SERVE with CHIPS

Party Like its 1979

2009-06-15T11:56:00.002-04:00

Click on over to SuperheroShows.blogspot.com to see how they partied in 1979.

Retrospective 1978 Has Arrived

2009-05-12T09:04:00.002-04:00

Check it out 1978 at SuperheroShows.Blogspot.Com

The Trek Backlash Begins

2009-05-05T13:04:00.000-04:00

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Haha

Superheroes on Screen - Retrospective 1977

2009-04-15T10:16:00.002-04:00

The retrospectives continue over at SuperheroShows.Blogspot.Com (video clips included). 1977 was a particularly good year including including, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man, Superfriends, Wonder Woman, Shazam! and others. Check it out.

Superest Sequels - The Sequel

2009-04-08T09:05:00.002-04:00

Check out my top 15 picks here.

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You...

2009-03-30T19:13:00.003-04:00

Lets face it. Blogging was pretty much invented to help the unemployed feel productive. I jest... But now that I have a job, Serve With Chips has taken suffered dearly. This site has been around for over 3 years now and has received over 900,000 hits, and it may well live as long as the Internet stands, but it will probably not be getting that many more updates from here on out.

Its time to rebrand and refocus. Superhero Shows (SHS) will try and limit its scope to movies, TV shows, or even plays, live action or animated, involving super powered beings. Hopefully, having a limited focus will enable me to provide more consistent content.

See you all there.

Superheroes on Screen - Retrospective 1990

2009-03-26T03:48:00.001-04:00

If you like big budget superhero fair, then you may want to steer clear of

1990__________________

Before there was Spider-Man, Sam Raimi brought us Darkman. Staring Liam Neeson, the movie is about a dude who is attacked and left for dead by a ruthless mobster, after his girlfriend, an attorney runs afoul of a corrupt developer Liam is left with burns over most of his body. While hospitalized as a comatose John Doe, he is unwillingly subjected to a radical treatment that destroys the nerve endings connected to his skin, neutralizing his ability to sense physical pain but increasing his brain's emotional output to compensate. Half-crazed, Liam escapes the hospital and decides to get revenge on the criminals who took his life away, but now as a masked vigilante, known as Darkman. The movie is actually pretty good, especially for a lower budget ($16 million) attempt.

In 1990, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the big screen with a surprisingly dark (though true to the source material) tone. The film cost $13.5 million and banked 10x that. Though slow at times, this movie is a step ahead of the sequels that followed (though TMNT aint bad).

Hoping to repeat the previous summer's Batmania (Dickmania?) Dick Tracy employed Danny Elfman to write a dark score to this visually interesting film. It also had an all star cast including Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Dick Van Dyke, and Madonna. Not a bad movie, but Tracy is no Batman. The movie broke $100 million, but while Batman is now on film #6, Dick Tracy #2 never materialized.

Much like the failed Fantastic Four and Punisher attempts, Marvel tried to make a low budget Captain America movie. It was so bad / cheesy, it never made it to the silver screen. Thanks to youtube, its crappiness will not be forever forgotten.

The last of the Incredible Hulk TV specials aired in 1990 titled Death of the Incredible Hulk. This outing unsurprisingly featured Hulk dying.

Another Danny Elfman scored project was the one season wonder of the Flash. Following in the footsteps of the Dark Batman film, this series features a darker Flash. Later in the season, the tone lightened up a bit to allow for characters such as The Trickster portrayed by Mark Hamil, a role that may have won him the job of voicing The Joker in the Batman Animated Series.

There you have it, the heroes made due with low budgets back in 1990.

Wild Trailer

2009-03-25T15:15:00.002-04:00

I don't know how you turn a book that can be read in 5 minutes into a movie, but the trailer is making me a believer. Could this be this generations Labyrinth? Methinks, maybe.

Bat Logolution

2009-03-25T10:48:00.002-04:00

I saw this over at /film and had to copy it. This most definitely qualifies as stuff that matters to nerds.

Miyazaki's Next is Coming to Us U.S. Americans

2009-03-24T14:02:00.003-04:00

The Mighty Miyazaki's film Ponyo (on a Cliff by the Sea) has finally been given a US release date: August 14, 2009. Pixar and Miyazaki may finally have a face-off come Oscar season.

