The Flash

If I could travel through time I know precisely where I'd go. I'd find the name of the Captain who found the secret ocean hideaway of the eels, and discover a way to steer his ship off course, before the fateful day when he ecstatically fractured.

Before then, eels had a great thing going on, who would have guessed anyone would ever find them, far off in the middle of the ocean, their realm safe for thousands of millennia (it's technically more like salmon if I remember correctly, they return to a spot in the Atlantic every year where they breed, and then head out once again). 

However, the Flash discovers he can travel through time in a recent film bearing his name, and after he voyages to the past to save his mom, the world he once knew is changed forever.

Not technically changed forever, he can continue to travel through time to fix it, but it's kind of like the Kurtwood Smith two part episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Year of Hell, you can constantly alter time, but never find a perfect match for what you once knew (it's a cool episode).

It's also kind of like Marvel's Spider-Man: No Way Home where the different franchises merge as one, as the Flash enters an alternate reality where Michael Keaton still plays Batman.

For those of us who are rather annoyed when studios find new actors to play familiar characters, rather than sticking with the favourites their fans know and love, this mélange is quite intriguing, or at least it is to me anyways. 

Perhaps in an alternate timeline eels themselves have superpowers, and are capable of breathing on land, a defensive armada sinking any ship which approaches their lair!

With the Flash D.C takes on the Multiverse as well in death-defying multilateral fashion, as they also did in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Parallels.

I've started to wonder about stray thoughts about the bizarro contemplations that occur from time to time, it's okay because they're just random thoughts right?, but what if they exist in another dimension!?

Contemporary science seems a long ways off from definitively answering that question, although I have stumbled upon another cool book idea, without ever having meant to do so.

Are coincidences like The Flash's special moments which occur regardless in every single timeline, a point that doesn't make much sense when logically scrutinized, especially considering intuitive mutation.

The multiverse makes for compelling fiction nevertheless disputed points harnessing its synthetic prowess.

To narrativize exponentially.

Without losing limitless oceanic sights.  

*I actually had two coincidences on a walk today. I was thinking about how it was nice to see a fisher last year, but how I would have rather seen chipmunks and red squirrels regularly (they were absent from the forest for much of the year). Then I suddenly saw a red squirrel, which was cool. Around here I don't see them that often. Then I was thinking about making a smoothie and my thoughts strayed to ye olde Booster Juice. After which I immediately saw a Booster Juice bottle on the path. I was surprised, arrived home, made a smoothie.

Note: I liked Ben Affleck as Batman. I like Robert Pattinson too. I think Affleck was just cast in some duds. I thought he still played the role of Batman well. As does Pattinson. 

The Batman

*Spoiler alert.

Reinvented again for another reboot which reimagines traditional tropes, trajectories, a much less pulpy light illumination recast in dire solemnity.

The Riddler returns to confound the Batman with pejorative puzzling and plagued putrefaction (the Penguin also making an appearance), a pattern emerging the details discomforting, the players well-known to the reclusive billionaire.

In this sombre reawakening Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) spends little time managing Wayne Enterprises, having yet to envision the circumstances in which his businesses could benefit ailing Gotham.

Alfred (Andy Serkis) is forlorn yet dutiful and thoroughly worried about his disengaged charge, no doubt proud of his crime fighting agility yet still rather anxious regarding the future.

Batman's more of a young adult in this instalment, still coming to terms with his coveted legacy, passionately lured by the prestige of his role yet at times uncertain as to how to proceed.

He even wipes out at one point and takes a rather severe tumble, the results of which should have perhaps been more serious realistically considering his noted mortality.

The film's still more like the Christopher Nolan Batmans even if he does take quite the unexpected fall, with more of an emphasis on scientific fact than unobserved fantastic comic book reckoning.

Perhaps it's just the subconscious favouritism of yesteryear but I find myself longing for something less logical, like sociopathic Jack Napier's descent into a vat of acidic chemicals only to emerge the nefarious Joker.

Not that The Dark Knight isn't one of the best films I've ever seen, but too much reasonable objective fact can take away from the resonant fantasy (not in Bond, the beginning of GoldenEye was terrible). 

