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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 85

Batgirl Returns

 

The name says it all, Batgirl is back.  It took forever for this moment to happen.  It’s as if the creators forgot about her.  Barbara Gordon before her Batgirl persona had more appearances than with her Batgirl persona.  Thankfully her return resolves several story issues that linger throughout the series.

 

Barbara Gordon gets adventure hungry and decides to put on her batsuit and investigate a robbery.  She discovers Catwoman at the scene and assumes she is the culprit.  Catwoman proves she’s not involved and was investigating it herself.  They agree to work together to solve he case.  Batgirls only condition is if Catwoman is lying she has to turn herself in to the police. 

 

There’s a really cool motorcycle chase with the police trying to capture Catwoman and Batgirl.  Their investigation leads them to Gotham City’s version of Lex Luthor Roland Daggett.  Daggett was trying to commit a crime that looked like Catwoman did it because he’s holding a grudge from the last time he tried to kill her and it failed.  Robin shows up and helps them fight Daggett and his goons.  Catwoman is about to kill Daggett but Batgirl saves him because killing is wrong, even if the guy is a corporate psychopathic murderer.  

 

Catwoman then does a double-cross and tries to steal the McGuffin that Daggett tried to frame her for stealing.  Batgirl stops her.  Catwoman tries to convince Batgirl to join her in a life of crime.  Batgirl is tempted but ultimately passes when Catwoman goes too far and insults Commissioner Gordon. Batgirl is a true and true daddy’s girl and turns down the offer.  Catwoman surrenders to police, as she’s being driven off, she breaks out steals the car and drives off.  She claims she promised to surrender but didn’t give a timetable for how long. Batgirl respects her play on words and talks Robin out of chasing her down. 

 

It’s the last episode of the series and it’s a nice one.  Catwoman is no longer pining for adventure, she’s living the life she wants.  Batgirl is back and she’s going to keep on fighting crime with the rest of the bat family.  Roland Daggett is finally arrested for something.  

 

This is the only episode where Batman isn’t actually in it.  He appears in a dream sequence to cater to some studio demands but the actual Batman is nowhere to be seen.  Bruce Wayne calls Robin on the phone and gives him some crime fighting advice but that’s it.  The episode works without Batman which should be impossible since he’s the guy the show is named after.

 

This was meant to be the conclusion of the show.  The series is revived years later with a new animation style and those episodes will be explored in later reviews.  As a whole BtAS sets the bar remarkably high. It’s the definitive Batman and better than the source material in the comics.  The show had the benefit of trial and error within the pages of the comics.  They could take the best comic issues, adapt them, translate them, fix them.  

 

The characters in the show were remarkable.  Batman was a side character in his own show most of the time and it worked.  The rogues sold most of the stories and the best episodes weren’t focused on Batman but instead the people around him.  The rare bad episodes were far better than many good episodes for other television shows.  

 

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

Birds of Prey - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Birds of Prey (and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

2020

Director: Cathy Yan

 

Margot Robbie was the best possible person to be cast as Harley Quinn and was regularly placed in terrible movies which failed to capture the essence of the character which made her so beloved from Batman: The Animated Series.  She did the best with what was given to her.  Great actors will always be great actors even when the film is terrible.  Watch the live action Super Mario Brothers Movie, the acting is amazing, the rest of the film is terrible.  Great acting cannot save a badly written and directed film.  

 

Ewan McGreggor plays Black Mask and they made the smart visual decision to not throw a ton of makeup on him to match the comic and allow his performance to shine.  Any Black Mask design would have copied the Red Skull.  Ewan McGreggor is another amazing actor in the film who does his part perfectly against a blah script.   

 

Voiceovers are always a terrible decision in filmmaking.  Goodfellas was the only one to ever get it right.  Birds of Prey could mute her entire voiceover and it would make no difference, that means it’s not needed.  

 

Thirty minutes into the film and it is anyone’s guess what the plot is.  Harley Quinn has broken up with the Joker.  Someone wants to kidnap a girl or something. It’s unclear. The action in the film is well done and fun to watch.  It certainly elevates its entertainment factor from the early slower moving DCEU Snyder films.  So a bad plot is actually salvaged by decent visuals.  

 

Harley teams up with some teenage girl who ate a diamond.  Everyone is trying to capture the girl or kill Harley who has a bounty on her head.  So they are on the run but it’s not a road trip movie, they just keep going to different locations and having wacky dialogue exchanges.  Diamonds are the least rare precious stones in the world.  Their value is via a heavily controlled consumer market.  It’s also super cliché to have a girl centric movie revolve around diamonds.  Oceans Eight had the same gimmick, women cannot steal millions of dollars.  In Hollywood women have to steal and fight over jewelry.  These films don’t have to be deep think tanks but try to avoid being derivative when possible. It negates the “girl power” message when they are battling over highly feminine items. 

