A Movie Entry – Thoughts on ‘Batman Forever’

Everyone gives this movie such a bad review and cites it as the precipitous decline in the ’80s ‘Batman’ franchise that directly led to the franchise-killer Batman & Robin. I actually watched Batman Forever in a dollar theater, and pretty much hadn’t thought about it since. Well, until there was a sale on RiffTrax and I decided to check it out again. It’s actually not as bad as all that. I really don’t think it’s any worse than Batman Returns although the flaws are of a completely different nature.

A Comic Book/TV Entry – Batman Unlimited Marketing Potential

or, “Batman: The Mattel Tie-In Series”
or, “Thoughts on Gendered Marketing via ‘Batman Unlimited'”

A Movie Entry – 10 Things I Learned from LEGO Batman

1) A more accurate title would be “Apple Presents the LEGO Batman Movie.”
2) Batman, for kids, but that’s okay.
3) Batman’s favorite meal is lobster thermidor which probably doesn’t taste very good as a microwaved leftover.
4) Which villain properties WB/DC actually has the rights to and as such can use their names.
5) Batman’s rogue’s gallery has some very weird entries, even for Batman.
6) The film makers really love Batman.
7) The film makers really don’t care for Zach Snyder’s vision of the DCEU.
8) Even Joker knows it’s ridiculous for Batman and Superman to fight.
9) A movie can make fun of certain clichés and yet embrace them at the same time.
10) This is probably the best superhero movie to be released since Nolan’s trilogy (not necessarily the best Batman movie since this is for kids) and probably will be the best until WB/DC figures out how superheroes are supposed to act (hint – not like this, or this).

It’s not as good as the original LEGO Movie, but it’s still enjoyable. So go see it, if you like fun, slightly meta movies about kid-friendly versions of Batman and Joker. I don’t think this one requires a big screen, but I had free movie passes and a free night. Your favorite streaming service is probably just fine for viewing this one.

A Movie Entry – Coming Attractions 2017

or, “the movies I’m most likely to drag my lazy self out to a theater to see.”

I realize there’s a bit of time yet until the summer movie season is upon us, but with 2017 shaping up to somehow be even worse than 2016, I’ve got to take what joy I can. So as usual there are a whole bunch of movies coming out that aren’t even on my radar but a few that are, and they are, of course, superhero-themed.

Wonder Woman:
My enthusiasm for this movie has gone from, “Oh, yeah, here we go!!!” to “I really, really hope this doesn’t completely suck.” Yes, at this point I would be pleased with mediocre and pleasantly surprised with adequate. WB/DC done brung me low and it’s so weird to me the studio’s movies are so awful but CW/DC TV is pretty good. And I’ve heard even the comics are worth reading again with the new Rebirth taking off. Somewhere in the vast organization that is now WB/DC, there is talent and skill and yet since Chris Nolan wrapped up his trilogy, that talent and skill hasn’t been anywhere near the studio lot. Still, hope springs eternal and the trailers look good.

Spider-man: Homecoming
I just don’t know about this. Sony’s last reboot was objectively terrible, but I know Marvel has creative control. I also know that this isn’t supposed to be an origin story (thank goodness) and the trailers make the movie look pretty good. Of course, the trailers also make it look like this Spider-man story is borrowing heavily from Ultimate Spider-man Miles Morales and I’m not sure I like that. I’ll keep an eye on the reviews and make a decision then.

Thor 3: Ragnorok
My understanding of the plot is, roughly, Thor‘s on a road trip through the realms to find Odin, who’s gone missing. Odin pulls this stuff a lot in the comics, but with Loki pretending to be Odin and somehow no one noticing (or maybe they have; I’m still fuzzy on the details), it’s kind of important Thor get his Asgardian in gear. Also, Thanos punched into the vault and stole the Infinity Gauntlet, so that’s kind of bad. I knew the Hulk was supposed to join Thor although I have no idea why and apparently Dr. Strange will at least cameo and perhaps have a bigger part. I have to say, I’m much more interested in a Thor/Hulk buddy comedy road trip than another sort of generic “get the MacGuffin (in this case Odin) and fight some one-off bad guy” flick. So far Thor’s movies have been fairly unimpressive to me. My base level to judge success for this movie is if the plot doesn’t unceremoniously ditch Jane for the majority of the running time.

The LEGO Batman Movie – This is probably not a movie for anyone who actually liked Batman v Superman: This Title Goes On and On Like the Movie Itself. I really enjoyed the LEGO Movie and I can see LEGO Batman being considered a break-out character. I’m sure the plot will be almost by the numbers “Batman finds out he really does need friends” plot, but that’s fine. I see this version of Batman as making fun of the recent super-dark, super-serious incarnations. Not sure I’ll get to this one in the theater, though. I don’t know the scope requires coughing up the cash for a ticket.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.2 – Of course I’m looking forward to this! The second trailer has been my go-to happy place. I’m excited not just for the CG characters, but the real-life ones as well. Drax’s attempts at learning any kind of social skills should be hilarious. I’d like to get some background on Star-lord and find out how come once he got his own spaceship he didn’t go home again? He’s obsessed with Earth, obviously. That one cassette is literally his groove. My only worry is that with the addition of Mantis, and how Gamora was already shafted character-wise, that these two kickass characters will be relegated to so much comic relief and Star-lord’s crush, respectively. Gamora is the deadliest woman in the universe and Mantis is the Celestial Madonna. I want to see that, damn it!

A Comic Book/Movie Entry – Here Comes My Wonder Woman Movie

June of 2017. There are two trailers out, and I finally got the time to watch them. Wonder Woman was, by far, the best part of Batman v Superman: Seriously WB/DC How Did You Mess up Batman So Bad, and I’m glad she’s finally finally getting a movie. My thoughts, in three convenient parts:

Fifteen-minute Movie – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

or, “Soooo, DC/WB doesn’t like money, I guess?”
or, “Soooo, DC/WB really hates Superman.”
or, “Soooo, DC/WB really hates Batman.”
or, “What A Long, Contrived Trip it’s Been.”

A Comic Book/Movie Entry – Designated Nemesis

I touched on this subject before in my lament about the forthcoming movie about Wolverine and I’m going to expand on it here. In comic books (and potentially other media; I don’t know) there are some hero/villain match-ups that are the primary conflict between that hero and villain. That is, no matter how many crossovers there are, or how big the rogue’s gallery, when asked who a hero’s nemesis is, everyone pretty much gives the same answer. For example:

A Movie/Comic Book Entry – Another Inevitable Comparison

Sorry for missing last week. I was whisked out to the remnants of the Wild West and was too caught up to actually post.

Like my previous inevitable comparison, I’m sure this is overdone and unnecessary, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to share my thoughts. Unlike the Spider-man entry, in which a studio was battling with itself, this entry is about two studios battling against each other. And rather like when DC Comics and Marvel Comics used to have crossover events, the fans are the ones who are choosing the winner. So here we go, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (BvS) vs Captain America: Civil War (CA3), and why I regard one as a good movie and one as a storytelling failure.

A Writing Entry – How to Write a Strong Female Character

Or maybe I should have titled this, “An example of how NOT to write a strong female character.”

Storytelling Failures – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gritty Sepia and Other Choices

I’ll be glad to be done whinging about this thing so I can start whinge about other things. So, the final part of my series explaining how this movie failed to tell a good story – structure.