Batwoman – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two

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  • Title: Batwoman – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two
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Batwoman - Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two television review

Hey, an episode of Batwoman that is actually good!? The Crisis crossover continues with the heroes searching for a very specific Superman before Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) can kill them all. Sorry Smallville fans it isn’t that one (although we do get a cameo by Tom Welling on the Kent family farm). The Superman (Brandon Routh) they are looking for turns out to look an awful lot like the Atom (also Routh) living on Earth-96 (based on Kingdom Come and also the various Superman films starring Routh and Christopher Reeve). That Superman is one of seven paragons necessary to fight the Anti-Monitor. That leaves Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Batwoman (Ruby Rose) in search of another paragon in Gotham of Earth-99 where the pair run into that world’s Batman (Kevin Conroy). I don’t mind the episode making Conroy a red herring, as it was unlikely Crisis would suit him up and throw him into the big battle scenes to come. Instead he offers a cautionary tale for Kate Kane to take another step forward as a hero (now if she could just find a show worthy of her).

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Queen & Slim

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Queen & Slim
  • IMDb: link

Queen & Slim movie reviewWriter/director Melina Matsoukas’ Queen & Slim examines how one night can change your life. Driving Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) home after their unsuccessful first date, Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) is pulled over by a racist cop looking for any excuse to escalate the situation. Two gunshots later, the pair are on the run relatively oblivious to how their story will spread across the country.

The film is built on the backs of Kaluuya and Turner-Smith whose unusual first date leads the to unexpected destinations including a family reunion, a city-wide protest in their honor, and a drive towards freedom. Slim’s even demanor is a nice match for Queen’s more fiery moments, and it’s where the pair come together that Queen & Slim ultimately succeeds.

Matsoukas provides a stylish racially-charged tale of fugitives on the run that does begin to drag on during its final half-hour. While the decisions the pair make after killing a cop in self-defense are questionable at best, the script focuses on their perspectives, and life experience, to make the best choices they can given other equally bad alternatives.

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Why Joker is the Most Overrated Movie of the Year

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  • Title: Joker
  • IMDb: link

Joker movie reviewAlthough it has been phenomenally successful at the box office, writer/director Todd Phillips‘ film focused on the origins of the most famous Bat-villain has divided critics. Forgetting for a moment that attempting to rationalize and explain one of the most inexplicable characters ever created is a terrible, terrible idea doomed to failure, Phillips’ choices over the course of Joker leave much to be desired.

Stealing its plot from two different Martin Scorsese films (Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy) and adding a layer of DC Comics on top which acts more of a fuck you to fans than celebration of the character (purposely making claims that fly in the face of 80 years of comic writing), Phillips offers a script to explain the creation of the Joker. The movie isn’t a descent into madness, our lead character is already far gone by the time we meet him. Instead, Joker examines how a shitbag like our protagonist became the most famous villain in Gotham. And, in one of the film’s most troubling aspects, excuse that behavior by re-purposing the blame of the Joker’s actions on society itself. The Joker doesn’t kill people, society kills people.

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Supergirl – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Supergirl – Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One
  • wiki: link

Supergirl - Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One television review

Supergirl kicks off the crossover The CW has been building towards for years as an anti-matter wave is approaching all Earths, threatening to wipe out all of existence. The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) pulls heroes from various locations, bringing them to Supergirl‘s Earth-38 to make a stand. While the show’s current storyline’s are mentioned, most notably Lena (Katie McGrath) villain turn, the focus is on Crisis as all hands are on deck (even Lena) to find a way to evacuate the Earth should Supergirl (Melissa Benoist), Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), White Canary (Caity Lotz), the Atom (Brandon Routh), Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), Mia (Katherine McNamara), Batwoman (Ruby Rose), and the Flash (Grant Gustin) fail.

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