The Rule of Two Walls: Documenting Artists in Ukraine

If you think all Millennials and Gen Z’ers are annoying, you haven’t met Ukrainian Millennials and Gen Z’ers. There is nothing frivolous about them and none of them have time to whine about micro-aggressions. They are too busy worrying about the exploding macro-aggressions Russia keeps launching at them. Ukrainian-American filmmaker David Gutnik captures the lives of Ukrainian artists working under Russian bombardment, several of whom also served as crew on the documentary in which they are subjects, The Rule of Two Walls. It opens this Friday in New York.

Although Rule of Two Walls is not nearly as harrowing and horrific as Mstyslav Chernov’s extraordinarily important 20 Days in Mariupol, you will still see bodies burned to a crisp by Putin bombing campaign. To put it more precisely, Gutnik is compelled to record the brave Ukrainian journalists who are compelled to record the truth of this particular war crime.

For most of the film, Gutnik turns his lens on Ukrainian filmmakers, hardcore metal musicians, painters, and gallerists. Ordinarily, they would be the hippest of the hippest. However, since Putin’s full invasion, they have consciously embraced traditional Ukrainian culture as another form of deliberate resistance.

That even includes Ukrainian religious traditions, even though some still cannot quite call themselves believers. Regardless, the agnostic have always been the minority in the devoutly Christian nation. In fact, Gutnik records a tellingly ironic riff on the old adage about “no atheists in fox-holes.” Would an atheist even be in a fox-hole in the first place they wonder, because that kind of commitment requires a belief in something.

Rule of Two Walls stimulates further thought and provokes genuine outrage. It offers yet another valuable perspective on Putin’s continuing war crimes. It also makes it clear how profoundly Putin and his followers misjudged Ukrainian unity and resolve. They more his Z-thugs try to erase Ukrainian identity, the more the Ukrainian people re-assert it.

The Tenants (Fantasia), in Cinema Daily US

The speculation is more sociological than scientific, but THE TENANTS is still very definitely a dystopian film. The sharp writing also cuts both ways ideologiclly, which makes it fascinating to watch. CINEM DAILY US review up here.

The Beast Within

Dr. Spock always said the most difficult but necessary conversation you can have with your children is the one about: “your father is a werewolf.” Unfortunately, it is well past time for Willow’s parents to broach the subject. It has reached the point where their evasions are making things worse. Nevertheless, the truth hurts badly in Alexander J. Farrell’s The Beast Within, which releases this Tuesday on digital VOD.

Willow is not even a pre-teen yet, but she still picks up on her mother Imogen’s deceptive behavior. Of course, she can hardly miss her grandfather Waylon’s hostility towards her father, Noah. The way he disappears some nights further stokes her suspicions. One night, she follows her parents to the deserted ruin near their isolated cottage, where she witnesses her mother chaining up her father—and not in a fetishistic kind of way.

Soon thereafter, Noah reluctantly explains how he inherited his grandfather’s curse—the one that caused him to murder Noah’s grandfather in the prologue. For a while, all their honesty is therapeutic, but Noah remains a ticking lycanthropy bomb.

The Beast Within is definitely a moody, slow-builder, but the tense third act compares favorably with most of the studio-produced horror movies released this year. Farrell and co-screenwriter Greer Ellison also effectively employ a scale-model as a visual motif.

AAIFF ’24: Plan B (short)

The horror is ideological and sociological. It is made possible by the Iranian regime and the mindset of its [increasingly few] supporters. There will also be some blood, which is why director-screenwriter Nima Rahimpour’s short film Plan B screens as part of the Tales that Go Bump in the Night shorts program, which is still available online as part of the 2024 American International Film Festival.

Reza and his father intend to murder his sister Soheyla and her lover Mohsen, because that is what “honor” demands. In contrast, Mohsen has considerably more money than honor. Although he claims he never knew Soheyla was pregnant, he assures her father, the baby must have been conceived while they had a “temporary marriage,” an ironic phenomenon of contemporary Iranian society (that was explored with compassion and insight in Ida Panahandeh’s Nahid). Technically, the baby will be legitimate and Soheyla can secretly deliver in Mohsen’s luxury villa, so nobody will know she was pregnant. Plus, he promises to pay her father handsomely custody of the child.

