene when the villain confronts her was especially effective.

Best Voice Acting
Nathan Fillion. Steve Trevor "Wonder Woman"
You could just hand this over to Kevin Conroy (Batman) or Mark Hamill (Joker) on any given year. But this time out I was won over by a new kid on the block - Nathan Fillion as Airman Steve Trevor was a hoot. That smooth, 'devil-may-care' delivery was spot on. He really brought this character to life more so than he's been in previous incarnations.

Best Fight
Hulk vs.
Wolverine segment (all of them). Ultra violent and well choreographed.

Best Original Score
Guy Michaelmore Hulk vs. Wolverine
Nothing stood out as spectacular. I tried to find something from the live action features, but I wound up going with this, primarily for the violin heavy sections. They kind of had a Phillip Glass vibe to them.

Best DVD discovery (Movies that didn’t get a wide US theatrical release)
Special
This film made its début at Sundance in 2006, and then toured festivals and comic cons across the globe. But it wasn't available to most of us until its 2009 DVD release. This frequently funny and often brutal and sad tale is buoyed by top-notch acting, especially Michael Rapaport as the nobody who suddenly becomes a somebody -a superhero (or so he believes)- after taking part in a test for a new drug.

Best Quotes (Original or adapted)
* "Granted, it's probably not as intimidating as having a gun, or bone-claws or the fingernails of a bag-lady... Manicure?" – Wade Wilson, Deadpool, talking about his sword in "Wolverine"

* "Now go, unleash hell" – Wonder Woman to little girl after showing her how to sword fight in animated "Wonder Woman"

* "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me!" - Rorschach to prisoners in "Watchmen"

* After Chris Bradley tells Creed in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" that he's not afraid of dying, Victor Creed responds, "How do you know? You've never tried it before."

The Movies That America Forgot

The Superhero marathon was quite an eye opener. I never realized how expansive the landscape was for these films, and making all of these new discoveries was half the fun. On the other hand, the bummer is all of the movies I haven’t been able to view and review. Either because they haven’t been released on DVD in the United States, or that there have never been English subtitles added to international releases. I find my want list expanding everyday. A few titles I’m searching for…

Night Falcon was a movie released in the Thailand in 2004, and is about a girl who blames the titular hero for the death of her boyfriend. She realizes her mistake, becomes Falcon Girl and teams up with Night Falcon and Falcon Woman to bring down the villain Iron Mask and his cohorts. Not much is known about NF, it seems to have had a decent budget but must not have left much of a mark at the box office. I’d love to see it, if I could get my hands on a subtitled copy.

Falcon is just one of many from around the globe that have eluded me. One Country that loves their superheroes as much as we in the States do, is the Philippines. Captain Barbell and Darna are 2 capes whose film series go back to the 1950s… so far I’ve only been able to find 1 subtitled film for each. There’s also the purple and gold attired Fantastic Man (2003), a young gal named Super B and a host of others that comprise a list that stretches to infinity and… well you know.

From Mexico there is the 1969 comedy The Barefoot Eagle, which is the directorial debut of Alfonso Arau (best known for his portrayal of El Guapo in “The Three Amigos”). Filmed mostly with a hand held camera - it features gangsters, masked wrestlers and a pogo stick inspector who fights crime during his time off. I'd also like to get a hold of the popular Kaliman: The Incredible Man, which everyone from Netflix to Blockbuster says they have, but they don’t. What they really have is Kaliman’s inferior second movie… In the Sinister World of Humanon. The 2nd movie was bad, but stupid enough to enjoy for a laugh. But it’s the first that is supposedly pretty decent.

I’ve had better luck with Italy, though I still can’t locate the sequel to “Kriminal”, and I’ve been frustrated in my efforts to track down a copy of The Three Fantastic Supermen in Tokyo (1967). This is the 2nd movie in the series, and while none of the other sequels I’ve seen have matched the original. I’d still like to see this one (I’ve found it, but not in English). I’m also very curious about a movie released in 1979, called Super Andy, which is about Superman’s ugly brother. I don’t know if it has any merit, but that line alone is enough to pique my interest.

And those titles only scratch the surface. I haven’t even talked Turkey! So the quest continues and I keep my eyes open for anything that’ll pop up with English language dubs or subs.

Come on Falcon Girl, we need you in America... TODAY!