Robert Pattinson IS The Batman

No, really

A little surprised this is what he's chosen to break his arthouse streak with. But hardly the worst casting ever.

And he's in the forthcoming Christopher Nolan film. COINCEDENCE?!?!?

I hope we finally find out how Batman became Batman.

He killed Christian Bale and then hid for a while.

Best wishes to him

Anyway, what Pattinson should do is play him with an English accent and have Alfred be an American fanboy who puts on a really bad English accent in turn.

If they asked me to be batman i’d do it too

Well then get in there.

Reeves drove the once-promising Apes reboot into the ground so I'm assuming this is gonna suck tbh

finally a movie about batman

sexiest choice since Kilmer

don't at me with Bale, that roid-rager who made his best film first

Would totally watch a movie that is just about Alfred. Like Remains of the Day in Batman's mansion.

starring Ian McShane

Would a tv show do, Josh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-d2lMVeNS8

coming soon

Parker Posey IS Aunt Harriet

R-Battz!

I was just at a bar where both the bartenders recoiled at this news and poured each other a shot to get over it. Dark days in Gotham.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius) at 5:09 17 May 19

don't at me with Bale, that roid-rager who made his best film first

enh he’s no adam west

BREAKING: apparently nicholas hoult is also a leading contender to wear the cowl

i dunno if he's got the jaw for it tbh

most of the backlash seems to be from people who've only seem him in Twilight but none of the great stuff he's done since....
still, i think a lot of people are just batman'd out and the character needs a break.

Yeah the twilight kids have had such interesting careers since. As with Phoenix the only sensible objection to this casting is that another worthwhile actor is being poached for this shit (should be a brief enough break tho as it’ll have moved on to the next reboot by next year)

this would actually make me somewhat interested in another Batman movie (if it happens)

I should actually watch a Twilight movie one of these days.

still, i think a lot of people are just batman'd out and the character needs a break.

yeah, we've done three grimdark nolan batmen and two grimmerdarker batflecks in the last 15 years, unless they're willing to do something very different it's kinda hard to give much of a shit, not least because the dc cinematic universe has been such a catastrophe

a ridiculous dayglo batman in the style of the aquaman movie would be fun

Zur-En-Arrh or GTFO

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/13/Batman_of_Zur_En_Arrh.jpg/250px-Batman_of_Zur_En_Arrh.jpg

Reeves has been blathering about it having more of a detective angle

Actually the prospect of adapting Morrison's Batman run is probably the only way this could possibly elicit more than a 'meh' from me.

Half-relatedly: should I go see a double-bill of the burton films tomorrow? I can get a free ticket, I like returns quite a bit, have only seen the first one once and don’t remember it at all really

i'd be down for the dayglo one too. i know burton and schumacher were both in their ways riffing on the adam west era, but the world is so much more ready now to just truly do silver-age bats: smiling. sky-blue cowl on light gray tights, fighting absurd gimmick villains and having a ball. in an era of aquaman, not to mention the ant-man films, battle angel, detective pikachu... the world is ready at last for the colorfulness and sincerity of speed racer. maybe hoult is actually in talks to play bat-mite.

They should get Janelle Monae for catwoman. Pattinson may be the only thing that would make another Batman interesting.

the world is ready at last for the colorfulness and sincerity of speed racer

extremely otm - if ever a film was ahead of its time it was poor, misunderstood speed racer

They should get Janelle Monae for catwoman

this is a fucking great idea

wins

yes you should imo

a ridiculous dayglo batman in the style of the aquaman movie would be fun

I loved the Lego Batman movie for just that reason.

yeah i guess i just want a live-action lego batman tbh, c'mon warners do me a solid here

if they adapt Morrison's Batman it should be Spider-Verse style

I'd been joking that the Marvel movies were going to use their recent films to reboot the casting and the ending would be Iron Man taking off his helmet to reveal Robert Pattinson. I was so close!

I'm hoping they're going to give us the All-Star Batman & Robin we deserve

mods, please to rename thraed as ‘what are you, dense? robert pattinson IS the goddamn batman’

Feel like you may have omitted part of that interchange, not sure why...

(I was gonna say that ASS was released in a different time but I'm pretty sure Miller is still comfortably ensconced in that other time.)

oh I think we both know

it’d be too long

the dissonance of seeing steven mnuchin's name plastered over lego batman makes me curious what a janet yellen batman would be like.

Janelle Monae for catwoman

FKA Twigs certainly has the physicality, and could be a package deal with long term beau (?) Pattinson.

