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Sunday, March 20, 2022

Aaron's Quarantine Watchlist - Basically everything I watched for two years


I like to keep track of things. It's a strange habit that only OCD weirdos like me can appreciate. I write down a lot of stuff that pretty much means nothing. Take, for instance, those blogs I've written over the past few years about my MLB TV viewing habits. Nobody cares about that stuff, but I write it all down anyway.

Back when COVID-19 started hitting the United States really hard in March 2020, my employer decided to send everybody home from the office. At the time, I thought it was a dramatic but precautionary measure that needed to be taken to help people feel safe. I figured we'd go home for two weeks and come right back to the office, like normal.

I never wanted to work from home. I figured, "If I'm working, let me be at work." I'd prefer to keep home and work separate and just put in my 40 hours a week and be done with it. But if they needed me to take my laptop home and do work in front of my flat screen TV for a few days, I had better take advantage of that time!

I figured that I could just have the TV running the entire time and watch as many movies and TV shows as I possibly could before they sent us back to the office, and I'd keep track of everything so I could go back and impress my coworkers with this enormous list of stuff I'd seen. (By the way, there is no way my coworkers would ever be impressed with anything I did in my personal life, so it was flawed logic from the very beginning.)

Well, they sent us home and I got to work. I started up a Google doc, then every time I watched something, I added it to a bulleted list. The list grew from day to day as I bounced from movie to movie and TV season to TV season. I was so proud of myself. Yet, they were hesitant to send us back to the office because nobody really understood COVID - how long it would last, whether it was safe for us to resume gathering again or any of that stuff. We stayed home and I kept binge-watching as much as I could.

Another thing I did was that I went to IMDb.com and rated everything, once I finished it. This OCD-fueled habit was inspired by a former coworker, who introduced me to it. He claimed to have rated every movie and TV show he had ever seen in his entire life, which I thought was a bit extreme until I went in and started doing it myself. I don't think I'm anywhere close to having rated everything I've watched (I occasionally find something that I missed), but I've rated a good chunk of it, at this point. One nice thing about doing this is that, if you're watching a show and say, "I swear, I know that person from something," you can open up the IMDb app and it will show you if that particular actor or actress appears in anything you've rated. This has been helpful to me many times. (Editor's note: anything that's not linked to IMDb in the following list is either something I watched multiple times, something that wasn't on IMDb or a later season of a show previously linked higher in the list, since IMDb doesn't let you rate individual seasons - only the show as a whole.)

Fast forward to the year 2022. I've now completed two full years of working from home. My company says they intend for this situation to remain permanent, meaning that they have no future plans of making us return to the office. I don't rabidly binge as much content as I did in the early days of COVID, and I certainly don't eat as many Milk Duds as I did those first two weeks, but I did keep track of basically everything I watched this entire time. The list has become... quite extensive.

Now, when I say that I kept track of basically everything that I've watched, it means that I didn't record any live sports I watched (other than the aforementioned MLB games, which I tracked separately) and I didn't write down anything like the news or LDS General Conference. There are probably also a couple things missing from the list, such as TV shows that repeatedly took breaks, making it unclear whether the season was actually over. (I only recorded a full season of a TV show when I had finished the season, which proved difficult to determine if I was watching it as it aired, as opposed to clearly defined seasons on Netflix and Hulu.)

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the avenues I used to accomplish the monumental oddness of this project: live TV, Netflix, Hulu, VUDU, HBO Max, Peacock, Amazon Prime, VidAngel, my own physical DVD/Blu-ray library and, most recently, Paramount+. If nothing else, I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of my streaming services during the pandemic.

It is also of note that I utilized edited-for-TV versions of movies, as well as VidAngel, to censor many movies and TV shows that I would not have had the moral fiber to watch otherwise. My DVR was loaded with late-night recordings of movies, pretty much this entire time. So if anyone wants to judge me for watching anything on my list that is outrageously profane, violent or inappropriate, you can just go ahead and assume that I watched a cleaned-up version of it.

As I hit the two-year anniversary of being sent home from the office, I decided to pull the plug on my documentation. In the past few weeks, I've felt like I started to slip up in how diligently I'd record the things I was watching, and I figured that if there was ever an appropriate time to stop, an anniversary was suffice. What, was I just going to keep writing this stuff down forever? Nah, I don't think so. Also, I know how few people will be impressed with the two years of data that I scrounged up, so going on any further would have just been a waste of energy.