I suppose The Dark Knight did succeed in finding rational means to uphold its sensation, as does Matt Reeves's latest vision, perhaps I'm just searching for the magically real, the cool thing about fantasies is they don't require scientific proof (assuming they don't take over). 

The Batman's still really well done with an impressive cast with many cool actors (Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, . . .), who add feisty nuance and versatile daring to so many captivating scenes.

Oddly, the Riddler is caught but Batman still fails to stop him.

Batman wipes out.

The Riddler's plot isn't foiled.

With so many superhero films currently flourishing.

This one still finds a way to stand out.

Hoping they mix in Joaquin Phoenix's Joker.

Marvel's continuity is first rate! 

Joker

A confused man who struggles to fit in suddenly responds with unhinged fury, to those who snidely provoke him.

He tries to socialize at work, to enjoy the friendly influence of camaraderie, but is attuned to a different wavelength that pushes others swiftly away.

He sees a psychiatrist on a regular basis to air grievances and seek shelter, but she's ill-equipped to deal with his issues and their encounters increase his frustration.

Before budget cuts bring them to an abrupt end.

He goes off his meds and starts researching his past after reading a letter written by his mother (Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck) to Bruce Wayne's father (Brett Cullen).

And as the woe disparagingly intensifies, he embraces reckless spleen, proceeding wild-eyed and menacing, with neither recourse nor path nor guilt.

Gotham's elite have developed an unsympathetic attitude regarding its impoverished citizens, who find solace in the Joker's (Joaquin Phoenix) rampage.

The result is incredibly bleak.

As despondent as it is abandoned.

A dangerous film, this Joker, released at the worst of times.

Characters like the Joker are often exceptions are they not?, but in recent decades the U.S has seen so much distressing carnage.

Joker could easily be dismissed if it wasn't so well done, and didn't reach such a wild wide audience.

Compassion abounds for the Joker within.

And Batman's father's a condescending jerk.

From the perspective of film, it's easily the best comic book movie, like mainstream tragic arthouse psychological horror abounding with sensitive emotion.

Not just sensational superheroes predictably poised and pouncing, Joker leaves behind both razzle and dazzle to distill nocturnal desperation.

You feel for him as he daydreams, as his explanations are dismissed at work, as he makes friends with a neighbour down the hall, as he traces the roots of his identity.

Perhaps nothing will come of it.

Perhaps people harbouring dark thoughts will see the horrifying nature of their outcomes and be emphatically deterred, like parents who teach children to respect alcohol by getting them drunk, school of hard knocksy pedagogical bedlam.

But hopefully people like Bruce Wayne or his father, people occupying positions of power in the U.S, will consider a more equitable distribution of wealth, and uphold institutions which aid the unfortunate.

It's not perfect in Canada and Québec, Britain, France or Ireland, but there is much less violence, according to Michael Moore's films.

Because these countries have elites who care about the unfortunate, like Bernie Sanders.

And encourage them to be productive team members.

Much harder to own your own weapons too.

Less idealistic.

Much more practical.

Justice League

Superman's (Henry Cavill) death having exposed Earth to intergalactic invasion, Batman (Ben Affleck), riddled with guilt, must find a way to heroically compensate.

Assembling a team of gifted phenoms seems like the best course of action, and the globe is traversed to collectively materialize both ancient and contemporary myth and legend.

Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) quickly joins up shortly after Aquaman (Jason Momoa) initially refuses to participate, the Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) eventually accommodating Mr. Wayne's self-sacrificing request, the resultant union improvising in battle with hopes of defeating the tyrannical Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), whose monstrous heart terrifyingly seeks the destruction of passionate worlds, the annihilation of free peoples, the nourishment of death and decay.

They come together with much less ego than their avenging competitors, reluctance and leadership issues more of an itch than an implosive characteristic, historical reverence subduing aged contemporary Gods, youthful postmodern members discursively ready to mystify.

Perhaps suggesting that DC is distinguishing itself from Marvel by focusing more on collective unity than individualistic personality?

Even if interstellar awakenings make some of these reflections mute.

Batman is ridiculed for having no superpower.

