During this past summer, I declared that I would spotlight the hard work of some motion pictre artists who create works based on their favorite characters. Since the middle of August, I’ve been reviewing Fan Films every Friday right here on the Sock Drawer. Since everyone else has a countdown this time of year, I figured I would get away with this one. (By the way, The Beat has the kind of comprehensive, in-depth year-in-review I would have liked to have written, but was just too darn lazy.) Speaking of lazy, I basically just ordered the fan films by the overall score they received. The best is down at the bottom, #1, scoring 25 of a possible 25 points.

Sadly, the movie that is at the bottom (top, in this case) of this list really exemplifies a lot of the best things Fan Films can do. Unfortunately, it was made a bout a decade before cheap, quality production equipment was readily available. It would do much better if I graded on a curve but my standards are harsh, here. I left the Stinkers off the list since I didn’t even bother to grade them. If there was a tie between movies, the tie-breaker was simply a gut reaction: which one do I want to see more right now?

In true countdown fashion, #1 is the last one on the list. Underneath the movies are the overall score (out of 25) I gave the films.

17. The Green Goblin’s Last Stand
(17)
16. Wonder Woman: Battle of Justice
(17.5)
15. Star Trek: New Voyages
(17.5)
14. American Jedi
(19)
13. Superfriends: Behind The Doors of The Justice League
(19)
12. Hulk: Reaction
(19.5)
11. Star Wars: Contract of Evil
(20)
10. Freddy Vs. The Ghostbusters
(20)
9. Super Precinct
(20)
8. Chasing Jason
(20.5)
7. The Matrix: Unloaded
(21)
6. Green Arrow
(21.5)
5. Fast Times At Hero High
(21.5)
4. Troops
(22)
3. World’s Finest
(24)
2. Batman: Dead End
(25)
1. Grayson
(25)

While you’re recovering from your hangovers this weekend, might I suggest that you curl up by the computer and download one of these movies. Again, the higher these are ranked, the more likely you are to enjoy them.

“Isn’t it true you knew this was a bad movie, that you wrote it over a weekend but kept telling people it was done for years?”
“Objection, your honor. The pod race was pretty cool.”

We’ve got a little more than 24 hours to go in this year. As a blogger, I suppose I should be doing some kind of look-back at the year that was. But my heart’s not in doing a fully-researched, well-thought out list or rundown or anything. I don’t even think I would attempt some half-ass, drug-induced top ten list. Maybe I’ll rank the fan films I reviewed this year in a list tomorrow. You want some lists to tie you over until then? Here’s a good movie list, a DVD list, TV list, and comic book list. Although, I completely disagree with the Birds of Prey nod in the last list. That book never found it’s footing this year and the new direction just didn’t sit well with me. And here’s another comic list that I’m sure I disagree with, too.

“What the hell are ‘no-nos?’”
“That’s the super-adult term my teenage sons use to refer to their genitals. In public. In front of their father.”

Wow. Big week at the comic shop today. I haven’t had this big of a haul for the last week of the year in a long time. It’s usually just late-shipping books, with the exception of the occassional project like DC’s New Year’s Evil from the late 1990s. This year, Marvel tried that tact with What if. At first, I thought they were going to bring the series back. But eventually I caught on that it was just going to be a “fifth week” thing. On the one hand, it’s too bad a new alternate real-ty tale (other than Exiles) would be on the stands every month. On the other hand, it looks like a solid line-up of creators and characters so I guess I should just be glad that they seemed to have done this right, unlike that halg-ass Marvel Knights 2099 fiasco earlier this year. Hrmmm… Maybe I’ve spoke too soon. Let me actually read the ones I got, then I’ll get back to you.

And, don’t forget: The 2004 Quote Season wraps up Friday night at midnight eastern. Then all the 2004 quotes will be off-limits.

“Either you’re babbling, or you just told me, in Cherokee, that my scrotum is many colored.”

It looks like 2005 will be a good time for fans of the Giffen-Dematties team. The JLI writers have a few projects coming out next year. First is a new title called Hero Squared from atomeka. Yeah, I never heard of them before, either. But some lucky ducks have it already, they like it, and I can’t wait for the rest of us schmoes to get it.

Probably about the same time will be the follow-up to the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Justice League mini-series. The sequel will start in JLA: Classified #4. It was originally supposed to be it’s own mini-series. I didn’t mind it being used in this series, but I’m surprised it is this soon. I’m worried DC is using this up too soon. One of the problems of these anthology titles is that the good stuff gets used up early, and they have to just throw any crap they can in there to keep meeting their deadlines.

For their last (announced) trick, the Giffen and Dematties reunite with Maguire for a Defenders mini-series. Was never a big fan of the original team/series but think this could be a fertile area for a talented creative team. I always liked when Peter David reunited the group for a story arc or two and thought he could handle them right. But this is just about as good.

Who knows, we might be lucky enough to find they have more projects in the works to make 2005 even better.

“Oh yeah, the pain. It’s not so bad. I hacked up some blood a couple of minutes ago and there was this pink chunk about the size of, uh… one of those little kiwi fruit, but I don’t feel anything missing, so I’m not too worried.”

