Batman The Animated Series: Season 4

You cannot ever change my mind that this isn't a part of the Animated Series.

Officially titled The New Batman Adventures, this series started about 2 years after the Animated Series wrapped up and despite the same voice cast and character relationships is a heavy departure in animation style. Dubbed "the red sky season" by fans, the character designs, backgrounds, and overall animation got a major new facelift essentially making the lines sharper and the colors more on the colder darker side. Now on one hand I can see why people might be against certain characters that got redesigned, but I don't actually take issue with any except one (but not the one you might think). But it baffles me how people say this isn't a part of the Animated Series based on animation style alone, that's like someone saying Star Wars Rebels has nothing to do with The Clone Wars because it looks different. Sod that and sod off, this is the last season of the show. Only totalling in 24 episodes, it's a mighty quick season to knock out to the point where you could feasibly do it in a day. So what stood out most? We start off in a fun multi-story of Gotham Knights, and right off the bat (no pun intended I swear) you can tell the tone in this is more lighter than the other 3 seasons. It's difficult to explain but easy to notice as we see Ivy and Harley go on a shopping spree, Babs takes on Clayface, and the Joker and Batman have a new year's eve brawl which reminds me of The Long Halloween sorta. And you may notice this like I did but I almost feel like one of the animators had a massive black lipstick fetish because seriously, every woman in this show seems to wear black lipstick or dang near close to black. It's very odd and I have no idea why, but I like that Harley kept her design despite a slightly bluer face and Red actually looks more plant like which I dig the hell out of. Next up is Sins Of The Father working as a origin for technically the third Robin Tim Drake, but no love for Jason in this show, as we see young Tim as a thief on the streets that gets tangled up in a Two-Face caper and becomes the new Boy Wonder. It's good to see a young Robin with a lot of attitude and it works quite well for the show. I will not tarnish the young actor Mathew Valencia, he does admirable work but I did notice a fair few times where the line delivery was very flat, but not in a sarcastic smartass way like we see often, yet no harm no foul. Harvey I think looks the slickest of all the redesigned rogues gallery, and that suit is still pure Kino. Next episode Cold Comfort. Alright. I f***ing hate how they handled Mister Freeze in this season, which is odd because the episode set farther in the future with him in Batman Beyond I felt was a pretty good send off for the character which was after this episode was made. So Freeze after his wife has been revived and cured is going after people's passion projects for no other reason than for people to feel his pain which already is so unlike Victor and the fact that....Jesus Christ. His body has deteriorated away due to his condition and he is now a head in a robot suit. Yet they somehow crafted him one in Batman Beyond, go figure. His story should have ended in Subzero, that is all I am saying on the matter. But then! Ohhhh yes! My boy is back, Dr. Crane and holy jumping lemurs is this the version I wish we had so so much more of. Listen to the creators talk about the redesign, even they felt they went too far and too scary with this character. So unfortunately we lose Henry Polic but in his stead is Herbert West himself, Jeffrey Combs and guess what? That voice is nightmare fuel in it's most glorious state. Just this eerily quiet, calm, haunting voice coming out of what looks like a walking corpse in a old west duster and hat, just 10 out of f***ing 10!! Why in the depths of hell was he not used more? Now I treasure Henry Polic, John Noble is mind shatteringly amazing in Arkham Knight, Robert Englund is the epitome of fan casting brilliance in Injustice, but this is the one I feel we need back. Great episode material too with Crane actually taking people's fears away and ransoming the antidote, while actually eliminating Batman's fear of even killing people. Damn, this was a home run. Then we get some Nightwing action in You Scratch My Back, where he forms a fragile alliance with Selina, who I think the redesign is more minimalistic but still works, and the constant power shift between master cat burglar and solo mullet crusader is pretty great honestly. Joker's Millions could easily be an episode of The Twilight Zone with some little rewrites and I never thought I would see the Joker living in poverty, well besides in Joaquin's movie of course. Growing Pains, wow. This episode kinda cut me as a kid, with Robin finding a young lost girl who has more to her past than she remembers. This is a fairly emotional story, with a heartbreaking ending that I must applaud as an adult that they went that far with the story. Mean Seasons while a good episode I think is elevated by the commentary within, a former model has taken on the monicrum of Calendar Girl and pulls a Baby Doll kidnapping her old bosses for booting her out for turning 30. Like man, I am dead serious this bullshit system where older women who aren't even close to being old can't find work in some shade of entertainment or modelling industry can get off my goddamn planet, it is insane how unbelievably relevant this still is today and you can also kinda read it as how people with low self-esteem or even depression can only see faults in themselves despite there