When this movie was first announced, I was actually quite excited for it. I would consider Harley Quinn to be my favorite comic book character. I love her aesthetic and her unpredictability, but when the first trailer came out I sensed trouble despite the fact that it was clearly modeled after the designs of the 90’s Batman the Animated Series. And while the animation style and several of the voice actors are from that series the tone and content of the movie is much more adult than the original series ever was. Unfortunately the idea of more adult is just plenty of jokes and references to sex and some blood including a character death. It just felt completely out of place and while a few of the jokes did make me laugh quite a bit, it never really felt right and never came together as a whole.
This time around Poison Ivy has teamed up with a lesser known villain who’s mistaken for Swamp Thing by some of the characters and likely some of the viewers. But instead he’s actually the Floronic Man who seems to basically be a villainous version of Swamp Thing. He’s made of plants and can control plants. Their plan is to create a pathogen that will turn all animal life into plant life. Since the humans are destroying the planet anyway, they might as well do this to stop them before it’s too late. The villainous plan of the movie was the one somewhat high point, it wasn’t a great plan but it made sense with the villains that it was given to. The biggest downside is that it seemingly relegated Poison Ivy to second fiddle to Jason Woodrue’s Floronic Man. She lacked most of the agency behind this plan and generally just blindly followed his lead.
What was really the most baffling about this film is how it should have been a very pro-woman movie. Harley Quinn is a bit of an odd character, most of the time she’s one half of a very unhealthy and dominant relationship with the Joker, but when he’s out of the picture she is much more benevolent and an occasional anti-hero. She’s a strong and intelligent woman who just happens to be completely out of her mind, usually in an early Daffy Duck sort of way. Here, she starts out trying to get back on the straight an narrow hiding out as a waitress in a Hooters-esque cosplay cafe playing herself. But the feminism tends to be lip service as during one moment Quinn complains about her lack of job offers in the psychology field yet she has plenty of offers for nude/sexual pictorials. But literally immediately after complaining about being objectified, she strips down to her bra and underwear which is basically the animators objectifying her for the audience. And that back and forth continues throughout the movie with other moments trying to make her a strong, independent woman, but then they turn around and have her shake her breasts during a sexy karaoke song.
The tone of the rest of the movie was just as hit and miss. The opening credits are done in a highly stylized and simplified cartoon version of Batman and Harley Quinn in a very Looney Tunes or Pink Panther style of slapstick comedy with music reminiscent of the Adam West Batman playing in the background. The humor switches up between making jokes about sex and prostitutes to an extended juvenile fart joke. Not only that, but there’s a break in the humor to have an ultra serious moment showing the death of a random character as the Floronic Man kills the scientist they had captured to work on their pathogen. Harley Quinn has a moment where she’s supposed to be touched by this man’s death, but it was bookended by such complete fluff that the actual impact of the moment was minimal. She does have a few good moments like when she takes Batman and Nightwing on a detour when she spots a guy who stood her up for senior prom and chases him down. It’s a fun moment even though it makes little sense that an untrained civilian could outrun a trained supervillain as well as Batman and Robin even up fire escapes and across rooftops.
Honestly, the worst thing about this movie is that it had the potential to be great. Harley Quinn is a great character when written correctly. The animated series is a great stepping stone and still considered one of the best iterations of the Batman mythos so it made sense to use the same style and even bring back Kevin Conroy to voice Batman yet again. Even having a connection between three of DC’s plant based characters could have been an interesting and different direction to go to for the overarching plot. It was just so disappointing that none of it came together in an interesting way. Harley Quinn as a character felt overly sexed up but also her craziness felt somewhat neutered. Batman as a character also felt rather off with his moments of humor in how he handled Harley in some cases and also how he handled the big club full of villainous henchmen. I had heard that it was one of the worst DC animated features and after seeing it, I find it hard to argue with that assessment. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Jack the Ripper, generally the most I know of him are when various TV shows that I watch have the random episode where they go back in time or something along those lines to have a Jack the Ripper episode. Aside from that, there’s also the mediocre comic book movie From Hell. And on top of that, I actually went into this movie knowing nothing about the background of the comic aside from the fact that it’s basically Batman if he existed in the early 1900’s. It is actually the first Elseworlds style story that even pre-dated the Elseworlds title. It basically comes from the question “what if Batman tried to solve the Jack the Ripper case?” only instead of random people asking the question, it’s asked by comic book writer Brian Augustyn and drawn by Mike Mignola. I thought it was pretty entertaining but I wasn’t fond of the final reveal, which I will be discussing so here’s your spoiler warning.
As far as the concept goes, the film and obviously the comic before it does a good job of translating Batman to this era. The characters used generally make sense where they’re put. Batman is still technologically advanced, but only slightly ahead of where everyone else it during that time. The overall style of the animation looks great to where it still feels like a DC animated movie while still looking like something completely different. The fight scenes are also all handled quite well, not exactly up to the gold standard of a Jay Oliva directed film, but still quite good. The voice cast also works well, bringing back Bruce Greenwood from Under the Red Hood and bringing in Anthony Head from Buffy to voice Alfred.
The main focus of the story is the mystery behind this version of Jack the Ripper and overall the mystery works well until it doesn’t. There’s a great back and forth between the two characters and the movie’s R rating allows for a bit more visceral violence than is typical for an animated movie but helps give it the extra punch that fits the story well. There are plenty of red herrings and it actually makes sense how Batman himself is framed to be a suspect. But it feels like it was written into a corner to have the identity of the Ripper not be the same character from the comics but also not be too obvious. Unfortunately, that means that when it’s revealed that the serial killer is actually James Gordon, it comes a bit out of left field. Because of how he fits into Batman lore, it feels like he was chosen just because he was the least likely suspect. A more appropriate choice would have been Harvey Dent, and the movie even leans heavily into that choice shortly before the final reveal. It’s a serviceable choice, but there wasn’t quite enough lead up to it.
One big problem with the previous rated R Batman film was the role of women and their characterizations. This time around the movie fares slightly better as the story of Jack the Ripper is also a story about violence against women. The era itself also lends itself to fall into certain attitudes towards women that were more prevalent during that time. And we also get the capable and forward thinking woman in Selena Kyle who rarely needs to be rescued throughout the runtime and actually saves Batman himself on more than one occasion.
The tone of the movie tends to fluctuate between the grim and violent murder mystery and a more typical Batman adventure with comic relief sprinkled in. There are a few fun Easter Eggs like the three Oliver Twist-esque orphans who end up becoming de facto Robins at the end and are all named after three different Robins. The grim nature along with the violence and occasional swearing can be a little jarring at first, but it does help to set it apart from other more typical Batman stories and fits in with the macabre nature of the Jack the Ripper story itself. But the more standard Batman elements help draw it back into something familiar. Personally, I thought the ebb and flow worked out well enough without being overly distracting. In fact, it was very enjoyable overall, much more entertaining than From Hell while still bringing something new to the table. My only real complaint would be the mediocre twist/killer reveal but everything else in this movie works and makes me curious to check out the original comic to see how it holds up. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
Your deep dive into the top 100 Superhero films of all time!
#50: Batman Vs Superman
Or
What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate…
We’re back! And I bet many of you are wondering how we went right from #100 to #50. Well, there’s a perfectly good explanation. This list’s only 3 films long! Ok, not really. Really we wanted to give you guys a taste of the whole list without you needing to wait until mid-year before hitting any of the films that you’re waiting to hear about. Essentially, moving forward, we will be going back and forth in the list. Our next (re)review will be #99, then #49, and so on. So don’t you worry, we’ve got this!
First Impressions
Right. This film was covered by myself and my podcasting partner on my podcast when it originally came out. At the time, we did not care for it. The plot holes were many, the acting felt “meh” (with a couple of glaring exceptions) and we left the cinema feeling very let down. For this list, we’re reviewing the Ultimate Edition (the 3 hour Director’s Cut), so I sat down to watch it once more. Did it change my mind? Well…
Couldn’t have put it better myself, Doctor!
Not really. My issues with this film are centered around a few things.
1) Lex as a character 2) Superman’s struggle (or lack thereof) 3) The Final Fight 4) Not. Enough. Wonder Woman.
I’ll go over these in order. Mostly for the sake of not wanting to re-write the list, but also because that’s what you do.
