I started ranking all the batman films despite no one asking me to

Remember when I wrote a few posts ago that I wanted to try and experiment with the blog on this site, this was what I was talking about. This is an idea for a content piece that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and I’m finally getting around to doing it. If you know me, you know that I’m a massive comic and Batman fan. I feel like as a kid, you get offered a choice similar to that of Neo: you can either become a Spider-man fan, or Batman fan; I seemed to have chosen the latter (although Spider-man is probably a close second). I can’t really explain why I latched on to him specifically as a kid, but I can remember watching The Batman 2004 religiously as a young kid. Maybe it was the suit, maybe it was the car, maybe it was because he had a sidekick that was also a kid like me. Whatever the reason was, this character has carved out a considerable niche inside my brain.  

I’ve been fortunate to grow up in a period of time that has a plethora of accessible options for this character. There are more comics and stories to read that can fill up multiple lifetimes, and with expanded media also providing options, there really is something for everyone. The biggest of these expanded mediums being the films. Superhero movies in general have had an incredible history in the grand tapestry of the film industry, none feeling as impactful as a Batman movie. Sure this could be up for interpretation, but this is my article dammit, and I’m going to glaze as I please. As a certified red-blooded film enjoyer, I find myself coming back to these movies a lot, and for your reading pleasure I’m going to rank all of them, and write a bit about each. Two rules for this list:  they can only be movies that have been released in theatres, and feature Batman as a solo hero, so Batman vs Superman and Justice League are exempt from the list (although they’d be pretty close to the bottom). I originally posted this list on my Letterboxd which I’ll link somewhere in here. 

#11: Batman and Robin (1997) Dir. Joel Schumacher 

Let’s get this one out of the way first. Yes, this movie is bad. Yes, the nipples on the suit are weird. Yes, this was obviously the culmination of the tonal shift that Warner Brothers wanted after the PR disaster of Batman Returns’ McDonald's collaboration. And yes, I did have this poster up in my room when I was like 8. I watched this a lot as a kid, not sure what it was, but this was on constant rewatch in the Johnson household. In my most recent rewatch of this movie, the thing that struck me the most is that in a movie with as much cartoon zaniness and bullshit that goes on, it’s just boring. At least with some bad movies there’s an endearing quality to them that makes them enjoyable in a way that reality TV can be, junk food viewing that’s great to turn your brain off to. Maybe it’s because George Clooney is sleepwalking through most of his scenes, or the plot is a bit nonsensical with a number of plots and threads active at the same time- but everything comes up flat and one note, a neon, backlight infused 90s consumerist nightmare. 

I feel like there’s not much more that I can add on that hasn’t already been said about this one, so I’m going to do the opposite. I do actually think they nailed the Robin suit in this, I mean you take the cape away, and you basically have the New 52 Nightwing costume. I think its fascinating that Schumacher actually had plans for a solo Nightwing movie back then, but with this failure we’ll never get to see that, or his proposed third Batman movie. I will give Schumacher credit in the fact that he has an innate understanding for a very particular era of Batman. A lot of this was clearly inspired by the 60s era and the Silver Age, and this hits all of those notes, themed henchman, cheesy one-liners, and an overall mutual respect for the efforts of the Dynamic Duo. Maybe one day we’ll return to the era where Batman and Robin can be keynote speakers at a charity event instead of being relegated to the shadows. Uma Thurman also puts in an insane Julie Newmar-esque performance as Poison Ivy that gets lost in the Arnold sized elephant in the room. He had some banger lines though I can’t lie. “What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age!”- magnificent. Oh yeah and Bane is here too I guess. Crazy how they went for the meathead approach to this character when we would have been only a few years removed from the Knightfall saga. Very clearly the worst of the three villains in this, Bane honestly could have solo’d his own film in this time (but we’ll talk about Bane more later). 

Speaking of Mr. Freeze, this being the only film that’s used him as a main villain actually did get a lot of things right with his character. We do see the updated origin from Heart of Ice, and I do appreciate how they at least tried to give him an emotional arc that revolves around his desire to give him and his wife a better life. I think this would’ve worked with anyone other than Arnold, and would have benefited from a better script. Mr. Freeze at his core in almost an empathetic and tragic figure. A man that looses himself in tragedy, and is a slave to this life he’s made for himself. Arnold does tap into that at the very end where he elects to give Batman the cure for Alfred’s sickness, but I would have maybe liked to have seen a bit more being shown there. Both villains in this are similar in the fact that both are victims of corporate greed and are transformed by the very research they dedicate their lives to. It certainly was a choice to have two characters who have opposite world views team up to create their own utopia, but I’ll give it a pass because the thought is kinda silly. 

