olivia_sutton | Entries tagged with dcau

I think this may have been the first of the Warner Brothers DCAU movies (other than the three animated Batman films, and Batman Beyond Return of the Joker) - but the first of the direct-to-video films. I managed to miss it when it was originally released, and then the price shot up to something like $24.95 for the 2-disc version. Plus, to be honest, the plot didn't really appeal - I mean, a 1950-Era story? Really? However, when I purchased Justice League: Doom and Young Justice (set 1 - a 3 disc compilation of the previously released vols 1-3, which were single discs); I was able to get JL-TNF for $6.60, for the two-disc edition. And it was a new copy, not used. I snapped it up! I'm pleased to report I enjoyed the film, see review below. Actually, I thought the documentary on the history of the Justice League / JLA was worth the $6.60. Nothing like catching up on comics history. Anyway, if you're a DC fan and you also managed to miss this, I do recommend it.

Title: Justice League The New Frontier
Director: David Bullock
Voice Director: Andrea Romano
Date: 2008
Studio: Warner Brothers Animation
Genre: Action, Animation, Drama
Cast: David Boreanaz, Neil Patrick Harris, Kyle MacLachlan, Lucy Lawless, Phil Morris, Kyra Sedgwick, Brooke Shields, Jeremy Sisto, Miguel Ferrer, Robin Atkin Downes
Format: Widescreen, Color Animation
DVD Format: R1, NTSC

"It was Korea -- it changed everything." -- Hal
"Wars have a tendency to do that." -- Ace

"We've got to know what these Martians want from us. And since we can't find them here on Earth, we're going to Mars." -- Col. Flagg
"Outstanding." -- Hal

"I thought I could make a life for myself here among you humans. I thought I didn't have a choice. But there is one now. There's just too much hatred here, too much ignorance, too much mindless conformity, I'm leaving." Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz, John Jones)
"Have a nice trip, some of us don't have that luxury." -- Batman

Set in 1952 - 1954, the Korean War has just ended, and McCarthyism is in full swing. And Super Heroes are at the top of McCarthy's "persecute" list. Superman and Wonder Woman sign loyalty oaths, but after witnessing a brutal attack on the women of a Korean village towards the end of the war, Wonder Woman quits and returns to Paradise Island.

Meanwhile, Hal Jordan is on the journey to becoming an hero. Justice League - The New Frontier briefly gives us Hal Jordan's Silver Age Origin story. It also gives us Martian Manhunter's origin story and weakness (fire). But, Wonder Woman leaves, and Barry Allen publicly gives up being the Flash, though he doesn't reveal his secret identity. Batman's a fugitive, and Superman's a government tool.

Meanwhile, a new villain called the Center rears it's ugly head. Eventually the Justice League heroes will have to work together to defeat the menace (the living creature once known as Dinosaur Island), and with this defeat -- are able to form the Justice League. It other words, this is a origin story for the League too.

I really enjoyed this story -- the characterizations were perfect Silver Age DC Heroes: Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. Even Robin briefly appears. Sufficient time was spent on each hero, telling us precisely who they were and who they care about - as well as their methodology.

That the villain is called, "The Center" (or possibly the Centre), seems weird these days with such polarization pushing the political spectrum to radical thinking, especially on the right. But I couldn't help but think of a line by Yeats, "the Center cannot hold". I Googled it, and here's the first stanza of the poem:

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

Man, was Yeats depressed. Anyway, in New Frontier, the center is a giant bloby thing, a living island, with dinosaurs on it that it consumes for food. During it's attacks on Cape Carnival the dinosaurs become very handy weapons. But it's the heroes of the Justice League, including new hero, Green Lantern, and The Flash, working together that unite to defeat the villain.

Overall, I really liked it. Great cast (though Lucy Lawless has a really bad American accent as Wonder Woman when she fights one of her Amazon sisters on Paradise Island). Superman seems rather taken with Wonder Woman by the way, though he also is close to Lois Lane - who knows who he is.

