DVD/TV Series Review: Batman Beyond: The Complete Series

 

Batman Beyond was an animated series that aired for three seasons from 1999 to 2001. The voice cast included Will Friedle, Kevin Conroy, Cree Summer, Lauren Tom, Stockard Channing, and Angie Harmon. This was the "middle" series in the DC Animated Universe series of shows, which started with Batman: The Animated Series and ended with Justice League Unlimited. This essentially sets Batman in the future. This is mostly a sequel to Batman: The Animated series. It features two time jumps from the end of that series. The first is a 20-year jump from the end of Batman: The Animated Series, showing Bruce Wayne's last outing as Batman. Then there is a 30-year jump when a new Batman, this time a high school student named Terry McGiniss, takes up the fight with Bruce Wayne, acting in a role similar to Alfred for Terry.

It is a very different series from the original Batman series. Kevin Conroy returns as an old (and even more grizzly) Bruce Wayne but really fills the Alfred role for Terry McGinnis. He does a great job with the voice work again, just as he did in the original series. The series also has tie-ins with both the original Batman series, as well as the animated Superman series. The time jump is a bit weird because the original animated Batman series looked like it was set in the 1940s or 1950s, and part of this series looks like it was set in the mid to late 1990s with CD Rom and cell phone technology, but then also has flying cars and makes Gotham look like a futuristic Toyko or Bejing. They never do nail down when it was supposed to be taking place, and all the showrunners said in the bonus material is that it was set 50 years after whenever the original series was. There is no actual series finale in this set. It just ended with a regular episode. The real wrap-up to the series was done on an episode of Justice League Unlimited, which actually aired after this series but is set earlier in time when Bruce Wayne was still young.

The DVD set is an eight-disc set with three seasons spread across the 8 discs. There are two discs for the 13-episode first and third seasons and 4 for the 26-episode second season. There is also a bonus disc that has a couple other show-specific features and then an hour-and-a-half-long documentary on the history of DC Comics and all that had spanned from it, including the TV series and movies (up to about 2008). The other extras are commentary tracks for some of the episodes, some making-of featurettes, which were interviews with the producers of the show, and trailers for some of the other animated shows and movies. Thankfully, there are no double-sided discs like there were for the Superman series. A good amount of bonus material for what is included.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Batman: The Killing Joke

 

Batman: The Killing Joke is a 2016 adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by the creative team behind the vast majority of the DC Animated Universe, which included Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. It is set as an ancillary story to Batman: The Animated Series and brings back Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to reprise their roles as Batman and The Joker. It largely serves as an origin story for Joker. Parts of it were included in the original Tim Burton Batman movie, although some of the details changed. Aside from that, it is really to display the sadistic side of Joker and highlight the dance between Joker and Batman, which has played out in many forms.

For those who get the blu-ray, the extras include trailers and behind-the-scenes looks at other movies, both animated and live-action, two Joker-centric episodes from Batman TAS, and a couple making-of featurettes specific to The Killing Joke. Probably an hour's worth of material altogether, which is good considering the movie is only an hour and 16 minutes long. It definitely caters to an adult crowd, and while I think it could have warranted a PG-13 rating, the R rating that it got is not out of bounds. It is much more violent than TAS and has some sexual content. I have never read the graphic novel, so I am not sure exactly how true the movie keeps to the graphic novel, and I cannot say that fans of the graphic novel will automatically like this. However, I do think that anyone who was a fan of Batman TAS will likely enjoy this. It is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Justice League: Season 1

 

The animated Justice League series aired for two seasons on the cartoon network from 2001 to 2004. The 26-episode first season aired during the 2001/2002 TV season. The series is, in part, a follow-up series to the animated Batman and Superman series (it was done by the same showrunners as those shows) from the 1990s. Some of the actors, like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, reprise their roles, but others (like Tim Daily) do not. The season is basically a bunch of mini-movie stories broken into two and sometimes three episodes. Some of them are focused on one or two characters in the Justice League (Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern). Not every character appears in every episode, which makes the "big" team-up episodes feel even bigger. The three episodes that end the season have an Earth-X kind of feel, involving a scenario where the Nazis win WWII and the heroes have to find a way to undo it.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. All 26 of the first season episodes are included. There is no main menu, and the episodes start playing as soon as the disc loads. There is a disc menu that you can access if you want to. Thankfully, you have the option to start where you left off, so if you stop before you get through all the episodes on the disc you do not have to try and find your place again. The extras consist of commentary tracks on select episodes and then a few making-of featurettes with the showrunners explaining how the series came about.

