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Ranking The Caped Crusader’s Best Films Ahead of The Vic Theatre’s Batman Marathon

Batman is getting ready to shroud over Victoria, BC thjis coming weekend with this local mini movie marathon celebrating his best works than all!

November 9-10, 2024
The Vic Theatre
808 Douglas St. Victoria, BC

For tickets, please visit here.

Just how many Batman movies exist depends on whom you ask, and the people who run The Vic Theatre in Victoria, BC say it’s nine films. Their Batman Marathon is their way to celebrate the coming of autumn and perhaps posthumously “The Longest Night” (technically, the title is The Longest Halloween in published form). For those who are counting all appearances, it’s fifteen; and for every animated film made to date, those alone stand at thirty-two! But for anyone able to last through the films the Victoria Film Festival crew was able to licence to screen, the winner will get bragging rights to say they’ve lasted the weekend, and also free movies for a year!

The Batman Marathon Includes:

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12 Hot Films to See at Fantasia Film Festival 2024

Fans of Fantasia Film Festival will also say their shorts, like Anime no Bento 2024, are not worth missing! They offer a celebration of the arts in ways not every film will explore!

Fantasia Film Festival 2024 Montreal City’s Fantasia Film Festival is the destination for all things wild in the pop culture movie scene. Although I love it because of all the Asian style imports, there’s always something unique from another country that’ll catch my interest.

Whether that’s with Les yeux d’Olga or Chainsaws Were Singing (Mootorsaed laulsid) due to what this work promises to entertain with, they help round out this top twelve must see picks! The former is a short which may borrow concepts from Bubba Ho-tep and the latter is a horror musical, a genre which doesn’t receive enough attention, and I hope both succeed!

Presented in alphabetical order are my top picks on what to go see:

Brush of the God (Kaminofude)

Brush of the God (Kaminofude) Sun July 28, 2024
Salle J.A. De Sève

Once a movie earns the label of a kaiju film, I’ll simply watch it, and here, it’s about a young girl who wants to know more about her late grandfather. He’s a model maker who’s worked in many monster movies, and as for how she gets teleported into the worlds that her grandpa made, well, that’s the mystery. I doubt this work will be like the Last Action Hero, but I’m very curious!

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Instead of Ten, There’s Twelve Animated Films To Be Excited for in 2024

There’s plenty of animated films to feast upon this year, but to say which are essentials boils down to this list that considers films from Japan too!

Justice League- Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One - Animated Films Instead of focusing on the output from the major studios, what I offer in this list of animated films to be excited for includes two Asian picks making my top slots! Here, it’s not just about theatrical releases, but also direct to video, and streaming too.

But to be fair, I must say Chris Sanders, co-director of How to Train Your Dragon, return to DreamWorks to helm The Wild Robot, is a bit of a surprise. I thought he cut his ties with them, but it’s nice to see there’s no hard feelings between what led to his departure, since he was never fully involved in how the classics continued except by credit. While it’s great that this studio is hard at work outputting a ton of product, the big question I have is will Orion and the Dark be good? This film is headed to streaming, and with those two said, I begin my list with:

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1 (Jan 8)

Hopefully, this animated adaptation of the comic book will do a better job than TheCW‘s Arrowverse version. This saga spanned several comic books back when it was first published, and it concerned the Anti-Monitor who wanted to start destroying alternate Earths where variations of DC’s most famous heroes existed. However, when readers were getting confused about what’s happening on Earth-Prime or not, what Marv Wolfman and George Pérez did was to clean up the mess. That didn’t stop the comic book company from creating Elseworlds, but at least fans know what’s fashioned there are meant to be one-shots!

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Top 12 Animated Films in 2023 Worth Checking Out

This list of animated films in 2023 is not restricted to just what’s coming out of America, but also internationally too.

There’s a fair number of animated films in 2023 worth checking out, and like my other lists about what’s new for this year, they are not limited to one platform. That is, these works are are coming to theatres, will be streaming or are direct to video releases. Also, I’m not limiting my list to mostly Stateside made works, either.

One movie that still hasn’t gotten a full wordwide release is Legend Quest: The Origin. It’s available in its native country to stream, but as for finding it elsewhere, hopefully, some distributor will pick it up. I adore this Mexican franchise and the Netflix series that’s available world-wide is not enough. Hopefully, it will get better distribution because it deserves not to be restricted to fans living in Mesoamerica.

