The View From The Mountain

I was a toddler when the Adam West Batman series first aired in the late 1960s, and I just ate it all up. My father originally built this model kit of the Batbike that was seen on the show. They re-released this model kit back in 2003, and after recently finding the unbuilt kit in my stash, I decided to build this myself. The pictures you see here are of my build of the 2003 re-release of the Batbike. I don't know what happened to the original that my father built; it was lost to time. I just finished building this Batbike just a couple of days ago. The kit was a complete replica of the original 1960s kit, and it was pretty easy to build. I always loved the sidecar with Robin on this design. Just like...

It makes sense that The Batman would have its opening scene take place on Halloween night. Gotham City, Batman’s stomping grounds, is practically a Halloween-fest all year round, with most of its denizens wearing masks. The Riddler (Paul Dano) is clad in a mask when he sneaks into the home of the Gotham City mayor and murders him--later promising more deaths and revelations of dark and dirty secrets online. This Riddler is a far different beast than Frank Gorshin’s Riddler, who I grew up with on the ’66 Batman TV series. But as much as I will always worship Gorshin’s performance (and he remains my all-time favorite Riddler), I thought Paul Dano’s more creepy take of a deeply disturbed Riddler worked very well in The Batman. Tech savvy, including knowing just how to work the rubes into following him online, this new Riddler is far more dangerous--and even scarier--than ever before. And his weird quirk of dropping clues is given a legitimate reason: he wants...

Although I bought this Horizon vinyl mode kit of Catwoman back in the late 1990s, I didn't actually build it until now, in 2020. A long time, yes, I know. Two things prompted me to get this done now: stress relief from the current situation (situations?) that we're all going through, as well as the fact that 2020 is Catwoman's 80th birthday. The whip that she's cracking is a thin wire that came with the kit. I put putty on the end that she's holding to build up the grip. She's 1/8th scale, and I painted her outfit black and purple. The whip was painted dark brown. Her face was painted with a darker flesh tone, with her lips painted ruby red. Her eyes are painted a chocolate brown. Although she came with her own stand, I didn't use it. I ...

One of the best things to come out of 2016’s Suicide Squad --if not the only good thing to come out of that piece of shit movie--was Margot Robbie’s engaging performance as Harley Quinn. Originally created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for the Batman: The Animated Series as a new super villain for the Dark Knight, Harley was voiced on that show by Arleen Sorkin, who lovingly referred to her boyfriend, the psychotic Joker, as “Mistah J!” Harley proved so popular that she was officially adopted into the Batman comics. Robbie was the first live-action actress to portray Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad , and when I heard that Robbie was reprising the character in her own film, I was more than happy to see it. Although it has a goofy title, Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is an extremely enjoyable and vastly entertaining film. It eschews the dreary and depressing ennui of the recent, extremely overrated Joker film for a more comical,...

2020 mark the 80th anniversary of Robin, aka the Boy Wonder, as well as Batman's sidekick. He's been in comics (including his own series) movies, and TV shows for a long time now. This is the 1/8th vinyl figure of Robin from Horizon Models. I built and painted this kit over twenty years ago. I always liked the dynamic pose he's in. Happy Birthday, Robin. You look good for an eighty year old.

Before Batman first premiered in the summer of 1989, my younger self was convinced that it was going to suck really badly. Here were my reasons: it was directed by Tim Burton--who, at that point, only directed Pee Wee’s Big Adventure , and Beetlejuice --and it starred Michael Keaton, an actor, who, at that time, was best known for starring in comedies like Mr. Mom . Once I heard that ‘Mr. Mom’ was playing Batman, I was convinced that the then-new Batman film was going to be a disaster. Of course, back when I held these firm convictions about Tim Burton’s Batman , I hadn’t actually SEEN the movie yet. When Batman opened, it wasn’t just a hit movie, it was a cultural phenomenon. The character was already a well-known commodity, thanks to the 1960s Batman TV series, which served as my introduction to the Dark Knight back when I was a toddler. However, it felt as if the entire nation happily suffered Batman fever during the summer of ’89. Batman , both the film and the character, was ...

Last month marked the tenth anniversary of The Dark Knight , a superhero movie featuring the Batman that had become a seminal film in many ways. It’s influences can be felt far and wide throughout Hollywood and beyond, and its ‘darkness’ has been blamed for the dire, funereal tone of such latter superhero movies like Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice . I’ve come across many comments online where the poster wondered why people liked The Dark Knight because it was…you know, so ‘dark’ and ‘gloomy‘. Do the fans of TDK like depressing stories? Speaking as a fan of the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, I can honestly say that, no, I’m not a fan of depressing stories. But then, I don’t consider The Dark Knight to be a depressing tale, anyway. When director Christopher Nolan set out to reinvent the Batman with Batman Returns (which is a great film in its own right) back in 2005, he wanted to set the Caped Crusader’s exploits in a far more gritty, low-to-the-ground ve...

This weekend, Netflix debuts Marvel's The Defender s, which unites the heroes from the superhero series Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , and Iron Fist into one action-packed adventure. I've already seen The Defenders and it's immensely enjoyable and comes highly recommended. In honor of the Defenders debut, here's a list of my top ten superhero films (subject to change if or when new superhero movies come out, or if I change my mind--which is often). Let's start the countdown. 10: Ant Man -- Paul Rudd as a superhero? Oh yes, please. More of a comedic heist flick than a straight up superhero film, Ant Man is a great deal of fun. And any superhero movie that’s got the divine Evangeline Lilly in its cast can’t be all bad. 9: Iron Man -- the film that launched the present cinematic Marvel superhero universe still stands as a great flick in its own right. Superhero tropes are challenged here while Robert Downey Jr.’s considerable charm is allowed to run ...