godzilla & friends, part 3: the heisei era

the return of godzilla

“godzilla is the son of the atomic bomb. he is a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. he is the sacred beast of the apocalypse.”

-tomoyuki tanaka

dc universe animated original movies, part 3: the dcamu era, part 2

batman: the killing joke (comic 1988)

writer: alan moore

artist: brian bolland

batman: the killing joke (movie 2016)

“hello. i came to talk. i’ve been thinking lately. about you and me. about what’s going to happen to us, in the end. we’re going to kill each other, aren’t we? perhaps you’ll kill me. perhaps i’ll kill you. perhaps sooner. perhaps later. i just wanted to know that i’d made a genuine attempt to talk things over and avert that outcome. just once.”

was it morally reprehensible?

yes.

but was it a bad movie?

… also yes.

so, obviously i have my problems with the graphic novel. and obviously a lot of those problems are going to be baked into any adaptation of it. i’ll grant you that. i mean, those seem like great reasons to not adapt that particular comic, but i suppose that’s asking for too much.

but to recognize that one of the biggest complaints about the source material is that it treats barbara like a prop rather than a character, and to say “don’t worry, we got this” and add an extended prologue where batman and batgirl are fucking and think you fixed it is … yeah. that’s… a thing you can do, i guess?

you guys understand that the reason we have a problem with fridging is that it sacrifices female characters for the sake of male characters’ angst, right? and giving batman an additional reason to be upset about the attack on barbara … is not an improvement in that regard … right…?

right…??? guys…???? c-rank

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

justice league dark (film 2017)

more like justice league DORK amirite?

dc universe animated original movies, part 2 the dcamu era, part 1

the second era of the dc universe original movies was introduced by flashpoint paradox, an adaptation of the flashpoint arc. this led to a continuity known as the dc animated movie universe, which was basically a series of fairly faithful adaptations of the new 52 line of comics.

i actually like most of these, but it was admittedly a little disappointing to see these direct-to-video animated features go from kind of all over the board to frequently being very predictable.

there were a few movies that didn’t follow the dcamu continuity here and there, but the bulk of the team’s resources was clearly devoted to this new continuity.

it’s not difficult to understand why. from a business standpoint, it’s probably easier to get people to come back over and over when they more or less know what they’re getting, and also harder for them to skip individual entries that might not otherwise capture their interest if it’s all part of an interconnected series. i mean, that’s basically the mcu’s entire business model, right? that’s just how franchises work these days. this is just that on a much smaller scale.

what was pretty frustrating for me as a fan, and probably a big part of why i got disenchanted back when i was watching these as they came out, is that this was also when they decided that almost every movie needed to be either a batman or justice league movie. there was even a non-batman movie that had “batman” cynically slapped on the title just because he appeared in that movie for like… probably a grand total of five minutes if you add all his scenes up.

still, this series got so dang reliably good at this point, pretty much every new entry is a must-watch when it comes out. i don’t think many other direct-to-video series can truthfully claim that.

also due to the sheer number of entries in this era of the series, i’ve decided to divide my reviews of it into two parts.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

flashpoint (comic 2011)

writer: geoff johns

artists: andy kubert & sandra hope & jesse delperdang

justice league: the flashpoint paradox (movie 2013)

“there’s only one thing i know about life. i know some things happen by chance, and some things happen because we make them happen.”

you probably got used to hearing me say this in my review of the first batch of dc universe original movies, so it’s only fitting that i start my first review by offering for context that i saw the movie long before i read the comic it’s based on. i’m pretty impressed, as i often am by these, by how closely this actually follows the comic it’s based on.

the story in both versions goes to some pretty grimdark places i’m not wild about but am a lot more forgiving about given that it’s an alternate future a la x-men’s days of future past. and the action was pretty great and it was a very satisfyingly pulpy storyline.

the movie followed the basic storyline of the comic, but it streamlined a few things, eliminated some minor characters, and expanded on the core scenes it kept. in the end i think the movie is, for the most part, actually noticeably better than the comic.

the jurassic park movies megareview

holy shit, jurassic world: dominion was actually kinda good??? there, that oughta keep you reading. (or at least scrolling all the way down to that review to find out whether or not i fell and hit my head on something heavy.)

