Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 229

The Batman Is Not ‘Too Dark’, Not For Comic Book Fans

A lot of us can agree to disagree over whether or not Matt Reeves ‘The Batman’ is the best live-action batman film. But what’s with some folks complaining about the 2022 flick being ‘too dark’?

“Have these people even read the actual comics?” many wondered on various social media platforms over the criticism. And some regular batman readers probably found the action scenes & violence a little underwhelming. Especially because of the Riddler’s reputation as a psychotic-sadistic serial killer.

Here’s a quick lowdown on why some of us think it is not ‘too dark’ (also subscribe to our channel while you are at it) –

Apollo 10½ Trailer Looks Like A Nostalgic Space Trip

Netflix dropped the official trailer for the animated film ‘Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure’, written and directed by Richard Linklater. Inspired by his own childhood, the movie is set in Houston and re-imagines the historic Apollo 10 moon landing. It’s set to release on Netflix on April 10.

A story is about a man recounting his experience as a 10-year-old by, who was picked up by NASA for a secret mission – a journey to the moon, because they ‘accidentally’ built the module smaller than expected, so it cannot hold an adult astronaut. “This is a covert operation, that means no-one can know about it, not your parents, not your sisters, not your brothers, no-one”, the kid is instructed. The amusing premise promises to be a fun trip to the 1960s America and stars Glen Powell, Zachary Levi and Jack Black.

The animation has Linklater’s stamp all over it, with a very early 2000s clip-art style. It’s bright, clean, colorful and the voice-artists add a realistic tone to the movie. Cannot wait to stream this one.

Mark your calendar – April 10.

The Boys Presents: Diabolical Review

First things first – You can completely enjoy the 2022 animated series ‘The Boys Presents: Diabolical ‘ only if you’ve seen Eric Kripke’s live-action series ‘Boys’. They are both set in the same universe, share some major characters and have the same amount of profanity. It’s not like you won’t understand this animated show if you haven’t seen the other, but you’ll be missing out on some context. It gets good, goes bad, picks up pace again, heads towards crazy, messy, sometimes plain fucking shitty and then lifts itself again. We have a mixed bag.

With 8 animated shorts, things are never the same, both in terms of story-telling and animation style. It does retain the explicit language and mindless violence, so expect a lot of blood spilling everywhere, with ruptured body parts splattering your screen. For fans who like gory action, each short makes for a good little break (lunch, dinner or whatever), but most others may not want to be munching their favorite snack while streaming this on Prime Video.

Here’s an episode-by-episode review of the show –

Episode One: Laser Baby’s Day Out – Inspired by the 1994 classic ‘Baby’s Day Out’, it even has the iconic scene of the toddler atop a building while dozens of security personnel are on ground… except that they want to kill and not rescue the baby. The episode starts with a super-baby organization that trains and puts the demigods up for adoption. All hell breaks loose when one baby marked for ‘extermination’ gets out on the streets while a kind-hearted employee tries to save it. Despite a very 1990s cartoon-network aesthetic, there are no dialogues in this episode, giving it a vintage touch and might remind viewers of cartoon greats like Tom and Jerry. But since this a ‘diabolical’ show, there’s a lot of explicit violence. The wicked juxtaposition is quite brilliant – a cute baby smiling against a trail of brutal deaths. ‘Laser Baby’s Day Out’ is a tragi-comedy of sorts, but for those not interested in deeper meanings, long review short – it’s entertaining enough.

Episode Two: An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents – This one is exactly what the title suggests – a bunch off supes discarded by their parents due their ‘useless’ powers, decide to get back at their folks. You get to watch some really shitty supes send their mommies and daddies to hell. This one was just random madness, with minimal story-telling and close to no jokes. The unhinged violence and the dozens of ridiculous ways the supes kill their families was between entertaining and chaotic.

Episode Three: I’m Your Pusher – Billie Butcher, the primary protagonist from the live-action show, finally makes an appearance in the show. He blackmails a drug-dealer to spike a superhero’s fix, what happens next forms the rest of the plot. Too bad they couldn’t get actor Karl Urban to voice Butcher, because the animated version just doesn’t look right and it took me a while to realize who he was! Nevertheless, this drug-themed short with some creepily dark humor was hilarious, especially the first-half. The climax wasn’t as engrossing as the build-up, yet it was fun to a see a psychotic super-hero go down. The animation is flashy, colorful and catchy in this episode.