I bought the two disc special edition, and there are some excellent documentaries on the DVD. The history of the Justice League (aka Justice League America, or simply, JLA) from the Golden Age to the ModernDay was pretty much priceless - I always love learning comics history. The villains history could have been a bit better documented and flushed out. But at least there was some nice documentaries on the discs.

Recommendation: See it! A must for DC fans.
Rating: 4 of 5
Next Film: Same Time, Next Year

Current Mood: cranky
Current Location: My home office
Current Music: Batman Begins soundtrack

NOTE: Review contains SPOILERS Be WARNED!!!

Title: Justice League Doom
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Voice Director: Andrea Romano
Date: 2012
Studio: Warner Brothers Animation
Genre: Action, Drama, Animation
Cast: Kevin Conroy, Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg, Nathan Fillion, Carl Lumbey, Michael Rosenbaum, Claudia Black, Paul Blackthorne, Olivia D'abo, Alexis Denisoff, Phil Morris, Robin Atkin Downes
Format: Widescreen, Color animation
DVD Format: R1, NTSC

"When we fought before, I broke the bat; today I break the man." -- Bane to Bruce Wayne

"No, you weren't afraid, not really. You were dosed with a synthesized version of the Scarecrow's fear gas. Because will is the source of your strength." -- Batman
"And fear is the enemy of will." -- Green Lantern, Hal Jordan

Justice League Doom brings back most of the original cast from the original Justice League animated television series, only substituting Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern Hal Jordan, rather than GL Jon Stewart or introducing Guy Gardner. There is also a stellar cast of "guest stars" as the Leaguers greatest foes.

Vandal Savage uses Mirror Master to obtain secret files from the Batcave - files that Batman created with plans to bring down any of the main Justice League members in case they went rogue. The villains then begin to attack and defeat the League members. Mirror Master gets Flash to put his hand inside a Schrodinger's cat box to rescue an old woman. Flash ends up with a bomb in his wrist that will explode if he stops, de-accelerates, or does nothing when the timer runs out. Cheetah fist-fights Wonder Woman, but poisons her with her finger nails so everyone she sees looks and sounds like Cheetah. GL Hal Jordan is sent to a Salt Mine to rescue some hostages from a militia group and the rescue goes wrong - a woman who is a dead ringer for Carol (Hal's former girlfriend) is killed. Even running into Star Sapphire doesn't help Hal realise he's been set up. Martain Manhunter is slipped a poison that caused him to sweat Magnesium, which bursts into flame, even under water. Superman is shot in the chest with a Kryptonite bullet. Bane takes Bruce's parents out of their graves. A groundskeeper (not Alfred) reports this to Bruce, who goes out to investigate in civilian clothes. He's jumped by Bane, who beats him up, then drops him into his mother's (new) grave, and buries him alive, with her skeleton in her coffin.

Bruce, stranded underground, takes the keys out of his pocket and starts to pummel the coffin lid. He's about to give up, when he turns and sees his mother's skeleton staring at him -- and he renews his attack and escapes. It's a very eerie and spooky image -- but it's also something that is just "so Batman" and "so Bruce" -- he cannot ever give up on the oath he swore to his parents that faithful night when he was only eight years old.

Once he's escaped, Batman contacts the other Justice League members to get them out of their immediate danger, then they meet to find out what's going on.

Meanwhile, Vandal Savage has gathered the villains together to take out the Justice League, so he can put a secondary plan into motion. Once the various villains report their success -- they insist on joining Savage in his plans. Savage's plan is to fire a missile into the sun, causing a massive solar flare which will destroy the sunward side of the Earth as well as send out an EMP that will fry anything electronic. The Justice League arrives, and each member fights his or her oppisite number villain. However, despite the assistance of Cyborg, Savage's missile is fired. Superman and Green Lantern attempt to stop the missile at the sun, but fail, giving the League seven minutes to figure out what to do. They come up with something -- and Earth is saved.

