The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 73

Time Out of Joint

 

The return of The Clock King, while not as exciting as his introduction episode, it’s not a horrible episode.  Clock King is still seeking revenge on Mayor Hamilton Hill.  This time he steals some tech from a scientist that made a device that slows down time for anyone wearing it.  Clock King is using it to steal some items for cash and blow up the mayor.  Batman and Robin are able to stop him “in-time” from succeeding.  

 

The gimmick of a device that can slowdown or even stop time isn’t new to television.  There’s a twilight zone episode that addresses it fairly well.  Giving this device to Clock King is the logical movie.  A man obsessed with time committing time based crimes fits perfectly.  What keeps the episode from being as epic as his introduction is it fails to use Clock Kings obsession with punctuality.  He was a formidable rogue for Batman due to his ability use schedules and timing to his advantage.  That’s not prevalent in his follow-up episode.

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

 

Jim Shooter Passes Away

Comic book writer Jim Shooter has passed away from cancer. He's best known for his tenure as Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics from 1978 - 1987. Almost all the stories you love from the Marvel films were conceptualized in some way from creators during his tenure as editor. There's too much to say about his contributions to the comic book world and pop culture.

On a personal note, I was invited on a ride along to film him in his limo, as he toured Long Island comic shops on Free Comic Book Day in 2011. It was one of the coolest experiences I ever had. I showed up wearing my Secret Wars t-shirt (one of my favorite stories), completely forgetting he wrote the mini-series. He complimented my shirt and it jogged my memory that he was the writer. I played it off that it was worn on purpose. 

The rule “never meet your heroes” certainly didn’t apply to Jim Shooter. He was nothing but gracious and kind. He had a wealth of knowledge and spent the day telling stories about his career in comics. At the end of the day he signed a couple of my trade paperbacks that he wrote. An unforgettable experience. 

As the years went on I’d continue to run into him at cons. He was always incredibly awesome, would share insight on how he wrote and techniques he used. As I learned more about him, I discovered he was a generous mentor to anyone who wanted to break into comics. He’d give honest feedback to people who approached him. There are a lot of creators out there who credit their career to Jim Shooter. Not only have we lost a great creator, we also lost a great person. 

Praying for Jim Shooter and his family.

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Here’s some clips from that ride along on Free Comic Book Day.

Wonder Woman - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Wonder Woman

2017

Director: Patty Jenkins

Folks went nuts over this film and it’s not because it’s spectacular.  It just happened to be the best DCEU film to come out at the time.  It’s not terrible but it’s certainly not great.  It’s average.  We get a drawn-out origin story on the island of all women and a little girl version of Wonder Woman with a terrible accent.  We get some boring backstory about a hidden weapon which can kill a god which the all women island has, the twist is telegraphed so bad they could have tattooed if on Wonder Woman’s head.  She’s the god killer.  It’s painful when you can call a twist like that within seconds. 

 

Then she’s an adult and Steve Trevor shipwrecks on this island, a fight breaks out between the island babes and the WW I Germans who were following Trevor.  Why is it WW I? Because DC can’t completely tip off Captain America and set it in WW II.  So they just took a digit off the war.  The Germans of WW I weren’t evil like the Nazi’s of WW II.  Sadly, most folks are completely ignorant of history and don’t even know the difference.  Hollywood called that one right.  

 

All the women on the island talk like they’re cavemen or heavy smokers. It’s incredibly annoying.  Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) does his best William Shatner overacting impression while under the influence of the magic lasso, forcing him to spew out a bunch of film exposition. 

Some woman is making poison gas and Stevie boy has the intel which can stop them.  Wonder Woman is like, yo that’s our mortal enemy Ares (the Greek god of war).  Of course her mother/amazon leader doesn’t want her to go.  She goes against orders and takes off with Steve Trevor anyway.  

 

It moves a little slow on the island with some moments of humor which are mildly amusing.  The moments between Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are enjoyable but even their chemistry doesn’t make the plot any better.  

 

Wonder Woman is swept into the contemporary world of the early 20^th century.  She’s somehow the strongest/wisest person in the world and super naïve at the same time.  There are lots of comedic moments.  Then she starts nagging every guy she meets when things don’t go the way she wants.  Her voice becomes nails on a chalkboard.  We cannot forget Wonder Woman’s awe of Sir Patrick Morgan who’s proclaiming peace and “curse your sudden by inevitable betrayal” he’s actually Ares.  Another lame twist anyone with a walnut sized brain could see from a mile away.