Episode Four: Boyd in 3D – One of the strongest stories of the lot, it follows an ordinary boy-next-door who uses a face-changing cream made by Vought that transforms his life. ‘Boyd in 3D dwells’ upon the theme of ‘body dysmorphia’ in the times of social media and the society’s obsessed with distorted standards of beauty. The story is about a couple who are first users of the magic face-cream, turning them into social-media darlings. But their meteoric rise is met by an equally lethal low. It’s a disturbing and cautionary tale with some clever writing.

Episode Five: BFFs – This was the only episode I did not watch in one go, because the animation style was distinctly different from the others and not very appealing. The art is a mash of American ‘Bratz Dolls’ visuals and Japanese Chibi anime. I lost interest even before the weird stuff begins, but resumed the show later. The story is about a girl who drinks ‘Compound V’ and shit happens. Literal shit. It’s a bizarre episode that tries to be absurd, cute and funny, but is just random rubbish. “That’s the grossest thing I’ve seen, and I’ve seen some gross things” a character yells at one point. I completely agree. Definitely do not watch while eating something.

Episode Six: Nubian Vs Nubian – When a famous superhero couple decide to get a divorce, their little daughter devices a devious plan to keep them together. Will her plan work? Nubian Vs Nubian was a simple-breezy and engaging short. The plot could’ve used a better conflict, it’s too simple, but thankfully the animation style changes and is back to being more on the lines of ‘X-Men’ than the childish-chibi anime art meant for school kids.

Episode Seven: John and Sun-Lee – An old man who works as janitor in Vought’s HQ, steals some ‘Compound V’ to save his dying wife. But the old couple isn’t prepared for the dangerous consequences. This short had an interesting plot, but the makers just exaggerate things to the point that it gets boringly annoying. This is a cartoon meant for adults, the writers can go wild wild wild, but they do it in such a senseless way, they end up ruining a potentially great emotional tale.

Episode Eight: One Plus One Equals Two – Thankfully, ‘Diabolical’ saves the best for the last. Although ‘Boyd in 3D’ was my favorite of the 8 short films, this one starring the biggest superhero from ‘Boys’, gives viewers a great flashback story to how Homelander joined the big league of supes. He is a lot younger, and the animated version is adorable, betraying the true diabolical nature of the man. What makes this episode fun is the fact that the original cast lends their voice to the animated version. So Anthony Starr is Homelander, and the moment his manager Madelyn Stillwell says something, you know it’s Elisabeth Shue. It’s an interesting piece of origin story for Homelander, the great American hero, and wittily displays everything wrong with Vaught – the organization that’s turned superheroes into commercial depraved entities.

This series was an interesting attempt, could’ve used better imagined characters and plots. It’s a 6/10 from me.

Subscribe to our channel on YouTube by the same name – AbstractAF

Ep 68: Should You Read The ‘Bartimaeus’ Trilogy?

Rockstar & Softboy Review – Fun AF !

Feisty witches, transfiguring cats, talking zombies, party-ravaging animals, space-travelling gay BFFS…. the one-shot comic ‘Rockstar & Softboy’ by Sina Grace is a heady cocktail of all things fun. There’s no way you will not finish reading this in one sitting, if you don’t, maybe you have problems. So you are forgiven.

The comic’s about two gay BFFs, something we rarely see in pop-culture, the gay guy/girl is almost always best-friends with someone from the opposite gender, because otherwise two gay people in constant proximity will eventually just fall in love with each other right? Except that’s now how it works in real life. Some people meet up on dating sites to hook-up first, but instead become life-long friends. Anyway…

So Rockstar & Softboy are flatmates-cum-BFFs and the story follows Rocktar’s attempt to throw an extravagant party to get his friend laid. But things get out of hand when a wild party-animal decides to crash their place. The author’s intent was to write a nonsensical colorful comic and he achieves just that. The artwork is delightfully bright, with all shades of the rainbow and some more, although violet tones tend to dominate most panels. What makes it all visually more appealing is how Grace plays with the colors, like throwing in a bright-red outfit on a character who is in an all-yellow panel. A lot of pages are wallpaper material.

