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THE DARK KNIGHT knocks Quint flat on his ass!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I saw THE DARK NIGHT early this afternoon, in mind-boggling IMAX no less.
And I’m going to another screening at the IMAX tomorrow.
And I bought tickets to the Thursday midnight show at the IMAX a month ago when they went on sale, so I’ll be back Thursday night.
I must warn you. It is impossible to watch this film and not start spewing hyperbole upon exiting the theater. When the credits started I thought, “Best comic book movie of the summer.” When they finished I was thinking, “Best movie of the summer period.” When I stepped out of the IMAX and into the bright afternoon daylight I was thinking, “Best movie I’ve seen this year.”
Given the rapid growth, it could very well be the best film ever recorded by the time I see it again tomorrow.
Of course I can’t really qualify any of that and I would not place this film in my “All Time Favorites” list just out of respect of the films that earned their places there over the many years with countless rewatchings.
I can say without any hesitation that THE DARK KNIGHT is a spectacular piece of storytelling, that it is as giant a leap forward from the first film as EMPIRE was from STAR WARS or that Godfather Part II was from the first, that all this talk of Heath Ledger being nominated for his work as The Joker isn’t just industry buzz capitalizing on the tragic and far too premature death of the actor. He will be nominated and he would have been nominated had he been alive to see the film open.
The film is dizzying in its effortless mastery. Like I told you, hyperbole, but damn if I don’t think you’ll be saying the same things when you leave the theaters upon first viewing.
Now, I’m always the one trying to come in and temper expectation. I illustrated my problems with CLOVERFIELD when people were saying it was the second coming. I don’t like building up ridiculous expectation. I really don’t. I love the communal experience of sharing my thoughts on a film and reading your thoughts in emails and down in talkback and one thing I don’t want to do is hurt someone else’s film experience by overstating the quality of a film or putting it at some ridiculously high water mark that no film could possibly live up to.
But I am telling you guys that I walked into this film more hyped up than for any other film of the year so far and it was everything I could have hoped it would have been. I honestly believe that this film might be immune to expectations because I really don’t know how much higher they could have been.
BATMAN BEGINS centered on Bruce Wayne. It was his movie, so by relation it was Batman’s movie. When Christopher Nolan sat down to write this with his brother Jonathan they decided this isn’t about Bruce Wayne or Batman as a person. This is about Batman as a symbol and what that means. They also set out to create a world where the bad guys can win, where the stakes are real, where people do die and there’s nothing our superhero can do about it.
As much as BEGINS was Bruce Wayne’s movie, THE DARK KNIGHT is Harvey Dent and The Joker’s movie.
The way the Nolans’ tell Dent’s story is nothing less than brilliant. It’s nuanced, tragic and doesn’t go exactly how you picture it, but when the film ends you can see no better way they could have told the story of Harvey Dent’s fall.
I’ve always thought the ability of a storyteller to invest you in a character you know in advance is going into tragic territory is one of the highest proving points for sheer talent. Stephen King made me fall in love with Susan Delgado even though I had known since The Gunslinger how her story ends. Romeo & Juliet was my favorite Shakespeare play because it had a deep affect on me as a teenager, even though I knew the ending and I knew to get invested in these characters was only going to hurt when it came about. Nolan makes it hurt.
You know Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face, but the surprise comes about halfway through when you realize you’d forgo the coolness you know is in store if Dent could stay Gotham’s White Knight. You want to see good prevail. At least I did.
Aaron Eckhart is perfectly cast, effortlessly making you believe in Harvey Dent and, even more importantly, letting you buy his fall from the light.
Heath Ledger. What can be said about his performance? It’s absolutely magnetic. You can not take your eyes off of him in this movie. He is the definitive Joker now. His theatricality, insanity barely in check, his brains, the mystery of the character. He’s written to perfection and Ledger takes it a step beyond with his unhinged and frightening performance. The Joker embodies anarchy and he never once contradicts himself.
I guarantee you this right now. You will never forget his magic trick.
Bale is once again great as Bruce Wayne, but like I said the movie isn’t really Bruce/Bats centric. He’s all over the movie and a driving force, no doubt, but the overall story really does belong to Harvey Dent.
Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are great, as usual. As is Michael Caine, who gets some really great stuff in this flick. I loved hearing a little bit about Alfred’s past, which… let’s just say it’s not a typical butler’s past.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is Rachel Dawes. There was never a moment where I lamented the break in continuity from the first movie. And this is coming from someone who liked Katie Holmes in BEGINS.
The IMAX experience was amazing. The film played in it’s correct aspect ratio (2.35:1) except whenever the specifically shot IMAX sequences played, which opened the world up, giving me a 70 foot tall window into another universe. Wally Pfister’s cinematography was always sharp and in IMAX really did make me feel like I was there, which is the highest compliment I could pay to him.
I don’t know what more I can talk about without going into specific plot points and I damn well won’t be the bastard to ruin this movie for you. I will say that the writing in this is as good as anything the Nolans have written. Seriously. The subtlety in how they handle The Joker’s origins (“Wanna know how I got these scars?”) gives us a deep insight into the diseased brain while at the same time not betraying the mystery. You’ll see how they do it when you see the flick... but it's fantastic, completely true to who the Joker is.
The set-up for the next one isn’t as clear as the last film, at least in terms of who the villain is going to be. There is no calling card, but there is certainly a giant thread. You know where they’re going and you can’t wait to see what they’ll give us when it’s time for the next film.
And, by the way, Warner Bros. better pray to God Christopher Nolan wants to make a lot more of these movies because after seeing this film I can’t imagine a filmmaker in their right mind that would want to try to follow it up.
Mark my words: Ledger will be nominated, Wally Pfister will be nominated, Chris Nolan will be nominated for direction, Jonathan and Chris Nolan for script and if the movie Gods are feeling kind early next year we might even see a Best Picture nom.
