Donnie Darko
Forgotten Pre-New 52 Hero
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2003
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- 14,111
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- 33
Makenzie Leigh.
Hot damn.
Hot damn.
AV Club review:
This weeks villain doesnt have a silly gimmick like the 50s-styled child snatchers and The Balloonman, he just uses a retractable metal spear to kill his targets. His first victim is a councilman that is stupid enough to take a strange device from a strange man in a parking lot and put it up to his eye, and his second victim is a man who doesnt realize you should use the stairs instead of waiting for the elevators when being chased by a killer. Elected officials in Gotham City arent especially smart, so its not hard to pick them off one by one, even when they have police protection like the mayor does.
After two weeks of heavily exaggerated villains, its refreshing to see a more subdued antagonistic that has a threatening presence without pushing too hard. By taking a less aggressive approach, actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim makes assassin Gladwell a surprisingly captivating villain, so its unfortunate that hes shot dead by Gordon and Bullock when he comes after the mayor. The attack on the mayor ultimately leads to a compromise on the Arkham plan, and its laughable in its awfulness. Arkham will have low-income housing and the asylum will be retrofitted to fit modern standards, but the district will also contain a waste disposal site so that Gothams underprivileged citizens will be living in a dump. To make the decision even more hilarious, Maroni delights in the compromise by grabbing a piece of steak with his bare hands and biting into it, transitioning from a stereotypical Italian mob boss to a grotesque caricature.
The character has potential, but its not fully explored. Instead, Oswald is being rushed through a story that puts him a position of power in Maronis crew, which is confusing for a number of reasons. The big one is that everyone thinks that Oswald was killed, so he decides to lay low by going right back to what he was doing before, this time with a different boss and a different GCPD contact. A big part of Oswalds character is that hes an outcast that stands out from the crowd because of his personality and appearance, and yet hes the character that is put in an undercover position. He doesnt even try to be inconspicuous about eavesdropping on Maroni while washing dishes, and immediately after Oswalds boss yells at him for not minding his own business, he gets right back to the staring and the listening.
In order to fast track his way into Maronis good graces, Oswald sets up a robbery to make himself look like a hero when he saves a bag of Maronis money. Because the restaurant manager was killed in the stick-up, Maroni offers the position to the dishwasher, which is hilarious because Oswald has absolutely no qualifications for restaurant management beyond being able to survive a robbery that he staged himself. This show is making things too easy for the character, and theres no sense that Oswald is in danger as he starts to gain more power for himself by playing with fire.
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/gotham-arkham-210451
Every time they show Bruce, it's like they're saying "OMG, Batman's coming one day". It's also crazy how this kid lives in his living room, and doesn't seem to be going to school or anything. Just doing pre-Batman stuff you know.
Gordon remains bland. He & Bruce need to figure out how to have a different conversation. It's only so many times I can here a variation of Gotham being capable of being saved.
That first "death" by the Balloon-Man was the goofiest thing i'd seen since Batman and Robin.
I was talking about live-action. Quite frankly, i dont want moments that seem ordinary in a video game, comic or cartoon to be translated into live-action. Take main points from those mediums for inspiration, but do it in a way where the real life actors don't feel like they're straight out of a cartoon or like somebody said GTA.Do you only watch the movies? because I can give you a long list of things that are as "goofy" as that from the animated shows to the video games to even the comics.
Is a pity, but this show is just a guilty pleasure for me so far, the writing is just too mediocre and dumb despite the potential:
Maybe it will get better, time will tell.
And I'd hope the mob is more fleshed out in this show than in a movie, considering they have much more time to work with. Lets face it in tdk you had the joker arch and Harvey dent along w Bruce's. not really a valid comparison if you're trying to use that as a boon to this show. And I'm not real sure how credible and visceral they are. Falcone is really the only one that I'd put in this category. Rest are typical goons you might see in a comedy about mobsters, including Maroni.
I was talking about live-action. Quite frankly, i dont want moments that seem ordinary in a video game, comic or cartoon to be translated into live-action. Take main points from those mediums for inspiration, but do it in a way where the real life actors don't feel like they're straight out of a cartoon or like somebody said GTA.
I think the tone wouldn't be in question if the show used more stylized elements such as ramping and bullet-time It may be dark and mature due to the violence and and sexual type stuff, but it's pretty much a live-action pulp inspired adult cartoon. Even the dramatic moments come off as over the top. The show lives in this absurdly but some of the visual elements makes the show seem like it should be more real than it is.
It's not even the screentime. Even if you just took a few short scenes from this episode, the mob is still portrayed as a more credible threat.
Contentwise, in the films, we were basically TOLD the mob is a threat, with a few moments in BATMAN BEGINS, like Chill's shooting and Bruce's beating, to back that up. The mob was also apparently second fiddle to the League of Shadows there.
Here, we see the mob's impact laid out in grand fashion, in a way that actually threatens the people of Gotham.
Maroni may not yet be the most competent character out there, but there's nothing really comedic about retaliatory assassinations, about shooting up a restaurant full of patrons, setting a man on fire to send a message, etc. They've also explored the political aspects of the mob in relation to Gotham, not just as buying off judges and police officers and keeping people scared, but as a force that actually affects broader city politics and its infrastructure. Again in just a few short scenes.
Compare that to the portrayal of the mob in THE DARK KNIGHT as relative idiots who put all their money in cash and in one location and trusted this to one person. There's really no contest.
More like Normalize it!So, in other words...
NOLAN-IZE IT!!!!
You know I agree that this show isn't good but correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that a website that pretends that Agents of Shield is a good show? Yeah it's difficult for me to take them seriously.Is a pity, but this show is just a guilty pleasure for me so far, the writing is just too mediocre and dumb despite the potential:
Maybe it will get better, time will tell.
You know I agree that this show isn't good but correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that a website that pretends that Agents of Shield is a good show? Yeah it's difficult for me to take them seriously.
You know I agree that this show isn't good but correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that a website that pretends that Agents of Shield is a good show? Yeah it's difficult for me to take them seriously.
But the A.V Club is such an important website, it's how I decide what to watch!
At least I can actually get through a full episode of Gotham. And this week's episode was actually pretty good.
I liked him myself. I think they should ditch the villain of the week formula, focus on the regulars while adding more regulars, and use various other villains in a more recurring capacity.Too bad the assassin was killed. I thought he was great. Would have liked to have seen him as a recurring character.
And as someone said above, ya bodies are being burned and restaurants are being shot up but it comes off as goofy as hell because of how it's presented.
You still don't think Agents of SHIELD is any good? I heard it had improved over last season.
It has improved a great deal. Its early episodes were about on par with Gotham's in terms of achieving the tone that each is going for, imo, but now I find AoS to be much more successful at it. If this episode was any indication, though, I think Gotham will get there too before the season's done.You still don't think Agents of SHIELD is any good? I heard it had improved over last season.