I think that an updated or changed story would have made this a bit better. I know I’m not a screenwriter by any means, so this by no means is good, I just think that it could be a cool way. What if instead of having Batgirl in the movie we save her for a potential fifth, and focus on the theme of letting go. For Batman this could be represented in the loss of both his partner Robin and Alfred. The conflict between Batman and Robin could easily set up that Nightwing film, and it would fulfill Robin becoming his own man and learning to adapt as a solo individual. Alfred dying would certainly be a bold choice, but considering where they wanted to go with this franchise in the script for Batman Triumphant, this fear of loss weighing on Batman for a confrontation with Scarecrow and a Harley Quinn who would have been the daughter of the Joker would have made for an interesting finale. All this is hypothetical however, what’s done is done, and I think it’s okay that we can accept this movie for what it is, and look back on it as a relic of a time long past. 

I think this one easily lands at the bottom of the list, and it’s not even close. Despite attempts to make the world of Batman more accessible to children and merchandising companies, Batman and Robin is ultimately a loud boring mess that ruined the reputation of the character for multiple years, and caused an entire course correction that changed the franchise, and superhero movies as a whole, forever. I do think that this is important in that without this, we probably wouldn’t have gotten any of the subsequent films like they are now, and having a “rockbottom” moment for a character as popular as Batman, ultimately lead to more creative risks and a brighter future for the franchise.

As much as I want to add more into this post, considering how much I’ve already written, I’m going to break these posts into multiple parts. Keeps me busy, and hopefully, it’ll keep people coming back to read more of these (doubtful though). If you did read this all the way through, as always, I really do appreciate it. If you have any thoughts on stuff like this feel free to reach out, always looking to network with like-minded people! 

Letterboxd: @notreallyevan

destiny is dead

I wasn’t originally planning on writing about this topic, but with this news happening so suddenly, I think this might be the best outlet for me to dump my feelings about this topic. I’m not even ashamed to use the word grief, because that’s quite literally the process I went through. I guess this is my idea of an open love letter to a franchise I’ve invested a lot of time into. I can’t help but feeling that this is more of an obituary, however. 

Destiny has always been special to me. This was the game that was the catalyst for me getting into online gaming in the first place. Before I got my first PlayStation at 14, my only real gaming experiences had been with Nintendo consoles. I started with a Game Boy, graduated to the DS, and had a Wii as well for home console usage. I had never played any sort of FPS titles at that point, even after getting the PS3 I was mostly playing the Batman Arkham series in those early days. FPS was a genre I had never had any experience with, until I got introduced to Destiny. 

I can vividly remember the conversation I had with an old friend of mine in the summer of 2014. We both shared a love of gaming, and he had asked me if I was going to be playing the Destiny beta that was coming out in a couple of weeks. I had said no because I wasn’t familiar with it, and he told me all about how it was being made by the old Halo guys, and how it was going to be this huge expansive MMO/RPG with tons of planets to explore and classes to experiment with. This left me intrigued, I had played Halo at friends houses before and had fun with it, and I was obviously familiar with its place in the overall hierarchy of gaming at the time, so I went home and did some research. Little did I know that was the start of the obsession. 

The time for the beta eventually came, and in order for me to participate, I had to make a PSN account. So yes, reader, the only reason I started playing online games was because of a Destiny beta. Shoutout to my dad who had to use his email at the time to make my account, and was probably swamped with Sony emails until I eventually made my own account. 

It was love at first sight. I was on the game non-stop that entire week. It was a truly alien experience for me. I had never experienced anything like it before. Even back then, I was hooked on the gameplay loop and the loot grind, scouring every corner of the Cosmodrome looking for any missed pieces of lore or hidden chests I may have missed. Looking back I was more susceptible because I had never played a looter shooter before, and any Destiny vets will tell you that even though this game has had many ups and downs, and gone through many rough patches, the gameplay loop has always been addicting even from the start. That beta test week went by so fast, I was left with a hole in my heart. I was itching to get back in, watching every single Destiny video I could on YouTube leading up to launch day, and trying to convince as many of my friends as possible to buy it, so I’d have people to play with. I was there day one at Target (back when Canada used to have it), and walked away with a fresh copy of my newest obsession. 

