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Boner M
07-17-2012, 12:19 PM
IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/)

http://i.imgur.com/UI7mF.png

Boner M
07-17-2012, 12:25 PM
I dunno, man. The 165 mins never really dragged, but holy fuck this felt even more rushed and incoherent than TDK. Thank god Nolan's done with the series and can hopefully go back to things he's good at.

Apologies to everyone mad that I, of all people, got to see it before you...

transmogrifier
07-17-2012, 12:53 PM
I dunno, man. The 165 mins never really dragged, but holy fuck this felt even more rushed and incoherent than TDK. Thank god Nolan's done with the series and can hopefully go back to things he's good at.

Apologies to everyone mad that I, of all people, got to see it before you...

Yeah, I rewatched The Dark Knight finally, and it is really lumpy and....I don't know, cheap. Just stupid things like Morgan Freeman being aghast with the sonar cellphones (or whatever that was) and then basically saying "Well, I'll just use it this once....." and the Joker actually saying aloud "I'm just like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I got it" [THANKS NOLAN! I'M GLAD YOU SPELLED THAT OUT FOR ME], and the boring, illogical ending with Gordon's family (maybe I missed it, but Batman made the decision about who to rescue, so why should Gordon lose a loved one in response?) and the weird insistence that humanity would implode if a DA turned out to be not a nice guy.

Please tell me Nolan got better at directing action - my wife wants to see this on Friday, and I would like some genuine thrills in amongst the soggy, bloated portent.

Boner M
07-17-2012, 12:57 PM
Please tell me Nolan got better at directing action - my wife wants to see this on Friday, and I would like some genuine thrills in amongst the soggy, bloated portent.
No dice.

The Superbowl scene is the closest the film comes to spine-tingling... mostly for one moment that - like Joker sticking his head out the window to catch the breeze in TDK - is a rare inspired touch that sticks out almost like a sore thumb considering the lack of genuine awe surrounding it.

NickGlass
07-17-2012, 02:14 PM
H8TER!

Boner M
07-17-2012, 02:16 PM
H8TER!
Hateter?

Sven
07-17-2012, 03:24 PM
This thread reminded me that I haven't listened to Prince's soundtrack for the original Batman in too long. Maybe Nolan could use somma 'dis...?

S0dn7Q9xrbc

Boner M
07-17-2012, 03:33 PM
Nolan's asexual, though.

Qrazy
07-17-2012, 03:51 PM
I'm more interested in how it compares to films of it's ilk... the other films in the batman trilogy, comic book films, action/adventure films, etc than just as a film unto itself. Any comments on this?

megladon8
07-17-2012, 06:45 PM
Yikes...first vote is a nay? :eek:

That's worrisome.

Skitch
07-17-2012, 07:25 PM
I'm more interested in how it compares to films of it's ilk... the other films in the batman trilogy, comic book films, action/adventure films, etc than just as a film unto itself. Any comments on this?

I would like everyone to rate BB and TDK before presenting their review of TDKR. :/

Boner M
07-17-2012, 08:22 PM
Yikes...first vote is a nay? :eek:

That's worrisome.
It's just me. I'd you liked the other two, there's a chance you'll like this more.

Pop Trash
07-17-2012, 08:27 PM
I dunno, man. The 165 mins never really dragged, but holy fuck this felt even more rushed and incoherent than TDK. Thank god Nolan's done with the series and can hopefully go back to things he's good at.

Apologies to everyone mad that I, of all people, got to see it before you...

What kind of star rating would you give to all three?

Boner M
07-17-2012, 08:35 PM
1.5 for BB, 2.5 for TDK (mostly for Ledger), 2 for this one.

For Nolan's others: 3.5 for Memento, 3 for Inception/Prestige, 2 for Insomnia (h/s Following).

Btw, last few twitter posts have more brief TDKR thoughts for the curious.

NickGlass
07-17-2012, 08:42 PM
Hateter?

Yeah, it's a synonym for people who don't like movies. I know you hate movies.

Pop Trash
07-17-2012, 08:48 PM
1.5 for BB, 2.5 for TDK (mostly for Ledger), 2 for this one.


Hmm, see I'm a bit kinder. 3 & 3.5 for the last two, though I am a bit tired of TDK at this point. And the ComicCon-ization of Hollywood in general as of late.

Pop Trash
07-18-2012, 01:53 AM
Ebert gave it 3 stars. Basically said Bane is a rather weak character (unsurprisingly) but is given almost as much screen time as Wayne/Batman.

Winston*
07-18-2012, 02:00 AM
Seeing this tomorrow afternoon. FYI.

Watashi
07-18-2012, 02:03 AM
Why do you Kiwis/Aussies always see movies before us?

What did you do for them to love you more?

Spinal
07-18-2012, 02:43 AM
Ebert gave it 3 stars. Basically said Bane is a rather weak character (unsurprisingly) but is given almost as much screen time as Wayne/Batman.

Well, Wayne/Batman (as played by Bale) is also a weak character.

Boner M
07-18-2012, 02:56 AM
Spoiler: Bane & Batman realize that they are the only ones who can understand what the other is saying, put aside their differences.
:lol:

eternity
07-18-2012, 02:58 AM
Got IMAX tickets for Wednesday. Gave them away. I'm going to never see this movie if I can help it.

number8
07-18-2012, 03:36 AM
So brave.

B-side
07-18-2012, 05:42 AM
I think eternity is a pretty cool guy. eh hates nolan and doesn't afraid of anything.

baby doll
07-18-2012, 07:42 AM
24fps? What is this, 1927?

megladon8
07-18-2012, 10:16 AM
I think eternity is a pretty cool guy. eh hates nolan and doesn't afraid of anything.


Eh doesn't afraid of anything, eh? :lol:

number8
07-18-2012, 03:17 PM
1-GkQihKYvM

[ETM]
07-18-2012, 04:21 PM
Our local multiplex is organizing a "Men's Night" for the opening of The Dark Knight Rises - single showing the night before opening day, and a free beer for attendees.:lol:

number8
07-18-2012, 05:14 PM
For anyone who's ever wanted to own a Mondo poster, they're doing something special where instead of printing only a limited number, they will be printing Oily Moss' TDKR poster for however many are bought in 24 hours. This is about as guaranteed as you can get for owning one of their posters finally.

Winston*
07-19-2012, 06:45 AM
Probably give it a yay because I wasn't bored for most of it, but a mild one. Lots of speeches, not a lot of memorable performances, dialogue or images. Tale of Two Cities stuff is really overt, but doesn't invite flattering comparisons. Dickens' novel has a much better villain for example.

Not sure how to feel about Catwoman's implied girlfriend being forgotten about by the end of the movie. Batman, he can turn a gay woman straight.

Boner M
07-19-2012, 07:43 AM
Batman, he can turn a gay woman straight.
Well, Adam West's can.

B-side
07-19-2012, 07:55 AM
Eh doesn't afraid of anything, eh? :lol:

It's an internet thing. (http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/195/405/halo.png):P

Watashi
07-19-2012, 08:35 AM
Reading the outrage and fanboy retardation will probably be more exciting than watching the film itself.

Winston*
07-19-2012, 08:42 AM
On reflection, will settle on a nay.

The twist at the end where it turns out Ra's Al Ghul is Marion Coitillard's father instead of Bane's was awful. Why am I supposed to care about this?

Watashi
07-19-2012, 08:43 AM
Father Geek himself, Harry Knowles immensely disliked the film.

Boner M
07-19-2012, 08:49 AM
The twist at the end where it turns out Ra's Al Ghul is Marion Coitillard's father instead of Bane's was awful. Why am I supposed to care about this?
I remarked elsewhere that each film in the trilogy feels like a long season recap for a TV series that doesn't exist. That revelation being the most egregious example.

transmogrifier
07-19-2012, 09:37 AM
I remarked elsewhere that each film in the trilogy feels like a long season recap for a TV series that doesn't exist.

That's a good analogy. The first two movies are edited with a chainsaw.

eternity
07-19-2012, 08:39 PM
On reflection, will settle on a nay.

The twist at the end where it turns out Ra's Al Ghul is Marion Coitillard's father instead of Bane's was awful. Why am I supposed to care about this?

This was obvious from the moment Cotillard was cast.

Sycophant
07-19-2012, 09:11 PM
I'm probably going to see this movie, and when I do, it'll be with as open a mind as I can muster.

It will not, however, be opening weekend. I can't think of anything I want less.

D_Davis
07-19-2012, 10:13 PM
The first two movies are edited with a chainsaw.

I completely agree. There is very little dramatic flow to the first two films. They're like collections of scenes stitched and hastily cobbled together. I never really felt a sense of place.

Pop Trash
07-19-2012, 11:04 PM
I completely agree. There is very little dramatic flow to the first two films. They're like collections of scenes stitched and hastily cobbled together. I never really felt a sense of place.

Eh, I think that's always been Nolan's style (inc. the non-Batman films). Lots of cross cutting and sound bridges (which I really like in general). It wouldn't surprise me if he is a fan of more experimental things with that technique like Sans Soleil.

megladon8
07-20-2012, 12:23 AM
I'd love to send the RT fanboys over here - 100% negative so far :lol:


Speaking of, since when does 3/5 equal a "nay"?

Pop Trash
07-20-2012, 12:26 AM
Speaking of, since when does 3/5 equal a "nay"?

I sometimes 'nay' with this rating, especially when it's a movie that is getting way too many "best movie evrrr" reactions.

eternity
07-20-2012, 12:31 AM
If 1 and 2 = nay and 4 and 5 = yay, 3 allows for either, right?

Lucky
07-20-2012, 12:40 AM
Popular film hating, check.

Lesbians, check.

Ratings system discussion, check.

This thread has officially been Match-Cut approved!

baby doll
07-20-2012, 04:14 AM
Popular film hating, check.Yes, because we all remember how much everyone around here hated The Dark Knight.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 05:29 AM
Best of the series, the only one I'm positive on. Still clunky in places and too many big theme speeches, but has more heart and more tangible anger. I liked it.

Milky Joe
07-20-2012, 08:42 AM
At least 12 moviegoers were reportedly killed and 20 injured at a cinema in the Colorado city of Aurora in the Denver suburbs. They were attending a midnight showing of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Local media reports that two gunmen were involved in the rampage. An explosive device was set off during the shooting, injuring several people.

Police are clearing people from the scene over fears that another explosive device might be on the premises.