Lex’s Character
This version of Luthor could have been really cool. Jesse Eisenberg is a fun actor who has done fantastic work. And I really did enjoy his take on what Luthor would act like. He’s the smartest guy in the room all the time, he’s stuck dealing with people who are far beneath him mentally but hold the power to stop him. Of course he would be both aloof and blunt. He doesn’t need to care what others really think but he still is willing to put on the charade to get the things he needs. And yet…
His actions are dumb. Really dumb. He blows up a government building and expects everyone to believe that Superman might be behind it. This works. He kidnaps the mother of the only being on the planet who could incinerate him, find her pretty much instantly and then go about his day. This also works, somehow. Then he creates something that could possibly destroy this being. With ZERO precautions to being able to control it. None. At all. This ALSO WORKS. What I’m saying is that for a guy who’s possibly the smartest man on the planet, he’s a bloody idiot.
Superman’s Struggle
Superman can fly at astounding speeds. He can do a LOT to help out people who need help, and he does. And yet, some people don’t like him. Some people are afraid of him. This film wants you to believe that Superman/Clark Kent not only is affected by the negativity sent his way but is pretty much destroyed by it. At no point does Superman decide to talk into a camera pointed his way, give his point of view, agree to simply have a discussion with anyone. Nope. He flies off to a mountain, talks with his dead dad and remembers that he actually likes people. Superman having a crisis of faith is a really good plot point. This film takes that idea and makes it terrible in execution. Superman, the man, the legend, as a character does what he does because it’s right. That’s the only thing that we need. He is a force for good that some fear. At least have him be seen to be fully misunderstood, have some of his actions be interpreted as destructive for no reason. That way you really build a reason for him to doubt himself. This film falls flat there.
The Final Fight
This fight is just stupid. I’m not even sure where to begin. I think I need to just do a bulleted list of my problems. With the fight. Don’t worry, you won’t be here all day.
SUPERMAN STOPS TRYING TO TALK TO BRUCE AFTER LESS THAN A MINUTE. Think about that. He stops to deal with guns and soundwaves. He then just gets annoyed and punches Batman. His MOTHER is held HOSTAGE. Even if you weren’t sure how to save her, JUST TELL HIM. Seriously. Grab him, take him in the air (we know he could do it in about 0.5 seconds) and make him listen. Fight over, mother saved, Doomsday possibly avoided. And speaking of Doomsday…
WHAT THE HELL WAS WITH DOOMSDAY? Random powers from no real source, constantly evolving (yes he has that ability in the comics, but they don’t even bother trying to explain it here) in the fight AND he just looks really bad. In a film that has an onscreen darkness issue, making your Big Bad hard to see in darkness is a really bad choice. At least Superman gets the spear in his chest. Hang on…
WHY DIDN’T WONDER WOMAN USE THE SPEAR? Superman is weakened by the spear. So why not have a character who can fly, is super strong, is already fighting Doomsday AND knows how to use a spear do that bit? Superman can distract, especially since Doomsday apparently wants to kill him so bad that he just finds him because reasons. I know that plot-wise they wanted Superman to die, but there was NO REASON why it had to be him making the final run.
BORING. For a fight between 3 superheroes (2 of whom were introduced IN THIS FILM) and a huge unstoppable monster, I was bored. I was bored the first time, I was bored this time. There were no stakes. Anyone who knows the comics knows that Superman was going to die (and then come back later, but nevermind that now) and there was no way they’d kill off either Batman or Wonder Woman. They even throw in a random line to make it obvious that they’re fighting in a totally abandoned city. Looks like the Man Of Steel criticism got to the writers. So yeah, boring.
Anyway, my final point (which I’m not headlining because it’s just a simple statement) is Not. Enough. Wonder. Woman. In the interim from this film coming out to now, I have seen Wonder Woman twice. And that score gets me each time. Screw Batman and Superman, just have her fight Doomsday! She clearly was having fun fighting something insanely powerful, which we know she couldn’t have done much since WW2, so let me see that!
Before I pass it over to Mr Wheat, I do want to say that there are some things in this film that I enjoyed a lot:
I thought that Alfred was perfect. He’s not the old Pennyworth that we know from previous films, he’s just older than Bruce.
I also thought that they did ok at laying the groundwork for Justice League. I do think that they could have cut the scene where Diana watches the videos, but aside from that it was short enough to satisfy fanboys and intrigue casual watchers.
I also really like the fact that we got to see Batman plotting. Too often we get stuck with “Hmmm” by a computer, a very quick montage and then he’s got the answer. This film had him discussing his views, showing exactly what he does to prepare, explaining his decisions AND having him being able to change plans on the fly. Though yeah, the whole Martha thing was stupid.
Alrighty. Take it away Mr Wheat!
Bubbawheat here with my thoughts on revisiting this film and even though I hadn’t gotten around to seeing Justice League before re-watching this, I was actually a decent supporter of the previous four DCEU movies. They all have their issues, but I have generally enjoyed more than I disliked. Watching this movie again, and the Ultimate Edition specifically, it still fits right where it was the last time. There is a lot of this movie that I really enjoy. There is a great visual style on display throughout the film. The action scenes are spectacular, the music is epic, and Wonder Woman could not have had a better introduction. Every scene she was in made me grin from ear to ear every time I’ve watched this movie and this time was no exception. But the flaws are still there. The mystery is helped a little by the extra beats given to it by the Ultimate Edition, but there is still plenty of it that just doesn’t work including much of the characterizations. The worst offender of those characterizations was Jessie Eisenberg’s performance as Lex Luthor. It was an interesting take, but it was just too far away from what makes Lex Luthor Lex Luthor. Doomsday also felt like a third act CGI blob with no purpose other than an action setpiece and weak homage to the Death of Superman comic. It was an interesting set up to what could have been a great Justice League movie, and it seems like that ship didn’t go very far either.
As for the importance of this film, in terms of box office, it did make over $300 million domestically and $500 million worldwide including a top ten opening weekend with $160 million. This was supposed to be the real setup to a much larger DCEU, though at the current time the future of that extended universe is in jeopardy with the news that Henry Cavill will no longer be Superman and the next live action movie is a Joker origin story that’s out of current continuity. Even Aquaman’s solo movie has surpassed it in terms of total box office. Time will tell if the importance of this movie fades out and the DCEU becomes just a blip in the superhero movie timeline, but for now it’s still a big milestone for Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, it made a huge amount of money, and it has plenty of fans despite also having plenty of detractors. This is the first time that Batman and Superman appeared on the big screen side by side and for a lot of people, that’s a pretty big deal despite the middling fan and critical reception. Now let’s hear what Paul has to say about its place in this list.
And so we reach the 2 questions once again. For those who missed the first review, these are the two questions that I’ll be asking in every review we do here. They are:
Would I recommend this film to others?
Does it deserve to be on this list?
Since I’m nothing if not consistent (debatable, but still), I’ll go in order.
1) No. Mostly because anyone who hasn’t seen it by now really won’t care, but also because I feel that it’s another example of DC royally messing up their live action films. Even though this is the introduction of Wonder Woman, you’re much better off simply watching Wonder Woman instead. Ben Affleck isn’t bad as Batman, but it’s not exactly a big reason to see it. And Superman suffers from the same problem he always does in anything other than print. He’s bloody Superman. He’s not relatable to in any way, so we don’t actually care that much about his problems. Even though they are legitimate in some cases, we all know what WE would do with his abilities and how we would handle things. And he always does less than that, since acting rationally would ruin the plot. Lois is forgettable and Lex, as I mentioned earlier, is sadly ruined by what the film requires he does. So no, don’t feel the need to watch this if you haven’t.
2) I honestly don’t know. My personal feelings are that it’s not worth a spot, but it does have the first live action Wonder Woman, it tries to set up a DC franchise and it does have a fairly typical comic-book story. At the very least, I would place this film at the very bottom of the list, as in somewhere near #95. I’m sure that’s not a big shock to you.
So that’s it! We’ve reached the end of our second review. So join us next time for #99: Supergirl. And until then, make sure your enemies are utterly disintegrated upon defeat. Honestly, who leaves a perfectly good body lying around?
I’ve been very curious about this title ever since the first trailers started being released. This is the first DC anime title since the anthology Batman: Gotham Knight that was released in the early days of the DC animated movies back in 2008. I’ve only heard a few things about the movie since, though what I had heard was mostly positive there were some warnings about how weird it was. Even with the warnings, I don’t think I was fully prepared for how far out there this movie goes. Aside from the out-there-ness of it, there are some great moments throughout and I quite enjoyed the majority of this film. If you haven’t seen it, I will be discussing how far out there this movie goes. So if you’d like to be surprised then here’s your spoiler warning.
Batman Ninja begins with Gorilla Grodd’s experiment which causes several of Batman’s Rogue’s gallery as well as his current cadre of Robins to be blasted across time and space to feudal Japan. But because time travel tends to be wonky, Batman ends up in the past about two years after everyone else. This is mainly a plot convenience, but it works well so that he arrives in an already time-altered ancient Japan where the villains have already built up their own mini warring empires and Batman gets stuck in Lord Joker’s territory with Catwoman for a little initial backup.
