batman | the m0vie blog

Infinite Crisis: The Adventures of Superman – Lightning Strikes Twice (Review)

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Darren

This month I’m taking a look at DC’s massive “Infinite Crisis” Event. Although it was all published in one massive omnibus, I’ll be breaking down the lead-in to the series to tackle each thread individually, culminating in a review of the event itself. Check back for more.

I think it’s quite nice that DC went to the effort to collect the vast majority of tie-ins to Infinite Crisis inside this gigantic omnibus, even when the book didn’t necessarily get its own miniseries like Villains United or The O.M.A.C. Project. Like Sacrifice, Lightning Strikes Twice was a crossover between the Superman books leading into the events of one of the lead-in miniseries. In this case, writer Judd Winick was setting up the events of Day of Vengeance, the magic-themed crossover designed to tidy up and reenergise the mystical side of the DC Universe.

Super-punch!

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, batman, captain marvel, dc comics, dc universe, Eclipso, gotham central, greg rucka, Ian Churchill, infinite crisis, Jean Loring, judd winick, lois lane, marvel, superman, Villains United, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: Villains United (Review)

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Darren

I have to admit that, as a rule, I have a great deal of respect for DC’s massive event-related tie-ins. Rather than typically offering expanded or deleted scenes from the main crossover, the tie-ins to their gigantic crossovers will frequently serve as prologues or epilogues to new concepts and relaunches. With Final Crisis, for example, Legion of Three Worlds served as prelude to a rebooted Legion of Superheroes and Rogues’ Revenge offered something of a hint of Geoff Johns’ return to The Flash. Infinite Crisis: Villains United is no different. While nominally the story of evil Alexander Luthor Jr.’s evil Secret Society, it’s actually something of a stealth pilot for Gail Simone’s Secret Six, introducing the characters and the concepts that would define the series.

Just an average day at the House of Secrets…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, bane, batman, Batman in film, books, catman, Christopher Nolan, comics comic books, Deadshot, Gail Simone, infinite crisis, Infinite Crisis: Villains United, lex luthor, ragdoll, Scandal Savage, Secret Six, secret society, Talia Al Ghul, The Secret Six, villains, Villains United | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: Superman – Sacrifice (Review)

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Darren

I can see how Infinite Crisis earned its reputation as an overly-convoluted event. Even its tie-ins had tie-ins. In this case, the Superman: Sacrifice story, an arc spread across Superman, Action Comics and Wonder Woman, serves as a tie-in to Greg Rucka’s The O.M.A.C. Project, which was itself part of the lead-in to the big event. As you can imagine, it’s a rather strange trail of continuity to follow, as events here play out as a subset of a story that is itself a subset of something larger. While that is a problem of itself, the biggest problem with Superman: Sacrifice is that it takes an interesting enough central concept and reduces it to an over-extended four-issue arc about characters hitting each other really hard.

There’s blood on his hands…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Action Comics, batman, brainiac, dc comics, Gail Simone, greg rucka, infinite crisis, Jimmy, Lois, sinestro corps war, superman, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: The OMAC Project (Review)

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Darren

Infinite Crisis was certainly an ambitious project in scope. With the bulk of the major tie-ins collected in a gigantic 1,500-page omnibus, you really get a sense of just how expansive this gigantic crossover was. It’s remarkable how thematically consistent (and yet tonally distinct) so many of these tie-ins were, but The O.M.A.C. Project makes for a suitably grand opening to this gigantic epic crisis crossover, perfectly encapsulating a lot of the core themes that DC seem to have been striving for, while setting up an interesting central conflict.

What do you call a Corps of One-Man-Army-Corps?

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, alfred, alfred pennyworth, batman, Blue Beetle, dc comics, dc universe, infinite crisis, justice league, Justice League International, Martian Manhunter, maxwell lord, sue dibny, watchmen | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Invisible Man (1933)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Darren

We’ll begin with a reign of terror. A few murders here and there. Murders of great men, murders of little men, just to show we make no distinction. We might even wreck a train or two. Just these fingers around a signalman’s throat, that’s all.

The Invisible Man is a classic, sandwiched between James Whale’s celebrated monster movies – Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The movie was renowned at the time for its special effects, which still hold up remarkably well on the snazzy new blu ray issued by Universal Pictures. However, the film itself is still fantastic on its own terms, featuring a great leading performance from Claude Rains, a witty script and some fantastic direction from Whale. I think it’s also quite wonderfully telling that The Invisible Man manages to feature the story of simultaneously the most human and the most inhuman of these Universal Monster Movies.