I had considered blogging about all of this, just to get it out there in writing, but it was also requested that I publish the list by a Facebook friend, so who knows? Maybe one person will actually read this post. That's a success, in and of itself.

With no further ado, here is basically everything I watched for two years, between March 2020 and March 2022 - and I've even taken the painstaking effort of looking up my IMDb ratings and hyperlinking all the unique titles, in case you wanted to know if this stuff was any good:


2020


2021


2022


*****

Was this an interesting project or a colossal waste of time? You be the judge! If nothing else, it gives me an endless supply of ammunition to annoy my siblings with for the rest of eternity. When one of my brothers asked me tonight why I was doing this, I sort of shrugged and said, "Just to get it out there." Now that it's "out there," I don't need to worry about it ever again, but at least if I ever want to look back on the hours and hours I spent in front of the television during a global pandemic, I'll know where to look.

Go ahead, roast me for my ratings and the stuff I watched over these past two years. If you agree with me, let me know. If you disagree with me, let me hear it. Certainly, this is all just my opinion, so I'm open to a little friendly debate. Leave a comment on this post, follow me on Twitter (here and here) or leave me a little 🗣 emoji on Facebook. Looking forward to the commentary.

Until next time.
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Monday, March 7, 2022

WWE 2K22 preview: A return to greatness?


After a year off to figure things out, the WWE 2K franchise is back - but can it bounce back after a disastrous outing in 2020? "WWE 2K20" was the Universal Champion of being hated, by gamers and critics alike. They've touted a completely rebuilt experience and it looks promising, but only time will tell.

Before the game launches its early access at 10 PM Mountain Time tonight, which we'll certainly be participating in, let's break down the "2K22" roster, which is drastically different than the last game and includes some surprising changes, including a handful of characters that were recently released by WWE. Here's who's out, who's in and who surprisingly made the cut:


Who's out?

  • Legends

    • Brie Bella
    • Brutus Beefcake
    • Dusty Rhodes
    • Lita
    • Mankind
    • Molly Holly
    • Nikki Bella
    • Paige
    • Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

  • Still with the company, not enough TV time

    • Drake Maverick
    • Mark Andrews
    • Noam Dar
    • Ronda Rousey
    • Zelina Vega

  • No longer with the company

    • Adam Cole
    • Akam
    • Aleister Black
    • Alicia Fox
    • Andrade
    • Big Show
    • Bo Dallas
    • Bobby Fish
    • Bray Wyatt
    • Christian
    • Curt Hawkins
    • Curtis Axel
    • Daniel Bryan
    • Dash Wilder
    • EC3
    • Eric Young
    • "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher
    • Harper
    • Heath Slater
    • Jaxson Ryker
    • Kairi Sane
    • Karl Anderson
    • Kassius Ohno
    • Kurt Angle
    • Lars Sullivan
    • Luke Gallows
    • Maria Kanellis
    • Mark Henry
    • Mike Kanellis
    • Mojo Rawley
    • No Way Jose
    • Rezar
    • Rowan
    • Rusev
    • Samir Singh
    • Sarah Logan
    • Scott Dawson
    • Shane Thorne
    • Sin Cara
    • Sting
    • Tony Nese
    • Zack Ryder

  • Alternate attires

    • Aleister Black "Wicked"
    • Bayley '15
    • Bayley '17
    • Bray Wyatt "The Fiend"
    • Bray Wyatt "The Swamp Father"
    • Charlotte '17
    • Charlotte '18
    • Finn Blaor "Demon King"
    • "Frankenstrowman"
    • Kassius Ohno (Zombie)
    • Kurt Angle alternate attire
    • Natalya '14
    • Natalya '16
    • Nia Jax '17
    • Nikki Bella '15
    • Nikki Bella '16
    • Randy Orton "Unleashed"
    • Ric Flair alternate attire
    • Robert Roode (Zombie)
    • Sasha Banks '15
    • Sasha Banks '16
    • Sasha Banks '17
    • Sasha Banks (Zombie)
    • Shawn Michaels alternate attire
    • Sting alternate attire
    • The Rock "$500 Shirt"
    • Triple H alternate attire
    • Undertaker alternate attire
    • Undertaker alternate attire

  • Story Mode characters

    • Brooklyn Von Braun
    • Cole Quinn
    • El Mago Jr.
    • Josie Jane
    • Reilly Flash
    • Ribbie

