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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 14

The Prometheon

 

An underrated gem of an episode, Superman is helping General Hardcastle and friends along with Professor Emil Hamilton stop an asteroid from hitting Earth.  It turns out there is a living creature strapped to the asteroid and Superman and Hamilton want to not kill hit.  Hardcastle wants to blow it out of the sky.  While trying to come up with a better solution the creature awakens and crashes to Earth.  

 

It turns out the creature feeds off fire, heat, explosions.  Superman at the suggestion of Hamilton, moved the asteroid into Earth’s orbit.  The sun awoke it but Harcastle’s plan of blowing it up would have done the same thing.  So everyone was wrong in this situation. 

 

The monster was created by some aliens for labor but it went crazy so they had to banish it.  They left easy to translate instructions about its life story.  Hamilton determines the best way to stop the monster is to freeze it. There’s a special chemical that can pull this off if Superman get’s the monster in a large body of water.  Superman achieves this goal.  The monster is likely shipped off to the North or South poles until climate change will eventually wake it up in the distant future.  

 

This was General Hardcastle’s first appearance in the DCAU and while he’s working with Superman in this episode, he’s a complete moron who doesn’t like or trust Superman.  He works as a nice foil for Hamilton and Superman.  The Prometheon is a solid antagonist whose motives aren’t malicious.  It’s just a malfunctioning creation who is following its programing.  

 

It’s a solid villain and credible threat who cannot be defeated with pure strength, Superman has to rely on his wits to stop the foe.  It’s a genuinely enjoyable dilemma.  

 

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

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 13

Two's a Crowd

 

The parasite returns and his follow-up episode is better than his origin.  Earl Garver (voiced by Brian Cox!!!) holds Metropolis hostage with a bunch of bombs.  Superman tries to stop him but Garver ends up in a coma while fighting off Superman.  A solid example of why Superman takes a bit of a pounding from people during fights.  He’s trying to find the right level of strength that won’t hurt people in the process.  

 

There are more bombs around town but since Garver is unconscious they can’t get the information out of him. Professor Emil Hamilton is involved in the police operation for some reason and he gets the bright idea to use the parasite to read Garver’s mind.  The parasite agrees on the condition he gets a TV in his cell with all the channels, a fair deal.  Garver’s mental strength is more powerful than Parasite and he overtakes his body.  

 

There’s a sequence that takes place underwater and Superman wears a wetsuit in an effort to sell more action figures.  Garver starts causing more problems while controlling the parasite and even sucks away some of Superman’s power.  Superman eventual triumphs and the day is saved.  Parasite gets his TV and Garver goes to jail. 

 

It is a great follow-up to the Parasite origin story.  Garver’s personality taking over Parasite’s body is a nice twist.  The creators are doing a great job creating riveting challenges for the Man of Steel. 

 

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

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

2023

Director: David F Sandberg

 

As stated in prior reviews, the DCEU should have built its universe around Shazam and ditched the Darkseid agenda planned out by Zack Snyder.  Too bad Shazam! Fury of the Gods didn’t get the memo.  DC decided to make a mediocre film which tanked the Captain Marvel franchise.  

 

The film opens with Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu causing problems.  Their antics are not very film worthy.  It’s as if they were making a TV version of an action film.  Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu have the Wizard Shazam held prisoner.  They want him to fix a magic stick they stole.  

 

The save the cat gimmick is applied to the Captain Marvel family via a bridge collapsing.  They save everyone on the bridge and avoid a Final Destination 5 scenario.  We learn the family has redecorated the Wizard Shazam’s layer in a way teenagers would.  There’s some family tension because its required to make a movie.

 

Freddie is still getting bullied by the same kids from the first film.  In this first film they drove a car into him which makes them at least 16 (legal age to drive in Pennsylvania).  Billy Batson was 14 in that film.  In this film Billy is 17 going on 18 and almost about to age out of foster care.  So the dudes who drove into Freddie, who are still in high school, should be 19.  Maybe they got left back, but 19 and still in high school is pushing it.  Also, bullying a cripple kid is really messed up.  How evil are those kids? Freddie has a crush on the girl from Snow White that everyone seems to hate.  

 

The Wizard reaches out to Billy with a vague warning that Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu are causing problems.  Freddie’s crush causes problems and it leads to Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu to steal his powers.  These ladies are really pissed off at Captain Marvel for no reason at all.  They kidnap Freddie and he has a comedic pow-wow with the Wizard.  Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu try to get the identity of the Marvel family and Freddie tries to sellout his school bullies.  The ladies don’t fall for it. 

 

The remaining members of the Marvel family are trying to come up with a way to save Freddie.  There are some solid jokes throughout the film which sell really well when you get your characters right.  Shazam certainly had that down.  Snow White helps Freddie and the Wizard bust out of their captivity. 

