DVD Review: Justice League Unlimited Season 2

These aren't the cartoons from your childhood. Those were broadcast on Saturday mornings and featured characters that were flawless, bland and always right. When Justice League Unlimited aired on Cartoon Network, it did so after 10 p.m. on Saturday nights. Its characters, while still heroic, are far from always right, and often find themselves correcting mistakes or resolving self-doubts. They exist in as realistic a world as they can with super-powered aliens and satellites with Star Trek-like technology.

Thirty or forty years ago, superheroes were an extension of law enforcement. They seemed to always operate in daylight and in conjuction with the police or the army. They were simply an extension of the authority figures in the real world, and no doubt were written to reinforce a respect for them. They were the "Super Friends," and with their kid sidekicks, they tracked evil down and vanquished it so the world could be safe in time for a sugar-coated cereal breakfast.

Back around the same time, bland comic book characters were getting a make-over. With Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, and later Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, reinventing Batman as a fearsome creature of the night, the same superheroes that enforced the letter of the law - mostly in daylight - on Super Friends were often breaking the law in comics to realize their own vision of justice. Those creators and more like them in the 70s and 80s begat the film Batman in 1989, with its dark, serious take on the character, which begat the animated series of the 1990s by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, which might be the best interpretation of the character in its long history.

Timm and Dini also headed up an animated Superman in the 90s, which was also a great reinterpretation of the character. That led to Justice League, and after two seasons, Justice League Unlimited, which allowed them to explore the entire spectrum of the DC universe and all its characters. Hardly any corner of DC's publishing history went unexplored. By the way, this isn't the Justice League of America; rather, it's an organization represented by several nations and more than one planet. It's the League of Nations on a galactic scale.

There's some heavy stuff going on for a cartoon too. A lengthy subplot through much of the series dealt with the government's concern that a group of super-powered beings had banded together to watch over the planet, with a satellite in orbit that could wipe out any portion of it. The government agency and project to discredit the League and its members made for some of the best dramatic moments of the series, not to mention the best conspiracy plots since the days of The X-Files.

You'd hardly expect adult relationships in the midst of the super-people's colored spandex, but they're there. Green Lantern Jon Stewart (a product of comics' reaction to the black power movement) is torn between two different women - one white, one black. Wonder Woman even flirts with Batman and nearly gets him to crack his icy facade. The result of all this is more well-rounded characters who exhibit traits with which viewers could identify. It adds drama to the storylines and intensity to the action.

The Season 2 DVDs look good, as did Season 1. Strangely, although JLU ran for three 13-episode seasons on Cartoon Network, the first 26 episodes were packaged together and labeled "Season 1," while the remaining 13 episodes are here as "Season 2." Whatever the grouping and classification, they're all here and they're as good as you remember them. You might even think the packaging has super-powers of its own, because if you put the thin-designed set on your shelf, it might seem invisible. (The two-disc set is less than half as thick as a standard DVD case.)

If you grew up with the Filmation incarnations of these characters in the 60s (some of which are coming to DVD in June) or the Hanna Barbera-produced Super Friends, you will appreciate the mature, sometimes complex, take on these characters and rich animation from Warner Bros. Throw in a sharp writing team and great voice talents, and you've got some of the best animated shows ever made.

More info: The World's Finest Online
The Big Cartoon Database
The Watchtower

DVD Review: Casino Royale

It seems that every few years, there's a movie marketing campaign that attempts to boldly proclaim "Bond is back!" as if Ian Fleming's James Bond ever really went away. Many times, when there was a poor to mediocre movie to promote, the exclamation seemed hollow - another attempt to convince audiences that a return to glory was at hand, summoning their fond memories of past Bond films and raising expectations that this new experience would be like those.

How odd -- and how fortunate for audiences -- that the "Bond is back!" claim is not only true this time around, but that in nearly every way, the latest Bond film exceeds expectations.