being plenty to like and admire about them. It's very good solid writing that makes me recommend this as a must watch episode. The Demon Within brings back a ton of magic in this series, and I just love the comraderie and unspoken past encounters and friendship Bruce has with Jason Blood, better known as the demon Etrigan, which comes up later on in the Justice League series. Good stuff. Then the bomb drops, Over The Edge. I am not saying a friggin' word, just imagine the most worst possible Elseworlds situation about the Batfamily and watch it. Solid gold. Love Is A Croc, really only struck me by just the sheer fascinating idea of what if Baby Doll and Killer Croc did heists together? I am so bewildered this pairing even exists let alone how and why someone thought it up. I will however state I love Baby Doll's voice actor, and we were on the verge of a truly niche relationship in this episode. Just watch it and try not to think anything nauuuughtyyyyy. The Ultimate Thrill was a lot of fun, entirely on the basis of Roxy Rocket who I might be admiring a bit too much, she's a total adrenaline junkie and does some wild ass stunts just to rob people but there's something about her I just like. God dang redheads man, I cannot help myself! Then we jump ahead a bit to Old Wounds, which for very briefly albeit had my money as the best episode of the show. Just the fact that we finally see the seed which was planted back in 1992 with Dick being in college, grow to where we see him call it quits with Bruce and becomes his own agent was wonderful to see and even if you are a major Batman fan and knew Dick would become something more it pays off very well I think. But then comes the crown jewel of the season, Legends Of The Dark Knight. It is so simple but such a loving and wonderful tribute to the iterations of the World's Greatest Detective, where three kids discuss what Batman actually is like. We get a terrific 1950s tribute with a silly Joker, an out there caper, the Dynamic Duo just one stop short of Adam West and Burt Ward revisiting the characters, and it is presented in all it's silver age glory even to the point I myself shouted great scott! Then we flip to the other side of the board where The Dark Knight Returns is presented and while still keeping it's feet firmly in the animation style of the show did such a faithful job getting so many touches of that story, abridging the fight with the mutant leader and giving some fair recognition to Carrie Kelley. I will not however stand for that snub shot to Joel Schumacher, yes I'm in a minority here but the man introduced me to the Batman and made me the fan I am today from Batman Forever alone, I have a lot to owe him. Best episode of the season, probably even top 10 of the whole show. Girl's Night Out at first I thought was going to be another Harley and Ivy romp but turns out all the female costume crowd came out to play, we get Livewire from the Superman Animated Series which I will admit I haven't seen much of but I love her voice and personality a great deal, our favorite girl team is still living together, and both Batgirl and Supergirl team up and even find some solace in each other's opposite lives. This is easily an episode just for the fun match ups and thusly is one of the most fun episodes of the entire show. Beware The Creeper honest to God, the only things I have to say about this episode is that Harley scene, holy moly. And the character of the Creeper practically shouted Freakazoid to me from the word go, I almost was flat out expecting the same voice actor to do both parts. Other than that, pretty crazy but pretty funny. Now we come to a similar problem that the last season had, the last ever episode broadcasted for this show was Mad Love finally laying Harley's backstory bare and seeing her near fatal death which is a positively shocking way to go out. Yet the last episode on my DVD's is Judgement Day, which truthfully is almost if not more shocking and weird to end on as a new face arrives in Gotham and passes sentence on various rogues gallery inductees, and had an almost Psycho-esque ending the more I think about it. The show ends on a fairly creepy note and then that's it. It's all over. So it is an unfortunate circumstance that there really was no definitive ending, but I don't think that was fully a thing for animated shows back then and really, knowing full and well that more shows came out which only built upon the backbone of The Animated Series makes that criticism a moot point, it keeps continuing in some form or another. Batman Beyond, Justice League, the Superman Animated Series, even Static Shock kept this animated DC legacy going. True there are other timelines, universes, whatever you want to call them but this is the one all of them have to thank for even being around. Batman The Animated Series did a tremendous lot for the comics, for the shows, for the games, for an entire generation and then some to this day. Not every episode is a 10/10, not every season has nothing but great things to talk about, it's the overall experience that makes it so good. It's seeing these animators, these creators, these voice actors commit to bringing you Batman and making it accesible and fun for everyone to watch. It's a classic still talked about for a reason, and I just like talking about it. 4 stars, 9/10 for the season but a full 10/10 for the show as a whole, and my lord there is still so much to talk about with the other shows for another day. It can be cruel, poetic, or blind but when denied it's violence you may find in my reviewing mind for The Batman. Will justice be served for all fans?