Suddenly, the script flips, but Soheyla still has no say in the matter. Instead, the men cut a deal to decide her fate and the fate of her unborn child, for their benefit. Resenting the condescension and misogynistic treatment, Soheyla takes matters into their own hands—literally.

Rahimpour and the producers could very well understand colloquial Western meanings of the term “Plan B,” because, as a title, it adds extra bite to the film. The film viscerally criticizes the sexism and class iniquities of Iranian society. Despite some shocking gore, it would be a stretch to call it horror, but it is understandable why the festival shoehorned it into the program.

AAIFF ’24: We’re All Gonna Die

In this world, most insurance claims are probably filed under “acts of God,” because there isn’t a category for huge cosmic alien “spikes.” Whenever they appear, they cause a lot of death and destruction, before teleporting, or “jumping” somewhere else on Earth. After 1,500 jumps, give or take, people have gotten used to living with the constant threat of potential annihilation, but Kai and Thalia have yet to move beyond their personal grief. However, the spike literally gets them physically moving when it displaces their treasured belongings from Arizona to Washington State in Matthew Arnold & Freddie Wong’s We’re All Gonna Die, which screens tonight during the 2024 Asian American International Film Festival.

Frankly, nobody really seems to be curious about what the spike is and what it does. Even though its impact is bafflingly random, people just accept it as a plot device, including Thalia and Kai. She was delivering her prize honey bees, who had a hot date pollinizing a farm. He was figuring out where he should go in the mullet-worthy sportscar he inherited from his best friend. They nearly collided. Instead, a freak spike came down, swapping the area with her bee-trailer and his car, with some mountainside land they deduce must be up in Washington.

Since Thalia still has her truck, they eventually hit the road (after some pointless debate) to reclaim what is theirs. Of course, we know it will turn into a therapy session. Ironically, both his pal and her husband and daughter died of tragic but conventional ways unrelated to the spike, which in a way, makes their losses worse.

As you might have figured, Arnold & Wong’s screenplay is really an on-the-road story, spruced-up with science fiction window dressing. The comedy is inconsistent, at best. However, the way it depicts the vibe of life amid a slow apocalypse is surprisingly resonant. In a way, it is reminiscent of Israeli society, which chooses to embrace life, despite the constant threat of death and terrorism.

Sunburnt Unicorn (Fantasia), in Cinema Daily US

SUNBURNT UNICORN is an animated fable better suited for New Age viewers rather than families. It is achingly earnest, but sometimes wierd in the wrong ways. CINEMA DAILY US Fantasia review up here.

Girl, You Know It’s True

We all know they weren’t the only ones. Poor Milli Vanilli were the ones who were exposed as lip-synchers, so the media humiliated them. Their Grammy Awards certainly made matters worse, but their label, producer, and management were just as guilty of hypocrisy. At least that is Team-Milli Vanilli’s side of the story, as seen in the duo’s new biopic, director-screenwriter Simon Verhoeven’s Girl, You Know it’s True, which opens tomorrow in theaters.

Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan considered themselves dancers, who aspired to sing too, but they understood they needed more vocal training. They were fast friends, because of their mutual interests and shared experiences as racial minorities in the very-white West Germany. Originally, Morvan hailed from France, while Pilatus was the orphaned son of a U.S. serviceman, but both their accents troubled their record label when they hit it big.

Initially, “Milli Vanilli” was the brainchild of German producer Frank Farian, who recorded the music with trusted but unphotogenic studio musicians and then used Morvan and Pilatus as front men to market it. Obviously, his plan worked—maybe a little too well.

Eventually, Clive Davis’s Arista Records swooped in, luring the duo away from Farian. Verhoeven’s screenplay explicitly establishes the record company was fully aware of the duo’s limitations, but they continued promoting them anyway, because they were making so much money. Even though he never appears in the film, considerable shade gets cast on Davis.