It really is that good. I am already giddy about seeing it again in 15 hours.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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The reviews are just too good to be true. To think, it was only a short while ago everyone was complaining about Heath Ledger!
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I just got a check in the mail. Guess where it's going!
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I can't wait til Thursday night!!
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whats new aside from the villains crashing a party or another bank robbery. also does the batvoice still sound like mcgruff the dog?
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Every movie he does surprises me in one way or another, and i love the fact that he's trying to do something different with the superhero genre. I just finished watching the "fairly good but not great" Gotham Knight on DVD, and i just know that Nolan's film is going to raise the bar bigtime.
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The action is much cleaner than the first movie (my one gripe with Begins), but the style's not too changed. But Bats uses his brains more than shaky-cam kung fu stuff. And if his voice bugged you in the first, it's no different here. Maybe even McGruffier. But once you can accept that his Batman voice is just as much of a disguise as his mask is, then you won't focus on it. At least I didn't.
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I'd like to be mildly disappointed when I actually see the film. Like I was with Batman Begins.
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The origin of the Batpod made me want to cheer. You'll see...
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Just saw it tonight and agree with you completely. It is in so many ways one of the greatest films ever lensed. I have no doubt it'll go down as a new bar for all future superhero movies to meet.
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I love Cillian Murphy's work, hope its true
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the fight scenes in begins was like someone threw a camera and a cape inside a washing machine.
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and its just as good as everyone says.....its a wonderful film.
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...just how close is it to the real deal?
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please!
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If so im there!!
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With the comment about the fight scenes, Mr prosser, that is something i was really dissapointed with in the first film. Asfor this film, i'm going to hold back until friends have seen it, as Chris Nolan is a mediocre director at best, with absolutely nothing 'Nolan-style' about his films that makes them stand out from similar fair. Borderline a British Brett Ratner, perhaps. And of course, with his DP Mr Pfister (Mister Fister? Feester?) everything will of course be either blue or brown.
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I can honestly say i have never ever wanted to see a film so badly as i want to The Dark Knight.
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Are you fucking mad?! A British Brett Ratner?! You clueless prick, fuck off back into your basement!
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You cunt.
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any watchmen teasers? ben button? harry potpot?
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Yep. That's all I'll say. Yep.
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Funny you should mention it... There was a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer shown! And it was the most amazing 15 seconds of my life. Hehe... I got excited just long enough to realize it was just the Logo and a voice saying it was going to be playing in IMAX with some scenes in 3-D (like Order of the Phoenix). Then it disappeared and Dark Knight was starting so I kind of didn't care anymore.
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i agree. you are shit
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I hate you. not really of course, but still.
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...cause then it'd be Thursday morning, and i'd be sitting in a theater with a large tub of popcorn, a large coke and watching Batman. Sigh...maybe if I close my eyes really hard and concentrate. uggghh. nope, still here and now. dammit!
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I wish. I only saw that IMAX potter trailer and it had zero footage, just the logo. I'm sure the theatrical trailer will be a full on trailer, but that's all I got at the screening.
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CANNOT... WAIT... MUST SEE THIS... NOW... AAAAAARRRRRGHHHH
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maybe Black Mask in the next one. But I am not entierly sure how they wanna top a movie thats got Joker and Two Face in it, at least on the villanous side of things.
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that the Joker doesn't die in this and that he has a cameo in the thrid one. You know they could re cast him and only show him inside a cell hiding deep in the shadows, talking and laughing at the Bat. I really hope for something like that.
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IT BETTER WIN SOME GODDAMN ACADEMY AWARDS@!!
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Going to be a great weekend.
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YES!!!!!!! I may see this Friday and Saturday again, just to up the business of this thing. Hyped doesn't begin to describe my anticpation for the 2nd coming.
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I've seen The Dark Knight as well, there is no such thing.
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Thanks Quint. I didnt think it would be possible to get even more hyped for this movie, but i was wrong.
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If there's to be a third movie (you never know; the apocalypse may hit tomorrow), then I hope they don't introduce any new villains. I'd rather see Batman and Gordon deal with a monstrous Two-Face and try to reason with him and eventually ending the trilogy on a bittersweet note with the city no longer needing a Batman.
In the meantime, I'm going to hold on to some semblance of skepticism, just so I don't overhype Nolan. I mean, so many people call him a genius and I think he's anything but. I think he's just a competent director who got the dream job for which many other rabid directors would kill. -
I mean I want to kick my arse into next week as much as the next geek but best picture nomination? There's no way the Academy is going to give that to a $180million summer blockbuster flick. Surely? It cant really be that good?
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I remember the exact day the last movie opened: June 15th, 2005. I know this because on that day at about 9am, Central time, I was knocked off of a ladder and landed on my elbow, on an iron rail screwed into the concrete in a loading dock area. This shattered my elbow and it took me a week or so to even be able to see the movie, although I was hopped up on hydrocodone and oxycontin, so the dizzying car chase and sporadic, blurry fight scenes induced either a headache or a dizzy spell.
Now my mom is going in for surgery to (hopefully) remove a tumor from her liver (or get news that she'll be put on chemo). She liked the last one and is curious to see how the Joker will be, but she'll have to wait after opening weekend.
If there is to be a third movie, I wonder who will end up in the hospital next?
Sorry for the pointless post. I just can't go to sleep and I felt like relating a series of circumstances. -
i kinda have a strong feeling he won't be playing a part in a thrid movie anymore, but I dunno. Don't think they fully introduce him in this one and the use him again as mayor villan. Nope, they got to come up with something fresh. Maybe they bring Ra's back. That would be great! Or... let the bashing begin... Robin. I would like to have a 14 year old Robin Version which is consumed by hatred because of the death of his parents. You know, really dark, which makes Batman questions his motives again. I know Robin is younger in the Comics when he starts, but a 8 year old kid would be too much.
