So I Just Watched 9 Batman Movies...

In case you're wondering, I didn't watch those first two...

Anyway, if you follow me on Facebook, you probably know that I watched The LEGO Batman Movie at the theater. Well, that inspired me to start this big binge of all the theatrically-released feature-length live-action Batman films. This is gonna be an unconventional Movie Thoughts post, because it's a bunch of mini-reviews of nine films. Wow. This is gonna be in a weird order because I didn't watch all the movies in order of release. I'm also going to spoil all of these, so if there's one you haven't seen, you can skip right to the ones you have seen. Or if you haven't seen any of these, definitely start with Batman Begins.  With that in mind, let's start this!

Batman Begins (2005)

Well, I started with the first in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy because I've heard The Dark Knight was the best superhero movie ever. And I didn't have really high expectations going into this one. So my expectations were exceeded! I'm glad I decided to go with this one first, because this is the best place to start if you haven't seen any of these before. It tells the origin of the Caped Crusader quite well. The nonlinear first half was an interesting way of doing it, and even though I knew that Bruce Wayne's parents were gonna die, that scene when that happens was pretty effective! I was surprised to see both Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman in this superhero movie. Heh. I like how they grounded everything in reality, like the Batmobile, and the way the gliding worked. I got a little confused on a few things, though, like Ra's Al Ghul being a villain being revealed earlier than I thought. Both him and Scarecrow, as villains, are great. I didn't expect Christian Bale's Batman to sound like HISHE's Batman, but I liked his voice like that. My favorite part would be when Batman first shows off against those criminals. That was an awesome way to show him off. Well, this is a great movie, and is my favorite of the series besides another one coming up.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Oh yes, this one. I don't know where to start! I guess... it was definitely the most action-packed movie I've ever seen. It seemed like every other scene was an action scene. And they were good scenes! Heath Ledger's Joker is definitely the best part about this movie. He's both scary and charming. My favorite part of the movie was when he blew up the hospital and had that great reaction. I had seen a picture of Two-Face from this movie, so I knew he was gonna be in it. And throughout the movie I was wondering whether or not Harvey Dent was gonna become him. And then I knew it when his face was up against the floor with the gasoline. It was a little weird that he went from being this hero who stood for justice to a serial killer. And... I don't have much else to say about this movie. That's the thing. The better the movie, the less you have to say about it. This is the most renowned superhero movie, but it's not my favorite. I did quite enjoy it, though. And this is my favorite Batman movie besides Batman Begins!



Batman (1989)

Oh yes, this one. I was originally gonna see just the Dark Knight Trilogy, but I got interested in this film and then Batman and Robin and I had to watch all of these films. So, this one. I thought it was gonna start with the origin story of Batman and then go off from there. But nope. It starts with a known-ish Batman, And that is done pretty well. I did watch the Honest Trailer a while before I watched this movie, because I never thought I'd see this movie. And so I counted all the times Vicky Vale screamed. And it might've been 11. I can't remember. Michael Keaton was a great Batman, but not my favorite. I did think it was weird that at night he does some hanging upside-down while his guest sleeps. Moving on, I guess there's a reason why on that poster Jack Nicholson is credited before Michael Keaton. Because he was pretty much the star! He's very funny, memorable, and maybe a little creepy. That was an interesting though convoluted origin story, and that death was surprising. He does look creepier when he's killing Bruce Wayne's parents, though, and that's another thing. That is an interesting decision to make him the killer. I don't have anything else to say except that's... different. How would I rank this movie among the last two? I thought the movie was pretty great, but not as good as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Batman Returns (1992)
Alright, the sequel. I gotta say, when the beginning had this psychopathic monster baby, I was like "Whoa... That's not what I wanted to see." And then when they show Selina Kyle becoming Catwoman by falling on the ground and cats eating her I was like "whoa whoa whoa... Tim Burton, do you think cats are evil? YOU ARE WRONG!" and then throughout the movie when she was acting like a cat, that was cringey. Okay, and then Penguin. Penguin felt like he should be in a cartoon. I mean, with Joker, it's fine and enjoyable and all, but Penguin just weirded me out. Also, Gotham's inhabitants are stupid. How are they just alright with this random terrorist dude they just met becoming the mayor of Gotham and only turn against him when Batman hacks the speakers of the stage he was on? Come on! Okay, enough being negative. Michael Keaton was great the second time around, and there were a good amount of scenes that I quite enjoyed, a few even more than in the original. And though I enjoyed the original overall more, this one... stood out to me more. The music, the tone... everything. But like I said, I enjoyed the original more.

