Under The Red Hood

Good job Brandon, you made an awesome movie man!

I gotta admit, I have heard constant good things about this movie and now that I have finally seen it, it didn't disappoint. It's an adaptation of the comic by the same name which I have to say I didn't read but if the book is anything like the movie it's awesome! So this takes place 5 years after the famous Death In The Family story where Jason Todd the second Robin is murdered by the Joker, and the mysterious Red Hood hits the scene in Gotham causing the Dark Knight to hunt him down and face the demons of the past. Now this is a great story, but it doesn't take the world's greatest detective to figure out who the Red Hood is. If you've played Arkham Knight you know who he is, if you have basic knowledge of the Batman comics you know who he is, you don't even need to pick up his own comic to know who he is, but the mystery is not the focal point. It's more about Bruce confronting the Red Hood and coming to terms with Jason's death. Tim Drake isn't Robin yet, but Dick is seen as Nightwing so you get a good past vs. present Robin standoff on who is your favorite, I stand by Dick Grayson anyday of the week but God dang it that ending tore into me. Jesus Christ movie, you want to end on a more just downright bummer ending? But there's a lot more to enjoy beyond the story. The animation is some of the best if not the best I have seen in any animated Batman movie, Bruce Greenwood is back as Bats which I do believe this was his first outing with the cape and cowl, Jensen Ackles is in my opinion perfect casting for Red Hood I mean this guy is a total wiseass and I love every minute of it, but oh sweet merciful Christmas John DiMaggio is perfect. Like...his Joker gives old Jack a run for his money he's that great. I have never laughed so often and deeply as I have with John DiMaggio's Joker. After this, John can do no wrong in my eyes, though I think it will ruin future viewings of Adventure Time more so than Futurama did. But screw it, this was a really good movie. I loved the inner conflict, the action was spot on like always, I would say I would buy this particular Batman movie but it is well worth a rental if you get the chance. So that ends this bat-tastic week, we got more movies next week so I will see all you then!

Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero

You know what, this was better than when I watched it as a kid!

Subzero was a direct to video movie released in 1998, and was a personal favorite of mine. I saw this before I saw any episodes of Batman The Animated Series with Mr. Freeze and even before Mask Of The Phantasm if memory serves correctly, and I really loved it as a kid and I daresay I love it even more now knowing the character of Victor Fries and where his story goes in this universe. The story while basic is a very, very good story dealing with Mr. Freeze capturing Barbara Gordon in an organ transplant to save his wife, with Batman and Robin hot on his trail. It may not sound that special but the greatness lies in the details and technicals. Now you may be thinking, "Oh it's a direct to video movie, this is gonna suck. Every direct to video movie nowadays is definition of bottom of the barrel." but I can safely tell you this is far from the truth. The quality is same throughout from jumping to The Animated Series to this and even beyond to The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond, all the alumni that worked on the show worked on this movie, all the writers, directors, voice actors so it doesn't feel out of place. Animation is great, but I don't need to tell you that cause you already know. But! This movie combines hand drawn animation with 3D animation, the backgrounds and sometimes entire scenes are computer generated. Now granted they did that in Mask Of The Phantasm but it was used only for the opening titles, this uses it throughout but...they genuinely make it work. When I was a kid I had no idea they did that, it all looked hand drawn and while it is more noticeable now, it does not hurt the movie. Just, everything is so good! Characters are beyond stand out here! And now, comes the part where I gush to you the people, of the glory of Batman and The Animated Series, but as my reviewers always say, if you gotta do it...do it all out. Oh my God, Mr. Freeze. Now remember, this was my introduction to the character, I never saw Heart Of Ice so I never knew his backstory. And yet, this movie made me really like him, his suit is amazing, his ice gun is cool (Don't think about that too much or you might hurt me.), I understood why he was doing what he did and now so many years later, Mr. Freeze is easily in my top 5 Batman rogues gallery ever. Michael Ansara is beyond brilliant, and I miss him dearly. The relationship between Dick and Barbara I felt had much more impact on me now than it did when I was young, there is a genuine love for one another and there's one brief scene with the two of them alone and it is wonderful, I especially also loved the fact they made Dick older, like college student older cause it pays off when you see him as Nightwing so good job guys. Batman, it's Kevin Conroy so I give him 10/10. 10/10. 100/100! Best Batman. BEST BATMAN. Moving on. For a movie that is barely over an hour, it clocks in at an hour and 6 minutes, it is not rushed. The movie knows when to take it's time, and when to kick it into high paced action and the action is really good. I was surprised how much I loved this movie, I always enjoyed watching it when I was younger but now I feel I have fully appreciated it. The art, the story, the characters, just all the elements between them are too good. It's too good. I could go on for...a while, let's just say that, about the character interactions and the importance of the story and the lasting effects it has on the Diniverse that encompasses all the Batman animated shows, Justice League, Batman Beyond, all that. And this was really the last hurrah for the classic Animated Series before The New Batman Adventures premiered with a new art style, new characters, and crossovered with Superman The Animated Series. See, even back then about 20 years ago DC had crossover TV shows. The ending is very bittersweet, and seeing the evolution of Mr. Freeze's character down the road makes it almost heart breaking. No scratch that, it's friggin' heart wrenching! Granted, it is for your Batman fans in life, kids can enjoy it but I think older teenagers can appreciate it. And we got one more, shock of all shocks one I have never seen (Dun dun duuh!) so I am looking forward to that. Have always heard good things about it, gonna finally see it tomorrow, I am on cloud 9, goodnight everybody!

