• Another week has come and gone, and that means it's time for another AlterBadger with yer old pal Andy.  
• Halloween was awesome as usual, another year with no kids knocking on my door.  I didn't even try to avoid them this year like I did last year.  So I got most of the way through my Halloween viewing list without any interruptions.  The 1932 Vampyr was, unfortunately, kind of a bust.  There are some movies that are good, there are some movies that are good and also interesting, and there are some movies that are just interesting.  Vampyr was very, very interesting.  Maybe I'll give it another go next year.  Amazingly, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was far less stupid than it should have been.  It helps that The Wolf Man is already ninety percent more interesting than every other movie monster ever, and by virtue of simply having him in it the movie becomes a lot better.  I actually kind of liked it, had some surprisingly good character work and pretty good visuals.  If you ever rent The Wolf Man: Legacy Collection DVD, both The Wolf Man and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man are on the first disc. 
• I don't watch too many of DC Entertainment's direct-to-DVD superhero cartoons, but "Batman: Under the Red Hood" sounded pretty appealing.  Of the films I've seen, I'm happy to say that it is undoubtedly the best.  The plot is well done, a great idea for a story... which unfortunately I can't describe without giving away every single surprise.  But it's a great idea, and features a good number of Batman villains, which is generally my favorite kind of Batman story.  The voice acting was generally above average, though unfortunately Batman and the Red Hood are among the losers of the bunch.  But John "Bender Bending Rodriguez" DiMaggio provides a strong new interpretation of the Joker, and it's hard to go wrong with Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing.  Production values are generally high, with smooth animation and very nice action sequences, though I'm finding that DC's house style continually robs the characters' faces of any expression or individuality, and that becomes very noticeable in a film this emotional.  But the quality of the fight scenes really shines, with smooth animation and choreography that you don't get on television animation (and violence, if that's your thing...).  What really surprised me was how well the script integrated exposition into the film; for a story as soaked in continuity as this one, it's very accessible, and any viewer with a baseline familiarity of who Batman, Robin, and the Joker are would be able to pick this up.  A nicely done production all around, with its few flaws being some shoddy voice work and too much violence for the sake of violence (just because you CAN have a PG-13 rating doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to earn it).  This dark and emotional film will probably go down in history as one of DC Entertainment's best.
• Speaking of DC Entertainment, I just wanted to say one quick thing about their next film, "All-Star Superman."  This is based off a 12-issue comic book series published a few years ago, and was called All-Star Superman because the writer and artists were both comicbook superstars, and they were working together on a famous character.  They had an All-Star Batman book with the same setup.  Now turn that into a cartoon and put it on a DVD, and that All-Star label completely loses meaning.  You put out a DVD called All-Star Superman, people are going to be expecting Tom Cruise and Kevin Spacey doing voice work, or they're going to think it maybe has something to do with baseball.  Sticking with that title means you're primarily marketing to the hardcore cadre of nerds who are already familiar with the source material, and considering DC is planning this DVD for a big Christmastime 2011 release, that is the very definition of shooting yourself in the foot.  
• I don't do a lot of music reviews because I do not in any way consider myself an expert.  I actually have a pretty narrow taste, I like what I like and the rest doesn't interest me.  I recently got an awesome deal on iTunes with The Arrogant Sons of Bitches Collection; the Arrogant SOBS were a ska-punk band with a very hectic, fast-and-loud style.  They were together from around 1995 to 2007.  The Collection, 26 tracks for a measly $8, comprises the best songs they recorded from that time period.  Some of their early stuff is nothing noteworthy (teenagers grinding on guitars and screaming), but as they grew and matured their efforts become more focused and their hectic sound became hugely energetic, heavily layered with multiple instruments.  At their best, they were fantastic (today their lead singer/songwriter continues to play in Bomb the Music Industry), and you don't have to just take my word for it, you can actually download some of their songs free online.  Here's a link where you can listen to my favorite track of the collection, "Sorry, We Steal."  [WARNING:  Audio clip loads at FULL volume, so be ready to turn it down right away or you'll go deaf]  Their best and final album, "Three Cheers for Disappointment" can be downloaded in its entirety for free right here.  It's one of my top five favorite rock albums right now, so normal people might like it too.
• Rank-o-rama!  After Batman: Under the Red Hood, my favorite DC animated release is definitely Sueprman: Doomsday.  I liked Justice League: The New Frontier, it wasn't great but it was good.  Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths was surprisingly bland.  I guess the "heroes fight evil versions of themselves" has been done so many times...  So, top five favorite rock albums as of this second:  Streetlight Manifesto, "Everything Goes Numb," Weezer, "Pinkerton," Less than Jake, "Anthem," Arrogant Sons of Bitches, "Three Cheers for Disappointment," and then of course Green Day, "American Idiot."
• This week's reading:  Still working on Bram Stoker's "Dracula."  The storytelling structure is innovative, and the plot is genuinely eerie, but good god, Victorian novels can be a chore to get through.