 

The film whips out the character Victor Zsasz, a “catch-all” Batman rogue with no discernable fanbase so they can craft him into any personality they want.  He’s constantly tossed into movies and TV shows because of how generic he fits into any circumstance.  DC Media needs to stop using this character because it’s not a fun comic reference, it’s a cheap expendable character no one cares about and that’s how it plays out in all his appearances.  

 

Finally, at the one hour twenty mark all the Birds of Prey finally meet and team up for the big climax of the film. Can’t hate the action in this film, it is on point.  The fights are well choreographed and believable these femme fatales can take a ton of men out.   Antics ensue, Black Mask is blown up with a grenade, solid resolution. Everyone gets a happy ending. 

 

The advertising for this film was dreadful. None of it promoted the plot, it relied solely on Margot Robbie playing Harley Quinn which by this point in the DCEU reputation was not going to be enough.  The film made back double its budget in the box office but in Hollywood terms is considered a flop because of advertising costs or something.  Sounds like money laundering to me…

 

Birds of Prey was definitely DC’s take on lightening the tone of the darker Snyder films.  After all the critical complaints about how Superman was managed, DC started adopting the Marvel approach of movies which are fun.  Harley Quinn and bunch of other obscure ladies from the DC Universe doesn’t have the same appeal as Guardians of the Galaxy but DC has to start somewhere. The film wasn’t horrible, it’s borderline enjoyable but there’s nothing in this story which hasn’t been told in a million other films and the voiceover was excruciating.  

 

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

Long Island New Wave: A Documentary

A trailer for a documentary about the Long Island New Wave scene. 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 84

Deep Freeze

 

Mr. Freeze returns!  Mr. Freeze’s introduction as a villain in BtAS was so well done it would be impossible to top.  His second appearance isn’t as epic but it sure packs a punch. Grant Walker (a Walt Disney allegory) breaks Mr. Freeze out of prison in order to have him recreate the experiment that made him Mr. Freeze.  Freeze initially refuses but is then bribed with his wife Nora Fries who’s still in suspended animation.  Freeze cuts a deal to get his wife back and begins helping walker.  

 

Walker’s plan is to destroy the world by freezing it using satellites (the same plot device used in the Batman and Robin live action film).   The only people who will survive are his hardcore followers who live in the city he made.  Batman and Robin who are trying to find Freeze after being busted out of prison make their way to Walker’s compound and discover his evil plans.  They convince Freeze to help them stop Walker.  Walker is defeated, Freeze and his wife (still in suspended animation) float off on an iceberg to parts unknown.  

 

Ignoring the giant cult city just next to Gotham that no one talks about, the episode works.  The parallels between Walt Disney and Grant Walker are abundant.  Both own a series of amusement parks.  Disney’s vision for Epcot Center was a large city cut off from the rest of the world. There are rumors Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen when he died and Walker is given the same frozen powers of Mr. Freeze.  Disney and Walker have dangerously loyal and naïve cult followers.  BtAS for some reason felt like taking a shot at Disney, perhaps it was rival animation studios or maybe Disney did something to thoroughly piss them off.  We can only guess.  But Grant Walker is truly one of the more evil villains in the series.  His plan is very much like Ra’s al Ghul.  But Ra’s crazy ideals are trying to save the world through decreasing the population and taking control as leader.  Walker just wants to live forever and rule the world for his own power hungry purposes.  

 

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 - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 83

Make ‘Em Laugh

 

This episode is all kinds of entertaining.  Comedians are flipping out and committing crimes.  Batman discovers this while fighting a villain calling himself the Condiment King.  Batman in a rare moment of full on mercy offers to let the guy go if he returns the loot and promises to never do it again.  Instead the guy doubles down tries to escape, falls off a building onto a police car, and is pretty messed up.  It turns out he’s comedian Buddy Standler.  He’s a rich celebrity that doesn’t need to be committing crimes.  

 

The next weird criminal is the Pack Rat who after he’s defeated by Batman and Robin is determined to be a comedian named Harry Loomis.  Batman and Robin discover a microchip on him and trace it back to the Mad Hatter.  

 

When visiting the Mad Hatter in Arkham it’s discovered he’s also been mind whammied with his own device.  So who’s the villain of this episode?  Another comedian Lisa Lorraine (a Roseanne Bar parody) is now missing.  They were all judges in a comedy contest.  Upon reviewing the tape of last year’s contest its discovered The Joker crashed the contest in disguise and was holding a grudge against the judges for not giving him the award of funniest man in Gotham.  