I really hope the movies don't end with Batman dying or Gotham don't needing him anymore. That would ruin the trilogy for me totally. -
Fail.
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I am sure that they will not resolve the character in this movie and will save him for a large part of 3. Scarecrow does make an appearance from what I have heard and I like that they are streaching out some of the Rouge's Gallery...I just hope that they don't kill the joker.
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YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT, UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER AND NEVER POLUTE THE INTERNET WITH YOUR LEAD-BASED PAINT LOGIN. FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCK.
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an watching this one back home in londoN! thanks quint. this looks like a movie that i just have to see on the big screen in imax.. so i've ordered my tickets for the bfi imax at southbank! Woo hoo!
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give me a watchmen teaser
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Because i really felt that film was fucking dead flat, in spite of the fact that it had loads of great elements, i didn't care for Batman, the score was pompous and irritating and Katie Holmes was weak as piss (really, that statement in this review worried me a LOT), Cillian Murphy (whose work i like a lot) seemed ridiculously youthful and unthreatening (wacky eyes is NOT enough Mr Nolan!)..I'm NOT a HATER whatsoever, I'm always hopeful these comic book adaptations will gel into real entertainment..but Batman Begins i put down with King Kong as a cake that didn't bake too well. I'm sure rabid loons will disagree..but you can hardly pretend BB has become the solid adaptation that Iron Man, let alone the imperfect Hellboy films have.
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2 more days! TOO LONG! I CANT WAIT TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!
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"Romeo & Juliet was my favorite Shakespeare play because it had a deep affect on me as a teenager, even though I knew the ending and I knew to get invested in these characters was only going to hurt when it came about."
Translation: I liked Romeo and Juliet because Shakespeare made me care about the characters even though I knew they would die.
Profound. How are you not consistently called out for your consistently lame and on-the-nose reviews? -
I've heard rumors that "Dr. Harleen Quinzel" pops up in a cameo as a psychiatrist. It's pretty unlikely since I've read nothing about it in any review, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Can we get a yes or no confirmation?
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The academy give noms to all kinds of crap, hell they even give the award to crap films, so I don't see why a quality film like TDK could not get some noms. It is true that summer films rarely get noms, mostly because 90% of them are shitty, and because they are released like 7-9 months prior to the awards. And we all know that the Academy has a worse attention span than an average Michael Bay fan.
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period. Iron Man was all right, but nothing more in my eyes. It was fun, but Begins was so much more. It wasn't an action funny rollercoaster typ of movie, but it was fucking deep and serious. But I have to say I'm a BIGTIME Batman Fanboy.
The first time I didn't felt ashamed of sitting in a Batman movie was Begins and I allready loved everything form Nolan and Bale before Begins so it was a dream pairing for me.
Hope TDK will fucking blast me through the wall. After watching Begins for the first time I couldn't talk for about 15 mintes because I was so fucking happy that I just wittnessed a Batman movie who takes my favourite character seriously. -
Fuck yes. For ONCE as a cinema goer, living in Australia RULES!
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I don't think they will give a comic book movie some of the really big Oscars, because they think it isn't serious enough. I hope I'm wrong. Would love to see Nolan get one.
And, when will Bale get his first one? Hes allready better than the rest of his generation. -
I can't wait for this. I don't think I've been this excited for a movie in so long.
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You sound like someone reeling from a deeply religious experience, or a mind opening mescaline session. Nolan is the greatest gift to superheroes ever. How can he top this?
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I thought i read that he films everything himself?
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Jul 15, 2008 5:50:21 AM CDT
The first time I didn't felt ashamed of sitting in a Batman movi
by quantize
er that doesn't make it a good flick either!
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cinematic-comic-book-champion is Batman! Well at least judging by the near perfect reviews its getting. Christopher Nolan, I salute you
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...but I'm surprised you admitted you like Kate Holmes in 'Begins'. That's called a 'Private Shame' for a reason!
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I've got my tickets in hand.
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Jul 15, 2008 6:15:24 AM CDT
wait a few more hors..then he'll say its better than Citizen Kan
by jugdish
I hope the hype lives up to it
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Just read that Nolan first brought him in with a villains role in mind. I cant imagine him as Rhas or an assassin, don't think he would have fitted as a mafioso, so it must have been Scarecrow. Much as i liked Murphy, Oldman would have been amazing, even creepier, and of course truer to the character. He does do a very fine Gordon though, and seems to be happy about playing good guys at last. What would have been really fun was to have Oldman play both roles...
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haven't heard much from harry at all about Dark Knight - maybe didn't he get his free press kit?
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looked forward to the opening of a film as much as this one. It sucks that here in the UK we have to wait until 25th. May die of anticipation long before then.
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Isn't Harry away for his wedding anniversary?
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I have to agree with you on Batman Begins: it had a lot of problems - the casting for one: the sheer blandness of Katie Holmes, the phone-in performances from Caine and Freeman, and the ridiculous casting of 'gentle-ol'-granpa' Tom Wilkinson as a mafia boss. Utter stupidity.But then the main problems were with the script: the theme of this movie is FEAR, so we will make sure that the word FEAR pops up in the dialogue every twenty seconds to reinforce the theme of FEAR - because we're not good enough writers to SUGGEST, IMPLY or otherwise COMMUNICATE a theme other than have characters TELL THE AUDIENCE that the theme is FEAR all the time. So the theme is FEAR, okay? For those at the back: FEAR. And if you forget in the next twenty seconds or so, don't worry, because I'm here to remind you that the theme is FEAR. That's with a capital F. And E. And A. And R. FEAR!