When Steve Trevor cannot convince his leaders to perform an operation to end the war, Trevor recruits a bunch of other randos with annoying accents to infiltrate enemy lines.  Every guy that meets her is in love with her.  Probably the best part of the film is when Diana comes across a traditional WW I battlefield and leads a charge over a “no man’s land” ending a standstill.  The Wonder Woman nag fest wasn’t fun but the action was cool.  And of course in all major fights women have to let their hair down to kick ass, not put it up.  

 

After the cool action sequence, the film completely stops in its tracks to develop the love story between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor.  Then they infiltrate some party which is also German High Command because all generals throw fancy dances in the middle of a war.  

 

Wonder Woman is convinced some German general is Ares in disguise but everyone with half a brain already knows it’s the Sir Patrick.  When she finally kills the German guy who’s a total douchebag and has it coming, nothing happens.  Then she starts nagging again with that screech because the war doesn’t end.  For all the fun stuff in this movie, Wonder Nagger sucks the energy out.  Ares shows up so now she has to have another fight with the actual big bad. 

 

They spend way too much time talking and not enough time fighting.  Steve Trevor cannot just sit on the sidelines because whenever a girl is the action hero, the male love interest has to have his own moment of saving people.  But when the guy is the action hero, the woman can just be a damsel in distress.  Steve dies trying to prevent toxic gas from killing a bunch of people.  Wonder Woman is busy fighting Ares so she can’t save her man from dying. 

 

She defeats the bad guy.  The war ends.  We get some lame voiceover about love saving the world.  Overall the film is entertaining but it’s really not good. It moves slow and the action does not balance out the boredom.  It’s was certainly the best DCEU film made up to this point but the threshold is low.  It’s a rip off of Marvel’s Captain America, changing just enough around to avoid copyright infringement.  I’d complain about the characters but the film really only seems to have two; Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor.  The rest is background dressing.  Even the villain is barely featured in this story.  DC thought they cracked the formula with this because of all the positive press they received and money they made but it was window dressing.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The X Generation - LOVESONG

 Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 72

Harlequinade

 

Another great episode featuring Harley Quinn, and the reason she’s become so beloved in DC comics.  The creators even manage to fit a song and dance number into the episode and it fits like a glove.  The Joker steals a nuclear bomb and holds the city hostage.  Harley Quinn is recruited by Batman and friends to help find him and stop the bomb from going off.  

 

Harley steals the show in this one.  It goes into her motivations as a villain, her backstory, her anti-hero persona starts to shine.  Batman is a little out of character in this episode by tolerating Harley’s hijinks but it works for the story.  

 

Harley eventually double-crosses the dynamic duo and joins up with the Joker but Batman and Robin use clever psychology and Harley takes down the joker.  Joker is at his funniest in this episode, his plan is truly evil and when it fails his reaction is unpredictable.  The twist of Joker keeping the mayor hostage and Harley seeing right through it is genius writing.

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The X Generation - i wanna be sedated

 Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 71

The Terrible Trio

 

Not a very exciting episode.  The villains aren’t likable at all.  Their motivation for the crimes aren’t relatable.  Batman shouldn’t have the problems he does taking them down.  Three rich guys are bored and decide to do robberies.  The crimes get more and more reckless until Batman eventually stops them.  

 

It’s a nice twist from the standard crazy villain batman deals with but the episode truly lacks real excitement and fun.  Perhaps it’s because these aren’t the standard villains Batman faces off against that make the episode such a dud.  Every story choice made is the correct choice but the episode just doesn’t hold up.   Perhaps the problem is this story can be applied to any procedural crime show and still work. It is not uniquely Batman and feels more like a Magnum PI episode. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Suicide Squad - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Suicide Squad

2016

Director: David Ayer

There’s an extended version of this mess and that’s what we watched.  The concept is simple, it’s based off a comic where the government has taken a group of supervillains and puts them to work under duress to do covert assignments.  The comic is very popular.  The episode which features them in the DC Animated Universe is a perfect piece of television.  The film is a storyline disaster.  They toss a bunch of pop music in the film with no true correlation to the narrative.  They introduce the characters three different times and none of it progresses the plot.  