They broke up which is how I ended at Janelle Monae.

He’s such an asshole to Alfred for some reason, it’s funny.

Adam West IS The Batman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B90ic2iKDo

The pacing of the final stretch was unusual – it didn’t really have a big action climax like most of these movies? It kind of slowly wound down instead.

Overall it was a little plot-heavy, but I enjoyed it. Pattinson was strangely compelling, with his emo charisma.

I finally sat down and watched this late last night, which was a bit of a mistake as it was rolling on 4am when it finally got done. It was a beautiful looking movie. I thought all the scenes inside the Iceburg Lounge looked really cool. I had no idea that was Colin Ferrell as the Penguin until the end credits.

While it was not as over the top grimacing as some of the other DC movies, good lord Gotham was totally f'ed up in the end. Kinda hard to think Batman came out as a winner in this one at all (which was kind of the case of the N52 Riddler story this is based upon).

Curious to see where they go with this one in the sequel as they already used the Harvey Dent/Two Face and Ra's Al Ghul in the previous trilogy. I'd figure they do something more about Arkham.

I thought it was funny how Gordon and Batman blithely caused or contributed to like 30 civilian car wrecks while pursuing a minor thug or something.

I watched this again… despite its imperfections (the Riddler expects Bruce Wayne to open his own mail?), I think it’s quite well made, and it has a certain “Batman-ness” that none of the other movies have (note: I’ve never seen the Batfleck ones). It’s hard to put into words, but Reeves manages to capture the feel of the comics without leaning too hard into a “stylized” approach… and I think Pattinson may be my favorite of the actors (not counting Keaton, who’s kind of in his own league, but I don’t like his movies much).

(the Burton movies, that is)

From my memory of the film it's the only of these that feels like a real, living city, and not just sets or set pieces. But I may not be remembering accurately.

I guess the second Nolan film did too (although without necessarily feeling like “Gotham City” as we think of it).

For all that movie’s virtues, I feel like Nolan got so hung up on a certain type of “realism,” that it became tiring… all that Wayne Industries military tech, etc. This Batman is more modestly equipped—he has a bulletproof suit and a muscle car, and a simple Batcave—and feels more “believable,” while also seeming more like Batman in the comics.

Even the costume really looks the part, while splitting the difference and coming off almost as something that might work in real life (without looking ridiculous). The action scenes are great; it feels like “Batman fighting,” not just an Iron Man–type figure using fancy weapons.

Well, while we wait (if we are) on a new film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQghiGQi6Lo

Weirdly like Rockstar Games does The Sopranos

it was a beautiful-looking film, the palette a lot more vibrant than i expected. it also wasn't as grimdark

SO GLAD this wasnt grimdark - like, at all. Felt like a 12-year-old could've watched it (and maybe even gotten bored).

did I watch a different film? palette wise it was black and brown, and almost impossible to watch on tv in the daytime without the curtains closed. and not grimdark? it had a man with a rats cage attached to his face, another with a neck bomb. though that said, the most disturbing part for me was when after they've been talking in her apartment for five minutes, catwoman goes to the fridge WHICH IS ALREADY OPEN, takes out a bottle of milk and pours a glass, puts the bottle back and walks away WITHOUT CLOSING THE FRIDGE.

more like shatwoman

This movie was a colossal mess, no idea of what "Gotham" should be, the grimdark elements and plot twists were cheesey, most of the performances were busy nothings, and it went on way too fucking long. Nonetheless I kind of enjoyed it?

So I caught the first episode of The Penguin. Not bad, figure I'll keep watching it -- just an extension of Reeves's take on the IP but basically Farrell knows how to act with just his eyes given all the makeup, and that's helpful.

yeah Farrell is great, i dont mind it so far

yeah i haven't gotten around to it yet but see it's been getting decent reviews.

Quite enjoyed the Caped Crusader animated series on Prime though, also a Reeves joint.

I can’t bring myself to watch it. I’m so burned out on all things Batman. I did see the Robert Pattinson movie at some point but even as it was perfectly fine, i didn’t feel it was very necessary. This even less so. Also maybe I’m still holding a grudge against Farrell for SUGAR.

did I watch a different film? palette wise it was black and brown, and almost impossible to watch on tv in the daytime without the curtains closed.

otm

i wouldn't have watched The Penguin but my son is a big fan of the Pattinson Batman movie and Alamo Drafthouse was doing a free sneak preview of the show so i took him to that (first time i've had to put my phone in a bag during an event). not for me! felt like very cliched mob movie bullshit with farrell doing a deniro impression under 20 pounds of prosthetics.

the weirdest thing to me is, i know that batman isn't going to be in the show, but one even mentions batman outside of an expository news clip at the beginning? they're gangsters setting up drug rings and no one is even like "hey do we need to worry about batman?" anyways i did like cristin milioti, she should be in more good stuff.

