The Batman (Trailer Impressions)
On Monday, The Batman trailer was released during DC’s Fandome.
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Crisis on Infinite Earths | Arrowverse recap
This post contains the full review of the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event featuring The Flash, Arrow, Super Girl, Bat Woman, Black Lightning, Superman, and DC Legends.
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The Flash: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Pt. 3 | 6 x09 (the CW)
Part 3 of CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover / The Flash begins with New Gotham on Earth-203 getting consumed by the anti-matter. The heroes have been unsuccessful in stopping the multiverse from being destroyed by the anti-matter.
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Crisis on Infinite Earths – Arrowverse (part 1 & 2) (the CW)
Here is a in-depth, but easy to follow review of what is happening in the Crisis On Infinite Earths cross-over event on the CW.
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Harley Quinn based on one episode: (DC Universe)
I had two thoughts while I watched the first episode of DC Universes’ new Harley Quinn series.
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Joker (2019) is mind-bending (review)
I finally had the opportunity to watch Joker this week and was quite unnerved by the time the credits rolled. Before you watch this film, you may think it’s just an origin story of how the Joker came to be Batman’s greatest nemesis, but it’s far from that.
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Opinion: The trouble with some remakes and reboots
It seems like a lot of properties are being redone in entertainment. From television shows like 90210 to anime like Fruits Basket, and pretty much any film. I understand that technology is better now, the production value is much better, and there may even still be stories left to tell. But, there are two main problems that I have with remakes and reboots. I’ve kindly listed them below.
Not extraordinary
More often than not, when you see a movie or a show that is being remade it’s going to be underwhelming. Especially if you remember the original fondly. I ask you to think about any live-action Disney remake of a 1990’s movie. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King were all blockbuster properties in the ’90s and still hold memories for many people. But the live-action remakes leave something to be desired.
Most recently, Disney released the Lion King and it did great at the box office. However, the Lion King didn’t add anything to the experience. In my honest opinion, the Lion King is an epic story. However, Disney’s remake left a lot to be desired. There was no facial motion capture for the lions, which made it hard for the actions to convey emotion. In the cartoons, the animation sold the emotion as well as vocal performance. That was sorely missing in the 2019 version.
But, Maleficent is actually a really go re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty. It reinvents the characters in an exciting way and opens up the lore and the world the way the animated version never could because Maleficent is an evil queen.
Overdone
Sometimes the property is overdone. For instance, Spider-Man is walking that fine line of being overused. However, Sony’s partnership with Marvel created a new life for the character. The Avengers is such an epic story that it helped reinvent the way we identify Peter Parker. We now have a connection to him through Tony Stark a beloved character and that allows us as viewers to invest in Parker’s story moving forward in the MCU.
But let’s look at X-men. Sony released movies spanning back to 2000 and just relinquished ownership of the property with Dark Phoenix. After all of the lightweight reboots within the series, there was nothing to care about and no character besides Charles Xavier and Magneto to invest in.
Another movie that has been overdone is Batman. We had great movies spanning from 1989 to 1997 (even though they all had different actors playing Bruce Wayne), The Christopher Nolan series from 2005 to 2012 was excellent, and then the DCEU launched with Batman vs. Super and had nothing spectacular to add.
How many times can you reboot a property before enough is enough?
However, sometimes things work out. Let’s look at the anime, Dororo. Dororo re-imagined an entire series. It was adapted from manga to an anime in 1964, then made into a live-action property in 2007. Now, with its remake in 2019, it is one of the best anime’s released this year.
The series looks and feels completely different from its 1964 predecessor. Dororo has a personality of its own and draws in an entirely new audience that didn’t know it existed. I wrote a full review of it discussing how it is the best remake I’ve experienced in recent history.
I understand that there is a market begging for remade and rebooted properties. However, I just wish the concepts were looked at realistically so that the final product is amazing. Plus, everything doesn’t need to be remade. There are plenty of original properties waiting to be released.
But that’s just my opinion.
Batman: Hush (review)
The last Batman movie I watched was a Nickelodeon special called Batman vs. TNMT. It is a very family-friendly, kid-safe movie. It was funny and I enjoy my time watching it for the most part.
However, Batman: Hush is a different story. This is 100 percent adult content. It shows Bruce Wayne/Batman in a new light that I don’t even think I saw in Batman: The Killing Joke.
It had all of the favorites make an appearance. We see Cat Woman, Harley Quinn, the Riddler, Bane, Scare Crow, even Poison Ivy made an appearance and I rarely see her. That was a cool surprise. Plus, the Joker was amazing. Even though his showing in this film was brief, it was entertaining and true to form.
Nightwing (Dick Grayson) was around and so Robin (Damian Wayne). Damian by far had the best conversation with Bruce Wayne! The father-son dynamic there was hilarious.
Even Supermans appearance was cool. I will always have a little bit a problem with him though. He’s so over powered. I’ve mentioned this before in my opinion piece about Aquaman being the best DCEU character right now. Superman’s abilities allow him to do almost anything and yet he’s bamboozled, undercut, and vulnerable a lot of the time. I’ll never understand the logic. You’re super, be super!
