DC animated original movies

Started by HarryTrotter, January 30, 2015, 06:31:47 PM

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Silver Shocker

#120
I caught Batman and Harley Quinn on tv the other night. Well that was a thing.

It was an odd movie for sure. Half the time it's played serious, half the time straight up comedy, Batman and Nightwing don't have much to do in general except be comedic foils to Harley's antics, and the story looks and feels a lot like a half hour episode of Batman TAS stretched out into 74 minutes by padding the hell out of certain scenes such as the chase scene, the music and dance number, a death of a minor supporting character, and a post-credits scene. Having finally seen the infamous ending, I can say it is indeed random, bizarre and anti-climatic. On a positive, I agree with the earlier post that praised the action scenes, they were indeed quite good.

That being said, the best part of the movie (other than hilarious Bruce Timm cameo) by far was Rob Paulson's cover of the old country song "Don't Pull Your Love". It's such a beautiful song someone on YT did an edit to take out the audio of the other characters talking over the song so you can just listen to it outside of the movie, and I've listened to that version countless times. It's just that good. (I'm listening to it right now)
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

Suicide Squad Hell to Pay.Somewhat based on a Secret Six story.Its not that great even by the standard of trashy action movies.
It has a few good character moments,and nice action scenes,but old problems are still around,and CW publicity and trying too hard to be mature doesnt really help.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

I give them a fair amount of credit for actually giving some insight into the character of Bronze Tiger, probably the best adaptation of the character outside the comics, where he's usually just "Martial Arts Thug".
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

I agree there.
Also,I found Copperhead to be pretty interesting.Mostly because we dont see him that often.
On the other hand,Im really tired of Killer Frost,Harley and Deadshot.And Deathstroke,but thats a different movie.With a weird apperence of Kevin Smith. 🤔
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

HarryTrotter

Justice League Dark is a valiant effort at adapting the magic side of DC,but once again N52 looks and a not-so-good voice cast don't do it any favors.At least,it was an honest attempt,which is more then I can say for a lot of their other films since JL War onward.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

HarryTrotter

Batman and Harley Quinn Remember Batman The Animated Series?Well,lets revisit that.And add some adult humor because we really want to be Deadpool.And lets get Kevin Conroy to phone in this one.
I could rant a lot about this one,but in the end,as a lot of people pointed out- an episode of New Adventures of Batman did it better in 20 minutes,20 years ago.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

BentonGrey

Everything I heard about that movie made me deeply, deeply sad.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Shogunn2517

So apparently Death of Superman has leaked online...

Anyone take a gander?

Silver Shocker

Umm....no, I don't do that. I'm not a fan of piracy in general. I'll give it a digital rental when it comes out. I imagine if there's anything particularly interesting in it the comic news sites will spoil it like they did The Killing Joke so I'll likely hear of it there first.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Silver Shocker

#129
Just finished watching this. I thought it was pretty decent. Not amazing, but not bad. I liked the connections to the previous animated movies in the same set. Rainn Wilson as Luthor was alright, not great, a little too light-sounding than I prefer my Luthors, but he did sound kinda similar to James Woods from Justice League Action who I got used to with time. It is a more faithful adaptation than Superman Doomsday, with the League being used in a very similar way to the JLA roster from the 90's storyline.

Spoiler
This movie implies that Doomsday came from Apocalypse, as there are a few references to it at the beginning of the movie and the spacepod or whatever it was that contains Doomsday came through a Boom Tube in space.

The cameos and guest stars were great, but they do raise some questions. Kate Kane (not Batwoman, but Kate Kane) appears at Supe's memorial, but Shazam, John Stewart and the Titans other than Damien never appear in the movie. None of the Justice League Dark characters appear. Seems a bit selective. The other Leaguers all making fun of Batman was amusing. I liked Barry's bit about telling Iris his secret and getting married. Peter Tomasi wrote this and as such it includes a reference to the modern comics: When Supes dies he says to Lois "What a lucky man I've been" a reference to the death of the New 52 Superman. There's also a series of mid-credit scenes featuring Cyborg Superman, Superboy, Eradicator and Steel. John Henry Irons, Hank Henshaw (Cyborg Superman),  Superboy, and one of CS or Eradicator appear in the movie proper (the last one shown flying away from Supe's gravesite at the end of the movie.) We see Superboy in a test tube in a Cadmus lab and he's wearing the New 52 Kon-El costume. Promotional material for Reign of the Supermen shows that Superboy will be wearing the 90's glasses and the coat over that New 52 costume, which actually looks pretty cool.

