2 Shows to Make Your Week Better: ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ & ‘Bookie’
Two recommendations from yours truly
Batman: Caped Crusader (Season 1, 2024 -)
One could argue that Amazon Prime’s latest animated show of the Dark Knight, Batman: Caped Crusader, was made for Generation Alpha so they can have their own experience like Millennials had with the beloved Batman: The Animated Series (TAS) in the ‘90s. But given the former was also created by Bruce Timm (a co-creator of TAS), I tend to go with the angle that he specifically made this for us, the kids of the 80s and early 90s, as a quintessential throwback to our childhood. Because it totally seems to work that way.
Proudly donning a similar “dark deco” style that TAS championed three decades ago, Caped Crusader plays like an alternate version of the Batman we used to know. Bruce Wayne (Hamish Linklater from Midnight Mass) is slightly younger and a little swaggier here but doesn’t differ much from Kevin Conroy’s version. He’s the same tough and justice-seeking broken man who does his best to abolish corruption and decrease crime in Gotham. The biggest difference in Caped Crusader, compared to TAS, is that it cleverly reimagines many of the iconic villains we know, putting an intriguing spin on them (what if Penguin was a narcissistic show-woman?), while also introducing lesser-known baddies that give a curious yet oddly fitting vibe to the series. It's refreshing. Not all of them work equally, but Timm deserves credit for trying something different while keeping the material’s core values on morality and class intact.
If you were a huge fan of TAS and other subsequent Warner Bros. animations (like The Dark Knight Returns 1-2 or Under the Red Hood), you’ll likely find this iteration of the DC hero both nostalgic and revitalizing. And frankly, as batheads, we can hardly ask for much more.
Bookie (Season 1, 2023 -)
In contemporary physical stand-up comedy, no one beats the proudly Italian-American Sebastian Maniscalco. If you don’t know him, you have several hours of laugh-out-loud specials to get through (which you can do on Netflix). I’ve been a big fan of his for years now, but I only got around to watching his scripted sitcom Bookie (on Max) last week. The reason for that is simple: despite loving his comedy routines, I don’t find his acting all that great. Let me rephrase that. Whenever he plays characters that have absolutely nothing in common with his real-life persona, he comes off as ingenuine and unconvincing. If he doesn’t get to be someone who’s naturally loud, argumentative, and inappropriately funny, he tends to chew scenery. (See his ridiculous cameo in The Irishman as a supposedly intimidating gangster.) He’s a comedian first and foremost, and only a character actor second.
In Bookie, though, his role is a perfect match for utilizing his talent. He plays an old-school and arrogant veteran bookie in L.A. named Danny, who’s paired with a washed-up, has-been football player called Ray (Omar J. Dorsey). Their duo is hilarious. They share a chemistry and dynamic that buddy comedies thrive on. The two both feel somewhat obsolete and inadequate — trying to survive in an illegitimate profession that’s on the verge of extinction due to the impending legalization of sports gambling — that creates a special bond between them. They might be "business partners" at first, but the job forces them to spend long days together (lots of car rides and meetings with hopeless losers) which essentially turns their relationship into a loose and endearing friendship.
The reason the show resonates so well, beyond the acting, is because creators Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men, The Kominsky Method) and Nick Bakay (The King of Queens) have the experience and expertise to constantly put the duo in ridiculous situations, ripe for making fun of each other and occasionally deliver some excellent slapstick comedy. Plus, Lorre and Bakay clearly have a pull because they even managed to get Charlie Sheen to guest star as himself — needless to say, his appearance in the context of his past is hysterical.
I might make this type of post a regular thing, recommending two movies/shows I saw recently that were good but aren’t necessarily worthy of a longer, detailed review. That would allow me to cover more ground and maybe publish more frequently. Let me know in the comments (or reply to this email) how you’d feel about it.
As always, thanks for reading The Screen.