After failing to find it at Best Buy last weekend, I finally watched Batman: Under the Red Hood last night. It was frickin’ brilliant! DC’s animated movies have been rocking for years, but Under the Red Hood raises the bar. The art style is fantastic and the voice acting is first rate (I thought I’d miss Kevin Conroy more, but Bruce Greenwood’s fine performance ensured that I didn’t). Most importantly (to me, anyway), the story was fantastic. It took a great plot from the comic books, tightened it up, and got rid of some of the convoluted twists that confused readers.
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, nobody caring about A-Rod’s milestone homer, Shaq to the Celtics, or Prop 8 being overturned, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
After failing to find it at Best Buy last weekend, I finally watched Batman: Under the Red Hood
last night. It was frickin’ brilliant! DC’s animated movies have been rocking for years, but Under the Red Hood raises the bar. The art style is fantastic and the voice acting is first rate (I thought I’d miss Kevin Conroy more, but Bruce Greenwood’s fine performance ensured that I didn’t). Most importantly (to me, anyway), the story was fantastic. It took a great plot from the comic books, tightened it up, and got rid of some of the convoluted twists that confused readers.
There’s a chance that I’m still basking in the afterglow of Under the Red Hood, but I’m pretty sure it’s the best animated comic-book movie I’ve ever seen. I’m a big fan of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
and think that Under the Red Hood blows it away. I’m struggling to think of an animated comic-book movie I’ve enjoyed more. That’s where you guys and dolls come in! What’s your favorite animated comic-book movie? Hell, go ahead and name several of your favorites, if you will.
Related
Good to hear, I was actually going to ask about what you thought of it before I picked it up.
I was a big fan of the Superman/Doomsday. I always have wished they would make that into a live action movie.
I generally like all the Batman comic book movies, since I'm a super Batman fanboy
@Arguello I liked Superman/Doomsday except for the art. In general, DC's animated movies slaughter Marvel's. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is really good. The Justice League stuff is strong. Good stuff!
I used to be able to watch stuff like this when I was younger, but now I find it hard to stay awake and follow any of them.
My son watches alot of them though.
Getting old sucks.
@N8R Give this one a shot. I think it's worth the risk. I'm not sure how much violence you expose your son to, but there's a fair bit of killing and one grizzly situation in the movie. Perhaps this is for dad only. Ha!
damn it Rpad you beat me to the punch Batman/Superman Public Enemies was better for me than Superman/Doomsday. The story was too short for me. JL: New Frontier was pretty awesome. GL: First Flight as well. The only think i credit Marvel for was their animated series their Spiderman and X-men series in the 90s were awesome.
@A-Rod hitting 600
i think no one cares because he's a doper. if he would've stayed clean like Griffey he would've been put into a God status.
@Shaq to Beantown
Why!!! I guess Danny Ainge had money to spend out there. My condolences go out to Big Blak for having to deal with the Shaquille O'Neal circus.
@Prop 8
i'm not pro or against it. It doesn't affect me in anyway so i really don't care.
@ Ray
I am interested, I won't lie.
My son is more aware than he probably should be about the difference between fantasy and reality. I suppose I'm blessed in that area. Lately, he's only been interested in Xbox.
Tomorrow is his 8th birthday and he caught me buying him a Gold subscription card (he was never on Live before). So I setup his account (which I have some complaints about) and he's been online gaming for 2 days straight now.
And no… he's not allowed to use the mic.
@Rpad
DC does have better animated movies, but I always liked Marvel's series more than DC's. The only exception to that is Smallville. Maybe with the final season coming up we will finally see another Superman movie.
@Arod
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/… = better than your 600th homer. It was bad enough with you passing Mel Ott, we don't need anymore asterisks in the record books.
I have not seen "Under the Red Hood", but I'd like to. I think "Mask of the Phantasm" was awesome and I also liked "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker". Coincidentally, I saw "Ultimate Avengers" for the first time a few days ago and I have to say that compared to the Ultimates line of graphic novels, it flat out sucks donkey balls. There is a lot of material borrowed from The Ultimates line, but it is so watered-down that I can't help but to not recommend the movie to anyone who is a fan of the Ultimates who, sadly, are the main target audience. I would only recommend the movie to someone who has no idea who the Avengers are or if they have never read The Ultimates.
@N8;
What game is your son playing online for the past two days?
-M
@tokz_21 Another reason that few people care is that he's kind of a prick. A lot of Yankee fans don't consider him a "real" Yankee. I certainly don't.
@Iceman Ultimate Avengers was okay. Ultimate Avengers II was pretty awful.
@ Iceman
A bunch of them.
Crackdown 2
RDR
Uno
Borderlands
… anything he can really.
