Our Picks Recommended

ComiQuest Film Fest 

In conjunction with the NC Comicon, the Carolina Theatre has a bevy of comic-related films screening throughout the weekend. The difficult part for fans will be figuring out how many films to catch while still enjoying the con next door. Among the choices: The 1966 Batman: The Movie with Adam West and Burt Ward as well as the 1993 animated flick Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, both of which are in their own way the best Batman flicks after The Dark Knight; 1980's Superman II, a major influence on last summer's Man of Steel but with less depressing 9/11-like imagery; MegaForce, a campy cult classic by the late Smokey and the Bandit director Hal Needham that's a favorite of South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone; the Wilmington-filmed vengeance tale The Crow, infamous for the death of star Brandon Lee during filming; the also-Wilmington-filmed hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with Jim Henson effects bringing the cartoon heroes to life; the campy yet entertaining Danger: Diabolik, with John Phillip Law as a superthief; the theatrical release to the pilot episode of the 1979 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series; Warren Beatty's stylized, brightly colored tribute to the comic strip detective in Dick Tracy, with Madonna and Al Pacino plus Stephen Sondheim songs; the cult robo-horror film Hardware (SFX creator Bob Keen will attend); and, finally, the 1999 surreal superhero parody Mystery Men with Ben Stiller and William H. Macy (original comic creator Bob Burden will attend). Whoo! Choose your films well, comic fans. —Zack Smith