David Bowie and Prince are awesomely compared to Superman.

Sea shepherding of the rustic conveys bucolic mythological fortune.

Love vanquishes the unleashed chaos of blitzkrieg.

Computational prowess is as highly regarded as environmental stewardship, global interconnectivity physically synthesized ad infinitum.

Whales.

I rather liked how Justice League holds it together.

Not as verbose as The Avengers nor as intricate, but its laid-back approach is still rich in metaphor which indirectly stylizes an imaginary vortex, wherein which interpretive discourses manifest interdisciplinary comment, the intellectualization of the straightforward, the love for all things plaid.

Does the Flash become jealous of Batman in subsequent films as Wonder Woman appears to prefer him?

Will Aquaman and Cyborg's habitual independence destabilize their cherished unity?

As much of a catalyst as it is a fulcrum, Zack Snyder's Justice League gives DC even more eclectic momentum, some versatile room to manoeuvre, the depth of its successors hopefully reaching way down to Atlantis, while diversifying cyberspatial manors, with Amazonian lightning speed.

Burgeoning.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

The Highlander spirit invades the filmic realm of DC Comics as Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) jealousy covets Clark Kent/Superman's (Henry Cavill) illustrious fame.

Politicians fear Superman as well due to his pseudo-invincibility and total lack of accountability.

The unlikely possibility exists that this polite self-sacrificing all-powerful lightning rod may one day grow tired of protecting the innocent, and instead choose to subject them to the whims of his desire.

Thus, both Batman and leaders from the United States decide to chip away at his impeccability, in attempts to achieve superiority over that which cannot be subjugated.

Lex Luthor (Jessie Eisenberg) is also involved, diabolically ensuring the three battle judiciously.

Superman, who doesn't understand the point (he's committed to do-gooding), infuriates Batman with his lack of concern, his foolish disinterested dismissals driving Batman into a bigoted raged-fuelled arms race (Batman doesn't like that he's an alien) which eventually constructs überBatman.

While conducting his research, he also discovers the existence of other potential superheroes, eternally co-existing with humanity incognito, like Star Trek's Requiem for Methuselah, one showing up at his darkest hour.

When it becomes clear that there can be more than one, teamwork transcends, and vision radiates.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice passes, but slips-up from time to time.

How many times can Superman save Lois Lane (Amy Adams)?

It takes awhile for the new Lex Luthor to gather steam (his introductory scenes lack character).

Would have liked to have seen him learning more from the archives on Zod's (Michael Shannon) ship as well.

You can tell Batman's fighting in a computer generated filmscape during one of his sort-of-cool dream sequences, and it's kind of lame.

The batmobile chase which Superman abruptly halts is also kind of lame; some of the action is precise yet slow in its frenzied variation.

Love Jeremy Irons (Alfred) but Michael Caine's Alfred is tough to beat.  Irons looks too young.

I watched The Dark Knight a couple of times recently and I'm convinced it's the best superhero film ever made. It rationalizes the sensational with polished grit and streetwise poignancy while making the highly dubious seem plausible through expertly timed captivating motivations.

Not easy to follow Christopher Nolan.

Still, Dawn of Justice has merit. Batman's introduction is startlingly clever.

Wonder Woman's (Gal Gadot) introduction is epic.

Politicizing Superman works while highlighting petty indignities that often pervade political realms.

I liked how Clark Kent fights with Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) to bring back the American consciousness, and how Lois then fights with Superman to remind him of this insight.

Solid Kevin Costner cameo (Jonathan Kent).

Batman's descent into villainy functions as a warning to activists on the left, as does Superman's dismissal of Batman, the activists who want to be the best activist out there and proceed to alienate all kinds of fellow activists in the process, potentially turning them into bitter cynics, making peaceful activism seem like olympic gymnastic tryouts, it's supposed to be the right that believes there can be only one, pre-emptive strikes are most recently the product of the George W. Bush Administration.

Liked how they set up the expansion of the DC film world.

With Marvel, Star Wars, and DC creating film after film after film, I don't know how the world/galaxy/universe will ever survive the constant bombardment of heroism.

I like it though.

It's kind of fun.

Most of the time.