Mendalla said:
Hell, you don't need to all the way to campy. Just stop with having every moment be either dark drama or violence.
This.
What, for me, sets Batman: TAS apart from the movie versions is the verisimilitude. Characters might be somewhat far-fetched but the animated series generally gave even the far-fetched a fairly credible backstory which even evoked some empathy towards the villian. Meaning that even though Batman always prevails he is forced to deal with his adversary in very human terms.
The campy series of the 60's played up the efforts of Bruce Wayne's efforts to rehabilitate the criminal even as the Batman was attempting to apprehend the criminal. And because it was the 60's even Batman had much to say about criminals that suggested what they really needed was more love and understanding.
Well, it was the 60's and that was thought to be the answer to just about every problem at the time so . . .
The Batman run started with Tim Burton and Michael Keaton lost that human touch and attempted Camp Noir. I just invented the term so don't ask anybody else for a definition. It wanted dark and brooding alongside camp with very little exploration of the actual characters involved.
By the time Kilmer and Clooney don the cape and cowl Camp Noir was revealed for the empty bag of nothingness it always was. All spectacle, no substance.
By the time Bale takes over and the reboot happens camp has been given the boot and we have focussed on Dark. Minimal character development though we do get glimpses of what drives. Man of Steel (which I thought was much better than the critics gave it credit for being) went the same way with a character who actually is slightly brighter than Batman, all things considered.
Whereas Green Lantern experimented with being pure camp and eschewing any kind of coherent character development or dark urgency. For that reason it would have bombed. It just happened to be saddled with the saddest of all possible scripts which is more than a little insulting and infuriating to a fan of the character.
Where was I again?
mendalla said:
Have some love scenes (not in the sexual sense, but just some romance) and lighter moments.
This is where, movie wise, the verisimilitude is weakest. Batman, as much as he is the centre of his own universe, is not alone in that universe and his confederates do influence his decisions. The movies have come close to the Bruce/Alfred relationship. They do not come as close as The Animated Series. Gotham is doing a fabulous job of building the relationship between Young Bruce and Alfred though it is becoming a tad repetitive. They are also doing a pretty good job of stuffing Jim Gordon's closet full of eventual skeletons though I am not always sure some plot decisions treat the character fairly.
I have a love hate relationship with Arrow. I can't stop watching it nor can I stop howling at how much they have stolen from Batman story arcs without even pretending Gotham of some kind or Batman of some kind exists. I have been happy with some of the baddies and supporting cast decisions. Others (like who the heck is Black Canary this week) grind my gears. There are more than enough flashbacks to suggest Oliver wasn't on the island for 5 years but more like 500 years. It seems to be a cheap plot device this deep into the series.
Flash progresses in fits and starts. For most it allows us to see the character pre Character. Cisco before Vibe and Caitlyn before Killer Frost. Which was great, I thought. Builds quite a bit of tension and makes the angst very real and easy to grasp. I don't know why they went flash point as early as they did. I think that they should have built to that a little more slowly as it is rather a big deal. The strength of Flash was the character development, three seasons in and it is crisis after crisis after crisis and each episode is starting to feel like we've done this already.
I have not watched Legends of Tomorrow save the one episode that was part of the huge crossover event. Could have survived missing that. It is simply to complex to do justice to.
Supergirl started off well enough. It is gumming up to a degree now. The problems that are experienced in Flash are manifesting earlier although the Flash Supergirl crossovers are generally fun episodes. When Flash is the darkest colour on the episode palatte you are in for a bit of a romp. I think that the Flash Arrow cross overs have also been really well done, never mind that in the comics Barry and Ollie do not care much for one another.
Their biggest connection is the one character hinted at in both series whose face has never been seen. Whose Arrow cameo causes a ballistic reaction. Yes, the name on that pilot's jacket was Jordan and yes Ferris air has a missing test pilot. No, there are no hints of rumours of anything coming to the small screen because of that.
Not a Marvel fan have not watched any of their TV series.
Mendalla said:
As for movies to see (and speaking of noirish, grimdark worlds):
However, things have been looking up as time has gone on. Talented, award-winning French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve got the nod to direct. Harrison Ford re-upped as Rick Deckard, but with his character in a strong supporting role to new main star Ryan Gosling, which avoids the aging action star vibe that dogged his last appearances in his other iconic roles of Indy Jones and Han Solo.
Yes, Deckard is there, but what about Rachel?
