[Movies] Batman Ninja (2018) Review

Well the world of comics is filled with a lot of different experiments and explorations of alternate concepts for established characters. For DC specifically they've come to call these stories "Elseworlds" stories as they had set it as a separate publishing line. They're never part of the main series canon and they do make for entertaining reading.

Batman Ninja is the movie version of this sort of experience, but oddly enough it's an original story and not based on any existing Elseworlds-style work. It's a crazy effort to adapt the anime aesthetic to the Batman franchise with a quirky story holding things together.

While visually stunning, the story is a bit of a mess and overly complicated. But hey, do you really need a serious plot to justify some of the crazy action sequences in this movie? It's really just a wild ride and not much more than that.

[Movies] Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018) Review

Most of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies had either focused on the more popular stories from the various DC Comics or served to support the New 52 reboot be animating their stories. This has been a sound enough strategy and we've gotten some pretty fun stories out of the deal. But I suppose it was only a matter of time before they'd get around to their Elseworlds stories.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight was a great choice for a first Elseworlds exploration since (1) Batman is always a good choice and (2) steampunk is still a thing, even just aesthetically more often than not. And to be fair, the comic this was based on already had a nicely solid story.

So here we are with an Elseworlds story presented as an animated feature. And versus some of the one-off animated features released in recent years, this one nicely stands out as a very enjoyable movie indeed.

[Movies] Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) Review

I grew up on Batman: The Animated Series and fell in love with that particular incarnation of the character. If anything, the show gave many previously silly characters a much better spin and thus giving characters like Mr. Freeze and Clock King a greater sense of dignity and purpose. Plus the whole thing was just super cool.

Batman and Harley Quinn was a movie that banked on the nostalgia of the Bruce Tim animated shows, particularly the old Batman ones. After all it had Harley Quinn at the very center of things, which is all the more awesome given she's a character originally created in the animated series and later adapted to the on-going comic books.

This movie follows the other DC releases that feel a bit more adult in tone given they're not limited by the restrictions of broadcast television regulations. This is either a good or a bad thing depending on your personal preferences for this sort of content, but it did result in a weird bit in the middle.

[Movies] Justice League Trailers

So a new "Heroes" trailer for the upcoming Justice League movie came out over the weekend and it's certainly interest. We got a lot more of what we got with the first trailer but also more teases of Superman - or at least Superman in the form of flashbacks, because the folks behind the movie still think we don't expect Superman to come back from the dead. Yeah, we're all totally convinced.

The new trailer also gives us a better view of the big villain in this movie, Steppenwolf, including more bits of Aquaman (as played by Jason Momoa) basically being a super-powered Californian surfer, if his limited dialog is an indication of anything.

Jury's still out on this movie but it seems clear that they're trying to sell us on how fun this movie is going to be by showing how chummy our heroes are in their first big battle together.


Justice League - Comic-Con Sneak Peek [HD]


JUSTICE LEAGUE - Official Heroes Trailer

[Games] Batman: The Enemy Within Trailer

I still haven't found the time to finish the action adventure game Batman: The Telltale Series and already they've released a trailer for a new sequel for the franchise, this being Batman: The Enemy Within. The enemy in focus this time around is the Riddler, although the trailer makes it quite clear that "John Doe" will continue to prove to be a problem for the dark knight.

The game is looking pretty good! Now I need to finish the first series.


Batman: The Enemy Within - OFFICIAL TRAILER

[Movies] Batman and Harley Quinn First Trailer

So surprisingly a trailer and featurette video came out over the weekend to promote Batman and Harley, a new DC Universe Animated Original Movie coming out this year. What is pretty distinct about this release beyond the involvement of Bruce Timm is the fact that it's being done in the style of Batman: The Animated Series and not the gritty look of more recent releases.

While recent releases like Batman: The Killing Joke wasn't quite the best Bruce Timm project but maybe this movie will feel closer to that 90's cartoon we all grew up with. It once again features Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman but with the surprise casting of The Big Bang Theory's Melissa Rauch voicing Harley Quinn!

You can learn more about the project in the video below:


BATMAN AND HARLEY QUINN Official Trailer Teaser + Featurette (2017) DC Superhero Animated Movie HD

[TV] Gotham: Season 2

Getting through the first season of Gotham was quite the struggle despite my general openness to comic book related entertainment. We do have to try to support various geeky initiatives out there, right? The vast majority of genre shows deserve a fighting chance to prove themselves with at least a season or two.

However, Gotham isn't quite an ideal example of this and I don't know why I decided to take a stab at watching the second season of the show over on Netflix. The main premise of the show was already weird to me. However this season takes things further down this sad rabbit hole and thus creating a version of the Batman universe that we're better of staying away from.

To be fair, maybe the story works decently enough on its own if you've never read any of the prior Batman comics or watched any of the movies. It has some potential as an Elseworlds sort of story that lives in its own continuity and has nothing to do with the rest of the Batman-related franchise creations.