Captain Marvel gets into a fight with Helen Mirren and takes her back to the Wizard’s lair.  She breaks out of her cell steals an apple and books it back to her home.  Lucy Liu wants to plant the apple on Earth and destroy it.  Captain Marvel shows up, Freddie gets his powers back they go back to earth.

 

They must have cut some scenes because the entire family is back home and they tell their foster parents they are super heroes.  Everyone is attacked by a Lucy Liu on a giant dragon.  She wants to get the apple.  Lucy Liu gets the apple and plants it in Citizens Bank Park because baseball fields are named after dumb corporations which is a major reflection on the downfall of classic Americana and the overtaking of commercialism.  The film doesn’t even try to broach that theme.  

 

A giant tree grows and a ton of monsters come out and attack everyone.  Snow White shows up and offers to help stop the chaos.  The Wizard gives Captain Marvel a rah-rah speech.  There’s a tender moment between Billy and his foster mother. Captain Marvel flies off to save the day.  

 

Lucy Liu has the dragon kill Helen Mirren.  Snow White loses her powers. The Marvel family befriends unicorns and fights all the monsters popping out of the tree.   Shazam befriends Helen Mirren who isn’t completely dead.  He convinces her to help him defeat Lucy Liu.  He basically makes a bomb.  He blows up Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren dies, the tree disintegrates along with all the monsters, Billy Batson dies.  

 

He can only be resurrected by the staff but it has no magic left.  Only a god can power up the staff.  Wonder Woman shows up and juices up the staff, gives Snow White her powers back, and Billy comes back from the dead.  He hits on her, she rejects him.  Freddie ends up dating Snow White.  Happy ending for all.  Amanda Whaler’s employees pop up and offer Captain Marvel the option to join the Justice Society, he accepts. 

 

The post credits scene shows Dr Sivana meeting up with Mr Mind again.  Apparently he disappeared for two years since their last conversation.  This could be just a gag or a clever way to passive aggressively wrap up the fact no other movies are getting made.  Mr Mind might not actually have any way to implement his plans and he just runs around with a lot of schemes he can’t actually pull off.  

 

Overall the film isn’t bad. It has funny moments. It’s not as good as the first film but not horrible.  It got slammed by critics and failed at the box office.  This film really should have done a little better and is certainly much more entertaining than most of the other DCEU films.  Since DC ditched the Zack Snyder tones, the films have gotten lighter, more fun.  Snyder seemed to be pushing an anti-Marvel method of dark and brooding.  But Snyder had no clue about what made comic characters so well liked.  Shazam embraced the fun aspects of comic book action films.  It makes this the last decent film in the DCEU.  

 

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

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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 12

Tools of the Trade

 

Bruno Mannheim is back and we finally see his connection to Intergang.  He’s the leader of Intergang who’s being “funded” by a mysterious benefactor.  This benefactor is using Kanto as his liaison.  Intergang uses their hi-tech weapons to pull off robberies.  Superman stops them but the weapons are an obstacle for him.  

 

Dan Turpin and Maggie Sawyer are on the trail of Intergang.  They are part of a super powered crimes division in Metropolis.  It’s actually a very clever department to have in a city that’s constantly getting attacked by aliens.  Maggie Sawyer wants Superman to help them, Dan Turpin is against it.  

 

Turpin goes off on his own to bust Intergang and performs an illegal search of Mannheim’s property in order to catch him doing illegal stuff.  Since he had no warrant, anything he saw would be inadmissible in court. Superman is looking for Turpin but ends up in a fight to the death with Intergang, during the battle Turpin helps, possibly saves Superman’s life. 

 

Kanto runs away via a boom tube, Mannheim follows him through the portal.  More cops and reporters show up.  Superman tells the press Dan Turpin saved his life.  Turpin thinks Superman is cool and because of that they’re now friends. 

 

The big reveal in the episode is Mannheim ends up in Apokolips and we learn Darkseid was manipulating the events to try and destroy Superman so he can invade Earth.  The first true start of an established story arc in the DCAU.  This isn’t a two-parter episode, or follow-up to an introduction episode.  Darkseid’s appearance was deliberately planned out in stages to culminate into an invasion of Earth.  Lex Luthor was Superman’s greatest everyday villain.  Darkseid is the big bad who Superman grows to hate.   A solid introduction episode for a major villain in the DCAU.  

 

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

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 11

My Girl

 

What we have here is an episode that focuses on a personal relationship between Clark Kent/Superman and his high school girlfriend Lana Lang.  The villain is inconsequential in the story.  Yet, somehow the villain is the driving force for the entire plot.

