THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE Review

The most unexpected of cinematic universe's to be born from this current trend is no doubt this massive LEGO franchise, but behind the trailblazer that is Marvel it is LEGO that seems to be having the most success in carving their own path out of a recognizable brand. Granted, we're now only two movies in with a third on the way this fall, but the point is there seems no sign that this train will be slowing down anytime soon. After absolutely blowing all expectations out of the water with The LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 & 22 Jump Street) set not only a precedent for any sequels and spin offs that might come in the wake of their success, but they also set a very specific tone that will seemingly serve as the signature trait of this movie universe as The LEGO Batman Movie is just as irreverent as could be expected when it comes to this toy brands take on the dark and brooding titular hero. With the self-aware and spoof-like nature of that initial LEGO outing being paired with a character as established in the pop culture mythos as Batman there is plenty of opportunity for lampooning and lampoon is exactly what director Chris McKay (Robot Chicken) does best. Beginning even before the studio logos hit the screen The LEGO Batman Movie is ready to ridicule and criticize everything about the previous phases in our hero's career while pulling off that oh so critical tone of it being all in good fun. Never does it feel as if The LEGO Batman Movie is taking pot shots at any of the other imaginings or interpretations of the Dark Knight character, but rather McKay is offering comically tinged observations on what makes a grown man running around in a Halloween costume feel so serious when, in layman's terms, the reasons as to why as much is laughable should be obvious. Reprising his role from The LEGO Movie Will Arnett is once again the very self-serious caped crusader who loves being Batman and who expects everyone else to love him because he's Batman. Arnett's take on the character is essentially this raving egomaniac who has to constantly keep up this facade he's built around himself. Pairing this type of Batman with a cavalcade of other characters and villains from the his universe as well as countless other Warner Bros. properties McKay exploits every avenue he can in order to display as much comedy and action on screen as he does merchandise.

TIG Review

I like to listen to stand-up, but haven't in a long time. I went through the typical college phase of listening not only to what was popular and current at the time (Dane Cook, Mitch Hedberg), but digging into my dads collection and getting to know the stuff he was into (mainly Eddie Murphy, but there was plenty of Steven Wright and Steve Martin in there as well). Over the last few years I've dabbled in some of the more popular stuff like Aziz Ansari, Louis C.K. and Bo Burnham, but haven't explored the current scene as much as I would like to. That is, until I started listening to the top comedy tracks inside the Spotify app on my phone. This led me to not only appreciate the variety of personalities and insight I was missing out on, but also served as an introduction to Tig Notaro. I didn't know much about Notaro or what her story was other than that I'd seen her in Lake Bell's 2013 directorial effort, In a World..., but I liked her stand-up almost immediately given the first thing I heard was her story concerning Taylor Dayne. This immediate affection wasn't necessarily because I'm also a fan of Dayne (though "Tell it to My Heart" really is just the best), but because it allowed Notaro to put herself in her place. She understands where she stands in relation to Dayne as far as the pop culture pantheon is concerned and in relaying this story of unironic fandom she became one of us by divulging a piece of information most might consider at least somewhat embarrassing and going even further by consistently being shameless in her approach to how much Dayne's music meant to her in her formative years. As I continued listening to more of Notaro's material it became evident from her two album discography that some major things had occurred in her life between the release of her first and second albums. And so, when I came scrolling across this documentary simply titled Tig on Netflix the other day, I was more than thrilled to have access not only to what was going through Notaro's mind at the time multiple crises were taking place in her life, but how she's been since and what she's been up to.