Sure, Bengal Nation is pretty stoked following yesterday’s dramatic, come-from-behind-win. But I can’t get caught up in the hoopla cause a) I missed the game, maybe it would help to see the comeback firsthand. B) This should not have been difficult, considering we were home against a team starting a rookie QB who’s lost seven straight games or something like that. Personally, I’m more excited that the game was a sold out. That means the entire season of home games sold out for the first time since the other Bush was in the White House. We’ve got three Pro Bowlers heading to Hawaii. Lots of positives to build on, especially if we win in Philli on Sunday. I can even overlook Chris Perry finally going on IR. He hasn’t given me a lot to convince me he wasn’t a bust, I just hope he shows up here like he did at Michigan.

“You gotta rise above it. You gotta harness in the good energy, block out the bad. It’s circular. It’s like a carousel. You pay the quarter, you get on the horse. It goes up and down and around. Circular. Circle. With the music. The
flow…all good things.”

Back when the NFL released it’s schedule, I was so stoked about the four straight days of games over the Christmas weekend. But due to all the holiday driving, I barely got to see any of it. It could be years before we see another NFL-watching experience like that again. Now I’m wondering what they’ll do next year since Christmas is on a Sunday, I think. Will everyone play on that day or will it slide over to Saturday. I can’t remember what the league did last time Christmas fell on a Sunday.

“This holiday is yours, but, we all share with you the hope that this day brings us closer to freedom, and to harmony, and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we’re all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this day will always be a day of joy in which we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage. And more than anything else, our love for one another.”

Santa knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. And, in our house, he knows when you’re taking a leak.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

I better get to my football picks since I may not be able to get to tomorrow’s game before they start.

Chiefs over Raiders
Titans over Broncos
Saints over Falcons
Ravens over Steelers
Lions over Bears
Jags over Texans
Bengals over Giants
Colts over Chargers
Bills over 49ers
Pats over Jets
Seahawks over Cardinals
Panthers over Bucs
Cowboys over Redskins
Dolphins over Browns
Rams over Eagles

And hats off to the Cincinnati Bearcats for winning Thursday night in the Fort Worth Bowl. It’s their first post-season win since I welcomed them back from the inaugural Humanitarian Bowl back in 1997.

“That’s ridiculous! There’s no such thing as Santa Claus!”
“Not since he was killed by a jet in 1963, no.”

My Christmas present to you, all you Fan Film fans, is the #1 recommendation I can give: Grayson. Sure, I talked about it before. But if TV and radio programs can repackage their stuff during this time of year, so can I.

FF type: Trailer
The grown-up Robin looking to avenge the death of Batman.

Production Quality: (5) Warner Brothers has been trying for more than ten years to put together a quality installment. The folks at Untamed Cinemas took a lot less time to put together this excellent product.

Performances: (5) On top of the great leads, we get a fantastic Superman, convincing Wonder Woman, very good Commissioner Gordon, and a scary Joker.

Fan quotient: (5) Sure, there are lots of great Easter eggs all over the place for die-hard fans. But I think even folks with a casual understanding of the Batman & Robin mythos would be intrigued by this premise. The execution cinches it.

Entertainment Value: (5) The first time I saw this, I rewatched it about ten times. I think that speaks volumes.

FF obtainment: (5) You should download the movie at TheForce.Net or watch it at iFilm.

Grayson: 25 out of 25.

Again, this is the best Fan Film I have seen and hope everyone takes a look at it.

Another treat, check out the Sin City trailer. It looks like they’ve captured the look of the Frank Miller comics about as well as they can.

I guess I also have to pick a football winner for today’s Christmas Eve special: Packers. Mostly, I’m just picking this cause it would mess up the NFC North even more than it already is. Do it for the Majik Man!

“Sometimes standing up for your friends means killing a whole lot of people.”

When I first moved here, I was pleased to see a lot of people in the neighborhood make a big deal out of Halloween. Fortunately, it seems like they make an even bigger effort out of Christmas. I think I would have been a little wigged out if they got more riled up for a “pagan” holiday.

This is Bill and Linda’s house across the street. Doesn’t it look lovely before the foot of snow fell on us?

“Jesus. You have to understand that Santa is keeping the spirit of your birthday alive by bringing happiness and joy.”
“Yeah. And Santa, you need to remember that if it weren’t for Jesus this day wouldn’t even exist!”

I was planning on writing an entry last week about the Reds not being players in the off-season free agent and trade market. But, slowly but surely, they’ve made some decent additions to the team. Still not enough to make most people happy. A few more additions this week, too, have solidified the infield. Not fantastic moves, but baby steps in the right direction.

Who knows, we may be adding a cheap addition in the form of Denny Neagel. He did something farking stupid lately that got him fired from the Colorado Rockies. He was arrested for soliticiting sex from somone who was not his lovely wife, Jennifer. Sure, he was probably fired for his crappy play but geting busted with a hooker sure isn’t a smart thing to do unless you’ve got a winning record. “With no real hope of winning a championship in 2005, the Colorado Rockies plan to lead the National League in character. That and $40 will get them a hooker.” So I guess him and the missus won’t be hosting their holiday charity event.

“You know what I hate? Going to my husband’s rape trial!”