The Toad's Burrow

    Yes I am reading more Batman comics, but can you really blame me? I mean I don't know how many more Dick Grayson as Batman stories exist, but I would say this one's pretty good. Do I think it's an essential collection of Batman stories? Definitely not, it's very small, self-contained, and if you don't like the Jim, Barbara or James Gordon. Even still, I would say both the art style and the story take a decidedly darker tone for the better, so if that's something that interests you I would say give this comic a shot. Let's talk about it.     While it is around 200 pages, I don't have much to say about this story, I don't know if I'll write as much for this review as I typically do. I do like that Scott Snyder really dives into the differences between Bruce and Dick for this comic. While I liked Grant Morrison's version of Dick as Batman, so much of it was spent with other members of the batfamily as they were also finally introducing Damia...

      Well I did it. When I wrote my review for Batman: Bad Blood , I basically just lamented that it really made me want yo re-read Grant Morrison's Batman run. Don't get me wrong, it gets really messy, but part of it isn't it's own fault. I would not recommend this run to anyone who isn't at least tangentially familiar with Batman and his lore. Not only does it get hit with the event that is Final Crisis  about 10 per cent of the way through, killing Bruce Wayne and replacing him with Dick Grayson which in my opinion is just kind of really fun (though I say this as a Dick Grayson fanboy), but shortly after Batman returns, takes over the main stage, and they get hit with the continuity mess that is the New 52. Even still, it's refreshing, I mean it doesn't have any traditional Batman villains other than Ra's Al Ghul, even the Joker is a bit of a footnote in this run, but it's fun to see them go outside of Gotham. Let's talk about it.     Once ag...

      What? What did I just watch. I came into this film with some knowledge of what it was going to be about, but I dismissed it. I watched one trailer for Wicker  and thought to myself "this is some ridiculous romance plot" it sounds like it's going to be really bad. But I was wrong, I was completely wrong. This movie is insane in the best way possible. I don't know how else to describe it. It takes the premise so seriously, yet hyperfixates on marriage dynamics and sexuality in a way that is so blunt yet also kind of shallow at the same time? I don't know what to make of this film other than it was good, it was funny, and I totally loved it. Let's talk about it.     You need to go into this film with an open mind, I promise you it will make it all that much better. I spent over half of this film with my mouth agape, just in awe that this film took every single curve and swerve that it decided to. It features so much talk of sex and relationships and yet ...

      Hey look at me I'm reviewing Geese, how original. Look, while my enthusiasm might seemed subdued, it has nothing to do with how talented I think this band actually is. I quite actually enjoy their music, I'm mostly just baffled by how they managed to become so popular. I don't even think of them as a particularly accessible rock outfit, which makes their rise even more baffling. I mean I don't remember 3D Country  blowing them as much as this album did. Make no mistake, I actually enjoy this band though, even if I do find them a tad overrated. Though I was a Magdalena Bay fan before Imaginal Disk was released so this may just me being a big hypocrite. Regardless, when my friend Omaid recommended this album, I may have groaned a bit because my twitter feed has somehow become filled with Geese fans I never knew existed, but this album is both good enough, and culturally popular enough to be deserving of a more in-depth review. So without further ado, my track-by-...

      No Tim Drake, no Jason Todd, not even any real Barbara Gordon until the very end, but this movie kind of makes it work. I have been so thoroughly underwhelmed with the past couple of DCAMU movies, especially because they were quite Batman-centric. I felt like they didn't do anything interesting with their adaptations, that the movies were honestly kind of boring and didn't do enough to make them worth watching. I wouldn't say this one really reinvented the wheel in any major way, but it was fun, and frankly that's what I was really hoping for. Let's talk about it.     Honestly? This film just makes me want to go back and read Grant Morrison's Batman, especially runs like Batman Incorporated, which I just found to be very fun in general. I mean this film basically bastardizes much of it, especially with Dick Grayson being Batman in the first half with Damian as his Robin, then the Heretic storyline, only for it all to be dropped halfway through. That is not...

      Legitimately such a beautiful film. I had very high expectations for this film coming in, and it did not disappoint in any sense. I don't think it's for everyone, that's for sure, but for me personally I love everything this film tried to tackle, specifically shining a modern lens on religion and family. It had less action than I thought it would, and this film was significantly funnier than I thought it was going to be, but I think Tariq and Co. still made it work. Let's talk about it.     I do not think this film is for everybody. I was looking through comments on Reddit, which I do sometimes before I'm writing reviews to see how my consensus matches up with other people and I was surprised. I will say, I do come from a fairly religious background, I'm not Muslim, but my parents are quite religious so the story about grappling with ones own faith in the face of adversity appealed to me. I think if you have a very hardline stance on religion, or are just ...

      Huh? What? I was ready to give this movie a semi-positive score, not too positive, but just enough for attempting to try new things with a story that I admitted was very flawed. I felt the source material for this movie could have done more, though I'm just not quite sure this movie understood what it should have/was supposed to do. It definitely includes many of the same lines/imagery from the comics, and for that I appreciate it, but I feel like once again they've missed the mark about Bruce and Damian's relationship in these films, and I feel it is much too flimsy for me to care about. Let's talk about it.     First off, let's start with the good. They flesh out the court of owls, ever just slightly, but it's what I asked for. You see them with an actual leadership structure, you see them do more than just sit there and stare at Batman in their porcelain-white masks and they also even talk a little bit. By that same token it probably could have done jus...

      I remember when the Court of Owls was first introduced as a concept. Of course I was nine at the time so I thought it was pretty cool that there was this secretive society that Batman didn't know how to fight because they made up the city he was sworn to protect. Nowadays, whenever they're brought up people seem pretty mixed about them, at least on comic book Twitter. Personally? I couldn't actually remember much, though as a child I do remember looking back at Scott Snyder's time writing Batman quite fondly. As such, with rumours that they might be featured heavily in  The Batman Part II, and it being a main sticking point in Batman vs. Robin , which is my next DCAMU film to review, I thought it would be the perfect time to look back at this arc. Let's talk about it.     Oddly enough, the introduction regarding the Court of Owls is actually split up into two arcs and while I don't hate it, it leaves a lot to be desired. I will say the second half, Th...

      I doubted, and doubted, and doubted, but I have to admit, 30 Rock season two was pretty good. I was concerned it wouldn't really get any better, and since this season was already cut short due to the writers strike, making it only fifteen episodes, it was a real uphill battle. But they did it, the writing felt sharper, it felt like they had a better idea of how to both handle the characters, and balance the main cast so it didn't feel as Jack- and Liz-centric, even if I loved those characters. Let's talk about it.     I feel like the show is really starting to figure out how what to do with the side characters. I will say Dot Com and Grizz have risen up tremendously on my list of favourite 30 rock side characters, even as Rachel Dracht doing random roles has sadly disappeared. Like one of my original complaints from the first season was that they hardly actually did anything with the setting of it being on a show, and while I don't think they've actually d...