What this movie does well are the several twists and turns with alliances being shifted and several double crosses, but they are generally all easy to follow without feeling overly convoluted. Grodd and Catwoman especially change sides more than once over the course of the movie but they make sense each time it happens. There are also surprise appearances by allies like the various Robins of which four show up here, as well as a clan of Batman-worshiping ninjas. There’s even a moment where the Joker and Harley Quinn seem to have cleaned up their act.
But what can be difficult to fully unpack are the several places where this film really goes off the rails. When it gets to the big action climax, the various Gotham villain Daimyos turn their castles into a giant robotic mech. Those mechs then become controlled by Grodd to become a giant sized Voltron-esque mega-mech. And in order to fight the giant castle-mech, Grodd eventually changes sides and gives control of his army of monkeys in samurai armor to Robin where they coalesce into a giant monkey. But that’s not where it ends. After that, the Bat Ninja Clan comes in and a giant swarm of bats covers the swarm of monkeys and create a massive Batman to rival the castle mech. If you can get past that weirdness, then the rest of this film is gravy.
What does help this film is the overall look and style of it, and its something that changes over the course of the film. The look of the characters have that anime feel to them, but there’s also a sense of a more recent cell-shading technique that gives them a more 3D feel than traditional hand-drawn anime. But there are also different techniques throughout the film, like how the sky has a rainbow pattern that’s reminiscent of classic Japanese art. There’s also the scene where Joker and Harley have temporarily lost their memories and are living as simple farmers which is done in a completely different animation style that’s more simple and slightly abstract that helps give that scene a jarring feeling to it as Red Hood doesn’t believe that they are actually reformed while Batman does believe them.
The best part of this film really is the back and forth between Batman and the Joker. He has plenty of tricks up his sleeve and even when Batman has an initial advantage when he gets his Batmobile slash Batwing slash Batcycle, the Joker seems to be one step ahead of him. It’s also nice that for the most part, Joker isn’t necessarily a match for Batman in a one-on-one battle, but instead Joker relies more on crazed and unexpected tactics to get the jump on Batsy. Even so, the final battle between the two of them on top of the roof is quite glorious to behold even if it ends with another WTF moment right alongside a giant Batman made up of thousands of monkeys and bats.
The voicework is also quite good as is usual for the DC Animated movies. And for the record, I did listen to the American dub rather than the original Japanese audio. Tony Hale does a decent job at the Joker and Roger Craig Smith has the right kind of gravel in his voice for Batman while Bruce Wayne doesn’t really make an appearance here. Grey Griffin also does a good job as Catwoman especially as an opportunist, siding with whoever will benefit her the most in the moment. Overall, the movie was quite enjoyable. The surprises tended to be a bit on the WTF side of things, but they still worked more often than they didn’t and it added a nice bit of welcome comic relief. The action scenes look great and the style of all of the characters translate into anime very nicely. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
It’s been an interesting year so far for me, and while it’s only February, I’ve actually been doing quite well at keeping up with the new releases that I cover here on the site. And while LEGO Movie may have been a bit of a stretch to consider as a superhero movie at all, the sequel is even slightly moreso. But it still has LEGO Batman as a main character and the heroic characters are busy saving their world, so I’m rolling with it. As far as how it stacks up to the previous two movies, the humor is still the same but this one builds on the live action reveal of the first movie in a way that’s predictable but still enjoyable. And as I tend to mention with any new release reviews, I discuss the movie in full so if you’re worried about spoilers, here’s your warning.
In the first movie the real conflict was between the strict and structured father played by Will Ferrell who wanted to build the LEGO sets according to their instructions and keep them that way verses his son who wanted to be more creative and make his own unique creations and re-make them according to his mood. In this sequel, the family dynamics have changed. The father has completely removed himself from the LEGOs (and the movie takes a couple moments to joke aboutit) and given the space to his son Finn who turned Bricksburg into a tweenage boy dystopia Apocolypseburg, and his younger sister has been introduced to LEGOs on her own terms with more imagination and cuteness. While the boy started out with the traditional LEGO sets, the girl started out with Duplo and moved onto a mix of the traditional LEGO sets as well as the girl-themed LEGO Friends style. As a concept, it worked quite well and was pretty clear how they were going right from the start, at least from someone familiar with the different types of sets.
The level of detail in the first movie is continued just as well here, though there are more cuts into the live action segments. Especially noticeable are the numerous fingerprints all over the larger flat blocks that make up Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi along with the extra wear and tear on the decal that makes up Emmett’s vest. There are also plenty of meta moments throughout, like the aforementioned hanging a lantern on the very limited involvement of Will Farrell’s father slash President Business. But there’s also a commentary on Chris Pratt’s career with the inclusion of raptors as well as a couple other jokes. They even comment on the exclusion of Marvel characters despite the fact that LEGO does make Marvel sets and games. The one big miss was how the movie leaned way too hard into the idea of stepping on LEGOs with bare feet.
Where the real heart of this movie is also lends to its predictability with the conflict between brother and sister. The attacks of the ultra cute hearts and stars for the matrimonial ceremony feel very little sister-ish things to do. The song that Lucy feels is overly evil passing as being friendly mimics how an older brother would feel about his younger sister wanting to play with him. He generally would think that it’s not something that he would enjoy despite the sister’s insistence otherwise. The concept of who the bad guy of this movie really is in this movie is also an interesting concept that really comes into play towards the end of the film. While we’re initially focused on the characters we’ve known from the first movie, we think that the sister’s toys are the villains. It’s ultimately revealed that it’s Finn’s toys and unwillingness to play with his sister that brings about the Our-mom-mageddon while the sisters toys really just wanted them all to come together.
There are a few other moments throughout the film that takes a few extra fun elements that incorporate the real world a bit more than what they did in the first movie. There are moments when the characters transition from the basement to the sister Bianca’s room that are done more in the style of a young kid playing with toys rather than a fully realized CGI character like how the spaceships are held up with string and look much more like actual LEGO toys rather than CGI recreations. There are also more live action segments spread throughout the film rather than just one or two moments towards the end. The one thing that doesn’t necessarily work quite as well is how they integrate how Emmett has the power to actually move in the real world which is used one more time here. But it’s not used in the same way and it’s even taken down a notch because there’s mention of time travel early on with Finn talking about a storyline he has going on and there’s no actual interaction with any live action people when they are in the “real” world.
But what’s the most important with this film is the overall humor and that falls right in line with what has been seen before as well as what has been seen through most of the LEGO multimedia through their other DC home video movies and video games. There’s also quite a few more songs in this one than there were in the first one and those are hit and miss. The best ones were the most meta like the credits song and Catchy Song. The others were ok, but nothing too special. Even the reprise of Everything is Awesome was a bit of a letdown, though it was intended to be a downer at that point in the story. Overall, it was a decent sequel but it didn’t quite live up to the original. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
Everyone knows who Batman is, Bruce Wayne, billionaire, crimefighter. Not everyone knows who’s listed as the creator of Batman unless they’re a comics fan, and very few people unless they’re die-hard comics fans know who really created Batman. This documentary follows the research of novelist Marc Tyler Nobleman as he not only uncovers the seldom told story of Bill Finger but also manages to get him officially credited as the rightful co-creator of Batman right alongside Bob Kane. The documentary itself is a fascinating story that has a few surprises going for it as it tells its quest for recognition that was long overdue. The interviews are bolstered by comics inspired simple animations. It’s a story that I didn’t know but I’m glad I know it now.
One difficult decision to make for documentaries is how much to include the filmmakers themselves, or in this case the researcher/interviewer Marc Tyler Nobleman. In many cases it’s actually a bad decision as it feels like someone inserting themselves into a story where they don’t belong. But in this case, Nobleman is very much a part of this story as it was clearly his drive, his passion that really carried this story through to the end. He may not have been a part of Bill Finger’s story, but he’s absolutely a part of this story.
Before this story came out, Bill Finger seemed like he was the ghost story told ’round the comic con. Both Bill Finger and Bob Kane have passed many years ago, the big difference was that Finger died in the late 70’s with barely any money and only a handful of close friends knew who he was and how much he contributed to Batman. A character at the time who had gained popularity through the Adam West television show but was still a popular in comic books. Meanwhile, Bob Kane has used his sole creator credit for Batman to turn him into a wealthy and famous man. More or less the prototypical Stan Lee.
