Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie review

I’ve been a comic book, and general hero, fan my entire life as far back as I go. As a rule, I’m more of a DC fan than Marvel, or at least that was true until the DC reboot several years ago. I’m also a big fan of movies. Give me a dark room, a big screen, and some popcorn and I’m a happy guy. I say all this as background to try and get across what a big thing it was for me to NOT see Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice in the theater. It was the first time two of the most famous comic book heroes out there shared the big screen, and I just couldn’t bring myself to see it after Man of Steel. I’m not going to rehash the Man of Steel controversy here. I will say, and most have agreed, that it was the most divisive comic book movie ever made. For me, on the heels of such dismal products as Green Lantern, Jonah Hex (how do you screw up a cowboy movie??), and Dark Knight Rises, I didn’t like where they went with Man of Steel. Everything I saw suggested that Dawn of Justice would continue that, so I decided to not give them my money. For me, I made the right choice.

Dr. Strange review

The Marvel Cinematic Universe adds not only a new character, but a whole new area to their shared world as the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, debuts, bringing magic with him. Earlier movies (Thor, Thor: The Dark World) made some half-hearted attempt to invoke Arthur C Clarke’s comment about, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” With Dr. Strange, magic is most definitely not the same thing as science.

Suicide Squad movie review

There are a lot of bad reviews out of Suicide Squad. In my humble opinion, they are wrong. I just saw it, and thought it was a lot of fun. It wasn’t as good as some top tier Marvel efforts (Winter Soldier, Civil War, Avengers) but it was a LOT better than some of DC’s recent efforts (Man of Steel, Green Lantern, Hex). I thought it was a fun action flick with a few Easter Eggs and respected the original source material.

A History of the Suicide Squad

With the movie coming out soon, I thought this was a good time to go over the history of DC’s team of rogues. They first appeared in 1959 in the Brave and the Bold anthology title, and have had a few different incarnations. This piece will go over the major eras, and some of the big players.

The Killing Joke: The Animated Movie

Warnings/disclaimers: The Killing Joke is not a typical Batman story. There are a lot of serious plot threads in this one and subject matter that might offend, insult, or be something of a trigger issue for people. You are warned. Proceed at your own risk.

Justice League Trailer

Well Comic-Con has produced the usual almost overwhelming amount of news, hints, rumors and trailers. There’s a lot to look at, think on, and speculate about. Here, I’m looking at the Justice League trailer. There’s a lot in that almost two and a half minutes.

X-Men Apocalypse review

X-Men: Apocalypse could in some ways be called X-Men: Remix. A lot of characters we’ve seen before get reintroduced since the timeline was reset in Days of Future Past. Conveniently, this let them recast younger actors for almost every role. There’s also a very odd mix of keeping some character’s backgrounds, or at least pieces of them, but wholly disregarding others.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

DC has certainly had their issues with live action movies over the last several years, but their animated features continue to be great. Kind of the reverse of Marvel in my opinion. The DC Animated Universe is one of the finest bodies of work out there, and the individual ones they’ve done since have been pretty damn good. There are various spoilers below. Thou art warned, reader.

Mockingbird 4

This is the reunion I’ve wanted since they announced Mockingbird was getting her own book. I’m figuring it’s not a spoiler to say Hawkeye shows up since he’s on the cover. Their interaction is a blast to watch. Sadly, there’s no sign of them getting back together, but I didn’t really think that was going to happen. There are, however, some hysterical scenes of them in what appears to be a marriage counselor’s office.

Agents of SHIELD: Emanciapation

The Agents of SHIELD are getting close to the end of the season. “Emancipation” is the last episode before the two hour finale. Things are building to a head, and they do their usual great job of incorporating the events of the movies into the show. It’s not just a passing reference or nod, Captain America: Civil War actually has some influence over this episode.