TrailerWatch: The Batman
As far as the screen goes, Batman is a saturated property: we’ve had the Adam West Batman (which borders on campy genius), Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns, Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (and Batman’s cameo in Suicide Squad), and then complementing properties, like Joker, Birds of Prey (the short-lived 2002 TV show and the more-recent movie), the television series Gotham, and several animated series. With such a populated franchise, it forces every new installment to be different. That’s a good and a bad thing. Necessity compels originality. But, sometimes, a predecessor might’ve done…
A Pop Culture Rant
As if it isn’t obvious, I’m a pop culture nerd. Or was. I think I’m just about done. I don’t have a lot of confidence in today’s industry to make good adaptations of those characters I love. In fact, most of the time I feel insulted. What’s happened? Why has it changed so drastically? Why are these blockbusters so often style without substance? It wasn’t always this way. Superman’s a good example. The original two Richard Donner movies – Superman (1978) and Superman II (2006: this is the year the official Richard Donner version was released) – are classics. Donner knew Superman. He loved Superman. He created a vision of…