Casino Royale is the best James Bond movie in more than 40 years. (We recently named it the best film of 2006 at DVD Comment.) Since the high points of the early Sean Connery films (From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball), the films have seen good movies (The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights) and bad (A View To A Kill, Die Another Day), but Casino Royale reinvents the series for the 21st century and provides a freshness that has been missing for a long time. (Comparisons to the 1967 Casino Royale with David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen are not even an issue; neither are comparisons to the 1954 TV Casino Royale with Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre.)

That freshness is personified by Daniel Craig, who was inexplicably vilified by fans on the Internet before filming even began. But while every actor since Connery has brought something to the role, Craig is the first since Connery to make the role his own. His take is different from Connery's - as the others' were too - but he almost makes you feel you're seeing James Bond for the first time. If Craig stays with the role long enough, and his films live up to the quality of Casino Royale, his could be the best run in the series. Critical to the series' success will be more serious spy capers and an avoidance of the self-parody that plagued the series in the past. (The first rule of sequels should always be: Respect the source material and don't engage in parody.)

The story is very faithful to the Ian Fleming novel, the first film in decades to be so. This was Fleming's first Bond book, so it is fitting that the movie version showcases Bond's beginnings. The Bond films have only had the loosest of continuities over the years, so it is not particularly upsetting for longtime viewers to see Judi Dench still portraying M, after having done so for the Pierce Brosnan films. She's good in the role, and that's all the justification needed. Eva Green is also good as Vesper Lynd, the Bond girl who manages to avoid most of the Bond girl cliches from the past 40 years.

The DVD of film looks good, but is so lacking in extras that another edition is inevitable in the future, especially for the highest grossing Bond film of all time. A few short featurettes are included, along with Bond Girls Are Forever, an AMC production hosted by former Bond girl Maryam D'Abo (The Living Daylights). This was already released on DVD in a bonus disc that came with the last Bond movie. It isn't a particularly enlightening documentary and lacks the substance that the bonus materials of MGM's Bond DVDs have had in the past. In perhaps the greatest omission in terms of extras, there are no trailers or teasers present (except for other films!).

Still, until an updated DVD is issued (look for it in advance of the next film in 2008), this edition of Casino Royale is worth your time, since the feature film is the main attraction here and it has substance to spare. Not only is James Bond back to his former greatness, but a new generation has the promise of more great films in series. It hasn't been this exciting to be a Bond fan since The Beatles were making new records.

More info: MI6: The Home of James Bond

CommanderBond.net

The James Bond International Fan Club

DVD Review: Neil Young Live At Massey Hall 1971

The second release in Neil Young's Archive Performance Series, Live at Massey Hall 1971 is a pristine recording that sat in the vaults for 36 years. The Archive series, which has long been promised and the first installment of which was only delivered at the end of 2006, was delayed as long as it was because Young was waiting for technology to catch up with his vision for the series. Massey Hall contains the 17-song setlist on one CD and again on a DVD with a video element.

The DVD has a lot of great extras, in addition to video from the concert and superb audio. There are video clips from the Johnny Cash Show and a 1997 video of Young going through material for the Archives. There's radio interviews with Young talking about some of his new songs, and newspaper clippings of reviews from the period. There are many photos and a timeline as well, all of which make a comprehensive snapshot of Young in the early 1970s.

The Massey Hall show was recorded in January 1971, shortly after the release of After The Gold Rush, considered one of Young's very best albums. In fact, this release reveals that Young's producer, David Briggs, wanted Massey Hall to be the follow-up album to Gold Rush, but Young, who had just recorded many of the songs that would make up Harvest, insisted on going ahead with that album instead. What's amazing is that both men were right: Who could argue with releasing Harvest, one of Young's most celebrated albums and the one which gave him his only #1 hit, "Heart of Gold"? But upon hearing Massey Hall - which includes many of the songs from Harvest that made their debut at this show and on the tour from which it came - you can see it being as strong an addition to the Neil Young canon. "On the Way Home," "Tell Me Why," "Journey Through the Past," "There's a World," and "Ohio" are highlights of the set, as is "A Man Needs a Maid/Heart of Gold Suite" which combines two songs from the Harvest album. It's also somewhat refreshing to hear a four-minute version of "Down By The River," which can often reach double that length on live albums.

