Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #108 - Batman Returns (1992) - This was Tim Burton's second crack at filming loner superhero Batman. He and the movie spend a lot of time with Danny Devito's Penguin and Christopher Walken's crooked millionaire Max Schreck. But really, who cares about them? What makes this movie the best Batman is Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, who seems the purrr-fect match for the rubber-encased Batman (Michael Keaton). Would someone get these two fetishists a room already?
Catwoman: You're catnip to a girl like me. Handsome, dazed, and to die for
Batman: Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.
Catwoman: But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it. You're the second man who killed me this week, but I've got seven lives left.
Batman: I tried to save you.
Catwoman: Seems like every woman you try to save ends up dead... or deeply resentful. Maybe you should retire.
There seems to be a never-ending desire for superheroes and their stories these days. Origin stories are all the rage. DC Comics gave their readers a glimpse into the origins of popular characters like Batman's sidekick Robin in the Teen Titans comic book series, which has been running intermittently since the mid 1960s. In 2003 an animated series based on the comics premiered on the Cartoon Network, and featured Robin as the leader of a crime-fighting crew that included Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven. The five superheroes-in-training live in Titans Tower, which actually looks like a gigantic letter "T," in Jump City. The successful show ran for five seasons. In 2013 the Titans returned, this time in a reboot with a comedic twist, Teen Titans Go!
Created in a more streamlined animated style, Teen Titans Go! follows the misadventures of an even younger version of the Titans as they try to solve crimes and stay out of trouble. Interestingly, the same voice actors for the major characters have all returned for Teen Titans Go!
The new Fall show with the most hype has undoubtedly been Gotham, which aired last night. So does it live up to the hype?
Gotham is filled with lots of close-ups and saturated colors which suggest its comic book origins without being too overt an homage. Show creator Bruno Heller (Rome, The Mentalist) is definitely going for a more noir than Comic-con vibe. It was stylish and held my interest. It was fun seeing characters I grew up with (mostly the villains, of course — Catwoman (Camren Bicondova), The Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), and Poison Ivy (Clare Foley) — before they became famous. Jada Pinkett Smith played a new character, Fish Mooney, the local (and incredibly stylish and violent) gang boss.
The first episode opened with a young pickpocket Catwoman scaling a tenement fire escape and witnessing the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, as well as Gotham's newest detective, James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and his slightly shady partner Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) at the crime scene. As in other interpretations, Gotham is a city you might not want to visit and definitely never live there. The mostly dark episode did have a few humorous moments and was intriguing enough to make me try it again next week. I guess that's all any television show can ask.
I have been known to geek out and watch superhero movies, although I tend to be more interested in sci-fi and fantasy than famous comic book characters. But I have to admit that as cute as Chris Hemsworth is as Thor (and even cuter Tom Hiddleston as Loki) I am experiencing some serious superhero fatigue. I can't tell the difference between Iron Man 1, 2, or 3 and I simply don't care. I'm willing to bet that Robert Downey Jr. would find himself similarly challenged. I'm still not sure what brought us into the theater to see the first Captain America, but I have no intention of seeing #2. The only thing that I took away from seeing The Green Lantern was that Ryan Reynolds looked a little cross-eyed. Did CGI bring that unfortunate detail to light? I'm no fan of the Christian Bale as Batman movies, either.
What might have been ... Nicolas Cage in a costume test as Superman for Tim Burton's Superman Lives
But as much as I am starting to dislike the genre, I sat down and tried to watch Man of Steel the other day. It turned out to be just impossible. It is loud, ugly, incomprehensible, and the worst sin of all, completely boring. No matter how buff Henry Cavill may be, his Superman was just a big "No." Neither a plucky Amy Adams as Lois Lane, nor an earnest Russell Crowe as Superman's dad could save it. I didn't even get far enough into it to check out Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. All Man of Steel did was make me wonder what a Nicolas Cage Superman movie might have been like.