I absolutely love the fact that Rockstar is clearly balding, but that doesn’t dent his confidence in any way. He is flamboyant, reckless, selfish, slutty and rocks crop tops & deep-necked tees like a star. It made me realize how I’ve probably NEVER seen a protagonist with thinning hair in a comic. This is the kind of representation all men deserve, set aside the fact that everything else about Sina Grace’s comic-book is otherwise outlandish as hell. The friendship between the two men is precious, and their banter is so relatable and funny, it’s the kind of conversations you have with close friends. Softboy is the saner, more responsible one, the one who chooses work over a hot Grindr date for months in a row.

The comic is about 65 pages long and thing get batshit crazy page 41 onward, with characters displaying superpowers that get hilariously insane. One page looks like it’s out of a Bollywood song, complete with colorful costumes and lines resembling lyrics. And everything ends in what looks like a happy hook step. Just pick this up if you want to read a ridiculously entertaining LGBTQ+ themed comic okay.

It’s a 4/5 from me.

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – AbstractAF

Ep 68: Should You Read The ‘Bartimaeus’ Trilogy?

The Batman Review – Rob’s ‘Batshit Cop’ Act Is Arresting

When DC dropped its first look for ‘The Batman’ by Matt Reeves starring Robert Pattinson, a lot of us went (including me) ‘WTF is this emo Batman look?’. Kohl eyed Pattinson looked more like a serial killer on the loose, than the caped vigilante pursuing a cold-blooded murderer wreaking havoc in his beloved Gotham city. But I decided to watch the film anyway, because some cleverly made Marvel trailers turned into seething disappointments, so maybe a badly edited DC teaser could trump expectations?

The film starts with the villain’s gaze – a pair of binoculars zoomed into the home of Gotham’s mayor on Halloween night. The mayor’s kid is dressed as a hero, he mock-attacks his dad, then leaves for trick-or-treat rounds with the mom. Next thing we know, the mayor’s brutally murdered and a serial-killer leaves a trail of riddles for the Batman, letting the city know more heads will roll. Director Reeves jumps into conflict from the word go, ensuring the viewer’s eye is glued to the screen for every detail.

In a welcome departure from flashy entries, Robert Pattinson gets a rather humble first appearance as Batman, fighting a bunch of goons bullying a random dude at a metro station. Reeve’s depiction of Gotham City comes closer than any other adaptation in capturing the essence of a metropolis infested with drugs & an alarming crime rate. It’s dark, yes, but not the oppressive kinds that will leave you feeling bummed. Instead, you have an engrossing crime noir, filled with elements, emotions & tropes we’ve seen in previous Batman films, but with cohesive direction and smooth execution. However, one major car-chase scene felt poorly done, it resembled a first-person-shooter game, with the player in a moving vehicle, while a drone view would’ve made it more exciting to watch. In-fact, most action sequences were slightly underwhelming, and the violence too mild for the sadistic-psychotic Riddler… perhaps to keep the PG-13 rating intact.

Nevertheless, an interesting (even if familiar) tale, with a talented star-cast and an incredible music score, keeps the momentum building in ‘The Batman’. At no point of the ambitious 2 hour 55 minutes runtime does the pace wane, and Pattinson impresses as Bruce Wayne. He adds a certain vulnerability to the Billionaire character, something very few actors have been able to achieve for their superhero alter-egos. In this version of Wayne, you recognize a young boy who witnessed the double-murder of his parents and the wounds he continues to carry into his adulthood.

Zoe Kravitz makes a great Catwoman, but in the larger scheme of things, she is but a pawn, so she doesn’t get to kick much butt. She reminded me of Halle Berry, and hopefully someone will give Kravitz her own solo Catwoman gig with a decent script. Andy Serkis felt like an unusual choice for Batman’s faithful butler Alfred, but he gets minimal screen-time and delivers his lines convincingly. Paul Dano as The Riddler is low-key entertaining, an amusing villain who keeps his enemies guessing through and through, but under a mask until the very end. For the few seconds that Dano does get to take off a mask, his eyes exudes a madness befitting his evil actions. Jeffrey Wright as Batman’s cop-sidekick Lt. James Gordon just disappears into the supporting role, leaving no impression, but serving as a worthy cog in the wheel of the story.

The makers manage to make this live-action reboot give off a very contemporary comic-book vibe, without using other-worldly special effects. The cinematography is brilliant parts, the camerawork cleverly playing with shadows, giving viewers frames that can be frozen into wallpapers. One of the bigger strengths of the film is the very subtle humor infused into the script. “What are you? Bad Cop and Batshit Cop?” a villain hilariously asks when cornered by Gordon and Batman in a scene. Such witty little one-liners are peppered evenly in the movie, with the writers finding a harmonious balance between Marvel’s slapstick comedy and DC’s dark broody style.

