The Batman/Superman Movie: World’s Finest (1996) DVD

Worlds Finest and Worlds Worst

Rating:  3 out of 5 progressively larger robots of destruction

Plot Synopsis:  Batman and Superman team up.  They are the World’s Finest.  Joker and Lex Luthor team up.  They are not.

Fan Film Friday: Tell Gordon Hello (also state of Fan Film Friday address)

  I originally thought fan films would be really easy to come by but it has turned out that they are a little thin on the ground.  Also in trying to keep with me "stay positive" vibe it doesn't really leave me a whole lot to watch, as I have discovered.

This however is awesome.  I got nothing negative to say about this.  It's just fucking awesome.

But I think from here on out Fan Film Friday is going to be a "when it feels right" kind of "regular" posting and since I only post awesome stuff I'll probably stop commenting on it as well.  It will become sort of like what Cosplay Wednesday has become where my words won't get in the way of the awesome, I'll just present it without comment so you can enjoy because I can only really say "This is good, it's acted well, it's shot well, the sound is good, etc" before it get's incredibly boring and redundant for everyone involved.

You will enjoy this though.

Friday's with Blinky: Sincerely Mr. J

  Here we have the fourth and final installment of the Mr. J series.  Well at least the Mr. J series proper, there is one more short starring Chris as Joker but it involves Superman and we'll be taking a look at that next week.

Friday's with Blinky: Well Done Mr. J

  Well Done Mr. J marks the 3rd chapter in the Dark Knight spin off.  Every one of these shorts Chris .R. Notarile and Johanna Telander seem to get more and more comfortable in their roles as they make them their own.  The characters have a clear evolution in how they're portrayed from the first one to this one.

  We open with our duo entering a costume shop as an instrumental of Zydrate Anatomy plays in the background.  The song giving a hard rhythm to the mostly dialog free sequence of the the two of them finding their costumes.  The highlight of this being the nurse costume Joker comes across and dismisses as having "done that".  The sequence provides a good character moment as they find their new identities and the final reveal of the two of them in full regalia is quite impressive.  Chris looks bad ass in the purple as Joker and Johanna is smoking hot as Harley Quinn.  We get a little set up as to what's in store next for newly freed and freshly dressed with a great moment of Joker displaying his selfish attitude towards Batman (only he can destroy Batman or his reputation).  At the end we get a big reveal as they walk into a room with Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow and Poison Ivy suggesting a greater team up.

  Now when it comes to these I try really hard to not pick apart things like locations because, honestly, these people are shooting under the radar without permits trying to get stuff done and deliver the best product they can.  That being said, the singular problem I have with this short, and for some reason I just can't shake it or get over it, is the idea of a place somewhere that has a huge costume shop in the upper floors and a convention center on the bottom floor.  Maybe a place like that does exist, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's not this place because it sure looks like they enter the costume shop from the street.  I don't know why it bugs me.  I have no idea why.  I should really just get over it because other than that it's a really good short.

  Kim Santiago steps behind the camera again and does a pretty good job, again.  The shots are good, the angles are intriguing and it all serves to keep the short interesting.  What little we see of the other rouges gallery is a little underwhelming but they play a larger role in the next short.  This is a good little bridge from the character heavy first two shorts and the action heavy following short.  Definitely worth checking out.

Friday's With Blinky: Anything You Say Mr. J

  The follow up to Call Me Mr. J with the same main characters in Chris .R. Notarile as Joker and Johanna Telander as Harley Quinn.

  This time we pick up after the last session with Joker in the the chaos of murder that follows during his escape.  We open with a doctor tied to a chair, Joker covered in blood and Harley Quinn looking a little worse for wear.  The short follows Harley's letting the last of herself go before truly embracing the Harley Quinn persona.

  There really isn't much more to say about this one.  It's a good little character piece.  Chris seems more comfortable as Joker and Johanna does a good job making the transition from 'normie' to psycho.  The setting is dark and disturbing, this little out of the way, perhaps under construction or possibly forgotten area of Arkham with a doctor that Joker blames for his recent trouble.  It's a good portrayal of the Heath Ledger style Joker as more of a homage than direct impression which, I think, makes it better.  So many people now, especially on YouTube, try to directly ape the Ledger style Joker thinking that the closer you get to a direct impression the better.  But the thing is only one person could do that Joker and he (meaning Heath Ledger) did it.  It's an interesting take on Joker and there's no reason to not add elements of it to a portrayal of the Joker but Chris' performance isn't just him doing a Heath Ledger impression.  He takes that base and builds on it.  The awkwardness in the acting in the first one may come from trying to do a more direct impression but this time around you don't get that feeling, it's similar but different, which makes it infinitely more watchable than something like "The Joker Blogs".

  Kim Santiago does a good job in the director seat again.  We get a good atmospheric soundtrack with the occasional rock exclamation points and a good ending theme.  The camera angles are a bit more run of the mill but we see a lot more of the Joker next to Harley with the same low angle shots to establish them as more on the same level.  Well done all around.

  It's a good ramp up for what's coming up next so I recommend checking it out.

Friday's with Blinky: Call Me Mr. J

  This week, to go with the Endless Knight theme that this blog will have for the indeterminate future, we take a look at Call Me Mr. J, the first in a series of four short films starring Chris .R. Notarile as the Joker and Johanna Telander as Harley Quinn.