Who's in? (* denotes characters available via DLC)

  • Main Roster

    • Angel Garza
    • Austin Theory
    • Damian Priest
    • Dominik Mysterio
    • MACE
    • Mansoor
    • MVP
    • Shotzi
    • T-BAR

  • NXT

    • Cameron Grimes
    • Dexter Lumis
    • Fabian Aichner
    • Joaquin Wilde
    • Jordan Devlin
    • Kay Lee Ray
    • Kushida
    • LA Knight*
    • Marcel Barthel
    • Raquel Gonzales
    • Raul Mendoza
    • Santos Escobar
    • Timothy Thatcher
    • Walter

  • Legends/Other

    • Cactus Jack*
    • Eric Bischoff (nWo)*
    • Farooq
    • Machine Gun Kelly*
    • Road Dogg Jesse James
    • Rob Van Dam*
    • Stacy Keibler*
    • Yokozuna*

  • Managers

    • Triple H

  • Alternate attires

    • Dolph Ziggler '09
    • Kane '08
    • Kevin Nash (nWo)*
    • Rey Mysterio '05
    • Rey Mysterio '06
    • Rey Mysterio '08
    • Rey Mysterio '09
    • Rey Mysterio '11
    • Rey Mysterio Jr. (Starrcade '96)*
    • Scott Hall (nWo)*
    • Seth Rollins '20
    • The Miz '11
    • The Undertaker '02
    • The Undertaker (Ministry of Darkness)
    • The Undertaker (Phantom Mask)
    • The Undertaker (Boneyard Match)

  • New to the game but no longer with the company

    • Alexander Wolfe
    • Danny Burch
    • Ember Moon
    • Isaiah "Swerve" Scott
    • John Morrison
    • Karrion Cross
    • RECKONING (Mia Yim)
    • Scarlett (manager)
    • SLAPJACK
    • Tegan Nox
    • William Regal

Everyone in the game but no longer with the company

  • Alexander Wolfe
  • Arya Daivari
  • Billie Kay
  • Braun Strowman
  • Cesaro
  • Danny Burch
  • Ember Moon
  • Fandango
  • Gran Metalik
  • Isaiah "Swerve" Scott
  • Jake "The Snake" Roberts
  • Jeff Hardy
  • John Morrison
  • Johnny Gargano
  • Kalisto
  • Karrion Cross
  • Keith Lee
  • Kyle O'Reilly
  • Lana
  • Lince Dorado
  • Mia Yim
  • Murphy
  • Nia Jax
  • Oney Lorcan
  • Peyton Royce
  • RECKONING (Mia Yim)
  • Ric Flair
  • Samoa Joe
  • Scarlett (manager)
  • Shane McMahon
  • SLAPJACK
  • Tegan Nox
  • The Brian Kendrick
  • Toni Storm
  • Tucker
  • Tyler Breeze
  • William Regal

By the Numbers

"WWE 2K22" includes:
  • 169 unique, playable characters (if our math is correct), including DLC but not including managers and alternate attires
    • That's 17 less than "WWE 2K20."
  • 195 playable characters, including alternate versions of superstars
    • That's 30 less than "WWE 2K20."
  • 41 unique, playable women
    • That's six less than "WWE 2K20."
  • 201 total characters, including managers and alternate versions of superstars
    • That's 37 less than "WWE 2K20."

Roster take-aways

It looks like this year's roster will be significantly smaller than the last game but, considering how many people WWE has let go since COVID, I'm surprised they have this many still in the game. There are also a handful of wrestlers that I'm glad are still there, like John Morrison, who is one of my favorites. I think that the most notable omissions at the time of launch (the Bellas, Paige, Lita, Ronda Rousey, Zelina Vega and a handful of other legends) will likely be added as upcoming DLC, as well as a lot of NXT standouts, so I'm not too worried about them right now.

What else is new?

Three major game modes are being introduced or revamped for this year - most notably, GM Mode, which returns to the franchise after about a decade's absence. I, for one, cannot wait to get my hands on GM Mode, which was one of the most popular features of the "SmackDown! vs RAW" era of WWE video games. The other two major modes are called MyFaction and MyRise. We haven't looked too far into those modes yet, but MyFaction seems like fun and MyRise essentially seems like a fancy new name for "Story Mode," which has recently been the worst aspect of any games put out under the "2K" banner.