The freak who came in from the cold…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: batman, Claude Rain, comedy, Doctor Septimus Pretorius, Experiment, film, frankenstein, George Carlin, god, Griffin, h.g. wells, india, Invisible Man, jack, James Whale, John J. Mescall, John P. Fulton, joker, Kemp, Movie, murder, non-review review, Recreation, review, Shopping, Una O'Connor, United States, universal monsters, Victor Frankenstein | 2 Comments »

What Bond Learned From Batman: The Dark Knight & Skyfall…

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Darren

I really liked Skyfall. I think it’s the best “Bondy” Bond movie in quite a while. It has a fantastic cast, beautiful cinematography, a solid script and a very human heart. However, it also owes a very conscious debt to director Christopher Nolan. In particular, it seems to have learned a great deal from the director’s recently completed Batman trilogy. There are certainly worse role models for a big blockbuster to have, and Mendes has been quick to acknowledge the influence that Nolan’s films had on his work here. That strange synthesis works surprisingly well, perhaps a testament to just how much the two franchises have in common.

The long dark knight of his soul?

Continue reading →

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman, Bondy, Christopher Nolan, ChristopherNolan, dark knight, Dark Knight Rises, green lantern, James Bond in film, joker, Mendes, nolan, Skyfall | 5 Comments »

The Demon by Jack Kirby (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Darren

Of all of Jack Kirby’s seventies DC work, I think that everything must be somebody’s favourite. His Fourth World books bristled with ambition and perhaps serve as the most high-profile, influential and long-running of Kirby’s work with the publisher, but you never have to look too hard to find a proponent of the author and artist’s work on O.M.A.C. or Kamandi. While I am fond of all of Kirby’s DC work, enjoying the raw energy and sheer volume of ideas he brings to his high concepts, I have a soft spot for The Demon, if only because it’s a delightfully off-the-wall example of Kirby’s multiple interests bouncing off one another and familiar archetypes to create something that is often quite difficult to pin down.

Night of the Demon!

Continue reading →

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: art, Arthur C. Clarke, batman, Dan Turpin, dc animated universe, dc comics, Demon, Etrigan the Demon, fourth world, Garth Ennis, gotham city, Hero Initiative, hulk, JackKirby, jason, Kirby, marvel comics, Merlin, Nintendo, Philosopher's Stone, Shopping, superman: the animated series | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Batman Beyond – Return of the Joker

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Darren

The Joker holds a special place among Batman’s iconic selection of villains. Appearing as early as Batman #1 all those years ago, the clown prince of crime has managed to hold on to his position as the prime Batman bad guy for pretty much all of Batman’s publication history. It was the Joker who put Barbara Gordon in a wheelchair in The Killing Joke, and it was the Joker who killed Jason Todd in A Death in the Family. As such, it’s no real surprise that the character should eventually make his way to the futuristic setting of Batman Beyond, to give Bruce one last challenge.

Guess who’s back…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: barbara gordon, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce wayne, ChristopherNolan, dark knight, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, film, gotham city, heath ledger, joker, mark hamill, Movie, New Batman Adventures, non-review review, paul dini, review, robin, Terry, Wayne Enterprise, Wayne Enterprises | 6 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Batman/Mr. Freeze – SubZero

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Darren

Surprisingly, not all films featuring Mr. Freeze are terrible. Batman/Mr. Freeze: SubZero doesn’t quite live up to the best of the animated Batman movies or even animated television shows, standing in the shadow of both Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker, but it’s still a surprisingly solid adventure that offers a much better showing for the Caped Crusader than either of the Joel Schumacher Batman movies.

Things are heating up…

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred, alfred pennyworth, Barbara, barbara gordon, batman, batman animated series, batman forever, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Boyd Kirkland, dc animated universe, Freeze, gotham city, jim gordon, Shirley Walker, tim burton | 3 Comments »

Severed by Scott Snyder, Scott Tuft & Attila Futaki (Review)

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Darren

Severed is a distinctly American horror story, feeling like something of a companion piece to author Scott Snyder’s American Vampire or even the work of Stephen King. Set during the dark days of the first world war, it’s an exploration of the darker side of the American Dream, to the point where it’s quite telling that our narrator refers to the anonymous villain merely as “the Nightmare.” It’s rich, sophisticated and atmospheric storytelling, a modern American fable co-written by Scott Tuft and with bone-chilling illustrations from Attila Futaki that are sure to unsettle.