The Batman

“The Batman” is a 2022 superhero action/mystery movie about you guessed it Batman. It stars Robert Pattinson (Twilight), Zoe Kravitz (The Lego Batman Movie), Jeffery Wright (Shaft), Colin Farrell (The Gentlemen), Paul Dano (The Girl Next Door), and John Turturro (Barton Fink).

The Riddler (Dano) is wreaking havoc on Gotham and killing politicians who are corrupt. Batman (Pattinson) and Commissioner Gordon (Wright) must follow the clues and stop him before it’s too late. Along the way they meet Catwoman (Kravitz) who becomes an important ally.

A lot to unpack here, it’s a three-hour movie which is long for any movie. Marvel has proven to be able to pull it off with their movies, but can DC? The only good DC movies are the Batman movies, I’m not counting “Suicide Squad” because they brought in James Gunn, a Marvel director. Whatever the formula is, DC doesn’t have it, but if any movie of theirs can pull it off, it’s Batman. So yes, it’s long but they pull off the three hours. The second thing to unpack is Robert Pattinson. Most everyone associates him with Twilight and thinks/thought he’s a bad/weird pick for Batman, me included. I heard and read reviews calling Pattinson the best Batman yet, which I thought no way, that belongs to Christian Bale. After watching it though, I have to give Pattinson his props, he is the best Batman. He absolutely destroys this role, he’s not the best Bruce Wayne, however. Luckily, we only have to see him as Bruce Wayne, out of his Batman suit for like twenty minutes out of the full three hours, so that’s good. Third is the Riddler, what is up with his costume? At first, I thought it was awful, which it kind of is, but it fits for the movie and who the Riddler is.

With all that unpacked let’s talk about the movie as a whole. This is and may be the best Batman movie yet. It captures the true essence of Batman, an outcast himself just trying to make Gotham a better place. It also focuses on James Gordon, which the true stories of Gotham he’s every bit as important in Gotham as Batman is. With the other movies, they don’t touch on it enough. They also have Falcone and Maroni in this one, which follows the story line. If you’re a fan of the CW show “Gotham” it follows the same story line pretty closely, which is awesome. All in all, “The Batman” surprised me, it may be the best movie to come out this year. I give it a 10/10.

The Gentlemen

‘The Gentlemen’ is a 2020 action/thriller with a blockbuster cast starring Matthew Mcconaughey (Mud, The Lincoln Lawyer), Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Henry Golding (Last Christmas), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey), Jeremy Strong (Serenity), Eddie Marsan (Vice), Colin Farrell (The Lobster), and Hugh Grant (Love Actually)

When ‘The Gentlemen was in theaters I went and saw ‘1917’ instead, but now its out on DVD, so I had to catch it. You can’t really tell in the trailers exactly what ‘The Gentlemen’ is about, you just know it’s sort of mafia related. All I know is Matthew Mcconaughey isn’t in a bad film. ‘The Gentlemen’ is very crude with F bombs and C bombs left and right throughout the movie. The way it’s written though, honestly you don’t even notice. It wouldn’t be the same without the language. It’s a two hour movie, but you’re so transfixed to the movie, it flies by. The plot is complex and twist after twist through out in the entire movie. It’s another incredible performance by Mcconaughey and the entire cast is perfect. ‘The Gentlemen’ is a 10/10.

The Lobster (2015)

‘The Lobster’ is a very unique, odd ball movie that has been nominated and won several awards. It’s easy enough to find to watch since Netflix streams it. ‘The Lobster’ takes place in a society where if you don’t find your partner you’re turned into an animal of your choosing. You check into a hotel and have 45 days to find your love, if you don’t you’re turned into the animal. You can only match up with someone who has something in common with yourself, for instance if you get nose bleeds you have to find someone else who gets nose bleeds as well, if you have a limp you have to find someone who also has a limp. You cannot match up with someone you do not have something in common with, which makes it rather difficult. The other option is you can live as an outcast in the woods as a single person, there is a tribe of singles who live by their own code. No flirting, sex, or anything intimate with any of the other singles. If you break the rules, punishment will be enforced. The singles have to always keep a lookout and stay on the move, as the guests from the hotel hunt them with tranquilizers. If you do find your mate at the hotel you go through a trial together, if you last, you are allowed to join society/ the city where other couples live, singles are not allowed in society.

Interesting concept right? It has a pretty decent cast which includes Colin Farrell (Seven psychopaths, Fantastic Beasts), John C Reily (Step Brothers, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), and Jessica Barden (The End of the F***ing World). I love John C Reily, he’s one of my favorite actors. He always seems to pop up in almost every movie as a minor roll, and his major rolls he is always hilarious. I’m a fan of Jessica Barden because of ‘The End of the F***ing world’ she nails the roll of Alyssa.

So the question is, is ‘The Lobster’ good? A simple answer, no. I had high hopes for this film, I really liked the concept, but I feel as if the ball was dropped. The acting is very robotic through out the entire movie, with no emotion what so ever. Which I know it’s done on purpose, but it makes it very boring. The story seems to just drag on and on, and every two minutes a violin plays bum bum, bum bum. It tries to be too artsy for my liking. I give ‘The Lobster’ a 3/10.