Details to follow.

http://www.rt.com/news/shooting-dark-knight-rises-batman-denver-aurora-654/

NAY

TGM
07-20-2012, 08:46 AM
I LOVED the first two films, but this? Yeah, no, this was a bloated disaster. There was NO reason for it to be as long as it was, and this movie gets tiring REAL fast. And really, I just didn't care about anyone. None of the characters were interesting, particularly compared to what we got in the prior films. I mean, they weren't BAD, necessarily. But they certainly weren't anything memorable in the least, either. And the ending was the biggest BS cop-out nonsense I may have ever seen.

I also love how Batman's dealing with a literal ticking time bomb, yet he has the time to rig up a big flaming bat symbol in a building.

I dunno, this movie really did nothing for me at all. I got a kick out of the Scarecrow's cameo, I suppose. But where I've gone back and rewatched the other two movies countless times, this movie's extended time really kills it for me. I can't see myself ever sitting through this thing again.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 08:46 AM
Some brief thoughts:


- they really didn't know what to do with Catwoman. Ultimately, she just hangs around, popping up when needed for the narrative. Really needed to see more of her while Bane had the city on lockdown, to see how she was dealing with the anarchy she had been calling for. This would have made her decision at the end a lot more satisfying and less deus ex machina-esque. Hathaway struggles a little to really pull off the sexy, laissez faire attitude they're going for, but she's fine, I guess.
- Bane's end was anticlimatic. Thought the first man-on-man fight that sees Batman's back get broken was awesome, but in terms of the story, it is too long and ferocious for two men who barely know each other. It should have been short, bloody and brutal, left Batman a little cowed, and THEN have the major one-on-one fight (without all the silly extras paired off neatly tussling in the background - not very good staging at all).
- In fact, Nolan is still not very good at action, but the cross-cutting at the end does do a lot of the work for him, and generates an appreciable head of steam that powers you through all the dumb stuff.
- I liked JGL character, and loved the idea of him taking over the mantle - that worked very well, especially as he seems like a more grounded "reboot' of the Batman symbol. But I do think the film spends far too much time with him than it really needs, and it flabs out the story too much.
- Goddamn that awful, awful score. Made me value the moments of quiet when it disappears - which is not often.
- the best thing about it is the underlying bitterness of Batman and the role he chose to undertake, and how it takes so much from him for so little in return (though, of course, this being Nolan's Batman, we are told this again and again and again - along with lots of declarative "You are evil" and "You are looking for a clean start" and all that crap that has really, really dragged the whole series down. Most of this is restricted to the first half....)
- I quite liked the "twist" regarding Talia, as it retroactively puts all the pieces of the puzzle back together, with all of Bane's stunts done expressly to get her into the right place at the right time. It's a pity it comes so late so that we aren't given a chance to see what might have arisen from the Bane/Talia relationship.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 08:48 AM
I agree about the ending.

Wayne should be dead. Anything else is just a sappy cop out

Boner M
07-20-2012, 08:56 AM
I agree about the ending.

Wayne should be dead. Anything else is just a sappy cop out
Exactly.

Horrible, horrible news about the shooting. "Brenda Stuart of 850 KOA Radio told Sky News that the audience initially: "Thought it was part of the movie."" - ugh, my heart sank.

Lazlo
07-20-2012, 09:06 AM
I agree about the ending.

Wayne should be dead. Anything else is just a sappy cop out

I didn't mind it but I thought it would have been more effective if

They had not cut to Bruce on the other side of the cafe, just left it with Alfred nodding at him.

Overall, I was floored by this movie. Loved it. It takes awhile to get up to speed, but once it gets going it's just fucking nuts. It's a hell of a thing. I was terrified of Bane, his brutality wrapped in such charisma. The epic ambition of the movie is magnificent. And I'm a sucker for the

grand, sacrificial gesture. The last ten minutes of the movie are like Frodo at the end of Return of the King for me. Batman gives so much of himself to save us all.

Can't wait to see it again Sunday in true 70mm IMAX.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 09:10 AM
And I'm a sucker for the

grand, sacrificial gesture. The last ten minutes of the movie are like Frodo at the end of Return of the King for me. Batman gives so much of himself to save us all.

But he doesn't. That's the problem!

Boner M
07-20-2012, 09:13 AM
But he doesn't. That's the problem!
The more I reflect on it, the more it seemed to ruin a note of such potential resonance and power.

Placing a crying Michael Caine at Wayne's grave right before the latter's 'gotcha!' resurrection is almost comically cheap.

Lazlo
07-20-2012, 09:16 AM
But he doesn't. That's the problem!

He does.

Just not the ultimate sacrifice. The years of pain and emotional strife, the loss of his loved ones, the strain of pushing his every limit to combat evil. No, he doesn't die, but neither does Frodo, to carry on the comparison. They both give up the comforts a normal life could have provided them for a wholly noble cause. In the end they are rewarded, though the cost is great.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 09:29 AM
He does.

Just not the ultimate sacrifice. The years of pain and emotional strife, the loss of his loved ones, the strain of pushing his every limit to combat evil. No, he doesn't die, but neither does Frodo, to carry on the comparison. They both give up the comforts a normal life could have provided them for a wholly noble cause. In the end they are rewarded, though the cost is great.

He gives up having his body busted and not being appreciated for it to be celebrated as a hero while he sits in Florence relaxing drinking coffee with Anne Hathaway. Tough!

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 09:31 AM
The more I reflect on it, the more it seemed to ruin a note of such potential resonance and power.

The unveiling of the statue of Batman - for a brief second I saw the resonance that the series has been straining so (too) hard to achieve. But then they went and made it all happy-clappy.

Winston*
07-20-2012, 09:39 AM
The more I reflect on it, the more it seemed to ruin a note of such potential resonance and power.

Placing a crying Michael Caine at Wayne's grave right before the latter's 'gotcha!' resurrection is almost comically cheap.

Give him a phone call Bruce, you dick.

Boner M
07-20-2012, 09:43 AM
:lol:

Irish
07-20-2012, 09:51 AM
I LOVED the first two films, but this? Yeah, no, this was a bloated disaster. There was NO reason for it to be as long as it was, and this movie gets tiring REAL fast. And really, I just didn't care about anyone. None of the characters were interesting, particularly compared to what we got in the prior films. I mean, they weren't BAD, necessarily. But they certainly weren't anything memorable in the least, either. And the ending was the biggest BS cop-out nonsense I may have ever seen.

This is the most damning post I've read from you. I planned on seeing this in the theaters but yikes ... Not anymore.

Watashi
07-20-2012, 10:11 AM
I had no expectations going in and I thought this was easily the best of the three Nolan films. I thought Bane was more frightening than The Joker. I am in disbelief that most critics are putting Batman Begins over this.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 10:14 AM
I had no expectations going in and I thought this was easily the best of three Nolan films. I thought Bane was more frightening than The Joker. I am on disbelief that most critics are putting Batman Begins over this.

You and I, we ain't so different. Though I am just a mild yay on this last one, it is way better than Batman Begins.

Morris Schæffer
07-20-2012, 10:51 AM
Man kills 14 in Denver during premiere of this.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Watashi
07-20-2012, 10:54 AM
Man kills 14 in Denver during premiere of this.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Did you not read the second page at all?

Dead & Messed Up
07-20-2012, 10:54 AM
Yeah, thought this was pretty swell, although I had two problems.

Sidenote: should we spoiler spoilers or assume people coming into this thread should have damn well seen the movie?

But I guess I'll err on caution's side.

1) The Miranda Tate reveal just didn't work for me. At all. I thought Hardy had such a physically intimidating presence and focus that suddenly switching gears with five minutes to go felt cheap, a reversal for its own sake. The only worthwhile thing about the whole notion is the idea that the only person to make it out of that prison, pre-Bruce, was a girl. Gender!

2) Batman shoulda died. He so clearly shoulda died. I was welling with emotion as he flew that nuke away, and then, "Oh hey guys, I'm kicking it in Florence, no worries."

Other than those, I thought the flick was tremendous. Epic, exciting, some good development for new castmates like John Blake and especially Selina Kyle. Ann Hathaway elevates every scene she's in. That first fight between Bruce and Bane was brutal. Loved that judge cameo.

"Death or exile?"
"Death."
"Very well. Death...by exile!"

:lol:

Watashi
07-20-2012, 11:00 AM
Yeah.

That has to be some pretty damn coincidence that Wayne knew exactly what bar to be at and what time to go at. I like the idea of just seeing Alfred nodding without cutting to Wayne.

I love the final shot with Robin. It's so comic-booky, it's perfect. Though who's going to train him?

Morris Schæffer
07-20-2012, 11:03 AM
Did you not read the second page at all?

I did a quick check, but missed it. Also, this thread is still dangerous for me with possible spoilers.

Watashi
07-20-2012, 11:06 AM
This is the most damning post I've read from you. I planned on seeing this in the theaters but yikes ... Not anymore.
Seriously? You're putting your faith into someone who thinks Green Lantern is a better film than this?

number8
07-20-2012, 11:28 AM
I think it might be my favorite of the three too.

I find it interesting that this is appealing more to people who weren't huge fans of the first two more than the fanboys. I think it's because it has a very different tone to it. For one thing, you've got Batman and Catwoman walking around in costumes in broad daylight instead of posing in shadows or moving in shaky cam. That plus the plot of the third act makes it more like a comic book movie.

Anyone else burst out laughing when Dangle showed up?

Fezzik
07-20-2012, 11:32 AM
Seriously? You're putting your faith into someone who thinks Green Lantern is a better film than this?

That was unnecessary. Everyone has movies that they like (or dislike) where their opinions don't jibe with the populous. It doesn't make their overall opinion dismissible.

This isn't Rotten Tomatoes.

number8
07-20-2012, 11:32 AM
Also, what on earth gave people the idea that

Catwoman is gay?

Maybe I'm just familiar with the comic character Juno Temple is playing but there's literally nothing in the movie that could suggest that. What a bizarre assumption.

Irish
07-20-2012, 11:35 AM
Seriously? You're putting your faith into someone who thinks Green Lantern is a better film than this?

Sure, why not? I've agreed with TGM on more than one occasion.

The were enough red flags in the write-up (bloated, bad characterizations, weak ending) to get me to think twice.