Batman: The Movie (1966)
Okay... I watched this one in a weird way. It was on Netflix, so I decided to watch this before any of the other ones. But I only watched the beginning because I was just watching it casually and got bored of it. And then there were a couple nights when I watched 10 minutes of it. But then one night... After I watched Batman Returns, I finally got to watching the rest of it. What can I say? This is ridiculous. From the suit to the villains to the effects to everything. I want to talk about everything, but I can't, so I'll just focus on a few things. 2 words: SHARK. REPELLENT. Pffffffffff. Robin said "Holy [random word]!" about 5 or 6 times, which is pretty silly. Riddler giving Batman and Robin easy to solve riddles about what they're doing next? Wow. Catwoman likes carrying around a cat.... You don't really need to do that. All the punches in this movie miss by a foot and they still react, which is hilarious. All the world leaders are so into their arguing that they don't notice that two madmen are in the room reducing them to rubble one by one. Okay then. The effects are dated as heck. For one thing, Batman and Robin are running through the streets.... well, in front of a greenscreen. And when henchmen are being shrunk, some of them are cardboard cutouts... literally. And lastly... the scene where Batman is running around with a bomb and everywhere he goes,there's two people in a bar, nuns, a couple, a mother and her baby, and then he goes to the water and there's baby ducks... and he says "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!" I loved that. Okay, I'm going too long. I better stop with this... I liked this more than Batman Returns simply because of the ridiculousness of this. It was hilarious.

Batman Forever (1995)

Alright, now we're getting into the... weirder Batman movies. Joel Schumacher thought this was a cartoon for some reason. The weirdest thing in all of this is Two-Face. From the questionable recasting to the awful makeup to the over-the-top performance to the way he does things. And The Riddler is Jim Carrey's most over-the-top performance I've seen him do. But surprisingly enough, there are some redeeming qualities. Though I didn't see him as Bruce Wayne, I didn't think Val Kilmer wasn't a bad Batman. Though Robin can be a jerk at times, I enjoyed his origin story and what he got to do in this movie. And even though Jim Carrey got a little over-the-top at times, he was still enjoyable, as he is in any movie he's in. It didn't feel like it was the same continuity as the Tim Burton Batman films, but it was supposed to be. So that was a little weird. And The Riddler's Box reminded me of the Novabox from radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, though that came after... Anyway, this is one of my least favorite Batman films.