A major focus will be placed on cover athlete Rey Mysterio this year. He replaces the "2K20" spotlight on the Women's Revolution. Players will have the opportunity to relive iconic milestones from Mysterio's illustrious career, so if you're a fan of cruiserweight action, you might be excited about that.

Quick Q&A

We did this in our last "WWE 2K" post, so we'll ask the same questions and see how our answers have changed.

  • Who will be the first wrestlers you play with in "2K22"?
    • John Morrison, John Cena and the nWo. We'll also acknowledge Roman Reigns as the Tribal Chief and Head of the Table pretty early on, as well.
  • Are there any superstars that you are more excited to play with in "2K22" than you have been in the past?
    • Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar (shockingly). Sonya DeVille and Dakota Kai come to mind on the women's roster.
  • Are there any superstars that you are less excited to play with in "2K22" than you have been in the past?
    • Rey Mysterio lol
  • Are there any superstars that you have no intention of playing with in "2K22"?
    • Anyone who has left the company for AEW. Screw them.
  • Who are you most looking forward to beating up?
    • Anyone who has left the company for AEW and Braun Strowman.
  • What is your weapon of choice?
    • Always the kendo stick, unless they let you do that spinning thing when you put a ladder over your head. That is the absolute best.
  • What feature are you most looking forward to?
    • GM Mode, hands down. Not even close.

The Bottom Line:

There's no way it can be any worse than "WWE 2K20." It looks really good, though, and we've got high hopes.

To take a look at our previous WWE content, click here. You can also leave a comment on this post, follow us on Twitter (here and here) or find us on Facebook, if you know where to look.

See you in the ring, jabronis.

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Location: The Underground, Jive City, USA

Friday, March 4, 2022

Let's talk about "The Batman"


I watched "The Batman" last night and I need to say some things.

TL;DR Version

Too long? Didn't read? Here are four little bullet points:

  • It's really, really long
  • It's not intended for young audiences
  • The stellar cast does not disappoint
  • Robert Pattinson is legit

If you want to go into the movie blind, that's all you need to know. If you want more context, keep reading. I've tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but, just in case, let's put this here:



What You Should Know About the Movie

There are a couple things worth mentioning about the movie itself.

First of all, it's very, very long. With a nearly three-hour run time and a toddler left with a babysitter, I intentionally booked a 6 PM showtime, and that was a good decision. I have a co-worker who's seeing the movie at 10:55 PM, and I pray for his soul. Have fun getting out at 2 in the morning. Hope he takes a nap beforehand. It's also one of those movies like "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," where you think it's over like six different times but it just keeps going. I fought the urge to look at my watch to gage how long we had left. However, to its credit, I never felt bored. It's long, but it's engaging.

This movie is dark. And I'm not talking about the lighting. I mean, there are a couple points in the movie when I thought, "Gee, I hope no whackos out there are taking notes." Think of it less as a "superhero movie" and more of a guy in a cape and a cop tracking down a serial killer. That's what you're getting yourself into.

Over the years, Batman movies have become increasingly "grounded," shifting from the comicbook worlds of the Tim Burton era to the Christopher Nolan trilogy and, now, Matt Reeves' first steps into the Batverse. The newer movies feel much closer to "real life" than the old ones did. That's a bit troublesome,in some aspects, but I think mature audiences will still enjoy this new movie.

Pattinson's take on Batman verges on the more brutal interpretation of the character, similar to "Batfleck" from recent films, and the style of violence is... punishing, to say the least. The Riddler's style of social media-fueled style of psychological terrorism is also quite unnerving. The whimsical days of the goofball Riddler are over.

"The Batman" definitely merits its PG-13 rating. I wish there was something more like a "PG-16" rating - something between "PG-13" and "R." This one definitely wasn't "R," but it's certainly not a movie for kids. There's a lot of profanity, including frequent use of religious exclamations and one F-word, so keep that in mind before taking your kids to the theater. 



Batman and Bruce Wayne

There have been many different versions of Bruce Wayne and Batman, and I think the first question most people will ask about this movie is how Robert Pattinson stacks up. That's tough.