Gotham By Gaslight

You know Warner Bros. Animation, I don't think you understand what an R rating is. Both this and The Killing Joke could have been PG-13 and you wouldn't have to cut a damn thing. Is it the stigma of it being animation so in order to hammer your point home that it is heavy stuff you gotta make it an R rated movie so people take it seriously? Christ.

Yeah, Gotham By Gaslight is rated R which blew my mind when I picked it up at Redbox, I almost thought I got the wrong movie but nope. Now granted when you are dealing with a subject matter like Jack The Ripper, you're gonna get a body count and you're gonna get blood but an R rated film that does not make. Okay, slow down, go back, let's start basics. Gotham By Gaslight is an adaptation of the popular Elseworlds series DC has been making since the late 80s, taking classic superheroes and giving them unique spins. Like, what if Superman didn't land in Kansas but in the USSR and fought for communist values? Well this is a what if of Batman taking place in the late 1800s and one of his earliest cases is catching Jack The Ripper, based off the very first Elseworlds book. Now I do have to say, the book is okay, in fact I liked the movie better than the book. It's a very loose adaptation adding tons of new elements and centering the story on Jack whereas the book had 2 cases. So the story I genuinely liked, it's a very good mystery and to see a well known superhero in this time frame is a neat thing to see. I've always admired the Gotham By Gaslight suit, though I have never been a steampunk fan which it takes inspiration from. So the story and characters are really darn good, with one quiet scene between Bruce and Selina that really stole the whole movie for me, it was really good! I only had one major problem with the movie that I don't think was how it ended in the book, my memory is fuzzy and I should go back and read it one day, but I can't divulge what really pissed me off cause it spoils the mystery. But we will move to the technicals now! Animation is really great, the colors are dark and murky, and I must praise the unabashed unapologetic potrayal of late 19th century culture. Like they got their research down man, life sucked back then and it sucked even harder for women. Voice acting across the board is great, specifically Bruce Greenwood but you know what's weird? Bruce is a better Batman than he is...well, Bruce. But all in all, it's a decent movie, I enjoyed it more than the fraking Killing Joke that's for damn sure. Doesn't deserve the R rating even in the slightest, perfect for a rental, and if you know anything about me we can't leave this alone now. I don't got any other movies for the week, so let's watch some more animated Batman movies! Tune in tomorrow, same time same channel!

The Dark Knight Rises

It's time for Knightfall.