I really liked the first part of the story -- that Batman would have contingency plans for taking out everyone in the League (though his plans were non-lethal) is both scary, and yet fitting with his personality. I would have liked to see more of a sense of the League's sense of betrayal though -- not only that Batman would do that, but that he'd keep detailed records of his potential plans. After the Justice League saves Earth, they discuss what to do with Batman, and it's Clark who tells Bruce that he was right, then asks what safety valve exists for Bruce -- Bruce responds, "The Justice League". In other words, he's created an equal and balanced system. But, I would have likedmore. More storyline, more background, especially for the villains, even more dialogue between the Leaguers (and between Alfred and Bruce. Alfred appears and then suddenly disappears, before just as suddenly appearing again. It was very frustrating). With six heroes and seven villains, including Savage, plus the opening gambit with the Royal Flush Gang, the film really should have been longer than 76 Minutes, and more flushed out.

I also felt the film fell a little flat at the end. It sort of turns into, "Of course the Justice League will win," and really loses momentum. There's some great stuff with Superman and Hal in space as they try to stop the missile and fail, but there's still no real sense of danger -- in part because Savage's plan is just too big. I like the more subtle villains with subtle plans (like Lex Luthor becoming the US president -- which he did in the DC Universe).

Still, it was great to see the re-united Justice League cast together again. I'd like to see Doom as the pilot for a new Justice League series, but I doubt it will happen. Still, one can hope. I will admit it was great to see the Legion of Doom appear threatening instead of as a joke, though. If you're a DC fan you'll enjoy this!

Recommendation: See it, especially if you're a DC fan.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Next Film: Same Time, Next Year or Justice League New Frontier

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: My home office
Current Music: Nightwish

Originally posted to my Movie Blog on Nov. 17, 2011. Sorry about the delay, I've been having trouble with cross-posting.

Title: Batman: Year One
Directors: Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery
Date: 2011
Studio: Warner Brothers Animation
Genre: Action, Drama, Animation, Film Noir
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku, Katee Sackhoff
Format: Color, Widescreen Animation
DVD Format: R1, NTSC

Another bonus film! And there will be five more to come (what can I say, Barnes & Noble was having a sale!)

The animation in this film is very impressive -- it's difficult to get a gritty, dark look to animation, yet Batman: Year One manages to do so. This film impressively keeps the look of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One from the Batman comic book published by DC Comics. This is also Jim Gordon's story, and cast in the role of Lt. James Gordon is Bryan Cranston, who does a good job. The film is also real film noir stuff. Film Noir doesn't have heroes, it has protagonists. The difference being a hero is frequently perfect (or can be thought of as perfect or trying to obtain perfection. Superman is a hero -- invulnerable to anything bar Kryptonite, immortal, and always, always doing the perfect thing without errors or mistakes). A protagonist is much more realistic -- Batman, in whatever guise you find him, has always been a protagonist.

Batman: Year One, though, makes Jim Gordon the protagonist. He's a honest cop, which is dangerous in a town with a dishonest and corrupt police force. He's just moved to Gotham City, after turning in a dirty cop to Internal Affairs in another city, and not being thanked for his efforts. But Gordon is no perfect angel. He has an affair while his wife is pregnant. He watches and waits as he's introduced to the corruption in the Gotham PD, but he isn't anxious to make the same mistakes he did before. And he's tough.

Batman: Year One, is also the story of Gotham City. A nightmare town, full of danger, violence, graft, corruption, and sex. Catwoman starts off as a hooker. She's also trying to protect a young girl who's starting in the trade as well, when Bruce meets her for the first time. Gotham is rough, scary and dark -- and it needs the Dark Knight as a protector. This is a city that understands when Batman says, "I am the dark, I am the night, I am Batman."