Recently, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck have shown us distinct portrayals of the man behind the mask. Bale was the playboy, with women hanging on his arm. Affleck came off as a savvy business man with a hardcore crossfit routine. Pattinson epitomizes the detective characteristics of Bruce Wayne unlike anything we've seen in the past. In the beginning of the movie, Pattinson explains that his hobbies have turned him into a "nocturnal animal." He painstakingly takes journals of his obseverations and literally records everything he sees. The guy stays up late and doesn't get much sunlight - and it shows. He's a reclusive public figure made legendary by his rare appearances. It's a different spin on the character than we've seen in the past, certainly.

Before we move on, I need to get something off of my chest. I haven't really followed Robert Pattinson's acting career. I don't think I've really seen him in anything other than "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "Tenet." But I've had it with the "Twilight" insults. They're tired. Those movies came out like 15 years ago and, for some reason, people are still holding those over his head. Give the dude a break and stop calling him "Edward," all right?



Now, let's talk about Emo Bruce. The first images I saw of Robert Pattinson in this movie were of the scene where he's at a funeral/memorial service. He's wearing a trenchcoat-like suit and his greasy hair is all over his face. I think a lot of people immediately judged how he was going to be as Bruce Wayne because of those pictures. But let's be real: if there's one guy who deserves to look a little "emo," it's the friendless billionaire orphan who is single-handedly trying to save his flaming trash heap of a city. Cut the man some slack.

All in all, detective/emo Bruce Wayne grew on me and I didn't mind it. I thought Pattinson did a great job in that aspect of his role. Those are huge shoes to fill, and fans are always ultra-critical of actors when they first take on these iconic characters, whether it's James Bond, Superman, Batman or anyone else.

Now, as far as Batman is concerned, I thought Pattinson looked amazing in the suit. I probably have, in my mind, some idea of what I think the Batsuit should look like, and I'm still wrapping my head around some of the stuff, like those little ammo things on his wrists, but I thought the suit was pretty good and I thought he looked like a natural in it. I liked his voice, from the monologuing to how he actually spoke when in costume. I felt that it came across as less forced than Bale's, which was completely opposite of how he talked as Bruce Wayne, and less tired/pissed off than Affeck.

I loved how Pattinson's Batman interacted with his allies (Gordon and Catwoman), and I thought that using the Bat-signal as a "warning" was super effective. Light that thing up and criminals get spooked, even without the Caped Crusader actually being there. Nice touch. Although Pattinson didn't looked totally ripped for the role, he definitely comes across as a guy whose bad side you'd want to avoid. One or two punches from him and you're out, folks.

I thought some of the action scenes in this movie (one involving the Batmobile, one involving a dark hallway and random bursts of gunfire, and one involving a smokescreen, in particular) were top-notch and probably some of the best we've ever seen. (That Batmobile won me over, too, by the way.)

One other interesting facet of Pattinson's Batman is his desire to not only reduce crime in Gotham but simply make it a better place. Many times, I think the goal is to "get rid of all the criminals," but Pattinson appears to want to restore Gotham to the lofty potential it had to begin with.

All in all, I thought Pattinson knocked it out of the park in his debut appearance in the cape-and-cowl. I'd love to see him in at least two more of these movies, with director Matt Reeves at the helm.




Alfred

The second comparison that usually comes up is that of the most loyal butler in the world, Alfred Pennyworth.

We all probably fall right back to Michael Caine, who is an absolute treasure, no matter the movie. Caine gave us an elderly Alfred who seemed reluctant to help, at times, and spent a lot of energy trying to talk Master Wayne out of crime fighting. He definitely gave us some great bits of dialogue, though, and was a wonderful replacement-father figure in the Christopher Nolan trilogy.

When my wife asked me how I liked Jeremy Irons as Alfred in the "Batman v Superman" era, I mentioned that he really didn't get enough screen time to leave a lasting impression. He was fine, we just didn't really spend much time with him.

Andy Serkis' Alfred is, perhaps, the most hands-on version of Bruce's housekeeper that we've been given yet. Throughout the movie, he is constantly seen trying to crack riddles or provide analysis, which I thought was fun. In most versions of the Bat-verse, Bruce generally seems unwilling to completely bring Alfred on board, both in his crime-fighting and his personal life, and that's still the case here, with "The Batman." Pattinson seems a bit more open to letting Alfred solve mysteries, but for certain reasons, Pattinson comes across more as a "You're Not My Father" type than his predecessors. That was an interesting dynamic to watch develop. I think Serkis is a great actor and I hope we get to see more of him in the future.