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Damn You Michael Bay
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Because they'd use the same bullshit excuse they always use when we're talking about a young actor: He'll have other great performances, we'll give it to him then. They can't say that now. But I'm not convinced they'll award him now anyway because by the time they're into nominations people will say "oh you only reocgonized this performance cause he died." Which would be true ironically because that's what it takes for the politics to take a back seat to the power of the actual performance. Also, let's face it, they're not going to award a super hero movie. They just aren't. I'll be impressed if they do, as impressed as I was when Return of the King, a fantasy AND a threequel, won for Best Picture.
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...is as instrumental to the evolution of the Batman mythos as Bob Kane, Frank Miller, and Bruce Timm. He successfully brought Batman back to the silver screen (and into the real world) without sacrificing an ounce of drama or betraying the essence of the character (which was almost unimaginable post-Joel Schumacher). As far as I'm concerned, BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT deserve every bit of praise they receive.
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So what do we call the Nolan is God fanboys? Blackcapes?
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Saw this in IMAX yesterday. This film is a fucking juggernaut steamroller. It's 2 1/2 hours of fantastic filmmaking. Nolan has done nothing but improve since 'Begins'. The cast is so goddamned good. There's no "everyone was great... except that Holmes chick...". Ledger, Eckhardt, and Oldman are the trifecta heart and soul of this film. The worst part of 'The Dark Knight' is when it ends and you realize you've seen the best Joker performance in entertainment history... and you'll never see it again. There are a few minor plot-holes that bother me, and again, Nolan really should study up on how to stage hand-to-hand fight sequences. They're not bad... they just could be so much more. The scenes shot in IMAX took my breath away every time they filled the screen. YOU HAVE to see this in the format. It's an experience. Aside from a few minor gripes, this is the best film of 2008 and the best 'Batman' film ever.
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and i'm amped to see this movie.
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.. great review. I always look for your reviews on there. This is the ultimate fanboy wetdream! Just cannot fucking wait to see this movie!
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Sounds kinda south side-ish.
Batman Begins was good. But scenes filmed on a sound stage LOOK like they were filmed on a sound stage.
Katie H didn't have the moxy to carry her role. (least I didn't think)
I have high hopes for this. -
Damn shame that this is pretty much the only decent franchise that Warners has left. Anyone else hear about them canning the "Where the Wild Things Are" movie?
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If I hear one more word about The Dark Knight and the Oscar I am going to go Postal, and buy a copy of Uwe Boll's Postal and sit in my living room until I've lobotomized myself through sheer force of uncomedy. I have great faith in the people involved in this movie, but it's not out yet. A handful of people have seen it, and they can't help but hype it to the moon. Part of that stems from the honor of having seen it first. I get it. It's always like that. But won't someone please think about the children? The bar is being set impossibly high.
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Clearly, this is the best movie that will EVER BE MADE, throughout all possible dimensions, time, and space.
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Seems like a million years ago...
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I saw this at a preview screening last night in sydney. Its fucking awesome!!! what quint says really is true. We already booked tickets for Imax on wednesday and were goin the thursday after. Best movie i've seen this year!!!!!!!
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Don't let it bother you. It's hard flipping through the boob-tube and seeing those talentless fucks on shows like E! jamming mics in the faces of Bale and Caine trying to get them to shower Ledger with praise. I will tell you this: I saw the film... yes there's a lot of hype... but most of it is well-deserved. It is a great film, not a master piece, but a GREAT film. I know you'll agree when you see it.
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In Nolan we trust.
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When assholes like that HarveyDent poster begin spamming every talkback with spoilers, like he did yesterday?
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I'm not so sure, that review leaves me confused.
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He makes Sam Raimi look like a fucking hobo. Nolan's tailored suits/films > Raimi's tailored suits/films.
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knocked him so hard he forgot to email the winners & losers for the comic con screening of Mutant Chronicles. Sorry, had to throw that in. A couple of guys I work with entered & have been checking their emails & this web page constantly for three days.
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Could it be it really is that good? Man, I hope so. It looks friggin' amazing. BATMAN BEGINS is easily the best (at least its the smartest) superhero movie yet, if this sets the bar even higher, I say goddamn yeah!
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I cannot wait to see this!
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I want the reality to equal the hype. I'm sort of telling my age here, but when I was a kid, when the Batman TV show hadn't started yet, they advertised it with a shot of the Batmobile screaming out of the Batcave and with a voiceover saying "Batman is coming." No shot of Batman whatsoever. Just that awesomely cool car. People were going nuts to see Batman. It was all kids my age were talking about at school. The playground being the 1966 equivalent of the internet, of course. And then finally, the show came out and it was good. But it wasn't great. And even an eight year old kid knew that something was kind of silly about this show even before somebody told him what "camp" meant. And now, we've got this movie. I liked Batman Begins, but it had a lot of flaws. I've been waiting a long, long time to see Batman and the Joker truly realized on film. And anything they do with Two-Face would be an improvement on Tommy Lee Jones. But just this once, I don't want to be disappointed. I want that punch in the gut that Frank Miller gave me with The Dark Knight Returns. I want The Joker of The Killing Joke. I want a tortured Harvey Dent. I want a nearly unhinged Batman/Bruce Wayne. I want it all. And the hype says I'm going to GET it all. Like I said at the beginning, just this once I hope they really got it all right.
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Saw a screening of TDK last night. It was very good, but immediately beforehand Watchmen replaced TDK as my most anticipated film at the moment. I was very surprised at how extensively Dr. Manhattan's used in the trailer. I thought he might be some kind of visual surprise to be revealed shortly before the film, but good god he looks perfect.
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I was sad that Oldman didn't get more to chew on in the first film, and I keep hearing about Gordon's journey this time, but there are no details. Is it really that big a secret? Can you illuminate without major spoilers, Quint?