Overall, I would say the series is not quite as good as either the original Batman and Superman animated series, but it is close. I do think it misses having some of the ancillary Batman and Superman characters missing, but given that there are so many main characters in the show it is hard to add other characters (other than villains) in. If you are a fan of the other animated series it is definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Batman: The Animated Series: Deluxe Limited Edition

 

Batman: The Animated Series aired from 1992 to 1995. The series was created by Bruce Timm and starred Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Bob Hastings, Loren Lester, Efrem Zimbalist, Melissa Gilbert, and Adrienne Barbeau (among others). Chances are, if you were anywhere from a pre-teen to a young adult in the early 1990s, you watched this series. It was put out as one of the Fox Kids shows a few years after the original Tim Burton Batman movie, which definitely (down to the score) played a large inspiration in the series. It had mostly a blend of the two original movies, the darker comics, and even a couple nods to the old tv series throughout its run. Kevin Conroy did a great job as the voice of Batman, and Mark Hamill was awesome as the Joker, which was the villain that appeared the most throughout the run. It also introduced the character of Harley Quinn (voiced by Barbeau), who has become more popular over the years both in live-action and in other animated series and video games.

The Deluxe Limited Edition box set is a 12-disc set. The set has all three "seasons" of the show, which spanned from 1992 to 1998 and aired on a couple different networks. The first season had 65 episodes, the second had 20, and the third had 24. The two movies Mask of the Phantasm and Sub-Zero are also included in the set. Most of the discs have extras (usually commentary tracks, but there are also some interviews with the actors and showrunners. There is also a separate bonus disc that has an hour-and-a-half-long making-of feature (broken into about 4 parts which you can play all at once) and a minute-and-a-half-long featurette on how they came up with Harley Quinn. The Mask of the Phantasm disc only has the trailer as an extra, but the Sub-Zero disc has every Mr. Freeze episode from the animated series, including Batman Beyond. The set also comes with miniature Funko POPs of Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn.

The series looks about as good as a 25-year-old (as of this writing) cartoon can on blu-ray. It is a good transfer, but it is not going to look like a movie from the mid-2000s forward does on blu-ray. The packaging for the discs, at least in the collector's edition which is the one that came with the figurines, sucks. They are very tight slipcases, so you have to pull hard on the discs to get them out while holding the two sides of the slipcases apart. Luckily the blu-ray discs have an anti-scratch coating on them so they are protected, but they are impossible to get out without getting fingerprints on the media side, so have a soft cloth handy otherwise you may have playback trouble if you do not clean the fingerprints off. That is what knocks it down a star for me.

For fans the series is iconic. For a long time (between the Tim Burton movies and the Nolan Trilogy) it was the best version of Batman (at least that was not a comic book) that there was. It also spawned the Superman and Justice League animated series, as well as Batman Beyond which brought Kevin Conroy back as an older Bruce Wayne, as well as the video games which have come out over the years. The Killing Joke movie is the only thing missing that would have completed the set. Given, however, that The Killing Joke is rated R, there is really no way it can be included in a set that is otherwise suitable for kids. The issue with the packaging aside, it is a great series, and definitely worth a pickup.

DVD/Movie Set Review: The Dark Knight Trilogy

 

This is a blu-ray box set of the trilogy of live-action Batman movies starring Christian Bale and directed by Christopher Nolan. Any fan of Batman knows that the movie franchise was nearly dead after the dreadful Batman and Robin movie in the late 1990s. The franchise had changed directors once (Tim Burton to Joel Schumacher) and stars three times (Michael Keaton to Val Kilmer to George Clooney). While the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton movies were very good.  Batman Forever (which was the first one directed by Schumacher) was good but edging toward the campy side, and Batman and Robin was almost universally reviled. This trilogy brought the series back in a big way.

First, it brought back stability. Nolan co-wrote and directed all three movies, so the tone, visuals, and feel remained the same. Just as importantly, Christian Bale was in the lead role for all three. Regardless of whether you think he was the best Batman/Bruce Wayne or not, the continuity that not changing actors every movie brought was very important. Secondly, the movies were more than just superhero or action movies. It brought in big-name actors for both the main roles and the supporting roles and focused on not only having good scripts but excellent acting (punctuated by Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker). Those elements were spotty in the superhero genre up to that point. In some movies, you would have big-name actors and a good script. In some, you would have a decent script but only one or two big-name actors, and in some, you would have an awful script. These movies did not rely just on a bunch of special effects and lots of explosions to tell the story. Lastly, Nolan tried to bring a sense of realism where possible. Obviously, these are movies based on a comic book, and most of what you see in them could not happen in real life. But, the fact that the movies were filmed in real cities and that the gadgets he used (especially in Batman Begins) were somewhat realistic (like his grappling gun) made the movies more enjoyable for me.

Of the three movies I actually think the last one has the best overall story. Obviously, however, Heath Ledger's performance as Joker was the touchstone of the three movies. He played the in-control psychotic so well, that it will be hard for anyone to top that live-action version of the character. Even though I think Ledger was the best villain, I think all the movies did a good job with the bad guys. I especially liked that they cast Bane based on acting ability and not just finding a big guy with no talent. Obviously, Tom Hardy is not 7 feet tall or anywhere near it, but his version of Bane was much better than the one in Batman and Robin.

