Video Game Review: Sly Cooper PS2 Trilogy

In the video game industry, a key aspect of debate that has been going on for years is the ‘console war’ between all of the major video game consoles released onto the market, like when the SNES faced off against the Sega Genesis or the PlayStation went up against the Nintendo 64. Nowadays, it’s between three consoles; the Wii U, the PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One. And I’m just going to come out and say it… I think that this whole ‘console war’ thing is really stupid and quite honestly rather pointless. So what if someone gets one of the three major consoles and it’s not the most popular one? Like what if they bought a Wii U but everyone else got a PS4 or an Xbox One? If they like it, then the more power to them. In my case, I’m a big Nintendo fan even though the company, while still playing a key part in the video game market, is now sort of in the back of the pack behind Sony and Microsoft. The Nintendo 64 was the first video game console I ever owned and most of my favorite video games of all time came from, you guessed it, Nintendo. I don’t own a Wii U at this time, but I’m considering possibly getting one in the future. For the record though, I have ventured out and bought a few non-Nintendo consoles over the years and probably the one that I’ve used the most aside from all Nintendo consoles was the PlayStation 2, which is currently the best-selling video game console of all time with over 155 million units sold since it was first released in 2000.

During its run, the PS2 (and basically Sony for that matter) may not have really had a definitive mascot like Mario with Nintendo or Master Chief from Halo for Xbox, but there were a lot of pretty good franchises released during the PS2 era, including series such as ‘Jak and Daxter’, ‘Ratchet and Clank’, and ‘Kingdom Hearts’. However, my personal favorite Sony franchise would have to be one that apparently wasn’t as successful as those franchises, but is still a really good series; the ‘Sly Cooper’ franchise, which was originally developed by Sucker Punch Productions before they moved on to the ‘Infamous’ franchise (Sanzaru Games took over after that, beginning with the PS3 re-mastered re-release of the original three games and then releasing the fourth main game in the series). Not only that, but there’s actually a full-length animated movie in the works slated for a 2016 release. But for now, we’ll be looking at the first three Sly Cooper games, all of which were released for the PlayStation 2; ‘Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus’, ‘Sly 2: Band of Thieves’, and ‘Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves’. I don’t own a PS3 at this time so this won’t include the most recent entry in the series, ‘Sly 4: Thieves in Time’ though I hope that one day I can finally play that one.

Taking place in a world fully inhabited by anthropomorphic creatures, the series focuses on the titular Sly Cooper, a raccoon whose family, the Cooper clan, is known for being world-famous master thieves. Each member of the family has passed down their techniques to each new generation through a book known as the ‘Thievius Raccoonus’. But before Sly is able to inherit the book, a gang of criminals known as the ‘Fiendish Five’ kill Sly’s father and steal the book. Sly ends up at an orphanage but while there, he meets his future partners in crime, tech genius Bentley the Turtle and muscle-man Murray the Hippo. Years later, they team up and travel the world, while also trying to avoid the law (primarily inspector Carmelita Fox, Sly’s nemesis/love interest), in order to stop the Fiendish Five so that Sly can take back his inheritance. In ‘Sly 2’ (don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything major from these games), Sly and the gang deal with another gang, the Klaww Gang, who have stolen some extremely valuable parts that could spell trouble if they’re put back together. Finally, in ‘Sly 3’, Sly, Bentley, and Murray round up a team of ‘specialists’ in order to help Sly get into the ‘Cooper Vault’, which contains his family’s entire fortune.

One of the things that I find really interesting about this series is that each game’s engine was built by improving on the engine from its predecessor. In short, each game got better as the series went on. Now while I’m basically saying that ‘Sly 2’ and ‘Sly 3’ were the best games in this trilogy, I’m not saying that the first ‘Sly Cooper’ game was bad; far from it in fact. It was a very enjoyable platforming game with solid controls and plenty of fun stealth elements thrown in. However, there are certain aspects about the game that were rather frustrating, with the most notable being that it operated on a ‘one-hit’ system. If Sly was hit just once, you’d lose a life and would have to start over either from the beginning of the level or a checkpoint (if you’ve reached one). You could find ‘lucky charms’ throughout the level (represented by horseshoes), which would give you extra hit points but at the most you could only get hit three times and that’s it. Some other problems included a bit too much repetition in certain areas and some missions that were… well, I won’t say ‘hard’ but they could get rather frustrating and in most cases that’s because of the whole one-hit problem that I mentioned earlier.

Thankfully, the two sequels removed the ‘one-hit’ system and instead gave the player a full life bar, which was definitely a welcome change. The hub worlds in both sequels were also much more expansive and offered a lot more chances for exploration whereas in the first game there wasn’t much to explore within the game’s hub worlds. But probably the best new change made with these games was that they offered much more variety in regards to the gameplay. You see, the first ‘Sly’ game had about only 3-4 mission types (not counting boss fights); stealth missions, driving missions, shooting missions, and one hacking mission. All of Sly’s stealth missions had the exact same objective; get to the end of the level and find a key that you use to unlock more of the hub world and ultimately to get to the boss and the other missions had you collecting keys as well. ‘Sly 2’ and ‘Sly 3’ offered much more variety in regards to the missions, referred to in these two games as ‘jobs’. Not only did you get more interesting missions to do, but you could also play as Bentley and Murray whereas in the first game you only got to play as them for brief moments in racing and hacking missions.

Overall, I think my personal favorite game of the three would have to be ‘Sly 3’, which might be because this was the first one of this series that I played even though I completed the other two games first. Also, I had to actually buy another copy of the game (along with another copy of ‘Sly 2’ for that matter) because both games had this odd problem where the game ‘froze’ but not in the usual case of a game freezing. The game still ran but the dialogue wasn’t progressing forward (It's kind of hard to explain, and unfortunately I can't provide a link to a video of this problem at the time I'm writing this). Anyway, back to ‘Sly 3’; the game had the best variety out of all of these three games in both the unique line-up of villains (no gang association this time) and the fact that in this game, Sly and the gang recruit a few new members into the game as well. Heck, they even team up with some of their enemies from previous games in the series. Of course, as it was common throughout the trilogy, each game featured some excellent writing/voice acting (though in the case of the latter, for some reason Carmelita was voiced by three different actresses in these games… and none of them even had the same accent), a full cast of memorable characters, and were just really fun to play.

So those were the first 3 Sly Cooper games, and out of all of the PS2 games that I’ve played over the years, these three games are definitely amongst my favorites. All 3 of the games had solid controls and fun stealth gameplay although I mostly prefer the second and third games due to the more frustrating elements of the first Sly Cooper. Again, I’m not saying that game was bad but it’s just that I wish that they had done something better than just having the whole game operate on a ‘one-hit’ health system, which really got annoying in certain areas. Thankfully, ‘Sly 2’ and ‘Sly 3’ got rid of that system. So now, it looks like this series is running again with ‘Sly 4’ for the PS3, which continued the series after the third one seemingly ended the story though had a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the game. I’m interested in seeing where this series goes now and as for that movie coming out in two years, I’m hoping for the best. After all, video games and movies haven’t always worked well together but who knows? Maybe this could break that unlucky streak of video game movies… but only time will tell.

Ratings:

Sly 1: 4/5

Sly 2: 5/5!

Sly 3: 5/5!

 

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past: SPOILER Post

WARNING!!!

The following post contains spoilers for the film ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’. If you have not seen the film yet, please refer to my spoiler-free review of the film (link provided below) because I will be addressing key moments within the film. Continue at your own risk!

Spoiler-Free Review: (http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2014/05/x-men-days-of-future-past-2014-review.html)

Like with pretty much every superhero film that comes out nowadays, there is quite a lot to talk about in regards to ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ that I just couldn’t talk about in a non-spoiler review… and I really mean it. Before I started writing this, I made a list of all of the points that I wanted to talk about in this post and there were at least 8 different elements of the film that I had listed that I wanted to talk about. So in that case, let’s not waste any time. Let’s delve further into what is no doubt the most anticipated film of the year for many people and why wouldn’t it be being that it’s an adaptation of an iconic ‘X-Men’ storyline, directed by the man who helmed the first two X-Men films (again like my previous review, I’m ignoring the allegations made against him because they don’t matter here), and stars a big ensemble cast of actors/actresses from both the original X-Men trilogy and the film ‘X-Men: First Class’ plus a few new additions as well. And at the end of the day, this film really delivers. Yes, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ is not only one of the best X-Men films to date, possibly even the best, but easily one of the best films of this year so far.

So of course, this film features a big ensemble cast but at the end of the day, it mainly focuses on four characters; Wolverine, being that he’s the one who goes back in time to try and set things right, and the ‘First Class’ iterations of Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique. But the good thing here is that Wolverine doesn’t overshadow the other three which I’m aware is what some people were worried about and I can see why because Wolverine has basically been the main character of the film franchise since the beginning (he’s literally been in every film). Now, that’s not entirely a bad thing as Hugh Jackman has been fantastic in the role but in the original trilogy of films, he did overshadow some other members of the cast, most notably James Marsden as Cyclops. Here, his role in the film is handled very well while still serving as one of the main characters; Jackman of course is excellent again but he’s not the ‘main’ character in this film. Instead, he lets James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence lead the film. Plus, I have to say it is sort of funny how in a case like this where the X-Men of the future send someone back in time so that they can convince their younger selves to stop the dark future from happening, they end up sending the one member of the group who’s probably the least diplomatic out of all of them. Still, it fits well into the story considering that Wolverine, being the one who can heal himself, is the only one who could possibly survive going back many decades in time.