After a great build-up, the climax felt lacking… the ending wasn’t weak, but the action scenes weren’t impressive. After all the mental trauma Pattinson’s Batman is put through, he doesn’t get to throw that one good fucking punch that’ll make you go ‘Yassss, kick some ass!’. But go watch the film if you are a fan, and maybe we will get to see a more befitting climax in a sequel.

It’s a satisfied 8/10 from me. (The film is only playing in theaters for now)

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – AbstractAF

Ep 66: 5 Things That Keep ‘All Of Us Are Dead’ Alive

Forgive Us Our Trespasses Review – About Things That Can’t Be Forgiven

Directed by Ashley Eakin, the 2022 short film ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’ is a WWII film about a boy with a missing limb. It starts with an uncomfortable math lesson, straight off a Nazi handbook to brainwash impressionable Germans. The teacher asks students to calculate the cost of raising those with disabilities versus those who don’t have any. The unsaid message – families would be better off without them.

Actor Knox Gibson plays Peter, the young boy with a limb difference, who is also an amputee in real life and an equal rights advocate. In the film, Peter runs for his life when Hitler’s men come knocking at his door. Faced with possible death, the boy is forced to make a desperate last stand.

Visually, ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’ conjures up a vivid gloomy war atmosphere, without showing streams of soldiers, weapons and dead bodies. Ashley Eakin takes a risk by resting the entire film on a new teen actor’s shoulders, but Gibson bravely pulls off his part with a gritty performance. The minimalist settings against a snowy winter add to the dark tone of the story.

There was however potential for a longer runtime, but perhaps the makers didn’t have that kind of budget. With less than 15 minutes to tell the tale, ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’ is not as powerful or cathartic as it could’ve been. However, it accomplishes its goal of serving as an important historical reminder that Jews weren’t the only ones persecuted by the Nazis. Those with any kind of disabilities were butchered, and even the ‘Aryan Germans’ weren’t spared. When rationing began in warring nations, institutions like mental asylums were the first to face food shortages under the Third Reich, leading to deaths due to starvation. Before the end credits roll in, the short-film displays a quick fact-sheet on Hitler’s Aktion T-4 program – 300,000 disabled people were murdered, and a greater number were sterilized to ensure they didn’t birth children with disabilities.

Eakin’s film wants viewers to remember how unkind history has been to those who were different. It’s available to stream on Netflix.

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – AbstractAF

Ep 66: 5 Things That Keep ‘All Of Us Are Dead’ Alive

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure Review

Three of us tried streaming ‘The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure’ on Netflix, lost interest by the first 10 minutes, two spaced out completely, left the room. It just didn’t seem fun. So I ended up being the only one who saw the full Korean film, with some help from the fast-forward button.

Directed by Jeon-hoon Kim and written by Chun Sung-il, this pre-Joseon era story about a motley crew of pirates/bandits on the hunt for a treasure is slow, chaotic and ridiculously boring. Even though the visuals and sets are pretty good, with decent graphics (they do get fake AF in some bizarre scenes, like the one with a dude holding a penguin in his arms or another with a whole lot of the flightless birds). It feels like the makers wanted it to be a campy Pirate movie, yet they don’t exaggerate much, and when they do, it’s neither amusing nor hilarious.

Kang Ha-Neul is Woo Moo-Chi, an expert swordsman & leader of a bandit group that gets shipwrecked & is rescued by notorious pirate Hae-Rang (played by Han Hyo-joo). These two groups form an unlikely alliance to look for lost treasure they come to know off after attacking a Japanese vessel. The lack of attention to details stares you in the face in the first few minutes. Woo Moo-Chi is battered in the introductory scene, face browned by a harsh sea-sun, lips parched and torn, but his teeth look like he is in a toothpaste commercial. Maybe 14th century bandits believed in impeccable dental hygiene or wore veneers.

To be fair, Han Hyo-joo does a great job as the feisty leader Hae-Rang, who gets to kick a lot of butt as the only woman on her pirate ship. Hyo-joo’s outfits in the film however looked out of place, they had a more 20th century aesthetic to them than 13th-14th AD Korea. That said, it was her spirited character that breathes some life into this otherwise mediocre tale. Kang Ha-Neul’s Don Quixote like hero role was borderline annoying and un-funny.