The Pattinson movie was exhausting and I have zero interest in the new series, but it has prompted me to binge Gotham, a series I completely wrote off during its original run because I found the graphic violence and hammy acting of the villains too jarring. But now that I've watched enough of it to actually get invested in the core Gordon/Bullock, Serena/Bruce/Alfred relationships, I think it's a pretty fun police procedural with some eye-rolling soapy elements and some X-Files style seasons-long "big bad" conspiracy stuff.

Gotham is fun! Granted, it is often bananas bordering on deeply stupid, but the cast are so good; Robin Lord Taylor is my favorite as Penguin… but all the series regulars really do a fantastic job.

I still LOL a bit that the series finale episode aired literally as the first full early public screenings for Avengers: Endgame happened. Not even adjusting for a week or even a day earlier?

I thought this Penguin thing was fine as a pilot episode and it’s otm that Milioti was possibly the best part.

If the core theme of this spin of the franchise is “Batman has had a lot of trauma, but everyone he faces is just as fucked up if not more” then maybe they’ve got their hook

What's great about Milioti in this thing is that she sells something like this visually, which is essentially an accidental moment thanks to the fade-in audio edit (the music is in a club scene right after this shot ends), but could just as easily be some moment in a regular-life-these-days film or the like:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kqdyhnklmmv34nmml6btyqv6/bafkreif4h34g5pu4zmqpr2o4w6pvsgdmewfukyb23axfap77e2svrwmdpe@jpeg

If the core theme of this spin of the franchise is “Batman has had a lot of trauma, but everyone he faces is just as fucked up if not more” then maybe they’ve got their hook

Based on last week's episode regarding Victor as well as the one tonight being Sofia's flashback episode to why she was in Arkham, you pretty much have it, I think.

Well I sure called that last episode. I'm seeing a lot of "OMG UNIQUELY AMAZING" reactions, which, slow your roll. (Not helped by my ever-growing frustration with how prison/the carcarel system gets used in general with any kind of production these days; at least Sing Sing existed this year.) But having mostly been "Okay fine" by Cristin Milioti whenever I've seen her over the years, this was a hell of a spotlight moment. There was one part after she was just out of the flashback where I honestly didn't know what her character would do next, and I don't mean that in terms of lazy plotting, I mean in terms of "Okay, having now learned all this about the character, she could do any number of things and they would each make sense," and Milioti's performance was spectacularly guarded and careful, I had to let it play out before I got any sense of where she would go. (Was intrigued to learn that this was another directorial effort by Helen Shaver, who has had a remarkable career shifting from acting to directing over the decades.)

thoughts on last episode - I came to enjoy it, but I was slightly disappointed that they wouldn't let her be the serial-killing villain they initially set her up as, perhaps driven mad by her mother's death, as opposed to being the victim of her dad's lies and conspiracy, though I do think the obvious allegory the episode went for was quite powerful in execution, which is what won me over in the end. but I also find it hard to believe that Carmine would immediately go from earmarking Sofia as his heir apparent to turning on her merely because she talked to a journalist who was investigating him. No doubt Sofia probably questioned his criminal actions often growing up, and if he was as powerful as they suggested in being able to control judges, Arkham shrinks, and the police, why wouldn't he have just fingered a patsy outside of his family entirely (possibly even...the journalist!)?

I have always loved Milioti, though the first thing I saw her in was in the Broadway production of Once

xpost I know the obvious answer will be she correctly suspected her father of killing her mother, so he was protecting himself from her turning on him, but consider in the Sopranos that Meadow Soprano often correctly suspected her dad of doing heinous things, including killing people close to her, and she would almost always wind up accepting whatever bullshit explanation he gave in the end because she didn't want to believe it...which I feel like Sofia may have gravitated towards as well. esp since she obviously knew what other dirty business he had his fingers in and seemed willing to take over as his successor.

loved this episode
i think partly just because she’s a newish character to me & it is always good getting the how we got here story

but goddamn, in closeup, she’s so fucking good, like just this deep well of complex emotions that you can almost feel radiating off her even though she’s (mostly) so composed

AND THAT YELLOW DRESS O_O beautiful

also find it hard to believe that Carmine would immediately go from earmarking Sofia as his heir apparent to turning on her merely because she talked to a journalist who was investigating him. No doubt Sofia probably questioned his criminal actions often growing up, and if he was as powerful as they suggested in being able to control judges, Arkham shrinks, and the police, why wouldn't he have just fingered a patsy outside of his family entirely (possibly even...the journalist!)?