Not on the list is Unicorn Wars because it’s getting specialised screenings. It’s staggered release can be confusing, and I’m only listing films that are coming out worldwide on the same date.

Listed in chronological order are:

We Lost Our Human (TV Special 2023) - IMDb

We Lost Our Human (Netflix)
Jan 1

This interactive film is a comedy adventure that explores a classic sci-fi concept I seem to recall seeing in an old Twilight Zone episode. This work hasn’t been released to all territories yet, but I’m excited. Here, a cat named Pud and a dog named Ham wake up to find all humans have disappeared from Earth, and the adventure comes from searching for where they’ve gone.

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An Animated Christmas Carol 12 Day Countdown to the Holidays

Thankfully, the animation medium has been kind in terms of how often Charles Dicken’s holiday classic has been reinterpreted. By my estimate, out of the many available to view versions that’s out there, I can make a list of my twelve favourite animated Christmas Carol adaptations.

A not so Animated Christmas Carol Cover Thankfully, the animation medium has been kind in terms of how often Charles Dicken’s holiday classic has been reinterpreted. There isn’t that many when compared to how many times it’s been remade in live-action! By my estimate, out of the many versions that’s out there, I have a list of my twelve favourite animated Christmas Carol adaptations to enjoy every year. I have even included television specials. To be current, I considered Netflix’s animated release, Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, and unfortunately have to say this merry CGI musical is better off skipped.

Had Charles Dickens known about the legacy his tale had upon the entertainment industry, I’m sure the copyright law would have been changed to ensure his estate would get some payment. Sadly, his works are in the public domain. Thankfully, many productions acknowledge this author in the playbill, but in terms of his descendants getting royalties, I’m sure they’re all screaming, “bah, humbug!”

According to Collider.com, the earliest version is Marley’s Ghost (1901), directed by Walter R. Booth and produced by R.W. Paul. This work is impossible to find. Next is most likely Harold M. Shaw’s 1914 silent film short, and many more takes were made before Alastair Sim gave us the most beloved take with the 1951 motion picture. I have to give credit to the 1938 production; this actor made the character memorable, and he’s included in this list of animated works. They are ranked going from least to best:

The Stingiest Man in Town
(Rankin/Bass, 1978)

This studio’s take is a departure from their cheerier stop-motion holiday works. In this earlier time, their holidays specials were on air every time December rolled around, and kids grew up watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.

Although this work is a departure from style, and that the work was done at Topcraft, a Japanese animation studio, this title is worth noting because many of the animators would later be key staff members for Studio Ghibli! In regards to why this take is memorable is because of Tom Bosley. He lends his voice to play a bug named B. A. H. Humbug to narrate the story. Anyone who remembers this actor from Happy Days (He plays Howard Cunningham) will appreciate this take.

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12 Scary Christmas Comics to Count down the Holidays With

To nail a list of new Christmas comics to countdown the “Twelve Days” is tough since some years don’t offer enough, so we present a mix of old and new.

Christmas Comics from Biblioasis In sticking to the Victorian age supernatural tradition of enjoying ghost stories for Christmas, I have updated my list of graphic novel best reads to include upcoming releases which I feel are great. To nail a list of new Christmas comics to countdown the “Twelve Days” is tough. Technically, a few of my selections are more paranormal than just about spirits, and if available, the links go to Amazon USA listings. We’re an Amazon Associate, and any purchases made helps support this blog. Thanks!

The Corner Shop; The Dead and the Countess; and A Visit—Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (Biblioasis)

Leading this list are Gregory Gallant‘s (pen name Seth) comic book collection of ghost stories, which have three new books in 2022! I’m bundling this entry to one rather than individually, as there’s a lot to like about this cartoonist’s style. One of the first tales he adapted to the medium is The Signalman, originally written by Charles Dickens, and this artist adapted it for the masses to enjoy. It’s described to be, “An eerie story of isolation, dread, and supernatural visitation, this book is a small treasure, meant to be read aloud on a cold, dark winter night.”

Those unfamiliar with this name should look at Mister X and Clyde Fans. Those who read Lemony Snicket’s All the Wrong Questions will know his work. He’s also the author of the Palookaville series of graphic novels.

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