But of this cast, the biggest standout of the entire group would have to be James McAvoy as Xavier. In ‘X-Men: First Class’ the standout was easily Michael Fassbender as Magneto. Not only did he really channel Ian McKellen’s performance in the original X-Men trilogy through his own performance in that film, but it can be argued that ‘First Class’ was pretty much Magneto’s film as a lot of the story did revolve around him. Days of Future Past, on the other hand, is easily Xavier’s film. What I really love about both this film and ‘First Class’ is that this younger Xavier isn’t the Xavier from the original trilogy just yet. In ‘First Class’, he was a bit of a playboy before he ended up getting paralyzed and in ‘Days of Future Past’ it’s clear that everything that happened during the climax of the previous film has really hit him hard because he’s lost so much in the years since the whole Cuban Missile Crisis incident. He’s lost his best friend (Magneto), his foster sister (Mystique), and the use of his legs after a bullet deflected by Magneto ended up hitting him in his spine. However, in this film, we learn that because of a serum developed by Hank McCoy (Beast), he’s now able to walk again but he no longer has his telepathic powers. This, along with the closure of his school for gifted youngsters (partially due to the Vietnam War) has led to him giving up on his dream of humans and mutants living in harmony.

The writing for Xavier in this film is just fantastic as is McAvoy’s performance in the role. This Xavier has become a broken man after all that had happened to him in the previous film, meaning that he needs some guidance in order to get his life back on track and McAvoy perfectly captures the bitterness and frustration that the young Xavier is experiencing throughout this film. This film really shows the growth of Xavier as he slowly becomes the Xavier that we remembered from the previous trilogy. Speaking of which, let’s talk about that great scene between the Xavier of the past and the Xavier of the present/future (the latter of course being played by Patrick Stewart). This was just an excellent moment, mostly because the filmmakers weren’t trying to revel in the fact that they were able to get both Xaviers on screen together. It’s an effective character moment for the young Xavier as his future self inspires him to ‘hope again’ and this scene uses both the young and future Xaviers to great effect. Of course, as I said in my original review, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are sort of just making cameos in this film, but regardless it was still great to see to these legends back in these roles once again. After all, this might actually be ‘the’ last time we’ll be seeing these two in these movies. We don’t know if that’s true yet, but if that ends up being the case, then I believe that they both went out on a very good note.

So while this movie is more focused on Xavier than Magneto this time, Michael Fassbender is of course excellent once again in the role. Heck, Magneto has his own qualms against Xavier for not being there to help him protect their fellow mutants. It’s revealed through some dialogue and some documents that Mystique comes across in Bolivar Trask’s office that pretty much every other mutant from ‘First Class’ aside from Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Beast, and Havok (who makes a brief appearance in the scene where Mystique infiltrates a military camp in Vietnam) was killed, some of them through ‘Project Wideawake’, a military operation led by Trask, so this of course is keeping in line with Magneto’s views that humans are the enemy and this does help give a lot of contrast to his relationship with Xavier as he accuses him of failing their fellow mutants. Also excellent here is Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique; in fact, even better than in ‘First Class’. Here, we see her starting to become more like the Mystique from the original trilogy (as portrayed by Rebecca Romjin) in terms of her ‘cold-blooded killer’ nature. But at the same time, while her new outlook has certainly been influenced by her joining Magneto at the end of ‘First Class’, she’s still torn between the bitter views on humanity of Magneto and the compassionate/optimistic outlook on the future that Xavier has.

So seeing how this film mainly focuses on Wolverine, Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique, that means that most of the other members of the cast don’t get much to do by comparison. Probably the one who gets the most to do out of all of them is Nicholas Hoult as Beast (on that note, the makeup for him as Beast is much better here than it was in ‘First Class’) but even then he’s mainly just there to assist Xavier and Wolverine. As I said in the review, there’s also not really a definitive villain; Bolivar Trask is mostly just a side character. Still, that shouldn’t be held against this movie as Trask is in the film enough and of course Peter Dinklage is excellent as he usually is. Despite all of this, this is not that much of a problem because A.) The film does focus on the right characters, B.) Every member of the cast serves their purpose to the story well and C.) There actually isn’t any weak link in the cast. This is probably the first X-Men film where everyone in the cast is terrific. Unfortunately, some of the other X-Men movies, despite having really good casts, have each had their own ‘weak link’ in its cast, like January Jones in ‘X-Men: First Class’ or Svetlana Khodchenkova in ‘The Wolverine’. Here though, every member of the cast does a good job, even if some of them are only on screen for like a few minutes or so.

But an even greater aspect about this film in regards to its ensemble cast, which really help the action sequences in this movie stand out even more, is how it handles what can very much be referred to as the crucial dynamic of the ‘X-Men’ franchise; teamwork. Now most of the action sequences in this movie occur in the future and it is there where you really get to see the X-Men working together as a team. This whole team dynamic is done better here than in any of the other X-Men films that came before this one. And on that note, the action sequences in this film are terrific, especially the one at the end, which is easily the best climax out of any X-Men film as we cut back and forth between the past and the future as Wolverine, Xavier, and Beast look to stop Mystique and Magneto in 1973 while the X-Men of the future try to prevent the Sentinels from finding Kitty Pryde and Wolverine so that Kitty can keep Wolverine’s mind in the past long enough for him to complete his mission; otherwise, the future will stay the same and nothing will have been changed because of it. As noted before Wolverine goes back in time, this is pretty much the last chance they have in ending this war before it ever began so as a result, the final action sequence here is just fantastic in pretty much every aspect (pacing, cinematography, music, etc…).

Though easily one of the best moments in the entire film is the sequence with Quicksilver (Evan Peters) when he helps Wolverine, Xavier, and Beast break Magneto out of prison. You really have to feel bad for Peters considering all of the flak he got before this film came out. First, a lot of people were complaining about his character’s costume once it was first revealed and then he appeared in a Carl’s Jr ad which probably got even more negative attention, though I’ll admit that I’m not too certain as to why this ad in particular was ‘that bad’ (now the one with Mystique… that one I get but Quicksilver’s? Not really…). Of course, all of those complaints ultimately became pointless because the character was well-executed in the film. Peters really captures the character’s fun-loving but also occasionally pain in the ass personality and the scene where he’s running through the Pentagon preventing the guards from firing at Xavier, Magneto, and Wolverine is both fun and funny at the same time (he gives one guard a wedgie, he has another guard punch himself in the face, and this is all while he has headphones on and listening to Jim Croce’s ‘Time in a Bottle’… and that’s not even listing everything that happens during this scene). Heck, he even alludes to who his father may be when he mentions to Magneto that his mother ‘knew someone who could move metal (hint hint). It’s like the Hulk in ‘The Avengers’… Quicksilver’s not in the film that much but his scenes are so great that we’re left begging for more.

Now of course, one of the big things about this film is how it alters the timeline so much that certain events from ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ and ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ never occurred. In other words, the filmmakers were looking to fix the many problems that plagued both films in terms of the series’ timeline and in short, they do succeed here. In regards to erasing the events of ‘X3’, that occurs at the end of the film. After Wolverine returns to the future after his mission is over, he awakens back in Xavier’s school and finds that all of the other X-Men (including Storm, Beast, and Xavier) are all alive, and that also includes Jean Grey and Cyclops (both Famke Janssen and James Marsden reprise their roles here), who had both died in ‘The Last Stand’. As for ignoring ‘Origins’, that occurs at the very end of the film before the credits start rolling. Back in 1973, during the climax sequence in Washington, Magneto had impaled Wolverine with metal and thrown him into the Potomac River. He’s then recovered from the river by William Stryker (Josh Helman; on that note, the first scene between the two is very well-done as Wolverine initially starts to suffer some emotional turmoil when he (more specifically his future conscious) remembers what will happen between him and Stryker years later) who is then revealed to be Mystique in disguise. How this will affect Wolverine in the future is unclear but this can definitely be seen as an effort to negate the events of that film, just like the filmmakers had did just a few moments earlier in regards to ‘X3’.

Finally, let’s talk about the post-credits scene that is intended to set up the main villain for the next film; Apocalypse. Now, this scene is sort of similar to the post-credits scene with Thanos in ‘The Avengers’ in that you might have to read up on who this character is otherwise you might not realize who he is at first, though of course unlike ‘The Avengers’ it’s already been confirmed beforehand that the next film is going to be ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (set for a 2016 release) but one of my friends pointed out that the person featured in this post-credits scene doesn’t really look like Apocalypse from the comics (to quote him directly, he said that he looked like ‘some blue skinned 20 something in a robe’). Now, writer/producer Simon Kinberg has confirmed that an older actor will portray the character in the next film so we’ll just have to wait and see who will get cast in that role. Plus, comic book fans will no doubt note two things about this scene; that Apocalypse’s followers are calling him by his birth name (‘En Sabah Nur’) and that his servants, the Four Horsemen, are seen watching him from afar. And on that note, considering that Gambit is going to appear in the next film, maybe he’s one of them. Again, we’ll see how that turns out. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) review

(Note: Before I start this review, I want to address the recent controversy surrounding the recent allegations made against director Bryan Singer. True or not, these charges have no connection to this film whatsoever so it will in no way affect the following review.)