Unfortunately, Batman doesn't get to utter that line, or any other seminal Batman lines of Bruce claiming his identity as his own. Part of the problem is the actor they got for Batman/Bruce (Ben McKenzie) just doesn't do a very good job. I can't believe this guy as Batman, he just doesn't work. Why, oh why, couldn't they have asked Kevin Conroy back? Or at least Bruce Greenwood? This Batman is too weak, and doesn't work as Bruce either. (A good Batman must also be able to carry the part of Bruce Wayne, something Christain Bale and Kevin Conroy could do. In this version, Bruce is either WAY over-the-top, or so morose he sounds semi-suicidal. Neither is right for Bruce Wayne, not even a young Bruce Wayne.)

Alfred is also practically non-existent in this film. One of the advantages of early Batman stories, is they tend to use Alfred more. And the Alfred and Bruce relationship has always been one of my favorites in the Batman mythos. (The other is Batman and Nightwing. And there's a similarity between those two relationships. Alfred is very much a father to Bruce -- he raised him, and is the only person in the entire DC universe to have any idea what Bruce was like before that fatal night. Bruce in turn raised Dick Greyson, and he's very much a father to the younger man.) This was a missed opportunity, by not showing Alfred hardly at all.

But if Alfred is practically non-existent in Batman: Year One, it's ironic, given the title of the film, that Batman really doesn't get much screen time. This is Gordon's story, it's Gotham's story, but it sure isn't Batman's story -- and therefore it misses the boat. I was disappointed, for I did have high hopes. So, yes, the film is good, and the animation is incredible, but it's not great (as it should be), and that's to be laid at the feet of a major casting mis-step.

Recommendation: See it at least, it's worth it for the noir story.
Rating: 3.5
Next Film: The Maltese Falcon (1941) No really!

Current Location: My Home Office
Current Music: BareNaked Ladies Holiday

Title: Green Lantern First Flight
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Date: 2009
Studio: Warner Brothers Animation
Genre: SF, Action, Animation
Cast: Christopher Meloni, Tricia Helfer, John Larroquette, William Schallert
Format: Widescreen, color animation
DVD Format: R1, NTSC

Another excellent movie in the DC Animated Universe series. This one gives us Hal Jordan's origin story and the betrayal of the Green Lantern Corps by Sinestro in one fell swoop. And it's Sinestro who initially takes Hal under his wing and starts his training. But Hal, especially after being set up by Sinestro realizes he's not the "super-cop" or in this case "super Lantern" everyone thinks he is. So Hal is learning about the core, learning to use his powers, and yet still smart enough to realize when something just isn't right. I also liked Hal's constructs -- witty, useful, and showing us Hal's personality in glowing green light. This is Hal Jordan.

The story is also very dark at times. Sinestro kills Keja Ro -- whom he's secretly been working with to find the Yellow Element and construct (or have constructed for him) the Great Weapon. He then frames Hal Jordan for the crime, getting the newest Lantern thrown out of the Corps. But Hal isn't willing to go quietly. When Sinestro shows up on Oa with the Yellow Battery (the Great Weapon) he does considerable damage, killing countless Lanterns. One of the most impressive scenes, in terms of "wow" factor is after Sinestro destroys the Green Power Battery on Oa, and a few minutes later, it rains green rings -- the "sky" filled with countless rings. Sinestro explains they are from all the Lanterns in space, unprotected, once the power of the battery was shut off. The shear size of Sinestro's crime is almost unimaginable.

Hal, however, tries to help and fight back, and finally a Guardian gets him his ring, Hal charges it through a crack in the Power Battery, then goes after Sinestro -- and what a fight! These guys are throwing planets around.

By the way -- a lot of members of Green Lantern Corps make their appearances: Sinestro, Kilowog, Bodica, Tamor-Re, even Chip) and it's great to see them. Un-named alien Corps members are also seen in various crown shots. It was nice to see they paid attention to the rich Green Lantern history from DC Comics.