Chances are if you are reading this you have already seen each movie multiple times. While I do not think any of them are absolutely perfect, I think they are as close to perfect as the superhero movies that had come out up to that point had been in a long time. And, you can certainly argue that the success of Batman Begins played a big part in the Marvel movies being taken seriously from the start.  I had hoped that the series that Nolan started would continue in some way. The ending of Dark Knight Rises certainly left that possibility open. But, after this many years, if it were to do so, it would more likely be in a "Batman Beyond" type of situation in which Bale plays the role of Alfred to a new, younger, Batman. 

This set repackages the original blu-ray releases into a decorative outer box. You get the same extras/bonus content (if you like watching that material) that the original discs were released with. There was no new bonus content created for this release. If you bought the movies individually on blu-ray the only new thing you get with this is the outer box. But, if you do not have the movies and have not upgraded to a 4k blu-ray player and a 4K TV, this is a good pickup, and definitely worth watching.

4k-UHD Box Set Review: The Dark Knight Trilogy

 

This is, as most probably know, the trilogy of Batman movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises) that were written and directed by Christopher Nolan, and starred Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Batman Begins (released in 2005) represented the resurrection of Batman in live-action movies after the turd that was Batman and Robin had pretty much killed it off in 1999, and arguably set the stage for the success that superhero movies have had to this day, including the MCU movies because Nolan (and the studio) wanted to make a serious movie that was grounded in some kind of reality. The Dark Knight (released in 2008) is best known for the masterful performance of Heath Ledger playing The Joker, and The Dark Knight Rises (released in 2012) was a good conclusion of the story. The movies have a strong supporting cast including Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Ken Wanatabe, Anne Hathaway, Katie Homles, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhall, Mathew Modine, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon Levitt (among others). 

In this set, each of the movies is packaged in individual cases within a decorative outer box. Each movie is a three-disc set with a 4k UHD disc and two regular blu-ray discs. The UHD discs just have the movies themselves, and then one of the regular blu-rays has the movie (which can be played with an in-movie experience that pops up facts about the movie throughout) and the second regular blu-ray disc just has special features. For each movie, you get 2-3 hours of bonus content with a lot of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes that include interviews with members of the cast and crew, as well as featurettes on some aspect of the overall Batman mythology, and trailers. The A/V quality of the UHD discs is awesome, especially for the scenes filmed in IMAX for the second and third movies, and are reference quality, especially if you have a large screen and a great sound system to watch it on.

Overall, the movies are great. They are, arguably, the best of Batman in live-action. I liked that they set the movies in the "real world" and made his gadgets have some grounding in reality so it looked and felt like the things in the movie could happen in real life. In my opinion, Bale, at least up to that point had done the best job playing both characters (Bruce and Batman) in live-action and being believable in both roles. I think Michael Keaton was a great Bruce Wayne, but was not as believable as Batman. I think Kilmer played a good Bruce Wayne and a good Batman, but he was not as good as Keaton or Bale as Bruce and not as good as Bale as Batman. And Clooney was not great in either role. I think the A/V quality of the UHD presentation is good enough that it warrants the upgrade even if you already own the movies on blu-ray. I definitely recommend this set.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

 

This is the third and final movie in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film is set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight with Gotham being mostly crime-free and Bruce Wayne holding up as a recluse in Wayne Manor while Batman is vilified for killing Harvey Dent. Dent is still being held out as a hero, and the law passed in his name allowed the police to keep all the criminals he prosecuted locked up. When a new threat to Gotham emerges, in the form of a mercenary named Bane (played by Tom Hardy) who was excommunicated from The League of Shadows, Bruce must bring Batman back to try and save the city.

The 4k-UHD version is a three-disc set. The UHD disc just has the movie itself, and then there are two regular blu-ray discs, one with the film and one with most of the extras. The regular blu-ray with the movie on it does have a second-screen experience that allows you to watch the movie with exclusive content that pops up as the movie plays. The bonus disc has about two hours worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of material, and an hour-long featurette on the Batmobile, basically discussing its evolution during the comics and the various live-action versions. It included interviews with Adam West and the creator of the Batmobile from the 1960s TV show, as well as Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, and the crew members who designed the cars for the pre-Nolan movies, and then extensive interviews with the design team from the Nolan movies. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is wonderful, especially during the Imax sequences that are scattered throughout the movie. 

Overall, this is a fine end to the Nolan Trilogy, which absolutely revived the live-action Batman franchise and arguably paved the way for the boom of superhero movies that would follow 2005's Batman Begins. The main supporting characters/actors (Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman) were all brought back, and the additions to the cast were, of course, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway playing Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon Levitt who is a GCPD member, as well as Ben Mendelsohn (from Rouge One), Marion Cotillard, Adien Gillian (from Game of Thrones), and 80s star Matthew Modine. And, Cillian Murphy makes yet another appearance as Dr. Crane. Some of the supporting character's roles are definitely larger than others. Hathaway does a great job as Selina Kyle, although playing a much different version of the character than any of the other live-action versions of her, and Hardy is very good as Bane, especially having to act through a mask through 99% of his scenes. There were rumors that the original plan was also to work Joker into the third movie, however, after Heath Ledger's death, that role was never going to be recast, and they did not even use archival footage or deleted footage from the second movie of Joker in this one. While I still think that the second movie, The Dark Knight, is the best in the trilogy, this is a worthy follow-up and definitely worth watching.

