I gotta hand it to them — Amazon.com is truly amazing. There are four games that I need to get this year:

• LittleBigPlanet 2 — I picked it up Jan 21st. (It’s been on loan to my sister, and I just got it back. I should go back to playing it.)
• Batman Arkham City — Released October 18th, and I have it in my hands right now.
• Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception — Releases November 1st, and I wait with baited breath. I love that franchise.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic — Releases sometime around December 20th. This is for Josh and I to play together.

I wasn’t sure when I was going to pick up Batman Arkham City, but when some friends of mine mentioned yesterday that they too had preordered it, and expected it to arrive on release day (Tuesday, Oct 18th 2011), I was bummed. The early reviews were positively glowing. And Amazon is offering a preorder bonus — you get $10 credit to most future purchases.

Now this was just too much for me, so I preordered it late yesterday afternoon. The website was still promising to deliver it tomorrow, but I was still incredulous. Lo and behold, UPS shows up at my house less than 24 hours later, and drops this off.

Unbelievable.

I made a little time to play the game after I picked up the kids this evening. I played for maybe 30-45 mins. Wow, a great looking game. I hope I get some free time on Saturday to play some more.

Batman Arkham City for PS3

This week, the kids and I finished watching Green Lantern: Emerald Knights off of our Netflix queue.

As the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps faces a battle with an ancient enemy, Hal Jordan prepares new recruit Arisia for the coming conflict by relating stories of the first Green Lantern and several of Hal’s comrades.

Good voice acting cast: Nathan Fillion, Jason Isaacs, Elisabeth Moss, Henry Rollins, Arnold Vosloo, Tony Amendola, Kelly Hu, and even Roddy Piper. The overall storyline about this giant baddie named Krona who seems invincible was just a backdrop for the producers and storytellers to tell a collection of stories about some of the famous members of the Green Lantern Corp. The specific vignettes are:

1. The First Lantern (about Avra, the scribe.)
2. Kilowog (as a new recruit in bootcamp.)
3. Laira (on her first solo mission to confront her family’s atrocities.)
4. Mogo Doesn’t Socialize (meh, but the baddie is voiced by Roddy Piper.)
5. Abin Sur (not bad, and you get to see Abin Sur in action.) 
6. The big action of the finale as the entire Corp fights Krona.

It wasn’t one big story, just an anthology of smaller stories that, to be honest, weren’t the most interesting. I don’t know precisely why, but they just weren’t all that interesting. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights isn’t the best film in the DCAU, but it’s not the worst either. It’s okay, but I think the kids would like it. Josh liked it, but it’s PG, so there is some violence that happens on screen, so I tried to distract him until that part of the scene was over.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011)

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I tracked its progress as it developed, and checked out spoilers and other news as it got closer to release. When the early reviews came with less-than-positive comments, I was disheartened. Marvel Comics has developed a better track record with producing Hollywood fils based on the original source material. Apart from Batman, DC Comics has done less than stellar.

Here’s a quote from io9′s review of the film.

It’s hard to imagine a story that has more wish-fulfillment stuffed into it than Green Lantern. This lucky guy gets chosen, out of all of us, to have this amazing ring that can do anything. And he finds out that he’s a member of the coolest organization in the entire universe. He says a cool poem (“oath”) to activate his powers, and almost nobody knows that plain old Hal Jordan is this mysterious all-powerful hero. It’s basically the purest, most escapist heroic fantasy ever.

It would take a lot of work to make something so pure and beautiful into a boring movie, devoid of fun or exhilaration. But Green Lantern rolls up its green sleeves and works hard.