But besides just giving us a background into the story behind Bill Finger’s contributions to Batman and how Bob Kane not only hogged the credit, but also spoke out against those who tried to get Bill Finger some recognition while he was alive. This film also is about the journey to give Finger the posthumous recognition he so badly deserved. And in order to do that, Nobleman had to find someone related to Bill Finger which was more difficult than it might have seemed in the first place. Finger died in the 70’s and only had one son who was gay and died in the 90’s. It wasn’t until Nobleman started looking backwards through the family of Finger’s first wife that he discovered that even though Finger’s son was gay, he was actually bisexual and had a daughter. Athena Finger ultimately became the missing puzzle piece that allowed Nobleman to push things through. It almost felt like a little bit of fate as Athena’s half sister was actually a copyright lawyer.
The majority of this film really is Nobleman combined with motion comic style animation as he tells the stories about Bill Finger based on what he’s researched for his book Bill: The Boy Wonder. Not only that, but we get to see how this has been such a long term investment for him as we see an early moment with his young daughter and son as an infant where his daughter already knows about his obsession with Bill Finger’s life. And when he finds out about the news story that Bill Finger will be getting official credit on Gotham on TV and on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice his daughter is a teen and his son is older than his daughter was in the earlier scene.
The flow and pacing of the film works very well, it’s great to see the story unfold from the initial background of Bill Finger to the search and discovery of his granddaughter. There’s some great interviews from still living people who knew both Bob Kane and Bill Finger as well as a few other people involved in the comics and movie industries like Todd MacFarlane and Kevin Smith. There are also some great archival recordings with the actual voice of Bill Finger and even a brief archival interview between Stan Lee and Bob Kane. It was a fascinating documentary from start to finish and it was especially great to see that it had a happy ending. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
Batman’s 80th anniversary just passed yesterday and in celebration I finally gave in and signed up for DC Universe’s new streaming app with their 80 cents for the first month sale. The main reason why I wanted to get the app was to watch this DC oddity that I had heard about but never got around to watching until now. It’s not quite a movie, not quite a miniseries, but it’s a two-part TV special that honestly feels like DC’s answer to the Star Wars Holiday Special. It’s ultra-low budget, it feels like a sketch comedy show with superheroes, and it’s difficult to tell what they really wanted to do with this property. It’s one of the very few Hanna Barbera live action properties and was tied into the Superfriends cartoon, but they couldn’t use Superman or Wonder Woman due to their rights being tied up in other places at the time. It’s pretty much one of those so-bad-it’s-good, but it did catch a couple genuine laughs out of me.
The basic premise is a classic variety style show that stars the Justice League consisting of: Adam West’s Batman and Burt Ward’s Robin, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman, The Huntress, Captain Marvel, and Black Canary. And they’re facing off against a group of supervillains that aren’t exactly given a group name that consist of: Frank Gorshin’s Riddler, Mordru, Dr. Sivana, Giganta, Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, and Weather Wizard. And while the heroes get an announcer to introduce all of them one by one in an opening credits fashion, the villains go through a comedy sketch style roll call. The Riddler goes through each of the villains one by one and gives them what’s supposed to be a riddle-like introduction but basically just describes them, followed by the villains saying their name and/or attacking Riddler in order to show off their powers. Like everything else involved in this special, it was just a lazy and cheap way to introduce all of the villains who were basically unknown at this point except to comic book fans.
As far as the characters and their powers go, cheap is the only word that can be used to describe it. The Flash’s super speed is represented by having him stand in one place, then disappear in a cheaply animated red dot. It doesn’t so much seem like he’s moving fast, but is teleporting. Green Lantern and Sinestro don’t fare much better with their rings giving off basically animated laser beams. At one point, Green Lantern points the ring at himself and disappears, and it’s very much unclear as to whether he was supposed to be invisible, or teleporting/moving at super speed like the Flash. The costumes themselves were also pretty poor with the majority of the costumes just being a step up from a Halloween store costume. Hawkman’s was the most elaborate but his face mask looked like it was made out of construction paper. Even the sets for the villain and hero lairs were exactly the same set, just dressed slightly differently. The best makeup would probably go to Solomon Grundy who actually did look the part.
But besides the costumes and special effects were the performances themselves, and they also varied quite wildly. The best would be the mini-reunion from the 60’s Batman show with Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin falling right back into their character beats. The heroes were all pretty poor with zero personality. Captain Marvel was really the only one who got more than a couple lines and those were pretty dull and uninteresting. The villains fared just a little better with Solomon Grundy playing up the dumb brute routine well enough and Dr. Sivana played by cartoon voice actor Howard Morris doing his best generic foreign villain accent. Sinestro played by Charlie Callas had a few nice comedic beats as well, like when he was disguised as a fortune teller playing off of Green Lantern.
As far as the plot goes, there really isn’t one to speak of, this was basically just an excuse to have a comedy show about superheroes. The first half/episode/whatever focused on the villain’s scheme to set off a doomsday device but it somehow turned into a sketch comedy chase movie where each of the heroes split up and the villains dressed up in different costumes to stall them/lead them astray. Solomon Grundy dresses up as a gas station attendant using a magic hat so that the heroes don’t see through his disguise unless he takes the hat off, which he does more than once. Sinestro dresses as a fortune teller, Riddler as a psychiatrist to stall Captain Marvel, and finally Sivana as a kid in a lemonade stand giving out drinks that will sap the heroes’ powers. There’s also a completely random jetski chase with Mordru and Batman & Robin. The second half eschews any sort of hero plot and turns into just a straight up comedy roast with Ed McMahon hosting. They bring in several other random characters like Hawkman’s mother and Ghettoman as just excuses to perform basically a couple minutes of superhero-themed stand-up comedy. There’s a few special effects thrown out here or there, and while much of it would be considered very tone deaf nowadays, Ghettoman’s set was the funniest.
It’s very difficult to describe this special to someone, and it’s even more difficult to know what they were trying to do with this when they initially made it. It was extremely cheap, it used plenty of the more obscure and lesser known superheroes. It didn’t play off of any real superheroics and instead just acted as if the whole thing was a big joke and they were just making fun of the concept of superheroes in general. There were a few funny moments here and there, but for the most part it was just a bizarre oddity that kept getting stranger and stranger until it ended with Mordru literally doing a literally tone deaf musical number. It’s worth watching for the sheer absurdity of it all but that’s about it. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
We’re back and ready to review another superhero film. And we’ve already covered 3 Bat-related movies, so naturally we’re on to another one! But this one is the first animated film we’ve covered, so let’s see if it holds up to the others (not a particularly high bar, but still)! And this, more than any we’ve covered so far, will have SPOILERS. So fair warning.
First Impressions
I knew a bit about this story before I hit play. I’ve gained a fair bit of comic knowledge through general osmosis, be it from friends or the inter-webs. So I came into this film already knowing the ending. I also know that the backstory that we get for The Joker in this film has been one of many woven throughout the years, and as such is not definitive canon. However, for the critique of this film, we shall assume that what we were shown is what the directors intended to be the truth for their characters. So, let’s see what’s what.
The Setting
The world of Batman is very well established. So it’s always nice to not have any explanation for the city being the way it is. So, that’s a plus already. And the way that this film is half told through Batgirl and half normal narrative is also a nice change. The only odd thing is that there were a couple of times where they went so long between narration in the first half of the film that I forgot that we were technically watching “The Past” from the narrative perspective. But that’s not too bad either, since it meant that I was more drawn to the story unfolding than remembering exactly when I was supposed to be. So far, so good!
Characters
I feel that your take-away from this film will entirely come from your personal taste in Batman lore. So let’s go over the main 3, shall we?
Batgirl: From what I can recall, most canon universes (yeah, I’m not fully versed in every single version of Batman, so sorry if I get things wrong here!) do have Batgirl being paralysed by Joker and then becoming Oracle, which they cover here. However, my issue with Batgirl is that I never really clicked with her when watching this film. I think it’s possibly the fact that the character is essentially an obsessed Batman groupie wannabe for half the film and then a scorned lover for the next 1/4 of the film. And, again, that’s fairly true in the comics too. It’s just not my thing.
Batman: He’s Batman. There’s really not much here that isn’t the usual fare for Batman. He’s stoic, he’s gruff and he’s got about as much tact as a restaurant sign stating “We don’t serve *insert slur* here”. However, the final scene of the film is a real stand-out performance. As with in the comic version, we are left with only Batman laughing and must draw our own conclusions. Many like to think that he kills Joker, causing his sudden stop in laughter and giving the title more meaning. Others simply see it as the two (especially Bats) finally accepting their respect for each other and letting loose. Either way, it was a nice surprise and it felt earned. Well done!