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

jurassic park (1993)

i remember my first viewing of jurassic park quite vividly. the theater was packed so we had to sit uncomfortably close to the screen, leading to the dreaded situation where you have to keep your neck craned for the entire movie. but i was a child at the time, so that didn’t bother me. we also seemed to be pretty close to the speakers, so the sound was nearly deafening at times, which honestly only added to the experience. at the time, to my young mind, this actually seemed like the ideal way to experience this film. my main reason for seeing it was, after all, “DINOSAURS ARE COOL!” and being physically overwhelmed by the sound and picture could only enhance that.

as such, the things that jumped out at me at the time were mostly the obvious iconic moments, the times when the sheer majesty (or terror, or awesomeness) of what was happening pretty much hit you over the head with all the subtlety of a baseball bat. it doesn’t matter if you’re fifteen or fifty, if it’s the first time you’re seeing the film or if you saw it in theaters and then proceeded to nearly wear out your vhs copy, it’s pretty difficult to suppress the instinctual “whoa!” response during some of the film’s most famous moments. dr. grant seeing a live dinosaur for the first time and removing his sunglasses in disbelief, the elation of the t-rex coming seemingly out of nowhere to save our heroes at the last minute, or on the opposite side of the emotional spectrum the mounting dread of the famous water impact tremors followed by the incredible sequence of the t-rex attack.

star trek: discovery, season 3

3x01 “that hope is you, part 1”

michael’s cry of joy and relief when her sensors report plentiful organic life is so raw and so beautiful. i think it actually conveys the stakes of last season much better than the peril itself did, and it makes it so believable that michael and her discovery family were willing to do what they did.

michael being hopped up on truth drugs was fucking adorable, and her saying “i am done being reflexively supportive!” while still under their influence is such a fantastic bit of character writing.

the bulk of the episode juggles action and worldbuilding in a way that entertains and informs exceedingly well, and i really do enjoy all of it but besides michael’s aforementioned cathartic cry of joy, my favorite part of the episode is the ending. it is so, so clear how much the federation, and starfleet, mean to sahil.

the first time i saw this i was a bit guarded when it was clearly positioning michael to restore hope to the federation, because i was very worried it was going to do the same kind of exceptional hero, individualistic theming that made the first season feel so un-star trek, but rewatching it now that i know where it’s going i was able to relax and really enjoy what it meant to both of them to have that moment.

dc universe animated original movies, part 1: pre-dc animated movie universe

this replaces & abridges an earlier review i did of these movies. i decided to read all the comics these movies are based on to give me more context for understanding the movies. some of these movies weren’t based on any comics, so in those cases i just lightly edited my original reviews. oh, and i didn’t read the death of superman for superman: doomsday because i’ll save that for the more faithful recent adaptation.

the dc universe original movies are a series of high-quality direct-to-video (with a few exceptions that received limited theatrical releases) animated features. i first discovered them when i was working at target in the (probably-defunct) music, movies and books department. i was basically the person in charge of putting all the new releases on the shelf every tuesday. there were these tvs all over the department playing this endless loop of commercials for movies and albums and even books. i know, right? commercials for books?

anyway, they barely ever updated it, and it was so repetitive you usually ended up tuning it out if you had to spend much time in that department, but every now and then a new trailer would be added to the loop. that’s exactly what happened about a week before batman: under the red hood was released. the first time i heard it playing, it snapped my attention away from my boring work routine and i was immediately transfixed. i resolved to pick the movie up as soon as it came out, and my excitement was rewarded with a frankly pretty great animated superhero flick.

as soon as i found out that there was a whole series of one-shot movies of similar quality, i started watching them. i didn’t always like them as much as under the red hood. in fact, it’s still at or near the top of my list for best movies from this series, but the overall model of releasing high-quality animated features two or three times a year is still a pretty exciting one, and i wish more franchises would follow suit.