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They should get Adam West to play the part. That'd be awesome.
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Cos I'm not sure where you stand
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so people will stop acting like Batman Begins is a great film. It's not. It's racist and woefully inconsistent.
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Hmm. How so?
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You disagree about Empire?! Are YOU kidding me? Not to derail the Batman focus here, but seriously, I thought that was as accepted as the law of gravity. By the way, how's the kid doing? Last time we happened to be on the same thread, you were announcing your new status as proud papa.
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on Dark horizons said the scarecrow gets a cameo. I did read that Cillian murphy did not enjoy making Batman Begins and that he didnt get on with Christopher Nolan.
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Romeo is a complete and utter tool. At the beginning of the play he's telling Mercutio (I think it was Mercutio) that he was totally in love with that supremely beautiful girl. And he wasn't talking about Juliet.
Teenagers: Exaggerating Everything to the Point of Lunacy Since 1500 -
...but racist? That's a bit of a stretch.
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on the basis that he doesnt like giving interviews. like kubrick, there has been no leaks about this film.
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You should add "and offing themselves."
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14 months and he's moving along fine ... a little too fine since he's wearing me out.
Look, I understand the appeal of Empire. But Star Wars was a tight, strong, centered film (well, at least until the special edition). Empire was bloated, with a lot of unnecessary sequences. Empire is the reason that the prequel movies sucked so bad, because Lucas was trying to duplicate Empire instead of the original like he should have. I would argue that Return of the Jedi was a much, much better film than Empire, but it's impossible to argue it because the immediate response is 'Ewoks'.
What it comes down to is: are you a Luke fan, or a Han fan? If you're a Luke fan (as I have always been), than ROTJ in many ways is the best film, with ANH a close second. If you're a Han fan, though, it's all about Empire. -
Racist is probably the wrong word, but come on. A temple full of burning ninjas, and Wayne saves the only white one?
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that Shakepeare really admired. So shakespeare turned the poem into a play.
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They continue whining all the way into college now (even extending into the workforce, from what I'm hearing).
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I will start to give a shit about what haters are saying. In my eyes Begins was the biggest movie of 2005 and my 2nd favorite movie of all time (No1 being Taxidriver), so if any of you didn't like it thats fine. Bale was terrific and so was Nolan in my eyes. I enjoyed it almost 30 times know and plan to see it this weekend again before i travel to fucking netherlands to see the movie early.
(I'm from germany and the movie starts here end of august and I won't wait that long) -
Nick Fury won't be showing up at the end to recruit Batman into the Avengers Project?
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stupid german doesn't know his english. yeah, Harry, you should make a edit button available sometime.
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I certainly hope so. Ledger, okay, the buzz is crazy about him. I also think he will be nominated... But Nolan for Directing!? Seriously?! This would be the greatest fucking thing ever!!!
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yeah, I'm still angry that Marvel beat DC in the DC v.s Marvel comics.
Hulk wasn't all that by the way, even if I liked Norton very much. -
so so hyped..
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you know it!
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...to remind us about the Avenger Initiative and to make sure we properly dispose of our popcorn containers.
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And I mean NOTHING.
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Actually, the share something in common: they've both been accused of having something published under their name that was written by another.
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That's the whole point- Romeo thinks he is in love with Rosaline and makes a big show of it when really, he doesn't know what it truly means until he meets Juliet.
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...has aged terribly. Although it's still better than the mess that is BATMAN RETURNS and both of the cinematic abortions perpetrated by Joel Schumacher. I haven't seen THE DARK KNIGHT yet, but as far as I'm concerned the best Batman films are BATMAN BEGINS, BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM, and BATMAN '89 (in that order).
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The other way is that he's impetuous and given over to irrational flights of fancy (i.e. he's a teenager). I'm not arguing against Juliet, I'm just saying Romeo is a tool.
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You know, the whole reason the place got destroyed in the first place? Oh right, the farmer dies too with the rest of them. That made perfect sense.
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Jul 15, 2008 8:25:02 AM CDT
I'll bet this magic pencil trick is extremely disappointing.
by jack the riddler
It's hyped so much everywhere it has to disappoint. Probably same goes for Ledgoker: I've read a review last week, and the guy sounded like a lone voice of reason when he said "Ledger's competent in it, but if he was still alive, nobody would even be thinking about any Oscars"...
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In Shakespeare's case, there is some dispute as to whether some works have been erroneously attributed to Wm. In King's case, it's whether or not he published books that his wife wrote. To be honest, though, the King debate only happened when the books were released; Wikipedia doesn't even mention the possibility.
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And I'm saying I disagree with your interpretation.
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Batman Begins is okay, but I'll be damned if I can work out why everyone went so nuts over it.Never mind, not much point getting in to that again. I am curious about this new one, though. Ledger looks good, I always like Eckhart, and I suppose dreary and overly serious Batman is better than no Batman at all.
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"greatest superhero movie" is a D.C. property. Haven't read comics since I was a kid, but for nostalgia's sake, I still root for Marvel. I remember that the only common ground Marvel and D.C. fans had was our united disgust at the snobbish superiority complexes of the fans of the obscure, pretentious indie comics. (Ironically, we were all of us just sixth grade geeks.)
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But no one said you had to agree with me. Heck, the scholars don't agree:
"The nineteenth century centered on debates regarding the moral message of the play. David Garrick created a version of the play which excluded Rosaline, as Romeo's abandonment of her for Juliet was seen as reckless love at the time. Critics such as Charles Dibdin argued that Rosaline had been purposely included in the play to show how reckless the hero was, and that this was the reason for his tragic end. Critics of the time also debated whether Friar Laurence was actually Shakespeare's direct spokesman in his frequent warnings to the two lovers regarding their hastiness."