I’m fairly certain that, for quite a lot of people, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ will be their most anticipated film of the year and there are quite a few reasons for why this is. It’s based on one of the most iconic storylines in the history of the X-Men comics, 1981’s ‘Days of Future Past’, written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Taking the director’s chair for this film is Bryan Singer, the same man who brought the film franchise to relevance in the first place with 2000’s ‘X-Men’ and 2003’s ‘X2: X-Men United’. It’s safe to say that when he left the franchise after that, the series began to go downhill with the extremely disappointing ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ and the god-awful ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. Thankfully, Singer returned (albeit only as a producer/co-writer) for 2011’s ‘X-Men: First Class’, which was certainly a return to form for the franchise. Heck, Wolverine even got a far superior solo film, ‘The Wolverine’, and the post-credits scene for that film set up what was to come for this film. Finally, because of this film taking place in different time periods, this film features one heck of an ensemble cast, probably the largest to date in the history of the franchise, consisting of members from both the original trilogy and the ‘First Class’ cast. But at the end of the day, will this film be able to live up to expectations? In two words… Hell yea!

In the year 2023, the mutant race is on the verge of extinction as a group of sentient robots known as Sentinels are in control, exterminating mutants left and right and they are even persecuting any humans who try to help them. In order to end this war in which the mutants are very much outnumbered, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) form a plan, with the help of Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), who has the ability to send a person’s conscious back in time, to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to the year 1973 when the defining moment that led to the beginning of this war occurred; the assassination of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the creator of the Sentinels, carried out by Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Once back in time, Wolverine finds the young Xavier (James McAvoy) and the young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) as he attempts to have them team up so that they can all stop this dark future from happening before it even begins. But this won’t be that easy, as there quite a bit of bad blood between the two following the whole Cuban Missile Crisis debacle in ‘First Class’.

Now while this is a very big ensemble cast, at the end of the day the film mainly focuses on four characters; Wolverine and the three main stars of the First Class cast; the young iterations of Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique (though thankfully, Wolverine doesn’t overshadow any of them here). As for the rest of the mutants featured in this film, they’re mostly just cameos, though some do get a decent amount of screen time like Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), the latter of which has one of the best sequences in the entire film. There’s also not really a definitive villain here; sure, Bolivar Trask does play a key part in the film’s overall story but he’s actually more of a side character here. So even though the bulk of this film’s ensemble cast isn’t given as much attention as the main characters, this film still does a great job at not only having quite the variety of mutants on display but by also really showing the ‘team’ aspect that defines this franchise as evident through a lot of the very well done action sequences. Also, if you’re still pissed about ‘X3’ and ‘Origins’, then don’t worry because this film basically says ‘screw you’ to those films in regards to what happens in this film and from what I can tell, that was the filmmakers’ main goal; to right the wrongs (mostly in regards to continuity problems) from those two films and they do succeed in doing so.

In ‘First Class’, the standout member of the cast was Michael Fassbender as Magneto, though James McAvoy did an equally terrific job as Xavier in that film. Here, McAvoy’s the big standout, not only because this is easily McAvoy’s best performance in the role to date (even though this is only his second film appearance in the franchise) but the writing for this character and the arc that he goes through in this movie is just fantastic, as he continues to grow into the Xavier that we know from the original trilogy (on that note, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, like a lot of the other cast members in this film, are basically just doing cameos here but regardless of that, it’s really nice to see these two back). But of course, Fassbender is excellent once again as is Hugh Jackman (I’m not sure yet if this is his best performance in the role to date after his excellent turn in ‘The Wolverine’ but I’d say it’s definitely one of the best) and Jennifer Lawrence. In fact, the whole cast is great here; this is the first time in a while in regards to these movies where I can’t think of any ‘weak links’ in the cast (which unfortunately was the case with ‘First Class’ and ‘The Wolverine’, which both had one weak link in their casts).

Do you want to know how good this film was? It’s so good that I think that I’m actually becoming more of an X-Men fan than I had been before (I was a general fan of the movies but I haven’t read the comics or watched the 90’s TV series) because of it. This is definitely one of the finest X-Men films to date, if not the best. Not only does it erase the bad memories of ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ and ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ but in terms of its essence, this truly feels like an X-Men movie with plenty of mutant action and some excellent action sequences (this film also has the best climax in the entire franchise to date). I was hooked into this film almost immediately after it started and for what is certainly a lot of people’s most anticipated film of the year, this film really doesn’t disappoint. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… thank god Bryan Singer returned to this franchise because it’s clear that he understands this franchise and now thanks to this film, the series’ chronology is far more consistent following the whole debacle of ‘X3’ and ‘Origins’ and hopefully he’ll stay for good this time as the series will continue on. It’s already been announced (and is briefly hinted at in this film’s post credits scene) what’s happening next.

Rating: 5/5!

Godzilla (2014) review

Almost two decades ago in 1998, TriStar made the first major attempt at an American-produced ‘Godzilla’ film (not counting the American-produced cuts to a few of Toho’s original films)… and as we all know, that one didn’t turn out that well and it is pretty much universally despised. While I’m not as critical on it as a lot of people are (probably because I’m not that big of a Godzilla fan, having only seen the original film (after seeing the 1998 film first, for the record)), I too agree that quite frankly, it just wasn’t a ‘Godzilla’ film. Even Toho knew that the creature in that film wasn’t Godzilla and renamed it ‘Zilla’ when it was featured in 2004’s ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’, where the real Godzilla easily kicked its butt. That film was, at the time, the last Godzilla film… until a decade later. Now all eyes are on this new ‘Godzilla’ film, directed by Gareth Edwards, who had previously directed the independent flick ‘Monsters’. I haven’t seen that film, but with a title like that, Edwards definitely sounds like a good choice to helm this new ‘Godzilla’… and overall, he definitely delivers one heck of a monster film. I’m not going to say that it’s ‘perfect’, but at the end of the day, it’s easily miles above the 1998 film.

In 1999, seismic activity starts to occur at the Janjira nuclear plant near Tokyo, Japan resulting in the entire facility falling into ruin. While reports claim that this was caused by an earthquake, the plant’s former supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), who lost his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) during the accident, believes that something else was the cause of it and 15 years later, he and his son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), an explosive ordinance disposal officer with the U.S. Navy, return to the area to investigate further into the matter. There, they discover that the real cause for the accident wasn’t an earthquake, but a giant winged creature referred to as a ‘Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism’ (MUTO for short). The MUTO ends up escaping, along with a second MUTO, resulting in the military trying to figure out a way to destroy the creatures before they completely ravage the United States. But they soon find out that something else is hunting the MUTOs and this creature could possibly be the only thing that can stop them, and that creature is… Godzilla!

Fans of the franchise might be a little disappointed that Godzilla doesn’t show up until an hour in and that the film itself focuses more on the human characters (more on that in a bit). But overall, Edwards really delivers when it comes to monster vs. monster action… though I wish that during the first few fights between Godzilla and the MUTOs, the film wouldn’t cut away from it. Seriously, there are at least two different times during this film when a fight between Godzilla and the MUTOs is about to occur… and then it cuts away. That scene in the trailer where Godzilla is roaring as a shelter’s doors are about to close? Well, in the film, the doors close during an actual fight. Thankfully, that’s not a problem during the later fights and with that in mind the action was excellent and was pretty solidly-lit considering that most of the fights do take place at night. Overall this film’s Godzilla certainly fits the description of the character quite well and even though it is all CGI… damn that CGI is really good. As for the other monsters, the MUTOs, they look good too but they’re kind of lackluster compared to the other monsters in the Godzilla film franchise and I wish the filmmakers would’ve pitted him against something like Mothra or Rodan.

I’m finding that the general consensus for this film is similar to that of ‘Pacific Rim’ last year; great action but lackluster character development. Well, just like with that film, I ask this… why is that necessarily a problem? Because, again like that film, this film delivers on what it promises; Godzilla and monster fights. In fact, while I haven’t seen any of the other Godzilla film aside from the original, from what I can gather… that’s sort of the point with these films in the first place… though like I said earlier, this one sort of focuses more on the human characters. To the writers’ credit, they at least gave a decent amount of character development… nothing really noteworthy, mind you, but it’s not like this film is completely ‘devoid’ of character. For that matter, the cast is fairly solid; some unfortunately don’t get much to do, like the two main actresses, Elizabeth Olsen and Sally Hawkins (especially in Olsen’s case as the wife of Ford Brody), but there’s also some really good performances from Ken Watanabe and Bryan Cranston. For the record though, Cranston’s only in the film for about 10-15 minutes but even then he does make the most out of his short screen-time. The movie instead focuses on his son, Ford, and while I will agree that he’s not the most compelling lead, Aaron Taylor-Johnson does a fair job here.