 

Lana Lang is a top brand fashion designer, because that’s the only successful thing women are allowed to grow-up into on television/film.  Lana Lang is dating Lex Luthor.  During a big fashion show which Lois and Clark are covering, Lana get’s kidnapped/robbed by two women.  One is a large thuggish lady, the other more traditional looking.  The ladies want the diamonds on Lana’s dress.  Instead of just ripping the diamonds off Lana’s dress outright, they take Lana and say they are going to take her somewhere private to change into cheaper clothing.  Their entire plan doesn’t make sense because she was alone in the dressing room.  They could have just held her down there and swiped the diamonds instead of dragging her to an exterior elevator.  

Of course Superman shows up.  The crooks toss her out of the elevator, he swoops down and saves her, then rips the elevator out of the building and ties it with the ladies inside to a bridge.  Let’s break this down. She’s thrown out a glass window and he flies down to save her, that’s all good.  He can’t control the bad guys breaking stuff.  Then he ruins the entire elevator on a large skyscraper by hanging it on a bridge with people inside.  How much destruction did that cause?  The elevator which needed a window repair now needs an entirely new elevation, new wires.  Tons of money in either insurance premium or outright cash afflicted on the building owners. Leaving them hanging off a bridge requires emergency crews to rescue hostile criminals who are willing to kill people to avoid capture.  So the fire department has to risk their life to get these bad women off an elevator stuck on a bridge, risk getting harmed by them in an attempt to escape.  Emergency services are now distracted rescuing these criminals when the resources could be spent putting out fires, capturing other bad guys.   Superman could have absolutely apprehended these women in a less severe manor which involved less property destruction.

Why go though all this, well for starters, the female criminals were a writing device because network standards and likely the creative team themselves didn’t want men man-handling women in a children’s cartoon.  Lana gets tossed around pretty hard.  You really don’t want a man doing that in front of children, even bad guys.  The same rule applies to Superman.  He can’t rough up these bad-women to immobilize them.  Therefore the solution is to rip the entire elevator off the building and hang them from a dangerously high bridge. 

 

After the heroic save Lana revels she knows Superman is Clark Kent.  Superman is shocked by this.  For an investigative reporter, he’s a bit clueless.  Why wouldn’t his teenage girlfriend who witnessed him doing some crazy superhero stuff put the pieces together? Even though she’s dating Lex, Lana wants to rekindle her romance with Clark.  Clark isn’t interested in her in that way and really just wants her to stay away from Lex Luthor because he’s a huge jerk.  As Superman flies off, Lex’s bodyguard Mercy Graves suspects they have a fling going on.  She narcs to Lex who doesn’t want to believe it but sees the proof with his own eyes.

Lex shows some genuine loss in this moment.  He really seemed to care for Lana Lang.  The dude is a billionaire and it’s probably hard finding a woman he thinks is actually into him and not just his money.  As we saw in the Metallo episode, The Way of All Flesh, Lex can get hot girls but they are company, not keepers.  Lana Lang is a millionaire in her own right, established career woman, strong willed, smart, super hot.  It’s a personality Lex Luthor would be attracted too.  He also briefly dated Lois Lane before the start of the series who dumped him for reasons unknown but we can surmise it’s because he’s an arrogant jerk.  Lois is smart, established, good looking.  She’s not a millionaire but certainly well off and successful in her career.  Lex has a type.  It’s apparently the same type as Superman. Lex’s reasons for his taste in women appear to be much deeper than Superman’s.  Superman seems to just want to save all his women.  Lex likes a person that challenges him.  

 

When Lex discovers the betrayal of Lana he is truly upset by the loss.  Since he’s a super villain, it’s his obligation to have her killed and not just break it off with her.  If Lana fell for anyone other than his mortal enemy, he probably would have taken it better.  Also Lana is spilling trade secrets about Lex’s illegal activities to Superman.  You just can’t do that.  

 

Lana gets kidnapped again, her life is in danger again, Superman shows up and saves her again.  The episode wraps up with Clark and Lana agreeing to be friends.  Lana is going to Europe for an undisclosed amount of time to promote her fashion line.  There’s a joke about Lois Lane being his true love.  Here endeth the episode.

Putting aside the jokes about the plot, this is a great episode.  It has action, great characters, good jokes.  Using Lex as the villain, giving Superman a personal problem to attack is brilliant.  Superman easily saves Lana throughout the episode but he needs to find a way to establish a platonic adult relationship with his high school girlfriend.  The best minds can’t navigate that problem.  The happy ending truly belongs to Superman because no other person could ever accomplish that balance in life.   

