The Imagineering Movie Discussion Thread

[cdunlap]

09- Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires

[Watched on VOD]

I like the elseworlds DC stories and so when this came out I figured I'd check it out. As a fan of history, this is surprisingly accurate in a lot of moments about Aztec history and Spanish colonization but with that extra Batman flare put in. I will say, the rogues gallery felt very forced in here with Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Joker all feeling out of place in a story about the fall of the Aztec Empire, but I did really like the ties into the culture and mythology that justified the existence of Batman as a vigilante and Catwoman as well. Two-Face is not very Two-Face despite flipping a coin because it's just Hernan Cortes, a real dude, so they don't actually play with the Two-Face stuff because it's hard to make a genocidal maniac sympathetic (you would think...)

The animation is pretty cheap and feels a lot like the type of Flash Animation you'd see on a PBS kids program, but the voice acting was solid enough and the colors popped much more than your standard Batman fare. This is far from the best Batman animation ever, but as a history and elseworlds fan, it scratched an itch for me.

Surprisingly, I haven’t watched this one yet.

 

[PerGron]

Black Phone 2 is the Smile 2 of 2025. I absolutely loved it and while it doesn’t top the original like Smile did, it was a huge surprise how much I liked it

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

Black Phone 2 is the Smile 2 of 2025. I absolutely loved it and while it doesn’t top the original like Smile did, it was a huge surprise how much I liked it

This might be the Longlegs of 2025 then. I thought it was trash haha. Some cool stylistic stuff with the dream sequences, but the dream sequences were ALL the movie had going for it and it kind of stopped being scary after a while. Ghost Grabber going all Wayne Gretzky in the climax broke me. He was so abstract as a villain that I never really felt threatened by him. Making him some Shasta Cola Freddy/Jason hybrid misses the point of the realism that made him so scary in the original. I'll give you this though, Mason Thames is definitely going places. He acted the hell out of this thing in spite of the terrible dialogue.

If they really wanted to continue the series, they really should have just done a prequel. Seeing the origins of the Grabber was a really tantalizing plot point that didn't get explored nearly enough to be satisfying or properly unnerving. I'd definitely take a whole movie of just his "Wild Bill" camp days. (granted not sure how they'd handle the casting there since Ethan Hawke is so attached to the character. I could see Charlie Plummer in the role)

 

[PerGron]

This might be the Longlegs of 2025 then. I thought it was trash haha. Some cool stylistic stuff with the dream sequences, but the dream sequences were ALL the movie had going for it and it kind of stopped being scary after a while. Ghost Grabber going all Wayne Gretzky in the climax broke me. He was so abstract as a villain that I never really felt threatened by him. Making him some Shasta Cola Freddy/Jason hybrid misses the point of the realism that made him so scary in the original. I'll give you this though, Mason Thames is definitely going places. He acted the hell out of this thing in spite of the terrible dialogue.

If they really wanted to continue the series, they really should have just done a prequel. Seeing the origins of the Grabber was a really tantalizing plot point that didn't get explored nearly enough to be satisfying or properly unnerving. I'd definitely take a whole movie of just his "Wild Bill" camp days. (granted not sure how they'd handle the casting there since Ethan Hawke is so attached to the character. I could see Charlie Plummer in the role)

I had a feeling this would be our dynamic for this one, lol.

I really enjoyed all of the dream sequence stuff but I also love a good mystery and so I had a blast with the whole unraveling of how the kids were killed. I do agree the grabber was weaker as a villain, but I’m such a Freddy Krueger fan and it’s been so long since we’ve gotten a Nightmare on Elm Street project I guess I could just look past the blatant copying.

I actually don’t really want a Grabber origin tbh, if anything I kind of want the franchise to leave him behind and become the kids helping ghosts find peace as a mystery horror series. That could just be me though.

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

I actually don’t really want a Grabber origin tbh, if anything I kind of want the franchise to leave him behind and become the kids helping ghosts find peace as a mystery horror series. That could just be me though.

I could totally see that angle working for the franchise going forward, for this movie though I think if they really wanted to get into the Grabber's backstory they should have just Godfather Part II'd it. I would have loved to have seen the Wild Bill plot play out from the mother's point of view.

You've gotta admit, some of the dialogue in this is TERRIBLE haha. That bit about Gwen's love interest finding her being religious hot and his whole "it'd be even hotter if you pronounced him Hey-soos like my mom" had me cringing sooo hard. Total missed opportunity for that character, as I found the idea of having him be the brother of the first film's main victim and played by the same actor inspired. The bit with the dad at the end was also a super awkward note to go out on. The romance stuff in this movie in general really fell flat.

 

[PerGron]

I could totally see that angle working for the franchise going forward, for this movie though I think if they really wanted to get into the Grabber's backstory they should have just Godfather Part II'd it. I would have loved to have seen the Wild Bill plot play out from the mother's point of view.

You've gotta admit, some of the dialogue in this is TERRIBLE haha. That bit about Gwen's love interest finding her being religious hot and his whole "it'd be even hotter if you pronounced him Hey-soos like my mom" had me cringing sooo hard. Total missed opportunity for that character, as I found the idea of having him be the brother of the first film's main victim and played by the same actor inspired. The bit with the dad at the end was also a super awkward note to go out on. The romance stuff in this movie in general really fell flat.

I fully agree some of the dialogue especially the romance stuff is very bad. That said, having been a teen boy with a crush before, I can’t say some of it wasn’t realistic in its cringe lol.

But yeah, not a perfect movie or sequel, but I had a lot of fun with it. Honestly I’m very interested in how our October lineups and up comparing because I’ve got some takes this month

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

I fully agree some of the dialogue especially the romance stuff is very bad. That said, having been a teen boy with a crush before, I can’t say some of it wasn’t realistic in its cringe lol.

But yeah, not a perfect movie or sequel, but I had a lot of fun with it. Honestly I’m very interested in how our October lineups and up comparing because I’ve got some takes this month

I've not been having a good month haha. The highlight has been A House of Dynamite and that's like maybe a 7.5/10 at best. Unfortunately I really didn't like some of the more indie horror movies that have come out. Hated "Bone Lake" and "Good Boy" was a cool concept that had the Skinamarink problem of being too long for its own good while not having nearly the same amount of lore and intrigue as Skinamarink. Holding my breath for Shelby Oaks.