If you’re still having bad memories of the 1998 American ‘Godzilla’ film, I believe you’re going to be more satisfied with this take on the character. It certainly is far more fitting to bear the title ‘Godzilla’ than that other film. Godzilla himself looks fantastic, he definitely has the qualities that the character is known for, and the film itself certainly delivers on some fantastic monster action. My only complaint though would be that the film cuts away from the fights quite a lot early on, which wouldn’t be a problem if it was just done once but it’s actually done a few times. But even with that in mind, this is definitely a pretty solid addition to the Godzilla franchise and I’m definitely looking forward to a sequel (they just announced one, so it looks like it is happening). If so, I hope that this next one gives us more monster action and heck, maybe another one of Godzilla’s famous fellow monsters (there’s a pretty neat Mothra reference in here so it’s possible). Also, maybe Toho can be a bit more involved in this one seeing how they are the company responsible for this franchise in the first place? Still, overall, this film serves as a really nice, and much deserved, return to form for the ‘King of the Monsters’.

Rating: 4/5

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 1 Review/Final Sum-Up

(WARNING: SPOILERS (!) for both ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ ahead!!)

After 22 episodes, the first season of Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has finally come to an end and boy what a run it has been. In just one season, this spinoff of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was able to establish itself within the continuity of the films and provide an intriguing look into the world through the eyes of normal people, without the need to have the series be centered around a superhero… but then again, that may be the reason why, early on, this show experienced a bit of a struggle critically. It did get fairly good reviews from critics, but it seems as if most audiences weren’t too thrilled by it and from what I kept hearing about online, the word ‘disappointing’ was brought up quite a bit for the first few episodes. But, as the season progressed, those rather negative reviews began to disappear and this show really started to get good once ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ hit theaters, a film that really left quite an impact on both the whole universe and, more importantly, S.H.I.E.L.D. This of course played a huge part in the last few episodes of the show though in the end, I will always defend the first half of this season as being far better than what many were initially saying about it.

First off, I have to address the following sad truth; just like ‘Star Wars Episode I’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, this show was WAY too overhyped and as I’ve noted before in the past, overhyping anything will result in it never turning out as well as we all want it to be. I will admit that I too was really anticipating the show, but this was more a case of me not knowing what we would be getting from this show. We knew that it would revolve around Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), returning after apparently dying at the hands of Loki in ‘The Avengers’, and a team of agents as they investigated all of the strange occurrences that went on following the ‘Battle of New York’ but we really didn’t know how this show would handle that scenario and for what it’s worth… I found myself really enjoying the show on a whole. I really liked the idea of a show that explored an established universe further and that we would be able to spend more time in this universe than we would normally get from a two-hour film and while it would be nice to see one of the superheroes from the movies appear from time to time, the show would be able to work if the characters were compelling enough to follow.

But on that note that was sort of the problem that a lot of people apparently had with the show; that it didn’t really feel like it was taking place in the same world as the MCU films and that, aside from Coulson, the other characters were rather bland… well, that’s where I highly disagree because the six main characters in this show were the main reason why I loved it so much. Why would I even be watching this show if I hadn’t cared about the characters so much? To quote Coulson from Episode 14 (T.A.H.I.T.I), they were a ‘family’ and that is why I found them all to be very compelling characters because they had such a great ‘familial bond’. In my review of the pilot episode, I mainly focused on Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennet as the standouts of the cast and over the course of the season, I really liked the connection that Coulson and Skye had, sort of like a ‘father-daughter’ bond, which would make sense considering that the main reason why Skye joined S.H.I.E.L.D. so that she could look for her parents (and it’ll be interesting to see who they are because, in the penultimate episode of the season, it was revealed by one of the main antagonists Raina (Ruth Negga) that Skye’s parents were ‘monsters’ and in the finale Raina visits a man who is apparently Skye’s father). But of course like with pretty much every Whedon production, the whole cast is fantastic with each member standing out in their own unique way. That family dynamic was so strong that when a key twist happened revealing the true nature of one of the characters, it was genuinely surprising and also gut-wrenching at the same time.

This twist occurred in Episode 17, ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’, the first episode following the release of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, the film where we learned that the organization HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., and by the end of the film, S.H.I.E.L.D. was in disarray. In this episode of the show, Coulson and the team learn about this and by the end of it, Coulson sums it up perfectly by saying that their next goal is to ‘survive’, because they know that HYDRA is now a major threat once again. Throughout the season, the team has been investigating into the identity of a mysterious figure known as ‘the Clairvoyant’ who has been seeing ‘everything’ and in this episode, that character was revealed to be John Garrett (Bill Paxton, an excellent addition to the cast for the second half of the season), a S.H.I.E.L.D. revealed to be an agent for HYDRA. While he is taken in custody at the end of the episode, we learn that Agent Ward was also a HYDRA mole as he frees Garrett, setting the stage for the rest of the season. I’ve heard a lot of people say that Ward was a ‘dull’ character up until this point and while I disagree with that (I feel that Brett Dalton was very charismatic in the role), this was a great turn of events and helped establish a great character arc for Ward, who was only arrested in the final episode so I’ll be interested to see what happens after that for him and if he will still play a part in the show.

I will admit that in the first few episodes, some of the six main leads weren’t really given much to do, specifically Fitz and Simmons. While Coulson, May, Ward, and Skye were all given solid screen time  and character development for the first five episodes or so, Fitz and Simmons were just really stuck in the background just doing their jobs and nothing else. Thankfully, that changed with Episodes 6 and 7 (‘F.Z.Z.T.’ and ‘The Hub’ respectively) where the two of them really shined and by episode 8 ‘The Well’ I had become completely invested in all six members of the team and I think that it was that episode that really got me invested in the show as a whole as well… even though this was still around the time when most people weren’t too fond of the show. So when did the show itself start to get really good? Well, I think it was right around the time ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ came out, ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ to be exact, the first episode in the series that really felt like a continuation of the films and giving us a really well-written episode where Coulson and his team deal with the fact that HYDRA has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and having it end with us learning that one of the six characters that we had grown so attached to was actually with the bad guys. This made for one of the best hours of television this past year.

But no matter what, I will still stand by the first few episodes of this season, when most people were saying that the show was either disappointing or that, to be frank, it just sucked. I just feel that the show was being unfairly criticized for not living up to the lofty expectations that we were all setting for it. Sure, it would’ve been nice to have seen a few more superheroes from time to time, but to me this show is a great example of how you can do a show within a pre-established universe, and a superhero universe at that, and not have it focus on certain characters if you have great writing and I feel that this show fit the bill for that. I didn’t mind the whole idea of them doing a ‘baddie of the week’ thing for the first few episodes and I wasn’t annoyed by them having to frequently reference the films because it did kind of have to do so anyway. After all, this show doesn’t have as big of a budget as the films so we can’t have something as big as ‘The Avengers’ every week (I’m also saying this in response to the numerous criticisms about the show’s visual effects that I kept seeing early on in the season… I thought the visual effects were actually pretty good for a show of this magnitude). It seems like they’re moving away from that, which they certainly did in the second half of this season, but I won’t mind too much if these kinds of episodes still occur from time to time down the road.

I’m really glad to see that this show has really attracted much more positive reactions in recent episodes. But, at the same time, I’m also rather bummed that it did take a long time for that to happen because this is one of those cases, like with another Marvel property, ‘Iron Man 3’, where I feel like this show was better than what everybody was saying about it. Sure, I’m not going to say this show is ‘as good’ as ‘The Avengers’ or any of the MCU films but it really doesn’t have to be. It serves its purpose by running parallel to the films but for also exploring this universe not through the eyes of someone like Iron Man or Captain America but from regular people like everyone’s favorite agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Phil Coulson, and the team of agents that he leads to ‘protect the ordinary from the extraordinary’. This was really the only show these last few months that I watched on a regular basis (sorry fans of ‘Arrow’, but I have no interest in that show at this time) and I’m really excited to see that it has been renewed for a second season (along with another Marvel series, ‘Agent Carter’, that I’m also really interested in seeing as well). I can’t wait to see what happens next on this show and I’m hoping that it will gain a much bigger fan base next season so that it won’t end up like the last few shows that Joss Whedon has produced, like ‘Firefly’ or ‘Dollhouse’; prematurely canceled…

And now, I close this out with my Top 5 personal favorite episodes from Season 1… but first, some honorable mentions…

‘PILOT’

While I was very positive towards the pilot episode of the show, directed by Joss Whedon, it misses out on being in the Top 5 because, like with a lot of other great shows, while it gets the ball rolling, some of the later episodes were just better than this one. However, I still enjoy the pilot episode very much as it introduces us to the team, has plenty of funny moments (like when Ward is injected with the ‘truth serum’ that apparently wasn’t real as we learn two episodes later in ‘The Asset’), and paves the way for a few intriguing character mysteries, most importantly how Coulson survived his death in ‘Avengers’. It did what pilot episodes are supposed to do… set the stage for what will come in later episodes.