 

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

Black Adam - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Black Adam

2022

Director: Juame Collet-Serra

 

The film opens with a prologue about slavery and freedom and how what turns out to be Black Adam’s son got his powers from the Wizard Shazam.  We’re then brought to present day in a fictional Arabic city which represents all the crappy Arabic cities in the world.  It is run by Intergang which has financial backings from Apokolips in the comics.  Black Adam is resurrected and crazy action goes down.  He takes out an entire army in seconds.  

 

Amanda Whaler pops on screen and starts talking to Hawkman about the Black Adam appearance.  We then get the boring ass DC ensemble cast introduction of the Justice Society.  For some reason DC is obsessed with character introductions whenever Amanda Whaler is a character in their films.  Why, why, why do they insist on doing this? It’s absolute torture and ruins films.  Stop dumbing down your story for the audience.  If you’re writing is good, they’ll figure it out as the story progresses.  

 

There’s a bunch of slow exposition which is vaguely attempted as character development.  The director does his best to try and keep in interesting by moving the characters and actors around.  It’s flashy smoke and mirrors trying to distract from poor writing. 

 

The Justice Society shows up and squares off against Black Adam while he’s doing his anti-hero thing.  Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman is a complete copy of Anthony Mackie’s Falcon from the MCU but let’s not dig too deep into that.  The Mackie impersonation makes Hodge’s character very likable.  The people of the city side with Black Adam instead of the Justice Society which makes sense because he’s actually fighting Intergang instead of saving them. 

 

Throughout the film we’re riddled with this annoying kid Amon Tomaz who basically reminds Black Adam of his son.  So Black Adam keeps saving him.  Also, Tomaz mother has some crown which will resurrect some evil yada yada McGuffin.  Every time Black Adam saves him, the kid appreciates it but has to toss some criticism at Black Adam.  Maybe don’t put yourself in danger all the time and Black Adam won’t have to save you, ever think of that dumbass? 

 

The film does not disappoint with the action which is what makes this a fun watch despite some weak story telling.  Amon Tomaz gets kidnapped.  Black Adam works his anti-hero mojo to try and find him and it pisses off most of the Justice Society.  They find the magic crown in the process.  The crown is to be offered as a trade from Amon Tomaz, during the exchange crap goes down and Amon Tomaz gets hurt but he’s basically okay.  This leads to the full backstory and we learn Black Adam’s son was the true hero and he gave his power to his dad which resulted in his son’s death. Black Adam bugs out, kills his oppressors, gets imprisoned by the Shazam wizards.  

 

Black Adam agrees to go into captivity via the Justice Society but the bad guy hasn’t been defeated yet.  So we all know he’s going to bust out and comeback to save the day. The question is how clumsily will this derivative plot point occur.  The evil King Sabbac rises up and the Justice Society cannot handle it.  Dr Fate sacrifices himself and convinces Black Adam to bust out of the cage he’s been in for like 15 minutes and fight Sabbac.  

 

Black Adam and Hawkman fight Sabbac together and destroy him.  The city is saved.  Black Adam vows to protect the city.  The credits roll, the mid credit scene Amanda Whaler has things to say to him about bullshit which doesn’t matter.  Henry Cavil’s Superman makes a cameo, instead of just his stunt double in a suit like in Shazam, implying we’d have some cool showdown between the two in another movie.  It never happens.  Instead it’s the last appearance to-date of Henry Cavil as Superman since DC decides to burn off their next few films and reboot their franchise from scratch at its conclusion.  

 

Black Adam certainly has its flaws but overall it’s not a terrible film.  The theme of having a hero who needs to do bad things is a horrible theme.  That’s what hurts this film.  The message is hard to support and also so heavy handed.  You can respect an anti-hero like in The Suicide Squad but having the need to justify a character’s actions makes for poor writing.  Bad guys can be bad and do good things.  If Black Adam was just a guy who distributed justice on his own terms without a boring lecture on his need to do so, it would have been a much better film for it.  

 

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

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 10

The Main Man Part 2

 

The follow-up episode is far superior to the origin episode.  Superman and Lobo are held captive by the Preserver since they are the last of their kind.  Superman tries to talk his way out but the Preserver refuses.  Superman is weak from the simulated red sun but uses his wits to break out of his cage.  Lobo begs for his help, Superman refuses but eventually agrees as long as Lobo doesn’t attack Earth ever again.  Lobo agrees to the terms.  

 

While navigating the ship they come across different perils and come up with creative ways to overcome them. Lobo is late on his initial bounty so a posse shows up to kill Lobo.  The Preserver lets them on the ship thinking it will work to his advantage.  

 

Superman bust into an enclosure which houses the dodo from Earth, get’s his strength back and beats up everyone.  As Lobo and Superman enter the ship hanger, the Preserver flips out and tries to kill them.  He’s insulted because they don’t want to live as captives on his ship forever.  The Preserver transforms into a huge monster, Superman and Lobo defeat him and go their separate ways. 

