TheRetroCritic

We debate the controversial Martha twist in Batman V Superman on podcast The Big Rewind. Where do you guys stand on this?

Day versus night, question versus answer...

This animated DC feature from 2009 teamed-up iconic heroes Superman and Batman with Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy returning to voice their respective roles. The film sees Lex Luthor become President of the United States and a Kryptonite meteor head for Earth. Lex Luthor's rise to power is one that should have prompted some pretty exciting physical and psychological clashes between Superman and his arch-enemy and, to a certain extent, we get that with most superheroes and villains working for Luthor being sent out to stop both Superman and Batman, who obviously refuse to believe this new public persona of his. This makes for some entertaining fight scenes packed with familiar faces from Captain Marvel to Hawkman, Katana and many others. In the end, we of course get a Superman vs Luthor one-on-one. This is very much a brawl with a lot of punch-outs so if it's non-stop action you're looking for then you won't be disappointed with this one. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

And so it's time to list my Top 10 Best DC Movie Villains , to even things out with my Top 10 Worst compilation. I'm not counting the animated movies in this list, just so you know. 10 HECTOR HAMMOND Green Lantern Probably the most underrated part of Green Lantern was Peter Sarsgaard's solid performance as Hector Hammond. The pathetic nature of the character is portrayed really well by the actor who gives the villain a growing edge as he is consistently ignored by his father and eventually turns into a macrocephalic monster. Sarsgaard takes the character seriously, even after his freakish transformation, and you do care about Hammond since he didn't start out as a bad guy so seeing him turn into an evil super-villain is surprisingly tragic.   9 THE RIDDLER Batman Forever Here's a villain that easily could have made it into the Top 10 Worst list in that he's both so over-the-top it's distracting but, on the other hand, he's

I talk about DC's latest blockbuster Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice . The spoilers are coming...  

The SPOILERS are coming... The SPOILERS are coming! Finally, DC comics and director Zack Snyder deliver their big, expensive, world-building clash of titans as the son of Krypton and the bat of Gotham face-off for the very first time on the big screen. Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice not only promised one heck of a one-on-one battle but also the start of even bigger things. This should have been a no-brainer: Batman and Superman, the two biggest superheroes out there, in a movie together fighting it out. The words "screw you, take my money!" come to mind. And yet from the casting of Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight to the mixed response Man Of Steel received upon its release, Snyder's patchy track-record, the confusion around whether this would be a Justice League movie or not, the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, the much too generous (and spoilery) marketing and, ultimately, the many unkind early reviews, this increasingly looked set to be much less

Don't worry, I'm not here to rant anymore about Man Of Steel ... Let's talk Superman IV: The Quest For Peace ! A far more light-hearted subject, as far as I'm concerned. The fourth (and probably cheapest) film in the original Superman franchise, Superman IV is quite probably the most memorably goofy instalment in the original run of Christopher Reeve-starring Super-outings. This time around, Reeve himself got the chance to have more creative input and make this fourth movie his own. The result? Essentially a cartoon but an incredibly fun flick nonetheless. Everyone's back including Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane and, of course, Reeve as Superman/Clark Kent. New entries cast-wise include Luthor's impressively unfunny sidekick nephew Lenny (John Cryer with a magnificent haircut), Lacy (Mariel Hemingway's new love interest) and, of course, the real star of the show: Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). Yes, this is the one where Lex

Here's the thing about Superman Returns : It's not THAT bad. I wouldn't even call it "bad", it's just... misguided, really. Instead of reinventing Superman for a new generation, here's a film which decides to pay homage to those old Christopher Reeve movies, the only Superman movies we've ever seen. Was that really necessary? No. That was a bad idea to begin with: not original, not ground-breaking, not different. As a slick retread and as a sort-of sequel to Superman II , however, it just about works. You've got Kevin Spacey taking on Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor role and doing a really good job, though he's only a tad more threatening than Hackman was back in the day. The film looks good, the classic Superman theme is still there, the action sequences (all TWO of them), as rare and far between as they may be, are really well done and Bryan Singer's direction is slick and stylish. That said, there's a serious problem when

There's a reason why both Superman reboots, Superman Returns and  Man Of Steel , have both referenced this sequel heavily. Several reasons, in fact. For one: Superman III and Superman IV weren't very good. Also... Zod. If there's one thing I never really enjoyed in those old Superman movies, it was Gene Hackman's goofball take on Lex Luthor. His wacky cartoon sidekicks and his lack of a genuinely threatening character always felt off to me. So when Zod and his pals showed up in Superman II and hijacked the movie, I was over the moon. Finally, we had some worthy villains for Superman to battle and on that level, the film didn't disappoint. Though good old Luthor still stuck around in a positively unnecessary subplot where you see him break out of prison and basically tell Zod where to go and what to do. It's funny to think that Hackman didn't even technically return for this movie (his scenes were originally shot by Richard Donner). Luckily, Ter

The first film to really make superhero flicks into something genuinely big and epic, Superman: The Movie  is the classic that made Christopher Reeve into a star overnight, spawned 3 more sequels plus a slick modern homage not to mention made Superman into the iconic cinematic hero we all know him as. But how does it stand up today? Well, back in the day and even when I watched it as a kid, Superman was pure popcorn entertainment: it looked great, John Williams' score was, of course, amazing, and the whole thing was light, fun, creative and unique. From the Krypton opening where we meet Marlon Brando's light-suit-wearing Jor-El to the heroic time reversal at the end (I'll get to that one...) it was vintage comic book nonsense and I loved it. Hell, I was such a fan I even sat through Supergirl AND the Superboy TV series not to mention that corny 90's Lois & Clark show, all of which I dug completely and all because director Richard Donner once told us "Yo