‘F.Z.Z.T.’

Earlier I mentioned that in the first few episodes of the show, Fitz and Simmons really didn’t get much to do and that changed with this episode (as well as the next one ‘The Hub’ which isn’t an Honorable Mention or in my Top 5) where both of them really shined, especially Simmons, who in this episode ends up getting infected by a virus that has been killing people that came from a Chitauri helmet recovered from the ‘Battle of New York’. We really see the connection that Simmons has with Fitz, who risks his own life to help his friend before she ends up being a victim of the virus as well. Both Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge did phenomenal jobs in this episode, which at the time I proclaimed to be the best episode yet… though some even better episodes soon came afterwards.

‘REPAIRS’

It’s safe to say that Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) has been one of the most popular new characters on this show, and I can see why. Ming-Na gives the character a real badass but also stoic persona that makes you interested in finding out what happened to her a while back that led to her initially not wanting to go back into the field back in Episode 1 (and heck, even why she’s known as ‘The Calvary’). This episode gave us our first clue into her past as the team investigates a series of explosions that are linked to a girl named Hannah, though we learn that they were actually caused by one of her co-workers, who was actually trying to protect her. Definitely one of the best episodes of the first half of this season, ‘Repairs’ was a very good episode giving us insight into one of the most popular characters on the show though it does feel like there’s more to May than what we learned from this episode.

‘END OF THE BEGINNING’

The final episode that aired before the release of ‘Captain America 2’, this episode was the first time where the writers really hinted at the darker things that were occurring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Coulson, his team, and their allies begin searching for the Clairvoyant. This episode has a lot of great character moments, some interesting reveals (like how May was in contact with Nick Fury because he had her keeping watch over Coulson following his resurrection), and a pretty effective and creepy cameo from Brad Dourif as a man who was suspected to be the Clairvoyant… until we learn that the Clairvoyant was actually amongst them the whole time and was even an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. It ends on a great cliffhanger as the team finds themselves in a situation where they have absolutely no idea what’s going on… until the next episode, of course.

Top 5 Favorite Episodes

5. THE WELL (Episode 8)

No, you didn’t read that wrong, one of my favorite episodes of this season was episode 8, ‘The Well’, which was promoted as being a tie-in to the then recently released ‘Thor: The Dark World’… though, as the critics as this episode will no doubt point out, this didn’t really connect that much to the film. The episode revolved around Coulson’s team who are basically brought in to ‘clean up’ the mess after the final battle of ‘Thor 2’, and they come across a mysterious Asgardian staff that gives its user super strength but also fuels them with rage… yeah, I don’t recall anything like that being mentioned or shown in ‘Thor 2’… but anyway, despite the fact that this episode didn’t really tie-in to the movie that much, I really enjoyed this episode for other reasons. As I mentioned earlier, it was at this point in the season when I truly became invested in the six main characters and I felt that this episode offered a solid story arc for Ward as we began to delve into his troubled past… which came into play yet again in a later episode, ‘Ragtag’. Overall, this was a nice little character-driven episode with some great direction from ‘Star Trek’ alum Jonathan Frakes.

Plus, considering how Ward was acting like an angry Bruce Banner at points, I couldn’t resist making this joke via Twitter…

4. T.R.A.C.K.S. (Episode 13)

Here we had a pretty darn good episode where the team boards a train as part of their investigation of the Clairvoyant. There were a few aspects of this episode that I really liked; I liked how it continuously returned to a certain moment, giving us the full picture of the situation that Coulson’s team was getting into as all of them were split up into teams (plus we had a nice little cameo from good old Stan Lee… that’s always nice). The episode also ended on a pretty shocking cliffhanger as Skye ends up getting shot twice by one of the bad guys, Ian Quinn, and is left for dead by him until Coulson and the rest of the team find her. This leads into the next episode, T.A.H.I.T.I, where the stakes were pretty high as they were trying to find a way to save Skye which ended up with them giving her the same drug that S.H.I.E.L.D. used on Coulson when he was near death. Plus, as we learned from the last episode ‘Seeds’, there’s more to Skye than meets the eye in that she’s actually an ‘0-8-4’, an object of unknown origin similar to the device that the team found in Episode 2, fittingly titled ‘0-8-4’. Overall, ‘T.R.A.C.K.S.’ was another solid episode that had us on the edge of our seats as it ended up until the next episode aired a few weeks later.

3. NOTHING PERSONAL (Episode 20)

I’ve heard a lot of people say that the weakest part of ‘The Avengers’ was the character Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders). While I’m fine with Smulders in the role and her role in the film as a whole, I can sort of see what everyone’s talking about as it sort of feels like this character was possibly one of the last additions made to the film and ended up getting lost amongst everything else that was going on in that film. But recently Smulders has really gotten more comfortable in the role via her next appearances within the MCU, especially in ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’. She has a great moment in the pilot where she remarks about Thor’s arms after Ward questions whether Thor is actually a god. She makes a return to the series in ‘Nothing Personal’ and has another great moment in the second half of this episode when she pulls a ‘verbal smack down’ on Ward (at this point, Coulson and the rest of the team have learned that he’s with HYDRA), allowing Coulson to sneak onto the plane so that he can rescue Skye. An even bigger moment in this episode is when Coulson learns that he was in charge of the T.A.H.I.T.I. operation that brought him back to life. Overall, this episode was full of great reveals, some great scenes between Ward and Skye, and possibly Cobie Smulders’ stand-out appearance as Maria Hill.

2. THE ONLY LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS (Episode 19)

This episode takes the cake for some of the most heartbreaking moments we’ve witnessed this season. In this episode, we finally meet Coulson’s cellist ex-girlfriend who was first hinted at in ‘Avengers’, Audrey Nathan (played by Whedon regular Amy Acker) as Coulson, Fitz, Simmons, and Agent Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt; hopefully he becomes a regular next season) travel to Portland, Oregon to save Audrey from a man named Marcus Daniels (known as ‘Blackout’ in the comics) who obsesses over her. The material involving Coulson and Audrey’s relationship is the highlight of the episode and is some really, really sad stuff as Audrey tells Simmons about what happened when she learned about Coulson’s ‘death’, saying that now she feels like he’s ‘watching over her’… and the sad irony is that Coulson is leading the mission to protect her and she doesn’t know about it. It gets even more heart-wrenching after Coulson and the team defeat Daniels. Audrey gets knocked out and before they leave, Coulson comforts her, again without her knowing he’s alive. Seriously, this was a sad episode but also one full of some fun MCU references (including references to ‘Winter Soldier’ and Bruce Banner (heck, Simmons even makes a ‘Doctor Who’ reference at one point)). I hope they bring back Audrey in future episodes, not only because Amy Acker was fantastic in the role, but I’m hoping that Coulson will eventually get the chance to reveal to her that he’s alive. The writers owe us that much after continuously pulling our heartstrings during this episode.

1. TURN, TURN, TURN (Episode 17)

Yeah, you can’t really argue against this one. ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ was the best episode of the season and as many of the early critics of the show noted, this episode was when the show finally started to get really good and of course, while I’ll defend that the first half of the season was better than it was credited as, this was definitely the game-changer episode of this season, perfectly tying into ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. Now that HYDRA has taken over S.H.I.E.L.D., this episode follows the group that definitely has the biggest connection to S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson’s team, as they try to survive after learning this. Not only that, but this episode has some great surprising moments, including when Garrett was revealed to be the Clairvoyant and, most importantly, when Ward reveals his true colors. This was a fantastic hour of television in every way.

Final Season Rating: 4.5/5

Godzilla (1998) review

Spread across three separate ‘eras’ from 1954 to 2004, the Godzilla franchise is one of the longest-running film series in history, with 28 films made by Toho starting with 1954’s ‘Gojira’ and recently concluding with 2004’s ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’. However, while the franchise has definitely been very successful in its native country, it wasn’t always that big of a hit in other areas of the world, namely the U.S. Sure, some films were released here but not all of them and most of the films in the series that were released in the states were edited for American audiences. It wasn’t until 1998 when the first major American ‘Godzilla’ film was released, directed by Roland Emmerich, fresh off of the 1996 smash hit ‘Independence Day’… but you see, this is a ‘Godzilla’ film that fans of the series wish never happened. Even though it isn’t actually part of Toho’s official series (it was made by Tristar), many Godzilla fans rank this as the worst ‘Godzilla’ film ever made, mostly for not following the source material and re-inventing the titular creature in ways that were drastically different from the creature’s original design. But is it really as bad as what the majority of people say it is? Well, if it’s not compared to the original Toho films that much, it’s really not… that bad. I can’t say that it’s that good either, but not being a big fan of the Godzilla franchise, I’m not really going to go as far and say that it ‘ruins’ the franchise.