Batman and Robin (1997)
What the heck is up with this movie?! How did anyone approve of this?! This is one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen. Batman is recasted yet again as George Clooney, and the only actor that stays the same throughout all four movies is Alfred's! This is so bad... It's enjoyable. From the zooms on the Bat-Nipples and Bat-Butt to the ice puns that never leave me cold to some of the other shockingly ridiculous lines to Bat-Credit Card (never leave the cave without it!) to the awkward-looking suit to the way he turns his head. This is just full of camp and craziness. I didn't expect Mr. Freeze to have a backstory or the beginning make you think this is dark and gritty. Robin is the jerkiest jerk I have seen him as. Batgirl... wasn't bad. Though I thought it was weird that she was Alfred's niece and not Commissioner Gordon's daughter. Poison Ivy was almost as silly as Mr. Freeze, but not quite. And then Bane. Hm... Bane is stupid. I wish I hadn't seen the Honest Trailer before watching this because I want to have been surprised by a lot of these things. Well, I definitely enjoyed it more than Batman Forever, but not as much as Batman Returns.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
And now I'm back to the Nolan films. The chronological time between this and The Dark Knight was kind of reflected by the time between when I watched these two films. Coincidentally it's what it felt like. This movie also unfolds over quite a long time, which I thought was a little weird. Christian Bale is as awesome as always, and his Batman voice is one of the best. Bane I quite liked, and I did not expect his voice to sound like that. It's also weird going from this stupid buff to this criminal mastermind. He was definitely a menace, and it was surprising seeing the things he was willing to do. Catwoman, on the other hand, I wasn't really invested in. Her acting like a cat in Batman Returns was cringey, but at least in that film she was fleshed out, more interesting, and... for lack of a better word, cool. I just didn't get that with this Catwoman. And then Bruce Wayne was in prison for quite a while, trying to get out, and I was saying "Come on! RISE!" multiple times. And then when he "died", I just knew the whole time he didn't, because you simply can't make a title superhero die. And so that removed 90% of the emotion out of it. But back to positivity. Michael Caine. I knew by this film that he is the best Alfred. All the other ones are just like "I'm Batman's butler and I help him." Michael Caine's Alfred gives him advice, shows concern for him, and is sad and regretful when Bruce Wayne "dies". He was great in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and he was truly the best part of this movie. Oh... well now I'm going long again. This film I don't know where to rank. I don't like it quite as much as the first two Nolan films, or the 1989 one... But maybe sometime I should revisit this to see where I put this.

Batman v Superman (2016)

"Save... MARTHA!!!!"
And now we're getting to the most recent film. Okay, positive things first. Ben Affleck as Batman. That was pretty awesome. He killed it! (sometimes literally, though...) His voice especially was awesome. I don't know which is my favorite, Christian Bale or Ben Affleck. Superman wasn't bad, either. I did like that news sequence with him saving people and everybody questioning him. And Batman's fighting sequences were cool. Unpopular opinion, I actually kinda liked Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. I mean, it wasn't great, and there were a few odd moments, but he wasn't all that bad. Wonder Woman was also pretty cool. Okay, negative time. The movie had a lot in it, but it felt... a little bit empty. And while some parts I was invested in, some parts I just wasn't. And... Martha. Save... Martha... WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?!?! I thought that was a little silly. Their moms having the same name I wouldn't say is that silly, but the fact that Batman kept repeating "WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?!!" over and over kinda took me out of the movie and made me chuckle. Lastly, Superman's "death". The emotion was taken out of this one too, because he's Superman! You simply just can't kill him without Kryptonite! And I didn't notice his ashes floating at the end, and so at the end I thought he was actually killed and I was like "WHAT?!" Wow. Yeah. I'm not interested in Justice League, and I'd have to see a trailer before I get excited about The Batman, even though Ben Affleck was awesome as him. Going long yet again. This is one of my least favorite Batman films besides Batman Forever. I'm sorry, I know there are some people who quite liked this movie, but... not me.

And that concludes my long collection of mini reviews. Wow. That is the longest post I've ever done, surpassing the Switch review. I hope you enjoyed it anyway! What is your favorite Batman movie? What is your least favorite? Tell me in the comments! Well, see you next week!

I Got a Nintendo Switch!

This is a really long post, so feel free to read it over multiple sessions. But please read it all the way through, okay?

So Nintendo's newest console has been out for a month and a half, and it's been hard to find. Ever since March 3rd, I've been going in and out of Gamestop, Walmart, Ebay and Amazon looking for the console, but I had no luck. Nintendo had been promising more stock, too! But then one day, my mom and my sister were going to Target, and my Gamestop is near my Target. So I felt like checking out the cool merchandise there. And whaddya know, they actually had one Nintendo Switch in stock! So I got it! Yay! And I don't have The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild right now, so I'll make a review for it later. Anyway!

So if you've heard about the Switch, you know what it is. But if there is anybody who doesn't know, it's a home console, slightly graphically improved from the Wii U, and it boasts fun games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and 1-2-Switch. But this is no ordinary home console. When you're in the middle of an intense game, and you can't put the controller down, but you have to leave somewhere, you can take the system with you and use it as a handheld! I mean, there are millions of handheld consoles out there, but none that also worked as and had as much power as a home console! And there are all these cool games coming out for it that I'm excited for! But right now, let's talk about my experience right now for it.