Edit: Might not seem like it, but I do take what people here say to heart. I hadn't been to a movie theater in over a year, but went to see the Avengers because everybody here raved about it.

number8
07-20-2012, 11:53 AM
One other thing. I appreciate the film's message of "Being a cop is stupid. Be Batman instead."

number8
07-20-2012, 12:10 PM
The news on this shooting is just getting worse and worse everytime I find an update. The suspect surrendered without a fight, but then at the police station he told cops that he rigged bombs at his apartment building? What the fuuuuuck.

Dukefrukem
07-20-2012, 12:40 PM
I did a quick check, but missed it. Also, this thread is still dangerous for me with possible spoilers.

I do the same thing. Wats just wants you to feel like a baby eater when it happens.

number8
07-20-2012, 12:44 PM
The other thing that made laugh is that the climax made me think of this:

"Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb."

D_Davis
07-20-2012, 01:32 PM
Eh, I think that's always been Nolan's style (inc. the non-Batman films). Lots of cross cutting and sound bridges (which I really like in general).

Probably why I'm not a fan. I don't like his "style."

Mr. McGibblets
07-20-2012, 02:08 PM
I also disliked the first two films and like this one considerably more.

Long notes in mostly chronological order:

This note has much more to do with the preceding film, but how in the world is an (already nuts) district attorney a better symbol for citizens than a fucking superhero?

This film looks much much better than either of the other two. In place of a color scheme, it often has a real colorful vibrancy.

How does the secondary-businessman-antagonist simply walk away from the firefight at the bar? He was right in the middle of it. With the amount of force that showed up (slightly excessive for a missing person) he is just able to walk away?

The hostage situation at the stock exchange appears to take place in the nebulous where time doesn’t exist. It looks like it starts first thing in the morning (not explicit, but people are discussing yesterday’s news), when Bane leaves it is still clearly daylight, but after a ten minute drive through the tunnels it is pitch black outside.

The scenes between Alfred and Wayne slow the film to a crawl. I love the bit about Florence, but all of the rest of the scolding is for naught. Wayne not only doesn’t stop Batman-ing, but he doesn’t ever consider it for a second.

Bruce Wayne takes great pains to highlight his limp, but the moment Batman returns, Wayne walks around openly without it.

Selina Kyle is far too “good” of a person. Yes, she does bad things often, but she’s always motivated by self-preservation. She always clearly wants to do good (maybe not as written, but she’s played way too softly). When Batman tells her that he thinks she’ll use the “blank slate” to start over, I had never considered anything else. She doesn’t give up nefarious or dangerous vibes at all.

The pacing in the second half is excellent. It’s pretty simple stuff, but from the moment Batman goes in to the sewers, the rest of the film just zips right along. That’s impressive considering the material covered.

Bane is interesting. A lot of the motivation for his actions is only revealed at the end, but even before that he is an odd cross between Ra’s (who wanted to destroy Gotham because it was decaying) and The Joker (who wanted to destroy Gotham as a challenge to Batman). I think he works best as a secondary villain, and that he ends up being one is a credit.

By far the best action scene is the detonation of the bombs all over the city. The bit on the football field in particular is almost beautiful.

Although, apparently no one involved with this production has ever scene a football game. The idea that the stadium wouldn’t be crawling with cops makes no sense.

Despite everything, I really like the bits in the prison. Bale has always played the character as though he neither wants to be Bruce Wayne nor Batman and here, stripped of everything, that finally makes sense.

But I cannot believe how unbearable the swelling music gets when Wayne makes the leap out of the prison.

The Dent storyline is almost worth it for the scene in the apartment where Blake turns on Gordon. The cover-up always should have been condemnable, but it’s only then that the characters voice that.

Gordon-Levitt is the best part of the film. In contrast to Bale’s stoic stoicism, he gives a very vivacious performance even though his character is very similar and his circumstances are just as bleak if not bleaker. Yet, he still seems very alive and engaged. The bit he gives to Wayne about hiding the anger applies only to Wayne, Blake hasn’t buried all of his emotions quite so well. He’s still a human.

I think the mirrored climaxes actually work really well. Batman’s story is huge and gigantic, he’s trying to save an entire city from a nuclear bomb. Blake is trying to save fifteen or twenty kids. And yet, they are both given the same weight, a commentary that every story is important, that we should do what we can, and that even with a superhero around, other people can still be heroes to.

In five or so minutes, the bomb timer goes from near 11:30 to near 11:00.

Surprisingly little is done with Bane’s demise. It would have been much more interesting to have him die from the pain of having his mask off then for him to be casually shot and disposed of because we have a new villain.

I already knew the twist going in, but the Nolan-esque foreshadowing right before the reveal is not so good. Batman trying to extract the identity of the person holding the detonator while a forgotten character hovers a few feet away is painfully obvious.

Nolan often has a problem absolutely banging the audience over the head as though we have no cognitive powers at all. A few moments:
-The lights go out, then “What was that?” “They turned off the power”
-“Sometimes it’s putting a coat over a boy’s shoulder”, then explicitly flashback to what he was talking about.
-The revel in Florence is ruined because Fox has just found out a few seconds earlier that Wayne survived.

The bit with Gordon-Levitt’s name being ‘Robin’ is a very odd nod to the audience since none of the Robin characters bear that name. It would have been a better moment if, after he silently reveals his legal name, the woman had said something like “That’s not short for Richard?”

Boner M
07-20-2012, 02:12 PM
For one thing, you've got Batman and Catwoman walking around in costumes in broad daylight instead of posing in shadows or moving in shaky cam.
Not to mention Zimmer's little glissando that accompanies Catwoman's Catwomanliest moments (the only thing I liked about his score).

number8
07-20-2012, 02:15 PM
The bit with Gordon-Levitt’s name being ‘Robin’ is a very odd nod to the audience since none of the Robin characters bear that name. It would have been a better moment if, after he silently reveals his legal name, the woman had said something like “That’s not short for Richard?”

I've read a lot of people voicing the same thing. That he should have said Dick, or Grayson or Terry or whatever. But that seems to be forgetting that this is a movie for mass consumption. Naming a name that most people may not be familiar with as a "reveal" punchline would just be odd. If you don't know any of the Robin from the comics, when the woman says, "You should use your real name... (dramatic pause)... Dick." (Knowing smile). People would go, what the hell was that about? And it would not have the same impact even if they researched it afterward. Saying "Robin" is to the point, and it's just a nod anyway, so it doesn't really matter. I think they made the right choice.

Lazlo
07-20-2012, 03:03 PM
He gives up having his body busted and not being appreciated for it to be celebrated as a hero while he sits in Florence relaxing drinking coffee with Anne Hathaway. Tough!

Still doesn't erase what he did and was forced to endure as Batman. The sacrifice was being Batman at all, not walking away once the job is done.

Saya
07-20-2012, 04:05 PM
Just came back... leaning towards a nay. Bane was awesome though and I loved his first encounter with Batman. Definitely the highlight of the movie for me and rivals the interrogation scene with the Joker from The Dark Knight.

eternity
07-20-2012, 04:20 PM
One other thing. I appreciate the film's message of "Being a cop is stupid. Be Batman instead."

Sounds like something Kevin Smith would say.

eternity
07-20-2012, 04:22 PM
I've read a lot of people voicing the same thing. That he should have said Dick, or Grayson or Terry or whatever. But that seems to be forgetting that this is a movie for mass consumption. Naming a name that most people may not be familiar with as a "reveal" punchline would just be odd. If you don't know any of the Robin from the comics, when the woman says, "You should use your real name... (dramatic pause)... Dick." (Knowing smile). People would go, what the hell was that about? And it would not have the same impact even if they researched it afterward. Saying "Robin" is to the point, and it's just a nod anyway, so it doesn't really matter. I think they made the right choice.

If it is that difficult to make a nod while having people get it and not have it be moronic, then they shouldn't have given the nod.

number8
07-20-2012, 05:05 PM
Boom! (http://www.justpressplay.net/reviews/9615-the-dark-knight-rises.html)

I really need to sleep.

megladon8
07-20-2012, 06:05 PM
Pretty great stuff.

ledfloyd
07-20-2012, 06:31 PM
i'm apparently getting drug to the theater to see this tonight. regrettably, it looks like i will be missing this year's baby doll dance. for those of you that don't know what a baby doll dance is, it is something like this:

1D0DjYR5_as

you have tough competition chris nolan.

Watashi
07-20-2012, 06:33 PM
Boom! (http://www.justpressplay.net/reviews/9615-the-dark-knight-rises.html)

I really need to sleep.
No mention of Owen?

I squealed like a fangirl when he popped up.

Watashi
07-20-2012, 06:35 PM
Can anyone confirm that the kid that Blake talks to in the Orphan House is named Tim? Imdb has him as "Tim Blake", but that's unreliable.

number8
07-20-2012, 06:51 PM
So this is actually the implication, right? I'm not the only one who thinks this is the case? Haven't read anyone else mention this online.

In the pit, people keep failing to reach the second ledge because the rope isn't long enough to go that far, so they keep getting pulled down. The only way to reach it is to jump without the safety rope.

Lazlo
07-20-2012, 06:54 PM
So this is actually the implication, right? I'm not the only one who thinks this is the case? Haven't read anyone else mention this online.

In the pit, people keep failing to reach the second ledge because the rope isn't long enough to go that far, so they keep getting pulled down. The only way to reach it is to jump without the safety rope.

I didn't catch that but now that you mention it it makes total sense.

BTW, I have no idea how anyone survives that fall, rope or no rope. Seems like the catch of the rope would snap your spine or at least really fuck up your internal organs.

Dead & Messed Up
07-20-2012, 07:07 PM
So this is actually the implication, right? I'm not the only one who thinks this is the case? Haven't read anyone else mention this online.

In the pit, people keep failing to reach the second ledge because the rope isn't long enough to go that far, so they keep getting pulled down. The only way to reach it is to jump without the safety rope.

Yeah, that's how I took it. There was enough tension to cut the jumps short.

eternity
07-20-2012, 07:18 PM
The Robin is probably as unsubtle as it is because not as many people got the similar Mr. Reese joke in TDK.

Qrazy
07-20-2012, 08:04 PM
Good comic book film, better than most, don't know why you people expect the second coming of Christ.

Dead & Messed Up
07-20-2012, 08:11 PM
Good comic book film, better than most, don't know why you people expect the second coming of Christ.

Don't discriminate - some of us are still waiting for his first arrival.