Interestingly enough, the plot of this film mirrors the plot of the original ‘Godzilla’ quite a bit, like the part about how the creature was created as a result of nuclear radiation, and how it first attacks a fishing ship before it makes its big entrance on land. While all of this is going on, Nuclear Regulatory Commission scientist Nick Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) is hired by the military to investigate just what had caused the shipwreck. Soon, this mysterious and giant creature, referred to as ‘Godzilla’ by many people, (although later films in the Toho series have referred to it as ‘Zilla’ due to the reaction towards this film) arrives in New York City, causing much destruction throughout the entire city. As the military look to stop this creature before it’s too late, Nick discovers something about the creature and what it’s doing in New York, which could start even more trouble if that’s not taken care of as well; the creature has been laying multiple offspring and the eggs are about to hatch…

While the plot of the film is sort of similar to the original film, there has been plenty of backlash against how the creature in this film is portrayed, so much so that many people like to refer to it as G.I.N.O. (Godzilla in Name Only); heck, even Toho had it renamed when it was featured in ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ because even they knew that this creature wasn’t Godzilla. While the visual effects for the creature are fine for the time, this ‘Godzilla’ really can’t compare to the original Toho Godzilla. It’s fairly smaller than Godzilla (though it’s actually about the same height as the original creature from the first Godzilla film), it doesn’t have atomic breath (I’m not sure if that scene where he ‘breathes’ fire really counts as him breathing fire), and to top it all off, he’s easily defeated by missiles and Godzilla fans know that Godzilla is never killed by missiles. It’s pretty much a given that in every Godzilla movie, the military is powerless against Godzilla no matter what they throw at him and yet here it turns out that this ‘Godzilla’ isn’t as powerful. Aside from that, this movie is basically just your generic monster movie with some bland dialogue, flat characters, and an ending that feels more like a mix between Jurassic Park and Aliens than an actual Godzilla film. Also, as hard as it tries, it doesn’t really capture the same serious tone of the original film and sometimes comes off as a bit campy.

But with that said, there are a few ‘good’ things about this film. Some members of the cast are pretty good, like Jean Reno, who plays a member of the French foreign intelligence agency who teams up with Nick to deal with the nest of Zilla’s offspring. Overall, the movie’s just a fun little popcorn flick and even though the film doesn’t really capture the essence of a Godzilla movie, I never found it to be boring. It’s sort of the same case with Emmerich’s previous film, ‘Independence Day’. I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of that film but it is a fun little popcorn flick and really nothing else. To me, that same scenario applies to this film. I understand why fans of the Godzilla franchise would hate this film as it really isn’t a Godzilla film (I agree with Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe in that it probably should be renamed ‘Zilla’ as it really isn’t worthy of the addition of the ‘God’ part of the title) but overall, I find this film to be a fairly decent guilty pleasure (a term that I don’t use, but it can definitely apply to this film). If you’re willing to accept that it isn’t a ‘Godzilla’ film, then it’s okay… though hopefully this new Godzilla film turns out to be much better.

Rating: 2.5/5

P.S. Before I finish, I want to address the attempted 'parody' in this film involving the characters of Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner) and his assistant Gene (Lorry Goldman), poking fun at Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert after they had given negative reviews to the last two films made by Roland Emmerich, 'Stargate' and 'Independence Day'. I can see what they're trying to do, but ultimately the filmmakers don't take full advantage of the situation. To quote Gene Siskel, "If you're going to go through the trouble of putting us in a monster movie, why don't you at least take the advantage of having the monster either eat or squash us?"... and that sums up why their attempted parody does not work... though I will say that both Lerner and Goldman definitely bear striking resemblances to Siskel and Ebert in this film and heck,  I'd say Lerner could've even played Ebert if they had done a biopic on him around that time.

Gojira (1954)/Godzilla (1956) review

The year was 1954. It was nearly a decade after the United States had dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing an end to the Second World War and because of this, the original ‘Godzilla’ (known as ‘Gojira’ in Japan) is a product of its time, as it portrays the scenario of a giant kaiju (the Japanese term for ‘strange monster’) that was created from nuclear radiation in a very serious matter, obviously in the wake of the devastating events that took place in August 1945 by many who had experienced that disaster first-hand. And that’s one of the biggest reasons why the original ‘Godzilla’ is one of the greatest monster films of all time. After all, most monster films are usually just ‘B-Movies’ and aren’t really films of the highest quality. However, this is a case of a film that is technically a B-Movie, but manages to be an excellent film even with that in mind. Because of this, the film successfully established Godzilla as one of the most iconic giant monsters ever to be put on film. And so, in honor of the upcoming release of the new ‘Godzilla’ film from Legendary and Warner Bros Pictures, it’s time to take a look back at the original 1954 film that started it all… along with its 1956 ‘Americanized’ edition.

There’s not that much to the plot of the original ‘Godzilla’. Quite simply, it’s just Godzilla rampaging through Japan. It begins as a fishing boat near the fictional Odo Island is suddenly attacked by a mysterious force. More ships come to investigate, but they all end up meeting the same fate as the first boat. The residents of Tokyo soon learn the true cause of this attack; a 50-foot dinosaur-like creature named ‘Godzilla’, who had apparently been a legend amongst the people of Odo Island for many years before the events of this film. As Godzilla begins to ravage Tokyo, numerous people begin to look for a way to defeat the creature. The American cut of the film has the same story, but also includes a new subplot where reporter Steve Martin (no, not the Steve Martin you’re thinking of; a character played by Raymond Burr) visits Tokyo while on the way to an assignment in Cairo to meet with his friend, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), one of the main characters from the Japanese cut. While there, he soon gets caught up in the whole Godzilla situation and serves as the narrator detailing the events that occur within the film.

The thing that impresses me the most about the original ‘Godzilla’ is that it’s played very seriously. Keep in mind; we’re talking about a film that is centered on a giant ‘dinosaur’, which was actually just a guy in a rubber suit. But the whole film is played very seriously and there really aren’t any moments in the film that feel ‘campy’. Sure, some scenes might feel just a little silly by today’s standards, but that’s probably just a case of the time period in which the film came out. There is very much a sense of dread throughout the whole film as we anxiously wait for Godzilla to strike and when he does, he causes a path of chaos and destruction wherever he goes. It really unnerves you watching scenes of death and destruction and a scene where a choir is singing a song following Godzilla’s attack on Tokyo is a very somber moment. Heck, the film itself doesn’t even end on that much of a happy note; sure, the day is saved… but at what cost? Obviously, the people making this film must’ve witnessed the whole ‘atomic bomb’ situation and it really shows in this film, as Godzilla serves as a perfect symbol of the dangers that could come from testing nuclear weapons, having been created as a result of nuclear radiation. The film even ends with one of the main characters Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) warning people that if mankind continues testing nuclear weapons, this won’t be the last ‘Godzilla’ creature to ever appear.

Now, I’m not going to compare the two main ‘versions’ of this film (the original 1954 Japanese cut and the 1956 American release) that much but I will say that the original Japanese film is the superior version. The American version (‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters!’) is still a pretty effective monster movie that still maintains a fairly serious tone, but something about it just seems off when compared to its Japanese counterpart. It might be because of the addition of narration via the character of Steve Martin. Raymond Burr does do a very good job in the film and to the credit of the American filmmakers who worked on this cut of the film they do manage to splice him into the original film pretty well even though it seems that he doesn’t really contribute that much to the overall plot as a whole. There’s just something about the narration that sort of ‘underplays’ the whole serious nature of the events that are happening in this film. The original version of the film had no narration and as a result, I do think that it comes off as much more efficient in terms of really addressing the horrors of Godzilla and nuclear war.

Still, I do recommend both the original ‘Gojira’ and its Americanized cut, ‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters!’ as both are top-notch monster films that manage to maintain a very serious tone and atmosphere, even when we consider the fact that this is basically just a ‘B-Movie’ with a giant creature that was actually a guy in a rubber monster suit. This is one of those ‘B-Movies’ that manage to overcome that status and be one of the best monster films of all time. While I haven’t seen any of the other 27 films in Toho’s official ‘Godzilla’ franchise, I think it’s safe to say that this one will stand as one of the best in the series, if not the best. From what I can gather, it certainly was one of the only films in the entire franchise to maintain the serious ‘post-WWII’ atmosphere as later films in the series became a bit more light-hearted. Some of them even portrayed Godzilla as a good guy though the filmmakers did make him a villain again from time to time, establishing the character as somewhat of an antihero. We’ll soon see if the upcoming ‘Godzilla’ will stay faithful to the original film that inspired it… unlike another certain American take on the character (more on that next time).

Rating: 4.5/5 (Both Cuts)

Neighbors (2014) review

I’m finding that the quality of most comedies these days tends to vary year in and year out. 2012 was one of the better years for comedies with films like ‘Ted’ and ’21 Jump Street’. 2013, on the other hand, was probably one of the worst years for comedies… ever. And I mean it; a lot of comedies last year really stunk, like ‘Movie 43’ or ‘Grown Ups 2’. That year was so bad that I only remembered one or two ‘good’ comedies and I listed one, ‘The World’s End’, as one of my Top 12 favorite films of the year (partially out of pity for having to be a part of such a crappy year for the genre). But overall this year is looking much better for the genre, at least when it comes to the summer’s lineup of comedies. Later this summer, we’re getting ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ and ’22 Jump Street’ but the summer comedy season does get off to a pretty good start with ‘Neighbors’, the latest film from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the duo behind last year’s surprise hit ‘This is the End’ (the other ‘good’ comedy of 2013). This time around, they team up with Nicholas Stoller, director of ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and writer for the recent ‘Muppet’ movies, for a really fun comedy that will also be very pleasing to anyone who’s in a fraternity and I can verify that having seen it with my friend Matt, who is in a fraternity; Sigma Chi’s University of Rhode Island chapter, to be exact.