Joker: In this, we get a Joker origin story. Not THE origin story, but a story. I’m of the opinion that we will never actually get a definitive origin, and I’m fine with that. Anything we get to explain him just takes away from the pure joy of watching a madman with nothing to lose and every screw loose. So I’m here to tell you that I did not enjoy his origin tale in this. It slowed the film down and I didn’t feel that they even did it very well. The gangsters were less than one-dimensional, the pre-Joker Joker is pretty boring and it’s only when he finally snaps that you get interested again. So yeah, 75% of Joker in this film is great. And, of course, the ending is a joy to watch.
The Torture
This gets its own heading? You bet it does. Despite how you may feel about the rest of the film, or how indifferent you are to some of the characters, this part of the film really works. You get to see EXACTLY how sadistic and unhinged Joker really is here. He doesn’t even have Harley to do some of his bidding (He’s even worse with her at times, just look up what he did in The New 52 storyline) in this film. It’s pure Joker. And even when he realises that he failed, he’s so unhinged that he just accepts it and moves right along. For most villains, that would seem like a cop-out. But for Joker, it’s just right. So, even if you don’t feel like watching the whole film, just watch everything from Joker shooting Barbara onwards. It’s grim, it’s horrific and it’s some of the best Batman stuff you’ll watch.
Ok guys, it’s time to see if Bubbawheat still feels the same as last time. I’m just as intrigued as you, so let’s hand him the mic!
“Over to you B!”I
When this movie first came out, I really wanted to watch it in theaters, but when I was getting ready to go to the theater, my car overheated and I had to take it to a repair shop and make a repair that I couldn’t afford at the time. So fun. But as for the actual movie, I don’t have experience with the original comic though I did write an opinion piece a few years before this came out calling for DC to release this as their first R rated theatrical animated film and I’m glad they did. As for the actual quality of the film itself, I’m a little torn. I appreciate that they gave Barbara Gordon as Batgirl a bigger piece of the story to make her less of a prop and more of a character. The problem is that she became more of a victim. Not only is she a victim of Joker’s gunshot wound and exploitation as part of Joker’s torture of Jim Gordon, but now she’s also a victim of the gangster Paris as well as a victim of Batman himself as he becomes part of a toxic relationship. Once it gets into the actual Killing Joke story proper, things pick up as we focus on the Batman/Joker relationship. The backstory is ok but nothing too special. It just seems to take away from the Joker’s mystique and give him some undeserved pathos that it never expands on. The action and character beats outside of those couple major issues are great, but for many people, it’s difficult to overlook those.
As far as this film’s importance in the realm of superhero cinema, this was the first R-rated DC Animated title and the first DC animated movie since Mask of the Phantasm to be released in theaters. It was released through Fathom events and it pre-sold so many tickets that they had to add an extra day to the showings and it became Fathom’s biggest selling movie event ever to-date. It made nearly $4M in a limited 2-day release window. The original comic that it was based on is one of the more famous Batman stories as it was written by the notorious Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland. While the story itself was a one-shot and not exactly considered canon, Barbara’s spinal injury within this story became canon and she became the very popular wheelchair-bound Oracle. It also won Eisner Awards the year it came out and has repeatedly entered the top selling comics list pretty much every time a new Batman film featuring the Joker comes out, including 2008’s Dark Knight as well as 2016’s Suicide Squad which came out the same year as this film. While the film itself may be in the midrange in terms of quality for the animated DC films, the story itself is a big deal for Batman both for its comic and this movie itself. And now, back to Paul.
Alrighty. I’m back and it’s time for our 3 questions. You know, THOSE questions:
1) Would I recommend this film to others? 2) Does it deserve to be on this list? 3) How do I rank the films thus far?
As Batman might say, “Let’s get this party started…”
1) Yes. Definitely not everyone, as there are some parts that could be hard to watch, but I do think that Batman fans NEED to watch this film. If for nothing else, as you probably guessed, than to watch Joker getting up to his absolute worst.
2) Yes I do. The lengths that this film goes to is impressive. It can be slow and it can be a little dull at times, but the final act more than makes up for it. It’s a brilliant adaptation of the source material and (of course) has more than enough of Heroes Vs Villains fighting to tick the box pretty much by default.
3) Well, before we get started here I would like to bring up a comment from the previous review. Somebody made a good point that my Death Of The Incredible Hulk review was possibly skewed since I had no previous experience with the show. And they were right. However, I do stand by my final decision since I make it based entirely on the film itself. Once we reach the end of this run, I will happily check out the other ones they suggested and see if they can sway me. So please do comment if you feel I’ve erred. I am, as most of us are, only human!
So, the rankings. As of today, they stand thusly:
1) Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog 2) Batman: The Killing Joke 3) The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman 4) Supergirl 5) Batman & Robin 6) The Amazing Spider-Man 7) BvS: Dawn Of Justice
Potential Substitutions: Wonder Woman (replacing The Death Of The Hulk)
Why is this under DHSAB? Mostly because despite the fantastic final act, the rest of the film just feels less worthy. It’s too slow at times, most of the characters are instantly forgettable and you just want to see Joker taking on Batman or Batgirl instead of whoever you’re watching when he’s not there. However, as I stated above, it’s a great adaptation and that ending needs to be respected!
So yeah, that’s it for now. We’ll be back next month with Superman 3 (and I have a very random thing to mention when we do so!), so look out for that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a flashlight to turn off!
I’ve seen every animated Batman movie that they’ve made so far and I grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and live action movies. And while I haven’t followed up with many of the later series, the original Turtles cartoon still has a place in my heart and plenty of others so that the references often feel like they’re coming from the original rather than the later iterations. And while I was expecting this to be more of a younger skewed film where the Turtles would kid up the Batman, instead it actually seemed to go the other direction where Batman made the Turtles story a bit darker than usual. There was still a bit of meeting in the middle where the teenage comedy of the Turtles lightened up the Batman story and villains and made this an overall enjoyable watch. And as this is still a relatively new release, there will be spoilers from here on out so be warned.
Like many of these crossover events, they start off very similar with the two heroes from the different properties meet under unknown circumstances and think they are enemies before eventually teaming up to fight a common enemy. This time around it’s the Turtles’ Shredder teaming up with Batman’s Ra’s Al Ghul, which does make sense as they both command an army of ninjas and they each have something the other wants. Shredder has access to the mutagenic Ooze while Al Ghul has access to his immortality granting Lazarus pit. As a fan of the animated series, it’s also interesting to note that different characters pronounced “Ra’s” a few different ways, both the way it was pronounced in the 90’s animated series as well as how it was pronounced in the Nolan trilogy.
What this movie really gets right is the characterization of the Turtles themselves, especially Michelangelo. He’s frequently making jokes and they are the right kind of jokes that both comment on some of the absurdities of the Batman universe while still holding true to the Turtles sensibilities. It was an interesting choice to include both Damien Wayne and Batgirl on the Batman side of things and even Alfred had a few fun moments of interactions with the Turtles. It worked well to see the different types of more serious younger characters like Batgirl and Robin when contrasted by the nearly constant frivolity of the various Turtles. But at the same time, the Turtles are never treated as a mere joke, they are ninjas in their own right and can hold their own with Batman when they put their minds to it.
The one downside about this collaboration was that the rest of the Batman rogues gallery felt a little forced into the story. The Ooze turns them all into mutated animal versions of themselves, and of course the animal they turn into is based on their powers and/or personality. Harley Quinn turns into a Hyena, Freeze turns into a polar bear, and Joker turns into a giant cobra, along with a few others. The Ooze mechanic was interesting, but it felt like they just threw it in for a miscellaneous distraction which was exactly what it was within the story as well. It didn’t really serve a purpose except for the joke of seeing what animal each Batman villain would turn into and most of them were pretty obvious. But what worked better was the amount of weight given to both Shredder and Ra’s Al Ghul, especially how dark they went with some of their fights. Another highlight was the use of fly guy Baxter Stockman who had some of the best moments of humor besides Mikey.
As far as the animation style, it was a little different from the typical Warner animation. It seemed a little more simplified and potentially younger skewed despite some of the darker moments within the movie. The Turtles themselves also felt a little off with simplified heads and beady eyes, but the vocal performances really helped make up for the visual shift. All in all it was a fun ride with plenty of references to the classic Turtles cartoon like a henchmen that looked very much like the classic Krang robotic person suit and Batgirl showing up in the cold open dressed very much like April O’Neal. It was a nice change of pace to see one of these Batman animated movies lighten up quite a bit without going full on to cater to the younger audience. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
The DC Animated universe continues to deliver animated movies based on some of the most celebrated story arcs across their comics. I had heard about Hush here and there though I never really knew what it was about until I watched it for the first time just the other day. There were plenty of good elements, but there was one big change that I had heard inklings of and didn’t really think worked. This also follows the current animated continuity after Reign of the Superman which had a couple nice moments that connected the stories. It was good, but there were some serious issues the more I thought about this movie. And as there is a bit of a mystery surrounding the identity of Hush, I will be discussing it in full so here’s your spoiler warning.