Watashi
07-20-2012, 08:45 PM
Good comic book film, better than most, don't know why you people expect the second coming of Christ.
Batman is literally Jesus Christ.

Thirdmango
07-20-2012, 10:40 PM
Watched The Dark Knight yesterday for the second time and then watched this this morning. I'd give it a mild yay, but my complaints about the dark knight are very true of this one, mostly just that the music is so awful and repetitive. I do think of the three movies I may have liked it the best but I didn't like the others all that much. Also this felt like more of a sequel to Batman Begins then anything else.

A couple of replies and random thoughts:

I did not see the Lesbian overtones but the friend I was with did. Looking back I can see how people could see them. There was one scene where the blond girl hugged Kyle from behind in a very loving manner. Also when Kyle is said to be Batman's girlfriend she straight away denies he could handle her. Like I said though, I didn't pick up on those cues.

This movie had a lot of political overtones though and they were quite clear and very silly.

Bane is King Hippo. He's big and super strong but if you hit him in his weak point he goes down.

I loved Scarecrow's part.

Nolan doesn't understand humor.

Watashi
07-20-2012, 11:17 PM
"So that's what it feels like" got the biggest laugh in my screening.

number8
07-20-2012, 11:19 PM
"So that's what it feels like" got the biggest laugh in my screening.

The joke is too obvious and has been used many times before, but the reason why I laughed is because he's talking to himself in his gravely disguise voice. I find that idea hysterical.

number8
07-20-2012, 11:32 PM
"COMMEHON! HWEERRREE DID I PUT HAAAT STUPID PHENN?! HWERRRE IS IT? IT WAS HRRIGHT HUEERRR!"
"...Master Bruce?"
"Alfred! Have you seen my pen anywhere?"
"I haven't, sir... Were you -- Was that you just now, Master Bruce?"
"I'm just trying to find this pen I was just using an hour ago. It's really irritating."
"Yes, sir, but... You were using your Butman voice."
"My what?"
"Your Butman voice."
"No, I didn't."
"I heard it, sir. It was definitely your Butman voice."
"Alfred, I wasn't using any voice. I was just talking to myself. It's normal."
"...Very good then, sir. Try that drawah on your left, sir."
"Oh, there it is! What would I do without you, Alfred?"
"Write with a pencil, I imagine. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."
"Fine, fine, thanks."

...

"HWRELLL, THAT WAS HEMBARRRRASSING! HAT LEAST HHH FOUND THIS PHENN."

number8
07-20-2012, 11:32 PM
Not sure why I wrote that.

transmogrifier
07-20-2012, 11:34 PM
"So that's what it feels like" got the biggest laugh in my screening.

Of course, I was watching it with a theater full of Koreans, so there may have been language/cultural barriers, but it was unusual that for a 2hr 40 min comic book film, the audience didn't laugh once.

Nolan just doesn't do humor.

Qrazy
07-20-2012, 11:39 PM
Audience laughed about 30 times in the screening I was in, presumably you all just watched the film with a bunch of humourless twits, that or Canadians just take life less seriously.

Qrazy
07-21-2012, 12:04 AM
I did find it strange though that Nolan, so known for his ambiguity (end of Inception, Following, Memento, Prestige) would spell out that Wayne was still alive. Especially since he said he's doen with the series, and since when has he been afraid of an unhappy ending. Robin assuming the mantle is much more potent if Wayne is most likely dead but there could be a slight possibility that he still lives.

megladon8
07-21-2012, 02:23 AM
While he doesn't have the iconic status of The Joker, I found Bane to be a uniquely terrifying villain.

That first encounter between him and Batman was brutal - I was surprised how much so.


I would absolutely love if another creative team took the ending and ran with it. This was the end of Nolan's Batman films, but it could be the beginning of something even better.

Pop Trash
07-21-2012, 03:00 AM
D'Angelo and Uhlich have at it:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/d72c18e0-d27a-11e1-a003-22000a1d0930#.UAoaiGE7WAg

Neither one likes it, but D'Angelo is more interesting since he loves The Prestige and Memento (and likes the other Batmans). Uhlich just doesn't like Nolan in general. I have to admit, I side with Uhlich on The Prestige, but it's probably worth another look.

Ivan Drago
07-21-2012, 04:12 AM
I LOVED Tom Hardy as Bane, the relationship between Selina and Bruce was well done, and the story never drug on at all. I was invested from beginning to end.

Whoever directs any future Batman movies will never top what Nolan has done with the franchise. NEVER. I still can't believe it's over.

eternity
07-21-2012, 04:36 AM
Whoever directs any future Batman movies will never top what Nolan has done with the franchise. NEVER.
It's debatable that Nolan ever topped Burton's first Batman.

transmogrifier
07-21-2012, 05:30 AM
Whoever directs any future Batman movies will never top what Nolan has done with the franchise.

Totally disagree. Burton topped it twice, in fact, and even he was terrible at directing action. All you need is someone with a more graceful ability to actually mesh themes with the narrative (rather than verbalising them at EVERY opportunity) and some action chops, and it'll be topped.

Most overrated trilogy ever? Absolutely.

Sxottlan
07-21-2012, 06:16 AM
A few scrapes and bumps, but he brought it home.

Thank you for these films Christopher.

MadMan
07-21-2012, 06:24 AM
I thought The Dark Knight Rises was pretty awesome, and quite possibly on par with The Dark Knight. That said, I'm hoping this means that Nolan returns to doing only individual projects, and I wonder if he'll ever top Memento. Probably not.

amberlita
07-21-2012, 06:26 AM
Boom! (http://www.justpressplay.net/reviews/9615-the-dark-knight-rises.html)

I really need to sleep.

Great review. I found myself markedly emotional on at least 3 or 4 different occasions during the film's runtime, much of that for the reasons you mention such as its romanticism and sentimentality. It really worked for me because I've always maintained the same anchor as Nolan: that this is Bruce Wayne's story. Unaccomplished in any of the trilogy's predecessors, when I look at Batman now I see Bruce and he is frequently breaking my heart. From lying on a rooftop in the rain while hallucinating and screaming for Alfred after being lit on fire by Scarecrow to bellowing in pain and gasping for another exhausted breath while fighting Bane, Nolan and Bale have crafted a Batman that doesn't need to remove the cowl for me to see how deeply human he is. I've been a little bit in love with the idea of Batman since I was a little girl and I finally feel his character has been given a suitably personal touch on the backdrop of an epic arc.

In short, I loved the hell out of this movie. Probably my favorite of the three, but I haven't revisited the first two in a while. I think in about a month, after the high has worn off, I'll rewatch the first two and catch a more low-key screening of the third.

Qrazy
07-21-2012, 07:04 AM
It's debatable that Nolan ever topped Burton's first Batman.

No it isn't. You need to close your eyes and sing la la la out loud to yourself to believe this and/or you haven't seen Burton's in a long ass time.

Watashi
07-21-2012, 07:06 AM
We all know that no one can top Timm's Batman.

Qrazy
07-21-2012, 07:09 AM
The only good film Burton ever made was Ed Wood. Shit director.

Watashi
07-21-2012, 07:22 AM
Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Sweeney Todd are fantastic films.

I also love his Batman.

Winston*
07-21-2012, 07:23 AM
The only good film Burton ever made was Ed Wood. Shit director.

Drinking?

Watashi
07-21-2012, 07:25 AM
I want to see Burton rereboot Batman again. I would love to see Keaton in the cowl again.

Kiusagi
07-21-2012, 07:41 AM
I'll go with the cliché answer and put this between TDK and Begins. Takes a little too long to get to where it's going, but where it's going is a great climax.

Performances are great across the board. Loved Hardy as Bane and thought he was an intimidating villain in a very different way from the Joker, but...
It was a little strange how he was sorta cast aside and then had an abrupt death after Talia revealed her true identity. This kind of bait-and-switch is done often in stories and I have no problem with it, it's just that they built up Bane as this unstoppable monster and then suddenly he doesn't matter. Perhaps I'm looking at it the wrong way. Still, it's unfortunate the Talia reveal came so late in the movie, I wanted more Cotillard.

Sxottlan
07-21-2012, 08:09 AM
I think I enjoy Nolan's films about as much as I enjoyed Burton's first film. I like them all more than Burton's second film.

By the way, I found it kind of funny that the climax of The Dark Knight Rises is basically a dramatic version of this:

4iGqbacjtBg

baby doll
07-21-2012, 10:42 AM
Of course, I was watching it with a theater full of Koreans, so there may have been language/cultural barriersTotally off topic, but when I was living in Busan, my then-girlfriend and I were the only ones who laughed during Tropic Thunder when Ben Stiller kills the Panda.
On the other hand, at a cinematheque screening of It Happened One Night, the locals were laughing like they were at a screening of Twentieth Century; even lines that didn't seem like they were supposed to be funny were evidently hilarious when translated into Korean. Incidentally, the hilarity of Sirk's Magnificent Obsession knows no cultural boundaries.

Qrazy
07-21-2012, 02:25 PM
Drinking?

Yes... :sad:

Irish
07-21-2012, 03:16 PM
BFI director profile on Christopher Nolan:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/sightsound/christopher-nolan-escape-artist

ledfloyd
07-21-2012, 05:16 PM
the morning after seeing this i'm hard pressed to think of anything that stuck out about it. nolan is so constantly working on the level of BIG. when he's doing dialogue or exposition he's making sure the scene is changing within a minute and zimmer's score isn't letting up. gotta maintain that speed and forward momentum. the result of all this is that there isn't any nuance and everything just blurs together into a big samey mess. at the very least, i'd like a few moments to catch my breath before the bludgeoning recommences.

megladon8
07-21-2012, 07:08 PM
Anyone else find the overly reactionary media frenzy following the Colorado shooting to be pretty silly?

Stations pulling commercials for the film. Theaters no longer showing trailers for Gangster Squad, and the studio even considering editing that film.

Stuff like this angers me.

number8
07-21-2012, 07:18 PM
I think the Gangster Squad pull is fine. It was WB's own decision, not the theaters, and it's partly self-serving. People are already shaken by TDKR's connotation with the shooting. Why would you want to confront the people who do choose to go with a trailer before it that depicts an event similar to a recent real life horror?

I doubt they'd actually edit the movie. Pushing it back a couple of months is more likely, to distance themselves.

Pop Trash
07-21-2012, 07:20 PM
Anyone else find the overly reactionary media frenzy following the Colorado shooting to be pretty silly?