[Movies] Justice League Dark (2016)

Our continued adventures in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies seems to be doing its best to celebrate the stories of the New 52 reboot. A good segment of said movies are dedicated to Batman-centric titles while others do spotlight other characters. But more often than not we see other characters and how they interact with Batman.

I had higher hopes for Justice League Dark as it was a story meant to explore the magical side of the DC Comics world, which is always a rather distinct and vibrant part of their line-up that feels rather distinct from how Marvel tackles magic.

And after the disappointment of Batman: The Killing Joke, I was really hoping that this would be a home run of sorts. And while we did get some good magic action with this latest direct-to-video animated feature, there were still some odd bits about it that kept me from loving it from start to finish.

But hey, some great voice acting choices though.

[Movies] The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

As a big fan of the LEGO games by TT Games (former Traveller's Tales), it wasn't much of a leap for me to totally embrace the craziness of The LEGO Movie when it came out in 2014. But it really was a unique movie experience that wasn't even like the video games that had come before it - it was just something else. And when they confirmed that they were going to make a spinoff movie based on the LEGO Batman character, I was totally onboard.

Normally I'm quite skeptical of spin-off movies - just look at how terrible the Wolverine movies were versus the main X-Men movies. But given how the first movie had flowed, I was curious to see what they would do given a single character to focus on - especially one was famous as Batman.

But the end result was beyond my expectations and we have have one of the best Batman movies ever made. Sure we all respect the Nolan creations as they're a different sort of brilliant, but this one iteration of Batman is one that will surely live on in our memories as a crazy little character we can't help but love.

[Videos] 107 Facts About LEGO Batman

So The LEGO Batman Movie is out in theaters and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. And since I can't post a review for the movie just yet, instead I'll just re-share this 107 facts video by the geeks over at ChannelFrederator because I love these things and I love LEGO Batman!

Really need to make sure we watch this week. Otherwise I'll go nuts.


107 LEGO Batman Movie Facts - LEGO Week! (Tooned Up #235) | ChannelFrederator

[Videos] Everything Wrong With Batman: The Killing Joke (CinemaSins)

I already posted my review of Batman: The Killing Joke and the short version is that I was disappointed with the first half but generally okay with the second half. And given the controversy around the additional content tacked on to the original story, I figured that the CinemaSins take on this story would be most interesting indeed.

And yeah, it's awesome. And at times it also looks at things from either a healthy feminist perspective or a common sense "don't to that to Batgirl!" point of view.

[Movies] Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

I have a pretty healthy appreciation for Batman stories and one of the big ones is definitely The Killing Joke. But it's also one of those stories that is so beloved that any effort to tackle it is tricky. One of the more controversial aspects of the DC Comics New 52 reboot a few years back involved messing with some of the continuity aspects established by this story.

So yeah, I was part of the group that was excited about an animated adaptation of The Killing Joke given they had reunited most of the core team that drove the wildly popular Batman: The Animated Series back in the day. So how could you go wrong with such a great and already well-loved team, right?

But of course, some creative liberties were taken with the source material, as has been the habit for many of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies in order to make the source material somehow more appropriate for the audiovisual medium that is the full-length movie. But in this case, some of the changes felt more distracting that they needed to be so much so that it somewhat tainted the rest of the narrative.

[Movies] Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The irony is not lost on me that as I write this review for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the first reviews for Suicide Squad have also hit the press and the feedback isn't too encouraging. This movie was met with similar criticism when it came out earlier this year, but many fans were adamant that the critics did not know what they were talking about and probably misunderstood the movie.

And that's a weird way of looking at things - that the movie can only be truly understood by fans despite the fact that the movies don't exactly adhere closely to the original source material. If a movie can only be understood by the people who already love the character then it can't possibly be a good movie? Or at the very least, it's one that does not communicate a complete narrative since the assumption is that only "true" fans can fill in the blanks inherent to the story.

I had low expectations for this movie and I dragged my feet before we eventually caught the movie on home video. I wish we hadn't though.

[Movies] Batman: Bad Blood

While most DC Universe Animated Original Movies tend to draw inspiration heavily from popular comic book storylines, Batman: Bad Blood was surprising since it didn't immediately ring any bells for me when I first heard about it. The idea that seemed most feasible in my mind was Batman going head-to-head with a figure like Dracula, although that vampire has always been a bit more Marvel than DC.

I was totally wrong about that and the resulting movie was...interesting, but also a tad confusing at times. I could sense elements from the New 52 Batman but at the same time there was a bunch of other stuff that I wasn't sure how to take in.

It's a good thing that these movies are beautifully animated, since the writing has a pattern of being terribly inconsistent. There are great stories and some rather ho-hum stories, and I felt more of the latter this time, especially since they decided to go with an original story.

