dcau | the m0vie blog

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 »

Justice League Unlimited – Flash and Substance (Review)

Posted on December 7, 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. To tie into the review of Green Lantern: First Flight today, we thought we’d take a look at an episode centred on that other iconic Silver Age DC hero, the Flash.

Justice League and its spin-off Justice League Unlimited were two very strange shows, at least from a structural perspective. They both featured expansive casts (the latter more than the former, admittedly) – most of which were crammed full of characters new to the DC animated universe. Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series had done a great job establishing the two biggest names, but the bulk of the characters were pretty much blank slates heading into the crossover series. So characters like the Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern relied on episodes centring on them to grow and develop character – although the focus was very much on the ensemble cast. However, my own favourite episode of the show is a more intimate character profile of a character frequently overlooked: the Flash.

Frenemies…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alexis denisof, animation, batman, captain cold, dc animated universe, dc comics, dcau, diniverse, donal gibson, flash, flash and substance, green lantern, jl, jlu, justice league, justice league unlimited, Justiceleague, kevin conroy, lex luthor, mark hamill, Martian Manhunter, mirror master, rogues, Television, the flash, timmverse, wally west | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Green Lantern – First Flight

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Darren

In case you weren’t aware, director Martin Campbell (the man who saved the Bond franchise twice – with both GoldenEye and Casino Royale) will be bringing a big screen adaptation of DC comic’s Green Lantern our way next summer. I am really looking forward to it, which might seem odd – Green Lantern has never really had the popular exposure that Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or even Flash has had. Of course, that might be down to the fact that nobody has produced a television show based entirely around the character – hell, even Aquaman had that aborted Ving Rhames pilot and that fictional movie. So, it’s understandable if Green Lantern isn’t exactly lighting up the radar in the same way that, say, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor is. That said, if you’re looking to get a taste for the character, you could do a lot worse than checking out Green Lantern: First Flight.

Shoulda put a ring on it, indeed...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, bruce timm, christopher meloni, comic book, Comics, dc, dc animated universe, dc universe, dcau, geoff johns, green, green lantern, Green Lantern: First Flight, hal jordan, martin campbell, Movie, oa, sinestro, victor garber, yellow | Leave a comment »

The New Batman Adventures – Over The Edge (Review)

Posted on December 6, 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. I’ll be looking at movies and episodes and even some of the related comic books. To tie into this morning’s review of Under the Red Hood, I thought I’d take a look at what might happen to Batman if he lost a partner.

Following the success of Superman: The Animated Series, a new bunch of Batman episodes were commissioned by Warner Brothers to compliment Batman: The Animated Series. However, this new series would be animated in the style of the Superman series – typically meaning a lighter animation and fewer lines. The transition was jarring, to say the least. Indeed, many commentators make the observation (whether fair or not) that The New Batman Adventures offered a “lighter and softer” approach to the Caped Crusader and his universe. Though I think that’s not an unfair description, it is also worth conceding that the season also gave us quite possibly the single darkest half-hour in the entire history of the DC animated universe. I refer to Over the Edge.

Those expecting a light story might want to look elsewhere…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bane, barbara gordon, batgirl, batman, batman: the animated series, Bruce, bruce wayne, commissioner gordon, commissioner james gordon, commissioner jim gordon, Dark Knight Rise, dc, dc animated universe, dcau, gordon, james gordon, jim gordon, New Batman Adventures, over the edge, Television, the new batman adventures | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Batman – Under the Red Hood

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Darren

You did it! You found a way to win and everybody still loses!

– The Joker

The story of Batman, boiled down to its most essential elements, is a tragedy. He’s a character defined by hurt and loss – the suffering and failures he has endured while fighting simply to stay alive in an uncertain world. The reason that the animated Batman: Under the Red Hood works so well is because it manages to capture that observation perfectly in its relatively tight runtime. Over the course of the movie, Batman has several of his rather glaring failures touted out in front of him and – what’s more – faces the possibility that he may himself end up obsolete.

The joke’s on Batman…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: a death in the family, animation, batman, batman: under the hood, batman: under the red hood, Black Mask, bruce greenwood, bruce timm, christian bale, comic books, dark knight, dc animated universe, dcau, dick grayson, film, Jason Todd, john dimaggio, joker, judd winick, kevin conroy, Red Hood, robin, superheroes, the joker, the red hood, under the hood, under the red hood | 2 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – The Demon’s Quest (Parts I & II)

Posted on December 5, 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. I’ll be looking at movies and episodes and even some of the related comic books. To tie into tomorrow’s review of Under the Red Hood, I thought I’d take a look at the episode which introduced Ra’s Al Ghul to the animated DC universe (and represented the character’s first appearance outside comic books).

If Heart of Ice – perhaps one of the best pieces of Western Animation produced during the nineties – illustrated just how good the creative minds behind Batman: The Animated Series where at innovation (updating and adding depth to previously shallow characters), then The Demon’s Quest perhaps reflects their skill at adaptation. Adapted from Denny O’Neill’s seventies story arc introducing Ra’s Al Ghul as an adversary of the Dark Knight, by the author himself, it’s also a testament to the show’s diversity. This isn’t exactly a conventional Batman story, and certainly not one conforming to the gothic or noir conventions which seemed to grip the character during the nineties.

"We'll always have your father's desert stronghold..."

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animation, batman, batman: the animated series, btas, dc animated universe, dcau, denny o'neill, ra's al ghul, robin, Television, the demon, the demon's quest | 1 Comment »

DCAU Fortnight Kicks Off!

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Darren

Right, I am taking a little break from work and blogging and everything for the next little while, just trying to clear my head a bit, so I won’t be around quite as much as I would like to be. However, I do have a treat for the nerdier children of the nineties out there – I’m going to take a retrospective look at the animated DC universe, the Warner Brothers cartoons produced during the nineties and into the last decade which gave us Batman: The Animated Series among many other things. Anyone who grew up during the decade can’t possibly have missed these wonderful little shows, which perhaps got me interested in comic books in the first place.

And he always times it juuust right to catch the bolt of lightning...

Note: Over the course of this two week event (and a schedule can be found below), I will occasionally return to cover something big or huge (like our scheduled Tron: Legacy review, for example). I also hope to have more time to get back into reading and engaging with other bloggers. It has been far too long.

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Filed under: Comics, Television | Tagged: animation, arts, batman, batman: the animated series, Comics, dc, dc animated universe, dc comics, dcau, dcau fortnight, dcu, justice league, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Justiceleague, superman, superman: the animated series, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment »

Kids’ TV These Days…

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Darren

I was at home over the weekend and I had the grave misfortune to witness what passes for children’s entertainment these days as my little sister forced us to endure the Disney channel. What we got were a series of ridiculously condescending ‘comedies’ revolving around spoilt tweenagers who can’t act. These were followed by reality “so-you-think-you-can-sing” family gameshows themed around Miley bloody Cyrus. And my sister seemed to love it. Maybe I’m just getting old, but when did children’s entertainment become so brain dead?