4k-UHD/Movie Review: The Dark Knight

 

This is, of course, the second movie in the Christopher Nolan directed and Christian Bale led live-action Batman trilogy which not only revived the live-action Batman franchise from near death, but arguably paved the way for the historic run of superhero movies that is still going strong today. The fact that Nolan took these movies seriously, coupled with the fact that the first Iron Man movie (which came out the same year as this) was so well done really took superhero movies out of the "cult following" that had been the majority of their fanbase and opened the genre up to wider appeal.

This movie is set about a year after the events of Batman Begins with Batman having terrorized the city criminals and inspired lackluster (to say the least) copycat vigilantes. Gordon (played again by Gary Oldman) is now the head of the major crimes unit (cleverly nicknamed MCU) which is trying to take down the mob and "capture" Batman. Joker (played brilliantly by Heath Ledger) offers his services to the mob to kill Batman and get the heat off of them put on by Gordon and new Gotham District Attorney, Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart). Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also reprise their roles as Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox, and Eric Roberts joins the cast as mobster Sal Maroni.

Aside from Ledger's casting, which was controversial when it was announced, the other big casting change from the first movie was replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes with Maggie Gyllenhaal. At the time, it was speculated the Holmes' marriage to Tom Cruise and participation in Scientology was the reason, but Nolan has gone on record saying that she was simply not available to do the sequel. Whatever the reason, while I personally would have preferred for Holmes to return (mainly because I am not a fan of recasting).Gyllenhaal does a good job with the role. 

This set has three discs, the 4K-UHD disc that has just the movie itself, a regular blu-ray disc with just the movie, and a second blu-ray disc with most of the special features. The regular blu-ray disc does include a making-of documentary called Gotham Uncovered, and the movie can be played with a picture-in-picture option that includes some of the material from the Gotham Uncovered documentary. The rest of the features are on the second blu-ray disc and include a featurette on Batman's tech, the psychology of Batman, a series of Gotham Tonight episodes, hosted in-character by Anthony Michael Hall's character from the movie and featuring some of the other cast members, and the trailers, and a gallery of the different Joker cards.

Overall, the movie is great. One of the best superhero movies of all time in my opinion. While Ledger was only in the movie for a minimal amount of screen time (all totaled), he dominated pretty much every scene he was in, and his appearances were spaced out well so it seemed like he was in the movie much more than he was. The only thing I would have done differently is [SPOILERS AHEAD] kept Two-Face for the next movie. Maybe make him disappear and then exact revenge in the third movie instead of killing him off after only four scenes. From what I had read, the plan was originally to bring Joker back for the third movie in some capacity. Of course, Ledger's death shortly after filing wrapped made that impossible and by that point, the movie was finished and it would have been too expensive to go back and totally change the ending.

Regardless, the movie is great and the A/V quality of the UHD disc, especially in the IMAX scenes is wonderful.  It is definitely worth the upgrade to the 4k blu-ray. 

4k-UHD Review- Batman Begins

 

Batman Begins was the 2005 reboot of the live-action Batman franchise which had mostly been killed off by the hot garbage of a movie that was Batman and Robin. This movie was co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan who, at the time, was best known for movies like Memento and Insomnia. It starred Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon (who was a Sergent at the time), and Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox. It included a supporting cast of Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson, and two who would become Nolan regulars, Ken Watanabe and Cillian Murphy.

The movie was another origin story for the character of Batman, but unlike other adaptations in which the murder of Bruce's parents is shown and then there is a time jump to him being established as Batman, this movie shows the process of Bruce becoming Batman, and what he had to do to get to that point, including training with the League of Shadows, a society of assassins who practice ninjutsu and want to restore law and order to the world. Then the movie shows Bruce returning to Gotham to take on the criminal underworld (mainly Tom Wilkinson's Carmine Falcone) that has taken over the city.

The 4k-UHD set is a three-disc set. There is the UHD disc that just has the movie, a regular blu-ray disc that also just has the movie on it, and then a second blu-ray disc that has all of the special features. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good, near reference quality, and definitely an upgrade from the original 1080p release. There are well over two hours worth of bonus content on the third disc, including several making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, which detail nearly every part of the filmmaking process from the creation of the new Batmobile to the stunt training. The first six-minute opening sequence of the second movie in the trilogy, The Dark Knight is also included, as is the theatrical trailer for Batman Begins.

