Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) - Senator Purrington's Revenge

From Watchmen to Sucker Punch to Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder manages to rile up internet film goers like no one else short of Michael Bay. The two have a lot in common; a focus on imagery over writing, consistent, unmistakable but often imitated style that will either drive you nuts or completely draw you in, a self-deprecating sense of satire (Sucker Punch for Snyder, Tranformers 4 for Bay), and a tendency to make tons of money while receiving critical and fan derision. They even went to school together at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design!

For both Bay and Snyder, negative criticism doesn't tend to begin with analysis or even dissatisfaction; instead, we get enraged rants that treat a film the writer didn't like as a sick disease that's killing the soul of man. The point is not to critique the movie, but to defeat it, vanquishing it back into the abyss with a blend of endless sarcasm and blood rage. There are, of course, intelligent writers who are able to write perfectly fine critiques; I'm certainly not saying any film's perfect here. It's just baffling and honestly gross to see YouTube comments take flesh in the form of a new, loud generation of angry critics, fed by hideously bad comedy-criticism along the lines of CinemaSins and Honest Trailers. Adam Jahnke covered this well at One Perfect Shot.

Batman: Arkham Knight (2015, PS4) - Good Knight Clown Prince

Rocksteady Studios set a new bar with 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum, a title that showed that licensed superhero action games didn't have to feel like cheap cash-ins. With a small but expertly designed game world, bosses that functioned as puzzles, and rhythmic combat that flowed stylishly and felt like a genuine Batman simulator, Arkham Asylum was a great title that nailed what it was going for, up until an incredibly dumb final boss fight that's best ignored.

Two years later, Arkham City was released, giving us a larger, open world (at the expense of some of the first title's atmosphere), more great boss fights, more of the same satisfying combat, some awkward flying puzzles, and abysmally bad (and somehow award-winning) writing. While it improved as a game in many ways, Arkham City's genuinely bad dialogue left a bad taste in my mouth. I skipped the following game, Arkham Origins, a prequel that Rocksteady had no involvement with.
 

Ghost's Diners

With 2015's Arkham Knight, Rocksteady returns and does something genuinely unexpected: This game provides a conclusive, final chapter to the series, taking some narrative risks and separating itself from the worlds of the Batman comics/cartoons/movies. The previous games always struggled to find the right tone, teetering oddly from silly to macabre with little grace, and while this title takes some obvious cues from other Batman stories, it very much feels like its own, confident story.

Batman: Arkham City (2011, PS3) - Be Batman #2: Now With Terrible Writing

With 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum proving to be a massive critical and financial success, a sequel was inevitable. Two years after Asylum's release, Rocksteady Studios would release their followup, offering players a much larger world, a bigger narrative, and more of the same combat. Arkham City abandons the claustrophobic, guided experience of Arkham Asylum, replacing it with a fairly large open world that offers much more freedom but at the cost of Asylum's relentless atmosphere. While the game play has improved, Arkham City suffers from a very poorly written storyline and continuous dialogue that drags down the experience.

Review - Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009, PS3)

Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum is a video game rarity; it's a game based on a popular license that manages to actually be fun, well made, and critically acclaimed. Focused on equal parts brawling, stealth, and light puzzle solving, Arkham Asylum is among the best superhero video games you could pick.

Review - The Dark Knight Rises

With 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan completes his Batman trilogy, after beginning in 2005 with Batman Begins and continuing with 2008's phenomenon The Dark Knight. People are often apprehensive about the third film in a trilogy, and I'm honestly not a huge fan of Nolan's previous Batman films, in spite of being quite fond of his non-Batman films. I felt that Batman Begins was an entertaining but uneven film that suffered from some weak dialogue, and I felt that The Dark Knight was an overly long film with a few too many subplots that distracted from Heath Ledger's fantastic, haunting take on The Joker. The Hong Kong plot, Coleman Reese's plot, and Harvey Dent's transformation into full-on Two Face all felt like distractions to me. With that, I went into The Dark Knight Rises not expecting anything spectacular, and was quite surprised; I feel that this is easily the best of Nolan's Batman films.