 

AWESOME PLOT TWIST! Joker is getting revenge by ruining their reputation and trying to claim the trophy for himself.  It’s a scheme so crazy; it’s the perfect Joker crime.  There’s no logic to it other than to massage his own ego.  Batman and Robin are able to track the joker down at the comedy contest where a fight ensues and he’s captured.  The comedy and action in this episode is spot on.  A solid way to close-out the Joker as the show is ending it’s initial run.

 

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

Shazam! - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Shazam!

2019

Director: David F Sandberg

 

Everything wrong with the DCAU is left out of this film.  It’s truly their best film in the entire run.  While its’ far from perfect or deeply moving, it’s a fun action comedy. What works for this film is the of lack general knowledge surrounding the character.  The film is called Shazam but the character’s name is actually Captain Marvel.  DC lost the copyright to the name and couldn’t name the film accordingly because Marvel has a character with the same name.  The character itself wasn’t originally a DC property until his comics started outselling Superman and DC launched a copyright lawsuit against Fawcett Publications.  The lawsuit bankrupted the publisher and DC took over the rights to the character.  DC proceeded to sit on the character with half-assed attempts to bring him back but he never achieved the success of his original run.  In the world of DC Comics he’s a character they pull out when they need a good guy rival for Superman.  Therefore his character is better known by comic fans but for the general movie audience there’s plenty of liberties which can be taken with the narrative.  

 

The film actually opens with the backstory of Captain Marvel’s villain Doctor Sivana and what has to be a meta Smallville reference John Glover (Lionel Luthor [Lex Luthor’s dad]) plays Sivana’s father.  Having John Glover as the parental source of a major bad guy was a nice touch.  He’s also a phenomenal actor in everything he does.  Sivana gets warped to the wizard Shazam’s cave and offered his power but becomes tempted by the seven deadly sins.  The wizard gets pissed and kicks him put.  Sivana totally wigs out and causes a major car accident which almost kills his dad and brother.  It causes his dad to become paralyzed. They were jerks to him before the car accident, so this certainly didn’t make for a good upbringing.  Despite this upset he grows up to be a successful research scientist, not that his family is impressed with that.  

 

The narrative jumps to present day where Billy Batson who is 14 (being played by a 17-year-old) keeps running away from his foster homes trying to find his mom.  This gets him in trouble with the law.  Instead of getting thrown in juvenile detention for trapping cops in pawnshop, he gets sent to a new foster him. He meets his foster parents and their foster kids who are genuinely nice people which is a nice twist for a movie about orphaned kids.  Billy befriends his foster brother, a cripple named Freddy Freeman, who’s really into the superheroes of the DCEU.  This connects the film to the larger world but no one wants that.

 

Sivana is now a middle-aged man who is conducting tests, trying to rediscover the wizard’s lair.  He cracks the code and accidentally gets his research assistant killed.  She touched the door which caused her to disintegrate.  This isn’t Sivana’s faulty but he’s very indifferent to the entire ordeal.  He walks into the lair and claims the power offered to him by the seven deadly sins.  Shazam has been keeping them imprisoned for centuries up to this point.  Sivana is all supercharged with evil and proceeds to wreak havoc.  His first stop is his dad’s company where he proceeds to kill his brother, the entire board of directors, and last his dad.  You should probably feel a little bad for the people on board but everyone in the room seems like jerk wads with his brother and dad at the top of the list.  Therefore Sivana is probably more petty than evil at this point. 

 

After his Billy’s first day of school these bullies start beating up Freddy.  Billy defends Freddy, as the bullies chase down Billy, he ends up getting warped to Shazam’s lair.  Shazam gives him his power and he’s now able to change into an adult man with superpowers.  The plot issue with this is lightly addressed at the end of the film, Billy was never tempted by the sins.  All the other people Shazam tested had to choose between his power and the Sins’ powers. Everyone got tempted by the sins and zapped back home.  Billy only had one choice.  At the end of the film he’s tempted but he already has the power of Shazam, why would he even bother taking the power of the sins at that point?  Therefore Billy’s pure heart is never really highlighted.  It’s a minor plot deviation from the source comics and doesn’t hurt the overall theme of the film which is family. 

 

Billy reveals himself to Freddy and they begin testing his newfound powers.  It’s all done exactly how teenage boys would test superpowers.  It’s so genuine, probably the first genuine character logic in the entire DCEU.  It’s funny, has action, honestly entertaining.  The film gets the emotion right and gives the right chinks in the armor for teenage characters.  One of the meta joke moments is how they can’t legally call the character Captain Marvel in the film so they just keep making jokes about what his superhero name should be.  

 

The most heartbreaking scene is when Billy finds his real mother and discovers she abandoned him because she sucks.  You almost want to cry, his mom just ditched him with some cops and changed her name.  He spent the years looking for her and she almost wants to hug him but her life is crap and the actress Carline Palmer hits this performance out of the park.  She holds just enough back that the audience rightfully hates her but can also relate to a small degree.  That was all in the performance because it certainly wasn’t in the writing. 