The Marvel Shuffle Continues

2009-03-17T15:02:00.002-04:00

Having repositioned itself less than a week ago, Thor has now moved up a month from June 17, 2011 to May 20, 2011. I guess Paramount forgot to consult itself when aligning the Marvel dates because it turns out that they want to open Transformers 3 on July 1, 2011 (whether or not that will happen depends on a lot of things, but as of now it is looking not likely as Michael Bay wants 2012). Fearing Thor's legs would get swept out from under him (See Hellboy 2) Thor was moved up to just 2 weeks after Spidey 4. I guess, according to Marvel that while Thor is made to tremble by large transforming behemoths, Spidey aint afraid of no Norse Thunder God.

At this rate, it looks like 2011 is getting stuffed fuller than a Christmas Turkey. The smart money is on Thor moving again, but honestly, shouldn't they be a little more concerned with making the movie, at least for now, than scheduling its debut? And if studios are squatting on release dates 2 and 3 years out, where is DC? So far, they have Green Lantern (which I will believe it when I see it considering the recent Justice League debacle, and earlier Batman vs Superman SNAFUS) and a whole lot of nothing. How is an average Joe like me supposed to fill out my social calendar for 2013 when I dont even know if there will be a Batman film that year!

Superheroes on Screen - Retrospective 1991

2009-03-17T12:31:00.002-04:00

A year that was not long remembered when it comes to superheros:

1991__________________

For better or for worse, the most long lasting product of 1991 just may be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze. This is due in part to the appearance of Vanilla Ice and his rendition of the Ninja Rap. The movie was rushed out less than a year after the original and was a big step down. It was the beginning of the end for the once hip shell-heads.

The other, and better, feature film of 1991 was the Rocketeer. Not a box office hit, the movie was actually a pretty decent depiction of life for a 1930's hero - which pretty much only required a jet pack and a mask. Imagine how someone with actual super powers or even just Batman's arsenal could dominate back then.

Lastly and leastly, 1991 didn't bring us a live action Power Pack television show. Although a pilot was made for the Marvel team, good luck ever seeing it.

Marvel Does the Movie Shuffle

2009-03-12T09:07:00.003-04:00

In a not so shocking move, Marvel has moved the release dates for most of its upcoming films except for Iron Man 2 which will still open on May 7, 2010. While it may have been possible to slap together an Iron Man sequel with most of the cast and universe established, the release date of Thor just two months later was ambitious. Thor himself has not even been cast yet, and who knows what state the script is in. Hence, Thor is now opening in June 17, 2011.

The pending May 2011 opening for Spider-Man 4 had the web-head head-2-head with Captain America. Not no more. Now Spidey has webbed up a firm May 6, 2011 pushing Cap to July 22, 2011. Three Marvel films in 2011 (too many you say... perhaps) have pushed the big Avengers event off until May 4, 2012 where it will usher in the big summer season.

Other thoughts on this... Well this twas a shewd way for The Avengers to flinch from its scheduled opening versus Harry Potter 7-2 (or is it Harry Potter 8? anyway its the last, for now, Potter film). Although, opening aptain America just a week later seems kinda risky. Why not try and claim July 4 for Captain AMERICA? and move Thor to August 1 or something?

Another question is what about that other comic book company? You know the ones that make those Batman movies. Seems Batman Reboot 3 or Dark Knight 2, or Batman 7 or whatever you want to call it should be opening sometime in 2011. Doubtful it will open near Harry Potter since they have the same parent company. Then again, in a repeat of this years postponing of Harry Potter 6 to have nice anual balance sheets, perhaps Batman will be pushed to 2012. In any case, if Batman does open near Thor, God or not, Thor will run.

What does this mean for Iron Man 3? Could we be looking to 2013? Most likely. The good news is that it looks like superhero films wont be going anywhere soon. We also have Green Lantern scheduled for 2010 and another Superman in the works. There are also plans for Fantastic Four and Daredevil reboots and Ghost Rider 2. I am also pretty sure Hancock 2 will get made. And then there are sequels to any of these Marvel films that turn a profit, the rest of the nine Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury movies and the already planned Spider-Man 5. We shoudl have plenty of superhero films to carry us straight into the apocalypse.

