December | 2010 | the m0vie blog

Justice League – Hereafter (Parts I & II)

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. With the review of Superman: Doomsday earlier, I thought it might be worth taking a look at some of the other times Superman has “died” in these animated stories.

Despite the rather large cast that the writers and producers used in producing Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, I always felt that the show was better with a more narrow focus. Of course, new characters like Green Lantern and Wonder Woman got their own episodes, but Batman and Superman were rarely the focus of attention – perhaps because they had each had their own television show beforehand, and ample time for exposure. Hereafter is a two-part episode which really feels like two separate stories, both of which are fundamentally about Superman. The first is an exploration of who the hero is, based around removing him from the fictional universe and examining the holes left in his absence. The second half explores what makes Superman a hero, if it isn’t his collection of superpowers.

Part of me wonders where Clark Kent is buried...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: a world without superman, batman, dc animated universe, dc universe, dcau, dcu, doomsday, Dwayne McDuffie, hereafter, justice league, justice league unlimited, Snapper Carr, superman, toyman, Vandal Savage, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Superman – Doomsday

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. This is the very first of the “stand-alone” animated movies produced by the creative team that gave us the television shows.

Superman: Doomsday is the first entry in the range of animated DC films featuring their iconic superheroes. The line has since ballooned to feature a wide range of other heroes, with movies focusing on Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and even the Justice League itself, but Superman seemed a logical place to start. Of course, the fact that the movie came from the minds that brought us Batman: The Animated Series and the rest of the animated universe (even if it didn’t share continuity) was also a solid indication. However, there’s very much a sense of a production team attempting to find their footing. Although it’s solidly entertaining on its own terms, the film feels like perhaps the weakest entry in the selection of films.

Well, at least he can wipe it on his cape and no one will notice...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adam baldwin, animation, anne heche, bruce timm, dc animated universe, dc universe, dcau, doomsday, james marsters, Jimmy Olsen, john dimaggio, lex luthor, lois lane, non-review review, Perry White, review, superman, Superman: Doomsday, the death and return of superman, toyman | Leave a comment »

Superman: The Animated Series – World’s Finest (Parts I, II & III)

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. What with reviewing Superman/Batman: Public Enemies earlier, I figured it might be worth our time to take a look at the original Superman/Batman animated team-up.

Thank you. I couldn’t have saved Lois without your help.

I’m aware of that.

– Superman and Batman share a moment of mutual Batman appreciation

Superman: The Animated Series meets Batman: The Animated Series. How is that a tough sell?

You can't outglower me, boy... in one of these animated movies I was played by Billy Baldwin...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: batman, batman/superman, batman: the animated series, bruce timm, crossover, dc, dc animated universe, dcau, gotham, joker, lex luthor, lois lane, metropolis, paul dini, robots, superman, superman/batman, superman: the animated series, the batman/superman movie, the joker, world's finest | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Superman/Batman – Public Enemies

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. This is one of the “stand-alone” animated movies produced by the creative team that gave us the television shows.

Explain our guy love, that’s all it is.
Guy love; he’s mine, I’m his.
There’s nothing gay about it in our eyes.

You ask me ’bout this thing we share…
…and he tenderly replies:
It’s guy love…
…between two guys.

– Turk & JD explain “guy love”

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is essentially a superhero bromance. It’s part buddy cop movie, part long-term married couple, but all action. It’s not really anything more, but would you want it to be?

He ain't heavy, he's my superpowered bro'...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: allison mack, arts, batman, batman superman, bruce timm, clancy brown, dc, dc animated universe, dc comics, dcau, jeph loeb, john c. mcginley, kevin conroy, levar burton, lex luthor, lois lane, power girl, public enemies, Solomon Grundy, superman, superman/batman, superman/batman: public enemies, tim daly, timmverse, xander berkley | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Tron Legacy

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Darren

I admired the original Tron perhaps because of what it attempted rather than because of what it accomplished. It was brave and bold, and it demonstrated more than any other film of its time what was possible with computer-generated imagery – it was a statement of intent and a proof of concept. However, it was also somewhat awkward and clunky – to the point that several sequences in the movie had to hand-animated rather than digitally modelled, because time and technology worked against the crew. It was very much a movie of its time, held back by the status of the industry at the time – and yet inspiring a whole new generation of film-goers and film-makers as to the possibilities. It seems only fitting, perhaps, that Tron: Legacy took so long to make it to the screen – those impressionable young future movie-makers have come of age in the thirty years since the original. In many ways, the sequel feels like a debt is being repaid – here’s a chance to see the original and daring vision as it was imagined all those years ago.

I haven't got a Clu...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: 3d, cgi, Computer-generated imagery, Daft Punk, dark knight, disney, film, film review, Filmmaking, jeff bridges, michael sheen, Movie, non-review review, tr0n, tron, tron legacy review, tron: legacy | 115 Comments »

Absolute New Frontier (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. This is a comic book review of the graphic novel which inspired the animated movie Justice League: New Frontier.

Today some would say that those struggles are all over– that the horizons have been explored– that all the battles have been won– that there is no longer an American frontier.

The problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won– and we stand today on the edge of a new frontier– the frontier of the 1960s– a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils– a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.

– John F. Kennedy, 1960

It’s a Kennedy-era superhero saga, capturing a lot of the spirit of the sixties, the era that really saw DC comics – and comic books as a whole – massively reinvent themselves.

Green Lantern's light...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: 1950s, 1960s, absolute edition, absolute new frontier, allegory, america, american mythology, barry allen, batman, darwyn cooke, dave stewart, dc comics, green lanterns, hal jordan, j'onn j'onzz, john jones, justice league, justice league of america, mythology, new frontier, superheroes, superman, the civil age, the flash, the golden age, the interregnum, the martian manhunter, the space age | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Justice League – New Frontier

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Darren

Justice League: New Frontier is probably the best of the animated direct-to-DVD feature produced by Warner Brothers. It’s an adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s superb New Frontier, a look at the gap between the Golden Age and the Silver Age of comic book superheroes, an attempt to offer an in-universe explanation for the shift in tone and content in the medium between the forties and the sixties. It’s also a damn good exploration of the shift in American public culture and consciousness, exploring the difference in America’s attitude towards the government, the attempt to reach the stars and the fall of McCarthy-ism. It’s also a damn fine bit of animation.

Some sort of League... possibly for Justice...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animation, batman, brooke shields, Comics, darwyn cooked, dc comics, film, golden age, hal jordan, john heard, justice league, justice league: new frontier, Justice League: The New Frontier, Justiceleague, Korean War, kyle maclachlin, lucy lawless, Martian Manhunter, Movies, neil patrick harris, new frontier, non-review review, review, silver age, wonder woman | 1 Comment »

War of Kings (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Darren

This is the twelfth in a series of comic book reviews that will look at the direction of Marvel’s shared universe (particularly their “Avengers” franchise) over the past five or so years, as they’ve been attempting to position the property at the heart of their fictional universe. With The Avengers planned for a cinematic release in 2012, I thought I’d bring myself up to speed by taking a look at Marvel’s tangled web of continuity.

War of Kings is perhaps the best thing to come out of Secret Invasion. In fact, the miniseries went out of its way to highlight its links to the Marvel comics mega-event, with the story even kicking off in a Secret Invasion: War of Kings special (note the order there, it isn’t War of Kings: Secret Invasion). However, not withstanding the attempts to tie the series back to the high-selling mainstream events that Marvel was consistently churning out, War of Kings is essentially an epic space opera, the story of an interstellar war and alien politics, told with the wit and charm that writer Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have made the cosmic line famous for. Tying it into Secret Invasion only serves to highlight the deficiencies with that event, as the writers here attempt the same sort of story with the same sort of themes, but with more skill and grace than the bigger event could off.

Now is the time...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: andy lanning, black bolt, comic books, Comics, cosmic, cosmic marvel, crossover, dan abnett, darkhawk, emperor vulcan, history, inhumans, israel, kree, marvel, marvel universe, Middle East, secret invasion, secret invasion: war of kings, shi'ar, Twentieth Century, war of kings, war of kings: ascession, war of kings: darkhawk, war of kings: who will rule?, Wars and Conflicts | 3 Comments »

Ed Brubaker’s Run on Uncanny X-Men – The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Darren

I’m currently wading my way through Marvel’s somewhat complicated continuity, with a major focus on The Avengers, what with the film due out in 2012 and all that. Anyway, this isn’t really a “big” crossover in its own right, but it factors into a big event I’ll be looking at later on today. Consider this an appendix.

Ed Brubaker’s run on Uncanny X-Men isn’t as widely praised as his work on Daredevil or Captain America – in fact, while Marvel couldn’t wait to churn out omnibus releases of his work on those two titles, his Uncanny X-Men run, like Matt Fraction’s run which followed, has been haphazardly collected. Part of me suspects that this might be down to factors outside Brubaker’s control – Joss Whedon was monopolising the most popular X-Men for Astonishing X-Men when Brubaker kicked off his run – but part of it comes down to the simple fact that Brubaker simply isn’t a great writer of team books. That said, writing a year-long space epic featuring none of the more iconic characters as his introductory arc probably didn’t help much.

Brotherly love…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: chris claremont, comic book review, Comics, ed brubaker, emperor vulcan, gabriel summers, marvel, review, shi'ar, the rise and fall of the shi'ar empire, the shi'ar, uncanny x-men, vulcan, war of kings, x-men | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The A-Team

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Darren

The A-Team is the latest in a long line of attempts to adapt successful television series (preferably from years or decades past) to the big screen. It essentially suffers from the same weaknesses as other adaptations – it struggles with tone. Much as attempting to remake Miami Vice as a dry and overly self-important drug movie was a mistake, or making Starsky & Hutch as a full-blown comedy misunderstood the appeal of the original series, The A-Team feels too much like it’s working with a premise that it isn’t overly familiar with, trying to fit it into the blockbuster mold – it’s essentially trying to cram a round peg into a square hole. The film does have its charms, but it feels distinctly uncomfortable and more than a little uneven.