Stations pulling commercials for the film. Theaters no longer showing trailers for Gangster Squad, and the studio even considering editing that film.

Stuff like this angers me.

Yes and no...the stuff you mentioned is pretty dumb, but in terms of injuries, it is one of the biggest shootings in US history, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few peeps out there contemplating a copycat.

Irish
07-21-2012, 08:03 PM
Stations pulling commercials for the film. Theaters no longer showing trailers for Gangster Squad, and the studio even considering editing that film.

It would be crass to show that stuff a day after the incident.


Stuff like this angers me.

Why?

megladon8
07-21-2012, 08:57 PM
Why?


Because it's completely reactionary. If the numbers that Dark Knight Rises receives are affected by the shooting, it will no doubt be almost entirely due to the media frenzy, the ridiculous over-dramatization of this event.

It was a horrible thing to happen, but all this stuff now questioning the very existence of these films is just mindbogglingly stupid. There's a big article in today's paper about how the shooter told the cops that he was the Joker, and how this "proves the argument that films like The Dark Knight can create maniacs with charismatic characters like the Joker who are anti-authority, pro-chaos" (paraphrasing the article, obviously).

It's just as bad as when the media tried to blame the Columbine shooting on The Matrix. The film did not create the person or their twisted worldview. The people involved in both shootings were inspired by the film to dress in the garb of the characters while committing an atrocity they were already planning.

We should be solemnly respectful of the victims, saddened by the event having happened, but trying to somehow blame the films for the incident is ignorant and irresponsible.

Irish
07-21-2012, 09:21 PM
It's just as bad as when the media tried to blame the Columbine shooting on The Matrix. The film did not create the person or their twisted worldview. The people involved in both shootings were inspired by the film to dress in the garb of the characters while committing an atrocity they were already planning.

We should be solemnly respectful of the victims, saddened by the event having happened, but trying to somehow blame the films for the incident is ignorant and irresponsible.

Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant the pulling the ads angers you.

megladon8
07-21-2012, 09:38 PM
Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant the pulling the ads angers you.


Yeah reading back I didn't word my first post well at all (like I ever word anything well :lol:).

While I do think editing the Gangster Squad film is a bit much, retracting the ads (which feature a movie theatre shooting) is understandable.

It's what has lead to this that I find kind of appalling - the ridiculous connections the media makes, trying to somehow blame the films themselves for these events.

To me, these claims are no different than the stuff Rush Limbaugh said about the "conspiracy" behind the making of the film, with Batman representing Mitt Romney and Bane being the company Bain Capital.

Irish
07-21-2012, 09:50 PM
Agreed, meg. I'm a little burned out on it. After all the violence-in-video-games stuff, and the Hot Coffee "scandal" and the Matrix/Columbine thing ... I can't muster as much outage when the cable networks derp there way through another tragedy and another 24 hours news cycle.

megladon8
07-21-2012, 09:55 PM
Anyways, back to the actual film, I found the ending very exciting.

Sorry to repeat myself, but I think a "spin off series" would be very cool.

eternity
07-21-2012, 09:57 PM
Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America is even more heinous and shocking now, considering how the main characters murder all but one person in a movie theater.

number8
07-21-2012, 10:47 PM
I'm angered that no one on the news called the shooter out for his bullshit. If he's really a fan of the Joker, why the fuck did he dye his hair red? What a dork.

Lazlo
07-21-2012, 11:07 PM
I'm angered that no one on the news called the shooter out for his bullshit. If he's really a fan of the Joker, why the fuck did he dye his hair red? What a dork.

I saw this mentioned somewhere on TV yesterday. But yeah, WTF dude, at least get that much right.

Mal
07-22-2012, 12:32 AM
This movie was ridiculous. I couldn't stand it after a while and probably would have walked out if I wasn't with someone else - AND if I wasn't waiting for Anne Hathaway to come back on screen, because she was the bright point of an otherwise predictable imitation of the prior film.

transmogrifier
07-22-2012, 01:03 AM
See I don't get it; all of the (valid) criticisms of this one can equally apply to the previous one. Hell, The Dark Knight starts off with dialogue along the lines of "Who's the Joker?/I hear he dyes his hair and wears make up to hide his scars" and justs gets worse with its exposition/theme echoing horrendous dialogue. At least in the latest one, there is some actual rhythm to the filmmaking and real, brutal confrontations, rather than forced, manufactured ones (like Two Face at the end - man I hate that scene)

Pop Trash
07-22-2012, 01:51 AM
See I don't get it; all of the (valid) criticisms of this one can equally apply to the previous one. Hell, The Dark Knight starts off with dialogue along the lines of "Who's the Joker?/I hear he dyes his hair and wears make up to hide his scars" and justs gets worse with its exposition/theme echoing horrendous dialogue.

See, I liked that scene in TDK. It's what I was talking about before with the cross-cutting and sound bridges. Instead of a standard v.o., Nolan creates a montage of Gotham goons building up the mythos of The Joker. I don't think it's exposition in a description of The Joker (obviously we will see what he looks like eventually), so much as presenting the new obsession of Gotham City. It's showing masquerading as telling.

transmogrifier
07-22-2012, 03:43 AM
See, I liked that scene in TDK. It's what I was talking about before with the cross-cutting and sound bridges. Instead of a standard v.o., Nolan creates a montage of Gotham goons building up the mythos of The Joker. I don't think it's exposition in a description of The Joker (obviously we will see what he looks like eventually), so much as presenting the new obsession of Gotham City. It's showing masquerading as telling.

Ew, no. Can't agree with any of that.

number8
07-22-2012, 04:19 AM
Ew, no. Can't agree with any of that.

I can't agree with your face.

MadMan
07-22-2012, 05:23 AM
I'd love to be an asshole and pull the "Really? You prefer Burton's Batman over Nolan's?" card, but I'd rather go the high road and wonder how the hell you can even compare the two. Sure Burton's two flicks were somewhat bleak, but they still had a decent amount of camp in them. Where as I don't see any of that in Nolan's Batman trilogy. That said, I don't want to meet the person who thinks Batman and Robin is the best film of the series. Yikes. Knowing Match-cut, someone will pop up and say so any minute now :P

transmogrifier
07-22-2012, 05:28 AM
I can't agree with your face.

My face is pretty argumentative. It told me to tell you that the police do a fine job under the circumstances.

Morris Schæffer
07-22-2012, 03:26 PM
Looks like it might finish in the 160-165 million range. I guess that's a little dissapointing, but given recent events, not something worth getting riled up about.

Dead & Messed Up
07-22-2012, 04:46 PM
Looks like it might finish in the 160-165 million range. I guess that's a little dissapointing, but given recent events, not something worth getting riled up about.

It's not really worth getting riled up about in any circumstance. It's box office for a guaranteed hit.

Spinal
07-22-2012, 04:54 PM
http://www.theonion.com/articles/some-fucking-guy-at-warner-bros-wondering-what-sho,28859/

Dukefrukem
07-22-2012, 04:58 PM
I can't agree with your face.

:lol:

Dukefrukem
07-22-2012, 05:01 PM
Looks like it might finish in the 160-165 million range. I guess that's a little dissapointing, but given recent events, not something worth getting riled up about.

Not if you consider that there were no 3D showings forced on viewers. I think the DC execs are kicking themselves for letting Nolan talk them into avoiding 3D and looking back at the Avengers numbers.

Irish
07-22-2012, 05:03 PM
http://www.theonion.com/articles/some-fucking-guy-at-warner-bros-wondering-what-sho,28859/

They might be thinking it, but they're not talking about it. For the first time in a long time, Warners has released no official numbers and the other studios followed suit on Saturday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/21/entertainment-us-usa-shooting-boxoffice-idUSBRE86K0HR20120721

So what does this tell you about Morris and Duke? Are they a couple of ghouls or what? :P

baby doll
07-22-2012, 05:30 PM
Looks like it might finish in the 160-165 million range. I guess that's a little dissapointing, but given recent events, not something worth getting riled up about.I dunno, dude; even if the thing in Colorado hadn't happened, that still seems to me like an obscene amount of money.

Pop Trash
07-22-2012, 05:54 PM
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of families that normally went to The Avengers and such are staying away, esp. with kids 10-ish or younger.

megladon8
07-22-2012, 06:02 PM
The number of people who have told me today that they're not going to see this because they are afraid of getting shot makes me hate humanity a little bit.

Pop Trash
07-22-2012, 06:12 PM
The number of people who have told me today that they're not going to see this because they are afraid of getting shot makes me hate humanity a little bit.

A part of me understands*, particularly with non-nerd/cinephile types. I recently read an interview with Soderbergh about Magic Mike, and he was talking about test screenings, and he basically said because of the economy and how stressed out everyone is, this is basically the '30s all over again. People want an escape, more so than ever, and it's not much of an escape to be reminded that the movie you are watching is the same movie involved with the biggest mass shooting since VTU.

*at least with staying away, the getting shot thing is silly since they are more statistically likely to die on their car trip to the theater than get shot at it

Sycophant
07-22-2012, 06:12 PM
GO SEE THE MOVIE, SHEEPLE!

Dukefrukem
07-22-2012, 06:16 PM
Did I read correctly? RT has disabled ratings on this movie because some forum members are threatening to kill members who talk badly about it?

Sycophant
07-22-2012, 06:16 PM
Or more what Pop Trash said.

People shooting people makes me hate people a lot more than people making an irrational fear-based conclusion based on a tragic event.

Not that even that makes me "hate humanity," really.

number8
07-22-2012, 06:19 PM
Did I read correctly? RT has disabled ratings on this movie because some forum members are threatening to kill members who talk badly about it?

They disabled commenting on critic reviews because Batman fans were mass-posting insults and death threat to the critics on the review comments. This was a week ago.

Spinal
07-22-2012, 06:36 PM
The Xtreme Crocheting Movie (Nolan, 2008)(5th) 9.5

:lol:

Well done.

Kiusagi
07-22-2012, 06:40 PM
RT should just permanently disable comments. I don't think I've ever seen an intelligent comment in response to a critic review there.

Wryan
07-22-2012, 07:07 PM
I liked it fine. I thought Hardy's accent ranged a little far at times. I swear he was early robot Sean Connery at one point. Plus the apparatus still managed to muddy up a few words in some cases (or maybe it's the extreme noise-crunch levels IMAX thinks is important). Also, re: that apparatus...