Don’t worry, Milli Vanilli also enjoyed a lot of sex and drugs. Like every Behind-the-Music story, there is also tragedy. Mindful of the likely audience, Verhoeven shrewdly keeps the affair dishy, trashy, and self-consciously nostalgic. Yet, the film works on just those terms, because Elan Ben Ali and Tijan Njie play it scrupulously straight as Morvan and Pilatus. They tackle these roles like they are characters from classical tragedy, which maybe they sort of are.

Matthias Schweighofer is entertainingly sarcastic as their Svengali, Farian, who clearly had considerable talent—especially compared to his roster of artists. Bella Dayne also adds a decent, compassionate attitude as Farian’s righthand co-producer, Ingrid “Milli” Segieth, whom the duo were partially named after.

The Last Front, in The Epoch Times

THE LAST FRONT recreates the brutal German invasion of Belgium during WWI, while showing how faith and family helped sustain the  villagers during times of dire crisis. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

Neil Marshall’s Duchess

Rarely have movie femme fatales been as foul-mouthed Scarlett Monaghan, but to be fair, the Hays Code never let Lana Turner or Rita Hayworth have much opportunity to cuss out the men they manipulated. Monaghan is also a particularly fatal fatale, thanks to her boxing skills. Unfortunately, she has a knack for getting mixed up with the wrong guys, but at least Robert McNaughton treats her right, while he is alive. When he is betrayed, she starts gunning for revenge in Neil Marshall’s Duchess, which releases Friday on digital and on-demand.

Monaghan caught McNaughton’s eye while picking pockets for her “Fagin.” When he beat her, she fought back, but McNaughton finished him. After that, she was his fulltime lover, arm candy, and confidante. Danny Oswald and Billy Baraka, McNaughton’s partners from his merc days, also got along with her dubbing her “Duchess.”

Their new business is dangerous, but extremely lucrative. They smuggle diamonds, but not “blood diamonds,” except they’re all blood diamonds. Before long, they are all double-crossed by Tom Sullivan, another old friend, who wasn’t as old and clearly isn’t as friendly. Sullivan’s goons murder McNaughton, but Monaghan survives through a fluke. Together with Oswald and Baraka, Monaghan hatches a plan to avenge her lover and take back what is theirs.

By far, Duchess is the best film Marshall has made with his fiancée (or whatever) Charlotte Kirk, for many reasons. First and foremost, the brassy Monaghan is the first starring role that truly suits her. Watching her playing an impeccably coifed and made-up peasant in The Reckoning was just ridiculous. This time around, she actually earns intentional laughs as the trash-talking Monaghan.

Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo

During the off-season, Herr Konig’s mountain resort is like the Overlook without the snow. He is also conspicuously creepy. Nevertheless, Gretchen’s father Luis and step-mom Beth are thrilled to design his expansion, even though it means uprooting her at a time when she is emotionally reeling. The Alpine air will not be therapeutic in director-screenwriter Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo, which opens Friday in New York.

Konig oozes sleaze and he has boundary issues, but Luis and Beth are blindly convinced he is good people. They are still awkward around Gretchen, since she used to live with her mother (obviously now deceased). However, they clearly pay more attention to her seven-year-old step-sister Alma, who is mysteriously mute.

Frankly, Gretchen is only too willing to get away from them, accepting a part-time job at the reception desk. However, Herr Konig is bizarrely adamant she must return home before nightfall. Before much time passes, she notices how often female guests suddenly start vomiting after their arrival. Her suspicions were already building, even before a mysterious hooded woman chases her home one night.

Yet, even when Gretchen winds up hospitalized with injuries, Alma still gets more attention for her sudden seizures. She is pretty sure Her Konig is somehow responsible for all the sinister business afoot, which Henry Landau, a disgraced ex-cop (who blames Konig for his wife’s tragic fate) confirms. Although he tries to forge an alliance with Gretchen, she instinctively recognizes he is too unstable to trust.

As a film, Cuckoo is also somewhat inconsistent, but it clicks much more often than it clunks. Dan Stevens is spectacularly sinister and clammy as Herr Konig, far eclipsing his flamboyant horror villains in Abigail and The Guest. Singer also keeps a steady stream of inventive weirdness coming. Did you know cuckoo birds are “brood parasites,” who stash their eggs in other birds’ nests? That turns out to be an important Cliff Clavin factoid that Singer makes much of.

