Daily Archives: May 15, 2025

Top Tens – Film: Top 10 Comics Films (7) Kickass

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(7) KICKASS

(2010. Yeah – I’m not counting the sequel, even if I don’t think it was as bad as the reviewers did)

 

“With no power comes no responsibility. Except that’s not true.”

Kick-Ass was a 2010 superhero black comedy, that similarly to Kingsman, was directed by Matthew Vaughn and was based on a comic of the same name by Mark Millar. And just as Kingsman was a playful and subversive parody of spy films (and James Bond in particular), Kickass was a playful and subversive parody of superhero films – “along the way it manages to deconstruct pretty much every superhero trope out there…and then reconstructs (them)”. Also like Kingsman, it had a sequel (in 2013) which didn’t quite live up to the original – but even more so hence I’m not counting it in this entry.

Dave Lizewski is an ordinary high school student, who sets out to become a real-life superhero. His first attempt…doesn’t go well, but the treatment for injury has the fortunate(?) side effect of invulnerability of sorts – slightly that is, with slightly more endurance to pain (due to damaged nerve endings) and his bones reinforced by metal. And having literally embodied Nietzsche’s aphorism that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (although more often than not, it doesn’t) – Dave sets out even more to embody Nietzsche’s superman, amusingly with a wetsuit as his costume and the imaginative pseudonym of Kick-Ass. However, he’s still not much better, but luckily gets a little help from a more experienced pair of vigilantes, Big Daddy and the awesome Hit Girl – but unluckily gets caught up in their bigger fight against a crime boss.

In the words of Empire magazine reviewer Chris Hewitt, Kickass (and to a lesser extent its sequel) was “a ridiculously entertaining, perfectly paced, ultra-violent cinematic rush that kicks the places other movies struggle to reach”.

 

FANTASY OR SF

 

Between the two, I’ll go with SF because of the complete absence of any fantasy or fantastic tropes, but this entry is the least fantasy or SF in my top ten as it is closest to our own reality.

 

COMEDY

 

Comedy – particularly superhero parody.

 

 

RATING: 

B-TIER (HIGH-TIER)

Top Tens – Mythology: Top 10 Books (Special Mention: Revised Entry) (10) Encyclopedia of Gods

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(10) MICHAEL JORDAN –

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GODS (1992)

 

Another entry that is exactly what it says on the tin – an encyclopedia of entries for gods and goddesses in alphabetical order.

No – the author is not the basketballer. At least, I don’t think it is.

And yes – there’s an entry for God.

“Deities have been identified with the human psyche for at least 60,000 years. Encyclopedia of Gods offers concise information on more than 2,500 of these deities, from the most ancient gods of polytheistic societies – Hittite, Sumerian, Mesopotamian – to the most contemporary gods of the major monotheistic religions – Allah, God, Yahweh. Among the cultures included are African peoples, Albanian, Pre-Islamic Arabian, Aztec, Babylonian, Buddhist, Canaanite, Celtic, Egyptian, Native American, Etruscan, Germanic, Greek, Roman, Hindu, Persian, Polynesian, and Shinto.”

“Each entry provides details on what culture worshiped the god, the role of the god, and the characteristics and symbols used in identification. In the case of the more important personalities, references in art and literature and known dates of worship are also provided. Indexes by civilization and role of the god enable the researcher to compare gods across cultures or to find information on specific topics of interest”

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

Top Tens – Tropes & Other: Top 10 Stone Ages / Stone Age Iceberg (Special Mention 16-20)

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Kebaran culture (Levant and Sinai) microliths 22,000 – 18,000 years ago (public domain image)

 

 

(16) STONED AGE

 

And now, as usual towards the end of special mentions, we come to my weirder and wilder entries – well, weirder and wilder than the Matriarchal Stone Age and the longhouse.

I just couldn’t resist the obvious gag of the Stoned Age, but it’s more than just a gag – it’s a reference to the Stoned Ape theory of Terrence McKenna, which indeed involved human prehistory in the Stone Age. Hence – the Stoned Age.

 

(17) PALEO DIET

 

“Meat’s back on the menu, boys!”

Another obvious entry suggested by the contemporary paleo diet, which purports to be a diet based on the model of our Paleolithic ancestors as the ideal diet for health – so no Neolithic grains or milk but sadly seems to opt out of the cannibalism theorized to occur during the Paleolithic. Not to mention all the other crap that we turn up our noses at or throw out today…

 

(18) STONEPUNK

 

Yabba dabba doo!

Yes, it’s the Flintstones – meet the Flintstones, they’re your modern Stone Age family…

But seriously, the Flintstones is classic stonepunk – one of the many ‘punk’ variants of fantasy or SF named after cyberpunk, albeit the version most likely to be played for laughs. Not to mention comedic anachronism, not least humans living alongside dinosaurs. Which I suppose would make some versions of Young Earth Creationism….stonepunk?

Stonepunk focuses on pre-technological developments in prehistoric times, its juxtapositions of the modern world with the primitive, and the effects of an early form of “advanced” technology on society

More broadly, I would extend this entry to more serious (or seriously researched) works set in prehistory, such as the Clan of the Cave Bear books (and film).

 

(19) STONE AGE HERBALIST

 

Well, I can’t have Stone Age special mentions without a shout-out to the Stone Age Herbalist account on X – bringing the Stone Age to our own age.

 

(20) EROTIC STONE AGE

 

Bow-chicka-wow-wow – my usual preference is to reserve my final or twentieth special mention for a kinkier or kinkiest entry. Well, there wasn’t much else to do at night in the Stone Age…you and me, baby, ain’t nothing but mammals.

 

But seriously, the Stone Age s€x is pretty much the focus of study for evolutionary psychology.