He threw a fit yesterday because I wouldn't let him use a mic.
He's gonna have another game to play online tomorrow, but I won't completely reveal what in case he happens to read this (I leave these pages up at home all the time). But I will say that it's the most recent edition of X-Men Legends…. and Ray raves about this game.
He also is getting 2 others for that system we all have and never play and sold more than the others. One is the best current game for that system (Smartguy knows which one) and the other is based off a popular TV show that's basically like the American Ninja Warrior but you can get back on the course after you get broke.
Sorry for the cryptic writings… but he's a smart kid.
@rpad
yeah he does seem like a prick, especially after divorcing his wife and then going with Madonna. Out of all the women that probably throw themselves at him, he goes with Madonna wtf was that!
@ Tokz
Yea Shaq *sighs*
@ Arguello
That was awesome!
@ Prop 8
I have a lot of gay family so that is pretty awesome!
@ A fraud
Im from Boston do I need to say anymore?
@Big Blak Just when people thought that the Celtics' style of play couldn't get slower or more deliberate — enter Shaq Fu.
@Big Blak: As a fellow C's fan, I feel your pain on the Shaq signing.
@A-Rod: Consider me one of those Yankees fans that tolerates your presence, but just barely. You're like the baseball equivalent of Brett Favre, only your significantly worse at the sympathetic self promotion that Favre specializes in.
@Prop 8: At the time our president was born, it was still illegal for his parents to get married in 17 states in the union. Previous to that, slaves had different marriage vows than everyone else because they were property and could be sold and separated by their owners. We redefined marriage twice before in this country to make it more inclusive. No reason why accepting gays into the club would "destroy the sanctity of marriage." I mean, if certain politicians really are worried about the sanctity of marriage, shouldn't they want to actively do something about the 50% divorce rate in this country?
Obama does not support gay marriage. He said so in the debates. I can see both sides of the argument though. Personally I don't see two women or two men as a married couple, but those couples should be afforded the same legal protections and privileges as hetero couples.
@nightshade
i think the politicians would do something about marriages if they weren't busy cheating on their wives with interns or assistants.
Left out that I found it interesting he doesn't support it. Guess it's a religious thing.
@ Rpad
That was one of the first thoughts I had, Rondo is way to fast and Shaq be clogging up the lane.
@Smartguy: The Democratic party is much too spineless when it comes to debating the hot button issues.
Now, neither party is 100% right about anything all that often. But I'm pretty sure that the leading Democrats in Congress would run from a debate that they could win without much fight. In fact, they did just that recently over the 9/11 first responders heath care.
They let that bill die in the House because they didn't want to debate an amendment put forth by Republicans that would have prohibited any illegal immigrants from receiving benefits. The easy response to that is, 'If there were, by chance, illegal immigrants in NYC on 9/11/01, and they were digging through the rubble trying to save people, they're exactly who we want as US Citizens in this country, and we should bump them to the front of the line for full citizenship, just like we would if they had joined the US Army."
So because they didn't want to debate the amendment, they needed a 2/3 majority to pass the bill and couldn't get it because 180+ Republicans voted against it because these health benefits were being paid for by closing the tax loophole that allows gigantic businesses to open a PO Box in the Cayman Islands, call it their "corporate headquarters," and thus rob the American people of all the tax revenue they should be paying us.
Yeah, I'm from the east coast originally. I had an extended member of my family die on one of those planes. I'm pretty pissed about that one.
@Smartguy, That last post started out as a commentary on your point about Obama not supporting gay marriage, and turned into a full fledged rant. Please do not think that was all directed at you.
@N8;
Was that your son who was kicking my ass at UNO last night?! Good thing he doesn't have a microphone. I was cursing like a sailor!
Nah, j/k. It would have been funny though.
I am really curious now… what game, exactly, do you and Smartguy consider "the best current game for the system?" My guess would be Naughty Bear, but would you really let your son play that game.
Come to think of it, would anyone let a loved one play that game?
-M
@Nightshade
it's funny that you mention illegal immigrants being push through the front of the line because, i'm not an illegal first and foremost but i wasn't born here. I've had my resident alien card since i was 8. yes OMG tokz is an alien! Well i joined the Army but not because i wanted to become a citizen but just to get out of the neighborhood i was living in. when 5 of your close friends die in the span of 2 summers it's time to get out for a bit. Well quick pass to citizenship is what the recruiter promised me. I didn't get it my 3 years there and now i keep going back and forth in getting my citizenship done. I finally decided to start working on it so i fill out the forms to apply through military use and i go meet the advisor and i tell him my mom became a citizen when i was 15 and he's like you've been a citizen when you're mom became one. fill out this other form and i was like do i have to pay because the reason why i did the military exception was not to pay, he was like no. I sent it my form last xmas and never heard back. so i made appointment and saw a different counselor who told me to fill out a different form and that i have to pay the fee which is $450. i was like the previous guy told me i didn't have to pay since i was going to use my military exception and his reply was well you have to pay i'm not sure why he told you that because you can't use the military exception form now, you have to use this form. I feel so gyped!