Cress Williams (Black Lightning) voices John Henry Irons (he previously cameod in Throne of Atlantis voiced by Khary Payton), Patrick Fabian from Better Call Saul voices Hank Henshaw, and while we don't hear him in this film, Cameron Monaghan (Jerome/Joker from Gotham) is going to voice Superboy.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Silver Shocker

#130
An update on the upcoming followup Reign of the Supermen film. We've gotten a few trailers so far, animation looks a little iffy but it's still neat to see these characters in a movie. I'm disappointed that so far (to my knowledge) we still haven't heard Cameron Monaghan as Superboy since I've loved his Joker on Gotham and I really want to see how he does Superboy (for the record, what we do know is Superboy is going to reimagined as a "modern" young celebrity, social media exposure and all. Which is fair, because when Connor was introduced in the 90's comics he was a Booster Gold style glory hound through and through. Or, to go closer to home, he's basically the Ultimen from JLU. There is a gag in the movie I read about that was shown at comic con involving Superboy that was so funny and perfect I literally burst into laughter:

Spoiler
Superboy is at a parade or somesuch, with the Justice League present as well. They find him insufferable. GL (I assume Hal) says "I can make the shot guys, just say the word." Then Batman of all people says "I say take the shot." (no doubt in Jason O'Mara's signature deadpan).  I just died. I think that might be one of my favorite Batman lines of all time. Up there with "So that's what that feels like" and Kevin Conroy's Batman saying "Light's Out, old chum."

Anyways, I just finished watching Teen Titans Go the Movies. Honestly? I kinda loved it. Some jokes were low brow duds (times like this I question if fart jokes have ever been unironically funny in any context) but the various cameos, callbacks and references were fun (for example, Miss Martian and Artemis can bee seen in the superhero group shots) and some of the jokes, predictably and not particularly fresh as they were, got a legit laugh from me, such as:

Spoiler

-The poor, poor Challengers of the Unknown getting completely dumped on. I wonder if they were the creator's first choice for such a gag.
-The "No stopping the Batman" gag, which ends with Batman, having run out of vehicles, is being carried by a running Alfred
-The Shia Leboff gag, which I almost feel guilty for laughing at. "He's worse than any supervillain!"
-Stan Lee's cameos (2!) Even the noticeably poorer audio quality of his voice over just adds to the charm.

Will Arnett was great as Slade of course. While I thought the casting an odd choice when I first learned of it honestly, I don't think Ron Pearlman from the original series would have done as good a job doing this material. Kristin Bell was also quite good as the movie director. Nicholas Cage as Superman (!!!) was fine performance-wise (he has 2 or 3 lines, tops) but his voice, unsurprisingly doesn't really match the character. Ditto Wonder Woman.

Spoiler
And yes, the mid-credits gag was delightful. I really hope DC/WB keep their promise and we get more of the original show, and I also would appreciate it if it makes it to Canada, especially since Canada's currently getting mildly screwed over when it comes to DC's superhero shows.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Silver Shocker

#131
I just watched Reign of the Supermen!

Disappointing, but not soul-crushingly so. It's a textbook example of what's wrong with some of these post-Flashpoint/New 52 DC Animated movies: they should be better, but for some reason aren't. I don't know what it is, but I think they need better writers. They feel flat. Characters, character arcs, plot points, plot twists, big moments, should have more weight but feel flat. The joke about GL sniping Superboy wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. I guess it's just the old effect where some jokes are funniest the first time you hear it. I think Conroy would have sold the joke better myself.

Nathan Fillion's GL got a great one-liner at the end of the movie though. The post credit scene made me VERY happy.