Overall, the movie is great. It is much better than the Joel Schumacher-helmed movies, and very much on par quality-wise with, but much different than Tim Burton's movies. Nolan grounds the movie in reality as much as he can, making Gotham look like a real city and using as few CGI effects as he possibly can. Bale, as much as he can be a jackass in real-life at times and seems to take himself way too seriously, does a great job both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. He absolutely threw himself into the role (as he does for all his movies), and was really the first actor that I think nailed both roles in live-action. Katie Holmes was very good as Rachel Dawes, Bruce's childhood friend turned assistant District Attorney who was one of the few officials in Gotham who was not corrupt, and Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were great in their respective roles. So, if you are a fan of Batman it is a must-see movie, and the 4k disc is definitely worth the upgrade. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: Season 4

 

The fourth season of Gotham is the second to last season of the show and aired during the 2017-2018 season. It starts out some time down the line from the events that ended the last season, with the effects of the Tetch virus still affecting the city. This season has several different serial arcs going on as the show has pretty much done away with the bad-guy-of-the-week format combined with the serial arcs that the first couple of seasons had. This season really jumps between the different arcs, the plot lines of which overlap at certain points, and then come together at the end of the season. This season is really focused on who with get control of the criminal underworld with Oswald/Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) Lee (Morena Baccarin), who has taken over The Narrows with the help of Nygma/Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), and Barbara (Erin Richards) all battling for control, while Gordon (Ben Mackenzie) tries to keep the city together. In the middle of the season, there is a multi-episode arc involving the serial killer Professor Pyg, and toward the end of the season, Jerome (Cameron Monaghan; who the show is still teasing as maybe he is or maybe he is not The Joker) returns to cause even more mayhem. Bruce (David Mazouz) continues to have to deal with Ra's al Guhl (played by Alexander Siddig) while getting closer to taking up the mantle as the protector of Gotham.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the 22 episodes are spread across 4 discs. The A/V quality is the same as it has been for the prior season releases, and the other DC shows such as Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, etc. The extras are definitely scaled back from prior releases, but there are a few featurettes specific to the show, including a "new" villain who appears this season, a featurette on The Sirens (basically all of the female villains on the show), deleted scenes, and The Best of DC TV's 2017 at Comic-Con, which the same featurette that was included on the other DC show season releases that year. 

The season continues to be good, and at times very good. The show is definitely trying to pack all the bad guys it can into the show and give as many as possible origin stories. It is still hard to buy that David Mazouz will eventually turn into Batman, because, while he has gotten taller over the course of the four seasons of the show, he is still not to the point where he has grown into his body and started putting on muscle, so he just looks like a taller, skinny kid. This is fine when they have him honing his detective skills, but not all that believable when he is fighting off a bunch of bad guys. The season ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger that will definitely set up the storyline for the final season. Ultimately, if you liked the first three seasons then you will probably like this one. If not, then this is probably not going to change your mind about the show.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: The Complete Third Season

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from the prior season, but no major season three spoilers+++

The third season of Gotham is essentially split into two parts. The first part, which picks up six months after the end of season two, under the subtitle Mad City, in which Hugo Strange's (B. D. Wong) various beasts and freaks (including the Bruce doppelganger) released after the bus crash are roaming Gotham. Gordon (Ben Mckenzie) has become a private investigator after being fired from the GCPD Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter, to find his sister Alice. Gordon discovers Alice's blood contains a virus which becomes a plot line that affects the rest of the season. Lee (Morena Baccarin) has moved on from Jim and resumes her job at the GCPD, and Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) decides to run for Mayor of Gotham. The major storyline involving Bruce (David Mazouz) this season involves the Court of Owls, a powerful group that basically controls Gotham, and then later in the season, during the Heroes Rise subtitle, The League of Shadows. This season does not end on a major cliffhanger but does set up potential season four story arcs.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the extras include deleted scenes, a portion of the 2016 Comic-Con panel, featurettes on The Court of Owls and the new villains, and a featurette on the episode directed by Ben McKenzie. And, the A/V quality continues to be top-notch, which is great given the heavy use of CGI effects.

Overall, the season is very good. Many of the characters continue to be some shade of gray morally. Some of the bad guys have a twinge of good, and some of the good guys take a dark turn this season. The show continues to have a strong supporting cast including Michael Chiklis, Jamie Chung, Ivana Miličević, Cameron Monaghan, James Remar, Paul Reubens (playing a similar role to his cameo in Batman Returns), and Alexander Siddig. In the third season, the show pretty much transitions from the procedural-serial combination that it has been in the first couple of seasons to a straight serial with a bunch of longer story arcs that run throughout the season and intertwine here and there. The show makes good use of the large ensemble cast and makes a good decision to make Bruce just one of the characters as opposed to the main character, especially since David Mazouz is still relatively young and not exactly physically imposing. So, if you can accept the fact that it is not really a Batman series, but want to see origin stories for the various characters, this is definitely worth your time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: Season 1

 

The first season of Gotham included 22 episodes that aired during the 2014-2015 TV season. The story of Bruce Wayne/Batman has been told countless multiple times in live-action. In most versions, we see the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in front of a young Bruce Wayne and then flash forward to his decision to become Batman (or once he is Batman). Of course, that pretty much has to be done in the movies so you can have an actual Batman movie. None of the movies or TV shows have told the story of what happened to Bruce as he was growing up, until now. Gotham is an origin story for Gotham City itself as well as the villains whom Batman would ultimately come to face when he grew up. The easy comparison to make is to Smallville, which showed a teenage Clark Kent before he became Superman. Here, a young Bruce Wayne, played by David Mazouz, has to deal with the trauma of the death of his parents, try to be a kid, and start his journey toward becoming a vigilante with the help of his butler, Alfred (played by Sean Pertwee). The rest of the first season cast included Ben McKenzie, Robin Lord Taylor, Carmen Bicondova, Erin Richards, Morena Caccarin, Cory Michael Smith, Donal Logue, Jada Pinkett Smith, Drew Powell, and had recurring characters including Carol Kane, and Peter Scolari.