The video of the concert is a little muddy, as many 36-year-old films are wont to be, but it is no less a gripping visual document of the show. The concert footage is cut with video of the venue and of other locations, such as Young's ranch, which he talks about in reference to "Old Man" and the caretaker the song is about. More intriguing though is the use of the DVD format as a method of archiving. Including those newspaper reviews, pictures, radio interviews and the like shows how encompassing the format can be, and Young is exploring the possibilities. (Indeed, the first box set in the Archive series, set for release in 2007, includes 2 DVDs and 8 CDs, plus a large book.)

Massey Hall remains a great document of a great artist. This is Neil Young at his acoustic best (which is not to dismiss such fine works that followed as Comes A Time, Old Ways, Harvest Moon, Silver and Gold and even the recent Prairie Wind) with the songs that made his solo career get off to such a memorable start. It's historic as part of the artist's past and where he was going at a fertile point in his development, and deserves a place in any Neil Young fan's collection.

More info: Thrasher's Wheat: Neil Young News

Hyperrust.org: The Unofficial Neil Young Pages

Living With War Today

DVD Review: Borat

High five! Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is the kind of comedy that movie audiences haven't seen since the high points in Peter Sellers' career. Yes, it's funny as hell; it's also subversive, and more than a little ingenious.

For those that don't know, Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat Sagdiyev is a journalist from Kazakhstan who travels to America to make a documentary film. The clash of his culture and ours is a riot, and it showcases American ignorance, perhaps best exemplified by the racist, sexist college kids that Borat travels with in the film. Or perhaps it's the man in charge of the rodeo, who tells Borat in no uncertain terms what he'd like to see happen to homosexuals if he were in charge. There's any number of examples, really. (Seeing any resemblance to Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb yet?)

Cohen's point doesn't seem to be a mean-spirited one, despite the many lawsuits that have popped up in the film's wake, alleging he duped people into acting stupid. Using satire, he's shining a light on the ugly parts of society and laughing at them at the same time he's pointing them out. Films like Borat usually provoke one of two reactions: either the audience loves it - for the laughs, for the cleverness, for the insight - or they hate it - for pointing out that theirs is not a perfect society. (How many lukewarm reactions can you think of in relation to Dr. Strangelove?) Americans can be notoriously intolerant of people pointing out their foibles, particularly when that someone is from another country (Cohen is British, although many viewers will no doubt confuse him with his character and assume he is from the former Soviet Union).

That the film had an impact is undeniable. How many other movies force the President of the United States to take a meeting with a foreign president trying to manage his country's image? (See link below on Bush's meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.)

The DVD of the movie offers some worthwhile bonus material, although the limited extras here suggest that another, more expansive edition will be coming at some point. The disc contains 30 minutes of deleted scenes, some of which were cut for good reason (a sequence in a supermarket dairy section goes on too long) and others will make you glad there is a DVD format that contains this sort of thing (Borat's visit to a dog pound is one of those).

The disc's best bits are in the "Propaganda" section, which showcases the promotional tour Cohen took - in character - to promote the film in late 2006. His visit to the White House gate and his statement outside the Kazakhstan embassy are highlights, but it's a shame there isn't more of them. More material than is here was shown on TV (and is on the web) and it adds to the audacity of Cohen's concept and his execution of it.

There's plenty of slapstick in the film, too, if that's your thing, and Cohen plays it as well as the best vaudevillians. The circumstances that Borat finds himself in are often improvised by Cohen, and you have to recognize what a fearless performer he is. He always stays in character and never backs down.

There will no doubt be imitators in the months and years to come, but Borat is the first of this generation's new brand of subversive comedy. It will be shame if those that follow in Cohen's footsteps only produce movies with more gross-out humor and none of his smarts. The lesson that should be learned by comedy writers, performers and studios is that it's the substance behind the film that is its success. Borat shows the mind at work while taking the pratfalls.

More info: Peter Sellers Appreciation Society

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