Swiss Army Man (2016)

The movie opens with Hank (Paul Dano) marooned on an island and preparing to put himself out of his misery.  Before he does, he spots a body on the beach!  Thinking perhaps he is no longer alone, he rushes over to find the man (Daniel Radcliffe) is dead.  Oh well.  Once again, he returns to his makeshift noose and plots his demise but then the corpse starts farting.  The farting is so extreme that the body starts maneuvering through the water.  Hank has an idea!  Using the gassy corpse as a jet ski, he departs the island and hopes to find his way to the mainland.  Sure enough, he and the corpse arrive on the mainland and thus begins their friendship.  Hank names him Manny  Clearly, Hank has suffered a mental breakdown since he is able to have conversations with Manny.  Manny also proves to be useful in many ways, serving as a pellet gun, a knife, an axe, a harpoon gun, a water jug, and more.  In their conversations, Hank often obsesses over a woman - Sarah - he saw on a bus (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).  Clearly, he was smitten by her but was too shy to do anything about it other than taking a snapshot of her with his phone.  This seemingly chance encounter soon becomes the centerpiece of all their conversation and even roleplay.  Weird.

In the end, it turns out that Hank was an unreliable narrator.  By strange coincidence, it turns out that Hank and Manny have been 'stranded' in the woods behind Sarah's house.  The entire ordeal has taken place within a short distance of civilization.  Yes, Hank is a stalker who has been hiding near Sarah's house and his phone has quite a few pictures of her.  The shy guy who found himself a castaway is all in his head while the creepy stalker living with a corpse is the reality.  Any sympathy one had for Hank fades away quickly with this reveal.  His obsession with the 'chance encounter' on the bus is fully explained.

However, in the climactic scene where everyone is on the beach and Hank is being arrested, Manny again begins farting.  Manny slips into the water and jet skis into the sunset, baffling everyone on the beach.  Sarah puts it best when she utters, "What the fuck?"  Indeed.

So, what is true and what is fantasy?  Except for the last 10 minutes, this is all Hank and he is clearly not right in the head.  He's playing make believe in the woods with a corpse.  Fine.  However, the closing scene where all these witnesses see Manny fart his way into the surf tends to confirm Hank's fantasy.  Huh.  Mostly unwatchable and best avoided.

The Batman (2022)

The mayor is watching the news report of the debate with his challenger.  He is not pleased with the polls and thinks he should be winning easily.  Suddenly, a man in a mask appears behind him and beats him to death.  Lt. James Gordon (Jeffery Wright) arrives with the Batman (Robert Pattinson) to investigate the scene.  The other cops are horrified that Gordon brought Batman.  Batman surveys the scene, noticing several things that the detectives had missed.  Of particular interest, there is a card left for The Batman.  When opened, it offers a riddle.  What does a liar do when he's dead?  "He lies still," Batman states.  There is also a cypher to solve, which Batman takes to the bat cave.  Soon, there are more corpses and more riddles to solve.  The Riddler (Paul Dano) is exposing some dark secret related to city corruption and all the participants are getting eliminated.

Many of the standard characters appear: Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell), and Alfred (Andy Serkis).  Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) proves to be something of an enigma, a man who has a history with Thomas Wayne.  In a dramatic shift from the Christian Bale version, this Bruce Wayne is a brooding hermit reminiscent of Howard Hughes.  There is much more emphasis on Batman's skills as a detective; he solves most of the riddles, is frequently trailing suspects, records all his observations in journals, and discovers important facts through deduction.  He is active by day but not generally in costume.  Paul Dano's Riddler is very different from previous incarnations.  He isn't the cackling psychopath (Frank Gorshin) nor an over-the-top redhaired goofball (Jim Carrey).  This is more Unabomber/Zodiac Killer.

Though long, the pacing is good.  There are a few scenes that didn't work, especially the one where the police transport an unconscious Batman back to the police station without removing his mask, especially since the police are hostile toward this version of Batman.  Good popcorn fun!