The focus of the first season is really on the criminal underworld of Gotham, not controlled by Supervillains but by mobsters staking out their turf and the corrupt police department that largely looks the other way. At this point in the story Jim Gordon (played by The O.C.'s Ben Makenzie) is a rookie detective, paired with a grizzled veteran Harvey Bullock (played by Donal Logue). Bullock is one of the loo the other way cops, who sometimes dabbles in being corrupt, and of course, Gordon refuses to do either. The show is in part a case-of-the-week procedural and also has some serial arcs that play out throughout the season. The large ones this season involve mobsters Fish Mooney (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) who has ambitions beyond being an associate of mob boss Carmine Falcone (played by the recognizable character actor John Doman). We also get the introduction of the iconic bad guys including Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), and Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova ). The show also has a very strong supporting and recurring cast including Morena Baccarin (from Firefly), Erin Richards, Drew Powell, Carol Kane, Peter Scolari, and more. There are also some swerves and misdirection when it comes to some characters. The season ends with a couple of cliffhangers and a couple of reveals that will set up season two and beyond.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. The show uses a mix of practical and special effects and everything looks seamless. The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. Each disc has deleted scenes for the episodes on that particular disc. All the other extras are on the fourth disc, including a three-part making-of featurette that lasts about a half hour. Then there is a 20-minute feature on designing the look of the series, a 26-minute feature on Penguin, and a 21-minute series of short web featurettes which has more cast interviews. Then there is a DC night at comic-con, a feature that lasts about half an hour and includes material from the other series, Flash, Arrow, and Constantine. Finally, there is a short gag reel.

Overall, the season is very good. Obviously, this is not a Batman show, as David Mazouz was just 12 or 13 when the season was filmed. In fact, while Bruce appeared in every episode, he was not always a focus of the episodes and was often just an ancillary character. While the show was on the air at the same time as Arrow, it was, aside from a blink and you'll miss it Queen Consolidated logo in the pilot, was never established as being in the Arrowverse. In fact, it is not clear exactly what time the show was set in as all of the cars in the show are older but they have cell phones. The show is well written and very well acted, with Mackenzie and Louge doing much of the heavy lifting on the "good guy" side of things. There are definitely some elements from the comics that are incorporated, but the show also aims to tell its own story and not be a carbon copy of any other variations of Batman. It is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Batman: The Movie (1966)

 

Batman, the movie is essentially a longer (just over an hour and a half) version of one of the very campy 1960s TV series episodes. It was actually filmed between seasons one and two of the show. It is basically a team-up between the series' villains, Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meridith), Catwoman (Lee Merriweather, who took over for an unavailable Julie Newmar), and Riddler (Frank Gorshin). Of course, they try to lure Batman into a trap, including kidnapping Bruce Wayne. Like the TV show, the movie is very campy and tongue-in-cheek. The two most memorable scenes are Batman running around trying to dispose of a huge bomb without endangering anything from puppies to nuns (my Torts professor in law school could have easily made an exam question out of that) and the shark repellant scene. Of course, the '60s series is totally different from any recent versions of Batman, which makes the character very dark and violent. But, given the time in which the show aired, that is what they could get away with, and they were not going to change the movie's tone to be inconsistent with the show.

For those who get the special edition Blu-Ray, the extras include two commentary tracks on the movie. One by the screenwriter and a great one with Adam West and Burt Ward, who are pretty hilarious. Then there is a series of featurettes, the main one titled Batman: A Dynamic Legacy, which is a 30-minute retrospective on the series' impact. Then there are separate features on the heroes and the villains of the show, and a feature on the Batmobile. It also includes the featurette from the original 2001 DVD release that contained interviews with the surviving cast members. So, if you like watching the extras, there is a lot there for you.

Overall, you must go into this knowing what it is and is not. If you are not a fan of the 60s TV show, watching this will be a waste of time. It has the same cheesy, campy tone, and the plot makes as much sense (or does not) of any of the plots in the TV episodes. It is funny in parts, eye-roll inducing in other parts, and you have to know you are not getting anything close to "The Dark Knight" version of the character. While the movie does look and sound pretty good in HD, I would not say it got an over-the-top restoration like some older movies have, so really, the main reason to get the Blu-Ray over streaming it is for the extras because you have the tv series on disc, and/or just a preference for physical media. If you are in one of those categories, it is a good pickup.