Similar to Gotham by Gaslight last year, we have a Batman movie where he has to deal with a brand new villain whose identity we don’t know until the reveal at the end of the movie. And in both cases, the reveal is different from who it was in the original comics story. In both instances, the identity is changed from a character introduced within the current story to a more well known character from Batman lore. The difference in this one is that with Gotham by Gaslight, the identity of the character actually has some presence within the story before the reveal, where in this case the reveal comes out of left field. Everything seems to point to the fact that Hush is Bruce Wayne’s surgeon friend, but it’s ultimately revealed that it was the Riddler who had an inoperable brain tumor and had to revive himself through a Lazarus Pit which gave him the knowledge of Batman’s secret identity.
Where this theory really breaks down is that nothing really points to the Riddler throughout the first half of the movie. He’s only introduced near the beginning of the third act of the movie and it turns out that it was actually Clayface posing as the Riddler. That fake out was one of the best moments involving the mystery of Hush, as was the manipulation of Harley Quinn and the Joker, but the rest of the villain and hero manipulations felt much too simple for the likes of the Riddler. Bane, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and even Superman’s roles in this plot to ultimately destroy Batman really felt superfluous, as was the frequent focus on the money which ultimately led to nothing. Even after Batman felt like Hush was going after his inner circle, there was time for a team up montage with him and Catwoman with zero consequences nor did any of it seem to further the Hush investigation.
As far as Catwoman’s involvement, that was the overall high point in this story. They have often had an on-again-off-again relationship and this is the first time in one of these animated movies that they ended up having a really serious relationship. They even had a nice Lois Lane/Clark Kent moment of Bruce revealing his secret identity to her even though it felt surprising that she didn’t already know it at this point. Especially as she was basically dating both Batman and Bruce Wayne at the same time. But besides that, the relationship was handled very well with a mix of pathos and comedy when she’s introduced to the rest of the Bat-family including Dick’s awkwardly hilarious reveal of Batman’s son Damian.
As far as how the overall mystery and plan worked, the biggest flaw was how much hinged on the introduction and death of seemingly longtime friend of Bruce Wayne’s: Thomas Elliot. Because the movie had only a very short window to introduce and then kill off this character, the impact on the audience was very minimal but the supposed impact to Batman himself was so much that he was about to break his code by killing the Joker. Aside from the lack of pathos towards Elliot, that was honestly the best part of the plan. The other best moment was when Catwoman and Batman were reluctantly working together in Metropolis and had to deal with a Superman who was controlled by Poison Ivy who was manipulated by Hush. They were able to break Ivy’s control by having Catwoman throw Lois off a roof so that Superman would have to break his order to kill Batman in order to save the woman he loved. Catwoman initially blames the plan on Batman, and he accepts the blame only to reveal shortly afterwards that it was actually Catwoman’s improvisation to their plan. It’s a great moment for both characters and a smart solution to the problem. And while it was also generally inconsequential to the overall story, the brief back and forth between Batman and Amanda Waller was a nice touch.
What this story really lacked was something cohesive to tie everything together in a neat package. Instead, we get a series of interconnected events, some of them good, some of them not so great. Hush is a villain who works best in the background despite getting an initial and impactful jump on Batman early on in the story. Everything seemed to point towards Thomas being Hush, especially the body type. The story jumped around until it came together at the end. It was still enjoyable and entertaining, but it just left a little something to be desired. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
It’s time for yet another LEGO DC animated feature and it pretty much follows the same overall formula with the typical LEGO style humor focused on the different DC characters. This also loosely follows a variation on the Bat family plot involving many different Bat-family characters including three of the four main Robins (Tim Drake always seems to get left in the cold in these animated movies). And for a change of pace it actually takes a bit of a look at not just the exploits of Batman, but also the importance of Bruce Wayne and his position of wealth and power within the context of Gotham City. Not exactly something that you would expect in a LEGO movie though it definitely keeps the irreverence to keep things light and not overly deep.
There’s a pretty big cast of characters here and while most of the voice cast is pretty typical: Troy Baker returns as Batman and Will Friedle is Nightwing. But it was a little odd having Scott Menville voice Damian Wayne as he usually voices the younger version of Dick Greyson in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go! While Damian Wayne is usually a more mature and violent version of Robin rather than what Menville usually plays Robin as. It does make the whole thing feel a little along the lines of Go which does mesh with some of the LEGO style humor throughout the movie. Along with Nightwing and Damian Wayne, there’s also Batgirl and Batwoman although neither one gets much character development. Batgirl spends most of her screen time being mad at Nightwing for not responding to a text in a timely manner. Meanwhile Batwoman doesn’t have much personality at all and just fights.
One of the more interesting things about this movie is how it treats Batman and Bruce Wayne and their character development. Bruce Wayne is overly bored by his businessman persona and just wants to spend his time as Batman fighting crime. And although it’s presented early on in a very childlike way: he thinks the meetings are boring and fighting crime is fun, it ends with several characters pointing out how much good he actually does as Bruce Wayne: the businessman that he can’t do as Batman. There’s also a bit of world building as Billy Batson is the character who points at least a part of this message out to him and right at the end we get to see him about to become Shazam.
This also introduces the concept of Brother Eye and the OMACs although they were also simplified down to the bare minimum. Brother Eye basically becomes a jealous version of HAL 9000 and the OMACs aren’t assimilated people, they’re just robots. Another fun aspect of this is the use of both Red Hood and Two-Face as the villains for most of the movie. Two-Face is presented here much more like a version of dissassociative identity disorder where each half of his face is a completely separate personality. The animation even accentuates this as only half of his mouth moves when he’s speaking as only one side of his personality. Red Hood, like Brother Eye, is a much more toned down version of his character. He starts out appearing like a villain, but it’s ultimately revealed that his plan wasn’t actually dangerous and he just wanted Batman to see how important Bruce Wayne was to Gotham City before joining up with the rest of the Bat-family to eventually fight Two-Face.
The animation overall is pretty similar to the direct to home video LEGO animated movies. There isn’t the extreme attention to detail like there is in the theatrical LEGO movies where absolutely everything on screen is represented by an actual LEGO piece complete with CGI fingerprints and smudges on them. Instead, it’s a much cleaner version of LEGO blocks and plenty of cheats when it comes to water and explosion effects. It looked nice as usual and it fit with the less serious and simplified version of the story and comedy. All in all, it was still a lot of fun, and while there was some depth in places nearly everything else was simplified down to the bare bones. Fun to watch, but nothing too serious. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
I’m back with another superhero movie review and even though this movie is only a couple months old, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this one for ages. With some movies that have regular and director’s cuts I will do a “quickie” review that mostly covers the differences between the two versions that are often 80 to 90% the same movie so I just cover the differences. This is a different case and one much closer to the Donner Cut of Superman II where much of the story beats are different and the overall tone is way different. In fact, this is probably the instance where the vast majority of the film is different between the two versions. My guess is that there is only about 5-10% of the footage used in both films, and that’s 5% of the theatrical version which is half as long. For my part, I liked the theatrical cut well enough but there were plenty of glaring issues with it. This version almost feels more like a miniseries which it almost was and could still be watched that way, but that actually solves one of the issues where this team film came too quickly without introducing the rest of the team beforehand. Having this amount of length really helps to build each individual character before bringing them together as a team. And as this is still a new release, there will be spoilers in the review so be warned.
Allowing the additional time to introduce the characters really helped flesh out everyone in this version of the film. The most notable was Cyborg who barely got any screen time in the theatrical cut and here is a full-fledged character with interesting motivations and a well built relationship arc with his father. We get to see a better version of the backstory with his accident along with all the guilt and pain brought on by the blame he put towards his father’s absence. The moment of their reconnections starting with the tape recording and building upon it with the infiltration of STAR Labs feels more natural and less rushed. It also ties in with the father issues that are inherent with pretty much all of the characters outside of Wonder Woman for obvious reasons. Barry also has his own father issues that are fleshed out just a touch more with more time spent between him and his own father in the prison visiting room. Even Steppenwolf has his own pseudo-father issues between himself and Darkseid which goes a long way into fleshing him out as a more three dimensional villain. The only fatherly connection that fell a little flat was the barely touched upon hint that Lois Lane had been possibly trying to get pregnant before Superman died, it just felt very out of place within the context of the rest of the movie.