The end is here. All those years, all his enemies, and the Bat was broken. But he came back, 8 years of nothing before Bane comes to Gotham and took the city, making it a no man's land. And the Dark Knight came out of retirement to take control of his city. Was it worthwhile? Was it a brilliant end to an iconic trilogy? Well here's the thing, answers don't give you a sense of satisfaction, sometimes you have to brace yourself for disappointment. I mean, think about it! You've seen this series since it began, the birth of the Batman, the crazy and chaotic Joker pushing him to his limits, and then bang! The ultimate fight for Gotham ensues and ends. Would you be happy? Does it make sense? How come the true villain sucked ass? Well, let's start at the beginning. 8 years since the Batman has been seen, and not all is well. True, Gotham seems to be in a time of peace but Bane has different plans, severing all ties to the outside world and keeping Gotham in his pocket thanks to a four megaton nuclear bomb. He broke the bat, threw him in a pit, and is about to do what Ra's Al Ghul was always planning: destroy Gotham. And hell, that's just the brief basic synopsis. Good gravy is there a lot going on in this movie! What with Bane controlling the city, Bats coming out of retirement, Catwoman doing her own thing, and poor Jimbo scrambling to restore order, it's a miracle you remember what happened in the first movie! But specifics are key here, and really there isn't much to talk about casting and production wise, except for Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. Great job guys! I thought she was awesome! Now I think the problem many people did not get was this is NOT a Batman story. At all. It's a Bruce Wayne story. It deals with him coming out of retirement, defending a city that hates and fears him, and just him trying to do one last good deed in his lifetime. This is important to know if you choose to see it again. Now onto the villains! Bane is damn near pitch perfect, I mean Tom Hardy friggin' nailed it. This is the comic book Bane, and for those of you who read the comics know what I am talking about, he's brilliant, super genius intellect almost, incredible strength, military backing in some cases, this guy is a true force to be reckoned with. He broke Batman's back, no one has ever hurt him like that before. This shows a capable villain who is a great character in and of himself. But then they done screwed it up! I have no qualms spoiling this, because it's absurdly obvious to the comic book fans, and means precisely nothing to those who want to just watch the movie. The whole mastermind behind all this is Talia Al Ghul, Ra's daughter. Thanks for taking away such excellent menace from Bane and just pissing me off! Seriously?? What the shit is she doing here??? There's no reason!! None! Whatsoever! The character is meaningless, she doesn't even reveal her name until about 15 minutes before the end! Are you fraking kidding me?! This movie is 2 HOURS AND 45 MINUTES LONG!!! God I hate her in this movie, now you might be saying "But Dude that's the point! You're not supposed to like her! She's the bad guy!" but that is not the point! You built up an incredible villain, faithful to the comics, with a damn fine performance, and just chucked it all in to the fraking trash! I knew her whole schtick once she babbled on about having balance or order or some bullshit in the world for the 8 millionth godforsaken time! Also, worst death ever! Oh yeah, she dies. Not in a even slightly satisfactory way! It is literally, the worst on screen death I have ever seen! I mean for Christ's sake, that was the best take you could get?? It's horrible! Oh my God! How do you do this man? Besides that....disgustingly horrible aspect, the rest of the movie is fine. When I first saw it I found it very underwhelming because I didn't want it to end, but you know, it's been 5 years, and the movie has grown on me. I like the scale of the movie, the tone of the movie, (most) of the characters in the movie, the action is very good, the drama hits hard and by the way, shame on you Bruce! You made Alfred cry! That ain't right man! It's a perfectly fine ending to The Dark Knight Trilogy, they just done fraked it up in terms of villains. In fact, just watch the How It Should Have Ended video of this movie, if you don't feel like sitting down for almost 3 HOURS! There are movies that warrant that run time, this one....not so much. I can totally get why someone would not want to sit through a movie like this for that long. But honestly when I sat down, it took about 20 minutes for me to get interested and then the rest of the movie pretty much flew right by. But then again, I am used to such run times. 3 hours is a powerful repellent to the uninitiated, but we are initiated aren't we? The ending pissed people off too, I frankly didn't mind. I mean damn, it's all gone now, we got Batfflec and all these new kickass superhero movies coming out, so get over it! Oh, and The Joker totally called it. He was right about everything. That's why we love you Heath! But anyway, I'm done. New reviews next month, you know the drill, thank you so much for reading and I need some ice cream cake now. Happy Birthday to me, The Dude reminding you that the movie reviews will never die.

Return Of The Caped Crusaders

Thank God this was a good movie. I don't know if I could have taken another rubbish animated DC movie.

