It’s an all heroic Queue as I take a look at today’s release of The Amazing Spider-Man, the Eighties animated series Sky Commanders and the Seventies live-action Saturday morning series, Shazam!
Grab your capes and masks, fire up your queue or shopping cart and hunker down…
The Amazing Spider-Man
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| Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Released November 9, 2012 |
Far from amazing, Mark Webb’s tepid reimagining is heavy on familiarity and low on purpose.
Too reverent to the original trilogy from Sam Raimi, the latest big screen incarnation of the web-slinger finds another reiteration of the origin story, which in an attempt to make it feel fresh, deviates from the mythology to create something new. Peter’s parents and their subsequent disappearance are the driving undercurrent, but it doesn’t work. Peter’s newfound abandonment issues might have something to do with his father’s old partner, scientist Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). Like most unimaginative comic films, the hero and the villain create one another.
The film just feels dull and uninspired. Sure, the CGI looks pretty good, but beyond that the film is merely a bunch of ideas that are never followed through (For instance, Uncle Ben’s killer is never caught). Andrew Garfield delivers the film’s best performance as the title character and like Brandon Routh in Superman Returns, makes a good hero in a not so good film. The cast is solid throughout and the ever charming Emma Stone, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Campbell Scott and Ifans all elevate the material. Both picture and sound quality are at reference levels and extras are plentiful, including commentary, second screen app, feature length making of documentary, deleted/alternate scenes, pre-visualization videos, art gallery, stunt rehersals, video game featurette and image progression reels.
Frustrating and worse, dull, The Amazing Spider-Man is full of set-up for sequels, but somewhere along the way forgot that they had to make this film first.
But it looks great and despite my problems with this reimagining, the disc is one of the best I’ve seen and is highly recommended.
Sky Commanders: The Complete Series
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| Warner Archive / Released August 28, 2012 |
The premise of Sky Commanders sounds like the greatest Eighties action film never made:
Deep in the South Pacific, a tumultuous and untamed new continent has erupted, spawned by a highly unstable new element, known as Phaeta-7. If this powerful new element could be controlled, whoever possessed it would be the undisputed ruler of the world! One man, General Lucas Plague, is determined to hold that title. And it’s up to a rugged team of mountaineering experts, led by Commander Mike Summit, to stop him. Employing revolutionary new gravity-lock and laser-cable technology to traverse the ever-changing terrain of the High Frontier, Mike Summit’s Sky Commanders, and General Plague’s Raiders, are locked in mortal combat, with the fate of the entire world hanging in the balance!
Unfortunately, it is far from the greatest animated series ever made. A feeble attempt by Hanna Barbera to produce their own G.I. Joe brings nothing new to the genre. In fact, dull characterization and the pretty piss poor execution (They dangle on wires with lasers over unfamiliar and unstable terrain) is a pretty large contributing factor why you don’t see an awful lot of Sky Commanders costumes at Comic Con. The animation is actually better than most other shows of the era, but picture and sound quality weren’t restored and it shows. Character design is pretty mediocre (they look like toys…which precisely they were) and the stories aren’t particularly engaging. If you loved the series when you were a kid, you’ll probably dig it. Otherwise, there isn’t much there except for folks that found Go-Bots or G.I. Joe too esoteric and complex.
Shazam! The Complete Live-Action Series
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| Warner Archive / Released October 23, 2012 |
The Seventies were a different time.
So different in fact that teenager Billy Batson rode around the U.S. in a winnebago with a middle aged old man named Mentor and offering advice and life lessons for runaway kids on drugs, forest fires or black kids who prefer to play violin to basketball.
Only Billy isn’t your typical teenager. He calls upon the six animated elders who advise him in his role as Captain Marvel; each of them providing the first letter that makes up the acronym that comprises Billy’s magic word, Shazam!, which provide him with the following respective traits; Solomon, wisdom; Hercules, strength; Atlas, stamina; Zeus, power; Achilles, courage; and Mercury, speed.
Based on the Fawcett/DC Comics character, the Shazam! series is comprised of 28 episodes and starred Michael Gray as Billy, Les Tremayne as Mentor with Jackson Bostwick and later, John Davey as Captain Marvel. The series guest starred a number of familiar faces of the time including Lance Kerwin, Butch Patrick, Lisa Eilbacher, Jackie Earle Haley, Jimmy McNichol, Danny Bonaduce, Patrick Labyorteaux and JoAnna Cameron guest starring as The Mighty Isis (Captain Marvel guested on her series as well).
Each episode has a strong moral message that also serves as the theme of that particular episode. It might seem a little silly and antiquated, but that’s nothing new for The Big Red Cheese. Picture quality is a bit worn, but it’s well worth it in exchange for having this title released. Shazam! is certainly dated, but revisiting it conjured up good memories of Saturday mornings. Highly recommended.