The rest of the movie? Eh, I dunno. It's definitely an accurate adaptation of the 90's storyline. Between this and the previous film, if there's a big moment or character from the Death and Return of the Superman storyline you wanted to make it into the movie, chances are they're in it. It's a MUCH more accurate adaptation than Superman Doomsday (haven't decided yet which is a better movie. I'm tempted to say Doomsday, if for no other reason than Adam Baldwin as evil Superd*ckery Superman, James Marsters as creepy jilted ex-lover Lex Luthor, and John Dimaggio as creepy child kidnapper Toyman)

Anyway, Reign has some changes and plot twists that allow people familiar with the comic storyline and other adaptations to be surprised, and feels like it's got some legit payoff for this long string of movies MCU style, but the big moments and reveals should be a huge effing deal and instead land with a resounding "oh, ok." On the other hand, it has Wonder Woman making what sounds like some playful references to her being bisexual and Superman referencing a memorable George Costansta bit from Seinfeld, so that's something.

Voice wise, it's a very passable film. Nobody's bad, but nobody really stands out. It's still kinda neat that Howard Hamlin from Better Call Saul is Hank Henshaw but I'm unclear as whether Cyborg Superman was voiced by him or Superman actor Jerry O'Connell. The credits don't make it clear, online sources are conflicting, and the character has a noticeable digital effect over his voice. Gotham's Cameron Monaghan is pretty much unrecognizable as Superboy, and he does a pretty good job. He reminded me a bit of Young Justice's Kid Flash. Black Lightning actor Cress Williams is Steel and he's decent, but not as good as when he plays Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning on live action tv. And Chloe Sullivan from Smallville makes a cameo at the beginning of the movie at the Daily Planet, looking and sounding exactly like Irma from the 2012 TMNT (she isn't credited, and only has one line, but sounded like Kate Miccuci, who voiced Irma and several versions of Velma from Scooby Doo). I wonder if they changed her to not resemble Allison Mack? And I appreciate that a certain pre-established character who shows up later in the show got a much needed recasting.

The Justice League has a little more involvement in this than I was expecting, which makes it seem a bit like Captain America: Civil War. Also I keep forgetting this, but it's really weird that this iteration of the DC Universe has introduced the Connor Kent Superboy before Supergirl (though we don't know that for sure, since some heroes in this universe show up already having become superheroes, like the Teen Titans or Nightwing) I would guess it won't be long before a Rebirth/Arrowverse inspired Supergirl appears in a future film.

Now as for that post credit scene:

Spoiler
Lex Luthor is joining the Justice League and apparently they're doing Darkseid War. Yeah baby yeah! I'm finally getting my wish after all these years!  :lol:
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

Next Batman movie is s crossover with TMNT.Really. 😀
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

Yeah, that was surprising to hear. They've said it will be based on the first crossover miniseries, which could be cool. Nick is also doing another TMNT animated movie on Netflix. I'm kinda surprised we haven't seen more animated TMNT films, seems like it would have been a no brainer.

I'll say this, we haven't seen a Batman/TMNT crossover movie before. We've seen many different iterations of the two separate groups though.

Not sure I dig the character designs. The Batman characters look ok I guess, but the TMNT look a bit ugly. They kinda look like someone trying to do Santaloucco's art from the IDW comics but not able to pull it off. \

Also, this movie makes the landmark moment where Troy Baker voices both Batman and the Joker in the same thing. I was thinking a while back that it was only a matter of time before that happened.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

BentonGrey

Okay, I just saw that DC is doing a "Showcase" collection with a bunch of short films:
http://majorspoilers.com/2019/05/08/warner-bros-announces-new-dc-showcase-animated-shorts/

These include Sgt. Rock and the Creature Commandos, Adam Strange, Death of the Endless, and the Phantom Stranger.  Now, that is a really cool list of characters, and it is great seeing DC explore some of these less-traveled corners of their universe.  Most of the blurbs sound pretty interesting, though I am already feeling my eyes roll about the Adam Strange one.  Heaven forbid we get a straight adaptation of a heroic character.  No, he's got to be a burnt-out drunk who USED to be someone.  Heroes!  That's particularly silly, because it isn't like Adam Strange has had a lot of shots at the limelight.