Trek This Out!

2009-03-06T08:59:00.001-05:00

This is the movie to see this summer. JJ Abrams may have pulled off a real miracle... making Trek cool.

I'm a Watchman...

2009-03-05T09:19:00.000-05:00

Back with more biting wit. Enjoy

Neverending Stories, Remakes, and Sam Jacksons

2009-02-26T08:01:00.002-05:00

In a smorgasbord of movie news, we are going to get a lot more of the same to the tune of remakes of Clue, Total Recall, and the Neverending Story. All 3 of those are pretty solid films, and I fear that remakes will only taint our fond memories ala Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. and the uber lame reinvisioned Wonka. If they screw up Clue, I guess I don't really care that much, but the most tragic move has to be the attempt to remake Neverending Story. That was a childhood classic and a near perfect movie. Just let it be.

In other overdose news. Samuel Jackson has signed to reprise his post Iron Man credits role of Nick Fury NINE times. That includes appearances in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Looks like he will be too busy to worry about any Mother F-ing Snakes on any Mother F-ing Planes.

You Know Heroes Has Lost It When...

2009-02-24T10:20:00.003-05:00

Though it is more and more looking like a complete accident, the first season of Heroes was amazing. Sure, the finale was a bit underwhelming, but it could never possibly have met the expectations it had built up. The point is, there were expectations. Not any more.

Season 2 came and went, given a shortened season and a free-pass due to the writers strike. Surely season 3 would set things right. Right? Wrong!

Season 3 has been a mess, mostly filled with episodes centered around a "cool-idea" and characters acting as out-of-character as needed to get positioned for the cool plot point or story. This image demonstrates so clearly the problem with the show. Season 1 opened with the shocking revelation that a nuclear explosion was coming. The revelation was brought by a man who could paint the future. But he died. Season 2 found lost paintings, revealing another shocking future. By season 3, since we couldn't keep finding lost paintings, we got another guy that could paint the future, and its shocking events. He died. So now, we take one of our original heroes and since we can only possible advance the story via paintings of the future, we give him this power and claim it is an extension of mind reading. WTF!? So what does he do with his power? He paints a shocking future of... wait for it... a nuclear explosion. But wait, this one is in DC not New York so its totally different.

The good news is that if you don't like that story, you can follow Sylar's quest. At the beginning of last season he found out who his real father was. But it wasn't really his real father. So now he is looking for his really real father. You can also follow Claire and her dad. He has been lying about his job, but its really all been to protect her. Sound familiar? That because this is the fourth iteration of said story. Delving into rumor territory, Season 1 and 2 had the super powered Niki with a split personality involving her dead twin Jessica. Niki died, but as it turns out she was actually a triplet. In season 3, we met Tracy - the triplet. She learned that there was a fourth, Barbara. Now for the rumor. Tracy will soon die, but the actress will return in season 4. Fun, sounds like we will meet Barbara. I wonder how many more versions there are out there. The possibilities are endless.

Other power related quandires: How does supercharging super-speed let someone run backward in time (forward maybe, but backward)? What happened to Mohinder's webbing ability? And why did Peter need Sylar's powers, you know the ones that came with "the hunger" other than to give us dark Peter for one episode. He certainly never used his understanding of how things work to do anything.

Anyways, if I, lover of the superhero genre am near the point of abandoning this show(after all I am still watching Smallville), what hope can there be that this show will last much longer? Even if it does, it looks like all we will be served are countless, inferior remakes of season 1.

A Reson to Tune in to Batman: The Brave and the Bold

2009-02-20T13:05:00.004-05:00

If you arent watching, then you will miss this:

Let Your Eyes Meet The Transformers 2 Trailer

2009-02-13T09:26:00.001-05:00

Radar Blips - Innerspace

2009-02-10T12:43:00.003-05:00

The Year: 1987

The Players: The "short" Amigo, The Poor Man's Harrison Ford, That Chick That Always Falls in Love With Tom Hanks, and A Holographic Doctor playing a cowboy.

