So here we go take a look at the first round opponents in the Metropolis Region. Make sure you click on the link below to vote.
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Easily a no brainer for a 1 Seed. Captain America's sequel to the First Avenger took it to another level. Following the blueprint from conspiracy thrillers of the 70s like All The President's Men or 3 Days of The Condor. Cap 2 far execeeded expectations blending spy thriller with modern day action. I won't be surprised in it takes the crown.
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16. Batman & Robin
As clear as it was for Captain America 2 To be a 1 Seed it was just as clear for Batman & Robin to be a 16. There's no question this was the movie that literally killed the Batman franchise until Batman Begins was released by Christopher Nolan in 2005. From Arnold Schwarzenegger's pun to the extreme Mr. Freeze to Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy taken from an old 1920s black & white, to one word Bane. You know what 3 words BAT, EXPRESS, CARD. Which let to this gem of a line "Never leave the cave without it." ARGH THIS MOVIE WAS TERRIBLE
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(90s)
It'd be easy to say that nostaglia led us to adding the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to this list. But I remember loving every second of this MOVIE. The Turtles were REAL and the beat the crap out of the FOOT! Easily quotetable for me and my brothers due to the massive amount of rewatches. So yes nostaglia led to the inclusion but I dare you to watch this movie and not admire it's AWESOME. DAMN YOU MICHAEL BAY.
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9. Iron Man 2
Look I know there are plenty that don't hold Iron Man 2 in high regard. While I'll agree that Mickey Rourke's Whiplash was severely underwhelming especially after Jeff Bridge's Obadiah Stane. But man you can't tell me you didn't enjoy Tony Stark's mortal crisis and while they didn't go full Demon In The Bottle they touched it. Plus I loved Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer that was a wannabe Tony Stark. While it suffered from Avenger set-up that last action sequence with Iron Man & War Machine in action was off the charts awesome.
5. Blade II
This was an entry that was heavily debated. Not on it's inclusion but it's ranking. Blade II to me by far was the best of the series. I loved Blade and loathed Blade Trinity. But Blade II was epic and Wesley Snipes was a BEAST. Throw in a crazy new vampire designed by Guillermo Del Toro. This movie was amazing! While I gave the slight edge to Blade due to the impact it had on the genre especially for Marvel. Blade II will be tough to beat.
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12. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
While Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's chemistry continued to thrive. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a mess, I've never had an issue with too many villains. It doesn't bother mean there have been plenty of great Spidey stories told with multiple villains. But this was the one time I definitely agreed with that criticism. And Garfield's acting to me was still on point. I couldn't say the same for the rest of the cast. Jamie Foxx was given way to little to do, and Dane DeHaan's flat out awful. The only good thing that came from this movie was that it led to Marvel Studios regaining control.
4. Captain America: The First Avenger
This movie came out of nowhere to me. One I never cared much about Captain America. I could never relate, he always seemed boring and even cornier than Superman. But Joe Johnston hit this thing out of the park, making this a period piece as opposed to trying to do a modern take right off the bat. Man I loved this movie chock full old school pulp action, and Haley Atwell's Peggy Carter!! This movie made me like CAPTAIN AMERICA.
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13. Spawn
I remember loving this movie when it first came out. At the time I thought the effects were decent. John Leguizamo's Violater hilarious, Michael Jai White's Spawn on point. While the story was semi-lame even back then I still enjoyed it. The years have not been kind, upon re-watching this movie doesn't hold up well. But it's not completely horrible and it was Image's first forray into the movie biz, so I'll give it credit for that.
6. Batman Begins
The movie that saved and revitalized the Bat franchise. If it weren't for this would DC even be back in the game. Christopher Nolan brought a serious take to the caped crusader. Gone were the colorful costumes and more importantly BAT-NIPPLES. This was a realistic take on what if the Batman did exists. While it was a solid entry it was far from perfect, but I'd be lying if I didn't scream when Commisioner Gordon handed Batman the Joker playing card.
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11. Batman:Mask of The Phantasm
Batman The Animated series was sheer perfection. PERFECTION I TELL YOU. A series that was so popular in the 90s they actually gave it's own movie released in theaters. While it didn't blow audiences away at the time this was an excellent movie. With a new original story from Paul Dini and Bruce Timm Mask of the Phantasm was everything a Batman movie should be. Full of action, mystery, revelations into the Batman's past. KEVIN CONROY is Batman and Mark Hamil is the Joker. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an upset here.
3. Sin City
Sin City was literally a comic book brought to life. Magnificent film, Frank Miller's ultra sexy and violent comic was brought to life. As we got one awesome noir filled story after another! Every casting choice perfect even got a solid performance form Jessica Alba, JESSICA ALBA people. While the sequel was a major disappointment Sin City was solid gold.
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14. X3: Last Stand
You'll see a theme here with a lot of these double digit seeds. X3 like Batman & Robin, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Fantastic Fours killed a franchise. After the supremely awesome X2 Bryan Singer left to do Superman Returns. Good grief why? What fans were left with was a horrendous version of the Dark Phoenix Saga. While we all got excited to see classic X-Villains like Calisto and Juggernaut. What we ended up with was a fight with Storm that lasted 2 seconds and the most unstoppable force turned into an internet meme! BOOOOOOOOO!
7. Spider-Man 3
Again this is a divisve film, while I recall my initial reaction to this movie as pure love. I still recall being angry with the shoehorning of Venom, and weird dancing. And the underdeveloped Sandman. But the first half of this movie FREAKING AWESOME, and take away the dancing and Evil Peter was pretty badass. I loved the original Spider-Man trilogy so it's hard for me to hate this film. I'll admit it has some warts but it was still pretty good.
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10. Red
The first Red was solid though it had little to do with the Image comic it was based on. Red was a really really good action movie, that had some decent laughs. Bruce Willis in his latter years was still showing he could kick butt. While Helen Mirren was an action star, who knew? My only real complaint why was Morgan Freeman the only one that had to bite the dust. (Sorry Spoiler) But overall Red was a good movie.
2. 300
So close to being a 1 seed. 300 was EPIC!!!!! Braveheart and Gladiator combined into a Rock and Roll blender and spray painted with the visual style from Sin City. I love this movie, from Gerard Butler's awesome Leonidas to Rodrigo Santoro's over the top Xerxes. This movie was bananas in a good way, crazy brutal action. And a story that made you want to stand up and cheer. While the sequel Rise of an Empire didn't make the cut it wasn't a bad movie. But it came nowhere near close to the majestic level that was 300.
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15. Watchmen
Look I'll be honest I'm not the biggest fan of Watchmen the comic book. I know blasphemy but I'm just not maybe it's just I feel like it was a tad overrated. But I always respected it and thought it had a really good twist and solid story. It's hard for me to believe that the same guy that directed 300 directed this. Ok maybe not so much, but while I thought 300 was epic I thought Watchmen was a mess. While he stayed extremely true to the comics I mean panel by panel true, they only change they really did which was even more inexplicable was to the ending. Add the fact that I was mainly bored to sleep. Sorry this movie sucked.
So there you have my breakdown make sure to click the links to vote. I'm beat but a write up on the New York Region opponents will be coming soon.
To Vote Click New York Region or Metropolis Region