alien vs. predator megareview, part 2 (1991-2007)

batman vs. predator (comic 1991-92) writer: dave gibbons artist: andy kubert

the brainstorming session at dark horse comics that led to the first alien vs. predator stories supposedly began as a discussion of doing a crossover with dc comics. it didn’t take them long to get back to that idea, with dc’s most popular character unsurprisingly getting the honors of the first crack at one of dark horse’s premier ips.

honestly, my biggest complaint is that although the art style is pretty great (and nostalgic for anyone who’s read any 80s and 90s batman comics), for whatever reason they decided to make everything way too dark, and it’s frequently actually difficult to make out what’s happening as a result.

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

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justice league dark (film 2017)

more like justice league DORK amirite?

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.

the dc extended universe so far

man of steel (2013)

“welcome to the planet.”

i didn’t hate this nearly as much this time around!

there were some pretty serious missteps, to be sure. kal-el’s birth scene felt weirdly stiff and emotionless. it’s not the kind of moment a zack snyder-directed/chris nolan-produced flick is ever gonna nail, so having that be what sets the tone of your movie is kind of a strange choice? and it really informs a lot of the other problems this movie has, especially early on.

that’s the thing with this movie. all the problems that used to make me way more critical are still there. and on top of those, it has your usual usa propaganda that all of these things have, but it isn’t nearly as thick as say, nolan’s batman trilogy or the marvel movies. it’s annoying, but you kinda know what you’re getting into here.

was this great? nah. does it line up with the way i’d like to see superman movies go? heck no. but what’s really changed is me. i just kind of don’t have time to be angry about that stuff anymore.

so here we are. man of steel is just fine. it’s entertaining enough. it held my attention. it’s not amazing. but it’s fine. i can live with it. i don’t feel like bitching about freaking man of steel anymore, okay? it’s fine. just let it be. c-rank

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batman v superman: dawn of justice (2016)

thomas, as he’s dying in the opening credits: “martha.”

me: [deadpan] “why did he say that name?”

the more times i see this the more i like it, actually. so that’s something.

especially structurally. this movie is very uncompromisingly itself, and it really kinda does feel like it has the rhythm of a long graphic novel. it also helps that a lot of the individual shots (especially in fight scenes) are composed like comic panels, which has been a strength of snyder’s comic adaptations since watchmen.

also the more i think about it the more the whole “doomsday being tacked on at the end is too much” complaint just doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. doomsday is a non-character that it’s hard to tell a story about other than “he punch superman a lot.” if you ask me, this was actually the perfect way to handle doomsday in a live action film franchise.

mostly i think i just am increasingly appreciating that this movie is something, rather than the carefully crafted bland nothing of the mcu. that matters to me more than whether my tastes entirely line up with snyder’s. just actually bring something to the table, that’s all i ask. b-rank

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suicide squad (2016)

“stay evil, dollface.”

okay what the HELL?

i actually liked it. i actually LIKED it this time!!!

seriously WHAT???

was i just such a fucking marvel simp before that my view of all the dc movies was warped? or is it just because i’ve calmed the hell down about all of this and just see them as movies that are kinda fun?