The latest entry in the Batman franchise, THE BATMAN (2022) tries way too hard to be the film SE7EN and features a somewhat flat, heavily emo Batman (nonetheless well played by Robert Pattinson), but it’s respectable, and its action and fast pacing deliver quite a bit of fun.

So it’s a new Batman world, Batman is obsessed with fighting Gotham crime even though crime is going up, and a mysterious villain, the Riddler (Paul Dano being Paul Dano), is murdering the city’s elite. This takes Batman into the lair of a crime family led by Carmine Falcone (played to the usual perfection by John Turturo), whose lieutenant is known as the Penguin (Colin Farrell in heavy prosthetics such that nobody believes it was actually Colin Farrell). An employee at Falcone’s club, The Iceberg Lounge, appears to be the key and turns out to be the Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz). To win, Batman must follow the Riddler’s clues to unmask Gotham’s utter corruption and stop the Riddler himself from a far darker plan of vengeance.

The result is good entertainment. Despite the three-hour runtime, it all moves pretty quickly, and there are enough plot developments to keep the story juiced. The actors are all great, and the plot, while complicated, doesn’t become overwhelming and overblown with the inclusion of secondary heroes and villains. Thematically, there is an interesting idea that heroes with a black-and-white view of justice can inspire others to attempt to do the same thing only with stronger means, leading to the question of what is a hero and what is a villain. The soundtrack, including Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,” adds to the heavy sense of atmosphere.

On the downside, the film tries way too hard to be SE7EN, right down to a scene in the Riddler’s apartment that appears directly lifted almost line for line from the Nineties classic. A theme of class warfare (which I normally applaud) appears directly inspired from the most recent JOKER film and is tied to terrorism. (Basically, the movie is SE7EN set in the world of JOKER.) The usual movie logic rule breaking happens, such as bullets not hurting Batman in one scene but in the next scene they do. Probably the biggest issue I had was Batman himself, as there isn’t much there to like or dislike. Gone is the dichotomy of playboy billionaire and brutal crime fighter, now it’s all brooding, dark, emo, making Batman pretty flat. It’s strange how he goes around beating up petty criminals and crime keeps going up. It’s also funny that if he spent more time with his accountants, the movie might have never happened.

Anyway, I didn’t go into it expecting much, though these movies occasionally surprise such as Nolan’s take on Batman. While the writers and director played it all pretty safe by borrowing from other successful films and elements, the bottom line is THE BATMAN was all pretty entertaining for me, Pattinson has matured into a fine actor and makes a solid Batman, the secondary characters are pretty vivid and well played by their actors, and overall, it’s a good time.

I love a weird mystery, the weirder the better, and so I was curious when LIMETOWN showed up on one of my streaming services. Based on a podcast of the same name, it chronicles a radio journalist’s exploration of the bizarre violence and mass disappearances occurring at Limetown, a corporate-owned town populated by neuroscientists working on a secret project. The result is Very Serious Fluff, but it’s well put together, well acted by Jessica Biel and Stanley Tucci and the rest, and overall delivers a good deal of fun.

Fifteen years ago, a visionary corporate leader with incredible financing built a town and populated it with neuroscientists with the goal of developing a revolutionary technology that might change the world. Instead, the townspeople disappeared, leaving behind signs of panic and violence and otherwise a mystery that was never solved. Fast forward to the present, and public radio journalist Lia Haddock (Biel) is digging into the story to try to find the truth, as she had a strong personal connection in her childhood to one of the people who disappeared.

In each episode, we see Lia uncover clues leading to pieces of the puzzle slowly fitting together until forming a grisly whole. The pacing and reveals are pretty well done, particularly as each person she interviews not only shares information but has interesting side stories to tell that add to the general weirdness and mystery while shedding light on some vital part of it.

Other things I liked: the overarching story that once completed is great, the artistic direction that sets the mood perfectly, the suspenseful pacing, the terrific acting, and an overall titillating experience. Though it relies pretty heavily on convenience and frustratingly vague answers so that Lia only gains the truth drip by drip, the way it all comes together is good storytelling as far as plotting.

The only problem for me was the protagonist. Biel is a stunning woman and has really come into her own as an actor, but I’ve always found her a bit wooden, and the shallowness of the character she portrays does her no favors. Lia’s sole defining characteristic seems to be her obsession and nastiness toward anybody even slightly getting in her way or offending her, and aside from a few weird “broken” traits to appeal to the Gone Girl market and other strange fixations, there’s honestly not much to her, and she comes across as actually unlikable. We know she has a girlfriend, though their relationship goes nowhere and barely serves a purpose other than to provide her a sounding board. We know she has a complicated relationship with her parents, though it’s barely explained or explored. Another grating part of the script is a motif following the TV trend of characters telling female protagonists how smart and awesome they are (for a really good example of this, watch Apple TV’s INVASION). I find smart and awesome female protagonists to be wonderful, but I’m a grownup and don’t need to be told in every episode, just once will do and preferably when it matters, when the protagonist needs to hear it. Otherwise, Lia doesn’t seem to be all that great at her job; she allows vague answers, she abuses coworkers, she’s blatantly unethical in her journalism, and she actually threatens her boss. She’s so Karen, in fact, that during the times she’s nice, I don’t quite believe it.

I haven’t listened to the podcast, which I understand was very popular, but I think my problems with the show stemmed from translation. In a podcast, you can dump creepiness on the listener, and they’ll enjoy it for what it is. When you do the same in a show, you need a protagonist who does more than deliver mystery, you need one the viewer can empathize with. Besides that, for willing suspension of disbelief in the TV medium, you need to flesh out the creepiness so it doesn’t fall apart with some critical thinking. As a result, I found myself enjoying the story of Limetown far more than Lia’s story of discovering the story of Limetown.

Okay, enough bitching on my part. Despite some flaws I found pretty glaring, I did stick it out, and overall I enjoyed it, quite a lot in fact, so much so I’ve found it sticking with me after watching. Recommended for those who like creep and mystery that solidify around a satisfying story coming to light.