So my experience with the console... It's great. The Joy-Cons are pretty comfortable, especially when they're used in each hand without a grip.

Using the Joy-Cons by themselves is more comfortable than I expected, them being such small controllers. But when I play with some younger people, they have a hard time adjusting to the buttons. I mean, for me it's natural that on Nintendo controllers, the right one is the main button, while the bottom one is the secondary one. But that's me.

I've played handheld mode for I guess an hour this week mostly because right now I'm focused on playing Pokemon FireRed. But it's pretty solid! It feels natural, and the transition is quick!

My only nitpick with the design of these Joy-Cons is that the ZL and ZR triggers are digital instead of analog, meaning you click 'em and don't really pull them. And the only problem I've had is that my L button isn't working.

So the first game I bought for it, as said previously, was not Breath of the Wild. And I mildly regret that. But I'm saving up for that game! Anyway, my first game was 1-2-Switch. And that is a game where you don't look at the screen, but each other! It's a fun, casual party game that includes 28 minigames such as Quick Draw, where you see who can shoot each other the fastest, Shave, which is self-explanatory, Wizard, where you see who can beat who with a wand beam, Runway, where you see who can sway your hips more, and other games like Table Tennis, Copy Dance, and Ball Count!

Here are some highlights. I'm a master at Runway. And I look ridiculous while doing it.

There was this one Wizard round where we kept countering each other

Swordfight is my favorite game out of all of these. It gets intense!

Yup. Those are some highlights. Some of these minigames are pretty fun, while there are a few that are kind of meh in my opinion, like Telephone, which is basically Quick Draw with less fun, and Baby, which... is.... the worst. Anyway, on to different games! So this is the only game I own, but I have some demos!

Snipperclips is a co-op puzzle game where you cut each other into shapes that work with the puzzle. And it's pretty cute! Here's a good face.

After playing it, I've realized this is kinda fun, but not my kind of game. It gets kind of frustrating when you can't figure anything out. On to the second demo!

Puyo Puyo Tetris is hands down, the best demo I've ever played. It's a full game in itself! If you don't know what Puyo Puyo is, it basically has you connecting four tiles with the same color. It's competitive in nature, so if you score, you'll cause trouble for your opponent. The way this crossover works is that in the demo, there's two modes. Versus mode, where one of you can play Puyo Puyo and another one play Tetris, or both of you can play the same game. And then there's Swap mode, where you're playing Puyo Puyo for 25 seconds and then you play Tetris for 25 seconds, and then you go back to your game of Puyo Puyo. It's pretty intense. And both of these modes I have been having a lot of fun with. And my younger sister (check out her cool blog!)is having a lot of fun with this game too, constantly asking me to play it.
And last, but... least...

The demo for Just Dance 2017. No... I don't wan't to get "Now watch me whip! Now watch me nay nay!" stuck in my head... Ugh. This game is kind of meh. And the presentation is a little weird even. The characters you play as are guys with animal masks on. (well, now I realize that was just for Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)) The frog is especially creepy.

Well, that's all I have for games I own. Alright. Now let's move on to games I'm excited for.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is basically Mario Kart 8 but with all the DLC and some other new stuff. If you own MK8 for the Wii U, you don't need to get this. But I got it from the library multiple times, and I didn't get any DLC because I didn't own the game. But now I'm gonna get this game, and I'm getting the definitive version! I'm excited for this also because they're adding a good battle mode, which wasn't in the Wii U game! Yes! Awesome! And they're adding the option to carry two items at once, as well as a few new items! Alright! Cool! But there's more...

Splatoon 2! At first, I thought that this was just an enhanced port, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. But this is a straight-up sequel! The ability to add hairstyles, some new weapons, enhanced ones, and a new mode! I'd have to try this new mode, which is called Salmon Run, but I'm sold on this sequel! I hope there's gonna be a solid single-player mode, like the first one had. But I mostly play the multiplayer mode, so no single-player will be a little disappointing, but not that much. Next game!