[Movies] Batman vs Robin (2015)

It's a little tricky keeping track of the various movie releases in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line-up since they are still direct-to-video releases and not theatrical or TV releases. Thus they don't necessarily get a lot of press leading up to the release. And that's a bit of a shame given a lot of them are actually quite interesting and certainly worth watching.

I had somehow missed Batman vs Robin amid the flurry of DC animated movies out there. I had picked up on the other titles but I had somehow glossed over the continuing stories written to feature Batman and incorporate additional stories from the on-going comics.

And while I'm at times a little confused about some of the directions these stories go and some of the characters they manage to rope in, one cannot complain about the quality of the animation itself. I'll go into this in a bit more detail in the review itself but there are some really great fight scenes throughout the movie that make it more than worth it.

[Movies] Justice League vs Teen Titans (2016)

I rather enjoyed the Teen Titans cartoon while it was airing on Cartoon Network. It was a fun little superhero show that was't entirely kiddie but also wasn't necessarily too adult either. Sure it had a lot of dark stories because of the likes of Raven on the team, but on the the whole it was quite the fun series.

I didn't know what to make of the news that there was going to be a DC animated movie for Justice League vs Teen Titans, which by the title alone already seemed a little ridiculous. But then again whenever we see stories that involve two teams pitted against one another, we know that it typically involves the two teams working together in the end.

And this version of the Teen Titans isn't exactly the one I grew to love over on Cartoon Network, the characters themselves still seem coherent enough to rekindle old feelings.

[Movies] A Closer Look at Batman: The Killing Joke

The Killing Joke is one of the most (in)famous Batman stories of all time. And ever since DC has been creating direct-to-video animated adaptations of some of it's more popular stories, this story has been thrown about as an idea for something people would like to see.

Mind you, this is it a pretty serious comic with some rather heavy-hitting implications. This is a comic that really explores how dark and depraved the Joker can be at times but also how he's actually pretty similar to Batman. And with this sort of subject matter, it's hard to consider how they might bring this to life.




What helps to make this particular movie so exciting is how it has brought together the creative team of the classic Batman: The Animated Series cartoon. Thus we get Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tara Strong as Batgirl and of course Mark Hamill as The Joker himself.

Apart from the trailer above, you can also check out an extended featurette about the movie here:

[Movies] Another Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer

So a new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live and it's certainly pretty intense. It's one of those close to 3 minute trailers that feature a fair amount of the plot in what seems to be a generally straightforward manner.

Hopeful Stuff: They definitely have a plan in terms of the story and it looks like a solid theory. The trailer stresses the differences in ideologies between the two heroes and how this might become a key driver for the two coming to blows. And it definitely looks like we're going to get a big drawn-out fight between the two, which is really what the fans want at this point.

Weird Stuff: So the scripting also involves key attempts at humor like how Lex appears to be speaking to the audience in terms of introducing the two. You see that weird humor again with the whole who was Wonder Woman supposed to be with moment that felt odd. And now we have a Doomsday-style scenario? Plus Batman holding a gun? What gives?

[Games] Batman Fluxx

Once you've played one variant of Fluxx, you can pretty much play them all. And while this or that variant of the game has tried to make things feel a bit more distinct, for the most part the game remains largely unchanged over the years. And as much as it's stated that you can mix and match Fluxx sets to create more dynamic games, a lot of times we avoid doing that just because the cards are so similar and sorting them back into their respective sets seems like too much of a headache.

Batman Fluxx is one of the more recent franchise-related reskins of the game and one that does provide a few quirky shifts to the game that do help make it feel distinct from the other versions. Loony Labs seems to be making a serious push to craft more of these franchise-related versions of the game, which does seem like a viable business opportunity for a lot of games out there.

It is interesting to note that this game actually utilized the somewhat iconic style of the 90's cartoon, Batman: The Animated Series. And I'm totally game for that sort of pandering.

[TV] Gotham: Season 1

So I've never been shy about stating that I feel that I'm not part of the target demographic or the CW's various TV adaptations of popular DC comic book characters. I could never wrap my head around shows like Smallville or Arrow and so I've just stayed away for now. I'm not saying they're bad shows - I just acknowledge that they're not the sort of take on superheroes that really fits me.

Gotham was something I ended up gambling on since it's actually a Fox production. Fox has brought us some great shows, but it has also promptly killed many of them before we fans could get any sense of fulfillment. So it was still a bit of a risk.

But to be fair, I had a lot of complaints about the premise of the show from the get-go. It's sort of a Batman prequel series that is supposed to focus more on the police instead of our caped crusader. That sounds theoretically interesting, but you have to admit it presents weird narrative problems. The show would feel flat without the crazy super villains of Batman's rogues gallery but then if the police could deal with them on their own, then why would Gotham ever need Batman? What stories are there to be found in a world where Bruce Wayne is still a child? And while the writers did manage to come up with something, I'm not 100% on board with the final product.