Kizumonogatari - Koyomi Vamp (Fantaasia), in Cinema Daily US

KIZUMONOGATARI: KOYOMI VAMP features some incredibly unwieldy anime names, but it marries sensitive teen angst with gory vampire horror surprisingly successfully. CINEMA DAILY US Fantasia review up here.

AAIFF ’24: Future Date

In the future, everyday is a Covid lockdown day, at least in Los Angeles. Most of the human interaction there was fake anyway, so what are they really missing? Nevertheless, Ry (short for Rushmore Yosemite) would really like a relationship and Ria (short for Victoria, Australia) really yearns for a house, so they enter a contest that might give them both what they think they want in Stanley Wong’s dystopian rom-com Future Date, which is available for online screening as part of the 2024 Asian American International Film Festival.

Ry is a serious lovelorn romantic, who spends all his time trying to make connections on dating services. He cannot do anything in-person, because the population is confined to their personal spaces—in his case a tiny pod. The wealthy have actual houses, like Ria’s parents did, before their split. She is determined to regain that lost status, so she works like a mule for the giant tech company that underpays and overworks her.

Even though she has no interest in a relationship, but the CNKTR “Connecter” service or app or whatever is running a special contest, introducing two people in-person, in a house they can jointly win, if they build their connection score to 100 within three days. Obviously, they have very different goals, but their will be some chemistry sparking between them. The question is whether Ry will ruin it by coming on too strong again, or will Ria inevitably push him away? Probably both.

Nevertheless, Future Date works pretty well exactly because it never comes on too strong. Co-leads Wong and Shuang Hu never over-sell the jokes, while developing a real rapport. The truth is Wong and company largely sidestep all the pitfalls that made Michael Lukk Litwak’s Molli and Max in the Future nearly unwatchable. If you suffered through that movie, do not associate it with Future Date, even though they are obvious thematic similarities.

AAIFF ’24: Decoupling

When she reaches her teen years, Yinan Wang’s daughter will hate him because of this documentary (and her toddler nude scenes). For now, he is more worried she hates him, because she hardly seems to know him, thanks to their Covid separation, complicated and prolonged by geopolitics. Wang’s documents his struggles parenting in Decoupling, which is available for online screening as part of the 2024 Asian American International Film Festival.

Wang lives in America on a student visa. His Yujing has a resident work visa, but as your MAGA uncle can easily explain to you, their American-born daughter Wangwang is a U.S. citizen. Nevertheless, Wang’s parents agreed to take her back to Mainland China for several months, once his wife’s maternity leave ended. They were feeling overwhelmed and his parents were eager to help. It takes a village, right? Then the pandemic hit, canceling all flights between the United States and China.

Even when international travel revived, few flights to China were resumed. Many factors contributed to the decline of bilateral relations, most of which Wang avoids mentioning, like the draconian “National Security” Law in Hong Kong used to crush dissent and the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang. Consequently, when Wang hears Trump discuss the term “decoupling,” he decides to use it as the metaphor for his film.

Eventually, Wang finally arranges visas to bring his daughter home, but she is standoffish towards him. Presumably, most parents will feel Wang’s pain at finding himself a stranger in his daughter’s eyes. From what they see in Decoupling, viewers do not need to be child psychologists to understand how ineffective FaceTime parenting is, especially at that age. However, most parents will also wonder how in the world Wang and his wife could let things get to that point. In some ways, they sort of asked for this.

Perhaps not so ironically, some of the most poignant moments in the film focus on his mother’s relationship with her uncle (his great uncle), who clearly suffered enormously during the Cultural Revolution. (Much to his misfortune, the regime classified him as “landed Gentry,” with predictably dire results.) In fact, a previous Anti-Rightist Campaign also hit his family hard. Frankly, the affection and protectiveness Wang’s mother shows for his great-uncle suggests he might have missed the bigger story. Maybe Wang should not necessarily made himself the star of his own documentary.