In general though, I think this is pretty cool.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

HarryTrotter

Eh,people like old (super)heroes I guess.
And I guess they are going for sort of a space western.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

BentonGrey

You know, they did the same thing with Aquaman in that deplorable JL: Throne of Atlantis adaptation.  It's like the hacks who are writing these things can't conceive of a character arc that doesn't start at 'drunken loser' or 'wash out.'  You know, there are other types of arcs!
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

HarryTrotter

Yeah,that was a thing.
I think they are all taking inspiration from the same thing.Who the hell even did it first?

But Sgt Rock voiced by Karl Urban,that I can live with with.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

BentonGrey

Indeed.  He's a great choice, and I am certainly curious about them combining Sgt. Rock and the Creature Commandos.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

HarryTrotter

Im not all that familiar with CC so I cant really say.But DC branching outside of superhero genre,that I welcome in general.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

#140
Just watched Batman Vs the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Really enjoyed it. Lord knows it's better than the current, more kid-oriented Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is, IMO, the worst (non-live action, at least) incarnation of the franchise by a wide margin.

Animation wasn't the greatest, but the fights were pretty ballin'. Baxter Stockman was, once again, a complete joke (even more than usual). Voice cast was decent, though I wasn't entirely happy with the voice for Robin (Damien Wayne) but everything else about him was on point. They only briefly acknowledge his status as Bruce's son though.

Fair warning to parents: this one's not for kids. On par with many other DC animated movies, it's got blood, stabbings, broken bones, severed limbs and tastefully done decapitations. Not frequent, but still present. Mild swearing as well.

Also, the end credits? Brilliant! There's also a really nifty post-credit scene.

Spoiler
The end credits is entirely composed of mock-up images of Batman and TMNT covers redone to be crossovers. I legitimately want a cover gallery of all of these in the back of Batman/TMNT Vol. 3.

Post Credits scene is Shredder mutated into a Joker version of himself. Which happens in Batman/TMNT Vol. 3.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

BentonGrey

What the heck?  What the freaking heck?  How stupid is DC?  How do you make TMNT vs. Batman and not make it kid friendly?  Do they dislike money and positive press?  I can't imagine a kid who WOULDN'T think that was awesome.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Panther_Gunn

Quote from: BentonGrey on June 05, 2019, 02:43:48 AM
What the heck?  What the freaking heck?  How stupid is DC?  How do you make TMNT vs. Batman and not make it kid friendly?  Do they dislike money and positive press?  I can't imagine a kid who WOULDN'T think that was awesome.

Kids don't have money.  30+ year old comic book nerds have money.  I'm sure that's as far as their logic went on that one.
The Best There Is At What I Do......when I have the time.

Silver Shocker

#143
So I'm going to play half-and-half devil's advocate.

So on the one hand - this is an adaptation of the comic book. Now I don't recall the comic having this level of violence in it, but the TMNT comics that are not spun off from the animated shows have been more adult oriented and more violent. And also the comic was written by James Tynion, who heavily worked with Scott Snyder on Batman, Batman Eternal, and Batman & Robin Eternal. I kinda consider anything Batman he writes to be an extension of Scott Snyder's Batman, and that run featured, among other things, the infamous stapled-on Joker face.

In addition to that - if I'm being fair 1. The 2003 TMNT wasn't that different in that regard except for the blood (and there's not a lot of blood, but there is blood) and swearing. Then again, the one decapitation in that show was revealed to be that of a robot body by the end of the same episode. 2. The 2012 features a decapitation of a real flesh and blood person (though the visualization of that was somewhat censored for the final episode as aired, as an artist who worked on the show revealed on social media). And, minus the blood, it's not that worse than Star Wars The Clone Wars. Then again, I used to joke that Clone Wars was the most ruthless cartoon on tv at the time. Also, the first live action TMNT had the Turtles say "Damn".

For the record, I also read that Nick had at least one notable mandate - that none of the voice actors from the current cartoons play the same character in this movie. Which I actually kinda understand, it helps make it clear this is a different iteration of TMNT.

On the other hand - this is an animated TMNT and in the world of animated TMNT, that's something for the kids, and it's going to reach a wider audience. And you could have told the exact same story without any of the violence I mentioned, or the two or three instances of mild swearing, and it would have been pretty much the same, and just as good. I mean, I enjoyed seeing those elements, but I'm a morbid mofo and that's not an indication of actual quality. As I like to say, dark is not good - good is good.