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner are a couple with a newborn girl who look to maintain their old ‘crazy’ lifestyle but continuously find trouble trying to do so because of their new ‘parent’ statuses. One day, they find that a fraternity from the local university, Delta Psi, have moved in next door and at first, they seem to bond with the frat and their leader Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron)… but that doesn’t last very long. Realizing the troubles that could come from their parties, Mac and Kelly initially ask Teddy and the frat that they ‘keep it down’, which they agree to do but ask that, in return, they come to them first and ask and not call the police. But one night, when they are unable to get in contact with Teddy, Mac and Kelly do end up calling the cops, though while they intend to be anonymous, they do end up getting caught in the act. This ends up resulting in a prank war between the two ‘parties’ as both try to get back at one another with hilarious results.

What’s really interesting about this film is that while it is focused on what can pretty much be called a ‘turf war’ between the Radners and Delta Psi, there’s really no definable ‘villain’ in this film. As the main characters, Mac and Kelly are a really likable couple but at the same time, the movie doesn’t paint their ‘enemies’, Delta Psi, as a bunch of despicable people. You see that Teddy is driven to become a part of Delta Psi history, which is a pretty respectable goal. Not only that, but you can really sense the strong connections that he has with his ‘brothers’, especially the frat’s Vice President, Pete (Dave Franco). As Matt pointed out, this film really does a great job at portraying the relationship between frat brothers, who will stick by each other no matter what even though they do sometimes fight. And that, to me, is why this movie works really well. It’s just a fun little prank war or ‘Family vs. Frat’ as is advertised on the poster and the movie never really feels ‘mean-spirited’. After all, if this film did portray the members of the frat as incredibly unlikable people, then that would just be a bad representation of the Greek community in general and I can tell that this wasn’t the filmmakers’ goal.

And as a comedy, it’s a really funny one and the laughs are pretty consistent throughout. Plus, at just 96 minutes, you never get bored and the film never feels like its dragged out (which, from what I’m hearing, was the main problem with Stoller’s last film ‘The Five Year Engagement’). Even better is the fact that the trailers actually don’t give away all of the jokes in the film, which is a problem that has plagued comedy films in recent years. But of course, a great comedy wouldn’t work without a great cast, and this film’s cast is no exception. Rogen and Byrne have great chemistry (Byrne in particular is a standout; she has great comic timing just as much as Rogen and Efron do and it’s clear that she really shines when it comes to comedic roles), Rogen and Efron have a great ‘back and forth’ camaraderie, and the entire group of Delta Psi, particularly Efron and Franco, really sell their ‘brotherhood’. Like Byrne, Franco is also one of the big standouts in this, particularly during the scene where the frat is hosting a ‘Robert De Niro’ party and he’s the ‘Meet the Fockers’ De Niro (‘You call the cops, you violate the circle of trust, Focker!’)

So, overall, ‘Neighbors’ serves as a very nice start to this year’s summer comedies. Not only is it full of laughs and solidly paced, but it’s also just a fun little movie that’s not really mean-spirited in any way. After all, it could’ve been a lot more mean-spirited had it not portrayed the group of Delta Psi in a fairly positive way. Sure, Rogen and Byrne’s character are the main protagonists, but you can still sympathize with the frat because they have an admirable goal; to become Delta Psi legends. Plus, this is a really nice representation of the ‘brotherhood’ that occurs amongst members of a fraternity. Now, I can’t fully vouch for that seeing how I am not in a fraternity (at least at the time that I’m writing this) but having seen it with someone who is in a fraternity, we both agree that this does do a good job representing fraternities in general. Because of that, ‘Neighbors’ is a film that I do recommend and the first great comedy of the year and I think it’s safe to say that this film is ‘frat approved’.

Rating: 4/5

Batman Film Retrospective: Part 2 (Animated Films)

In terms of the ‘Marvel-DC’ debate when it comes to their film adaptations, I’m admittedly a bigger fan of Marvel. This is mostly in regard to their live-action films, as Marvel, of course, has had a lot of success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe while DC is still sort of struggling to establish their own Cinematic Universe and I’m not too supportive of some of the moves that they are making in regards to that. However, if there’s one thing about DC that I just can’t disagree on, it is that they have fared much better when it comes to their animated films and those are the films we’ll be looking at today for Part 2 of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Batman Retrospective’. Now, for this part, I’m only looking at the DC animated films where Batman is the lead character, which mostly consists of the films from the original DC Animated Universe, though I will include a couple of the recent DC animated films from the company’s ‘DC Universe Animated Original Movies’ lineup. I’m not including any of the ‘Justice League’ films that he’s in for this post, like ‘Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox’ or ‘Justice League: The New Frontier’, and that’s because this post would go on for way too long. However, I probably will do a post on the rest of those films in the future. But for now, let’s dive into a select few of the animated Batman films.

BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993)

‘Mask of the Phantasm’ is the film continuation of ‘Batman: The Animated Series’, a show that has been widely regarded as one of the greatest animated shows of all time, if not the absolute best. The film was originally supposed to be a direct-to-video release, but was eventually released into theaters… and because this was done on short notice, the film bombed at the box office. On just a $6 million budget, it just missed getting its money back with a total gross of around $5.6 million. Ultimately, this makes ‘Mask of the Phantasm’ one of the most underrated films of all time and also one of the best Batman films ever. Yes, I’d say that this film is actually better than a few of the live-action Batman films, particularly the two Joel Schumacher films, which came out after this film was first released.

First off, let me start by saying that I didn’t really grow up with the show. I was barely a year old when the show ended in 1995 (not counting the later spin-offs (e.g. ‘Justice League’)). But in recent years, I have gotten around to seeing a couple of episodes and I can certainly say that I agree with the statement that it’s one of the best animated shows of all time. It has excellent animation and a great visual style, but most importantly it has a full lineup of great characters, both good and bad. Batman easily has the most iconic Rogues gallery of any superhero, from the Joker to Mr. Freeze to Poison Ivy to the Penguin (and that’s just to name a few) and this show is proof of that. The movie exemplifies the great qualities of the show but also gives you an excellent story where Bruce finds himself reliving an old relationship he once had with a girl named Andrea. Back then, it ended in heartbreak and without giving too much away in this film, it ends the same way as it did before. But back then that heartbreak was what ultimately led Bruce to becoming the vigilante known as Batman in the wake of losing what was perhaps the only chance he had at a normal life. If you haven’t seen ‘Mask of the Phantasm’, it’s certainly worth checking out.

Rating: 5/5!

BATMAN AND MR. FREEZE: SUBZERO (1998)

Now this film was pushed back from its original release, summer 1997, due to the release of ‘Batman and Robin’, which also featured Mr. Freeze as the main antagonist, and of course part of this was because of the incredibly negative reception towards ‘Batman and Robin’. So, it was instead released in March of 1998… and, as you might have guessed, it’s at least 50 times better than ‘Batman and Robin’. It’s basically the same general plot as the live-action film, though this one takes place in the continuity of the Animated Series and after the events of ‘Deep Freeze’, which at the time was the last episode of the series to feature Mr. Freeze (for now, we’ll ignore the ‘The New Batman Adventures’ AKA ‘Season 4’ of the series). In this film, Mr. Freeze looks to cure his wife, who’s diagnosed with a terminal illness but is on the brink of death after an incident where she’s released from cryogenic slumber. His plan is to perform an organ transplant and his intended donor; Batgirl, even though this means that she would die because of it. So, overall this film has a lot of high emotional stakes to it and as it was in the show, it features the great writing and characterization of Mr. Freeze and his tragic backstory. All of this results in an ending that is both heartwarming but also sad at the same time.

But, I can’t really say that this is ‘as good’ as ‘Mask of the Phantasm’. While that film was certainly fitting for a theatrical release, this definitely fits the bill for a ‘direct-to-video’ release. It feels more like a two-part episode of the show, but on that note, it does sometimes feel a bit too dragged out. The final fight does kind of go on a bit too long. Still, it’s a solid entry in the franchise with the usual great Warner Bros. animation and the great writing that has been a defining part of the show that these movies were based off of. Obviously when comparing the two Batman films with Mr. Freeze, this one was much better than ‘Batman and Robin’, though I will give the writers of that film credit for actually doing a pretty decent job at handling the whole subplot with Freeze and his wife… that’s one of the few good things about that film. Still, in the end, it’s no contest… this is the superior Mr. Freeze-centered Batman film.