Fantasia ’24: EVOL 1-3

Lightning Bolt and Thunder Girl might be super-siblings, but they are also like The Boys of Japan. They take care of the Mayor’s dirty business, like their super-father did for his. However, Lightning would prefer to fight super-villains. He might just get his wish when three suicidal teens discover they all have minor powers (that can be formidable under the right circumstances) in EVOL, based on Atsushi Kaneko’s manga, the first three episodes of which screened at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Niiyama Sakura, Akari Tsuchiya, Nozomi Kodama were all students at the same school, but like The Breakfast Club, they only met each other once they were remanded to a mental hospital. Coincidentally, all three attempted suicides at the very same time. Subsequently, they each manifested odd new secret powers.

Sakura can hover no more than a few inches off the floor. It might not sound like much, but it is sufficient for her to jump off buildings “landing” unscathed. As a cheerleader, you would think she would be popular, but instead, she is despised as the daughter of “Y National” immigrants, as they are didactically known.

Kodama has the ability to bore holes roughly half an inch in diameter with his index finger. That is not sufficient for mass-destruction, but it can be deadly one-on-one and it makes breaking-and-entering a snap. Tsuchiya is a fire-starter—not on the level of the Stephen King movies, but she is still quite dangerous when surrounded by enough kindling. Awkwardly, she is also the police chief’s daughter.

In contrast, Lightning and Thunder are the full Homelanders. They can fly and generate arcs of electric energy. Thunder never talks, but exhibits sociopathic tendencies and a fanatical loyalty to the Mayor. Lightning makes all the inspirational speeches, but he may or may not have doubts regarding some of the Mayor’s dubious assignments. Perhaps the trio will be the rivals he is waiting for. However, the kids (who dub themselves EVOL) warm up with graffiti and explosive vandalism.

Misaki Hattori is terrific as Sakura, while Yuzu Aoki and Himena Irei are convincingly moody and damaged as Koadama and Tsuchiya, but the two really should have had more opportunities to break their characters out of their reserved shells by this point. Regardless, Ken Yasuda truly oozes smarmy evil as the slimy, sinister Mayor. He definitely needs a super-powered beatdown.

The New Hammer’s New Doctor Jekyll

Is there a scarier name than Jekyll [Island], especially for gold standard advocates? Are you with me, monetary economists? Robert Louis Stevenson’s Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and its various films adaptations are also pretty frightening. The old classic Hammer made a gender-bender-ish version in 1971 with Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. That tradition continues in the first film from the latest corporate relaunch of the venerable British horror studio, Joe Stephenson’s Doctor Jekyll, which opens today in theaters and on-demand.

Dr. Nina Jekyll is a brilliant research scientist, just like her beloved grandfather, Henry (fittingly portrayed in a flashback by actor Jonathan Hyde). That is right, this is technically a sequel or a re-quel, which is cool. Ordinarily, Dr. Jekyll’s solicitor and confidant Sandra Poole would never allow an ex-con former drug addict like Rob Stevenson (can you guess his middle name?) apply for the position of Jekyll’s live-in care-giver, but somehow his application slipped through the cracks and the good doctor takes a shine to him. Poole is quite adamant about Jekyll taking her meds precisely according to schedule, but the ominous significance is initially lost on Stevenson.

Suddenly, Poole stops coming around, but Jekyll assures him everything is fine, so don’t worry. Nevertheless, Stevenson grows increasingly alarmed when Jekyll’s behavior exhibits marked signs of schizophrenia. On the other hand, he also feels pressure to stay and make the best of things, for the sake of his cancer-stricken daughter Stevenson has not yet been allowed to meet.

New Hammer’s new Doctor Jekyll has been billed as a transexual Jekyll and Hyde, but Dan Kelly-Mulhern’s screenplay so subtly establishes Nina Jekyll’s status as such, it will be lost on many viewers. However, the casting of Eddie Suzy Izzard arguably speaks directly to the point. In the past, Izzard has wisely counseled everyone to just chill out with respect to pronouns, recognizing both he and she are understandable in her case, especially when since she still plays roles of either gender, but in this case, she is indeed a she.

