Wonder Woman / Conan review

Quickly put: I really enjoyed Wonder Woman / Conan. Gail Simone does a masterful job of crafting a fantastic fantasy story. Pacing-wise, it's pretty great - it has a bit of a slow start, but builds really, really nicely, weaving in so many excellent elements thanks to the medium (particularly the flashbacks). There are some great themes, setup-payoffs, fantasy motifs, and the relationship / dynamic between Wonder Woman and Conan is excellent. It ends really nicely, too. Solid job, all around.

Plus, the artwork by Aaron Lopresti was just fantastic (and the included covers, including those by The Boys' Darick Robertson, are awesome). The coloring brought the world to life in a stunning way.

I'd love this as a movie, complete with an epic score (RIP Basil Poledouris), but I'm glad we have the story in excellent form as a comic. In a brief exchange on Twitter, Simone revealed she listened to Poledouris score while creating the book, and that makes me love both even more.

Conclusion: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Batman: Eternal thoughts

Enjoyed the first portion (volume 1), but it became less compelling as it went on. Reminded me of Hush, Knightfall and No Man's Land, but as a rehash. Characters were rather one dimensional, mostly marquee villains (Scarecrow, Bane, Clayface, Freeze, et al) and Batman himself, otherwise compete flips on characters (Catwoman). Julia P may have been the best handled character, along with Bard; I'm going back and forth on Harper Rowe (interesting character, but a little too manic pixie dream girl? The design/hair is probably my gripe, along with her adept fighting prowess - even if she slipped up early it was obvious she'd learn shortly). Arcs seemed to end too abruptly or disappear and show up sporadically.

Another main gripe is it would have been great to see more pathos for Batman, rather than him just being angry all the time. There may be interesting psychology and storytelling that Batman "devolves" to anger, but it didn't do it for me.

Also, trying to avoid spoiler, but the ending undermined itself. It was building towards something so nice, then the rug was swept from underneath.

Scott Snyder has been writing Batman for awhile, but what's his general reputation?

Sky High movie review

Spoiler-free review for the top portion, while some more spoilery-comments below*...

For YEARS I have wanted to see Sky High and, thankfully, it was worth the wait. I had grown a bit skeptical due to the relatively low IMDb rating (currently at 6.2, the equivalent of "fun-but-flawed" leaning more towards flawed), but it turns out this is closer to the live action Josie and the Pussycats movie (itself a rather delicious satire of both pop culture and consumerism, among others) where people may just not have been in on the joke.

Suffice to say, Sky High is pure camp fun that almost perfectly blends superheroes and teenage Disney (Channel) sensibilities, complete with elements of coming-of-age, family dynamics, comedy, action and the right amount of commentary on both class and gender power dynamics. There's even some brilliant material on ageism. It touches on lots of topics, yet handles each of them deftly to the point of leaving very few, if any, dangling threads. I would have loved to see more material on certain elements, but I view it more as a positive of wanting more of the world, rather than a critique.

I fully am of the mind that, had Disney continued the trend of Sky High and Enchanted, they could have had a nice renaissance of building tongue-in-cheek worlds to appeal to slightly older audiences, instead of spending BILLIONS on acquiring Marvel (though it's netted well for them).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you're looking for a fun, campy Saturday afternoon (or any time) movie. In a way, it's a genuine classic, if not cult classic.

*Some more SPOILERY comments below.....

Things I liked:

• Kurt Russell may have been perfect in this, with Kelly Preston doing an admirable job, as well
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Pretty much everything about her in this was fantastic: the casting, the music that plays when Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) sees her, her general villainous storyline ESPECIALLY her backstory
• Bruce Campbell, 'nuff said
• The cheesy dynamic between Magenta and Zach, complete with the "happy ending" 
• Every contrived plot moment to allow the "sidekicks" to use their powers
• Steven Strait going from villain to thoughtful stranger-turned-friend
• All the many nods and Easter Eggs to comics/superheroes
• Michael Giacchino's cheesy musical score - it's not really memorable, but works perfectly 

Things that could have been better or are odd, but rolling with anyway:

• Will Stronghold - Angarano was serviceable, but his storyline was rather par for the course. It was both interesting and nice that he developed one of his powers part way through, particularly to advance the story, though there could have been more emotional weight to the idea of never gaining powers building to a reveal at the end (but would have been a different story). As well, while some of the relationship elements were fun, others were a tad too cheesy; or at least, the ending of him and Layla kissing at the end (remember: they're 14ish years old)
• The dynamic between Royal Pain and her "dad" was very strange/didn't make much sense

Despite any flaws, Sky High was such a fun time that I wish we had more of the world and voice. Although apparently as of November 2016 a sequel may be in the works!