Out this week is a new DC animation collection on Blu-ray. The Adventures of Batman collects up the Batman cartoons that originally ran as part of The Batman/Superman Hour from 1968-1969. As you’ve likely envisioned, once I gave the timeframe, these are not outstanding examples of animation. They’re stiff, with minimal movement when they can get away with it, and even just watching one episode, I was already noticing repeated bits. The most memorable visual element for me was the […]

I checked out the new Steven Moffat TV series Inside Man (streaming on Netflix in the US) because of the cast and the idea of a “death row detective”, although I’ve been very iffy on his skills as a solo showrunner. The show lived down to my expectations, with outstanding acting trying to support a completely ludicrous core premise. The cast includes: David Tennant as Harry, the local vicar in a picture-perfect English village Stanley Tucci as Mr. Grieff (Dickensian, […]

I adored the Heartstopper graphic novel when I read it two years ago. So I was thrilled to discover that the Netflix TV show version is one of the best comic adaptations I’ve ever seen. Heartstopper is all about cute boys in love, and it’s wonderful. It’s written by Alice Oseman based on her own graphic novels and directed by Euros Lyn. It’s incredibly faithful, but not detrimentally so, and the changes it makes — primarily expanding the cast — […]

It’s a shame that we’re finally seeing many more diverse takes on the superhero genre now that it’s been so overworked. The exhaustion of fans and creators with this genre means no one’s sure what to do with it any more, so we’re finally getting characters beyond the usual white guy. That’s a very admirable thing… but I still have to care about the story and cast. It’s entirely possible to applaud something for existing while not finding it to […]

As a bit of nostalgia, I bought the Voyagers! The Complete Series DVD set this summer. The series ran for one season, 20 episodes, from 1982-1983. I loved the concept — a befuddled time traveler, part of a group fixing mistakes in history, lost his instruction book (a popular concept of the time) and teamed up with a kid who knew a lot about history. The traveler was Phineas Bogg, played by Jon-Erik Hexum (known for dying young after an […]

I didn’t watch Prodigal Son. I gave it a try, because Good Omens and Staged made me a huge fan of Michael Sheen, and this was such an unusual choice for a role. He plays a convicted serial killer whose son (Tom Payne) is a really messed up (obviously) profiler for the FBI and NYPD. The son is able to think like a killer but lives in fear he will become like his father. I didn’t stick with it, though, […]