There a lot of problems with this film, including it being boring, derivative, and the plot holes/contrivances don’t make any sense:

• The cast is boring. Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Tim Robbins, Angela Bassett, and the rest of the cast feel two-dimensional, and seemingly have no real chemistry between them.
• Reynolds “emoted”, but I was tired of being told that he was kinda of a loser with daddy issues. In Hollywood, this is a plot contrivance so that the protagonist can overcome his fear and come into his own. This is a cliched superhero origin story that has been told a hundred times now. If this came out in the 90′s, it would fit right in. Instead, it pales in comparison to good films like Iron Man and the Christopher Nola trilogy of Batman films. Heck, I’ve watched better films coming out from the DC Animated Universe studio at Warner Brothers.
• The Green Lantern Corp, faced with the imminent threat of the Parallax cloud monster, are ineffective. When told that the aforementioned cloud monster, who represents and thrives on “fear”, the Green Lantern Corp and the Guardians (on Oa) refuse to help. This only makes sense in a Hollywood movie, as now the hero must attempt to save Earth on his own. Oh please. The Guardians and none of the rest of the 3,599 Green Lanterns refuse to help? Really?
• The dialogue was cheesy.
• I don’t need any more cloud monsters. I. Just. Don’t.

This was a tired movie, a throwback to the superhero films of the 90′s and 00′s.

Green Lantern (2011)

I watched Superman/Batman: Apocalypse over the weekend, a direct-to-video animated film from DC. It’s the sequel (or follow-up) to 2009′s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, which I haven’t seen yet. However, this was available for streaming, so I couldn’t resist the impulse. Based on the original comic storyline, this is an origin story that reintroduces Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin from Krypton, into the modern age. Batman discovers Kara after her spacecraft crashes in Gotham after being stuck inside of a Kryptonite meteor for some years. She’s young and inexperienced in handling her new-found powers, so Superman / Clark tries to acclimate her to her new world. Wonder Woman and her fellow Amazons of Themyscira come to take her and train her.

This wasn’t the best DC animated film from the series, but not the worst either. It’s worth checking it out.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)

In 2009, Warner Bros. released their fourth direct-to-video animated film in their DC Universe animated original movies, featuring Wonder Woman. Titled simply Wonder Woman, it’s your basic origin story featuring Keri Russell as Wonder Woman (Diana), Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor, and Alfred Molina as the big bad in this film — Ares, the god of war. Here’s a summary that I’m openly stealing from IMDB:

In antiquity, the Amazons defeat the war god, Ares, and Zeus charges them to hold him prisoner as eternally young warriors on the hidden island of Themyscira. Centuries later, US Air Force pilot Steve Trevor is lured to crash land on the island and the distraction of that trespass allows Ares to escape. In response, Princess Diana wins the responsibility to both take Trevor home and recapture the fugitive god. Steve Trevor offers to help and together this disparate pair must not only overcome Ares’ efforts to achieve a bloody revenge, but also reconcile their own conflicting world views in an adventure that would be the first for the greatest of the female superheroes.

It’s rated PG-13 due to animated violence and some suggestive material, so I obviously didn’t let the kids watch. It’s a decent film, but there was a bit too much of the Amazons talking about how much men suck. I thought that got a little old, but still a good film.  The film does include Wonder Woman’s fabled “invisible jet”, with no real explanation of why she gets a invisible jet. Why is it invisible, does it need jet fuel, why does it have electronics, or why it has invisible missles?

Wonder Woman (2009)

Last night, I watched Batman: Under the Red Hood, a 2010 direct-to-video film based on the two DC Comic Batman storylines  ”A Death in the Family” and “Under the Hood“. The film is the eighth in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. It was released on July 27, 2010. The film begins with the death of Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin, at the hands of the Joker. The film flash-forwards five years to the present day in Gotham, and the arrival of Red Hood.

Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when the Joker falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened.

Excellent movie, but not one for children. It’s PG-13, with violent themes not appropriate for young children. I found Jason Todd’s torture and death to be especially brutal. The voice acting is good, with new actors stepping in, such as Bruce Greenwood as Batman/Bruce Wayne. newcomer Jensen Ackles as Red Hood (excellent!), and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. Although I’m normally a fan of John Di Maggio, I didn’t like him here as the Joker. In case you were interested, Rogue’s Gallery favorites Black Mask and Riddler also make appearances, but I liked seeing Nightwing the best.

Did I mention Jason Todd’s death was brutal? I genuinely felt bad.

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)

How did I forget about this? Last month, Josh and I watched Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, a direct-to-video animated film release this February. This is a DCAU film, but not connected in any way to any of the animated series that have come before it (Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Justice League, or Justice League Unlimited.) I consider it fairly standalone, in so much that even the character drawings are different.

The basic story is that our heroes travel to an alternate universe to fight their evil counterparts who have formed the Crime Syndicate to rule the world. It was an okay story, good voice cast, but nothing earth-shattering. Parallel universe crossing, but not earth-shattering.

Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths (2010)

When you fall behind on your updates, and you want to catch up, I guess there’s no time like the present. A few weeks ago, Josh and I watched Superman Doomsday, a 2007 animated DC Universe film. It’s a direct-to-video film, and we watched it a la Netflix streaming. This movie is a kind of one-off in the DC animated Superman films. Although Bruce Timm helped write and direct this particular film, there’s no continuity with Timm’s late 90′s animated show. Different voice actors (Adam Baldwin, Anne Heche), a different rendition of Superman, and a modified Fortress of Solitude. It’s PG-13, with cartoon blood, and lots of ancillary characters dying in the background. I fast-forwarded through some of the violence for my 5-year old’s sake.

The film retells the Death of Superman from the 1992-1993 comics storyline. Growing up, I actually never had the opportunity to read those comics when they were published. When those Superman replacements came out (Superboy, Steel, etc), I was very confused. In this film, the writers merged the various replacements into one Superman who appears after the funeral, but has very different morals and ethics. The animation was good, but I didn’t like the lines on Superman’s face. What’s the deal? Is he supposed to be older? I didn’t mind the voice acting, but I missed Tim Daly as Superman.

I thought the film was okay, as it went quickly from Doomsday’s release from incarceration, the big battle, Superman’s death, and then a quick rush to the end. There’s an unusual amount of cartoon violence related to Doomsday’s rampage on his journey to Metropolis. If you intend to watch with your kids, do some fast forwarding. While I understand that the writers could not realistically shoehorn the Reign of the Superman storyline, and condensed it into a questionable Superman replacement, I would have liked to have seen the various Supermen in action.

Side note: I like the Netflix streaming option. I’ve watched a number of films using streaming, and it’s a good alternative if you don’t mind the 720p video quality, and stereo sound. The 720p video doesn’t bother me at all, but the stereo surround needs a serious upgrade to 5.1 surround sound.

Superman Doomsday (2007)

This week, I rented Green Lantern: First Flight, a 2009 direct-to-DVD animated movie about DC Comics Green Lantern superhero. Basically, an origin story for the Hal Jordan version of Earth’s Green Latern. Good cast: Christopher Meloni, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette, the always cool Kurtwood Smith, and even a brief cameo by Olivia d’Abo.

I wish I could say this movie was great, but it wasn’t.  It was your run-of-the-mill animated movie that could have just been broadcast on TV. The story was underwhelming, and you will say “Eh.” at the end.  I know I did.  I’ve been introducing Josh to all the superheroes (Marvel and DC), and all things sci-fi.  I thought he’d enjoy this movie, but it’s actually PG-13.  I watched the entire first to evaluate it, but it wasn’t age appropriate.  I did let him watch the last 5-10 minutes of the finale, as that was safer for his young eyes and ears.

Man, I just looked back into the website archives, and I was looking forward to this movie way back in July.  That’s a long time to wait to watch an underwhelming movie.

Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)

Since we got the new FiOS DVR, we’ve created brand-new season passes, er, “series” to catch up on other shows we didn’t watch regularly.  I’ve recently been catching up on my Justice League and Justice League Unlimited episodes.  A few years ago, I somehow missed this whole epic Thanagar-invading-Earth storyline that preceded Justice League Unlimited.  I found the movie, Justice League – Starcrossed: The Movie, available on Netflix, so I queued it up.  BTW, (I love Netflix and lamp.

I’m not going to go into the entire plot.  If you are into the 1990′s animated Batman and Superman series, you were probably into the Justice League series as well.  You can read a good review on Toonzone.net. The movie was pretty good for JL and entertaining, though I was surprised to learn it was released back in 2001.  Gosh, that’s a long time ago. I’m just catching up now?

Justice League - Starcrossed the movie

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