Dark Knight Rises | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: Justice League – Doom

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Darren

Batman has always had a bit of a curious relationship with the Justice League, as a concept. Justice League of America was introduced as a title featuring DC’s most popular characters, but it’s easy to spot the odd member out. While the team was composed of people who could move planets, forge objects out of willpower and move faster than the sound barrier, Batman was a more traditional pulp hero – a regular guy in a mask. His portrayal made him the odd man out – the paranoid loner fighting killer clowns and costumed nut-balls seemed a strange fit on a team of “science heroes.”

Dwayne McDuffie was one of the best writers of the team, making a massive contribution to the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited television shows, one of the best interpretations of the concept ever. As such, his exploration of Batman’s relationship with the group makes for fascinating viewing, despite the fact the movie occasionally veers a little too far towards the conventional.

A League of their own?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: All Star Superman, batman, Bruce, Dark Knight Rises, doom, Dwayne McDuffie, flash, hal jordan, justice league, justice league unlimited, justice league: doom, Justiceleague, mirror master, scarecrow, superman, Vandal Savage, wonder woman | 3 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – Dreams in Darkness (Review)

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Darren

This September marks the twentieth anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series, and the birth of the shared DC animated universe that would eventually expand to present one of the most comprehensive and thorough explorations of a comic book mythology in any medium. To celebrate, we’re going back into the past and looking at some classic episodes.

One of the fascinating things about Batman: The Animated Series, apart from the shrewd writing, the careful character development and the skilled animation, was just how well it worked within the grand tapestry of the Batman mythos. The writers would frequently take ideas and concepts scattered across the breadth of the character’s rich publication history, tweak and update them for the small screen, and then go on to rework the concepts for the next generation of writers and creators working on the character.

Dreams in Darkness feels like the perfect example of this chain approach to reworking concepts and characters. It’s very clearly inspired by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle’s Shadow of the Bat story The Last Arkham, but it went on to be a major and obvious influence on Batman Begins. It’s an interesting perpetual character cycle, where the character is constantly renewed and reinvigorated by successive adaptations.

We all go a little mad some times…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Alan Grant, Arkham, batman, batman animated series, batman begins, Christopher Nolan, ChristopherNolan, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, frank miller, joker, List of Batman animated episodes, paul dini, robin | 2 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – Perchance to Dream (Review)

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Darren

Given how much care Batman: The Animated Series put into crafting and caring for the Caped Crusader’s iconic selection of bad guys, it’s often easy to overlook just how skilfully the series handled its central character. Batman has frequently been accused of being far less interesting than his costumed adversaries – particularly in Batman and Batman Returns – so it’s reassuring to note that Bruce Tim and his stable of writers had a very firm grasp on the character of Gotham’s Dark Knight. Perchance to Dream is one of the stories that offers perhaps the greatest insight into who Bruce Wayne is and what he wants. And, perhaps, why he could never have it.

Sweet dreams…

Note: This review contains spoilers. Given the episode aired twenty years ago, I consider it fair game. If you haven’t seen it already, please feel free to come back when you have. It is very good.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alfred, alfred pennyworth, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, FrankMiller, Hatter, Lucius Fox, robin, Selina, superman, thomas wayne, Warner Bros, Wayne Enterprise, Wayne Enterprises | 4 Comments »

Superman: The Animated Series – The Demon Reborn (Review)

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Darren

I’m generally not a fan of excessive continuity in comic book storytelling. I find it insular and exclusive. One shouldn’t need to pick up a twenty-part crossover involving books they’ve never heard of in order to read a story featuring an iconic character, and one shouldn’t feel left out because they weren’t reading comics written twenty years ago receiving an obscure but vital reference in this month’s issue. That said, I do think there’s an element of fun that comes from the idea of all these pulp characters sharing the same fictional space. It allows for a curious mixing and matching of archetypes and ideas, turning old matches into something a bit more exotic. The Demon Reborn finds Superman facing off against Ra’s Al Ghul, and the result is quite fascinating.

The Demon you know…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Al Ghul, arts, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce timm, Brucetimm, Christopher Nolan, comic book, Comics, Dark Knight Rises, David Warner, dc animated universe, joker, League of Assassins, ra's al ghul, superman, Talia, Talia Al Ghul | Leave a comment »

The New Batman Adventures – Cold Comfort (Review)

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Darren

As wonderful as Heart of Ice was, offering a classic origin to a bad guy who would have otherwise been a footnote, there is a sense that the reimagining of Victor Fries hemmed the character in a bit. By giving him a moving origin story based around his wife, it meant that the character’s arc would be dictated by Nora. As such, it limits the story-telling opportunities, because there are really only so many stories you can tell. Fries can be seeking revenge (Heart of Ice) or striking a deal to preserve here (Deep Freeze) or responding to her loss (as here), but that’s pretty much it.