Overall, an impressive movie, I recommend it.

Recommendation: See It
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Next Film: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: My home office
Current Music: nada

Hi all,

I know -- long time no post. I've been really busy with work. Anyway, my recent DVD watching has included catching up on the DC Animated Universe movies (produced by Bruce Timm for WB). I had actually first started watching the DCAU a few years ago - due to a recommendation from a friend who knew I was a DC fan and I also managed to catch some episodes of Justice League on Boomerang (without ads!). I ended up buying seasons 1 and 2 of Justice League on DVD, followed by seasons 1 and 2 of Justice League Unlimited. I also, over time, bought and collected Batman the Animated Series. I liked both Justice League and Batman, well, because they did virtually everything right for animated superhero series -- they brought in a lot of stuff from the actual comic books, including characters, etc. The voices, both regular and guest, were great! I still think Kevin Conroy is, like, the best Batman ever. But I didn't really at that time get any of the movies, partly do to lack of money, and partly because I did get Batman: Gotham Knight (the Anime' movie) and didn't really care for it.

Anyway, over the last week or two, I've collected most of the DCAU movies and Batman Beyond. The movies were all good and some were really good! Of the movies I thought Green Lantern First Flight was excellent (I've always liked the GL books), and Superman/Batman Public Enemies also rocked my world! (It was based on one of the books in the Superman/Batman graphic novel series - which I'm addicted to. Now, a word of explaination -- Superman/Batman is NOT slash like most of us on LiveJournal would think of it. And, I still can't believe the folks at DC didn't realise what they were saying with that title. The Superman/Batman graphic novels are stand alone stories that featuring both Superman and Batman working together. Some are short story collections. But the best part of the graphic novels are the alternating thought bubbles for Bruce and Clark -- sometimes they are thinking the exact same thing, and at other times, the exact opposite. The writers do a very good job of showing Clark thru' Bruce's eyes, and Bruce thru' Clark's. Which is fun. It's also nice to see the genuine friendship of the characters which in other graphic novels and books is often shown to be more rivalry and even at times - outright hostility (e.g. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns).) Wonder Woman was good, Nathan Fillion did a great job as Steve Trevor, but I really wish they had gotten Susen Eisenberg who voiced Wonder Woman in Justice League and JLU to play her in the movie. (And Jonathan Frakes to play Ares again!).
But it was Batman: Under the Red Hood that completely blew me away!!! I totally, totally loved it. Now I should probably point out that A Death in the Family is still my favorite Batman graphic novel. And Batman: Under the Red Hood starts with the end of that book. Now, it quickly seems to take a sharp left turn into AU territory, tho' I did get a copy of part 1 of the Under the Hood graphic novel, so I could see where the story came from. The movie is also, besides all the angst, a darn good mystery -- and Batman also works best when there's some sort of mystery. Neal Patrick Harris does a wonderful job as Nightwing, better than the voice actor who play Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing in the original Batman: The Animated Series (and sequels). However, although Bruce Greenwood does a good job as Batman - I missed having Kevin Conroy playing the part. DCAU is doing one of the most important stories in the Batman canon - the death of Jason Todd, and an AU aftermath, and Conroy - the man who's played Batman the longest in any format - isn't offered the role? Why?! But that's my only complaint. The animation was incredible (at times I even forgot I was watching animation).
OK -- so now with that background, into my analysis of Batman.

Batman had always been my favorite costumed superhero for a lot of reasons. For one thing -- Bruce is just "this guy" - he's not an alien from another planet, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to Gamma radiation. He's just a guy turning his own personal tragedy into an attempt to do something good for his city. Which makes it a bit more realistic than other superhero books. Now you still have the over-the-top villains, and futuristic tech, but Batman is much more down-to-Earth than most comic books.