Those first few months didn’t go the way I had expected. Here’s me who was putting in WORK every day, grinding patrols and bounties to slightly increase my light level and doing daily strikes and missions like my 9 to 5, but I was shocked that people in the gaming community felt like Destiny was just kinda mid. This might have been one of the first times in my life where I felt like maybe I was in the wrong for liking something that not everyone else did. It made me feel protective of the game in a way, people didn’t understand what made this great, and obviously since I liked it, they’re the ones who we’re wrong. Despite these feelings, I did accept that there we’re in fact issues with the game, but I could accept that due to the fact that I loved everything else about it. That first year went by and so many memories were made that I still look back on fondly to this day: beating Atheon and the Vault of Glass for the first time, doing Crota’s End and finally getting to jump in the Hellmouth on the Moon, and spending that entire summer grinding Prison of Elders. 

I think this game just hit me at the perfect time. I was fresh into high school, and went from a really small private elementary school, to a pretty big high school where none of my friends from the previous school had joined. I was thrust into this new world I had to navigate myself, and things we’re changing around me so fast in so many different ways that quickly became somewhat overwhelming. Destiny was always something that was there when I needed it, and while it would change with each subsequent expansion, at its core it was always the same game I had originally fallen in love with. 

Time passed, the sequel was announced right before I was set to go to college. I remember getting my copy shipped to me from my parents and loading up on day one with my two roommates who were also into the game at the time, but something was different. It was the same game, but things just felt, odd. Things we’re updated yes, but the lack of dev support in the Red War era and the very lack lustre first two DLCs made my question my relationship with the game for the first time. I wasn’t getting as much out of the grind anymore, sometimes playing felt more like an obligation than enjoyment, and I was starting to get into other games at the time which began to pull my attention. The game that was dominating my time for so many years was starting to collect dust on the shelf. I was starting to forget what was so special about it. Sure I would come back for some of the major expansions, but it was never enough to play as consistently as the old days. 

Destiny was typically a solo experience for me for the longest time. Sure I had lots of friends who enjoyed the game for a bit, and occasionally hop on for a strike or raid, but no one was committed like I was. That was always something I wished was different, but I had trouble convincing people to buy in, and meeting new people who we’re fans was also difficult for me. I think the lack of a community aspect in these years was the first domino to fall in my relationship with the game changing. 

I think this is something a lot of video game fans go thorough as they get older. Tastes change, people evolve, you get a job- a life even. I didn’t have that much time to dedicate to losing myself in the grind anymore. Even though I grew apart from the game slowly, I still cared deep down. I would check in every once in a while when I was craving a hit of the gun play, but I still found it hard to really string together consistent sessions. I did fall into a group that was playing consistently in the summer of 2018, I think that was the Season of Avarice? I can’t remember the exact name, but that was the only time in my entire Destiny career that I had all of my characters on max light level. 

I would continue the trend of drop-in and drop-out sessions for the next few years. The majority of the new expansions would still make me come crawling back, even though I knew deep down that the experience was becoming a bit shallow. Things just didn’t hit the same as the did in D1, it didn’t even seem like Bungie even had a real sense of what they wanted to do with this product and its ravenous fan base. For me, it almost evolved into this toxic ex relationship where I told myself multiple times that this was the end, only to come back a couple months later. I would eventually return for more consistent play when The Final Shape was released. A few good friends of mine in collage we’re committed to getting back into it, and for the first time in a long time, I met like-minded fans who had been day one enjoyers. It was almost like coming back home for me, I had finally found the fireteam group I had wished for so long ago. 

Maybe this is why the news of the end is impacting me more than I thought it would. A game that I’ve been playing for over 10 years, my guardian travelling from the PS3, to the PS4, to the Xbox, and then eventually PC, millions of guns looted, thousands of hours, and a lifetime of memories just ended like that. I know the servers will still be up, and they’re going to try and maintain it as best as possible, but as someone who also really enjoys another “dead game” in Star Wars Battlefront 2, I know that this will be a very slow death for a game that I truly care about. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that, I mean goddamn I’ve written so much already clearly I have a lot to say about this. 

I don’t think there ever will be another Destiny. Looter shooters will continue to release, and sci-fi FPS games are a dime a dozen, but nothing will ever feel like those first years of Destiny. There was a mystery to everything, it truly felt like a unique world to get lost in that was so different from anything else at the time. Destiny would continue this trend of insane art direction and world building, that was still able to keep me guessing and surprised so many years later. I never played World of Warcraft or any of those other huge MMOs, but I think I truly understand why people have so many emotions attached to games like this. It’s tough to explain to those who haven’t been there, but the Destiny veterans understand what it’s like.