 

Twist(ish) ending, Superman takes all the creatures the Preserver had and keeps them in the Fortress of Solitude.  It’s supposed to be a sweet ending but there are a lot of undiscussed darker story elements that are glossed over.  

 

The Preserver has good intentions by taking creatures who are the last of their kind and keeping them safe on his ship.  As his name indicates, it seems like he preserves them, doesn’t collect them.  He wants to keep them safe.  He absolutely crosses a line by taking sentient beings.  When he’s killed by being thrown into the cold vacuum of space the creatures are left with no caretaker.  Lobo wants to abandon them.  Superman agrees to care for them.  Most likely guilt for his part in the Preserver’s death.  

 

Unfortunately by taking on these creatures, Superman doesn’t know their diets or habitat requirements.  It’s doubtful he can translate the Preserver’s language and get the data needed from the ship.  Where would Superman get the money for the food these animals eat? This is assuming he can find Earth food that can work as a dietary supplement.   He also has to fly to The Fortress of Solitude everyday to feed these creatures.  Some might not need to eat every day but that certainly doesn’t apply to all of them.  How does he cleanup their alien poop?  What does he do if one of them gets sick?  He’s brought foreign contaminants onto the planet Earth.  If they get free it could be catastrophic to the planet.  Which actually happens with Starro.

 

This episode is the first appearance of Starro who goes on to becomes a villain in an episode of Batman Beyond.  As we will see, StAS certainly had a lot more seeds planted in the bigger DCAU than BtAS, even though it had more episodes.  This is likely to Superman’s larger than life persona.  The creators had to use larger more galactic level villains to fight him.  

 

Also, what happened to the Preserver’s ship?  Where is it?  We never see it again.  Superman may have salvaged some of the parts for his fortress and enclosures for the animals.  He also likely stripped its food supply to continue to feed the animals but that only works for the short-term.  He didn’t strip the entire ship and food would run out eventually.  The logistics of keeping these animals isn’t realistic.  Therefore, we’re left to believe a lot of these animals died under the care of Superman.  Superman never had an Alfred or any type of helper which could allow him to manage this.  It’s a poorly hashed out plot point to give people a happy ending.  BtAS had no problem with grim endings but Superman was supposed to be a lighter show and thus needed happy endings, which don’t really work when closely examined.  

 

Even with the DCAU plot issue, the episode is great.  We see Lobo, the Fortress of Solitude gets a deeper purpose, Perserver was a solid villain.  It had great action and solid characters. 

 

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

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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 9

The Main Man Part 1

 

This is one of those episodes where the second part is much better and this is just a build-up to the cliffhanger.  Superman is testing the ship he came to Earth in as a baby in an effort for WB and DC to sell more toy merchandise.  Superman has some dialogue with Professor Emil Hamilton of Star Labs who is one of Superman’s biggest allies as the series progresses.  Superman does express some distrust with Professor Hamilton when he starts asking questions Superman doesn’t want to answer. 

 

Meanwhile to flesh out the episode, the show cuts to Lobo an alien bounty hunter doing his job.  In the middle of an assignment, he’s recruited by the Preserver to capture Superman.  The Preserver collects the last of species from planets all over the universe and keeps them safe.  He wants the last Kryptonian.  Lobo agrees to capture Superman for a big payday.  

 

Lobo basically attacks Earth until Superman shows up and they fight.  The fight dips into space and Superman gets captured by the Preserver.  Superman is placed in a cage under light that simulates a red sun that takes away his powers.  Lobo is about to leave when the Preserver decides to kidnap Lobo too, since he’s the last Czarnian.  Cue the “To Be Continued” text.

 

A solid introduction to Lobo and a great way to get him to Earth to fight Superman.  After his two-parter in Superman we don’t see him again (minus a quick cameo) until Justice League.  As far as villains go, he’s strong enough to go head to head with our hero.  He’s also an opposite of Superman which ensures they won’t get along.  Since Lobo is more of an anti-hero, they can’t make him evil which waters down the tension between the two.  Lobo is more of an annoyance for Superman than an actual villain.  This “annoying villain” archetype is repeated when Mxyzptlk makes his appearance.  The writer’s logic is if you can’t out brawn Superman then annoy him to death. 