Phantom Of The Paradise

Hwhat was even that?

I'm almost at a loss for words, I can't honestly believe how long it took me to finally sit down and watch this movie. Obviously with my severe love of Phantom Of The Opera once many moons ago I heard of this movie, I've seen only a handful of reviews of it so I was walking into this movie pretty much knowing all the major plot beats. So you would think I would have a fair bit to say but I'm floundering here a wee bit. This is a bizzare movie, it's Phantom inspired of course and I could connect the dots from this movie to the source material and all the adaptations more than you can shake a stick at, but it really and truly is a beast all of it's own. Which is odd because I see clear and evident inspirations of Phantom, Faust, even Rocky Horror which didn't even come out until the next year in 1975. It's a smidge campy, a musical, a satire/commentary on the music industry, and a batshit very loose adaptation of Phantom. So the story takes more inspiration from the Claude Rains version as an aspiring composer Winslow Leach has his life's work of a cantata stolen by record mogul Swan to be used in opening his venue the Paradise, and later when he sets out to sabotage the record factory gets horribly disfigured, steals a costume from the Paradise, and terrorizes the venue....for like two scenes. This is where the Leroux Phantom stuff ends, and you're either gonna hate it or love it because of that. Swan basically manipulates Winslow to compose more music with the notion of it being performed by Winslow's love interest/pupil/inspiration Phoenix, and quite literally has Winslow sell his soul to Swan and his record company. I swear I'm not on acid as I write this but by the end of the movie it almost felt like I was. There's actually a fair bit to talk about but this may get disjointed and rambling, so fair warning ye who enter here. Brian DePalma directs, and this was before Carrie but he utilizes the same split screen multi-camera technique seen near the end of Carrie, and that is only the beginning of the camera work being wild in this movie. Films made in modern day wish they could have shots and cinematography like this movie, when the most artsy and experimental they get is a 360° revoultion shot. I'm serious man, like this is almost award winning camera work. There's always mirrors in the background, there's lots of handheld shots, there's flat out a POV Halloween sequence 4 years before Halloween! It's kind of amazing. I think the commentary on the music industry truthfully works better now than back then, and yeah this is a movie unashamedly 70s in every aspect which I'm all there for personally. Paul Williams is such an interesting choice for a villain, but my God does he look like he's having a terrific time playing this devilish oddball of a record producing king. William Finley though not taking up a lot of screentime doing phantomy things is regardless very memorable and does do a good job with the material. Jessica Harper, man that girl can sing good and while she's probably one of the weaker Christine variants she does admirable work the whole way through. Speaking of singing, this soundtrack. F*** me, I beyond any doubt love this soundtrack! It's somewhat in the funky 70s spectrum but when you hear William and Paul sing, and I think that's such a cool effect how when Winslow sings you hear both his and Swan's voice mixed together, it's very timeless sounding with often just piano music for the instrumentation. No joke I had tracks of the soundtrack on my phone before I even saw the movie, that's how good we're talking here. It's an odd fascinating movie to watch but it's influence and love is found in surprising places, Nicolas Cage said this was his favorite Brian DePalma movie and Daft Punk flat out said it was their favorite movie period and how it gave a lot of inspiration in their costumes and music. That's pretty damn cool. It's strange, I have a lot to commend and praise with the movie but I'm having a rough time settling on a rating. It is entertaining and just interesting to watch, the cast is really good, the music is great, the visuals and direction are so specific yet so out there, the story combines bits from many classic horror stories, and I think it probably single handedly is the biggest cult film of the Phantom fandom. I give it 2.5 stars, 7.5/10, I'm gonna lay down and have some wild ass fever dreams tonight.