Bats punches his face several times, hard, and all she has to do to fix it is plug a few tubes back in like she's setting up a DVD player?

Caine is great. I liked that it really takes its time and marinates in the situation, especially the last half. I felt genuinely bad for Batman facing off against Bane, so I think they sold the retirement/past-his-prime pretty well, even if he does bounce back several times in ways Ripley's might like to examine. The very end is a little too tidy, too cute, for me, but I don't begrudge them their moments here at the end. Hathaway is good. JGL is good. I caught myself needing to literally un-tense myself often, so I take that as a good sign. Pretty visceral movie at times. Not as "funny" as its predecessor. I'd like to see it again in non-IMAX, but the IMAX screen really did do wonders for this movie.

EDIT: Oh I forgot to mention...

I love Liam Neeson. I do. But when he started talking about decadence again, my eyes started to glaze over.

EDIT 2: I really did love the fact that they basically must have said to themselves: "Well, they let us get away with the impossible physics of the Batpod the first time, in a throwaway moment, so this time let's milk that fucker."

megladon8
07-22-2012, 08:07 PM
Or more what Pop Trash said.

People shooting people makes me hate people a lot more than people making an irrational fear-based conclusion based on a tragic event.

Not that even that makes me "hate humanity," really.


Obviously, yeah. I just find this irrational fear bothersome.

And in response to your original post, people not seeing/supporting the movie was not what I was bothered by at all.

megladon8
07-22-2012, 08:15 PM
:confused:

Uh...what?

Raiders
07-22-2012, 08:32 PM
Sigh...really? Something I said there illicited what I imagine was an inflammatory response that had to be deleted?

I just don't get this place sometimes. The way people react to things sometimes...makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

He deleted it... can you let it go?

Skitch
07-22-2012, 08:41 PM
Really dug it. Can't wait to watch it again. Lot to take in for one sitting.

Sycophant
07-22-2012, 08:44 PM
It wasn't really inflammatory. It just turns out I didn't want to have this argument. And I doubt you do either.

Dukefrukem
07-22-2012, 09:06 PM
They disabled commenting on critic reviews because Batman fans were mass-posting insults and death threat to the critics on the review comments. This was a week ago.

Just reading about it now since I've been on the beach for 9 days.

Spinal
07-22-2012, 10:32 PM
The number of people who have told me today that they're not going to see this because they are afraid of getting shot makes me hate humanity a little bit.

I wouldn't be afraid of getting shot. However, I think it would be extremely difficult for me to go watch the movie in the theater right now without a whole lot of mental distraction. I don't think I would be able to merely take the film on its own terms.

Also, Avengers left me feeling that my interest in superhero movies right now is just not that high.

dreamdead
07-22-2012, 10:48 PM
One of my biggest peeves with Nolan's style is his narrative dependence on big scenes that require extras, and it never seems to work. The range of emotions affected by the extras in The Dark Knight (when Dent announces he's Batman to the press corps) has always taken me out of the picture since they don't feel like lived-in characters, as they indeed are not, and there are several similar moments at the football game (there's one slack-jawed guy in the center during the pan that's just painful to watch) and later during the police/Bane's cronies duel that just undermine the dramatic tension.

Nolan's need to feel the screen with people, as opposed to trusting in his main cast always counteract his attempts at pathos for me.

It has the same weaknesses of his other entries, but there's a stronger sense of spacing here in the editing. Like others said, I needed more of Catwoman's mindset during the takeover, and that twist in Florence or wherever is just needless. The Levitt finale, though, is fine.

I'm excited to see what Nolan does next, though.

Boner, what image (from a few pages back) did you feel was transcendent?

Qrazy
07-22-2012, 10:54 PM
One of my biggest peeves with Nolan's style is his narrative dependence on big scenes that require extras, and it never seems to work. The range of emotions affected by the extras in The Dark Knight (when Dent announces he's Batman to the press corps) has always taken me out of the picture since they don't feel like lived-in characters, as they indeed are not, and there are several similar moments at the football game (there's one slack-jawed guy in the center during the pan that's just painful to watch) and later during the police/Bane's cronies duel that just undermine the dramatic tension.


I don't even know what this means as a criticism. Most epics require extras. Do you criticize David Lean, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Coppola, Eisenstein, Mizoguchi, etc on similar grounds? They all feature extras and I'm sure in some of their films you could find an extra somewhere in there goofing off.

Are you more so referring to uninteresting secondary characters? Like the subplot with that police officer who dies? I agree with you on that note, fuck that guy.

dreamdead
07-22-2012, 11:11 PM
I don't even know what this means as a criticism. Most epics require extras. Do you criticize David Lean, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Coppola, Eisenstein, Mizoguchi, etc on similar grounds? They all feature extras and I'm sure in some of their films you could find an extra somewhere in there goofing off.


Those extras, though, don't have the camera shoved right in their faces and then asked to emote worry or distress. Look at the guy next to Bruce Wayne at :21-22 here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHkZ4rH1Nw). That shit's weak. And often the extras in Nolan's films exemplify this quality, which just undercuts the otherwise carefully modulated tone that Nolan achieves.

And also, yeah, Modine's character arc was silly. As was its end.

Qrazy
07-22-2012, 11:31 PM
Those extras, though, don't have the camera shoved right in their faces and then asked to emote worry or distress. Look at the guy next to Bruce Wayne at :21-22 here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHkZ4rH1Nw). That shit's weak. And often the extras in Nolan's films exemplify this quality, which just undercuts the otherwise carefully modulated tone that Nolan achieves.

And also, yeah, Modine's character arc was silly. As was its end.

Yeah that scene is bad.

transmogrifier
07-22-2012, 11:31 PM
Modine, and the handling of his character, was the worst part of the movie. His last scene was pathetic in its staging. Seriously, take that whole character out, and what is lost? Absolutely nothing.

Qrazy
07-22-2012, 11:35 PM
Modine, and the handling of his character, was the worst part of the movie. His last scene was pathetic in its staging. Seriously, take that whole character out, and what is lost? Absolutely nothing.

Agreed. Well, you do need someone to spearhead the police force antagonism towards Batman early on but everything else about that character is superfluous.

On another note Nolan or whoever does the casting for him has been watching a lot of TV lately... quite a few Dexter and The Wire peeps.

Mr. McGibblets
07-22-2012, 11:35 PM
Modine, and the handling of his character, was the worst part of the movie. His last scene was pathetic in its staging. Seriously, take that whole character out, and what is lost? Absolutely nothing.

I think he was put in so that someone could die without it being one of the characters that anyone cared about.

I thought Fox was a goner at one point (but the chamber flooded extremely slowly) and would have really liked it if someone who was important bit it.

transmogrifier
07-23-2012, 12:00 AM
I think he was put in so that someone could die without it being one of the characters that anyone cared about.

I thought Fox was a goner at one point (but the chamber flooded extremely slowly) and would have really liked it if someone who was important bit it.

Agreed. It should have been Fox.

Qrazy
07-23-2012, 12:03 AM
I think he was put in so that someone could die without it being one of the characters that anyone cared about.

I thought Fox was a goner at one point (but the chamber flooded extremely slowly) and would have really liked it if someone who was important bit it.

Yeah, for someone who said they were done with the franchise he really should have killed off a few more characters.

Fox and Wayne both should have died.

transmogrifier
07-23-2012, 12:14 AM
Yes. It was remarkably tame in that sense.

Watashi
07-23-2012, 02:09 AM
Fuck it. Everyone should have died.

MadMan
07-23-2012, 07:39 AM
In light of the Colorado shootings I don't think I'm gonna crack a joke about how "Just everyone should have died" in the movie.

Also did meg actually leave the board? He took down his avatar. That's not a good sign.

Thirdmango
07-23-2012, 09:38 AM
On another note Nolan or whoever does the casting for him has been watching a lot of TV lately... quite a few Dexter and The Wire peeps.

I was noticing the same thing, because of the amount of TV I watch there were a lot of secondary characters that I was like, "Oh I know them from somewhere." Like Bane's right hand man, the one with the bullets across his front, he was a villain type character in No Ordinary Family. I already knew Aiden Gillen was in it so I was excited when I saw him.

Ezee E
07-23-2012, 12:50 PM
Very disappointed. The movie is bloated and without a villain that's captivating. Bane is scary, but feels forced. He simply doesn't have the charisma that Liam Neeson, Heath Ledger, or even Cillian Murphy (who steals each scene he is in). Add that to simply how quickly Bane is taken out? What a letdown.

Plot points are all very convenient... Especially the timing for everything with Gordon and Tate. Selina Kyle also seems forced.

The best thing about this movie is Alfred.

number8
07-23-2012, 01:18 PM
Carcetti and Bunny Colvin from The Wire, Owen from Torchwood, Frank from Rescue Me, Senator Keller from 24, Bellick from Prison Break, Detective Ripley from Luther, the Asian cop from Grimm, Azazel from Supernatural, and of course, Lt Dangle from Reno 911.

Those are the ones I recognized. Anyone else?

Mr. McGibblets
07-23-2012, 01:22 PM
Owen from Torchwood

Thank you, that's who he was. I was trying to figure out where I knew him from. He looks about twenty years older than on Torchwood.

Ezee E
07-23-2012, 01:29 PM
I should mention I saw this on the massive IMAX screen. The IMAX scenes are certainly something to behold on such a screen. Spend the extra money for that experience if you can.

Dukefrukem
07-23-2012, 03:25 PM
I've got my reservation for IMAX on Tuesday.

Robby P
07-23-2012, 04:44 PM
It was okay but it gets awfully silly at the end and the middle is just hopelessly muddled. This is another case of Nolan letting his ambition get the best of him.

I should mention there was an armed cop patrolling the theater lobby after I purchased my ticket. Don't know if that was anyone else's experience as well.

Qrazy
07-23-2012, 04:52 PM
Carcetti and Bunny Colvin from The Wire, Owen from Torchwood, Frank from Rescue Me, Senator Keller from 24, Bellick from Prison Break, Detective Ripley from Luther, the Asian cop from Grimm, Azazel from Supernatural, and of course, Lt Dangle from Reno 911.

Those are the ones I recognized. Anyone else?

Desmond Harrington (Quinn) from Dexter who is also on Rescue Me apparently (Troy).

MadMan
07-23-2012, 07:56 PM
Carcetti and Bunny Colvin from The Wire, Owen from Torchwood, Frank from Rescue Me, Senator Keller from 24, Bellick from Prison Break, Detective Ripley from Luther, the Asian cop from Grimm, Azazel from Supernatural, and of course, Lt Dangle from Reno 911.