 

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

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 8

Stolen Memories

 

Brainiac finally returns and the setup is amazing.  Lex Luthor is communicating with the alien entity and treats it as a first contact situation.  Brainiac insists on meeting Superman in exchange for technology.  Superman agrees and during the pow-wow discovers Brainiac’s Kryptonian origins.  Brainiac offers Superman a full history of Krypton via an orb if he works for him.  Superman has a dream and discovers Brainiac’s betrayal of Krypton and Jor-El.  The dream is a cheap plot device but they only have 20 minutes to tell the story.  As Superman investigates further he learns that Brainiac is gathering information from all over the galaxy and destroying the worlds after after the knowledge is obtained.  Superman is having none of that nonsense and fights Brainiac.  In the meantime, Lex Luthor didn’t fully trust Brainiac either and was prepared to destroy him if he stepped out of line but Brainiac infiltrated Luthor’s computer system and froze him out.  During the battle Superman is able to distract Brainiac enough that Luthor can launch missiles destroying the ship.  The day is saved but all the orbs of information Brainiac created are destroyed.  Superman manages to only save the one about Krypton.

 

A great episode and brilliant follow-up to Brainiac’s origin from his first appearance.  Getting to see Superman finally confront and fight Brainiac was a nice payoff.  Brainiac’s part in Krypton’s destruction is obvious.  It’s ridiculous Superman couldn’t save a few other orbs.  It seems wasteful Brainiac destroyed all these planets and the knowledge he obtained is gone.  Nothing of the civilization is left.  It makes his actions even more tragic.  A destroyed civilization and no history of them remains.  Superman didn’t create Brainiac but there is an obligation to stop him and his genocidal methodology because he was created by Krypton.  

 

While the show doesn’t dig into the deeper evil of Brainiac, he’s truly the worst of the worst villains in the DCAU.  He’s slaughtered countless lives, but the network censors don’t count it because they are aliens and not humans.  There were thousands of orbs on Brainiac’s ship, representing the worlds he destroyed.  The billions of lives obliterated by him are unfathomable.  The character continues to live on in various incarnations as the DCAU progresses.  Countless more are also destroyed by him but never mentioned directly.  

 

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

The Suicide Squad - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

The Suicide Squad

2021

Director: James Gunn

 

The last good DCEU film.  It’s as if the film does everything it can to be the opposite of the first film while also mocking how to do right everything the first one got wrong.  The opening wastes no time like the first film.  It introduces the characters fast and entertainingly.  It then kills them all off quickly.  A great bait and switch.  The team we meet in the opening are a decoy team and the film is actually focused on a second team of villains forced to work for the government. 

 

We then meet the real team lead by Bloodshot.  After character introductions they are sent to save Colonel Rick Flag (one of two survivors of team 1).  The team kills an entire team of freedom fighters thinking they are bad.  It takes some great writing to have characters still be likeable after accidentally killing good guys.  The Suicide Squad pulls that gag off fairly well.  

 

We then learn about the big bad Starro which the government of Corto Maltese wants to harness for evil stuff.  Then we cut to Harley Quinn (the second team 1 survivor) who’s being wooed by the leader of the country.  Harley kills the leader of the country because he’s a douchebag.  She busts herself out of captivity just as team 2 comes to rescue her.  

 

The plot is fairly simple, as it progresses it takes its time to develop each character.  Good characters make-up for any lacking in plot.  James Gunn makes a point to develop the characters organically which is something the first film failed to do on multiple levels.  

 

With everyone reunited they bust into the enemy stronghold.  Action ensues.  They come across a bunch of people possessed by Starro.  It turns out the US government was in on a bunch of terrible experiments and Amanda Whaler sent the squad there to destroy the evidence.  Flag wants to expose the government but Peacemaker is a blind follower and wants to stop that from happening.  Starro bust lose during the turmoil and everything gets amped up exponentially.  Peacemaker kills Flag to get a hard drive of evidence. As he’s about to kill Ratcatcher 2, Bloodshot stops him.  

 

Starro bust out and starts taking over everyone on the island.  Whaler orders the team to leave but they all decide to save the people even if it means she’ll blow them all up.  Her staff knocks her out and then assist The Suicide Squad in stopping Starro.  A bunch of action goes down.  Ratcatcher summons a ton of rats to attack Starro which allows Harley Quinn to launch a magic javelin in its eye, killing it.  The city is saved.  Bloodshot leverages the hard drive for their freedom.  

 

A solid soundtrack with songs that actually fit the narrative.  The soundtrack fit so well it almost seemed like a giant middle finger to the first film which just ham-fisted songs into the movie for no real reason.  They couldn’t even argue product placement for the song choices in the first film. 

 

This entire review seems like a comparison to its predecessor.  That’s because the first film was so wrong and the second film works so well.  Look at Bloodsport’s tense relationship with his daughter.  It is a mirror of Deadshot’s relationship with his daughter in one.  But it failed to garner anything other than cliché.  Two gets that relationship right. The Suicide Squad succeeds everywhere Suicide Squad film failed.  Somehow adding “The” to the name changed the entire narrative for the better. 

