Couple things on the Netflix recently.

The first was something I randomly gave a shot because I eventually get around to watching all superhero cartoons on Netflix:
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted.

Weird sort of comic panel animation that takes some getting used to. The "season" consists of a handful of 15 minute episodes. Written by Joss Whedon, so the dialogue doesn't completely suck, and I even got a laugh or two out of it. Don't know if they're going to make any more of those, but I'll watch them if they do.



The second was something I came across when I searched for a title from Captain X's review thread: The Quiet Earth. Of course, that one wasn't available for streaming.

One of the alternate selections it offered up was The Man from Earth. It had Tony Todd (surprisingly articulate and long-winded) and John Billingsly (character could have been written to be less annoying) in it, and I skimmed the synopsis long enough to catch the words "14 thousand year old cave man" before deciding to give it a chance. I'm glad I didn't pay more attention to the synopsis they give, because it makes it sound like a bunch of douchebaggy, pretentious schlock. It's definitely more of a dry, talky flick than I usually go for. The entire film is a bunch of people sitting around bullshitting in a cabin - no period flashbacks for illustration or any of the sort of shit you'd see in Highlander. But they don't really try to be condescendingly "artful" about their purely dialogue piece. What it is, is sort of a matter-of-fact discussion with a prehistoric man who doesn't die, having lived through all of known history and well beyond, attempting to convey his experiences to his colleagues at some university: an arthropologist, biologist, phsychologist, and a couple of others I can't place from memory. Extremely skeptical, rational people, in other words. Answering from his perspective about the shifting of topological features, periods in human history, breaking his normal pattern of quietly moving on every 10 years when people start to notice he doesn't age. I won't spoil any of the revelations that come up, other than to say they are...ambitious.

They do manage to keep your attention, and "John Oldman's" account of his life has a credible feel to it, with some arguable exceptions. I guess it's more like an audio book, the way it makes you imagine things from the narrator's perspective, but I'd actually recommend it.

I'll also say that this is the most lines I have ever seen Tony Todd recite.

*Puts "The Man From Earth", on the list*.

Ah, I thought Jerome Bixby sounded familiar...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Bixby

Yeah, there are several of those out there. They are called "motion comics" or something like that.

Pretty much they are literally actual comic books that have been out, and they just take the comic panels themselves and fuck with them enough to make a sort of a cartoon out of them.

Yeah, The Man From Earth is a great movie, and one of my favorites, especially among low budget films. Demiurge recommended it in a thread a few years back.

http://www.wordforge.net/showthread.php?t=59514

The only other one I've seen with this sort of animation was a Thor movie with a title that escapes me.

As far as superhero cartoons go, I'm the same way, and if it isn't offered on Netflix I'll find it through alternate means. Recently I've been a big fan of The Avenger's, Earth's Mightiest Heroes on Disney XD. I don't care if it's targeted towards a younger audience, it manages to cover pretty big ground in the Marvel Universe. It's certainly no Batman: The Animated Series, but it's still pretty damn good.

Off the top of my head I know they also have Iron Man: Extremis.

It was this one, I believe.

One episode in. Thumbs up so far.

Just got the DVD of "The Man From Earth", yesterday.

You're right, Paladin (from rep), I really do dig it.

To put it mildly.

The commentary track with the director, and John Billingsley is a gut-busting riot!
It's almost an MST3K.

Seeing this bumped reminded me. Caught an (the?) entire season of Wolverine and the X-Men on Netflix. Not quite on par with something like Justice League, but still decent enough to watch. The only really grating part was the way they won't let Wolverine hack and slash people up.

Presently working through a BBC series, Outcasts. A bit dry and melodramatic at times, but the bleak main plot has been enough to hold my interest so far.

Oh, and I've got "Super", now and I'm in love with Ellen Page, and need everything she's been in.


I highly recommend "Hard Candy".

Ellen Page vs. a Pedophile, who doesn't wanna see that revenge fantasy?

The one where she gets pregnant isn't exactly a thrill ride, though.

Ohhh yeah!
I thought he looked familiar!
Well, there ya go folks, another reason to check that one.

Oddly enough when we got netflix earlier this year it set me off on a dinosaur and cosmos documentary spree

The Universe Series, one episode in particular S3-Ep10: The Strangest Things, Amy Mainzer an astronomer she is gorgeous.

Wow, you read my review thread?

Check out The Hulk vs Wolverine (if you haven't already) for some beyond PG-13 violence.

Just saw something I want to watch, "Train" with Thora Birch. Something about a train where organs are harvested from living 'donors'.

Wolverine and the X-men - Cancelled.
Outcasts - Cancelled.

So no season 2 of either.

Did catch all 5 short "motion comic" episodes of Spider Woman, agent of S.W.O.R.D. last night. Wasn't too bad.

Caught that already. Netflix groups it with Hulk vs Thor.

Let me know if she gets naked in it. I've seen American Beauty.

Duh.. I forgot that's what she was in. Will let you know.

The Man from Earth is brilliant. Better than almost all of the shlop that costs thousands of times more.

Watched The Man from Earth as a result of this thread. Interesting movie indeed.

Spartacus. Another "motion comic." A whole lot of dismemberment and rape. Story is barely about Spartacus at all so far, and the short "season" of 15 minute episodes basically ends with a "to be continued."

I wonder if the other "immortal" spoken of in The Man from Earth might have been Flint from Requiem for Methuselah, which just so happens to have also been written by Jerome Bixby.