Steppenwolf as a villain in the theatrical cut was very one-dimensional with the generic destroy the world motivation. Snyder goes a long way to make him more threatening, more interesting, and just a touch more sympathetic. It may have been a little over the top during a couple of the scenes where he’s talking with Darkseid’s minion/mouthpiece/press secretary and you can see him get a little teary eyed as they discuss his past failure and how much time and effort it’s going to take for Steppenwolf to get back into Darkseid’s good graces. But it did do the job to make him feel much more like a real character. And while the trailer shot of his new armor looked a little over the top, seeing it in full display was much more impressive. It felt like a living armor that moved along with him, protecting him from the Amazon’s arrows, and it was used beautifully when he basically shed his armor in the presence of Darkseid himself, prostrating himself in effect.
In terms of special effects, Steppenwolf was the high point, but Cyborg was unfortunately the low point. Despite the fact that he looked very similar to how he was represented in the theatrical cut, in both versions he just looks too shiny, too perfect, too CGI. And even though it felt like it was an intentional decision to make his mechanical body proportions slightly off from human anatomy, that brought it too far into the uncanny valley more often than not, especially when he brought out his additional robot arms. The film does get around this by often showing him in the world of the internet where he is shown fully human. Everything else felt much more fitting in terms of the look and feel. The fight scenes especially felt similar and yet more interesting than any of the fight scenes in the theatrical cut. The extended Amazon fight especially was fantastically done, as was the final fight between the newly brought together Justice League and Steppenwolf. Especially with the removal of the random family who somehow survived being surrounded by an army of parademons for who knows how long.
The Resurrection of Superman was another big change between the two versions, and while the Pet Semetary joke was slightly missed, everything else was done so much better. Rather than having Lois Lane be Batman’s “big gun” to bring out if things went south, she just happened to be there as she had been paying her daily homage to Superman’s monument. There was no odd-CGI-lipped “Do you bleed?” callback, instead the recognition was played completely wordless. The humor in general was also scaled back in favor of more real character moments. While the moment with Aquaman unknowingly caught in the Lasso of Truth in the theatrical cut was a great moment by itself, it was a much more fitting moment for him to bring attention to the fact that Cyborg had just seen his father die in front of him.
It’s difficult to say how different things would have been if this had been the only version of this film to exist, or if we had gotten an edited-down-to-hell version of this cut as it would have been insane to think the studio would release a four hour film in theaters after the mixed reaction towards Batman v Superman. It’s possible that it could have been cut into a part 1 and part 2 but at this point we’ll never know. There’s also the interesting choice of the squared aspect ratio. Snyder’s explanation is that he feels superheroes tend to be more vertical than horizontal that it makes more sense to be able to show more of that vertical. That and while 35mm film is a better fit for the widescreen format, IMAX cameras are actually more of a better fit for the squared, or Academy ratio. Aspect ratios aside, there were still a few problems here and there with this original vision of Justice League, especially the odd alternate future ending scene and unsatisfying shoehorning in of Martian Manhunter, but what was presented was far and away better than the severely cut down and joked up version of the Justice League we previously had. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
It’s been a couple months since I subscribed to HBO Max with the intention of catching up on several of the animated DC movies that I’ve missed out on these past couple years but I only just now got around to watching the first one. There wasn’t any specific reason why I picked this one out of the others that were on there, it just stood out as being a little bit different than what I’ve come to expect in these animated movies and in that respect, it very much was. This was done in the style of the 70’s with a bit of classic Bond mixed with Bruce Lee and some exploitation cinema all mixed together. Not only that, but despite the fact that this is labelled as a Batman movie, ninety percent of the film is all about Bruce Wayne and Batman only shows up for one scene near the beginning, then for the climactic end battle. The story beats were a little on the cliched side, but it was cliches done with love and it was a lot of fun overall. This is still a relatively recent release so there will be spoilers ahead. You have been warned.
While it was a cliched story overall, it’s not a bad one to follow the outline on with Batman characters. It’s that redone many times story about the small group of characters who find this mystical martial arts retreat to be trained by a wise old sensei in super secret and super powerful martial arts. Heck, the sensei’s name is even just O-sensei. The students are a mix of characters who don’t initially get along, one of them turns evil, and the actual story takes place years later where they have to get the gang all back together to fight the evil connected to that bad student. The students are Bruce, obviously, Richard Dragon who had been there the longest and is basically the Bruce Lee as James Bond. Lady Shiva is the quiet but also most capable one, Ben Turner is the angry Black guy who is also Bronze Tiger but that only really comes into play in name only. Jade is the inquisitive one who ends up getting killed, and Rip Jagger is the one who kills her.
What worked surprisingly well in this film is the decision to give it a 70’s vibe overall. From the fashion to the music, it all had a slight exploitation feel to it without going over the top. Bronze Tiger has an afro, the music has a similar feel reminiscent of classic Shaft without overdoing it. Bruce Wayne also has the open collar shirt showing off the top of his chest with a pastel colored suit. Once the action kicks in, the 70’s vibe gets a little lost in the background as its replaced with ninjas and mystical creatures out in a villainous island hideout.
Another surprising feature of this film is that it spends a lot more time focusing on Bruce Wayne rather than Batman. His costumed persona shows up once in the first fifteen minutes and then disappears until the final act. And even then, pretty much everyone with him knows that it’s Bruce Wayne wearing a costume. It spends more time in flashbacks to his training in this mystical martial arts with O-sensei and his camaraderie with the other students than anything relating to his costumed vigilantism. The other students know about his fighting ability even though he manages to step things up while he’s wearing his costume versus when he’s just fighting as Bruce Wayne. But instead of using it to become this different persona, instead it’s presented more like a way to compartmentalize the two different sides of himself and while wearing the costume, he allows himself to cut loose and fight harder without holding back. Plus it doesn’t hurt that he’s also able to bring out some of his utility belt tricks that he’s not carrying while walking around as Bruce Wayne.
The overall story was a little bit on the far fetched side of things with demon Naga creatures, a chosen one with snake eyes, a sword that steals peoples souls. But the core story following these different students and how they’ve changed over the years from the students they were to the adults they are many years later. Bruce has become a masked vigilante, the quiet and talented student Shiva has become a criminal mob boss not dissimilar to Marvel’s Shang-Chi and his sister. Richard Dragon has become a suave and debonair jet-setting spy, while Ben Turner was initially full of anger, he’s now learned to tame that rage and instead teaches martial arts to kids. The characters are strong enough to look past the occasionally absurd-yet-still-cliched story. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
It hasn’t been easy trying to resume a normal schedule here. With a ten month old daughter at home and two podcasts that I’m actually keeping on schedule (for the most part) it’s been a lot harder to find time to watch a 3 hour movie. But several months after it coming to HBO Max I managed to watch it over the course of two evenings. I had already heard a lot of mixed-but-mostly-positive things about this film so I was ready to enjoy it. And for the most part, it was quite enjoyable. I’m not fully on board with the emo teenager vibe to Bruce Wayne when he has to be in his late twenties minimum if not mid thirties like Robert Pattinson who is playing him. The rest of the cast is fantastic, the decision to make this more like a detective story rather than an origin or straight up action film is a good one. There’s really a lot to love in this film and while there are plenty of nits to pick, they don’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the film.
The film in itself is a bit of an oddity. It’s not quite an origin story like Batman Begins as this Batman is relatively well entrenched in his role. But this isn’t the hard and grizzled Batman either as he’s only been doing this for two years and is still shaping and molding what the Batman actually is. This allows for several good ideas and concepts to be used. He’s fully geared up and is nearly at peak fighting condition. He’s not a perfect fighter, but he’s still head and shoulders above most of the people he’s fighting. His tech is adequately high tech, like the contact lens camera, but his Batmobile is more of a souped up hot rod rather than the Batmobile we’ve come to know and love. The outfit itself is pretty hard to mess up, though the bulletproof nature of the body armor was a little bit over-utilized. The only good moments were towards the end when he was getting hit with the higher caliber rounds that clearly caused some damage despite his high tech armor.
There are elements of serial killer methodology that is fascinating to watch unfold. It can be difficult to find the right balance of riddles that are either solved quickly by the audience but frustratingly slowly by the characters, or ones solved inhumanly quickly by the characters which would fall into Batman ’66 style parody. This hits the balance well for the most part except for when it took way too long for someone to suggest that Rata Alata could refer to a bat. It was also a bold choice to have the Riddler be a couple steps ahead of Batman all the way through the end. It also helped to include Alfred with the cyphers. There is the questionable choice for the Riddler to have been so hands-off with the bomb intended for Bruce Wayne without giving confirmation to the audience that the Riddler knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman and Alfred was always the intended target. The meeting at Arkham was frustratingly ambiguous, whether Riddler spouting “Bruce Wayne” to call out the fact that he knows Batman’s identity and is toying with him by playing ignorant. Or whether he truly is ignorant and just overly socially awkward when he’s not following a full script for one of his videos.
