The Fabelmans (2022)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle

Have I Seen it Before: Nope.

Did I Like It: I’ve been noticing a weird blowback against this movie since its release, and it’s worth a little bit of analysis before I get into my own feelings on it. Some of it is the natural knee jerk reaction—with a twist of schadenfreude—to a film from the once (and future?) king of the box office landing with a dull thud on its opening weekend. Then again, any media release is going to attract bad faith conservative grumblings, so it’s entirely possible that we’ll never again see a film which avoids the aforementioned blowback.

But do you want to hear why I think the movie rubs some people the wrong way? One might argue that the film’s story is far too episodic for a major American release. One might even argue that there is a degree of solipsism in Spielberg’s attempt to make himself the unassailable hero of one of his films. I don’t think any of that is the issue. I really think the issue is that nearly every cinephile labors—to varying levels of intensity—that given the right circumstances, they could have been Spielberg. That his ascendency to the highest order of popular culture was a product of circumstance or luck. The thing is, if this film has any degree of a sober view of who Sammy Fabelman (LaBelle)/Spielberg is, not one of has the ability to see through problems of filmmaking with such ingenious solutions. Not one of us loves movies so much that the only thing that will bring us comfort during times of extreme emotional strife is the clicking of an 8mm camera. Not one of us had any hope of becoming Spielberg.

Oddly enough, I find that comforting. I’ll do you one better: I have half a mind to go see the film again. Maybe we all should. I’m real worried about this Spielberg kid. If we don’t come out for his movies now, I’m not sure what will happen.

The Batman (2022)

Director: Matt Reeves

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright

Have I Seen it Before: Well, that’s the real thing, isn’t it?

Did I Like It: It’s actually taken me weeks to get around to this review. Part of it is a full plate. Part of it is the whole thing has been marinating in my head.

The Batman is quite good. It’s shot, cast, and mostly written well. It is the only Batman film to be fueled primarily by a legitimate, if uncomplicated detective story. We all know who the Riddler (Dano) is, and the secret identity of the Batman hasn’t been had an ounce of mystery to it since the concluding panels of “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” in 1939. And yet, Batman uses all of his skills in equal measure here.

I am happy to report that at no point does Martha Wayne drop her pearls, and while (spoiler) The Joker (Barry Keoghan) does appear in the film, Reeves shows a remarkable amount of restraint in both not making the Clown Prince a central part of the movie, and cutting his far more interesting—if ultimately redundant—scene.

It’s third act becomes a little incoherent, which puts it in good company. The end of nearly every film—with the arguable exception of The Dark Knight (2008)—to feature the Caped Crusader buckles a bit under even mild scrutiny. Why was the Joker climbing up the Cathedral in Batman (1989)? How were an army of trained missile-armed Penguins supposed to help Danny DeVito get his political revenge in Batman Returns (1992)? How did Jim Carrey manage to get that massive lair to do… mind control? The fact that I’m still—a couple of weeks after viewing the film—still not sure exactly what Batman was needing to do as the with the electrical discharges in the arena, and the city of Gotham really only seemed flooded when there were interesting shots of Batman doing things among water, and dry as a bone when he and Selina Kyle had to have a parting scene in a graveyard. 

We’ve had good Batman films before. There’s really no excuse to not make one anymore. But there’s so much here we have seen before, and yet so much unexplored potential on screen for the character. What do I want out of a Batman film, now that I’ve had literally every part of The Long Halloween reconstituted on the movie screen? I want the Neal Adams Batman. I want a grey costume (with a yellow oval, so sit down, Mr. Snyder). I want a giant penny and an even giant-er T-Rex in the Batcave*. Really? I want it to be called The Caped Crusader. It’s entirely possible I may just want to watch <Batman (1966)> again. That’s always possible.

I may have to wait a bit longer. In the meantime, I’ll take as many stories in Gotham as Matt Reeves can dole out.

*I do not want to see Martha Wayne drop her pearls ever again in a movie or television series. So, good on ya, Mr. Reeves.