The movie also features Bane mentioning having broken the Bat - something I don't think he's ever done in an iteration of Batman aimed specifically at kids - and the death of Jason Todd gets mentioned - which also does not exist outside of non-kid friendly shows.

I mean, let's not mince words - DC loves them the grimdark and "adult" content. These are the guys who brought back Young Justice and added R-rated violence, political intrigue and extra sexual innuendo (and the Suicide Squad are showing up in the second half - then again, they showed up in JLU too...). And who are now doing R-rated live action superhero shows (with both f-bombs and nudity) on their streaming service. Mind you I'm straying off topic here...

Coming back full circle - there was also a pretty good (IMO) comic book crossover between Batman TAS and the 2012 TMNT cartoon. That would have had an awesome animated movie in its own right. I mean, heck, it would have been even better as a animated movie because then it presumably would have had Conroy and Hamill coming back to do Batman and Joker, and the cast of the 2012 TMNT to do their roles again. And the animation would have been really easily to nail since it was already made to look like the cartoons. And it being TAS, the older fans of Batman TAS probably would have eaten it up (just maybe not let Bruce Timm have any influence on the story - you never know, he might sex it up :P)
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

SickAlice

#144
Quote from: Panther_Gunn on June 05, 2019, 03:22:47 AM
Quote from: BentonGrey on June 05, 2019, 02:43:48 AM
What the heck?  What the freaking heck?  How stupid is DC?  How do you make TMNT vs. Batman and not make it kid friendly?  Do they dislike money and positive press?  I can't imagine a kid who WOULDN'T think that was awesome.

Kids don't have money.  30+ year old comic book nerds have money.  I'm sure that's as far as their logic went on that one.

I hope not else they need fire those people. I used to work selling toys and the number one buyer for children is moms but the takeaway is the content is based on what kids jump up and down for. I mean the money comes from moms. Comic book nerds, yes us, do not factor in when it comes to film productions from companies like WB or Disney. I know that's a hard pill but it's just math. People who actually both read and buy printed comics are a minority of the world population, stunningly thus can't justify the money put into any feature film, that money being a film must make 200%+ it's initial investment before it's considered to make a profit. Like a house. You have to first make the money you're in the negative that you spent on it. Then try and sell it for the same value and past that is a profit turned. Just saying though demographics here more moms are less against violence then one would think, look at Into The Spider-verse for example. The current generation is made up primarily by moms who grew up with violent movies and as youth protested the parents groups that would censor works for children.

That said I haven't watched it, it's sitting on the shelf but I haven't made time to give it my complete attention so we'll see. But my love of both of these franchises did come from origins that were also violent, the grim and grit era it was called, or at least violent for the day so perhaps. Added I haven't seen much of the current Batman animated stuff but know the source material and bet kids are seeing more mature stuff then I did as a child there but have seen Turtles, noting Fox Kids to Nick and those shows were more violent and mature then the stuff I grew up with by miles. A much harder to swallow pill here and believe me, my little niece is sixteen now...oy, right in the migraine, kids today are grown in a different climate. Video games without labels on them but more the internet. The internet where in most cases they have to present themselves as eighteen years old and/or are presumed as such and chat with raging blunt adults and see content we would have grounded for months had our parents ever caught us looking at. They're just much more inundated to it all they were in spite of the ill of that statement and much, much more difficult to impress and shock.

@Silver Shocker: Exactly. Oh hey when I saw the original live TMNT film in the theater, opening day with all my friends and we danced in a line to the Putzers advert them of course, I remember the " damn " and seeing a mom take her son out of the theater with her hands over his ears. That poor boy, he probably needed therapy for life over missing the Ninja Turtles film lol.




Silver Shocker

The next DC Animated Batman movie has been revealed:

Batman: Death in the Family. An Interactive DC Movie. Rated R for Strong Bloody Violence and some Drug Material.

