Sentient Resin

Several years ago on my old site I did a rewatch of most of the Snyderverse and typed up my thoughts on them. With the new Superman movie coming out I decided to repost them here with a little tweaking. Rather than dump a bunch of links at once on social media I decided to make a summary page here with links to each essay.  I will preface this with the fact that on average I liked these films, thought they tried some very interesting things and that they are better than their reputation would have people believe. I also discuss my experience with the fandom surrounding these films and why I have kind of burnt out on them. In general I wanted to be able to discuss the films, the strengths and weaknesses and just have a conversation. That seemed to be almost impossible to be frank. From day 1 these films were very polarizing, from the first trailer the reactions started and it was pretty much impossible to just discuss them as though they were any other film. That's why I finally sat...

This was written several years ago for another site and has been reposted here with some updates to the writing. I just finished watching the new cut of Justice League that came out yesterday. It’s very long, 4 hours in fact. Movies cut a lot of footage before it becomes what we see in the final release. They shoot a lot of scenes that get tweaked, trimmed or eliminated altogether to make for a more streamlined story. This feels like they filmed the movie and then cut almost nothing. I discussed how we got the original cut of this movie in the previous essay with Snyder’s daughter dying, him stepping down and Joss Whedon coming in. This movie came about after fans of Snyder’s previous films were….. “extremely vocal” (or, if you prefer, utter jackasses) about their desire to see the ‘Snyder Cut’ of the film. Now, the Snyder Cut didn’t really exist, the film hadn’t been finished when he stepped down, there wasn’t a cut of the film sitting on a shelf they could slap on a DVD and send to s...

This was written several years ago for another site and has been reposted here with some updated writing.This was written several years ago for another site and has been reposted here with some updated writing. I’m writing this having not seen the Snyder Cut just yet as I wanted to refresh my memory to do a comparison between the two after. This one was a bit odd for me to rewatch because I ended up changing my stance a bit. On the previous three recaps I went in and came out with largely the same opinions, maybe moving the dial here and there on my internal rating but overall didn’t change much, however this one I went from not really liking it to enjoying it. I think I know why, I think it’s about investment. At the time this came out there was a whole maelstrom of tension and drama around the Snyder movies. People were being very toxic about the films on both ends of the spectrum. I didn’t personally interact with a lot of Snyder fans, but I’ve definitely heard of their jackasse...

This was written several years ago on another site and has been reposted with some updates to the writing. I fell behind on my rewatch so I’m going to do a quick round up of a few movies that I am not going to rewatch right now (if at all). In order of release: Suicide Squad: This movie is a train wreck. It really is, I know it was a mess behind the scenes with reshoots. However at least it’s not a boring train wreck. It’s not a good film but I found it enjoyable enough to watch. I hate Jared Leto, he’s a fucking creep and I wish he wasn’t in this franchise. Funny how we only hear about method acting asshole characters…. Anyways I’m amused that narratively he’s just a flight of stairs. Seriously, outside of the flashbacks he shows up on the roof, takes Harley and crashes and she rejoins them on the ground. I think there was a missed opportunity here, Will Smith has a history of playing snarky military/cop characters so I think he would have been a better Rick Flag than wha...

This was originally written several years ago and has been reposted here with some updates to the writing. Man, I swear I change these recap/review formats with every movie, well guess what, we’re doing that again. Rapid Fire Summary The plot of the movie is pretty straightforward, Diana has been raised in isolation hearing stories of the world of man, their many battles and of the ancient enemy Ares. Like any princess ‘she wants more’ and gets it when Steve Trevor crashes on her island.  Steve takes Diana back with him and they embark on a mission to stop a German general from releasing a deadly new gas weapon on London. Along the way she learns that the war might not actually be the fault of Ares, but instead people are complicated and flawed and not always good.  As she’s struggling with this revelation, surprise it is Ares after all. They fight and she slays Ares. During this she has come to accept that people are more complicated than just good and bad. Meanwhile Ste...