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

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 7

The Way of All Flesh

 

Metallo is born.  John Corben is living a life of luxury in prison as a thanks from Lex Luthor for not ratting on him.  He somehow gets a rare disease and uses Luthor to escape and be cured.  Luthor’s scientists transfer his brain into a robot, give him a kryptonite heart, and the name Metallo.  The price of this cure, Luthor wants Superman dead. 

 

The twist in the episode is Metallo loses his sense of touch, taste, smell and it drives him insane.  One of the more shocking moments is when he forces a kiss on Lois Lane.  Her smack is justified but pointless.  The complexity of that move on a children’s cartoon is profound.   Corben’s distraught over his loss of human senses.  He demands Luthor scientists fix him, they say it can’t be done.

 

Corben tracks Luthor down to kill him.  The best part is when Corben complains about not being able to have sex ever again.  Since the cartoon can’t outright say it, he just says he can’t-dot-dot-dot, looks at the beautiful woman Lex Luthor is on a date with, and throws her overboard.  How that got by the censors is pure gold.  Luthor talks a good game and calms Metallo down. 

 

Superman shows up and reveals that Luthor is the one who gave Corben the disease.  Metallo is all kinds of pissed off.  He wants to kill Superman and Lex Luthor.  Superman has to keep his distance because of the kryptonite heart.  During his rage the boat explodes, Corben sinks to the bottom of the ocean.  Superman saves Lex Luthor because heroes don’t discriminate on whom they save.  

 

A pretty good episode.  We get a new super powered villain who is a real obstacle Superman.  It’s a callback to the first episode where Corben was a mercenary.  A nice mini-story arc was created there.  We get Luthor showing how great of a foe he can be by pulling the strings from behind the scenes and Superman is unable to stop Luthor by conventional means.  

 

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

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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 6

Feeding Time

 

Our introduction to The Parasite.  He has the power to suck Superman’s strength.  That’s a formidable foe.  His origin story involves Rudy Jones getting soaked in chemicals he was stealing.  The chemicals turn him into a monster.  As far as scare tactics go this was pretty damn gruesome.  Worse than anything BtAS ever did, maybe one of the gorier moments in the entire DCAU. 

 

We get to see Jimmy Olsen save Superman this time around.  A great way to hash out the young photographer’s character.  He’s ambitious, discounted for his youth.  Olsen proves to be a loyal friend to Superman.  While he’ll get other episodes focused on him. Olsen’s character never truly shines in the series but we are treated to small moments here and there.  Parasite is able to read the thoughts of people whose energy he steals, conveniently he needs a recharge every few hours, and super conveniently forgets it after losing the energy.  He ends up catatonic at the end but hints his return (because they always return) after sucking the strength out of a roach.  

 

Overall this episode isn’t too exciting except for his transformation into the parasite but we are treated to another villain who is a danger to Superman.  A lot of the early episodes focused on creating villains that could be a challenge to the character.  It’s easy to make villains for Batman.  Superman rogues are a true challenge the creators had to put real thought and effort into establishing as threats.  

 

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

Wonder Woman 1984 - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Wonder Woman 1984

2020

Director: Patty Jenkins

 

I had to take a long break from this review series in order to prep for this film.  It’s such a disappointment compared to the tolerable first Wonder Woman.  The 2-hour and 30-minute runtime does not help.  The creators want to blame the pandemic for the horrible box office, which was likely a factor but when you create a film that can be used as the cure for insomnia, that’s your failing.  Terrible sequels come from a lack of understanding of what resonated with audiences in the first film.  Michael Bay is a great example of how to make bad sequels.  He never understands what people liked about the first film and amplifies the terrible stuff audiences tolerated.  James Cameron makes brilliant sequels and completely understands character growth from the first film to the next.  He then takes those characters and inserts them into plots with their new perspective on life via the first film.   

 

Wonder Woman 1984 opens with a 15-minute flashback where she’s running some triathlon and loses because she took a shortcut or something.  Then some lame attempt at an inspirational speech setting up the theme of the film.  Then we’re thrust into 1984 with interior designs and people dressed like it’s 1987.  There’s some dramatic robbery at a shopping mall because it takes place in the 80s and there’s nothing more Hollywood cliché than making an 80s film with a shopping mall.  All the performances in the mall sequence are so dramatic and over the top.  It’s like we’re watching an episode from the 1960s Batman without any of the campy humor. 