Video Game Review: Batman: Arkham Knight

 

This is, at least for now, the final entry into the Arkham series of games. It brings back Kevin Conroy to voice Bruce/Batman and is a great gaming experience, expanding on what each of the prior games has done. It is very challenging, even in the easiest setting, and has enough side quests (including allowing you to play as Harley Quinn for a portion of the game) that you will not get bored with the story. It also incorporates the use of the Batmobile a lot more, with some points in the game in which you have to use it to get through a portion of the game. It is not just used to get you from place to place as in the prior games. The graphics look wonderful on the PS4 and (at least with the disc) the gameplay is very smooth. If you are a fan of the other Arkham games, this is definitely worth the pickup.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Batman: The Complete Television Series (Limited Edition)

 

This review is for the limited edition Blu-Ray box set of the 1966 Batman TV Series starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin. The series ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968, airing a total of 120 episodes and a TV movie (which is not included in this set). Along with West and Ward, the series starred Alan Napier as Alfred, Neil Hamilton as Commissioner Gordon, Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara, and Madge Blake as Harriet Cooper, Dick Grayson's aunt. Later in the series, Yvonne Craig would join the cast as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. The series did have a ton of great guest stars (mostly as the villains), including Cesar Romero (who hilariously refused to shave his mustache to play The Joker), Julie Newmar/Lee Merriweather/Ertha Kitt, who all played Catwoman in different episodes, Burges Merideth as Penguin, Frank Gorshin as The Riddler, Vincent Price as Egghead, to name just a few. The show even had Bruce Lee in a guest starring role when he and Van Willimas crossed over from the Green Hornet TV series.

Chances are most people reading this have seen at least some of the series either because they are old enough to have watched its original run on TV or, like me, watched it in re-runs back when it aired in syndication regularly. If you do not fall into one of those categories, this classic show is pretty much the antithesis of what Batman has become in the more recent animated series and movies. It is not remotely dark, either visually or in tone, and is, at times, very, very silly. But, it was a product of its time and worked in the mid-1960s. The episodes were very repetitive. Pretty much every episode was a two-parter. At the end of the first part, Batman and Robin are usually in some life-threatening situation, and in the second part, they catch the bad guy (only for said bad guy to be released (or escape) from prison a few episodes down the line and return to do the whole thing over again). And, of course, nobody figured out who Batman and Robin were even though they went out in broad daylight and never did anything to disguise their voices. So, it is something that you just have to go with and accept that it will not make a ton of sense or be even remotely realistic. 

The Blu-Ray set is a 13-disc set. The discs for each individual season are packaged in their own flip case inside a decorative outer box. The A/V quality is very good. The episodes were completely remastered with upgraded video and sound. The show looks wonderful in HD and is much improved from what it looked like when it was on the air. Where the set really shines is the bonus content. There are some physical collectibles like a hot-wheels version of the Batmobile, some replica trading cards, and a booklet that serves as an episode guide. As far as the Blu-Ray extras go, they are pretty much all included on the last disc and include about three hours worth of featurettes that range from focusing on Adam West's life and career to featurette in which various celebrities discuss their love of the series. Unfortunately, there are no episode commentary tracks, which would have been nice because I am sure Adam West and Burt Ward would have recorded them if they had been asked to.

Overall, this is a great set. The Blu-Ray remaster looks great. All of the colors (and there are a lot of them) really pop, and the audio track, while they are not in the category of Dolby Atmos, sounds fine. There is an issue with a couple of the discs missing content from episodes, but Warners did a disc replacement program to allow you to swap out those discs. The show was one of the more successful superhero shows, getting a decent series run on a major network (of course, the CW and the WB did not exist when the series aired). It is not as good as the Nolan movie trilogy, Tim Burton's movies, or even Snyder's movies (assuming you like the darker, brooding version of Batman). But, for what it is, it is a fun series and is definitely worth the pickup.

Video Game Review: Batman: Arkham Origins

 

This is the third game in the Arkham series of Batman games. It is actually a prequel to Arkham asylum set eight years before that game when Batman was still early on in his career. The gameplay and graphics are awesome and keep getting better as more games are released. It is much more challenging than the first two games, which in a way makes sense. If Batman is in his second-year things are going to be harder for him than when he has been fighting crime for eight or nine years. The one nitpicky point is that Batman can do things in this game that he did not do in the other games, set after this one. I get that they want to keep updating the games to make them more exciting and fun, but really at this point in the timeline, Batman should be working with less advanced gadgets and have less ability than he does later on. The only disappointing thing about the game is that Kevin Conroy did not return to voice Bruce/Batman, but Roger Smith did a good job with the voice work. So, if you are a fan of the Arkham games, this is a must-play.

4KUHD/Movie Review: The Batman

 

The Batman is yet another live-action take on Batman, yet one that is much different than what has come before. This film forgoes doing the origin story that has been done multiple times and jumps into Batman's second year as a vigilante. He is working with Lieutenant Gordon who brings him in to investigate a series of murders involving high-ranking Gotham officials, with the killer leaving riddles for Batman at the scene of each kill. The story is much more of an origin story for the rogue's gallery of villains and is adapted heavily from the year one and year two comics.