@tokz: this is exactly why we need immigration reform in this country. If you served this country, you should be a citizen. Case closed.
@nighshade
thank you very much. i think i'm just going to suck it up and pay that fee. I need to get a passport soon if i want to do some traveling out of country.
@ Iceman
SMG2
Immigration reform would die on the vine if we instituted a national sales tax and did away with income tax. I don't know anyone who begrudges anyone wanting a better chance but I do know that illegals receiving benefits that they pay no taxes on does start to tear on the best of people.
@nightshade
I agree both parties are spineless. I'm in favor of an amendment that prohibits one party rule in the executive and legislative branches.
@N8R
Indeed.
@iceman
I'm considering naughty bear when it is cheaper.
@Nightshade;
I like watching the Daily Show as well and it was a very entertaining episode, but please remember that the show has to entertain as well as educate. Often times, I see Jon Stewart make a joke out of an issue or scenario that is multi-faceted, but will only present one side of it to prove his point or drive home his joke. 99% of all media outlets do this (FOX, MSNBC, CNN, etc.) He did this last night with the 9/11 responders bill. Please note that this bill you are ranting about (HR 847) is about 250 pages long. I have only gone through half of it, and already I see the dark clouds gathering on the horizon.
Politicians reject bills for all different sorts of reason. Some reject bills because they blindly follow their party's lead, others have moral objections, other see potential problems with the bill, and yet others vote in favor of a bill if there is ONE good thing in it just as much as their counterparts vote against a bill if there is ONE bad thing in it.
This (to me) is one of the biggest problems in politics. You could have a bill that is titled: "Killing Babies is Wrong Act" and have it loaded with a congress person's pet projects, pork, earmarks that would only benefit a few well-connected corporations and even send hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to countries that are known to harbor our enemies. Politician "A" will vote yes on "Killing Babies is Wrong Act" because he is afraid if he doesn't, people will call him a baby killer. Politician "B" is appalled that $350 million is going to fund a study that researches the eggs produced by gay catfish in a salt-water farm included in "Killing Babies is Wrong Act", so he will vote "no" and be labeled a "baby killer." Worst of all, politician "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "N", "O", "P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y" and "Z" are all falling over themselves trying to cram special pet projects and pork into the "Killing Babies is Wrong Act" to help the people (or rather, big spending corporations) that gave them huge campaign contributions when they were running for office because the politicians know that no one is going to vote against the "Killing Babies is Wrong Act" out of fear of what the media can say. That is why some politicians (both sides) are pussies and others are assholes.
Before I go any further, please know that I think that the 9/11 victims, families and responders should all be taken care of by the best doctors and health care in the country (legal or illegal) and I do not mind if the Federal Government wants to pay for it. That said, you need to look at the other side of the bill very carefully because it can contain things that you may not like (that obviously Jon Stewart isn't going to delve into). From my personal experience, I would estimate that about one quarter to maybe about 35% of the $3.2 billion will go to actually help people that were affected by any maladies related to the destitution and debris of the collapsing buildings. You could also consider the provision in the recently passed health care bill (dubbed "Obamacare") that specifically grants 9/11 responders with full health care reimbursement for any maladies they may have suffered because of the building's debris. This bill, like most other congress passes, have a severe lack of oversight and/or "follow-up" that is very likely to lead to the fund's abuse and outright fraud at the expense of those who are really suffering. Just take a look at how rampant Medicare fraud is. The remedy for this would be to amend the bill to fix this problem.
Knowing the unintended consequences and benefits of a particular bill is an extremely difficult thing to do, especially when a bill is so long and Washington is so full of idiots. Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Glen Beck are all hilarious entertainers, but if they talk about a certain issue or bill, it should be the first step in finding out about it, not the last.
I apologize deeply for the length of this post, but politics is something I feel strongly about.
-M
P.S.- To read HR 847 in its entirety, please go here: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cg…
@Big Blak Ha ha on Youkilis.
@Smartguy;
Don't do it, man. You don't know what evil forces of bad gaming you're dealing with:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360…
-M
@Iceman
Yeah, the war funding bills are typically like that. Lots of extraneous garbage tacked on to something that nobody would dare not send through.
justin morneau is a pussy
if anyone is planning on buying madden 11…you should get that sports illustrated deal
28 issues for 60 bucks, and you get the game free