― smears for fears (Neanderthal)

I understood it as that it wasn’t talking to the journalist what ultimately made Carmine decide to turn Sofia into a patsy butSofia suggesting she knew her mother didn’t commit suicide and that Carmine was guilty of it.

I admit, I rather liked the music cue that helped close this new episode.

yeah that ruled

I will never get tired of gangsters shooting each other in midsentence

I thought the Pattison Batman was fine, I thought Colin Farrell was good in it and most things (even stuff I don't like, like the feuding donkey movie). I haven't seen this, though, because it looks like just another crime boss show. Is it? Would it work as just people and not DC characters, or is there an element of superhero fantasy?

I suppose the same could be said/asked of The Batman itself, I guess.

I guess it is just a crime boss show, but both Farrell and especially Cristin Milioti are excellent in it so it's definitely worth your time.

I'm glad that the recast Carmine is only in the occasional flashback. I like Mark Strong in general, but swapping him in for Turturro doesn't quite work for me. The rest of the cast is pretty great. Clancy Brown's a lot of fun as Maroni.

Oz is such an interesting character because he vacillates between this personal malaise and quick reactions to escalating circumstances. Relatable, in a way. He's playing four-dimensional checkers

Okay so...like this show just keeps getting better and better? I can't believe I'm saying this! But here we are!

Among other things it really has done a spectacular job about having all our leads be protagonists rather than heroes.

the first ten minutes I was like "no, they can't possibly be suggesting...omg, they are"

the part where Oz shoots up Maroni's already dead body because he a) needs to show him off as a trophy and b) can't accept the fact that a heart attack killed him before Oz could kill him is nice.

also Sofia's breakdown after visiting Gia, as a nice contrast of how different she and Oz are.

Dear Christ, that was a finale. And I just sensed what the big gut-punch was going to be, but not how.

I’m kind of fucking furious to be honest

like fucking seriously can we just stop killing the Black guy, can we do a different story, we have seen this one about a million times and it’s almost always the same and it was obvious it was going to happen

So much of the show was really good and the finale was fantastic up to that point and in many ways Victor signed his death certificate when he decided not to leave but it’s also such a goddamned hateful cliche for him to get strangled by his mentor immediately after saying he’s like family

The show did its job in making me hate the Penguin, but I also hate all the people who decided this was a trope that needed unearthing.

Can’t argue against any of that and I won’t.

This was maybe not the week where I would enjoy watching a story about a cruel, small-minded amoral white man brutalizing his way into power, upon reflection

I hear you on that one

I wondered if they originally had Emily Meade playing Oz's mom in more of the hypnosis/flashback scene and decided it would confuse viewers in some way. She was good in that role and I wish they had a little more of her in it

I liked that choice a lot, actually. I felt it tied the flashback very neatly to the current events that had triggered it.

I think it played well! They cut from her looking in the mirror and seeing her younger self a little quickly. Or my attention span is terrible. Likely the latter

i agree re Vic. as soon as I saw where it was going i was like “surely they won’t” but of course they did. because hey why fight a trope. truly a fucked decision.

in other news me and sofia are clearly besties what with the eating olives straight from the jar while shooting gin. i never smoked multiple cigarettes at a time but i could re-consider

We were looking for something new to watch and I suggested The Penguin, with the caveat that even I had been planning to blow it off. My wife was even more dubious than me, but some googling intrigued her. And hey, we both liked the first episode, so I guess we're in?

xxpost yeah the ending sucked the life out of me, it was nihilistic and cruel, in addition to the problematic trope DJP mentioned above. and despite what showrunners saying about it being the 'necessary' ending, it was truly unnecessary considering the 'attachment' that was making Penguin vulnerable was his mother, not Victor. they used her to get to him over and over again and now she's incapable of giving her approval anymore. considering his previous fratricide, what woulda been more symbolic of his monster status if he'd killed/smothered her? his devotion to Victor didn't make him weak, it literally saved his ass and got rid of Sofia! like I don't get it. he has almost no crime family left, now he's gotta find a new right hand, when just about every criminal in town is going to notice p much all of Penguin's employee's die