 

Viola Davis received praise for her performance in the DCEU as Amanda Waller but her character is total crap.  Good acting can’t fix terrible writing.  Her voiceovers are boring. Her character’s motivations are ridiculous.  In the comics Amanda Waller is a personality who’s changed based on the writer’s whim.  The film makes her a cold, calculating, powerful woman.  None of her personality traits are likeable.  Villains don’t have to be likeable or have redeeming qualities, trying to make unlikeable characters likeable can be a writing error.  But she’s the “hero” calling the shots in this film and all she does is spout out exposition with an attitude, slows down the plot, puts everyone to sleep.  Also, her monotone voice, it seems like she’s trying to get fired but still get her paycheck. 

 

The Batman cameos are pointless to the plot and only exists to tie the film to the bigger DCEU world.   The first 25 minutes can be cut and the film would work just fine with no issue.  The entire introduction via Amanda Waller exposition is pointless.  Each character doesn’t need her description.  A film’s plot progression should establish characters.  The next 25 minutes could be cut in half and the film would lose nothing.

 

What’s the point of The Joker via Jared Leto in this film? He runs around being weird and annoying and doesn’t progress the plot.  Just about every character and scene doesn’t progress the plot.  It’s a film of stagnation with poorly written characters.  Joker is the worst.  He could be completely cut from the film and it would make no difference to the story.  He was also trying very hard to be the anti-Health Ledger.  Ledger won an Oscar for his performance and Leto had big shoes to fill.  Yes, it’s a different universe but taking over a character associated with the last notable performance of a beloved actor’s career are big shoes to fill.  The DCEU and Leto completely dropped the ball.  

 

The good parts of this film are few and far between but we have Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. She shines even without good writing and poor character development.  Will Smith as Deadshot is also enjoyable.  Smith has a special staff who follows him around and rewrites all his characters to fit his action film persona.  So his character and dialogue was likely ghost written to fit the Will Smith archetype.  

 

The basic plot is the Suicide Squad is assembled to rescue Amanda Waller, who kills her entire staff when, the Suicide Squad arrives to rescue her, because she’s a douchebag.  Rick Flagg’s girlfriend has bugged out and has brought an entire city to a standstill.  Suicide Squad puts all their villainous ways behind them and learn to work together to save the day.  This film might have worked if it was deeper into the DCEU run and we met these villains in other films.  Instead they were crammed into this disaster, we got an hour of character introduction, and plot 10-year-old children come up with while playing with their action figures. 

The film wraps up with Bruce Wayne cutting a deal with Amanda Waller, offering her protection in exchange for information.  Batman wouldn’t cut a deal with someone as evil as her.  She kills way too many innocent people for him to associate with a person like that.  But DC really wanted to copy the ending of The Incredible Hulk where Tony Stark pops in at the end promoting the Avengers movie.  That’s the only reason he is there, even though it’s against his character type.  But then again, this Batman killed a few people in Batman vs Superman so why does he care if Amanda Waller kills random people as long as it’s allowed by the government.  

 

It’s actually a better film than Batman vs Superman but the bar was set so low it doesn’t mean this follow-up is good.  Another piece of crap from the DCEU factory.  There are 12 more films after this.  It should be considered self-mutilation to keep watching at this point.  Please tune in next time as we review Wonder Woman.  

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

The X Generation - Hit or Miss

 Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 70

House & Garden

 

The ending of this episode is great. The build-up is a bit slow.  Poison Ivy has gone straight, meanwhile there are a bunch of crimes fitting her Modus Operandi.  Plants targeting rich people.  Batman investigates her and turns up nothing.  She’s married to her doctor Steven Carlyle who’s also a professor at Gotham University where Dick Grayson goes.  He has two sons Chris and Kelly.  Dick Grayson gets kidnapped and held for ransom.  

 

Some action and thrilling stuff happens, Batman saves Dick Grayson and he puts on his Robin suit to help solve the case.  Plot twist, Ivy is the villain.  Chris and Kelly are girls, not boys.  Ivy has been making plant clones of Steven Carlyle but could only make boys.  They have a limited lifecycle and eventually mutate into a giant green monster.  

 

Batman stops them by putting herbicide in the plant water.  Ivy made one last clone of herself, knowing Batman would likely stop her.  She bought enough time to escape.  The ending scene of her flying away crying is more poetic than anything.  Her fake happy life being married with two sons was the closest she’d ever get to normalcy.   

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com