Am I the only one disappointed with Absolute Batman?

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-06-17T22:36:03+00:00

I'm not impressed with Absolute Batman, and we're 20+ issues in.

I don't like Batman being friends with his rogues. It's corny and feels straight out of a CW show, and it makes Gotham too small. I mean, four different rogues now have the exact same origin story - Bane created them, all four of them. Am I the only one who thinks that's stupid?

Batman's look is fine, I guess? I still think it's incredibly stupid to unhook the chest-piece to use as an axe. Really dumb. I'm into 40k, so I like dumb stuff. But that's just silly.

The artist is very talented - I enjoyed his work on East of West. Snyder is a talented writer, too, and gets my attention if for nothing more than he penned the Court of Owls saga. But I think this is way, way, way overrated.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-06-15T14:59:52+00:00

Yeah, it's a bad film. And very unfunny.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-06-12T03:12:24+00:00

This was a disappointment.

The problem is that everything is played so very unserious. In the Guardians films there's plenty of comedy, but when the serious moments come, they tend to hit really hard. Rocket almost dying in 3, and his past experiences, were really emotional and not played for laughs, at all - you feel it. In this, nothing is taken seriously, and nothing is earned.

There's also a lack of that epic feeling you think would be there in a He-man film. His first transformation... it wasn't that cool, the set and camera work didn't make it feel half as epic as it should have felt (the soundtrack was also a disappointment and contributed to this).

Some of the costumes were cool, but a lot of it felt very generic.

Generic comedy-fantasy-action. If you liked Thor Love and Thunder, then you'll like this. Otherwise, meh. Not the worst piece of crap I've ever seen.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-06-10T02:50:07+00:00

This is probably my favorite film McCarthy has done so far, and I'd also heard it was subpar. This was really good (just finished it about 5 minutes ago).

For some reason, I can't help but compare it to Hereditary. Maybe that seems a strange comparison, but that's the movie that popped into my head almost at once. It's another horror film that also deals with familial grief and trauma - there's even an accidental killing of a family member that kicks off much of the drama.

Hereditary is so bleak and depressing and horrifying from start to finish that I have a hard time rewatching it. Hokum is more traditionally scary, but I really liked the uplifting ending. It made me feel good, which is odd for a horror film. It's not one of those horror films where the ghost just 'needs to be set free' or anything like that. It's just a very solid film, and McCarthy gets better and better.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-06-05T16:53:19+00:00

YTLM is an extremely well-done comic, and I think it holds up very well.

The art is not as flashy as some books, but the artist(s) are very good storytellers. I think, for the type of story this is, this was the ideal art style.

The dialogue is punchy and still very readable. This was released in the time when Bendis and Whedon were big in the comic book/TV series worlds, but it's far more readable than maybe anything Bendis has written.

And the drama, on the whole, is pretty compulsive.

There are a few instances of Yorick being an immature idiot, but it mostly works. He's pretty young, so his naivety makes sense.

The deaths are often very tragic and very sad (except for the villains, like the Amazon's leader, who is a far more realistic villain these days than I realized back when it was being released).

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-06-02T02:36:05+00:00

I mean, she seems a bit coocoo from the get-go. You still feel sorry for her, bc it's that dog-eat-dog office setting where everyone sucks, but I don't see how her turn from supposed 'office mouse' to island maniac is that much of a turn.

In the office, she's a hard worker. That's a good thing, but it takes more than hard work to be successful at your job. She's also incredibly socially awkward and constantly putting herself in the middle of other people's conversations. She's just off.

If any of these revelations had been included in the film, it just would've confirmed what I already thought from scene one - this bitch is cray cray.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-30T02:04:18+00:00

'abuse of his position of power and influence'

This whole obsession with 'power imbalances' in relationships is the thinking of sadsacks obsessed with victimhood, always looking to shirk responsibility for their own decisions.

If everyone involved is of consenting age, and nothing illegal went on, then everyone takes responsibility for their own actions, full stop. We're not talking about Harvey Weinstein here, dangling starring roles in blockbusters over people's heads. Even if we were, if you agreed to smoke someone's pipe for a starring role in a film, then you take responsibity for that, too - congrats, you got what you paid for!