James Gordon

The third comparison, is GCPD's finest, Jim Gordon. So how does Jeffrey Wright stack up?

I grew up with the Commissioner Gordon from the Adam West TV series, so I'll always love that old man. However, times have changed and, over the years, Gordon has changed from the gray-haired, red phone-operating, white-collar type to a "roll up your sleeves and do what you've gotta do" persona.

I thought Gary Oldman was perfect in the Nolan trilogy. I thought he was the spitting image of a younger Jim Gordon, complete with the mustache and everything. I've got nothing bad to say about the guy.

I was really excited for J.K. Simmons to take on that role during the "Justice League" movies, but the DCEU hit a notorious rough patch and his character never truly got off the ground, which is a shame because did you see how jacked he got? Sheesh.

Jeffrey Wright is an amazing actor. I think he's just wonderful and has a really great voice. (Fun fact: he recently provided the voice of Batman in an audio drama you can stream on HBO Max and Spotify. Highly recommended, if you're into that stuff.) Undoubtedly (because it's 2022 and people are offended by everything), casting Wright as Gordon may have raised a few eyebrows, since he's, you know... not white like all the other guys... But I think my wife's endorsement says it all. As we were driving home from the theater last night, she said, "He looked just like them." I thought that was a really cool observation. As I mentioned, I thought he and Pattinson worked really well together - especially in a certain one-on-one interrogation scene.




Gotham City

Ah, to be young and colorful and care-free. Remember those old days of Joker parades and Penguinmobiles? Yeah, that's not Gotham anymore. This is another gritty look at a once-glorious city now on the brink of collapse. All the good people of Gotham have left are white-knight political figures - and that's not a good job to have in a city like this, mind you. The town is grimy, vandalized, overflowing with litter and a public transit ticket is basically a death wish.

It's been wild to watch Gotham change over the years to reflect improvements in real-life technology, like the Internet, social media and even USB drives. We've come a long way in the past 30 years, and Batman's world is evolving with us.

In the aftermath of "The Batman," it will be interesting to see the state of Gotham City, moving forward.




The Villains

It was amazing to me to think about how seamlessly DC incorporated so many of Batman's "Rogues Gallery" in this movie without it feeling cumbersome or bloated. I'd heard that "The Batman" wasn't really going to be a Bruce Wayne origin story (thankfully, we didn't have to see Thomas and Martha get gunned down in Crime Alley for the billionth time), but, rather, it would be an origin story for some of the villains. This turned out to be true - and surprisingly well done.

Zoe Kravitz laced up her Catwoman boots for the new movie. Her "mask" will certainly be a talking point for many movie-goers. I didn't care for it. It looked like she was late for a burglary and didn't have a mask so she just grabbed an unfinished set of underwear she was in the middle of crocheting and put it on her head. If we see her again in the future, she's going to have to have a MUCH better costume. There would be no excuse for us to see her like this ever again. Other than that, I liked the way she portrayed Selina Kyle. I thought he relationship with Batman was really good - just like the dynamic that exists in the comics, video games and animated shows, so good job on that.

Colin Farrell made headlines months back when images of him as Oswald Cobblepot first circulated. He is practically unrecognizable. If you really look at his eyes, you can kind of see it, but man. What a makeup and prosthetics job. Truly incredible. I think he ended up being one of my favorite characters in the movie, which was surprising. He's just got some really great dialogue and, in my opinion, he's got a couple of the best lines in the movie. Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing where his character goes from here.

Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that several other minor characters are used to really lay the ground work for the world the movie takes place in. We learn about the political history of Gotham City, some genealogical troubles for several characters, get a little taste of the prison system (psychiatric and otherwise) and a whole lot of other things. Just little tiny Easter eggs here and there for Batman die-hards like me. Really great stuff and tremendous world-building by Matt Reeves and company.

Finally, there's the Riddler, who, let me just say, is totally insane. He's got the homemade bomber aesthetic going for him, which isn't really my favorite. Like, I don't mind that he's not in a bright green bowler hat with a cane and whatnot, but the idea that he's just some guy that had a few crazy ideas is a bit disturbing. However, there comes a point in the movie (you'll know it when it happens) when Paul Dano's character really takes things up a notch. He gestures at his head and makes a comment like, "I'm not physically strong. My power is up here." I thought that was probably the best explanation of what makes Riddler such a dangerous nemesis that I've heard. He's not going to go out and punch anybody in the face, but he's going to test the limits of his foes' intellect. I'm not sure he's quite on the level of Heath Ledger's Joker, but it really did get to a point where I thought, "Wow, this dude is completely unhinged." Very effective stuff.