Treasure-hunt movies can be entertaining as hell, but the makers of ‘The Pirates’ mix too many themes, making it an absolute mess. Amid all the fighting, sparring, hunting, running, escaping, they also stuff in some romance between two lead actors who have very little chemistry. The climax is on expected lines, with fight scenes that inspire little excitement.

It’s a 4/10 from me.

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – AbstractAF

Ep 66: 5 Things That Keep ‘All Of Us Are Dead’ Alive

Princess Princess Ever After Review: Too Random

‘Princess Princess Ever After’ by Kay O’Neill is a bright fun comic-book/graphic novel, with great artwork, but a super random and shallow story-line. While a lot of readers may laud the LGBTQIA representation in the book, where a princess rescues a princess for a change… why does a princess need rescuing at all? And okay, fine, let’s go with the ‘rescue’ story, but the author doesn’t do anything else in the story except give us a ‘Princess meets Princess’ twist.

Sure, there’s a little bit of Rapunzel, a dash of Snow White, mixed with some dragons & royal rivalries in the book, but nothing we haven’t seen before. The hero is princess Amira, who rides a unicorn and saves princess Sadie from a prison tower. The two then go on a rushed adventure of sorts, rescue another prince, fight an ogre (kind of) and then have a final confrontation with Sadie’s evil sister. It’s all just very random and disjointed. The beautiful artwork however makes up a little for the weak story-telling.

The friendship and romantic themes are explored very superficially, then there are some things that just don’t make sense – for example, the ‘prince’ who the girls rescue, becomes an advisor in a different kingdom…. why? In-fact, a lot of little things in the plot are random. Why does Sadie’s sister hate her so much and why does she keep calling her ‘fat’, when she evidently is absolutely fine.

This is the kind of sweet shallow piece of work that 10-year-olds may enjoy, but adult readers may be left disappointed. Even though I have read & even cried reading lot of novels made for a much younger audience, but ‘Princess Princess Ever After’ was just forgettable. It’s a 3/5 from me.

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – AbstractAF

Ep 68: Should You Read The ‘Bartimaeus’ Trilogy? Listen In!

If Anything Happens I Love You – Review

In less than 13 minutes, minimalist short-film “If Anything Happens I Love You” might have your heart in knots, grieving a loss that isn’t even yours.

Written and directed by Michael Govier and Will McCormack, the film is about a couple coming to terms with the death of their child in a school shooting. The animation (made by an all women-team) is traditional in appearance, like pencil-sketches come to life, giving the story a nostalgic-personal touch, as if the viewer is going through someone’s photo album. The makers use a lot of black-white-grey tones and blank spaces through the scenes to represent the trauma and void losing someone close leaves in one’s life.

It’s a poignant movie, without any dialogues, accompanied by a music score that helps accentuates the myriad of emotions expressed in the story without a single word. The animation, the storytelling, the music, everything had me engrossed completely.

It’s a 10/10 from me. The short is available to stream on Netflix.

Maaran Trailer – Dhanush Is Kent Without A Cape

Disney+ Hotstar dropped the trailer for Dhanush starrer ‘Maaran’ and it looks fun as hell, even if unrealistic. But who cares? We want to be the kind of butt-kicking investigative reporter he gets to play in the upcoming 2022 Tamil movie. He gets to be on the cover of multiple magazines for crying out loud! When was the last time you saw a Indian print journalist on the cover page of anything huh?

Director by Karthick Naren, the film will be premiering on March 11th on the streaming site. The plot is pretty straightforward – Dhanush plays a badass investigative journalist Maaran who believes in publishing the truth and taking the system head-on. When he exposes a scam, it rattles those in power, who in turn to try to silence him. But it’s a Dhanush film, so you know he is not going to go down without fight. Maaran gets to beat a lot of goons in style, there was an exciting metaphorical action sequence of the journo jabbing the bad guys with a pen. A nod to the classic quote ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. Maaran is basically like Clark Kent, without the need of a superhero alter-ego. The teaser looks like a complete commercial crowd-pleaser.

Heck, with all the media bashing we’ve keep seeing in most Indian series and movies, maybe Dhanush playing hero scribe will be both super-entertaining and may even help redeem the image of news reporters. Fans cannot wait for this one.