Those are the ones I recognized. Anyone else?Yeah I noticed it was Owen from Torchwood. I should have caught Keller from 24 and Ripley from Luther, but maybe I just overlooked them. Dangle from Reno 9-11 was someone my buddy and I both noticed, although I don't remember what scene he was in.

My local area doesn't have an IMAX, although my current city used to have one before it went out of business. Which sucks because I bet this movie would be amazing to watch in that format.

number8
07-23-2012, 08:01 PM
Yeah I noticed it was Owen from Torchwood. I should have caught Keller from 24 and Ripley from Luther, but maybe I just overlooked them. Dangle from Reno 9-11 was someone my buddy and I both noticed, although I don't remember what scene he was in.

Keller was the US President making a speech on TV and Ripley's actually featured heavily in the trailers. He was the henchman Batman took down in the "He's behind you." "Who?" "ME!" scene.

Dangle was Bruce's leg doctor.

MadMan
07-23-2012, 09:10 PM
Keller was the US President making a speech on TV and Ripley's actually featured heavily in the trailers. He was the henchman Batman took down in the "He's behind you." "Who?" "ME!" scene.Oh yeah...


Dangle was Bruce's leg doctor.Wow I can't believe I forgot that already. Time for a second viewing...

Henry Gale
07-23-2012, 09:37 PM
Carcetti and Bunny Colvin from The Wire, Owen from Torchwood, Frank from Rescue Me, Senator Keller from 24, Bellick from Prison Break, Detective Ripley from Luther, the Asian cop from Grimm, Azazel from Supernatural, and of course, Lt Dangle from Reno 911.

Those are the ones I recognized. Anyone else?

The main one that came to mind was who Qrazy mentioned, Quinn from Dexter and the Ice Pick dude in the last Justified premiere being the guy yelling at JGL to stand down. Only other TV person I could think of was the congressman who ran off with Catwoman being Goodwin from Lost. Richard Alpert was in the last movie, so don't think he really counts, but he was back.

MadMan
07-23-2012, 10:31 PM
Only other TV person I could think of was the congressman who ran off with Catwoman being Goodwin from Lost.I recognized him instantly as Goodwin, heh. You could now fashion a good drinking game based around guessing what TV shows many of the cast of The Dark Knight Rises have been in. Or something.

Wryan
07-23-2012, 11:54 PM
Bane's right-hand man was the New Orleans detective on Criminal Minds, William LaMontagne Jr. (Josh Stewart).

Also, if we're talking about extras in the Batman movies, let's not forget about this cavalcade of acting:

http://uc.exteenblog.com/sermilik/images/Darkknight/Ferry.jpg

Except for Tiny, I really didn't like those moments.

Sven
07-24-2012, 12:25 AM
Except for Tiny, I really didn't like those moments.

Underneath it all, big scary black guys are total softies.

ledfloyd
07-24-2012, 02:23 AM
I should mention there was an armed cop patrolling the theater lobby after I purchased my ticket. Don't know if that was anyone else's experience as well.
one walked down the aisle about 20 minutes into the film when i saw it.

Derek
07-24-2012, 02:35 AM
No cops at my screening fortunately. No one fucks with the Cinerama Dome.

chrisnu
07-24-2012, 03:06 AM
I was wondering if Burn Gorman was Willem Dafoe during his entire screen time.

number8
07-24-2012, 03:07 AM
They're undercover here in New York. There are two plainclothes sitting in the audience watching the movie at every TDKR screening in every theater showing it in NY.

Waste of fucking manpower, if you ask me. Stupid Ray Kelly.

Boner M
07-24-2012, 03:35 AM
Boner, what image (from a few pages back) did you feel was transcendent?
Wasn't an image, nor 'transcendent': I thought the isolated sounds of the Bane voice interrupting the kid's warbly anthem was a pretty inspired touch.

Skitch
07-24-2012, 03:41 AM
I'm still kind of stunned that Nolan functionally worked in (at least in outline form) elements of both Knightfall and No Mans Land into one movie.

Skitch
07-24-2012, 03:46 AM
And I have a question for Mr. 8. In the aftermath of TDK, you made a post that began with "this ending leaves with possibility for the next film to be taken to a really dark place", something you were really excited about, but I can't remember what it was. Was TDKR in the ballpark of that idea you had?

TDKR went way darker and larger in scope than I ever expected.

Mal
07-24-2012, 03:48 AM
I should mention there was an armed cop patrolling the theater lobby after I purchased my ticket. Don't know if that was anyone else's experience as well.

There is a cop on duty at my movie theater every single night.


I live in New Hampshire.

number8
07-24-2012, 03:58 AM
And I have a question for Mr. 8. In the aftermath of TDK, you made a post that began with "this ending leaves with possibility for the next film to be taken to a really dark place", something you were really excited about, but I can't remember what it was. Was TDKR in the ballpark of that idea you had?

TDKR went way darker and larger in scope than I ever expected.

Boy, I don't even remember that at all. I could be referring to the possibility that the third movie would be all about dealing with the consequence of Gordon's lie, which is addressed a little in Rises.

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 05:21 AM
No cops that I saw, but my girl had her bag checked, which wasn't done for movies beforehand.

MadMan
07-24-2012, 05:32 AM
The theater I often go to had a cop on duty when I worked there, but that was due to vandalism/the off chance that customers would get unruly. We actually had one night where some people got busted for drugs. Plus another time where as usher I had to deal with a guy angry at me because the website was wrong about the time for his movie. He saw the cop and backed down, but I was rooting for the cop to taser the bastard. So I imagine that said theater still has at least one policeman (or woman) on duty due to what happened in Colorado.

Skitch
07-24-2012, 11:27 AM
Boy, I don't even remember that at all. I could be referring to the possibility that the third movie would be all about dealing with the consequence of Gordon's lie, which is addressed a little in Rises.

Hmmm. If only The Dark Knight thread wasn't so monstrous I'd be inclined to look for it. :) Maybe on vacation...

Skitch
07-24-2012, 11:49 AM
Here's the post, last on page 32. Couldn't find any follow up on it though.

http://www.match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=80235&postcount=930

number8
07-24-2012, 03:25 PM
Alfred. Gordon. Lucius. Bruce . . . Wayne. Names that have come to mean so much to me. Today, I’m three weeks from saying a final good-bye to these characters and their world. It’s my son’s ninth birthday. He was born as the Tumbler was being glued together in my garage from random parts of model kits. Much time, many changes. A shift from sets where some gunplay or a helicopter were extraordinary events to working days where crowds of extras, building demolitions, or mayhem thousands of feet in the air have become familiar.

People ask if we’d always planned a trilogy. This is like being asked whether you had planned on growing up, getting married, having kids. The answer is complicated. When David and I first started cracking open Bruce’s story, we flirted with what might come after, then backed away, not wanting to look too deep into the future. I didn’t want to know everything that Bruce couldn’t; I wanted to live it with him. I told David and Jonah to put everything they knew into each film as we made it. The entire cast and crew put all they had into the first film. Nothing held back. Nothing saved for next time. They built an entire city. Then Christian and Michael and Gary and Morgan and Liam and Cillian started living in it. Christian bit off a big chunk of Bruce Wayne’s life and made it utterly compelling. He took us into a pop icon’s mind and never let us notice for an instant the fanciful nature of Bruce’s methods.

I never thought we’d do a second—how many good sequels are there? Why roll those dice? But once I knew where it would take Bruce, and when I started to see glimpses of the antagonist, it became essential. We re-assembled the team and went back to Gotham. It had changed in three years. Bigger. More real. More modern. And a new force of chaos was coming to the fore. The ultimate scary clown, as brought to terrifying life by Heath. We’d held nothing back, but there were things we hadn’t been able to do the first time out—a Batsuit with a flexible neck, shooting on Imax. And things we’d chickened out on—destroying the Batmobile, burning up the villain’s blood money to show a complete disregard for conventional motivation. We took the supposed security of a sequel as license to throw caution to the wind and headed for the darkest corners of Gotham.

I never thought we’d do a third—are there any great second sequels? But I kept wondering about the end of Bruce’s journey, and once David and I discovered it, I had to see it for myself. We had come back to what we had barely dared whisper about in those first days in my garage. We had been making a trilogy. I called everyone back together for another tour of Gotham. Four years later, it was still there. It even seemed a little cleaner, a little more polished. Wayne Manor had been rebuilt. Familiar faces were back—a little older, a little wiser . . . but not all was as it seemed.

Gotham was rotting away at its foundations. A new evil bubbling up from beneath. Bruce had thought Batman was not needed anymore, but Bruce was wrong, just as I had been wrong. The Batman had to come back. I suppose he always will.

Michael, Morgan, Gary, Cillian, Liam, Heath, Christian . . . Bale. Names that have come to mean so much to me. My time in Gotham, looking after one of the greatest and most enduring figures in pop culture, has been the most challenging and rewarding experience a filmmaker could hope for. I will miss the Batman. I like to think that he’ll miss me, but he’s never been particularly sentimental.

Printed on the Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy book.

D_Davis
07-24-2012, 04:37 PM
It's debatable that Nolan ever topped Burton's first Batman.

Batman Returns is still the best.

Dukefrukem
07-24-2012, 04:40 PM
8lIgC-i6Sbw

NickGlass
07-24-2012, 05:52 PM
They're undercover here in New York. There are two plainclothes sitting in the audience watching the movie at every TDKR screening in every theater showing it in NY.

Waste of fucking manpower, if you ask me. Stupid Ray Kelly.

Ergh, so how long will I have to wait see this in order in order to successfully sneak beers into the theater?


Batman Returns is still the best.

As a relative non-fan of Batman who has seen all but the most recent, I wholeheartedly agree with this. Pfieffer and Devito are great.

Dead & Messed Up
07-24-2012, 05:58 PM
Mask of the Phantasm.

amberlita
07-24-2012, 07:00 PM
Printed on the Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy book.

I love that he gives special attention to Wayne/Bale. I know there are a lot of people here who never gelled with what Nolan was trying to do and how he was trying to do it and that's fair enough, to each their own. But these movies have always fit me like a glove and so has Bale's performance, which doesn't ever get enough credit. He was the perfect Batman for this trilogy. And I love how much both Bale and Nolan admire each other. It's my favorite Director-Actor bromance right now.

