An alien race called the Fearians promises to help the Legion of Doom take over the world and defeat the Super Friends. However first they want the Legion of Doom to make the Earth suitable for them. To do so Captain Cold sets out to freeze the world, Black Manta tries to flood it and Sinestro sends comets towards the Earth.
This is a very fun episode. I love how even though this episode features all of the Super Friends it lets us see three of them in their own element. We see the Flash take on Captain Cold, Aquaman take on Black Manta and Green Lantern fight Sinestro. Each of these scenes are very exciting action scenes and help show why each of these three characters are great superheroes, even without the rest of the Super Friends to help them. These are not the only great action scenes in this episode. The final action scene here is simply a lot of fun. This episode also has a lot of great artwork. This episode takes place in different areas throughout the world and each environment here is wonderfully designed and has a great sense of atmosphere. The background art in each of these environments is simply a joy to look at. While they do not have enough screen time to give them memorable personalities, the Fearings have cool looking designs, a creepy voice and feel like a major threat to our heroes.
This episode is simply a treat for Superfriends fans.
A really atmospheric and fun animated direct to video superhero movie.
After the Penguin escapes from Arkham, he is out looking for some treasure that he believes is buried under Gotham City. Instead he finds the one and only Count Dracula who hypnotizes the Penguin into being his servant (having Penguin play the Renfield role in this film). The prince of darkness goes around Gotham turning the citizens into vampires wherever he goes. Batman must put a stop to Dracula's horrifying deeds, but this won't be easy as the count is hunting Batman himself.
What works surprisingly well about this movie are the horror aspects. There are scenes from this film that could have easily come from a horror picture. I felt myself becoming increasingly uneasy as the film went on and the fact that this was done so effectively gives me great respect for this movie. There is a tenseness and real feeling of suspense throughout the whole film and it only grows larger the movie goes on, leading to an especially exciting climax. Yet rather than just a horror film, this movie does feel completely like a Batman story. This is a Batman movie that truly explores the detective side of Batman. Even though he knows who the villain is early on, he still has to discover a way to stop this unseeingly stoppable force and try to find a way to heal those who Dracula has already turned into vampires. Meanwhile this film also explores the difficultly in Bruce Wayne trying to have any semblance of a life outside of Batman. He is dating Vicky Vale and does really care for you, yet his duties as Batman prevent him from actually dedicating himself to her in any way or giving her the time and attention, she deserves. This makes this supernatural based film with a seemingly silly premise (Dracula's tomb is now under Gotham!?) a very human story and actually a pretty good character study. This movie also benefits from some really fun action scenes, especially the wonderful climatic action scene. The background art and use of lighting (in this animated film) are also very good and create a real sense of atmosphere.
This movie does suffer from a lot of dialogue that is simply awkward and not very good. It also doesn't help that most of the humor falls quite flat. I also don't much care for the Joker's design (which just looks weird and kind of ugly) here, though that is a minor problem as the Joker doesn't receive much screen time here.
This movie is a feature length addition to the animated TV series, The Batman (2004-2008), taking place within the same universe, using the same designs, animation style and voices and being made by the same people. The director, Michael Goguen was one of the developers of the series. He also worked as a storyboard artist on Batman the Animated Series (1992-1995) and Batman: Brave and the Bold (2008-2011) as well as on plenty of the feature length animated DC comics movies and even some of the direct to video Scooby-Doo! movies.
Despite its flaws, this is a surprisingly quite good movie and should delight both Batman fans and horror fans.
An emotionally effective musical with truly outstanding musical numbers.