The casting of the movie was (as always) controversial with Robert Pattinson playing Bruce Wayne/Batman, Zoe Kravits playing Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano playing The Riddler, Collin Farrell playing Penguin, Jeffrey Wright playing Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis playing Alfred, and John Turturro playing Carmine Falcone. Of course, Pattinson's casting was a subject of much debate (as has most every casting choice for Batman since Keaton landed the role in the late 1980s). Pattinson was best known for his roles in the Twilight series (which even he admits were not that good) and as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter. I think most people complaining about his casting either were not aware of his other work, in which he has shown his acting chops or just liked to complain. But, he, and the rest of the cast, did a great job with their characters. Farrell was unrecognizable both in look and voice as Penguin (he was really just a secondary character in the movie) and Dano, who to this point was probably best known as a side character in the movie Girl Next Door and from his role in There Will be Blood, was awesome as The Riddler. And, Barry Keoghan was great in his minute or so at the end clearly playing an early version of The Joker (but credited as being the unseen Arkham inmate).

The movie looks and sounds great in UHD. The 4K set is actually a three-disc set. The UHD disc and one of the regular Blu-Ray discs just has the movie itself, and the second regular Blu-Ray disc has all the special features and extras. The extras include several short behind-the-scenes featurettes that range from a couple of minutes to about 10 minutes in length. The main feature is an almost hour-long making-of documentary which spans pretty much the entire filming process and shows how the covid pandemic really impacted how the film was made. Then there are a couple of deleted scenes that you can watch with or without director commentary.

Overall, the movie is great. I do think it is a bit long and could have been cut down for time. That said, I think most of the scenes that did end up in the final cut of the film worked, so aside from a couple of scenes at the very end of the film, I think it would have been hard to pick what to remove. I like the fact that Batman is not yet fully formed in this movie and he is still trying to figure out how to be Batman, without really caring about being Bruce Wayne. It is also interesting to see him operate out in the daylight while literally carrying the Batsuit around in a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The movie has a feel that is much more similar to Nolan's trilogy of movies than it does to the Burton or Schumacher movies, without being a carbon copy of what Nolan did with his. The movie has an old-school film noir crime/detective story feel to it and is extremely well-acted. Definitely worth watching and investing in the disc for those who still get the physical discs.

Video Game Review: Batman: Arkham City - Game of The Year Edition

 

This is the second in the Arkham trilogy of games. It continues the storyline from the first game and expands the story with a power vacuum left in the wake of Joker's defeat. It is very challenging, even on the easiest difficulty level, and I would say even more challenging to get through than the first game. The graphics and gameplay experience are great, as you would expect, and like the first game, you can find new things and go down new paths every time you play it. It is a very enjoyable game, even if you are someone that does not play a lot of video games.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

 

This is the third and final movie in the Nolan Batman trilogy. The movie is set years down the line from the events of The Dark Knight. Batman has essentially disappeared and Bruce Wayne has become a crippled shut-in, hobbled by injuries from years as Batman. Of course, those two things do not seem to correlate as (seemingly) nobody has any idea who Batman is. However, Gordon who knows (and carries with him an admission) of Batman's innocence in the killings that Two-Face committed, is not exactly looking to track Batman down. When a new threat in the form of Bane (played by Tom Hardy, who got absolutely jacked for the movie) emerges and threatens the city, Bruce must yet again don the cape and cowl. The movie also includes Catwoman/Selena Kyle, played wonderfully by Anne Hathaway, but much differently than how Michelle Pfeiffer played the role in Batman Returns.

There are a ton of Blu-Ray extras. There is a screen app integration that is kind of like a picture-in-picture track that can be played with the movie that acts kind of like a commentary track and kind of like a behind-the-scenes look at making the film. But it is very clunky to use. On the second Blu-Ray disc, which just has extras, there is a feature on ending the trilogy that is split into three main parts, each part having several individual sections. All of the material is very interesting and well worth watching, and in total is probably as long (or longer) in running time than the movie itself.

Overall, the trilogy was wrapped up very well. The ending was a bit forced for me, and takes a lot of suspension of disbelief, beyond what you already have to have for a movie like this. It was very well-acted and had tie-ins to the first movie. Caine's role as Alfred and Freeman's role as Fox was reduced in this movie, but Oldman did a great job playing a guilt-riddled Jim Gordon. I know that some people felt the reveal at the end of who was working with Bane was forced but did not mind it. While it was not, in my opinion, as good as The Dark Knight, I think it provided a fitting end to the trilogy and is definitely worth the pickup on Blu-Ray (or on 4K UHD now that it is available in that format).

Book Review: The Dark Knight Rises Novelization

 

This is the novelization of the final installment in the Nolan Batman Trilogy. It follows the screenplay almost word-for-word and does not really add anything that significantly alters the story. Unlike books that are written first and then adapted to a movie, in which a ton of material ends up being cut out, what you get in the movie is pretty much what you get in the book, with only minor variations. So, if you liked, or loved the movie, you will probably like the book. Personally, I would have liked it if the author would have fleshed a bit more of the story out (especially the ending), but otherwise it is a fine novelization.