Thanks for posting this. I can't rep you from my phone, but this post made me happy.

Dukefrukem
07-24-2012, 07:22 PM
I tend to agree with the IMDB Consensus (so far)

Burton

Batman 7.6/10
Batman Returns 7.0/10

Schumacher

Batman Forever 5.4/10
Batman & Robin 3.6/10

Nolan

Batman Begins 8.3/10
The Dark Knight 8.9/10
The Dark Knight Rises 9.1/10

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 07:22 PM
Yeah you guys are right, Batman Returns is so much better. I mean look at Burton's craft here, such sterling shot compositions! Like that one of Batman rifling through debris in his rubber suit, or the penguins looking down at their dead master from above the water or the magical way they slide him into the water without touching him. A truly subdued score as well, Elfman doesn't overdo it in the slightest. Great set too, nothing brings an environment to life like papier mache.

S7zuMMuFjpA

Sven
07-24-2012, 07:29 PM
♥ ineffective sarcasm ♥

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 07:34 PM
Qrazy really likes Batman Returns. That's cool, because it is a great one.

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 07:36 PM
♥ ineffective sarcasm ♥

Shit film is shit.

Granted that scene is not as bad as the one with the penguins with rockets strapped to their backs.

I will grant you all Pfeiffer being the best/hottest catwoman ever but that's it.

number8
07-24-2012, 07:37 PM
I've been working on this crazy long article for two days listing the 20 Batman stories that influenced Nolan's trilogy the most. I'm about 3/4 done with the writing, and then I still have to collect scans from those stories and take stills from the movies to compare them against each other. Whew, man. Please tell me you guys are interested in seeing it when it's done.

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 07:38 PM
I've been working on this crazy long article for two days listing the 20 Batman stories that influenced Nolan's trilogy the most. I'm about 3/4 done with the writing, and then I still have to collect scans from those stories and take stills from the movies to compare them against each other. Whew, man. Please tell me you guys are interested in seeing it when it's done.
I'll read it.

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 07:44 PM
I don't know the original stories really but yeah I'll read it also.

Lazlo
07-24-2012, 07:47 PM
I'll read it.

Me too.

number8
07-24-2012, 07:47 PM
I don't know the original stories really but yeah I'll read it also.

Don't worry, I'm writing it as a primer so I gave the background and context of each comic in it.

Skitch
07-24-2012, 07:53 PM
I've been working on this crazy long article for two days listing the 20 Batman stories that influenced Nolan's trilogy the most. I'm about 3/4 done with the writing, and then I still have to collect scans from those stories and take stills from the movies to compare them against each other. Whew, man. Please tell me you guys are interested in seeing it when it's done.

Fuckin'-A I am.

Dukefrukem
07-24-2012, 07:53 PM
I want to read more Batman things.

D_Davis
07-24-2012, 07:57 PM
I want to read more Batman things.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51x-iH3PAoL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Watashi
07-24-2012, 08:22 PM
My main gripe about the Batman movies (all of them) is that it amps up the brooding vigilante aspect of Batman, and cuts out the detective side of him. I mean, Batman's deducing skills are on par with Sherlock Holmes and we see very little of that in Burton's or Nolan's films.

The next Batman film should be more of a Sherlock Holmes movie than a superhero movie.

DavidSeven
07-24-2012, 08:46 PM
Shit film is shit.

Batman Returns really is a poorly directed film. As you said, Pfeiffer's performance is the only noteworthy aspect of the whole thing. I guess there's some interesting things with set design if you're a fan of Burton's general approach to that stuff.

I can only assume that people who knock Nolan's craftsmanship and then praise this film are relying on some truly hazy memories. The set pieces are laughably bad and Burton's compositions are functional at their best and just plain bad at their worst.

number8
07-24-2012, 08:50 PM
I can understand people praising the direction as in the visual design of it, but yeah, the action scenes are horrendous. All static wide or medium shots of Batman stiffly pivoting in place and awkwardly throwing thugs around one by one because Keaton can't move in costume. That sewer chase in Returns is an eyesore.

Watashi
07-24-2012, 08:51 PM
Possible deleted scene from The Dark Knight Rises? (http://i.imgur.com/Pgv1Y.jpg)

Not sure if fake.

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 08:52 PM
With the atomic bomb, Nolan certainly opened it up to have villains like Clayface, Man-Bat, Killer Croc (who apparently exists already) into the movies.

Do you think they go forward with a Selina Kyle or Robin film set in Nolan's world?

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 08:53 PM
Possible deleted scene from The Dark Knight Rises? (http://i.imgur.com/Pgv1Y.jpg)

Not sure if fake.
If Nolan was able to use the Joker, I'm curious how much of Bane's role he would have taken... If not, all of it.

Lazlo
07-24-2012, 09:01 PM
If Nolan was able to use the Joker, I'm curious how much of Bane's role he would have taken... If not, all of it.

Probably not much of it. Bane is disciplined in every way the Joker isn't. But this is silly to talk about since the script was written after Ledger's death and everyone knew the Joker wouldn't be coming back. It would have been a different movie, probably, though likely not with the Joker as the lead villain again.

number8
07-24-2012, 09:04 PM
Possible deleted scene from The Dark Knight Rises? (http://i.imgur.com/Pgv1Y.jpg)

Not sure if fake.

It's from a webcomic that draws "deleted scenes" from various movies in storyboard form. It's just a joke.

D_Davis
07-24-2012, 09:06 PM
I can only assume that people who knock Nolan's craftsmanship and then praise this film are relying on some truly hazy memories. The set pieces are laughably bad and Burton's compositions are functional at their best and just plain bad at their worst.

Nope. It's that the Burton films didn't bore me to death. Nolan's films have no life, no energy. They're like the direct opposite of a comic book.

Nolan is all craft, and very little heart. It's all very clinical and sterile. He strives for perfection but fails to realize that perfection is rarely, if ever, interesting.

Batman Returns is relentlessly bizarre and full of life; it is interesting and flawed, and better for it.

Sven
07-24-2012, 09:11 PM
I can only assume...

You know the common wisdom here. Also, your postulate works the other way, too. I just rewatched the Nolan Batmans and am frankly flabbergasted that anyone would suggest that it performs above perfunctory levels of narration and craftsmanship. When it's not downright nonsensical (sonar climax in the second one), the action bits are jumbled, hard to follow, and far too close up. At least Burton's versions sculpt memorable sights and sounds. I can rattle off at least ten priceless moments from the first two films, having seen neither in at least three or four years. Saw Nolan's films again two days ago and I'm already having trouble conjuring more than a few specific shots or sequences that I'd award a gold star.

Also, dimensional villains driven by comprehensible goals are nice.

number8
07-24-2012, 09:14 PM
Nolan is all craft, and very little heart. It's all very clinical and sterile. He strives for perfection but fails to realize that perfection is rarely, if ever, interesting.

Nolan is Kubrick?

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 09:20 PM
Probably not much of it. Bane is disciplined in every way the Joker isn't. But this is silly to talk about since the script was written after Ledger's death and everyone knew the Joker wouldn't be coming back. It would have been a different movie, probably, though likely not with the Joker as the lead villain again.
Surely Nolan had a plan for a third movie though with the Joker involved. It wasn't written yet, but I'm sure he talked about it with his brother. Bane is a more angry version, but it could easily have ended up the same way with Joker henchmen instead of Bane. Erase Bane's connection with Talia and a slight rework of how Batman gets broken, and you still could do the same movie.

D_Davis
07-24-2012, 09:25 PM
Nolan is Kubrick?

I do get a very similar vibe. Always have, and is exactly why I've never been too keen on many of Kubrick's films beyond admiring their technical aspects.

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Also, dimensional villains driven by comprehensible goals are nice.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/265/3/b/french_lolwut_pear_by_neil95-d2zamjd.png

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 09:43 PM
I do get a very similar vibe. Always have, and is exactly why I've never been too keen on many of Kubrick's films beyond admiring their technical aspects.

List of things Davis doesn't like:

1. Tarkovsky.
2. Kubrick.
3. Nolan.

We do not see eye to eye you and I.

Dead & Messed Up
07-24-2012, 09:44 PM
I'll just be over here, enjoying the Burton and Nolan flicks, if anyone needs me.

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 09:45 PM
I'll just be over here, enjoying the Burton and Nolan flicks, if anyone needs me.

If you're not with us, you're Bane.

Ezee E
07-24-2012, 09:52 PM
I like what Wats has to say about Batman needing to be more of a Detective in future movies.

I'd love having him investigate something that turns out to be Man-Bat. Sort of a Seven meets Werewolf story. I think it'd work. Provides high-level action, special effects, etc.,

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 09:53 PM
I'm just waiting for the inevitable Schumacherifying of this franchise. They're going to do another Batman film and people are going to get amped up and it's going to be complete crap. Calling it here first.

Lazlo
07-24-2012, 09:56 PM
I'm just waiting for the inevitable Schumacherifying of this franchise. They're going to do another Batman film and people are going to get amped up and it's going to be complete crap. Calling it here first.

I think it will certainly be a daunting challenge for whatever director takes over the franchise, but I don't know about "Schumacherifying". Over the past ten years audiences have indicated an expectation that their superhero movies display an overall sense of seriousness and only limited amounts of camp.

Qrazy
07-24-2012, 09:57 PM
I think it will certainly be a daunting challenge for whatever director takes over the franchise, but I don't know about "Schumacherifying". Over the past ten years audiences have indicated an expectation that their superhero movies display an overall sense of seriousness and only limited amounts of camp.

Not in the sense that it will be Schumacheresque, only in the sense that it will be bad. The fourth film in a series is never good.

Lazlo
07-24-2012, 09:58 PM
Surely Nolan had a plan for a third movie though with the Joker involved. It wasn't written yet, but I'm sure he talked about it with his brother. Bane is a more angry version, but it could easily have ended up the same way with Joker henchmen instead of Bane. Erase Bane's connection with Talia and a slight rework of how Batman gets broken, and you still could do the same movie.

I dunno, I'm sure they had some ideas but I doubt their plan would have ever been to make the Joker the lead villain again. And without Talia, the connection back to the League of Shadows is less strong, throwing out the connection to the first film and Bruce's metamorphosis.

Skitch
07-24-2012, 10:01 PM
There's only one way to settle this: Match-Cut Podcast Batman Edition.

*refreshes iTunes*