321 – Big Hero 6 (2014)

When Marvel Studios released a film called Iron Man back in 2008 expectations were quite low. Sure it featured the return of controversial public figure Robert Downey Jr. and purported to be the beginning of an entire universe of films, but Iron Man was little more than a secondary character at the time. Marvel took a huge risk, and it has since paid off to the tune of billions and billions of dollars. Other studios like Sony and Warner Bros. are trying to reproduce the success of Marvel’s comic book movie renaissance, but no one does it quite as well as the original. Marvel overlords Disney are now extending the comic book game into animation with Big Hero 6, though any connections to the paper-printed roots of the property are being downplayed in the marketing.

234 – Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

When Sin City was released in 2005 it was widely praised for its innovative visual style and exaggerated neo-noir tone. I was there at the beginning, a 15-year-old watching with a group of friends as part of a birthday celebration. My sister was there too. She didn’t care much for the film, but it worked for me. Sin City was a touchstone for me at the time. It was the first R-rated movie I snuck into. It was a comic series I would leaf through in Borders (RIP), hoping to be titillated. It was everything a teenager could want. But I’m not a teenager anymore, and Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller made the mistake of waiting 9 years to put out a sequel. So if I’m not watching Sin City: A Dame to Kill For for titillation – why am I doing it?