The Take: $26 Million

What is this a space adventure like Star Trek?: No, "Inner"Space is in reference to the journey taken by a miniaturized submarine injected into Martin Shorts butt.

Why you should see it: Much in the "vein" of Gremlins, this a an action comedy (both directed by Joe Dante) which is actually funny. Yeah, it is over the top, but its quite enjoyable. Its got a dude with snap on hand attachments, people who get shrunken to creepy dwarf size, crazy grocery store check out shenanigans, and more. Its classic 80s all wrapped up into 120 minutes.

Is it Summer Already? There Are Movies I Want to See Today

2009-02-06T08:36:00.003-05:00

First up today is another in the vein of The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and the Corpse Bride. Its Coraline. Sure to give us all a fear of buttons.

Not quite a compelling is this years (albeit it looks better) Jumper AKA Push. Push is like Heroes, X-Men, etc, focusing on ordinary people with extraordinary powers. Cliche, most definitely, but for fans of the Superhero genre, this may be worthy of a watch.

Is anyone else interested in seeing either of these two February treats?

Radar Blips - Gremlins

2009-01-30T11:32:00.003-05:00

The Year: 1984

The Players: One of Corey Feldmans first roles (oddly Corey Haim is no where to be found) and Howie Mandel as the voice of Gizmo.

The Take: $148 Million

How does one care for a Mogwai?: Three simple rules: 1) Keep them away from bright light, especially sunlight; 2) Don't get them wet; 3) NEVER feed them after midnight (wait, isnt it always after midnight?)

Why you should see it: How many kinds of awesome is this movie? First off, its a Christmas movie, the Mogwai are maybe the cutest creatures ever, and the Gremlins are hilarious. On top of that, they are brutal and they get disposed of in awesome ways. You get microwaves, juices, swords, and skylights. The movie masterfully balances comedy with horror and is a real gem worthy of being dusted off and enjoyed 25 years later.

The Mighty Thor is Coming

2009-01-27T14:35:00.004-05:00

Hulk VS has arrived and a review will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, feast your eyes on Marvels next offering: Thor - Tales of Asgard. Looks ok. I am not a huge Thor fan, but the cynic in me tells me this is perfectly timed to capitalize off of the upcoming Thor movie much as Invincible Iron Man rode on the coat tales of the live action Iron Man film. Again, I tend to prefer DC's approach of adapting graphic novels as opposed to Marvel churning out variations on origin stories. I havent finished Hulk VS yet, but that is also an approach I like. Why not a Marvel VS line? Hell they could do a line of just Hulk VS battles. I would pay to see Hulk vs Thing and Hulk vs Hulkbuster Iron Man. Or why not Hulk vs Spider-Man (or Venom) or Hulk vs Juggernaut? That is a bottomless well. Anyways, Marvel seems to be Avengers heavy with these DtVs. This will be Thor's 5th appearance out of 7 movies, (Hulk and Iron Man have each been in 4) so a spotlight is in order. Still, I am more excited for March's Wonder Woman.

Iron Man Gets Even More Ruskified

2009-01-15T09:51:00.002-05:00

It looks like Iron Man 2 is going to give 80 style tribute to the USSR. First was word of the Crimson Dynamo and now Black Widow seems to be spinning her way into Tonk Starks web. It sure seems like we may get some bad accents not seen since the days of K-19 Widowmaker. Bring it on former Soviet Block!

Radar Blips - Danger Diabolik

2009-01-12T10:43:00.004-05:00

The Year: 1968

The Players: John Phillip Law and Marisa Mell

The Take: $??.??

Why is Diabolik Dangerous?: Diabolik is a master thief, and if you get in his way or happen to be an authority, he may be dangerous.

Why you should see it: Though this came out after Batman 1966, many consider it to be the first "faithful" comic book movie adaptation. The movie this most reminded me of was an old Miyazaki directed film The Castle of Cagliostro featuring Lupin III. But there were also elements reminiscent of old school Bond, Batman 1966, and Austin Powers. Though this is not a paroday or spoof. Its just oozing with old school style and very groovy music. The film has also been featured in Mystery Science Theater and the Beastie Boys Body Movin' music video.