Gems of Netflix

This is what we hope to become a fairly common feature.  We're going to post about cool movies you can stream on Netflix on your computer, television or mobile device.  As you may or may not be aware we are huge fans of the service and think it provides an immense value (as well as shut down all of the Blockbusters in our area).

This time's gems are a few cartoons.  Hey they're not just any cartoons.  They're superhero cartoons.  And they just so happen to be rated PG13.  Warner Brothers and DC Comics have been releasing full length films of some of their classic characters.  In some sense they're cooler than the live action movies because you get several super heroes in the same story going against bigger villains and threats.

The first is Superman/Batman Apocalypse.  In Gotham City a meteor shower of Kryptonite drops a large meteor into Gotham Harbor.  Batman discovers a Kryptonian teenage girl who begins wreaking havoc across the city.  Turns out it's Superman's cousin who comes to stop her from destroying too much of the city.  The story goes way further from there and includes appearances from Wonder Woman and the villain Darkseid (who we hear is the major villain this season of Smallville, which we don't watch).  It features the voice of Kevin Conroy (who's been the voice of Batman almost exclusively for twenty years) and Summer Glau.

This film Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam is actually a collection of several shorts about various DC characters.  The 4 shorts are the title short, and then one about The Spectre who is a character we weren't really very familiar with but imagine a ghostly more violent Batman, The Green Arrow has a story next and then a short about Jonah Hex the cowboy with half a face.  This whole collection does a good job of showcasing some of the minor superheroes that Warner Brothers are bound to put in live action films in the next ten years (Jonah Hex has already had one but apparently that was terrible).  It features the voices of Jerry O'Connell and Malcolm McDowell.

The third film is Justice League:  Crises on Two Earths.  It's a full length film this time featuring all the major members of the Justice League including the Flash and the Green Lantern.  They're called to an alternate reality where that Earth's superheroes are all super villains and Lex Luther is a hero.  It features the voices of James Woods and Chris Noth.

Probably the best film of the bunch is Batman Under the Red Hood which is a hard hitting story that features a new vigilante that's blown his way through Gotham City.  No one knows who he is, but Batman has his suspicions.  The Joker and another major villain make appearances as well as the first Robin who now goes by the name Nightwing.  Neil Patrick Harris lends his voice to this film as well as Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy).

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