Apr 03 2020

Superman, Batman and Lex Luthor Daddy Issues

From Zack Snyder, talking about Batman v Superman, which was a ridiculous movie but I thought this bit was interesting. Emphasis added:

While Luthor is often used as a parallel to Superman, Snyder was interested in showcasing the parallels between Lex and Bruce as well. All three men are fixated on their fathers, and have maintained tombs in their memory. Lex took his father’s study and built a new house around it, and maintained its upkeep so that nothing fell out of place. Bruce held onto Wayne Manor, but let it fall into decay. And Superman keeps the memory of both fathers, Jonathan and Jor-El, as a part of his deeds and Kryptonian suit,

I never thought about it but this all makes sense. Batman is fixated on both parents, but it’s always about the dad. Superman barely mentions his mother. Luthor I never thought about, but again, it makes sense.

Someone told me “Men don’t have daddy issues” and I said “oh please.” Even superheroes have them! Maybe especially superheroes.

Source: Zack Snyder Shares Secrets from Lost ‘Batman v. Superman’ Sequels | Hollywood Reporter


May 09 2019

Justice League cartoon helps my kid answer a science question

My son just made me very happy.

One of the greatest cartoons ever

He was taking a physics exam and said something from the Justice League cartoon helped him answer a question.

It had something to do with x-rays not being able to pass through lead, and that’s what they did with Superman.

So there you go! Superhero animation is educational.


Jun 05 2017

Thoughts on Wonder Woman and “Wonder Woman”

Wonder Woman” has arrived and it’s a hit! This is a good thing for many reasons, not the least of which is that the movie is actually pretty good. Here are some of my thoughts about both the character and the new (hit) movie.

Wonder Woman's first TV appearance

(Note: the above is a screenshot from Wonder Woman’s first TV appearance, which apparently was on “The Brady Kids“.)

The Movie

It’s pretty good! I say this with the understanding the film has been deemed to be more than pretty good by Rotten Tomatoes. If you read those reviews, though, as I did, you will find that although the vast majority of them are indeed positive, there are some complaints, which is fair since there are no perfect movies. (Not even my beloved Avengers movie.)

Down to brass tacks. (Which sounds painful.) “Wonder Woman” is very entertaining. Read more »


Apr 28 2016

Sesame Street Avengers Parody (DaddyTube)

Apparently today is National Superhero Day. Even if it isn’t (I’ve been fooled before), this Sesame Street Avengers Parody video “The Aveggies- Age of Bon Bon” is quite amusing. Sorry, forget to say Spoiler Alert.

At the risk of spoiling the best jokes… OK, I won’t. But the Sesame Street writers manage to come up with amusing vegetable-themed names for all of the Avengers, and even works in a version of one of my all-time favorite lines (from the first Avengers movie, which this is technically a parody of, rather than Avengers: Age of Ultron). Makes me wish I had a little kid to hang out with so I could watch more Sesame Street.

If that makes you hungry for more (see what I did there?) here is a Sesame Street Superhero Playlist, which begins with none other than Superman. Ah, the good old days.


Jun 10 2015

Watch These Creepy New Justice League Cartoons

I’ve said many times that I am a huge fan of the DC Animated Universe (sometimes called the Timm-verse, in honor of Bruce Timm). My personal favorite is Justice League, both regular and Unlimited. (Most people say Batman: The Animated Series is better but they’re wrong.) Now Bruce Timm has returned to his old stomping grounds… sort of. Here’s the scoop:

DaddyTips Featured Video

Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a full-length animated movie that will be released on Blu-Ray, DVD and digital download on July 28. But you don’t have to wait that long to get a taste of what it will be like. There are three shorts, two available now, one more coming on Friday. The title is Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles. Here are the first two episodes, “Twisted” and “Bomb”. Do NOT watch them with your kids. They are creepy. Seriously. I mean it. Read more »


Mar 29 2015

Watching Great Movies With Your Kids

One of the pleasures of having kids is watching your favorite movies with them. Some are obvious — the original Star Wars trilogy, Superman, Terminator/Terminator II. Less obvious, but still a good choice, is Aliens. Matt Zoller Seitz sums up the experience of watching great movies with your kids nicely on RogerEbert.com:

as we watched, I realized again that while unfortunately you can’t see a great movie again for the first time, the next-best thing is to show it to people who’ve never seen it.