 

Sivana discovers that Shazam created Captain Marvel and is on a quest to destroy Captain Marvel.  So Sivana terrorizes Billy’s foster family. Captain Marvel arrives to save them.  Action ensues.  Notable moment to mention is when Sivana is talking to Captain Marvel about his evil plans, in the sky, from a football field away, and Captain Marvel cannot hear a word he’s saying. A great gag on the trope. 

 

Captain Marvel can’t seem to take Sivana down and eventually realizes he doesn’t have to do it alone.  He shares his power with his new foster siblings and together they help stop Sivana and the seven deadly sins.  It was a nice twist because superhero assistants are usually reserved for sequel films.  Adding it at the end of this first film and making it core to the theme of the story was the right amount of heart the DCEU needed.  

 

The film ends with Billy accepting his new family and is a happy ending for all.  Dr Sivana is in jail and the talking caterpillar with high intelligence named Mister Mind recruits Sivana to join an evil organization.  This is might be a separate evil organization than the Injustice Society Lex Luthor wants to start at the end of Joss Whedon’s Justice League or perhaps it’s the same one.  The DCEU never gets there and since the other films suck, no one cares.  

 

There was potential after this film to turn the entire DCEU around.  DC should have double downed on the film that critics and audiences loved and built their universe around Captain Marvel. They could have accepted the stories they already made and just let those characters fade away in the background.  But it would be financially impossible to step away from characters as iconic as Batman and Superman because their film universe mismanaged them.  It’s more cost effective to reboot your entire universe because even bad Batman and Superman films will outperform a good Captain Marvel movie.  But we’re still eight DC films away before  DCEU is finally ended.  Shazam was the highest it will ever fly.  

 

If the DCEU pivoted to Shazam as their centerpiece they could have made a decent Justice Society of America.  We could have seen a Captain Marvel versus Black Adam film.  They have the same powers and truly different methods to stopping crime.  Some of the bread crumbs could have been folded into a Shazam centric world.  Mister Mind could have teamed up with Lex Luthor for the Injustice Society.  There was enough here to save the DCEU but the think tanks at the top didn’t see it.  

 

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

"I Like To Play With Toys" Productions® 25th Anniversary

Jut a reminder that in honor of the 25th anniversary of "I Like To Play With Toys" Productions® we're posting our feature film Dumped for everyone to enjoy for free. Please enjoy this temporary posting for September.

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 82

Lock-Up

 

It’s episodes like this that make people think the writers were running out of ideas.  Lock-Up actually got worked into the comics after this episode but not really sure why.  He was created for the show as an extremist version of Batman.  

 

Lyle Bolton was the new security chief at Arkham Asylum but his methods were far too harsh for the inmates there.  He gets fired from Arkham for being abusive to the criminally insane and sets out on a revenge scheme on Gotham.  He doesn’t blame the inmates he blames the bureaucrats in Gotham who created them.

 

Calling himself Lock-Up he kidnaps reporter Summer Gleason, head of Arkham Asylum Doctor Bartholomew, Commissioner James Gordon, and Mayor Hamilton Hill.  He believes each represents a layer of ineptitude that created the monstrous villains in Gotham City.  

 

Batman and Robin are able to track Lock-Up down to an abandoned ship where everyone is being held.  A fight breaks out and Batman wins.  Lock-Up is then set to Arkham Asylum and he implies that’s what he wanted all along so he can forever keep an eye on the inmates there.  

 

He’s just not an interesting villain and his motivation seems weak.  Even the ending when he’s happy he can watch the inmates doesn’t make sense.  He’s a patient/prisoner at Arkham, he has no authority over them.  He can’t do any of the things he did to them as head of security.  He can’t take away their privileges, confine them to their rooms, strap them down in their beds at night.  What’s the point of watching them if he cannot stop them?  Taking his frustrations out on the ones he kidnapped has logic but how many times can Commissioner Gordon and Mayor Hill get kidnapped before it’s a tired trope?  Shows should really have a two kidnapping limit rule.  On the third kidnapping, the person must be killed or believability goes out the window.  Yes, it’s a children’s show so the death count is minimal which means, stop kidnapping people.  

 

It’s toward the end of the series run so we never see Lock-Up again in the BtAS or the DCAU and rightfully so.  He wasn’t a compelling villain.  This is the last bad episode of BtAS.  But as stated even previously, a bad episode of BtAS is far better than a good episode of many other shows.  

 

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

Dumped

In honor of the 25th anniversary of "I Like To Play With Toys" Productions® we're posting our feature film Dumped for everyone to enjoy for free. Please enjoy this temporary posting for September.