This was written several years ago on another site and has been reposted with some updates to the writing. Batman V Superman Discussion Part 1 Recap Part 1 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 2 Recap Part 2 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 3 Characterization Batman V Superman Discussion Part 4 General Thoughts and Miscellaneous The Movie in General I like this movie overall. I think it’s good but suffers in a few places and that its predecessor Man of Steel is better because of that. The main issue is that it tries to do too much. This is a very dense 2.5 hours, it does a lot for its own plot and for future movies. I think that this should have been two movies. I’m not sure what I’d move to a second movie exactly but cramming everything in leaves some parts feeling shortchanged. I think we could have used some Lex flashbacks, maybe a bit more on Batman’s past like I mentioned and give the movie some breathing room. I question if this is where we should have had Doomsday, but if we cut h...

This was written several years ago on another site and has been reposted with some updates to the writing. Batman V Superman Discussion Part 1 Recap Part 1 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 2 Recap Part 2 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 3 Characterization Batman V Superman Discussion Part 4 General Thoughts and Miscellaneous Characterization of Batman We’re shown throughout the movie that this is an older grizzled version of Batman and he’s slowly aging out of crime fighting. He’s wondering what difference he’s made and what he’s going to leave behind. He’s been Batman for 20 years and has deep scars including a Robin suit that was spray painted by the Joker. He sees Superman as a ticking bomb and honestly given the destruction in Man of Steel he’s not entirely wrong. He watches as Superman is involved in multiple incidents where people die because he was there. Then he gets a vision showing him his worst nightmare to compound it. I wouldn’t want this to be the comics Batman...

This was written several years ago on another site and has been reposted with some updates to the writing. Batman V Superman Discussion Part 1 Recap Part 1 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 2 Recap Part 2 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 3 Characterization Batman V Superman Discussion Part 4 General Thoughts and Miscellaneous   A Brief Interlude The mysterious woman that stole Bruce’s device earlier receives an email from him. The email contains a photo of her from WW1 asking who she actually is. It also contains videos of other metahumans on Earth, specifically Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. This is basically a teaser for upcoming DC Movies. It’s a pretty neat sequence showing various found footage of each hero. The Main Event From here the plot is pretty straightforward as the threads are now tied together and we get a lot of fighting. Superman arrives to find an armored Batman and tries to talk to him but Batman won’t listen. Superman walks through a number of traps se...

This was written several years ago on another site and has been reposted with some updates to the writing. Batman V Superman Discussion Part 1 Recap Part 1 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 2 Recap Part 2 Batman V Superman Discussion Part 3 Characterization Batman V Superman Discussion Part 4 General Thoughts and Miscellaneous Quick note: theatrical cut, not extended. So it’s time, I know from experience that this will be my most controversial opinion piece I share on probably anything. Please remember it’s just a movie and please, seriously please, don’t quote the Martha scene at me. In my Man of Steel review I mainly just gave my reactions to the individual scenes but here I want to summarize the plot. The main structure of the movie is three intertwining stories, Batman’s, Superman’s, and Lex Luthor’s until they all meet up and result in the title bout. Batman We begin with the standard Batman origin. Dead Waynes, funeral and Bruce finding the cave. It feels like every ...

This was posted on another site several years ago and I'm reposting it here now with minor alterations. With the new cut of the Justice League film being release in a few weeks on the 18 th I decided to rewatch some of the DC films leading up to it. I’m going to put these up on my site as it allows me to be a bit more freeform than for example if I were to try to tweet this entire thing out. Tonight I rewatched 2013’s Man of Steel, the first film of the DCEU. Overall I really like this film and think it’s great. The Beginning The Krypton sequence is kinda neat. We get a small glimpse into an alien world seeing some of the creatures there and the society they have. It’s a bit drab and grey but I think that reflects the fact that they are a withdrawn and dying people. While at this point I don’t think we need to see Clark’s origins as most people know it already it does make sense to have it as this film is largely about him finding out where he comes from. Further it s...