I’ve been sitting here writing this wondering how I’m going to finish this. There’s so much more I could add in here that I could truly write forever, but I don’t think anyone wants that. As I have a chance to look back and reflect on what this franchise has meant to be, I can only give it so much credit for opening my eyes to so many great things about this hobby I love so much. Not only did Destiny introduce me to online gaming, but the FPS genre, sci-fi as a whole was expanded, and planted the seed to eventually play the Halo games which are now some of my favourites of all time. I can’t thank Bungie enough for dedicating so much to this project, and continually investing in the community aspect of Destiny, I know that there are so many more out there that are gutted like I am now. What gives me hope for the future is that maybe we get a new instalment in the future, or Bungie returns to its roots in the FPS genre. Now is the time to look ahead, and remember the great times I and so many have had with this game. Needless to say, this last ride with the boys starting June 9 is going to be one to remember. 

Thank you Destiny, and thank you for reading all of this. 

Eyes Up Guardian. 

So Now What?

Things have been kinda weird since I’ve finished school. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to say that I’m done, but there’s this weird in-between period I’ve entered. I think the best way to describe what it feels like is the music that plays in a Naruto filler episode-you know the one I’m talking about. I don’t mind a filler episode from time to time, and maybe it’s a good thing that I’m getting a period where I can slow down a little bit and appreciate the smaller things in life. 

This gives me a great chance to work on a lot more personal projects. I’ve already made one new reel (that is already up on socials and the website), and have plans to make more. I also want to try and take advantage of this blog resource more. Now that I’m free from the shackles of needing to do this for an assignment, I have the freedom to make of this what I want. This has always been something I’ve wanted to do but have never really felt the drive to do it (refer to previous post). I think something that always had me pause when thinking about doing this was the dreaded “what do I say?”. That is a legitimate thing to ask, especially if growing an audience is something you want to get out of something like this. I struggled for a long time with that, and I think I maybe got too worked up in the thoughts of getting an audience and trying to make a career out of something like that. As I’ve gotten older, and have received advice on how to start things like this, I think the mindset has shifted on things like that. My approach to this will be just writing about whatever I want to, because I like doing it. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll say I’m a decent writer or someone who’s good with words-now it’s time to prove that. 

I already have some ideas on what I want to write about next. I’ve always wanted to be a sports writer of some sort, so maybe I’ll try and dabble in that realm for a little bit. I have at least two posts for sure planned talking about the new emulation device I bought, and the surprising Pokémon kick I’m finding myself in right now. I probably shouldn’t talk about all the things I have ideas for, hopefully this will age well, and I follow through on some of those. 

Bottom line for me is that this is an interesting time for me. For the first time in a while my future is not certain, and I have the power to make of it what I want. I think this shift in mentality is going to be a huge asset going forward with this next chapter of my life. Not that these early posts have been very long, but still thanks for reading all of this if you can. I’m going to try my best and get at least one post out a week. 

Putting myself out there

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. 

Not saying that I’ve been pining over making a blog, that part is irrelevant. It’s the fact that I’m actually putting writing down on metaphorical paper and putting it out there. Writing is something I’ve always enjoyed and have had passion for, but I always find it hard to actually do it. This whole project of making a website and a portfolio may be for a class, but I want to put a lot of effort into this, because maybe this is something that can actually make me go places. 

On one hand, it gives perspective new employers, or fans (I guess? Not sure what I would call people that casually enjoy what I do) a chance to get a look at who I am on the other side of the camera. That was always a concept that seemed a little frightening to me in a way. While I may be comfortable doing my work in the public eye, that always seems more like a performance than anything, almost an amplified version of my character. But me- the one writing this, has always been something that I have been reluctant to show. 

I think what I’m trying to get at here is that this project and these writings are a way for me to work on some of my skills, as well as bear my soul out to those few that actually take the time to read these. I don’t think it’ll be many, but that’s ok.

 I’m sure if you’re like me, and you ask someone “how do I get started with x I’ve always wanted to do it”, 9 times out of 10 they will say “Oh just do it”. For the longest time I always assumed that was just a cliché, but maybe things have changed for me. 

If you made it to the end of this one, thank you. Even if you just looked at the site for a couple of minutes and moved on, thank you. I’m going to do my best to pump these out as often as I see fit, probably just yapping about random topics honestly. Hopefully my writing will somewhat improve if I keep these up.