(Copy/pasted from Wikipedia) -
In one of the Daria episodes, someone wrote a paper on Romeo and Mercutio being homosexual. I didn't realize that was a real theory! Wow. Who knoew?
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What am I missing here? He's become a solid, competent maker of mainstream studio films, but - aside from Memento - I haven't seen anything great from him. What has he done to justify these excited proclamations of genius?It's always one way or the other around here - ludicrous over-praising or preposterous over-criticism.
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the voice of experience
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My only complaint is that they reduced Michael Caine's role to a guy who just serves drinks.
Hey movie fans, check out this awesome new blog at thebitterproducer.blogspot.com -
Thank you Quint.
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Fanboy trolls on Begins plot: "Oh no, it was such a bad plot! I'm so smart I figured out that a microwave would evaporate the water in people's bodies too! The people that wrote Batman Begins are way more stupid than me!"Wrong. The water in your body is a component of blood and plasma. Not the same thing as unadulterated water coming out the tap. Here, test my point: Drain a fucking pint of your own blood and leave the glass out. Then fill another pint glass with tap water. Leave that out. In two days, see which one has evaporated. Then finish draining the rest of your own blood into a bathtub.
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MEMENTO and THE PRESTIGE. THE FOLLOWING was a promising debut, INSOMNIA is solid and contains an excellent performance from Al Pacino (which, if you think about it, is a rare thing these days), and BATMAN BEGINS is very, very good.
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... All the Oscar talk is a bit shit. Does anyone with actual taste care about the Oscars anymore? In fact saying that this film is the kind of film that might do well at the Academy Awards almost puts me off it.
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Most of the water in our bodies is contained within cells. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_water for all the fun numbers.
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Daria seems a bit dykey too.
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Only 1/12th of the water in our body is contained in blood plasma. So Laserhead has obviously deluded himself.
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Besides, it was one of the Joeys that wrote the paper.
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What the fuck are you talking about? How's that contradict what I said?And it's accepted in academic circles that Shakespeare did write his own plays you sanctimonious bag of dogshit. Good to see you've discovered Wikipedia.
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The film that went well until it revealed that David Bowie built a machine that makes copies of Hugh Jackman? The one where it turned out that the guy who looked like Christian Bale in a fake beard was actually - Ta-Da! - Christian Bale in a fake beard?Not a bad film, but have we lowered our expectations to the point that The Prestige is considered great?Memento, granted, is pretty much a masterpiece. For that, I'll always at least be interested in whatever Nolan does.
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I've deluded myself?!? Because it turns out 1/3 of body water is extracellular fluid and the rest is intercellular fluid? So what? It doesn't negate my point about Begins plot.My god, you're a shit stain on a pair of yellowed underwear. The kind of dude that tries to be the smartest guy working the food service line, huh?
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Why won't this douchy format die! You can see about a quarter, maybe a third of the screen at a time for fuck's sake. What is the damn point?
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You said that "water in the body is a component of blood and plasma". Only 1/12th is. You were wrong. Period. The other 11/12th of the water would evaporate, causing first your eyes to disintegrate, then your skin would start to flake and fall off, and so on until you were a lump of shrivelled flesh and fatty substance.
As for Shakespeare's authorship, all I said is that there was some dispute. I never said he wasn't the author. And I was using it as an example to draw a comparison between Shakespeare and King.
So you were wrong, and now feel the need to attack me. Get over it. -
I lvoe Memento and insomnia, but The Prestige fell fat on its face in my opinion. That said this review, aside from the IMAX fellatio, made me spew batcum from my batcock.
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Chrth, you're on a roll of delusion this morning. Let's see, Batman Begins was 'racist', Empire sucked, and you speak about Shakespeare as though you once read something about him on a Burger King cup and have decided to pass yourself off as some kind of expert.You win 'Biggest Asshole' troll.Nice assumption that the ONLY reason someone would save the person they knew in a house full of burning ninjas is 'racism'. Fuck, your kid's got a long, long road ahead of him being raised by a fat loser at a keyboard.
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I feel the need to attack you not because I was 'wrong', but because you're a sanctimonious, loud-mouthed sack of dick-suck.
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May Rickey recommend sitting in the back of the IMAX theater?
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Not that I condone that kind of behaviour, but it's a classier kind of squabble, like two gentleman having a spat over seats at the opera or somesuch.
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Hobo could sit in the the back row but that would still be about 25 feet from the screen.
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Move on, man. Move on.
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Chrth's expalanation for why Begins is racist has to be one in the top five DUMBEST things a TBer has ever said on this site. Ever. The other four going to myself of course.
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Rickey hears ya, the screen is daunting. Rickey had the great misfortune of seeing "300" in IMAX and was terrified by the sight of man-nipples the size of trampolines. Most theaters dont have screens that close to the seats however. And certain movies like TDK just cry out to be seen IMAX. Rickey's got his tickets booked already for this Friday--Rickey simply cannot wait.
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is probably the wrong word to use. I just found the whole sequence bizarre.
I also don't understand Ras' point in the whole thing. Didn't he consider something like that might happen? If Ras isn't Liam Neeson, ok, it's understandable. But Ras IS Liam Neeson, so how did he totally misread the guy he was mentoring? -
If it's any consolation, I think Chrth got his 'racism' theory from Wikepedia.
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Is definitley wrong choice of word - not probable about it. Friendly Fred
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Proper screening distance is 2-3 times the width of the screen. A 50' plasma should be viewed for I know it seems shallow in there. Imax viewing is more a 1 to 1 ratio between screen with and viewing distance. This has to do with the imersive experience they were going for and film grain being much less obvious at closer range. So sit 3/4 back (don't forget the surround back channel must be heard!). So you are correct the viewing in Imax is closer, but that's on purpose!