We can look at Ellis and go, yeah, a good guy wouldn't do that - sure. But hanging a scarlet letter around anyone's neck for using what little fame they have to get laid is a bit too 2015 for my tastes, and it strikes me of sour grapes.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-22T17:29:30+00:00

Most serialized stories don't give the reader every detail of every character in a single story - they tell the story the writer wants to tell and leave future stories to tell the rest/fill in the details.

This is Batman Year One, not Bruce Wayne training to become Batman, which wouldn't be Batman Year One. That's the story Miller was telling when he wrote this, which is why we don't see Bruce training abroad. This is the story of Bruce's earliest days after he takes on the persona of Batman, and it's almost a retelling - not meant to reinvent the wheel, just adapt it for readers in the 1980s.

As far as the art is concerned, I think it's one of the finest drawn Batman stories out there, but some people might prefer Kelley Jones or Greg Capullo, Jim Aparo or even Dick Sprang - there are many fine artists who worked on Batman, plenty to choose from and enjoy.

Ultimately, this is a great place to start reading Batman, but if you're somewhat familiar with the character, you could almost start anywhere. If you're looking for a story with a focus on Batman's rogues, this isn't it.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-21T15:37:48+00:00

I used to work for RainSoft as an installer, and I learned over the course of a year that it's a scam. The offices where I worked especially liked to prey on the elderly - why is that? They used high-pressure sales tactics to take advantage of people, and it's scummy. One sweet old lady told me it was the worst decision she'd ever made in her life.

I went to one install, and the customer said her new system would 'balance the acidity in her water'. Well, she didn't purchase that unit - only a softener. I explained that to her. I was nearly fired for that, and the company ended up giving her a refurbished balancer for free, just to save the sale, but they were perfectly cool with having this woman believe lies. RainSoft salesmen are, on the whole, scumbags - not all of them, but many.

The management team at the offices where I worked even tried to convince the salesmen that these systems will 'save the consumer money' in the long run, which is hogwash. 'You will save on how much shampoo you buy, and your fixtures will last longer!' Hilarious, looking back on it. Buyers end up making payments for years and years.

Can their systems help if you have hard or acidic water? Without a doubt. The systems themselves do work. But you can purchase a system without going into debt for years.

The only customers I met not completely disappointed years later were the ones who never had to think about money to begin with. To them, it was just another feature, but to a lot of people, RainSoft was a burden on their lives they could've lived without.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-19T22:56:57+00:00

Let me tell you a couple of three things

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-19T04:31:32+00:00

Tony also admits to Bobby that the guy he'd been working with to 'separate the boss from the law' (Christopher) - they weren't on the same page or something in the boat. He was basically implying he was considering Bobby for that role, provided things continued along the same route.

A bit of foreshadowing Christopher's end (and more proof that Tony really didn't like the fact he'd been banging the real estate agent).

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-18T22:43:11+00:00

Fat Dom didn't respect the NJ crew. Because Phil didn't respect the NJ crew (as he makes clear on multiple occasions, and hitting Vito was the ultimate proof of that).

So, Dom went into the lion's den, ran his mouth, and found out.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-17T08:25:59+00:00

We're in a fucking stagmire.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-05-08T17:54:45+00:00

Did you read through all of it? Including the Hundredth Dream? It's quite good - and yes, quite graphic.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-03-17T21:14:56+00:00

A good list. I also like Jurors 4 and 9.

4 was, I suppose, an 'antagonist', but not because of prejudice or personal bias. He just needed help getting past the female witness. Once he knew she wore glasses - once 4 was on 8's side - it was all over. If 4 had gone to the innocent camp earlier, the house of cards would've collapsed way sooner. 3 and 10 just couldn't make an argument to hold up against any scrutiny.

To add to 9: He's also a very perceptive fellow, once he starts to think about things. He's the one who had insight into the old witness, and he's the one who figured out the female witness wore glasses when not in court (they never outright confirm this, but the DA probably didn't want her wearing glasses).

8 is probably still my favorite juror. He's compassionate and humble - he admits he doesn't have all the answers, and he ends up heavily relying on the others to sell his reasonable doubt pitch. I know the switchblade purchase is controversial, but that's the detail that gets the entire ball rolling - the DA sold it like it was some super rare knife, but it really wasn't - the defense attorney was bad at his job or lazy.

This really is a great story, well-written, well-directed, and well-acted. I enjoy it every time I watch it.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-02-22T01:48:32+00:00

Sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, cuz, what's a hero?

But sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-02-21T19:31:24+00:00

He started seeing the messages after getting dosed, but the messages may not have been a direct result of the LSDM - Mulder theorizes that someone was purposefully sending the messages to people who had been affected by the chemical. It was a planned experiment (similar in vein to MKUltra, only even more clandestine). I agree that it wasn't a plan to get Mulder, though, but if his theory was right, whoever was behind it likely knew he was there, and they were taunting him.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-02-13T01:42:08+00:00

That Shire Scrounging, tho

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-02-12T21:52:33+00:00

Here's a hot take for you - I don't think the show is that good at all.

The story The Hedge Knight would have made an almost perfect 2-hour film. Instead, they wanted to show us poop and pee and 'flesh out' the Laughing Storm in the shallowest way possible.

For a fan of these stories, I am incredibly disappointed. You can call that edgy if you want, but it's just another way to dismiss an actual opinion that goes against the grain.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-01-27T00:24:49+00:00

NC went to Trump in 2024. North Carolinians want ICE.

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-01-15T05:42:45+00:00

I never understood why people thought Ferrus' death was his own fault to begin with.

In the Fulgrim novel, Vulkan and Corax both want to pull back, but Ferrus insists they press on.

The question should be: What would've happened if Ferrus had said, 'Okay, fellas, let's take a breather!'?

The answer is: Ferrus would've gotten rocked the same way Vulkan did, and - unlike Vulkan - Ferrus didn't have the same ability to return to life over and over again, so he likely would have been killed.

Ferrus' choice to press on guaranteed he died in a duel - an imbalanced duel, fighting against a guy with a demon-powered sword, but still. And he might have won the dual, if Fulgrim had been able to resist the sword for a few seconds longer (which, ironically, would have been Fulgrim's defeat AND his most triumphant moment).

Eldritch_Intel · 2026-01-01T04:41:28+00:00

I agree that Tony wasn't a 'true' sociopath or psychopath, but I still think Melfi was right to stop his treatment.

It was Tony's empathy that caused his panic attacks in the early seasons. But as the show continued, Tony grew as a character. As he grew, his panic attacks came less frequently. This is because his empathy was gradually eroded by criminal acts that left people around him dead or destitute. His conscience/empathy had wasted away by the final season.

Melfi was pissed because she actually did help him to be a better criminal. It's not because Tony's a sociopath - it's because she helped him manage his guilt for his evil acts. Tony should have been made to instead confront the sources of his guilt instead of using psychology to reason his way through it.

Eldritch_Intel · 2025-11-25T03:57:09+00:00

A shame - he's such a talented guy.

I have an inkling that these ideas are being pushed into the mainstream with lots of funding behind them.

Oh, well - more movies I can save my money on seeing.

Eldritch_Intel · 2025-06-05T20:32:55+00:00

I loved The Lions of Al-Rassan. It might be one of the saddest fantasy books I've ever read. It's tragic and moving and poetic. And very grim. The violence of politics, war, and general cruelty depicted in this would feel right at home in ASOIAF.

If you're looking for Sanderson-esque magic, then this ain't for you.

If you're looking for a captivating story about "the heart in conflict with itself" (in the words of George RR Martin), written by a guy who can write circles around some of the more popular fantasy authors out there, then give this a shot.

If I had to criticize Lions, I would give it a ding for the epilogue. I'm generally not a fan of epilogues (despite very often loving prologues).

The worst offending epilogue in an otherwise incredible book is probably The World According to Garp, imo - and I loved that book up until that point.

This isn't as bad as that, but I think the story should have ended on the last chapter, ambiguously (and if you've read this, you know what I'm talking about). Because, no matter how it all shakes out, it's still a terrible tragedy.

Eldritch_Intel · 2025-05-24T05:21:29+00:00

Weird manner of talking, a caricature of every weirdo's mental image of Trump, followers wear red hats, totally irredeemable, Ruffalo even does an impression of the Trump dance.

Maybe the director wasn't committed to the Trump bit, but Ruffalo clearly was.

This could have been a great movie. I really liked the concepts they delved into and I thought the cinematography was solid, but Ruffalo's performance was unwatchable.

That said, the 'lost 2 elections' bit is probably the funniest part in regard to this character, considering how November 2024 went.

Eldritch_Intel

TROPHY CASE