Surprises

Behold, some tweets:




There was a point in my life when I was really into movie trailers. I'd watch those things multiple times to get myself hyped for upcoming shows. That period of my life is now over. I don't know if I just have more of a trained eye than I used to or if movie studios have just gotten worse and making trailers, but I feel like there are a lot of commercials and clips that they put out before they release the movie that show way too much.

It also doesn't help that there is a large portion of the nerd community that has taken up freeze-framing as a hobby, so they'll watch a trailer, pause it and micro-analyze what they see. Like, "Oh, look at this shadow! It's Venom. Look at this arm! It's Matt Murdock! Whose lightsaber is that? Rewind that for a second - it's Mecha-Godzilla! That's the left side of Patrick Stewart's head!" That stuff just drives me nuts. Why can't we all just agree to go to the theater and be surprised together?

I tried not to watch many trailers or clips for "The Batman." I think I watched the first trailer they came out with and maybe the second one, too. Other than that, I tried to go to the theater without having a general idea of what was going to happen. I'm glad that I did. It was so nice to watch something unfold on the screen and not be like, "Yeah, they're going to throw him in prison for this but he'll get out," or whatever. I didn't sit there for two and a half hours, thinking in the back of my mind, "Well, I know Batman and the Riddler will meet up, face-to-face, on a rooftop at some point because it shows it in the trailer." (That's a made-up example, by the way.) For the first time in a while, I went to a movie not really knowing what to expect, and that made for a really wild ride.




The Verdict

My brother-in-law just texted me. He asked if I thought "The Batman" was good because it was legitimately good, or if I thought "The Batman" was good because I like DC and want them to succeed. A valid question. I appreciate him asking me.

I responded, "I think it is a legitimately great movie."

Despite how much I enjoyed it, I don't think I will go see "The Batman" again in theaters, for a couple reasons:

  1. I've got a kid that I miss when he's not with me, and finding a babysitter is a pain the butt sometimes.
  2. It's really, really long, and I don't have all the time in the world like I have in years past.

However, I will definitely buy that movie as soon as it's available and will immediately re-watch it from the comfort of my own home, where I can pause it if I need a bathroom break or a snack.

Part of what made "The Batman" great is that it wasn't tied to a larger cinematic universe. I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I read part of an article about an interview with Matt Reeves, where he said that making a movie with so many constraints put in place by the existing universe would make things really difficult for a filmmaker. It was awesome that "The Batman" could tell whatever story it wanted, without having to worry about what came before it or what will come next.

I thought that the cast was phenomenal. There were so many great performances. I sat there in the theater last night, wondering if this movie could actually get nominated for (or win) some major Academy Awards next year. Could it happen?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably a little unfair when critiquing reboots of franchises I love. It took me two full movies before I warmed up to Daniel Craig as James Bond. I wasn't thrilled when Ben Affleck was cast as Batman, but I got on board eventually (RIP Batfleck). Similarly, I wasn't ecstatic when I heard about Robert Pattinson, but you know what? I never saw "Twilight." Why on earth would I let that create low expectations? I tried my best to give him a chance and I think he was really, really good. It's a fresh spin on the character, for sure, but I truly enjoyed this movie.

I slept on all of this last night. I woke up thinking about it, too. That's the sign of a good movie. After some contemplation, I think this has got to be a Top-2 Batman movie. It's been a second since I've seen "The Dark Knight," so I would need to re-watch that before I can definitively say more, but "The Batman" is right up there. Some critics are calling it the best superhero movie ever made, which is a very bold claim because there have been a lot of really good superhero movies in the past decade, but if you're on the fence about seeing this movie and you can tolerate the dark themes, you've gotta give a shot - and, preferably, as soon as you can. I've seen some spoilers on Facebook already today, and the movie hasn't even been officially released for a full 24 hours. Be careful out there, people.


*****


What do you think? Have you seen "The Batman" yet? If so, how did you like it? Let's keep it as spoiler-free as we can, for people who haven't had a chance yet. Leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter (here and here) or hit me up with your hot takes on Facebook because I need all the 🗣 emojis.

Until next time.

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