Regardless, Izzard is suitably creepy as both Nina and “Rachel.” She is suitably flamboyant for a modern-day gothic monster, but regardless of identification, she also still has sufficient size to tower over a skinny recovering junkie, like Stevenson. Frankly, this film probably would not work as well had someone else been cast. (That is not to say Martine Beswick was not convincingly lethal as “Sister Hyde.” She just represented a different, femme fatale kind of danger.)

Apple & Doug Liman’s The Instigators

Boston's two leading industries must be organized crime and political corruption. Frankly, the latter produces so much dirty money, a shady crime lord organizes a heist targeting the mayor’s dirty cash. However, the long-suffering voters complicate the caper in Doug Liman’s The Instigators, which opens today in theaters, ahead of its August 9^th premiere on Apple TV+.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the ruthless Mr. Besegai has a shortage of henchmen, so his impulse control-challenged lieutenant Scalvo must recruit from the bottom of the barrel. He finds Cobby, and ex-con who is decidedly rusty and Rory, a veteran with money trouble who will be committing his first illegal job ever.

According to the plan, the three will sneak into Mayor Miccelli’s primary election victory party and steal all the bribe money he collected in suspicious plain brown envelopes stashed in the safe, long after the revelers have gone home. Of course, everything goes wrong.

For starters, Miccelli and most of his cronies are still there, because this election is much closer than anticipated. In fact, it is pretty clear he lost. On the other hand, there is almost no cash, because a special armored car was requested for all his ill-gotten loot. Instead, Scalvo starts holding up party guests, including the Mayor, taking a very important bracelet with a critically important set of numbers inscribed on the back. Miccelli needs it back, especially since he apparently must soon vacate his office, so he calls Frank Toomey, his enforcer with a badge (and an armored assault vehicle for a car), to recover it.

Like his brother Ben, co-screenwriter and co-star Casey Affleck clearly has an affinity for Boston crooks. However, he and co-writer Chuck Maclean recognize the worst criminals are those plundering the public trust. In fact, their treatment of Beantown pols is unexpectedly shrewd including their depiction of the supposed progressive reformer.

Ron Perlman is perfectly cast, slyly chewing the scenery as the grotesquely corrupt Mayor Miccelli. Affleck and Matt Damon have amusing chemistry as the bickering blokes. Neither comes across as a complete idiot. Instead, Damon plays Rory a stubbornly naïve Joe Sixpack, who always has to do things the hard way, while Affleck leans into Cobby’s roguishly degenerate lunkheadedness.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, on Netflix

Many English and Welsh students must write an EPQ, sort of like a senior thesis. Pip Fitz-Amobi had two ideas. She could write something safe and stupid about “feminism in gothic literature,” or re-open the investigation into a local murder, hopefully clearing the name of an older student she thought highly of. Option 2 might actually make the world a better place, but it would be very dangerous. She chooses the more perilous course in creator Poppy Corgan’s six-episode A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which starts streaming today on Netflix.

Fitz-Amobi is smart, but her EQ is questionable. Nevertheless, she has a loyal core group of friends who represent varying degrees of geekiness. Five years ago, she idolized seniors Andie Bell and her boyfriend Sal Singh, both of whom were cool to her. Consequently, she never believed Singh killed Bell and then committed suicide, so she intends to find the real killer for her EPQ.

Initially, she investigates like a bull in a China shop, greatly offending Singh’s younger brother Ravi. Nevertheless, her earnestness eventually wins him over, so they join forces. Awkwardly, their suspicions soon fall on the older, more popular sister of Pip’s best friend. It appears those mean posh kids lied about when poor Singh left that fateful night, thereby denying him his rightful alibi. They also soon discover Bell sold drugs to the group, at the behest of a bigger dealer, including the date-rape cocktails employed by wealthy predator, Max Hastings.

The revelation of Bell’s lurid secrets very much feel like they are modeled on the secret life of Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer, while the rapport between Fitz-Amobi and her pals is similar in tone to CW’s Nancy Drew, especially when they break out the Ouija board. It is definitely a lot like a lot of other shows, including Dead Hot, but at least these teens are not so compulsively promiscuous (how could anyone be?).

