ALL STAR SUPERMAN

Superman and Lois Lane have a moment

ALL STAR SUPERMAN (2011/direct to video). Director: Sam Liu.

This is a feature length animated film based on the comic book mini-series of the same name. Rescuing some people in space, Superman is told that he absorbed radiation that is slowly killing him, something that was, of course, engineered by arch enemy Lex Luthor. Like the series, this is episodic, but eliminates some of the stupider sequences of the comic, such as the protracted business with the Bizarro duplicates, although the silly sequence with macho meathead time travelers "Atlas" and "Samson" remains. The sequence with the Parasite -- who is especially monstrous looking in this -- in jail has been expanded and is exciting. There are also two Kryptonian astronauts who were lost in space but now represent a danger to earth, an energy creature named Solaris, and Luthor's nasty niece Nasthalthia. James Denton, Christina Hendricks and Anthony LaPaglia all give good voice performances as, respectively, Superman, Lois Lane, and Luthor.

Verdict: Okay, but watch the excellent Superman vs. the Elite instead. **1/2.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR

A few members of the mighty Justice League

JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR (direct-to-video animated feature/2014). Director: Jay Oliva.

In 2012 DC Comics decided to reboot its entire line of comic books, including Superman, Batman, and Justice League of America, basically starting at the beginning and picking and choosing what would stay in continuity and what wouldn't. This animated feature film is based on the first few issues of the new Justice League comic book, and details the birth of the hero Cyborg (Shemar Moore), the first face-to-face meeting of Batman and Superman (not to mention Green Lantern), and the introduction of the new butch warrior Wonder Woman, who is somewhat scary. There's also Captain Marvel, who joins the others to take on the threat of Jack Kirby's creations Darkseid, his lieutenant DeSaad, and a whole slew of monstrous "parademons." The animation is fluid, the direction good, but the parademons don't make the most interesting antagonists, and there seems to be more of them than of Darkseid, although the villain does get his licks in during a big-time battle at the end. Superman and the Justice League's fight with Darkseid in the Superman cartoon program was more entertaining. You can read about the origins of many of these heroes in The Silver Age of Comics.

Verdict: Colorful and fast-paced, if strictly for Justice League fanatics. **1/2.

SUPERMAN VS. THE ELITE

Watch out for a pissed-off Man of Steel!

SUPERMAN VS. THE ELITE (2012 direct-to-video). Director: Michael Chang.

Superman stops the Atomic Skull after he's already incinerated several people, then has to battle some genetically engineered monster insects. In the latter battle he gets help from some super-powered beings who come to call themselves "The Elite." At first Superman is happy that there are new heroes, but disturbed that their take-no-prisoners attitude and violent methods, as opposed to his more responsible within-the-law approach, have people cheering. The situation gets worse when the Skull escapes and kills more people and the Elite want to finish him off once and for all. [For which we can hardly blame them.] But the big boy scout insists on law and order, even for the Skull, and the battle is on, especially when the members of the Elite murder all the heads of state of two countries to prevent a war. It seems that an outraged Superman is going to give in to his dark side and handle the Elite the same way they would handle him -- bloodily -- but  the Man of Steel just may have a trick or two up his sleeve. Joe Kelly's screenplay is not only full of thrills and action but is also thought-provoking, with good characterizations. [Although why was it necessary to make the villainess a big "tramp,"as if equating sexuality with evil?] The character voices are very well done by George Newbern (Superman/Clark), Pauley Perrette (Lois Lane), and Robin Atkin Downes (Manchester Black, the leader of the Elite), among others. Michael Chang's direction is fast-paced and continuously exciting, and the animation is fluid and striking. Want to bet that this will probably be better than the upcoming big-screen Man of Steel? We'll see.

Verdict: Excellent animated super-hero movie. ***1/2.

H. G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005)

The martians run amok!

H. G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005). Director: Timothy Hines [also co-screenplay/editing].

This long -- way too long -- direct-to-video adaptation of H. G. Wells' masterpiece was rushed -- and I do mean rushed -- into production in order to beat out Steven Spielberg's vastly superior big budget remake of the George Pal classic. While this lugubrious, badly padded  version is perhaps more faithful to the source material -- and takes place in the correct time period --  it is on almost every level a misfire. Whereas Wells gets right into the thick of things in his novel, this takes forever to get going. The whole tone of the production is immediately lowered by the addition of a ponderous old astronomer, atrociously acted, who dominates the first half hour. Lead actor Anthony Piana (who also plays his brother sans mustache) has his moments later in the picture, but seems mostly like a little boy playing dress up. Most of the other actors are similarly miscast. Jamie Hall's theme music isn't bad, but often the score is completely at odds with the activities on screen. The business of the martians' heat ray turning people into skeletons smacks more of the Pal film than the book, in which the ray simply burned people to death. The stop-motion [or similar technique] martians and tripods are not badly designed, but the special effects and really poor matte work make everything resemble a video game. There are few memorable scenes, but one that works has Piana desperately trying to stay out of view of a martian tentacle that enters the wrecked house where he's taken shelter, a scene that also occurred in the two aforementioned Hollywood versions. What one carries way from this are all the scenes of the hero walking, walking and walking ... Too bad.This is almost completely devoid of movie-making nohow.