The social commentary is on point with the Riddler’s end game mirroring plenty of right wing extremist gun nuts who band together behind this internet celebrity. It’s also interesting how the film holds the mirror up showing how similar the Riddler and the Batman really are. It’s similar to how Batman and Joker are often mentioned as being mirrors of each other and they feed off of each other. Riddler sees himself as a vigilante similar to the Batman, going around the law to expose the corruption of Gotham City. Only he does this through murder and mayhem. The Batman does this by beating up mobsters. But through this interaction, he does realize that his role isn’t just about creating fear in the criminal presence of Gotham, instead he also needs to become a symbol for hope to the ordinary citizens. This is the real lesson and growth shown through the course of this film even though surprisingly Batman basically doesn’t save the day. He saves the Mayor-elect, but only after she gets shot. Meanwhile the entire city gets flooded and likely dozens of people died in the initial floodwaters. It has echoes of the Dark Knight Rises in that way only this film ends with Gotham City being a flooded haven for criminals.
The relationship between Batman and Catwoman is also done fairly well here. She’s someone with her own agenda, her own morals, and her own secrets. Some of which are revealed throughout the movie. They clearly have something in common, and the ski mask is simple, but effective. It’s also nice to hear the brief nod to Bludhaven at the end. Similarly the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Alfred works well here. We get to see Alfred participate in his detective work without having to be in the thick of things, and there’s a touching moment to show the real strength of their relationship and the years they’ve spent together with Alfred being his father figure. There’s also just enough allusion to the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents without ever having to show the audience the exact scene for the twentieth time. The fact that they mayor has left a young son at a similar age as Bruce was when his parents died works well for that reminder. And even better that the film never hammers the audience over the head with that connection. This film does have some flaws here and there, but for the most part it’s an enjoyable ride from start to finish. The Riddler is an interesting choice for the lead villain and he’s very much updated for the 21st century while still keeping the feel of the original character. The action scenes are fantastic and the characters are all represented very well. I couldn’t ask for a much better iteration of a live action Batman and I’d be happy to see another film set in this world. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
It has been increasingly difficult to keep up with this site lately. I still have a love of superhero movies but somehow it’s been easier to stay on track with my podcasts looking at movies and shows in minute detail rather than making it out to the theater or watch a full length movie with a one year old running the household. I did even manage to watch the Super Mario Bros. Movie with the intention of writing a review for it, and I still might manage to plumb the depths of my memory to write one after this review but it’s been hard to just sit down and write. The renewal for the domain name just recently came up so the site will remain for another year at least and I have hopes that I haven’t given up on this site completely so be on the lookout for more reviews to come before the year is out, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for them. Anyway, as for the Flash; I watched in instead of Spider-Verse or Guardians 3 for a few different reasons. The main two were that I happened to sign up for the Lambcast covering this movie and that it came out during my birthday weekend which I saw as a sign that I should watch it. It’s had some middling reviews, fan complaints, behind the scenes struggles, and a low box office. But honestly, this movie was right up my alley and I loved everything it threw at me. And there are plenty of little Easter eggs that I will be discussing, so if you haven’t seen it and are avoiding spoilers, here’s your warning.
One thing that originally set the DC universe apart from the MCU was the tone. While the MCU was mostly light with some heavy moments here and there, DC was the opposite being mostly heavy with some comic elements here and there. And after Snyder left, it’s grown closer to the light and airy side of things for better and worse. This movie is easily the most comedic DCEU film outside of The Suicide Squad and it tells you exactly what it’s going to be with the opening action sequence. The sequence really feels like a throwback superhero action scene. It’s a random catastrophic disaster as the Flash has to help save a hospital being threatened by a collapse who’s source is barely and/or not mentioned at all. There’s collapsing asphalt and eventually part of the building starts to collapse resulting in a group of babies on an upper floor falling out the window that turns into practically a Looney Tunes short complete with flaming canisters and a jar of acid. This is also the first instance of the poor CGI which the director has gone on record to say was intentional and for this scene especially, that excuse holds up. It would be a very different tone if realistic babies were in mortal danger, but when it’s clearly CGI babies, that makes it ok to laugh out loud at the absurdity of the situation.
The actual meat of the story centers around the Flashpoint story, one that’s been told in comics and in the animated movie from 2013. This version only has a few elements of that story: The Flash saves his mother and creates a completely new timeline and for a portion of the story he doesn’t have his powers. And that’s about it. In this version, his change in the timeline creates a fulcrum break that not only changes the future, but also goes backwards and changes the past, which is the explanation for changes that happened before the death of Barry’s mother as the Flash is much younger than any version of Bruce Wayne we see in this movie. It’s a great explanation and a perfect excuse to see Michael Keaton return as the same Batman that we saw in the Tim Burton movies, complete with a look at the classic Batmobile and many instances of Danny Elfman’s score. Anyone who is a fan of those movies will be hard pressed not to feel a rush of nostalgia. He’s not just a glorified cameo either. Keaton’s Bruce Wayne and Batman play a significant role in the middle of this movie and he plays the crazy recluse Wayne and the return to form hero expertly. The one hero role that did feel like an extended cameo was Sasha Calle’s Supergirl whose arc is very similar to Superman’s arc in the original Flashpoint. She was great in the role and the character looked and felt fantastic, but there wasn’t really a whole lot for her to do compared to Batman and the two Flashes.
We’re also treated to a bit of a Parent Trap element with 18 year old Barry who spent a full life with both parents becomes present Barry’s sidekick slash trainee as the recreation of the accident where he became the Flash goes slightly wrong and gives young Barry the Speed Force powers but removes them from old Barry. Ezra Miller’s off-screen shenanigans aside, he really nails both roles, making them feel like two sides of the same coin, similar as they’re the same person, yet distinct due to their different upbringings. Older Barry has this sense of both experience, and the social awkwardness that’s come from his difficult life. Younger Barry has this 18 year old energy and is much more carefree that comes from someone who hasn’t had significant trauma, though occasionally it felt a little turned up to almost caricature. The twist at the end also had just enough set up to work as we just get the one moment of young Barry not accepting that a math problem doesn’t have a concrete solution that’s not just infinity that builds into this person who has spent a lifetime trying to solve his own Kobayashi Maru, covered in Kryptonian weapon shards as he tries to save his world’s mini Justice League and stop General Zod without Superman. The self sacrifice does do a little bit too much work to undo this already paradoxical situation as this dark, future Flash was the one who pushed present Barry out in order to create himself, and yet when young Barry sacrifices himself, it vanishes Dark Flash. It’s all timey-wimey stuff anyway and the overall tone of the movie actually works in its advantage to not question the specifics of the “how” and just lets you accept it as is.
There are also plenty of other cameos and slight changes that offered different levels of enjoyment. When all three Barrys are in the middle of this Chrono-ball, there’s a display of the multiverse with various movie incarnations of Superman and Batman with CGI images of George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Helen Slater, and the big fun one was seeing the unproduced Nicolas Cage Superman Reborn fighting the giant spider made famous from Kevin Smith’s various discussions about his script. The other fun bit was the ending where older Barry made a slight change in the past that would only affect his present and the events afterwards. But by this movie’s explanation of time travel, that was enough to change Bruce Wayne into George Clooney which was a fantastic way to end this movie and a welcome change to give this entire section of the franchise its own little bit of closure despite the upcoming Aquaman movie. The explanation was also just enough to give the current DC enough leeway to keep whichever actors they want to keep while still going ahead with new incarnations of different characters. It’s a little bit meta, but in a good way.
Recently Michael Shannon who plays Zod gave an interview saying that playing Zod in this movie was “unfulfilling” as an actor and that it felt like the director was just playing with action figures. And I agree with that statement, but as an audience member who is familiar with all of these action figures, I look at it as a good thing. Of course, every superhero movie shouldn’t be like this, but once in a while it’s good to remember that superhero movies are a toybox, and this movie has a lot of different toys to play with. It’s also so great that the writer and/or director is familiar with a lot of the same toys that I am, aka behind the scenes tidbits of movies like the Nicolas Cage Superman, Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future, even the little nod too the fact that the classic Batman hood made it impossible to turn your head, all things that big movie fans know and are represented on screen. It’s a little disappointing that this movie doesn’t look like it’s doing that well critically, financially, and even has some fan backlash likely tied to its connection with the scrapped Batgirl movie. But it does do something different with superhero movies that we haven’t really seen a whole lot of: it has fun with the toybox, and for that reason I really enjoyed watching it. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.