A love letter to the classic 60s Batman television show, Return Of The Caped Crusaders is a well deserved return to the Bright Knight iteration with Adam West and Burt Ward. A loving tribute with admiration and respect, this movie captures the zany, ridiculous, and truly wonderful feel of the campy 60s show with added easter eggs for the die hard Batman fans, our story follows the caped crusaders hot on the trail of the most dastardly group of villains ever to plague Gotham City, the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman. An obvious throwback to the 1966 movie, with even more to offer than before. The voice acting is spectacular, obviously always a treat to hear Adam and Burt in the roles that made them forever famous, the look takes a more realistic version of the art style used in The Brave And The Bold tv series, with excellent use of color and even a few bits of the highly acclaimed Batman The Animated Series thrown in. The cast is the true reason to watch this movie, although the movie itself is very good and feels like a long lost episode of the 60s television series, although I have to admit it saddens me to really think of how many fine actors we have lost that were once in the old show, but the replacements do their best to bring justice to such iconic performances and they deserve some respect for that. For a movie that is barely even an hour and twenty minutes long, lots of things happen that feel just right in this vein of Batman lore, from the lavishly ludicrous villains, to the brilliantly ridiculous gadgets, this movie is built for a true fan of the television show which I am. I found it campy and silly when I first viewed the 1966 movie (since it was many years before the television series hit home video) but as it played on I grew a love and admiration for it, and still defend it to this very day. And I am very happy to see another edition to the Adam West Batman legacy.

Tune in next week for more, same time same channel, with one warning: the worst is yet to come!!

Mindsets And Memories

The mindset I really think about when I watch shows like Scooby-Doo is you know, there's weird things going on and kids or teenagers go to places they shouldn't go and try to unravel this mystery going on around them. Sort of rebellious teens who do things for the good of themselves, and their families, and their community. My entire life I have watched things with more intellectual mindsets than physical. Most of the shows I watched when I was little were detective stories pretty much. Scooby-Doo where teenagers use their minds and deduction skills to solve mysteries. Batman The Animated Series, you know The World's Greatest Detective solving crimes and fighting villains. It was always characters using their minds over their muscles to solve problems. And it obviously influenced me, it made me use my brain more, basically made me an intellectual at the age of 5. Reading several grades ahead of me, finishing entire school days of work until I had nothing to do, solving puzzles every week were common to me. I lived in the school library for about 6 years, if I didn't have work to do I was reading books. That was the effect these sort of crime/mystery/detective shows had on me. But...I get that kind of mindset from more than just Scooby-Doo. Like, the most prominent example is kids who go to school after dark kinda like in Goosebumps books where kids notice strange things and try to solve it usually under the cover of nightfall. I loved that kind of stuff when I was little, the mystique of it all. The night was much more interesting and fun rather than the day, like so much more fun and cool stuff happened at night not during the day. I wanted to solve mysteries as a kid, travel into the night and do something I shouldn't be doing, that's the stuff I lived for when I was a kid. I was and still am an explorer especially on star filled nights.

Batman (1989)

I'm Batman.

And with those two words, Michael Keaton proved everyone wrong. This was actually not the first Batman movie I ever saw. It was my fourth actually believe it or not, but it is my favorite. Yeah, more so than The Dark Knight! It just screams Batman to me in the comic book sense, I enjoy the fact that comic book films are being realistic but it comes from a medium that is FAR from being realistic. Now obviously this movie was made in 1989 when the Batman comics were very dark and serious, moving away from the Adam West potrayal of the Batman. This is a time period when you know, The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke were examples of the Dark Knight. And it shows in this film. Dark and gothic setting, terrific character acting, an amazing score by Danny Elfman, and the best Batman and Joker in my opinion. I mean, my dear sweet God how do you pick better casting as the Joker than Jack Nicholson? He's been practically playing the role his whole damn life! He is creepy, he is funny, he really does steal the whole show even from Michael Keaton. And he is the best Batman...live action wise. Kevin Conroy has been Batman for over 20 years, and for good reason. But Keaton is THE Batman to me. If I had to guess what Batman would be like, it would be Keaton's potrayal. And most people don't realize he is a comedic actor first and Batman second and his humor shows in the film. He's quirky but he just does a funny and real potrayal of Bruce Wayne. And people petitioned against him! Because they saw him as a comedy actor and nothing else so it made his performance that much greater. Danny Elfman's score is the best Batman soundtrack I have ever heard and I own it, and the Prince songs while very product of the times are fun, and how strange is this? Prince just passed away and I just so happened to have a film with his music in it to review and I planned this long before his unfortunate passing. They're good songs and they work really well with this Joker potrayal. Now plot wise, it's pretty basic but it has a lot of commendable points. The Batman is pretty much an urban myth cracking down on the criminal underworld of Gotham City while avoiding arrest by the Gotham City Police. During one of his nightly patrols, he knocks a gangster into a vat of chemicals giving birth to the Joker who soon declares war on the Dark Knight and starts to terrorize Gotham. And, as the director Tim Burton put it, it's a battle of the freaks. The film has almost too many excellent choices in acting, directing, etc. so I will just give you the absolute best one. And it's why Batman is Batman, and while I praise the discussions in The Dark Knight this sums it up so well in such a short time. Not even 2 minutes. And the reason it works so well is in how Keaton potrays Bruce Wayne, it fits so well to the character. I could talk a good long while about this movie and all the inner workings of what makes it so good but I will merely task you with watching both the 1989 Batman movie and The Dark Knight from 2008. And I will let you criticize both and come to your own conclusions. I'm of a mind to make some mookie, and I'll see you tomorrow.

