Thursday, June 9, 2005

Fightin' Foo, and: The Best Obscure Batman Movies

Well I wanted to write some more and do another hardcore all out balls to the wall Batman entry tonight but, crap, I gotta wake up at freakin' 6 am tommorow and once again man the damndable ticketboxxxx. It's a hard knock life.

But some quick stuff:

TODAY:

Foo Fighters rocked on The Tonight Show! Best musical performance I've seen on Leno probably since Billy Idol. But seriously (actually I was serious in my last statement, but anyways ...) they kicked some ass.

Today's show actually really fired on all cylinders. Former Melrose vixen and Wayne Campell's second favorite babe, Heather Locklear made a great appearance as the lead guest. John Leguizamo turned up despite food poisoning and was very funny as usual (well, I mean, as usual except for in movies he's in ...), and the enigma wrapped in a grotesquely effeminate conundrum, Ross the Intern, delivered a hilarious yet distrubing opening segment. Good stuff, for once. Even the monologue seemed funnier than usual.

MTV Stuff:

MTV Movie Awards tonight. Damn I remember when this was a must-watch, along with the video music awards back in the day, when comedians like Mike Myers and Ben Stiller used the show as a hilarious showcase for their absurdist sense of humor. So tonight's "awards" show actually wasn't too bad. It mostly succeeded in entertaining me, which was necessary since tonight's opening round of the NBA Finals between Detroit and San Antonio was, yes, a defensive showcase, but also really really boring. Jimmy Fallon was the most tolerable he's been in a while, and even occasionally kinda funny. Some of the sketches were decent. And the show gets points for 1.) a random yet hy-larious cameo by NAPOLEON DYNAMITE in the opening Batman-themed movie parody and 2.) a very nice tribute to The Breakfast Club, which saw Ally Sheady, Anthony Michael Hall, and yes, Molly Ringwald come out to accept the honorary award. Those two things alone elevate the show to the B- ish range, and make up for unfunny appearances by the likes of Andy Dick, Vince Vaughn, and Owen Wilson doing the same tired schtick they've been doing every year for the last five years or so. Maybe one day MTV will be cool again. Until that happens, we will have to accept that according to them, Lindsay Lohan is the year's best actress. Riiiiiiight. The MTV of old would have gone with Uma Thurman in a heartbeat.

TOMMORROW:

Ticketbox allllllll durn day. To quote Darth Vader: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And because it is BATMAN BEGINS WEEK on my blog ...

I present to you:

The TOP 3 OBSCURE BATMAN MOVIES, WHICH MAY ACTUALLY BE THE ACTUAL 3 BEST BATMAN MOVIES EVER MADE ...

3.) The Batman / Superman Movie: Yep, forget the WB's axed big-budget live-action version that was going to be directed by Wolfgang Peterson. They already made this movie, in animated form, and it was actually pretty damn good. Done in the classic Paul Dini / Bruce Timm animated style, DC Comic's two biggest icons team up in an epic adventure that combines the best of both heroes' worlds. Check it out on DVD.

2.) Batman: The Movie: No, I don't mean the Tim Burton one starring Michael Keaton. I'm talking the classic ADAM WEST version. In this movie, widely and cheaply available on DVD, Batman and Robin set the bar for superhorics very high as they take on EVERY ONE OF BATMAN'S VILLAINS AT ONCE! Yep, the Joker, Penguin, Riddler, AND Catwoman (okay so it's not every villain, but hey that's quite a team!) all band together to combine their forces in a dastardly plan. And no, they aren't trying to take over Gotham or anything weak-ass like that. Nope, they are only trying to throw the WHOLE WORLD into chaos by turning EVERY MEMBER OF THE UNITED NATIONS INTO DUST. Badass. This movie is action packed, freakin' HILARIOUS (it features the debut of the BAT-SHARK REPELLANT) and is psychedellic 1960's Batman at his Bat-best. Sure, it's not my ideal version of Batman, but just like how some days you can't get rid of a bomb, some days you just gotta watch Batman at his campiest.

1.) Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: Shortly after Burton's movies came out, this animated feature-length film came out in theaters, but it only got a limited release and has since been seen mostly on home video and DVD. But whoah, hold the phone, this movie by the Animated Series team of Dini and Timm is awesome. This IS BATMAN AS BATMAN SHOULD BE. And guess what? This is, EASILY, the BEST BATMAN MOVIE EVER MADE. Hell, Batman Begins will have to be pretty damn good in order to be better than this underrated gem. If you want to see a dark, epic, adventure that delves into Batman's haunted psyche, pits him against a deadly cadre of villains, and features huge action, look no further than this movie. And I have to give a shout-out to my middle school English teacher, Mrs. McDonnell, who showed this movie to our class one day and made us write about it, one of the coolest things I ever did in school, and my first exposure to this awesome movie. Note: I hear that a couple of other animated Batman flicks, Batman: Subzero, and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, are pretty great as well, though I have yet to actually see 'em. So that's on the ol' to-do list. Thoughts?

Anyways ...

Must rest. Tommorow may suck, especially between the hours of 6 am and 11:30 am (my lunch break).

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