Actually a very clever idea. It's very clearly being presented as a prequel to the Red Hood movie (Joker and Black Mask look exactly the same, and I assume Batman and Nightwing do - I honestly can't remember). Bruce Greenwood (Batman) Vincent Martella (Jason Todd as Robin) and John Dimaggio (Joker) return. Curious if Neal Patrick Harris is returning to voice Nightwing or Jensen Ackles as Red Hood (who is indeed in the movie).

Funny thing, when I saw the title I assumed it was Death OF the Family, as in the New 52 Scott Snyder story featuring the Joker with the infamous stapled on face. That's what happened when you have the title be that similar.

Also, a new Superman movie was revealed recently: Man of Tomorrow. Featuring Darrin Criss as Superman and Zachary Quinto as Lex Luthor. Looks nifty.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Tomato

See, I saw the DitF announcement as a tweet, which made a thing about the choose the ending. I'm torn, because on the one hand, I loved under the red hood, and maintain it's the best animated Batman film, even above mask of the Phantasm. It's such a weird concept though, doing a choose your own adventure for Batman. We'll see.

Man of Tomorrow looks so pretty. Gorgeous art style, and it sounds like they've got a cool story to tell. I look forward to it.

Silver Shocker

#147
Time for a DC animated movie roundup once again!

Superman Red Son and Justice League Dark: Apocalypse War ended up getting discussed in the DC Extended Universe thread (this ended up happening because of a very broad discussion on the different versions of Lex Luthor due to Batman V Superman)

Wonder Woman: Bloodlines....surprisingly I didn't comment on this one. I saw it on tv a year ago or so. It's a prequel to WW's appearance in JL War and brings back the classic style costume (since the set of movies JL War was part of gave WW a unique costume for some reason) Nifty! The plot is about Silver Swan. I knew nothing about Silver Swan, so I had a lot of fun with this movie! Constance Zimmer (Strongarm from Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2015) voices Veronica Cale. Cheetah is also in this, but they found a fun way to make this version of her unique. Micheal Dorn has a somewhat scene-stealing role as a Minotaur. It had a post credit scene, but this movie did not get payoff in any way, shape or form in Apocalypse War. I kinda hope this thing gets a followup anyway.

[edit: a correction: Apparently only the opening scene of the movie takes place before JL War. Admittedly, I was unclear on this, as other than Steve Trevor and WW herself, the movie doesn't feature a single other character who appears in the other films other than Cheetah. Apparently there's dialogue referencing the other movies, but I have no memory of that and might have missed those parts when watching the flick.]

Superman....whatever it is called, is the exact opposite of this movie. It's just the origin of Superman again. The biggest thing it has going against it is that everyone's seen this story a million times. If that wasn't the case, it'd probably be really good. Animation is quite nice. Lobo naturally steals the show. J'onn J'onzz is always a treat. I enjoyed hearing Neil Flynn as Pa Kent. Perry White is modelled after George C. Scott. The main villain is Parasite, which is refreshing. Lex is getting political again, which also happened in Young Justice Outsiders, and I thought Quinto sounded off as Luthor (I had forgotten it was him doing the voice). Lois Lane in this (she's voiced by Alexandra Dadarrio, who I've only ever seen/heard in the campaign from the video game Battlefield: Hardline) is kind of a troll, and that's fun.

Batman: Death in the Family. I can't really tell you if it's any good, because I haven't really seen it. Oh I rented it, but I got screwed over, as did many others. I was curious how digital formats would handle this interactive movie, and the answer is poorly. Extremely poorly. How? They cut out the interactive element of it, thus cutting out over 50% of the film. I only got to see only one "playthrough" and it was a clip show recapping the Under The Red Hood movie.

I will have to track down the real version of this movie at some point in the future. Which is a shame, because I've heard there's some really interesting stuff in the other sections of it. I've heard Dimaggio's Joker is really good in this (I already really enjoyed his version in UTRH) and I was told this thing is intensively violent and disturbing. And I was doubtful. There's no way this thing could register any kind of strong reaction after the near-plotless gore-fest that was Apocalypse War. Then I looked up some spoilers online for this thing and um.....YUP. That's one of the most messed up things I've ever seen. Should be "fun".