The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest

This was the standard of a Batman and Superman movie for almost 20 years.

I remember watching this as a little kid and I enjoyed it a lot, and all these years later it is still good. Released almost 20 years before the Batman fought the Man Of Tomorrow , this movie takes a different approach to the team up, although it does share some similar factors with the new movie. Batman and Superman have been doing their own things in Metropolis and Gotham, until one day both The Joker and Lex Luthor team up to kill both Batman and Superman. This causes the Dark Knight and the Man Of Steel to team up and stop their plans from, you guessed it taking over the world. The single most best element of this movie is that it takes place in the Animated Series universe or the Diniverse as fans call it, the universe where both Batman The Animated Series and Superman The Animated Series are found. If you were a fan of either of these shows, then you pretty much know the mythos and the voice acting and the animation style. All the original cast of both shows are here, and really that's half the fun of this movie. How would Superman and Batman talk to one another? Would they fight or work together? What would Joker and Lex be working towards and all the stuff that would happen between them? And in this universe, they do it pretty well. You can believe like, this is what would happen if these two met. And that's where the cast shines in this movie. They get to do something that is not what they do on a regular basis. Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly show that despite their different stances, Batman and Superman could work together costumes or not. Mark Hamill is glorious as always and it's just so funny to see him paired up with Clancy Brown's very serious Lex Luthor, you just don't see that anywhere else. If you want a good prelude to the new Batman V. Superman movie this would be a good place to start. And the film's running time is, and I kid you not...one hour. Just one hour. And they do a spectacular job with everything they put into such a short movie. Unfortunately I couldn't really find it anywhere besides in stores but the DVD is only $5 so it's not a waste of money. Whichever Batman and Superman movie you see first, I hope you enjoy both.

Batman The Dark Knight Returns

This is easily in my top 5 animated Batman movies, it's pretty damn great.

The Dark Knight Returns is in direct continuity with Batman Year One, set around the time where Batman has been retired for ten long years and is in his fifties, crime has overtook Gotham all over again and he must don the cape and cowl one last time to reclaim the city he loves. Now every good point I stated about Batman Year One has been made even better in this movie. The animation is drawn so realistically and it barely feels like you are watching an animated Batman movie and it is very thematic and adult in how it deals with many situations, the cast in this movie is absolutely perfect especially in the case of casting the original Robocop himself Peter Weller as a much darker, more older version of Batman and the casting of Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelly a young girl who becomes inspired by the Batman and becomes the new Robin, and she is friggin' awesome! The music is so memorable and triumphant, the action is great, it is a very dark and adult themed movie, and I'm gonna be honest here I greatly enjoy the first half of this movie more than the second. Don't get me wrong, the second half of the movie is still really good but it is very scattered, dealing with quite a bit of stuff and not just focusing on Batman. But it makes up for all of that in a true clash of the titans between The Dark Knight and The Man Of Steel....oh yeah! They throw down in this movie and it is glorious! Honest to God if the thought of Batman vs. Superman doesn't make you want to see this movie I don't even know why you are still here. This is a great Batman movie and I highly recommend it. And I'm going to help you out here, originally this movie came out in two parts but they combined it into one two and a half hour movie titled Batman The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition, and if you want to buy it buy that version. There is so much extra stuff for you to watch and you get every dollar of your money's worth and there is no better way to see it than in that version. So go out and give it a watch and tell me what you think.

Tune in tomorrow same bat-time, same bat-channel where we will look at the Batman of the future!