Star Wars aliens

Star Wars aliens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(Note: the photo above has nothing to do with this article or the article on RogerEbert.com. I just thought it was a fun pic of characters from Star Wars.)

Well put. I’m not sure what the right age is to watch Aliens, since it’s a bit scarier than Star Wars and Superman. As always, we at DaddyTips advise using your own judgment when it comes to deciding when your children are ready to see certain movies. It’s definitely something that varies from kid to kid, and of course also from parent to parent. A lot of the movies I saw when I was as a kid I saw in theaters when I was younger than I might want my own kids to see said movie. The Jerk, for example. Or a number of R-rated films that I saw because it was a different time. Movies have changed, ratings have changed, kids have changed.

Sometimes it’s not even about the rating. For example, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is rated G. But without a background in the Trek characters, it’s impossible to appreciate the movie. And I personally feel it’s good parenting to make sure your children have seen Space Seed (the first appearance of the late, great Ricardo Montalbán as Khan Noonien Singh) before they see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

To be honest, Aliens wasn’t even on my list of flicks I wanted to watch with my kids, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t be. When they’re the right age, of course.

via Notes on watching “Aliens” for the first time again, with a bunch of kids | MZS | Roger Ebert.


Jul 21 2013

IGN Commenter Speaks Truth About The Avengers

I finally have a few minutes to pull out my Geek Gold Card and catch up with all of the San Diego Comic Con news. At first I thought the biggest tidbit was the title for Avengers 2Avengers: Age of Ultron. (Insert little nerdy noise here.) Turns out much more was revealed about the many upcoming Marvel superhero movies, plus the announcement that Superman and Batman will do a project together. (I like phrasing it that way because it sounds like I think they’re real people. You know, like The Muppets.)

Me and The Avengers movie.

Personally I prefer The Avengers. Have I mentioned that lately?

Anyway, in this IGN story about footage from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the comments section is briefly hijacked by someone who thinks that the Nolan Batman flicks are more awesome than The Avengers movie. We disagree with this statement. A lot. Enough that we could say mean things. But since it’s not nice to be mean, let us instead share a polite portion from this post:

They are ALL good movies, however Avengers did what superhero movies needed to do. That is all. I win.

That is indeed all. Well, not really. The above was followed someone stating that “the avengers might be one of the most overrated movies of all time, despite the fact I like it, people just give it way too much undeserved adulation“, which itself led to, “Nolan’s batman films are the most overrated comic book movies of all time. Begins actually felt like a comic book. things slowly started to trickle down hill with the dark knight until we received the all over the place plot of The dark knight rises.” (Note: all comments pasted as is, spelling/capitalization/grammar missteps included.) Eventually the thread gets back to what’s really important, which is that there are a lot more superhero movies on the horizon and how awesome that is.

Personally I’m more excited about the upcoming Marvel movies than I am those from the Distinguished Competition. Part of this is because I’m more of a Marvel fan to begin with. (Not that I dislike DC; I love the Justice League cartoon and yack about it so often that even my fellow Geek Gold Card members tune me out when I get going.) Other reasons include:

(a) There are more Marvel movies on the way, and the main goal here is to have as many superhero movies as possible. Preferably one per week.
(b)  Out of the recently released superhero movies, those from Marvel (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man) have been better than those from DC (Green Lantern, The Dark Knight Rises, and even Man Of Steel, although I liked it fine).

The Avengers, of course, is the best of the bunch. Well, the best as of now. Because there’s lots more to come. And that, in the words of Martha Stewart, is a good thing.

Comic-Con: Captain America Honors San Diego with Winter Soldier Footage – IGN