Now the GOOD news. To make up for cutting out almost the entire film, the digital rental included every single one of the new shorts, so I've seen all of them. The only one that was worth mentioning was Death of the Endless, which was a hauntingly beautiful and tragic story featuring a surprisingly well cast Jamie Chung as Death. I can't remember if I've ever read a single comic featuring the character but I've always liked Death of the Endless. There's something fun and pleasant about a personification of Death being depicted as a very pretty, very friendly young woman who is in no way overtly threatening or terrifying. She's got a great design and it's cool to have a really pleasant voice to attach to the design for the first time in any medium. I've read that this inclusion of this short actually caused the sales of the Blu-ray it was attached to increase dramatically. Highly recommended.

"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

BentonGrey

Hmm, I hadn't seen anything about that WW movie.  That actually looks pretty darn cool.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
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Silver Shocker

#149
It was kinda nifty. The original trailer shows off that WW would be fighting a bunch of WW-specific villains (Doctor Cyber and a movie-inspired Doctor Poison are also in this) and I thought that was kinda neat, especially since I barely know who any of these people are. It was mentioned in an interview that the movie was indeed meant to bank off the then-upcoming Wonder Woman 1984, and since that movie was going to use Cheetah they downplayed Cheetah's role in the story (she was going to have a much larger role, and thus ended up with a fairly small one here) and shifted focus to Silver Swan.

Mind you, I thought the original WW animated movie was rather good too, and IMO better than the live action movie (though they have similar plots, using Ares as the villain and having one scene, the scene in the alleyway, that are identical). The reason why? 1. The Amazons are put to MUCH better use in the movie's plot, heavily figuring into the final act and 2. Alfred Molina as Ares. We also see Hades in the underworld, who is depicted as a gross, hedonistic slob in a similar way to the Hedon-Bot from Futurama.

Bloodlines is, if I recall, quite possibly the least violent film in the entire DC animated extended universe, I can't recall if there's a single one of those violent moments DC's animated films are known for, but it features a strangely lit and shot, out of place sequence where Silver Swan is naked before becoming a supervillain (apparently you have to take your clothes off to become a cyborg I guess. Someone forgot to tell Victor Stone that) the scene was done like some kind of satanic ritual. Like I said, it was strangely out of place.

Canada finally aired Green Lantern: Emerald Knights on tv (I have no idea why it took well over 10 years) so I have now seen EVERY single DC animated film in the main line with the exception of the proper version of Death of the Family. It was alright, but I get the feeling I would have enjoyed it more if I'd seen it back when it first came out. What was fun about the film is that each story in it is animated in a slightly different art style, with some of it being somewhat similar to Japanese Anime. The sequence with Kelly Hu's Laira was probably my favorite, but I liked the framing sequence with Aresia as well.

As long as I'm going over these movies, I might as well finally post a slightly revised version of my old review of JL vs the Fatal Five. It's a long review, but there's a lot to talk about with that movie:

I enjoyed it, but the bad news is I don't remember it too well (it airs on tv a lot, but I've never bothered to rewatch it). The good news is I wrote my review of it back when I saw the film like a year ago so even though I don't remember the details, I still wrote them down. (Wow, rereading my review, there's a LOT I don't remember about this movie. Might warrant a rewatch)

Is it like watching a lost JLU storyline? Somewhat. It looks like one, it sounds like one. The music sounds like JLU, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all debut with the level of gusto appropriate for this return. Conroy, Newbern and Eisenberg fit the roles again like a glove. Like they time traveled from 2006 (had to look it up - do I feel old). There's some cute dialogue that feels suitably DCAU ("Your dad would be proud." "My dad was a farmer." "The other one.") The JLU theme music is present and accounted for. The Superman TAS and Batman TAS theme are both heard during the movie. Wonder Woman has a sword at her hip (a reasonable update IMO) but she uses it sparingly. Mr. Terrific being voiced by Kevin Micheal Richardson is a bit jarring, but not a deal breaker.

As in the early sneak peek, Batman and Ms. Martian stole the movie by a wide margin. Pretty much everything MM said was great and her interactions with Batman are some of the best in the whole DCAU. "Stay in the car." "It's hot in the car." I still don't like MM's costume in this though.