Superman Red Son

This was goooood! Oh it was so good!

I am serious man if I had to rank my favorite animated DC movies this is top 5 if not even top 3, no joke this was an amazing movie. Top 3 favorite DC animated movies goes as follows, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Mask Of The Phantasm, Superman Red Son, and I can't even believe the lukewarm reception this little feature has gotten, with most scores being an average of 3/5 or 6/10. Whaaaat?? This is 8/10 if not 9/10 material, I friggin' loved this movie it is so damn awesome! Which is funny because while I never had an issue with the idea of an elseworlds Superman story about him growing up in the Soviet Union instead of the States, it didn't sound that terribly interesting. So if the book is anything like this I'm reading it immediately! It is a fascinating concept, what if not only Superman was russian but also Batman and even Wonder Woman has strong ties to Russia? And I greatly enjoy how the film handles it, it doesn't spend an indiscriminate amount of time with Superman as an adult, we go through the history of the USSR from 1946 to 1983 experiencing several aspects of the Cold War throughout from Stalin, to the Berlin Wall, to Lex Luthor being elected President after Kennedy is assassinated, and it all works so incredibly well. I had zero complaints through the whole movie, no edgy adult humor or unnecessary swear words just a great story being told. And I can actually roll with everything the movie throws at me because it's an elseworlds story, yeah I can see Lois Lane marry Lex Luthor, I can see Jimmy Olson being a G-man for the government, I can totally buy we get Wonder Woman, Brainiac, and the Green Lantern's in the same story, and it never once feels crowded or rushed. For a movie barely under 90 minutes, it takes it's time to flesh out this reality and make it incredibly believable, I was having a grand time enjoying the story, picking out more references than you can shake a stick at, being surprised and even kind of emotionally connected to certain scenes. The cast is amazing with my man Jason Isaacs being a pretty grand Superman in my eyes, and I appreciate the fact that he still has the same morals as our Superman but bent ever so slightly to fit his growth in a totally different society. Vanessa Marshall is still a queen and I just love that they made Wonder Woman an ambassador again, on good terms with the two largest superpowers in the world and only wants peace, Gail Simone would be proud. Diedrich Bader is a great Lex Luthor, so very different from more popular iterations of the character but still the Lex we love to see and I just love that we have ginger Lex Luthor, a fact which most people never knew about the character. You get the real sense that the writers knew Superman backwords, forwards, inside and out not just simply on a character basis but the lore basis, you see bits from comics, from the Christopher Reeve movies, from the animated series, it's kind of a love letter to hardcore Superman fans. The only reason this does not get a perfect 10/10 is simply because while I liked the idea of a cloned Superman to fight for the americans it did come from out of nowhere and the title they gave him is...wow. Like a colossal unimaginative wow. And he's only there for a handful of scenes so it was a bit superflous but certainly not bad. I could not recommemd this higher if you are a comic book fan, a Superman fan, or just greatly enjoy different takes on classic stories. 4 stars, a very high 9/10 and if I did decimal points on a regular basis it gets a 9.5/10, this is a fantastic movie and well worth buying without a doubt.

What will come next week? Even I'm not too sure but rest assured the show will continue on as usual.