This movie is the feature film directorial debut for Benjamin Millepied. Millepied is one of the most respected choreographers today. He has worked heavily on stage for the New York City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. On the movie side of things he was the choreographer (as well as a dancer) for Darren Aronofsky's brilliant Black Swan (2010). With a director like this at the helm, it is no shocker that this film is such a visual treat. This is especially true of the musical numbers, which were simply breathtaking to watch. These are very extravagant musical numbers, yet the extravagance never becomes too much or distracting. Instead there is an incredibly delicate beauty to each of these musical numbers and when they come on screen it is hard to turn your eyes away. As a fan of musicals this was an especially wonderful treat considering how rarely we get dance numbers that are this impressive and this much of a joy to watch today. Yet the dance numbers are not the only time this movie visual shines. Almost this entire film is very visually impressive. The uses of montage, flashbacks, lighting and cinematography are all incredible. This makes it clear that Benjamin Millepied easily has what it takes to become a great director. Also incredibly impressive is Nicholas Britell's score. This score is truly incredible and simply beautiful to listen to. This sweeping score brings every scene completely to life and helps give the film an even stronger emotional power. The story is loosely based off of the famous novel and opera, Carmen. This may be a bit of a simplistic take on the story but just because it is simplistic doesn't mean it isn't effective. There is a real connection between the two main characters (helped heavily by the chemistry between the leads, Melissa Berrera and Paul Mescal) that creates a real emotional connection with the story.
I will admit that as wonderful as the musical numbers are they do not really move the story forward. Because of this they sometimes feel like they are competing with the story. The romance and the musical numbers are both very well done but they do not always mesh with each other well. The storyline itself also at times feels quite rushed. It can seem to jump from major plot point to major plot to major plot point all too quickly. This also causes all of the supporting characters to feel very bland and forgettable. The political and social commentary also lacks the bite it should have.
This may be a flawed film, but what works in this movie is truly wonderful.
The idea of a romantic comedy that takes a look at Arranged (or assisted marriage) is a great one and almost demands to provide something new in this often creatively dry genre. Unfortunately once you get past that basic idea, this movie is simply the same old same old. There is no intelligent discussion of the topic or any kind of subversive look at the romantic comedy. Instead there is simply the old romantic comedy conventions that every movie fan knows all too well. However conventional romantic comedies do have their charms and there is a reason why so many movie fans still like them. Unfortunately though those charms are absent here, and we get a film that is neither romantic or funny. In fact this film commits the worst sin that a romantic comedy can commit. That is that the two lead characters have no chemistry with each other. In fact none of the characters have that good of chemistry with each other. It of course doesn’t help how simply boring these characters are and the fact that their entire personalities consist of nothing but clichés. This causes us not to care who ends up with who and if we don’t care about that in a romantic comedy than we don’t care about the story at all. One can see the ending of this movie coming from a mile away but when it happens it seems hard to actually care. This ending actually feels forced and unnatural like the filmmakers were just dutifully providing us with the obvious ending, rather than said ending coming naturally out of the story or characters. The humor in this movie is not much better. Despite this film being full of comedy, I can't think of one time I laughed for the whole picture. Every single joke simply fell flat for me and some of it was kind of painfully. This movie also suffers from plenty of horrible dialogue that sounds forced and not at all like how people actually talk. The worst part of this was our main character telling fairy tales to some kids she was babysitting and working where she was in her romantic life into these fairy tales. These scenes not only felt bizarre and incredibly stupid, but they were also simply painful to watch.
The best part of this film was the subplot about one of the main characters' sister. This is the only part of the story that I really cared about. Unfortunately it had little screen time and the ending of this subplot felt very rushed.
The main character being a documentary filmmaker making a film about arranged marriages made me wish I was watching such a documentary rather than this poor excuse for a romantic comedy.
Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.
Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers singing Amazing Grace. This hymn was written by John Newton in 1772. It is no coincidence that John Newton wrote this hymn, as he was someone who badly needed God's grace. Looking at his life before he gave it to God, there is not much to find that is admirable and in fact some of what we see is downright horrific. He played a part in one of the darkest (if not the darkest) parts of American history. He was a slave trader. To say that slavery in the United States (and in any country at any time) was a tragedy and a horrible part of our history is an incredible understatement, and this man was a part of that horrific system. Later he even admitted that he treated the human beings that he was bringing over harshly. If there is anyone, we in our humanness would think is beyond God to reach it would be this guy. Yet God did reach him and being God completely changed him. He not only abandoned his job, but he gave his life to God's ministry and helped fight slavery every step of the way. If God could do this with him who is to say that any of us or anyone we know could possibly be out of God's power to reach.
This is followed by Barbra Mandrell with Baptism of Jesse Taylor. Like the previous song, this song is about redemption and how God can completely transform any person in the world and how there is nobody in the world who can possibly be past God's reach.