Sonic Mania. This one I'm not quite as excited for as the other games, but Sonic was my childhood, and they've tried to go back to his roots a few times, but it's looking like this is going to be when they nail it. You can play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, which is what I would want for this sort of game, and there are gonna be a few Zones returning, as well as new ones. It may be one of the few full games I download on the system.

And next is Sonic Forces. Yeah... The title is stupid. But this is looking like the first good modern Sonic game since Generations. And it looks like they're ditching the style from Lost World and going back to the Unleashed style! That's great! And Classic Sonic is back! From what I understand, this is gonna be like Sonic Generations, but with new levels. The story has Eggman taking over the world, which is something he hasn't successfully done before, and most of these levels take place in this dystopia. Hm. Well, I personally prefer a more lighthearted world. But oh well. They showed a few clips of Classic Sonic gameplay and there's gonna be yet another rendition of Green Hill Zone. They really love revisiting that level, huh? Is this, like, Sonic: Days of Future Past? Heh. Probably not. And... they teased a new character! Yeah! This is the first time a modern Sonic game had you playing a character other than Sonic since '06! Yes, that counts, but not Boom. I'm not sure if I'm completely excited for this yet, but hopefully we'll see more footage in the future.

I could talk about Super Mario Odyssey, but... I don't know what to think about it yet. I'm not an avid Mario fan, but I've been playing Mario 64 DS again lately, so maybe that'll change my opinion. More on that later. Well, that's it! That was the longest post I have ever done. Wow. Dang! Alright! Well, pretty soon I'll be doing a Breath of the Wild post, so be excited for that!

My Room Showcase #2

Yup, it's that time again! I said I was guessing I would do it in around 2-5 months, and I made a very close guess, too! I was just one month short! So let's get it going! As you can see, I changed some things around!

Let's start with the wall. Pretty much the same except for a few new things. I've already posted about this, but a Pokemon puzzle poster! This originally came with Poke Ball stickers you can use to signify what you've caught, but along with a puzzle piece, that was missing when we got it at a yard sale. So I use stars instead! As you can see, I've caught 'em all! No, not in Pokemon GO, but in the original Red and Blue.

Also, here's a Pokemon calendar I got from travels to Boston back in March! Yeah! I've wanted this for a long time. I've never even had a calendar to call my own before this!

And now, let's move on to the big display. As you can see, I did away with the big LEGO display and put a big focus on amiibo and gaming.

First of all, here are my Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games! Pokemon FireRed, Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Crystal! Real classics!

My Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance! I don't use these nearly as often as my 3DS, but it's still worth playing Pokemon games on 'em.

My LEGO buildable Obi-Wan Kenobi is still there, but just in a heroic pose.

And my Finn action figure is also still there! Nothing different, still mint in box.

My N64 games, Pokemon Stadium, Mario Party 2 and Super Smash Bros. along with a rare Adventures in Odyssey CD, Joy to the World!

My Pokemon DS and 3DS games! Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, Y, and White 2! And also Super Smash Bros. for 3DS! And a couple Pokemon promotion cards for Dragonite and Mew!

And the thing that steals the show... my amiibo collection!

Here are my Pokemon amiibo, from right to left, Pikachu, Charizard, Mewtwo, Jigglypuff, and Greninja!

My other amiibo, from left to right it is Mario, Shulk, Sheik and Luigi!

And my poor Fling Kong Skylander is just sitting there in the middle...

My closet! This is more organized now! Well, the shelf part of it anyway...

The floor part of it is a mess.

My bed! Not much is different except 1--it's in a different place

2--it has a dorky Luigi hat sitting there.

3--More stuffed Pokemon! From left to right, it's Pikachu, Umbreon, Torchic, Axew and Pancham!

And lastly, my TV. You've seen this before. Except there's one difference. I now have Pokemon Stadium 2 on my N64! Well... that's not much of a difference at all...

And that's it. Hope you enjoyed that 2nd tour of my room! See ya sometime soon!