Batman: Bad Blood - 3/5

This movie is treading water with no direction in sight. It has passable action and halfway decent plot, but the whole affair seems to just drone on and on until it’s finished, and it’s not even that long of a movie. The visual style is very bland, relying on dark hard-to-read images for the bulk of the narrative. The whole bat-family is in this one, as well as a collection of villains, and this seems to be the main draw of the film. It creates a new villain, but instead of being a grounded, empathetic character like in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, instead it comes off as formulaic and canned.

Closest comparison: Just watch Batman: Mask of the Phantasm again instead.

Setting: Noir
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Superhero

Once Upon a Deadpool - 4/5

This PG-13 re-cut version of Deadpool 2 does a great job of removing (most of) the blood and language. Framing the story in a ‘Princess Bride’ storytelling setting works brilliantly, allowing them to cut around the R-rated bits and throw in new footage and jokes where needed. There are several new scenes that work well, including a Stan Lee post-credits tribute, though if you’re not familiar with The Princess Bride those jokes may be underwhelming. The original cut of Deadpool 2 was slightly better, just because the timing and filming of the scenes was designed for it, but this is a better introduction to the character if you shied away from the other films for content reasons. It’s still irreverent and crass, but toned down considerably.