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It should have read " A 50" plasma should be viewed at 8'. The Imax is not like that, I know it seems shallow in there"
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First it was just going to be a best supporting nod for Ledger... now it's apparently going to get Best Picture and Best Director?Hype train is totally out of control on this one.
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Let's make TDK the highest grossing film of all time! Fuck Titanic, It's Man Time!
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Clearly, there are troubling elements of racism lodged withing the subtext of Batman Begins. Rickey has issues with Bruce Wayne subjugating Lucius Fox and forcing him to make his gadgets for him, much like plantation owners did in the antebellum era in U.S. history. It smacks of racism to Rickey.
Furthermore, there are profound economic issues with Batman's decision to order the ears for his cowl from a country overseas rather than purchasing domestically. In an age of outsourcing and a growing U.S. trade defecit, purchasing items in bulk from a foreign nation is completely inexscusable.
Moreover, the carbon foorprint caused by the Batmobile must be simply massive. Rickey is unsure of what kind of gas mileage a fire spewing tank gets, but it can't be good. In today's oil dependent era, isn't it up to Batman to lead the way by driving a hybrid electric vehicle?
These are all issues that trouble Rickey and Rickey thanks Chrth for bringing them to the forefront of conversation here at AICN. -
Hey Quint... how did you get to see this early and even go back again in 15 hours to see it again?
I know they have early screenings for certain people, but not sure how you get to see it in Imax (twice) before its even released.
I want to know, so I can do it also ;) -
...and I just want to get up and and get my ass to a theatre NOW! Wait...not until Friday! KHAAAANNNNNN!!!!
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In an unprecedented move, The Dark Knight is simultaneously under consideration for a Nobel Prize for Literature, a first for a film about a man fighting crime in a rubber bat costume.
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Quint, and his plus one are not you. I'm sure Quint loves it when strangers on the internet ask for favors, who doesn't? now you gonna comment on my spelling?
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I'm getting all kinds of anxious. I'm trying to approach the hyperbole with a level head and I'm doing my best to avoid major spoilers. But DAMN if I'm not excited to see this film.And I can already smell a Talkback war a' brewin'. The Batnerds will arrive in force, they'll try to tell everyone what to think, and the hilarity will ensue.
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How did he misread the guy he was mentoring? He was a mentor, not a psychic. Same thing happened to poor Pai Mei.
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Fuck it. I'm going to the 3:30 am Thursday night.
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i know the voice is a put on, but it actually makes sense. Bruce Wayne needs to protect his identity as much as possible. that's why you see his Batman always keeping the head low, speaking from underneath so that his features are difficult to discern. disguising the voice is critical since he interacts with the same people (harvey dent, gordon) when he's out of costume.
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LO! Tis is a first of great import on a site such as this. I bequeath my geekly virtues to thee in hopes thou will relinquish such folly...
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Don't let the hatas wear you down. Buncha trolling mctrollersons.This PC society really has to let up sometime (I hope). Let's hope we can raise our kids to be better than the riffraff.
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Speaking as an English teacher who is also a professional actor, Romeo is indeed a foolish, reckless teenager whose rash decisions get him and his friends into trouble. Don't let DiCaprio's brooding fool you; Romeo is a whiny douche.
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we almost had a black Two Face in the previous franchise. Unfortunately for Lando, Tommy Lee Jones was busy being in every single movie that year, so he got the role.
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Romeo did not love Juliet. Because Mr Merrick so perfectly explained how this is so, there is no need for me to echo that here.
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I think it's great. Doesn't even sound like Bale...can't tell it's him which adds to the illusionn.
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...because of its brilliantly reflexive structure and Nolan's virtuoso filmmaking. The opening scene, where Cutter explains the three parts of a magic trick, is essentially a road map for the entire film. "The Pledge," "The Turn," and "The Prestige" are the three acts of the film itself, and if you're "watching closely" (as Cutter suggests at the outset) the film gives itself away almost immediately. But unlike most "twist" films, the eventual reveal is meaningless. Just as Borden says, "the secret impresses no one... the trick you use it for is everything." Nolan is operating on the same principal here, he enjoys manipulating the audience in the same way Borden and Angier do, and he does so in such a sly and calculating way that the audience remains (almost willingly) distracted from the truth right in front of their eyes. Like a magician with a pretty assistant, we are manipulated into looking exactly where he wants us to, when he wants us to. The film, at its core, is about the power and the allure of a story and its teller. Borden sums it up best while talking to Angier at the very end of the film (no doubt conveying the thoughts of Nolan as well): "the audience knows the truth: the world is simple. It's miserable, solid all the way through. But if you could fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder, and then you... then you got to see something really special... it was... it was the look on their faces..."
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Got to scare mofos.
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It's something Michael Keaton did in Batman and Batman Returns, but to a much lesser degree. I have to admit I found it distracting in Batman Begins. At moments it was kind of silly sounding.
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How much you all want to bet he will be there, at IMAX, opening day, and see it several times that day, and sleep there overnight, and see it again until they kick him out, and then come here and tell us all, in meticulous detail, how much he 'hated' it, how i made no sense, and how the character of the Joker is racist against clowns. Thats right, clowns are a race now.
Btw, on the completely retarded supposition that Batman Begins is racist, did you miss the part featuring Lucius Fox, the genius inventor of all of Batman's gadgets? In case you were wondering, he is played by Morgan Freeman. Also, Ducard / Ra's Al Ghul wasn't the only white guy with the League of Shadows, he just happened to be Bruce's friend and mentor who saved him from a hellish prison. -
Seriously, Batman is supposed to be scary and threatening, not like some average Joe with a cosplay fetish. Bale is pitch perfect in every respect as Batman. His growl is a put-on to scare his enemies, to make him seem more than human. You know, theatricality? It was one of the themes of Batman Begins?