I suppose the Superman/Batman movie (with Ben Affleck as Batman, yikes) coming up will get an audience, but I am starting to wonder why. Lots of dark, murky action and way too-long and too noisy CGI explosion scenes seem to be the blueprint for all of these movies. Are comic books really Hollywood's only source material? Yawn.
Tis the season for holiday music, or I should say, the local station that plays holiday music nonstop. Before you sigh or cringe, remember I'm the mother of an almost six year old and this station is actually occasionally a bright spot in what has been a dark few months.
I'm no fan of the "sappier" holiday songs—take Josh Groban and Celine Dion (they are interchangeable to me), please. What has been the most fun thing about the station this year is how my daughter is listening to the music. Last year whenever Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer or the Sleighbell Song would play she would get excited and bop along to the music. This year she is singing along, in key, and she knows almost all the words. She gets excited if I tell her that Elvis is singing (bless her!).
I couldn't have been prouder the other day when she launched independently into my preferred version of Jingle Bells from my childhood:
Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg Batmobile lost a wheel and Joker got away!
(alternate verse: and Commissioner broke his leg!)
Children's television is interesting. Cartoons still rule, but there is a ton of variety for today's media-savvy and -saturated child. When I was little, I remember my brother and I creeping downstairs and turning the T.V. volume on low to watch Saturday morning cartoons, with Speed Racer and other Japanese animation, Mighty Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Popeye, and Felix the Cat as top favorites.
Cartoons were something you waited for; a weekend treat. There was after-school kid programming too, like Batman and Underdog. When we got a bit older, we also watched shows in syndication that we might have missed first-run, like Lost in Space or the Brady Bunch.
I bought the Lost in Space DVDs soon after my daughter was born, as much (or more) for myself as for her, and got a kick out of her asking to see "Mish, Mish!" when she was a toddler. The appeal of the antics of Dr. Zachary Smith is apparently still strong. Now kids don't have to wait until the weekend, as these shows are available on 24-hour cable channels, run by commercial stations or even PBS. My daughter has discovered Tom and Jerry, a cartoon I never really watched or liked when I was a kid, but enjoy watching with her now. And of course there is my beloved Flintstones, along with the whole Hanna Barbera canon.
It has been interesting to me that she is discovering so many things from my childhood, as well as older cartoons like the Smurfs and Snorks and kid shows like Teletubbies and Barney that were first seen by kids who are now in college. I don't necessarily want to hang out and watch with her as much when she opts for Barney, but as much as that show has been slammed by adults, I find it less obnoxious than Dora. Barney may be beyond corny, but at least the show is gentle. I appreciate the snippets of Spanish that Dora may (or may not) be passing along to viewers, but what is with all the yelling? The whole show is at too high a pitch and quickly went from annoying to unwatchable for me. That goes for you too, Diego.
As much as children's programming is decried (and there is a lot of crap out there, without a doubt), I have been pleasantly surprised by quite a lot of the modern offerings. Shows like Angelina Ballerina, Max and Ruby, Little Bear, Babar, and Franklin are all beautifully animated and fun to watch. The fact that they all correspond to great children's books doesn't hurt, either. I have to admit a fondness for the 90s animated Batman, which we also watch.
I grew up with T.V. and would never be one of those folks who "just watch PBS," as I am just too fond of pop culture. I don't want T.V. to substitute for reading or playing outside for my child, but there is no real danger of that. I admit that it buys me some time in bed on a weekend morning, so that I can get a little extra relaxing time, much like my parents did all those years ago. I find it funny, and I guess, a little bit reassuring, that a lot of the same characters, like the Pink Panther or Yogi Bear or Top Cat might be amusing my little one as I put off getting up and starting my weekend day for just a little while.
As much as children's programming is decried (and there is a lot of crap out there, without a doubt), I have been pleasantly surprised by quite a lot of the modern offerings. Shows like Angelina Ballerina, Max and Ruby, Little Bear, Babar, and Franklin are all beautifully animated and fun to watch. The fact that they all correspond to great children's books doesn't hurt, either. I have to admit a fondness for the 90s animated Batman, which we also watch.