But back to the movie.
Batman: Hush touches on adult subjects like drugs flooding into Gotham City, i.e. heroin. This movie heavily deals with death as well. And Batman even fails to escape routine obstacles that he encounters during this movie.
Routine for Batman I mean.
I won’t spoil it, but there is a point in the movie where Batman is doing a routine activity and he ends up getting massively hurt. I wasn’t expecting that. It catches you off guard, but it motivates his character as Bruce Wayne to make changes in his life and seek out a substantial relationship with Catwoman.
Hush was an anomaly for most of the movie. It’s a huge surprise when you find out who he is. I will admit, I didn’t read the book, so I didn’t know anything about the story. I thought I knew the villain’s secret identity from the start and I was completely incorrect. But, when the actual villain was revealed I was a little let down due to the circumstances. I just thought it was sad.
Overall, it is a great movie and I suggest you see it when you can. It’s available on DVD now. It came out on July 20, 2019. It’s a thriller and if you are a Batman fan, I think you will appreciate this tone.
Movie Review: Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Finally had the chance to sit down and watch Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I went into this movie with no expectations and without reading the synopsis. It is a really enjoyable animated movie.
Spoilers ahead
The Story:
Shredder and the Foot Clan attempt to steal a machine that will allow them to engineer a mutagen and mutate all of the citizens of Gotham into their inner animal.
It turns out this plan was created by Ra’s Al Ghul who promised Shredder immortality for himself and his clan by using the Lazarus Pit. However, the mutagen had to be created first to cement the deal.
Our favorite pizza eating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles travel to Gotham City to stop this diabolical plan and end up clashing with Batman, Bat Girl, and Robin. They eventually realize they are working against the same evil and decide to work together to save the day.
Thoughts:
This movie had a lot of great moments in it. There were small nods to the story surrounding Batman and his past. Most notably when there was a subtle Jason Todd death reference when Damian was at risk of getting hurt.
Ace Chemicals were used to create the mutagen for Shredder and Ra’s Al Ghul. Keeping in mind that an Ace Chemical plant is where Joker fell into the chemical bin that caused him to become manic.
There was even a joke from Michael Angelo about New York and Gotham being basically the same aside from the huge blimps that are always flying in the air for some reason.
Even Joker and the rest of the reoccurring Gotham villains had their moment to shine despite not being the main protagonists. They used the mutagen on themselves and turned into huge snarling animals to act as a distraction while Ra’s Al Ghul prepared the infection of the entire city.
Batman (animated Batman) is always a cool untouchable renegade, but in this film is his interactions with Michaelangelo made him likable in a fun way, whether they were ordering pizza, driving the bat mobile, or fighting the Foot Clan.
Leonardo even had his moment to shine while fighting Ra’s Al Ghul. Realistically, I wouldn’t think he could beat him because Ra’s AL Ghul is a borderline immortal being with years of martial arts experience. However, the fight was actually very entertaining.
The biggest shock moment came after the credits rolled. After a fight with Batman, Shredder actually ended up going over the railing into a chemical bin. He emerges from the bin laughing and exhibiting manic behavior.
Unhinged Shredder? Now that’s a Shredder I want to see!
Batman: Hush (trailer review)
IGN released an exclusive trailer for the upcoming animated film Batman: Hush a few hours ago. DC Comics tweeted that it is coming out this summer.
The trailer came off to me as explicit to me. The content definitely feels mature. We have sensual flirting between Batman and Cat Woman and Poison Ivy is controlling Superman. It’s absolutely sexy and I don’t recall any other animated film of Batman giving me those vibes.
Feel free to let me know if I’m wrong in the comment section.
We are introduced to Hush the main villain in the movie and it turns out he does not discriminate. He is kind of uncomfortably seductive the way he plays mind games. He will manipulate heroes, villains and vigilantes. For what? I guess we’ll find out this summer.
I’ve put the trailer below. Enjoy!
Batman: Hush releases August 13, 2019
Will Arrow pass on the mantel to Batwoman on CW? (trailer)
With the Flash, Super Girl, Arrow and DC Legends of Tomorrow in a shared universe, we are expecting newcomer Batwoman to become a mainstay in the DC CW universe or Arrow-verse. We first met Kate Kane/ Batwoman during the 3 part Elseworlds crossover in December 2018 as she aided our heroes with saving the universe.
Ruby Rose will return to her role and take over the vigilante gauntlet in Gotham City as Batwoman airing on the CW. The Arrow series is ending after a shortened season 8 this fall. it maybe a good idea for Batwoman to take over that time slot.
Perhaps Batwoman will join the crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the conclusion of Elseworlds for the 2019 season. It’s possible that Kate Kane’s encounters with Arrow / Oliver Queen during the special will allow him to propel her into the forefront alongside Super Girl and The Flash in the Arrow-verse, figuratively passing on the mantel.
There has been no release date announced yet, but the CW did release a trailer earlier this week.
I’ll be covering the events in Gotham City just like I do in Central City when the time comes.
Catch up on CW’s The Flash – recaps here.