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BlokeBusting the Essentials #98: Batman & Robin
#98: Batman & Robin
Or
The Dark, Dark, Dark Night Before The Dawn
Ok. This film has quite a few things that we can talk about, right off the bat (no pun intended). I’ll try to keep from jumping around too much, since I’m sure you already know what I’ll be bringing up. So this review will be a little different. I’m going to try and review it as if the last 20 years haven’t happened. This film is VERY much a product of its time and I think it needs to be viewed as such. So without further ado, here’s my take on this piece of Batman history.
First Impressions
This film was not one that I really cared about seeing at the time. I don’t recall if I’d seen the first instalment beforehand, though I’m fairly confident that I’d seen Batman Returns & Batman Forever. However, given that I was just under 10 years old when this one came out, I was clearly their prime audience. Well, that’s not true. I still don’t know who their audience was supposed to be, though I have a hunch that if I’d been about 6 years older I’d have been more interested in certain parts of the film. I remember not hating this film when I first saw it. I wasn’t really invested in the characters, I kinda enjoyed Arnie as Dr Freeze (mostly because he was a one-trick character that slotted into the film setting perfectly) and I didn’t mind Clooney as Wayne. But now that I’m older, a little wiser and way more invested in film, I have a few things that REALLY bothered me.
BlokeBusting The Essentials #49: The Amazing Spider-Man
Your deep dive into the top 100 Superhero films of all time!
#49: The Amazing Spider-Man
Or
We’re Sorry For Emo Peter…
Well, we’re back once more to talk about a film from Bubbawheat’s list. This time we’re focusing on the reboot of Spider-Man featuring Mr Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans. There’s a few things that I will need to bring up here, so I think it’s best if we speed right along!
First Impressions
This film was one that I wasn’t excited about the first time I saw it. Despite the issues most people had with Spider-Man 3, I had no real problems with it other than agreeing that there were too many villains and that Venom was poorly used, so I could have left the Spider-Man films alone and been fine until Tom Holland arrived. However, this film was made and I did end up watching it. And I shall air my issue with how Spider-Man has been portrayed now, since otherwise it’ll simply be an Elephant in the blog.
BlokeBusting the Essentials #99: Supergirl
Your deep dive into the top 100 Superhero films of all time!
#99: Supergirl
Or:
Why Women Superheroes Had Trouble Getting Films Made
This film took me a long time to watch. Seriously, and I wish I wasn’t joking, this took me 4 separate sessions over a couple of weeks to finish. I would press play, get about 25 minutes in and just have to pause it. What does that mean for this review? You’re about to find out.
First Impressions
This film was hard to watch, but maybe not for the reasons you might think. I’m sure some people will happily take it as a sign that women cannot helm a major film. They are wrong. Others might take it to mean that I have an issue with the character in general. They would also be wrong. My main problem with this film is one of pacing. It’s the same issue I have with some of the older superhero films, where some parts just take AAAAGGGEEESSSS to get going, while other parts are over way too fast. I have another issue with this film, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
BlokeBusting The Essentials #50: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Your deep dive into the top 100 Superhero films of all time!
#50: Batman Vs Superman
Or
What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate…
We’re back! And I bet many of you are wondering how we went right from #100 to #50. Well, there’s a perfectly good explanation. This list’s only 3 films long! Ok, not really. Really we wanted to give you guys a taste of the whole list without you needing to wait until mid-year before hitting any of the films that you’re waiting to hear about. Essentially, moving forward, we will be going back and forth in the list. Our next (re)review will be #99, then #49, and so on. So don’t you worry, we’ve got this!
First Impressions
Right. This film was covered by myself and my podcasting partner on my podcast when it originally came out. At the time, we did not care for it. The plot holes were many, the acting felt “meh” (with a couple of glaring exceptions) and we left the cinema feeling very let down. For this list, we’re reviewing the Ultimate Edition (the 3 hour Director’s Cut), so I sat down to watch it once more. Did it change my mind? Well…
BlokeBusting The Essentials #100: The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman
Your deep dive into the top 100 Superhero films of all time!
#100: The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman
or
Don’t Be A Menace To South Gotham While Taking Your Pills On The Beach
So, here we are. We’re starting our (re)reviews of every film on the 100 Essential Superhero Movies – Ranked (up to 2017) with number 100. And that is The Wild Wild World Of Batwoman, otherwise billed as She Was A Hippy Vampire. There are a few things wrong with all that, but we’ll get to them. Firstly, let’s cover my overall impression of the “film”:
This film is weird. Really weird. I’ve seen many strange films in my life, especially given that part of my Film Studies degree involved watching French Avant-Garde cinema, yet this is probably in my top 3. I knew nothing about the making of the film before watching it (or even that it existed before agreeing to review it), and even after reading up on it I am still no closer to understanding it. It seemed to be about Batwoman, though the character in question is both NOTHING like the Batwoman from the comics and surprisingly absent from large parts of the film. In fact, if I had to pick a leading lady from the film, it would be the “Batgirl” who gets kidnapped and put in a cage. She’s in a large number of scenes (though usually dancing around silently) AND she does more to influence the ending than Batwoman. And speaking of the plot….
Introducing: BlokeBusting the Essentials with Paul
Bubbawheat here and I’m happy to introduce a new addition to Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights. A few weeks ago, I put out a call on Twitter for someone interested in joining the site to help give me some extra motivation to reinvigorate this site. And to my pleasant surprise, Paul answered the call. I knew him best from his podcast BlokeBusters, and my idea for him is to explore my list of 100 Essential Superhero Movies. It’s a list that I’m quite proud of, and I thought this would be a good excuse for me to revisit some of these movies as well and we will both reconsider whether or not these movies really do deserve to be included on this list.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 