Second - I've always been a fan of mysteries, including film noir/hard-boiled detective fiction. And Batman, in concept, is closer to Dashiell Hammett than Superman or most other super-heroes. True, most traditional detectives don't run around in capes, masks, and tights catching bad-guys -- but you could easily take Bruce's backstory (the death of his parents) and make him a private detective or cop and it wouldn't really change the story or Bruce's personality. After all, one of Batman's titles is "The World's Greatest Detective" and DC did, originally, and still does, stand for "Detective Comics".

The other thing is that Bruce's whole entire motivation is that he wants to see that what happened to him, never happens to another child. He's not motivated by vengeance. If Bruce was motivated by vengeance he would have found the guy who killed Martha and Thomas Wayne and killed him -- then a few years later found the guy who hired the guy to kill Thomas Wayne and killed him too. But, never in canon, or in any of the "slightly non-canonical" graphic novels does Bruce ever seek out strict vengeance. He's out there protecting Gotham and it's citizens. He gets angry with the various Robins when/if they go over the line (esp. Jason Todd). Bruce also doesn't use guns - and turns over the bad guys he catches to the police. Not exactly the vigilante he's sometimes portrayed as.

So, you have an angst-ridden, hero - often suffering from horrible Survivor's Guilt and PTSD, but who still attempts to turn that into something positive - I find that inspiring in a superhero. Bruce has his faults - which make him more human too. (Superman, for example, always seemed "too perfect" - not only completely invulnerable to anything bar Kryptonite, but as a person/character Clark always seemed to perfect. Please don't flame me.)

I also just watched all three seasons of Batman Beyond too. Now I had seen Justice League as I mentioned - so I knew a bit of the continuity. But I hadn't actually seen Batman Beyond.
I actually liked it. I really liked Terry McGinnis. He seemed a lot more of a stable Batman (or Batman junior) than Bruce, and even more stable than a lot of the Robins. Terry, after all, had a mother, a younger brother, a girlfriend, and a best friend who knew his secret in Max(ine). Bruce had Alfred and later Dick Grayson to keep him sane. Eventually, he'd lose both. One of the things I did find annoying about BB was they never explained what happened to Dick. I'm assuming Alfred died of old age. But Nightwing? Did he die on the job or what? Because, despite their problems and arguing once Dick grew up, became his own man, and changed his persona to Nightwing - he'd be there for Bruce in the midst of anything really bad. In A Lonely Place of Dying (the graphic novel sequel to A Death in the Family - Alfred calls Dick when Bruce starts to get really out of control in the wake of Jason's death.) So, why no flashback episode or explanation of what happened in Batman Beyond? Because, as mad as Dick sometimes got at Bruce, at some point Dick would always go back.

Which is why - I wish at times that BB had been 42 or 45 minutes instead of 22. Tho', looking at S 3 -- the two parters weren't that great, both kinda' fell apart in the second half. But it would have been nice to have more character interaction between Terry and Bruce. In the first season, some of the best bits were when Terry started to demand that Bruce open up a bit. In S2 and 3, hints are dropped than Bruce has opened up, but I would have liked to see that.

Still, I'll be eagerly looking forward to see what happens next in Timm's DCAU.

--Olivia

Current Location: My home office
Current Music: Trans-Siberan Orchestra

Profile

olivia_sutton

My fanfic net page

March 2019

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Syndicate

Page Summary

Movie Project Review: Justice League The New Frontier
Movie Project Review: Justice League Doom
Batman: Year One
Movie Project Review: Green Lantern First Flight
My favorite costumed superhero - Batman!

Style Credit

Base style: Patsy by sforzinda
Theme: Clay Deco by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jul. 4th, 2025 11:12 am

Navigation

Olivia Sutton's Fanfic Journal

Entries tagged with dcau

Movie Project Review: Justice League The New Frontier

Movie Project Review: Justice League Doom

Batman: Year One

Movie Project Review: Green Lantern First Flight

My favorite costumed superhero - Batman!