Cold Comfort is the first episode featuring the character without the direct involvement of writer Paul Dini. It certainly shows, as it feels like a fairly wasted chapter in the character’s arc.

Has Freeze flipped his lid?

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce timm, bruce wayne, Clayface, comic book, Comics, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, Freeze, gotham, mad hatter, Michael Ansara, Nora, paul dini, Television | 4 Comments »

The Adventures of Batman & Robin – Riddler’s Reform (Review)

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Darren

Batman: The Animated Series always did a great job with villain origins. Heart of Ice gave us the best Mister Freeze story ever told, The Clock King made the eponymous third-stringer a credible threat and Mad as a Hatter reimagined the Mad Hatter as a deeply tragic figure. That said, I don’t think that the show got a proper handle on the Riddler until his third appearance in Riddler’s Reform. The green-suited trickster has long been one of my favourite Batman bad guys, and while I mostly blame Frank Gorshin’s manic portrayal from the sixties Batman! television show, Riddler’s Reform played a pretty significant part in that as well.

Knight caller…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animation, art, arts, batman, batman animated series, bruce wayne, comic book, Comics, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, riddler, two face | 2 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – The Clock King (Review)

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Darren

One thing I really liked about Batman: The Animated Series was the way that it was constantly rehabilitating all these classic gimmicky villains, the type of stereotypical one-dimensional comic book baddies that would inevitably serve as event fodder to prove just how serious the current big threat was. Mister Freeze is the most obvious example, with Heart of Ice really setting the standard for a Z-list villain rehabilitation. Surprisingly, I find myself returning to those smaller episodes more than I’d watch the Joker-centric adventures or even some of the more popular instalments. While not quite as definitive as Heart of Ice, The Clock King does an excellent job introducing the eponymous bad guy.

Like clockwork…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alfred, alfred pennyworth, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce timm, Christopher Nolan, Clock King, Dark Knight Rises, David Wise, Freeze, Gas mask, gotham, gotham city, Home and Garden, mad hatter, paul dini, riddler, Shopping, Temple, Walter Slezak | 5 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – On Leather Wings (Review)

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Darren

I suppose we should start at the beginning. It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years since Batman: The Animated Series first appeared on television. I think that it’s had a fairly massive impact – both on superheroes in animation, but also back in the original source material. Although On Leather Wings was not the first episode of the show to be broadcast (it was beaten by The Cat and the Claw, Part I), it was the first produced. While the episode itself falls quite short of greatness, it’s interesting to note just how many of the show’s successful ingredients were clearly present from the outset.

I can’t stay silent on the matter…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alfred pennyworth, batman, Blimp, Bruce, bruce wayne, danny elfman, Dark Knight Rises, Shirley Walker | 3 Comments »

Superhero Movie Fatigue? I Tire of This Argument…

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Darren

It’s becoming a frequent complaint that there are “too many” superhero films. When Green Lantern crashed and burned last year, there were a rake of articles lauding it as “superhero fatigue.” Even before this summer kicked off, people were asking if “fatigue” had kicked in. Ignoring for a moment that The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises are the two most successful films of the year, I’ve never quite understood that argument. There were, after all, three (or four, if you count the dire Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) superhero-themed blockbusters this year. Do audiences get “period drama fatigue” if more than four high-profile period dramas are released in a year? Are there widespread cases of “cop movie fatigue” if more than half-a-dozen movies feature a law enforcement official in a lead role? Is there a cap on the number of films that Ryan Gosling can produce, lest he inspire an epidemic of “Ryan Gosling fatigue”?

Twilight of the superheroes?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, art, avengers, batman, Christopher Nolan, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, Fatigue (medical), Fritz Lang, green lantern, katherine heigl, Movie, richard donner, Ryan Gosling, superhero, Superhero film | 17 Comments »

The Stars That Never Were: The “Next Big Thing” That Never Quite Happened…

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Darren

I was watching Safe House over the weekend. It was fairly okay, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I was watching Ryan Reynolds headlining a film with Denzel Washington. It was only last year that it seemed Reynolds was being given a massive push by Hollywood. It’s always interesting to look at the actors who received a very substantial push from Hollywood, only to barely miss their shot at legitimate stardom – those actors and actresses heralded as “the next big thing”, seemingly the subject of every talk show and newspaper clipping for the better part of a year, only to fall a little bit short of the mark and to end up fading. It’s a cruel industry, and it is sometimes a little disheartening to see the way that certain performers get swallowed up whole by it.