There's a number of cute nods to the DCAU that help it feel more like a sense of coming home. I appreciated them and would put them under the spoiler tag if that was still a thing. [Edit: the spoiler tag is back, so I will indeed put them under the them.]

That being said, it is another PG-13 DC animated movie. And as such, within the first twenty minutes alone we have cursing ("What the hell?" "What a load of crap" "You're a ring. You don't know d*ck" "Cut the crap.") and Star Boy has a nude scene where we see his butt a few times at a distance. We also have some mild political reference. A Mad Stan-style terrorist rants about the Kennedy assassination. Much later in the film, a character says the s-word. There is some PG-13 violence in line with the more modern animated movies as well. There's blood and stabbings.

Is it in the same universe as JLU? It certainly seems that way. Every returning character outside of the Legion looks exactly like they did in the original cartoons (minus WW's sword) but the Legion themselves don't match the designs from the Legion episode of JLU (or their appearances in Superman TAS for that matter). I wouldn't say that negates it being JLU.

As advertised, the movie tackles mental illness with Starboy and Jessica Cruz. While it does dip a bit into sensationalism with Starboy, as someone who lives with a condition every day, I found Jessica Cruz' material pretty relatable and well handled. For added meta, Jessica Cruz is voiced by Diane Guererro (Crazy Jane from Doom Patrol). Her performance is a little bit stiff compared to Doom Patrol, but otherwise decent. 

So yeah, highly recommended for JLU/DCAU fans, as long as the mild PG-13 content isn't a deal breaker.

Here's some of the references I caught:

Spoiler
-J'onn is mentioned as being offworld fighting Okaarans.
-Miss Martian teases Batman by turning into the DCAU Tim Drake Robin at one point.
-A fight breaks out at "Maggin Center" no doubt a reference to Eliot S! Maggin.
-At the asylum, we see Two-Face, who has a fair amount of dialogue, as well as Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. You hear a bit of Tara Strong as Harley during a riot scene, as she was also on hand to voice Saturn Girl and Cruz's therapist. Bruce Timm voiced Two-Face. Did a pretty good job too. Though, to paragraph Linkara "Why would you send Starboy to the same place you send The Joker?!"
-Batman, when talking about Jessica Cruz, has a line that implies there are other Green Lanterns.
-Starboy mentions the Joker being at Arkham, saying people were afraid of him.
-There's no reference to Supergirl, as near as I could tell (fans of JLU may recall she stayed in the future at the end of the Legion episode near the end of the show's run)
-Ms. Martian sees a photo of Star Boy and Lightning Lass and assumes she's his girlfriend. Jessica says she could be his cousin, which makes MM smile.
-When Batman and MM see the Legion museum, as seen in the Sneak Peek, we see Wildfire, Bouncing Boy, Dawnstar, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Ultra Boy
-We see 31st century museum exihibits of the Justice Leauge, featuring statues of Aquaman, Hawkgirl, J'onn, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Vixen, Steel, Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Huntress, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, Atom and Flash - all in thier DCAU designs. During this sequence it plays a version of the Justice League season 1 and 2 theme music. Batman's statue is based on his Batman TAS design, which leads to Batman saying "Nothing like me."
-After that we see a Green Lantern exhibit - showing Hal, John, Guy AND Kyle. Kyle's even wearing his original 90's comic costume, Crab mask and all.
-The Green Lanterns are said to be fighting a war on Rann.
-Kilowog makes a cameo, voiced by KMR, who voiced him on Green Lantern: TAS.

One thing that bothered me about the movie though. Starboy, without 31st Century medication, is hindered by his condition for pretty much the entire movie, prone to emotional outbursts and somewhat disjointed ramblings. So during the movie I'm thinking, you've got Mister Terrific, the third most intelligent man on the planet, right there. And Batman. You're telling me neither of them could MAKE the medicine for him? I mean, ok, sure, that's not really their field, but the third smartest person (the first according to JLU was Lex Luthor) should be able to do it, and we've seen the DCAU Batman make medicine for people before.

In closing, I didn't love it, and it's not quite the return to JLU form, but I would enthusiastically advocate DC to make it a full revival series ala Young Justice, Clone Wars or Animaniacs. I could watch an entire show of just Batman and this movie's version of Miss Martian.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa