Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Between Batman Returns and Batman Forever an animated movie, based upon the animated series, was released in 1993. It's called the Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and I've now got some difficulty reviewing this movie after having seen the entire animated series. Part of what makes a movie good is originality and after watching it, it occurred to me that some elements might have looked rehashed from the series, but since this was released while the series was still running some episodes borrowed from this movie instead of the other way around. So the core of this movie was also used in the episode "The Judge" where a new vigilante pops up and kills the bad guys, something Batman never does. But of course people think that Batman is responsible and a councilman wants to bring batman to justice.
Red State
Red State is a departure for Kevin Smith who, up until now, was mostly know for his comedies and an occasional dramady. It's marketed as a horror in the vein of all those backwood movies like Hostel where a couple of kids end up in the clutches of some bad people in a remote area. Personally I wouldn't describe it as that, because to inject the concept with something new Kevin Smith changes everything when he introduces the ATF in the second half of the movie and it goes from a horror to a siege movie.
Drive
The synopsis of Drive sounds like that of a Transporter movie with its stuntman moonlighting as a getaway driver. He has similar strict rules to his services which have kept him out of jail so far. But that's where the similarities end as Drive is never as over-the-top as the Transporter movies are. The Driver is Ryan Goslin, a man of few words. He has multiple jobs, one being a stuntman, another working in a garage. And there's the getaway driving. Due to the illegitimate character of this job he follows a strict code, one containing burner cell phones for instance. He's shown to be a mellow character until someone recognizes him in a bar from a job and starts talking to him about another gig. This is the first time we see hem threaten someone and know there's more to his mellow exterior.
Looking back at: Batman - The Animated Series
These past few months I've been catching up on some of my childhood by watching the entire series of "Batman: The Animated Series" as well as its successor "The New Batman Adventures". Having watched a fair share of episodes back in the day (the early 90's) it occurred to me that this was regarded as one of the best cartoons ever produced for television. So I thought it would be nice to go back and see if it still holds up.
Now when this series first aired 17/18 years ago I was 14/15 myself and saw an episode once a week as it was part of the Saturday morning cartoon selection. It's quite clear how this cartoon stands out from the crowd, as it is quite different from the rest, something I noticed back then already. There's a sense of realism as the cops and villains both use guns instead of the lasers we got in shows like G.I. Joe, Marshall Bravestarr and Transformers, there's little place for humor and most of the stories told have a tragic side to them, the cartoon is very dark and most of it takes place during the night. Thematically the show uses plot devices like police corruption, child abuse, schizophrenia, mob wars and such. Not the most easily digested material, especially for children. Batman was a cartoon that was aimed for a more mature audience yet was aired here in The Netherlands between Eek The Cat and The Animaniacs or cartoons similar to those.
Attack the Block
Normally alien races attacking the Earth mostly have a thing for historic landmarks and big cities, whether it's The White House in Independence day or downtown Chicago in Transformers. Only when going for a more mysterious approach are movies about aliens set in deserted sceneries like New Mexico. In Attack The Block a teen gang is under attack by aliens and have to defend their block located in South London. This occurs just when they're mugging a young nurse and a meteorite hits a car next to the. Going for the easy opportunity of looking for valuables in the now open car the leader of the group Moses gets attacked by a small but vicious creature. It flees the scene but bent on revenge the boys follow it, trap it and kill it. But this small creature has some bigger relatives following him and within no time the whole block is under attack of these creatures.
Final Destination 5
Who would have thought when Final Destination was released the series would turn into a franchise and still be active 11 years later? Not me, that's for sure. Somehow these movies have become even heavier carbon copies of each other than installments of the Friday The 13th series. Where Jason evolved (a little bit) over the course of the series and "original" devices were used to make the latest movie different from the previous ones the movies in the Final Destination franchise take no such risk. The only element changing every movie is the way people think they can cheat death, this time the trick is to evade your accidental death and have another person take your place. As coroner Tony Todd mentions: the books are balanced after that.
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
The original Planet Of The Apes is a classic science fiction movie. It's cemented deeply in movie history and is one of those movies that has ventured into mainstream pop culture and yet it's also very silly as none of the effects of back in the day convince us now and merely thanks to the solid story line the movie transcends the movie never became an entire joke. Something that can't be said about the sequels.
Yet despite the classic value of the movie, the shocking and memorable twist ending raised a lot of questions with me, questions that still have to be answered. Answers that Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes might provide me.
Rocky
Rocky is the quintessential sports movie that isn't a sports movie at all. At the heart of Rocky lies the American Dream and love. The love between two people who are not set up to go very far in life but thanks to the American Dream defy all odds. The love is between has been boxer from Philadelphia Rocky, who now makes ends meet collecting for a loan shark and she, a woman named Adrian, works in a pet store and is so shy she hardly says anything to Rock who has had a crush on her for some time now. What he sees in her, I don't know. The first hour of the movie, other than the opening scene which is refereed to many, many times has no real sports activities and focuses solely on Rocky's character and how he slowly but surely wins Adrian for him.
Rocky II
Rocky II takes off where the first one ended after showing the outcome of the fight once more. The fact that a nobody from Philadelphia could go the distance with reigning world champion Apollo Creed has him disgraced, he's constantly getting hate mail and despite claiming that there won't be a rematch, the only way he could redeem himself in his own and the public's eyes is that by having one. Meanwhile Rocky is living the large life of becoming a sudden celebrity. He retires from boxing, marries Adrian, buys a house and a car with the money made with the match as well as a whole lot of luxury products he doesn't really need. When it turns out being a celebrity isn't turning him to a wonder in making commercials and an office job is out of the question for someone who never finished school Rocky, once the money was all spent, has to back to the manual labor his brother Paulie did in the first movie. When even the work here dries up the only option he has is to fight Apollo once more, despite Adrian not supporting him afraid he will go blind due to the punches. To make things worse for Rocky Adrian ends up in a coma after giving birth while he has to train for the fight.
Rocky III
After two similar Rocky movies Rocky III takes a detour by amping down on the drama and going more for light hearted entertainment. Rocky, now world champion after defeating Apollo is making serious money with matches where he defends his title and commercials, because since he learned how to read in Rocky II he's now able to do so. Rocky is now wealthy, lives in a big house and has moved out of the slums. Mickey and Paulie have both moved out of their respective homes and live with Rocky now, though Paulie is having difficulty adjusting to his brother in laws success as he himself is still the underachiever he was when we first met him.
When a statue of Rocky is being revealed Rocky is challenged by fierce fighter Clubber Lang (Mr T) who demands his shot at the title and Rocky, defending his honor grants him that shot not knowing that Clubber might be to him what he was to Apollo.
Rocky IV
After Rocky reclaimed the world championship title from Clubber Lang in Rocky III and the dramatic events went up to the level where an important character died there was only one way to top that: Kill another major character and have Rocky be responsible for bringing east and west together during the height of the Cold War. And so Rocky IV has a Russian Boxer named Ivan Drago kill Apollo Creed in the ring and subsequently Rocky going to Russia to avenge his friend in a boxing match which might be lethal to him just as well. But if there's one thing that we've learned over the course of the previous three movies it's that no matter how bad things may look for the Italian Stallion, or how little he might have trained, his will power will conquer all.