 

Wonder Woman is living the single 80s-gal life with her big shoulder pad blazers. She makes friends with Barbara Minerva who will turn into the villain Cheetah Girl.  Of course, in the typical “all villains are gay in Hollywood” fashion, Barbara Minerva has an unhealthy lesbian crush on Wonder Woman.  Cheetah Girl’s introduction has this really annoying visual inconsistency with the papers on her suitcase.  With the kind of money tossed at this film, they should have digitally fixed the damn papers surrounding her suitcase.  Each cut they are in a different spot.  That’s a minor complaint in a good movie.  It’s exponential into the quality we’re getting in a bad movie.  

 

There’s a magic crystal that grants wishes.  Wonder Woman accidentally wishes her boyfriend Steve Trevor back to life. Cheetah Girl wishes to have the powers of Wonder Woman.  Everyone thinks she’s hot now or something but she’s not hot at all because Kristen Wiig is not hot, not funny, not talented in anyway.  

 

They introduce us to a main villain Maxwell Lord who Cheetah Girl is all into but Wonder Woman thinks is a huge dork.  The problem with Maxwell Lord as a character is he’s known by comic fans but not the general public.  Since his character isn’t as well defined in the public eye, it allows creators to do whatever the hell they want and just slap a name from the comic onto it.  That’s the case with this character.  He’s super desperate in this film.  In the comics he’s a giant douchebag, in Justice League Unlimited the animates series he’s a corporate stooge for Cadmus.

 

Steve Trevor comes back by taking over the body of a random dude.  It’s a quantum leap scenario or something.  Wonder Woman and him hook-up.  There’s certainly ethical issues with their romantic interlude but it’s Gal Gadot so it’s unlikely any man would complain.  

 

We get a lot of lame cliché 80s gag. Looking at the 80s from the point of view of Steve Trevor, a guy from the early 1900s isn’t original or done in an interesting way.  They’re just wasting time.  The joke could have been done in 3 seconds.  

 

Maxwell Lord works a whammy and gets the powers to grant wishes.  He starts giving people what they wish for.  Really not evil super villain when you look at it.  Certainly careless but not horrible.  It’s causing a little chaos giving everyone what they ask for but it’s not being done out of evil or malice.  The dude starts trading wishes for favors or wealth or something which after 1 hours and 20 minutes we finally get our first real action scene in the movie.  The introduction race scene and mall action sequence has nothing to do with the plot.  They are time wasters to try and hook the audience in early.  This car chase is part of the plot but isn’t very compelling.  Wonder Woman running down a desert road fighting Egyptian military.  Wonder Woman is after Maxwell Lord because she thinks he has the wish stone and doesn’t understand he absorbed its power.  The sequence ends with Wonder Woman saving some kids but it looks really cheap and hokey. 

 

Maxwell Lord gets away, goes back to his office, keeps granting wishes to people.  All this crazy stuff keeps happening which is hard to explain but actually makes sense in the film.  It’s weird but Maxwell Lord is altering realty so much that all the nonsense fits with the plot.  The character motivations are confusing but all the strange things happening fit with the story.  

 

Wonder Woman appears to be losing her power because Cheetah Girl wished to have it or because she wished for Steve Trevor to come back from the dead or something.  Cheetah Girl turns bad for no real reason other than wanting to keep Wonder Woman’s power.  A nuclear war is about the breakout because of all the wish granting shenanigans of Maxwell Lord.  The dude really needs to learn how to say “no.”  

 

Wonder Woman renounces her wish for Steve Trevor to be alive, gets her powers back, runs away crying like a weak little girl.  Cheetah Girl changes her wish to actually be Cheetah Girl because somehow that’s better than having the powers of Wonder Woman. The creepy furry community certainly supported the change.  Maxwell Lord gets on the TV and starts going psycho with the wishes.  The results are as bad as when Bruce Almighty said yes to everyone’s prayers and not nearly as funny or entertaining.  Wonder Woman gets a powers upgrade to look like one of the winged people from Flash Gordon.  It looked ridiculous in Flash Gordon, it looks ridiculous in this film.  She fights Cheetah Girl in a terrible costume.  The B-Movie, The Howling had a better costume for animal/human hybrids than this $200 million film.  

 

Wonder Woman defeats Cheetah Girl and confronts Maxwell Lord who’s gone insane.  She uses her lasso or truth, then there’s some speech about people or the world being better or something.  A lot of generalized nonsense.  He renounces his wish which voids everyone else’s and the world is saved.  Pedro Pascal is a great actor who did the best he could as Maxwell Lord.  Some movies are just badly written.  In the denouement, Wonder Woman looks up in the sky with “wonder,” and anytime you end a film with the character looking up in the sky, you have a really shitty film.  

 

This movie was boring.  There was one major action sequence. The fight scenes with Cheetah Girl are boring. The characters are boring.  There’s no fixing this because the plot was so terrible.  The creators just wanted to make a film which took place in the 1980s but had no idea what to do about anything else.  Avoid this film at all costs. 

 

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