Verdict: Skip this tedious mess and go with Spielberg and Pal instead. *1/2.

WAR OF THE WORLDS [VIDEO/2005]

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005). Director/co-writer: David Michael Latt.

In what is first seen as a terrorist attack, missiles land on  major US cities, and huge crab-like tripods emerge from them, bringing death and destruction. Astronomer Dr. George Herbert (C. Thomas Howell) tries to find his wife and son, but is horrified to learn Washington D.C. has been nearly obliterated. It would have been nice if we had actually gotten to see some of this action and devastation, but this low-budget, direct-to-video movie -- which has little real connection to H. G. Wells' classic novel aside from a couple of sequences and characters -- tries a smaller scale approach, to say the least. In this very talky movie Herbert meets up with his brother, Matt (Peter Greene), a sergeant (Andrew Lauer), a psycho lieutenant (Jake Busey) and a pastor named Victor (Rhett Giles). Instead of action and horror, aside from some quick bits, there's a lot of walking and talking and more walking and talking -- characters even tell their back stories during what might have been tense moments. A bit with a green mist of poison gas is briefly creepy, and the scenes of the ruins of Washington D.C. aren't bad. The screenplay has some sensitive moments, but it seems to have forgotten about everything else. Howell, Giles and the other cast members give good performances, however, and the animated tripods are effective. Followed by War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave three years later. This can hardly compare to the George Pal and Steven Spielberg versions. 

Verdict: Whatever it is, it ain't Wells. **.

WAR OF THE WORLDS 2: THE NEXT WAVE

WAR OF THE WORLDS 2: THE NEXT WAVE (2008). Director: C. Thomas Howell.

C. Thomas Howell both directs and stars in this sequel to the direct-to-video movie War of the Worlds (2005). Dr. George Herbert (Howell) is in the thick of things when the martians return to earth and kidnap humans using zap beams that seem to disintegrate them but actually teleport them into bizarre holding pens. The martian ships, like the creature in Alien, turn out to be a kind of bio-technological living being, and the martians want to homogenize human blood so its microbes won't infect them as before. When Herbert's son is zapped, Herbert gets himself kidnapped and finds himself some unlikely allies in the war against the aliens, not to mention his search for his son. War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave is a little more involving than the first film, has some interesting [if derivative] ideas and sequences, and Howell gives a very good performance, but there seem to be confusing narrative gaps and a little too much talk, especially in the first half. The climax has some real suspense, however.

Verdict: Bleak and tedious at times despite some good moments. **1/2.

ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 RISE OF THE BLACK PANTHER

ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2: RISE OF THE BLACK PANTHER (2006/Made for Video). Director: Will Meugniot and others.

Years before the big-screen live-action Avengers movie, there were full-length cartoons featuring the same characters. Ultimate Avengers -- a variation on The Avengers in the "Ultimate" universe [also published by Marvel Comics] -- was followed by this sequel in which the super-hero team travels to Wakanda, home of the heroic Black Panther, to deal with the same aliens who bedeviled them in the first animated movie. Captain America, Giant Man, the Black Widow, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, the Scarlet Witch and the Wasp all appear to battle a variety of techno-monsters. While the foes aren't the most riveting, the artwork is attractive [the animation itself is good if unspectacular] and there are some exciting sequences. Olivia d'Abo does the voice of the Black Widow; otherwise there are no real names in the cast. These super-hero characters have been around since the early 1960's; Captain America first appeared in comics in the forties.

Verdict: For the inner super-hero in you. ***.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008) DV

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008). Directors: David Jones; Scott Wheeler.

This direct-to-video feature was, naturally, shown on the Sci Fi channel, the graveyard for all bad direct-to-video movies. A group of soldiers are dematerialized (as in Star Trek) and sent on a mission but somehow things go wrong and they wind up in a prehistoric world located in the middle of the earth -- but which looks more like Southern California. In the meantime, Joseph Harnet (Greg Evigan) and Emily Radford (Dedee Pfeiffer) take a boring machine into the Earth and try to rescue them. The very few computer-generated dinosaurs are unexceptional, but the large black, skittering spiders are a little bit better. Some of the actors are enthusiastic, Pfeiffer and the likable Evigan are good, and the screenplay is perfectly workable. But ultimately this is just another Jules Verne rip-off that proves immensely forgettable.

Verdict: Watch the 1959 version instead. **.