Rating: 4/5

BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER (2000)

Okay, I’m kind of cheating here because this technically isn’t ‘Batman’; it’s ‘Batman Beyond’, a spin-off of ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ taking place years into the future where a new Batman, teenager Terry McGinnis (voiced by Will Friedle), fights to protect Gotham City as the protégé of an elderly Bruce Wayne. I’m mainly including its film adaptation ‘Return of the Joker’ here because I think that it’s arguably just as notable as some of the other animated Batman films. Why? Well, for one reason this film attracted quite a bit of controversy for being way too violent. This film was released in the wake of Columbine when there was a lot of political debate over the depiction of violence in movies and video games and as such, the film was heavily edited to reduce the violence for its initial release. However, in 2002, the film was re-released unedited and given a ‘PG-13’ rating. Also, as the title suggests, this film features the return of everyone’s favorite Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker so why shouldn’t this be included in this retrospective?

First off, let me start by just doing a little mini-review of the ‘Batman Beyond’ television series, as I did watch a few episodes of it on Netflix before watching the movie and overall it is a pretty good show. I liked how it continued the timeline of the original DC animated universe and while it was a new show focusing on a new lead character, it still managed to connect itself to the previous series, namely through having Bruce Wayne still around as Terry’s mentor. Admittedly, it’s not as good as ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ but then again, that is sort of a hard act to follow. And, to the credit of this show, it is still a very entertaining superhero show that’s just as visually impressive and well-written. The movie ‘Return of the Joker’ is a solid continuation of that series and of course is highlighted by the Joker. Kevin Conroy is the definitive animated Batman, and the same can be said for Mark Hamill, the definitive voice for the animated Joker. Hamill’s just as good as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger (heck, we can throw Cesar Romero from the Adam West series in here too; every interpretation of the Joker has been pretty darn good). As evident from the violence that was cut from the original release but restored in the unedited cut, included an early death scene for the Joker that, well, is actually more violent in the edited cut if you really think about it (in the unedited cut, he’s impaled with a spear gun but in the edited cut, he’s electrocuted… I don’t know about you but that latter one sounds more disturbing… and that one we don’t actually see), this movie serves as one of the few chances we’ll ever get to see the darker side of the Joker from the comics. As is, ‘Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker’ is a solid entry in the Batman animated film franchise.

Rating: 4/5

BATMAN: MYSTERY OF THE BATWOMAN (2003)

Remember how I said that ‘Subzero’ was a bit too drawn out… well, ‘Mystery of the Batwoman’ is an even bigger example of that. This one really drags at times and like ‘Subzero’, the final fight goes on just a bit too long. For the record, while this film may be called ‘Mystery of the Batwoman’, there really isn’t much mystery to this story. You can tell who the mysterious vigilante known as Batwoman is just a few minutes into the movie and even though they try to make it out to be a mystery, with three separate women being possible candidates… well, I don’t really know how I can even explain how that ultimately plays out. Overall, the reveal of the ‘identity’ (or ‘identities’, to be more specific) of Batwoman is rather weak. Really, what was the point of making it a mystery when the reveal was what it was? The animation is still really good and the voice acting is pretty good as well (though they don’t really establish why the Batwoman sounds different when she’s not in costume), but overall, this is not an animated Batman film that I’d really recommend. I’m not saying that it’s bad; it’s just that this is one that I’m not really going to re-watch that much.

Rating: 3/5

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD (2010)

In between ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘Rises’, there was another animated Batman film that came out, one that stands toe to toe with not just ‘Mask of the Phantasm’, but also the live-action Batman films as one of the best entries in the entire franchise; ‘Under the Red Hood’. This film is more fast-paced than ‘Mask’, but the end result is never boring and the film still has a really great story that, like ‘Phantasm’, is based around one of Bruce Wayne’s personal struggles as we see how he tries to cope with ‘one of his greatest failures’ which comes back to haunt him in the form of the ‘Red Hood’ (whose identity I won’t spoil here), a character who is out to do what Batman does, but is willing to break the one rule Batman will never break. The film has excellent animation and a terrific voice cast, particularly Bruce Greenwood and John DiMaggio who both doing fantastic jobs as Batman/Bruce Wayne and the Joker respectively. This film was recommended to me by my friend Matt and I must say that it’s a very good recommendation. It’s one that I pass on to you folks as well, as ‘Under the Red Hood’ is a film that’s just as good as the Nolan films that came around the same time. I’ve heard a LOT of people say that this is better than all of the live-action Batman films. I don’t necessarily agree with that, in fact I actually sort of think ‘Phantasm’ is the better animated Batman film, but regardless ‘Under the Red Hood’ is still a must-see for ‘Batman’ fans.

Rating: 5/5!

BATMAN: YEAR ONE (2011)

As the title suggests, ‘Year One’ follows the first year of Bruce Wayne’s career as the vigilante Batman after returning to Gotham City after spending 12 years abroad. At the same time, the film also focuses on Jim Gordon and his early days with Gotham’s police department. Their storylines are balanced very well and we see how their two lives intersect trying to deal with the corruption and crime of Gotham City and also how the arrival of Batman affects everyone in Gotham. Oh yeah, and Gordon’s voiced by Bryan Cranston! But in all seriousness, Cranston does a very good job as Jim Gordon as does Ben McKenzie (who’s set to play Gordon in the upcoming prequel series ‘Gotham’) as Bruce Wayne/Batman. If I had any complaints at all about this film, it would probably be the story sort of goes by a bit too fast in just an hour-long runtime but then again, that’s probably how it was in the original story (written by Frank Miller in 1987), which I haven’t read but like the next film coming up, I have the feeling that this film was as faithful to the source material as possible. So, overall, ‘Batman: Year One’ is another solid entry in the series that highlights both the Caped Crusader and the man who would become one of his greatest allies.

Rating: 4.5/5

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: PART 1 (2012) AND 2 (2013)

Regardless of how people view the 60’s ‘Batman’ television series, one thing is for certain; it helped bring the character into the mainstream of pop culture. However, it wasn’t until the 80’s when the character would return to his darker roots. The first major success on this front was Frank Miller’s 1986 miniseries ‘The Dark Knight Returns’, which officially helped the character regain a lot of popularity. It has played a major influence in three of the live-action Batman films; Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’, Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, and also the upcoming ‘Batman vs. Superman’ film which isn’t a direct adaptation of the story but partially inspired by it. In 2012, DC and Warner Animation produced a film adaptation of the story which was released in two parts. Part 1 was released in September of 2012 while Part 2 was released in January of 2013. The two were then combined into one single film and that version (the ‘Deluxe Edition’) was released in October of 2013.

Now first off, let me start by saying that I haven’t read the mini-series before watching the films, but it’s clear here that the filmmakers were as faithful to the source material as possible from the imagery to the story to the dialogue. It certainly helps to have this story be in two parts so that they don’t leave much out. Also keep in mind that both of these films are only 76 minutes each so it’s not really along the same lines as ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Twilight’, or ‘The Hunger Games’. This is one of the good examples of splitting a story into two films. The animation is terrific, and to put it simply, this is without a doubt a ‘Batman’ film for an older audience as it does get dark, violent, and even bloody most of the time and it isn’t afraid to do so. The voice acting is great; Peter Weller does an excellent job as the older and angrier Batman and Michael Emerson is also fantastic as this film’s Joker. The final scene between the two in Part 2 is one of the best Batman-Joker moments ever put on film, even outshining the moments between them from both the 1989 ‘Batman’ film and ‘The Dark Knight’.

I don’t really want to compare the two parts of this film that much, but if I had to choose the one that I think is the better half of the story, I would go with ‘Part 1’, in which Bruce Wayne first comes out of retirement to deal with the crime in Gotham City; it has really great pacing and sets up the story really well. ‘Part 2’ does have the best moments of this two-part story, with Batman’s fight with the Joker and Batman’s fight with Superman, but overall ‘Part 2’ runs without much of a plot, really. Oh yeah, Superman’s in this part of the story too as is a plotline from the story revolving around Cold War tension. It kind of feels a bit tacked on for a story that was mainly revolving around Batman, but at the same time, it’s pretty awesome to see these two iconic characters face off against each other. Overall, ‘Dark Knight Returns’ is an excellent adaptation of the story it was based off of and another great entry in the lineup of DC’s animated films. Even though they’re having trouble getting their live-action cinematic universe running, they certainly make some fantastic animated films.

Ratings:

As a Whole: 4.5/5

PART 1: 5/5!

PART 2: 4/5

And here’s where I’ll be ending this retrospective. Again, I’m not going to cover any of the ‘Justice League’ films featuring Batman in this post because I don’t want this to go on too long but I will likely do a post on all of those films in the future. Now, it’s time for rankings; here is how I’d rank all of the animated Batman films that I’ve covered in this post.

1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

2. Batman: Under the Red Hood

3. The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2)

4. Batman: Year One

5. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

6. Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero

7. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

And here’s a complete ranking of all of the films I’ve covered in this retrospective, live-action and animated (again, not counting the 1966 film).

1. The Dark Knight

2. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

3. The Dark Knight Rises

4. Batman: Under the Red Hood

5. The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 and 2)

6. Batman (1989)

7. Batman Begins

8. Batman: Year One

9. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

10. Batman and Mr. Freeze: Subzero

11. Batman Forever

12. Batman Returns

13. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman

14. Batman and Robin