Emma Meyers and Zain Iqbal both have a lot of screen charisma as Fitz-Amobi and the younger Singh brother. They also develop some pleasant chemistry together. However, most of her friends are boring and poorly differentiated in terms of personality. Demographics and sexual identity are poor substitutes for meaningful character. The adults are also a pretty lame lot, uncharacteristically including Anna Maxwell Martin, who is sadly under-utilized as Fitz-Amobi’s John Hughes-ish mom, Leanne.

Mantra Warrior (Fantasia '24), in Cinema Daily US

MANTRA WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE EIGHT MOONS is a cool looking science fiction retelling of THE RAMAYANA that screened at this year's Fantasia. The characters are a bit one-dimensional, but who wouldn't dig a giant monkey mecha suit? CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

Batman: Caped Crusader, on Prime

There have been a lot of different Batmans, ranging from the Adam Westverse Batman to the Dark Knights of Christopher Nolan and Frank Miller. This Batman of this 1930s looking cartoon-universe probably “knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.” He is still very much the Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne fans know and love, but several regular supporting characters have been altered for dramatic and/or other purposes in creator Bruce Timm’s 10-part animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, which premieres tomorrow on Prime.

For a lot of fans, the absence of a Robin is maybe goods news. Regardless, the gist of Batman’s backstory remains the same, but he is not yet working cooperatively with Commissioner Gordon. He is still considered a vigilante, whom the conspicuously corrupt mayor wants behind bars. However, crooked cops like Dets. Flass and Bullock clearly are not up to the challenge.

Since those two are on the take, new crime lord (or rather lady) Oswalda Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, only has Batman to worry about. Rather colorfully, Timm and co-writer Jase Ricci reconceive the supervillain as ribald torch-singer in the Sophie Tucker tradition. Minnie Driver’s voice perfectly positions her as the psychotic Auntie Mame of super-villainy. It is the rare case of gender-swapping that comes across as clever rather than unnecessarily forced.

In fact, Timm and Ricci nicely balance the usual suspects with some fresher choices, like Oenomania and Clayface. The latter’s civilian alter-ego, horror movie actor Basil Karlo, is appropriately given features reminiscent of Boris Karloff and Peter Cushing.

However, Greg Rucka’s script for “And Be a Villain,” directed by Matt Peters, does not embrace the 1930’s Universal monster aesthetic to the extent Timm did in his 2014 short film, Batman: Strange Days, the unofficial, retroactive pilot for Caped Crusader. In a mere three minutes, Timm stylishly created a “Batman vs. Frankenstein,” using Hugo Strange and his “Monster Man” as surrogates for the infamous mad scientist and his creation.

Arguably, Strange Days, is more visually arresting than anything in the series, but the Film Noir, vintage Warner Brother gangster movie world-building hospitably suits this alternate Batman. Timm and company also deviate from standard lore in unexpected but not disrespectful ways when they introduce Selina Kyle in “Kiss of the Catwoman” and Harley Quinn in “The Stress of Her Regard.” Again, Christina Ricci and Jamie Chung are shrewdly cast as the respective super-femme fatales.

In between, the fourth episode, “Night of the Hunters,” boldly ends on an ironically pessimistic note. Even though Batman averts tragedy, some of the bad guys are empowered. “Night Ride” also takes a risk breaking format to allow for a supernatural storyline, without a Scooby-Doo explanation. Linton Midnite is a cool and intriguingly morally ambiguous addition to the “Caped Crusader” universe. Voice performer Cedric Yarbrough brings a lot to later episodes, both as Midnite and Rupert Thorne, the mob boss trying to corrupt DA Arthur Dent, who appropriately looks and sounds a lot like Norman Mailer.

Freedom's Fury, in The Epoch Times

For the 1956 Hungarian men's water polo team, the so-called "Olympic spirit" meant facing the USSR team mere weeks after the Soviet army brutally invaded and occupied their nation. However, the Hungarian team had the chance to fight back in the pool, as the terrific FREEDOM'S FURY documents. EPOCH TIMES review up here.