In this stylish animated film, Batman battles a dangerous new foe who is trying to frame the Dark Knight for the murder of a crime lord–and who is mysteriously linked to Bruce Wayne’s former girlfriend.
THE DETAILS
Who: You. Yes, you, right there, looking at the screen.
Where: Right here on the forums! In this thread! In the comments below! Maybe on your phone! Or Tablet or whatever! And Watching the movie, preferably on another screen!
When:: Friday, January 17th at 7PM Pacific Time, 10PM Eastern Standard Time
Why: Because I made a promise on the grave of my…I mean, the community that geeks out together, stays together!
How: Great question- read below!
CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY – You must have a subscription to DC Universe to access Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
DUAL-WIELDING – Watch-Alongs are best experienced on two devices; Your phone for comments, and your big screen for viewing.
2, 1 LET’S JAM – Have your clicking finger on the “play” button and ready for action- we’ll be starting at the stroke of the hour.
A WRINKLE IN TIME – If you get lost in the time, you can calculate where the audience is by checking the minute- For example, if it’s 1:15 pm PDT, then we are 15 minutes into the movie. Or, just check with us in the comments and we’ll happily let you know what we’re watching.
I think it is better than people give it credit for. It kind of feels like a prototype, an incomplete first draft to what we would see in the current animated series.
JL vs F5 was a movie trying to be multiple plots at once. The original Justice League show knew how much time a story needed and was willing to dedicate several episodes to it. When given an hour and 20 minutes to tell a complete story, sometimes issues arise with not enough focus on the main story or what should be the focus at the time. There is also the fact the movie was titles JL vs F5, not Cruz vs F5 or Star Boy vs F5. This changed the expectations and reactions of the audience to the movie. It was an ok movie overall, but it could have been better received.
Batman Harley Quinn had a similar problem. Though marketed as an extra episode to the animated series, the animation was the only thing that mimicked the old show as the tone and seriousness of the old show was not the focus. Many fans have problems with the movie because of these issues. My friends and I enjoy it as a Batman comedy more closely in tone to The Lego Batman Movie, or the Harley Quinn Show. The idea of these projects is Batman and Dc comics will be used as a medium to allow for jokes to be told. Someone might be upset or weirded out because Harley Quinn and Nightwing have a relationship, but this is only in the movie to set up the joke for the scene of Batman walking in on a shamed former sidekick. If the film, viewed as being a comedy going into it, then the reception to the movie is more positive. I feel it is a must see for Batman Fans.
So I thought about this and wanted to mention it now before the WAL because it would likely get lost due to the fast paced nature of it.
One thing that I didn’t know about concerning the making of this movie was that Paul Dini, who wrote several scenes with this movie and…well, I don’t need to get into why he’s important here, y’all know. Anyway, during the production of the movie, he was actually mugged and severely injured, so much so that he had to into surgery to repair portions of his face where the bones were described as “grounded into powder.”
It wasn’t something he really mentioned much until he did an interview for Kevin Smith’s Fat Man on Batman podcast (y’know, back when it was good) and opened up about it, and apparently doing that inspired Dini to write a comic book memoir about that period in his life which was drawn by a famed Batman artist in his own right Eduardo Risso called “Dark Night: A True Batman Story.”
As you can probably tell from the Vertigo label and the OGN nature of it, it’s sadly not on DC Universe, but if you see it on sale or anywhere, I HIGHLY recommend picking it up. It’s a great, human story about how these characters represent both our most self-destructive and self-enlightened versions of ourselves. It’s a beautifully honest and open examination of the writer’s life that I think many of us can identify with to some degree.
Anyone watch Minty comedic arts on YouTube, he did a list about 10 things you probably didnt know about this movie, you should check it out before the movie and watchalong