Afterwards is Red Smiley with A Beautiful Life. This hymn was written by William Golden (who also wrote Where the Soul Never Dies) in 1918. It is believed that he based this hymn on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Next come Eddy Arnold with Love Lifted Me. This song was written by James Rowe in 1912 and was based on two stories from the book of Matthew. One was asleep in the boat with the apostles during a storm. As the apostles were terrified of the storm, they couldn't understand how Jesus was so calm that he could take a nap. They wake Jesus up from his nap and Jesus simply tells the storm to stop and it does. The other story also involved the apostles, Jesus and the sea. It was about how when his eyes were fixed upon Jesus, he was able to walk on the water, but he lost the ability when his faith faltered and he looked away. Still Jesus was a faithful friend and lifted Peter into a boat.
This is followed by Loretta Lynn with If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again. This song comes from Loretta's 1965 gospel album, Hymns. This song reminds us of the importance of prayer and how important it is to pray for those we love. Too many Christians take prayer for granted, when it is really one of the greatest blessings God could ever bestow on us. The fact that we get to talk to the creator of the Universe is simply incredible to really think about.
Then comes the Blue Sky Boys with their 1938 recording of Old Fashioned Meeting.
Next comes Johnny Cash performing Greystone Chapel from his legendary 1968 album, At Folsom Prison. This song was written by Glen Sherley, who was an inmate in Folsom at the time. The song was given to John by a minister at Folsom Prision. Glen Sherley also wrote another hit country song, Portrait of My Woman, which was made a hit by Eddy Arnold. After this song's success Sherley would even record a live album in Folsom, while still being in prison. When he got out of prison, Johnny Cash met him at the gates. Sherley would even become a part of John's live shows. However when Sherley would threaten to kill some of those on the shows and similarly violent threats against people, John had to let the singer and songwriter go. Singing background on this song is The Statler Brothers and Carl Perkins can be heard as one of the guitar players. The Statlers and Carl Perkins were both part of John's live shows as well.
Today's musical selection ends with The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1946 recording of Cowboy Camp Meeting. This song was written by Tim Spencer one of the founding members of the group.
Now for a sermon from S.M. Lockridge.
Now for the next chapter of Gene Autry's movie serial, The Phantom Empire (1935).
If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Numbers 23:19
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. Psalm 40:10
“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed." Josuha 23:14
And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Mark 10:52
Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. Micah 7:18
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Proverbs 28:13
Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. Proverbs 18:23
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.
Hanna-Barbera's Super Friends franchise appeared under many different names and worked in many different formats. However the format of the Super Friends that comes to most people's mind is Challenge of the Super Friends. This show (which ran 16 episodes) involves the most famous (and some not so famous) DC heroes, Super Man, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Black Vulcan (who was created for this show), The Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan to be exact), Apache Chief (also created for this show), Aquaman. Samurai (also created for this show) and Hawkman fight against the Legion of Doom, a gathering of some of their most deadly villains. These villains include the Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, Black Manta, The Cheetah, Giganta, The Toy Man, The Riddler, Bizzaro, Brainiac and Gorilla Grodd. Even with the first episode, it is apparent why this version of Super Friends is so popular.
In this first episode The Legion of Doom, uses a dream machine to make our heroes commit horrible crimes in their sleep. When this gets the Super Friends out of their way, the Legion of Doom turns everyone else in the world into slaves (that look like Cheetah and Bizzaro) to do their evil bidding.
This episode stresses why I love this show so much. Though much of the episode is simply corny fun, with the Legion of Doom there is also a great sense of suspense that makes you wonder just how our heroes will save the day. Their plan in this episode is especially threatening and evil. While all the slaves looking like Cheetah and Bizzaro adds to the silly fun, there is also something quite creepy about villains who have the ability to turn the whole world into their slaves and this brings a real feeling of dread to the episode. This episode's sense of corny fun is also wonderful. I especially love the scenes involving the Legion of Doom interacting with each other which contains all of the over the top but very fun dialogue that always helps make this show such a delight to watch. The action scenes here are also excellent and there is also the wonderful background art that I love about many Hanna-Barbera cartoons of this time period.
All in all this is a wonderful start to a delightful series.