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He said "I AM THE DARK KNIGHT"
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Ghost Rider? Daredevil? Thrill us with further demonstrations of your astonishing lack of critical insight.
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both bale and keaton mubled, but at least with bale it's a loud mumble.
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Is pointless and stupid; the only reason any of you are doing it is because you want to get on this bandwagon of Nolan geekdom. Why can't you enjoy both? If you were old enough to see Batman '89 when it came out, you liked it.
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Over the top, you say...look at the manboy in the mirror, cause you sir are off the chain and hook over the top like Stallone on acid.
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You know, if you think about it, Batman really is just a little boy; a terribly emotionally wounded little boy in the body of a man who can kick the shit out of a room full of bad guys and barely break a sweat. His whole character is motivated by the death of his parents, and everything he does after that is really a part of that little kid, crying in the alley, trying desperately to mend a wound that will never, ever heal.
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Jul 15, 2008 10:15:29 AM CDT
DGDB, I was speaking of my close and personal goth friend tim bu
by g-ride9000
Tim's batman was the character that Keaton played...confusing language, I know. I'm confused most of the time...in fact, where the fuck am I?
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Bit rich to talk of other posters lack of critical insight when you think Terminator 3 is the best Terminator film.
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He changed his name for the SAC registry. So Michael Douglas became Michael Keaton. true story!
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Dude, don't be an asshole. I never said T3 was the best Terminator film. I said T3 was better than T2 (and it is), BUT that neither of them were better, or even come close to the first Terminator movie, the only one that matters, the only classic of the bunch.
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and T3 is not better than T2, even on acid
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While at first Bale's Batman voice is a little awkward it does make sense since as has been said he is disguising his voice but more importantly his whole deal is to strike terror in the hearts of his enemies, that's what the suit, the stealth and the voice all work towards. It's the same idea as yelling in martial arts when you deliver a blow, to scare your opponent and pump yourself up. If you had a badass vigilante coming at you from the shadows above your head, yelling in that voice you would drop a log in your shorts.
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but T2 wasn't great. Aside from the FX I really couldn't give that much of a fuck about it.
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We weren't debating whether or not Romeo was reckless. He certainly was. We were debating whether he was really in love with Rosaline. And don't assume people here only get their knowledge from DiCaprio, that wasn't the first version I saw and I had studied the play in high school- with an English teacher that didn't describe Romeo as a "whiney douche", thank God. He used more thoughtful words. And 'PC' is when you cry 'racism' at every turn. And "professional actor" is actually meaningless. Bringing that up and saying you're an English teacher is actually quite pompous.
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Dang, you're not a genius if you think that Burton's Batman was the best of the bunch, though. Haven't seen TDK yet, so I can't comment on it, but clearly Nolan's version is the only good one, the only one that matters, the only one worthy of the status of classic. Burton's Batman was little more than a silly, campy, goth version of the 60s show. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love campy silliness as much as the next geek, but I don't (and can't) take it seriously. Nolan's Batman takes the whole genre to the next level; intellectualizing the modern myth of comic books. Not an easy trick to pull, and he's pretty much the only one who's managed to do it, brilliantly.
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We'll see you in a few days.
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you REALLY hate Batman on film, don't you? While I agree with some of what you say regarding Begins, particularly in the casting of Katie Holmes and Cillian Murphy, overall I thought the movie worked as an origin story. It probably worked best for people not that familiar with the Batman mythos, but face it, comic book movies generally are made to appeal to a wider audience than comic book readers, right? And on that level, I think it succeeded. And as far as Dark Knight goes, we simply have different viewpoints. I find the clips I've seen of Ledger both menacing and layered. It seems you're expecting the movie to suck even before you see it. I'm hoping for a much more positive experience.
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Last movie I saw in a movie theatre was, uh, Simpsons movie. Or maybe Rush Hour 3 (wife is a Jackie Chan fan). I haven't seen Ironman, Hulk, or Indy IV yet. I don't go to movies. Heck, I still haven't seen HP:OOTP.
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That sums up exactly my thoughts about it.
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T2 is a fucking masterpiece. What planet am I on?
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I just don't understand why so many people think it's the greatest superhero movie ever. It's not. Unbreakable is. But even ignoring that, how is that anyone who criticizes it immediately becomes a hater?
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what I said now.
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Do you think Jake Gyllenhall will accept the award? They kissed...gross!
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A brutal murder. A brilliant killer. A dead guy who can't resist the danger.
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I spent the spring getting psyched for the new Indiana Jones flick and luckily was NOT disappointed.. It's a great movie..
But now all I can think about is going to see TDK.. All I can say is that this better not leave me feeling like I did way back in the 80's with the first Batman movie.
I was completely geeked to see it and all the reviews from the papers and friends got my expectations WAY WAY high. Unfortunately, I left the theater feeling amazingly underwhelmed. I kept asking my friend who had already seen it, "When does it start getting good??"
I hope to God this lives up to the hype... -
LOVED the first one (even dated FXwise, it still stands up as a solid genre film), saw the second one and HATED it. Straight up hated the whole friggin' thing. T3 wasn't great, but it was a whole helluva lot better than T2, and it was, at the very least, good and fun to watch. Not to mention funny and exploitative. That bathroom fight scene is friggin' awesome, totally hot/sexualized, and almost grindhouse-y. T2 was a wank fest for suburban children with father issues.
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Being an asshole is what internet talkbacks are all about. T2 wipes the floor with T3. In fact the opening titles of T2 wipe the floor with T3, then there's still another 145 minutes of cool shit to sit through.
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Please, learn to write. It's embarrassing. Don't you get paid for this?
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T2 not so much. Honestly, there's some appaling bollocks in there, but more than enough cool bits to carry it. It is better than T3, but both pale in comparison to the original. Not that T2 is bad. Shit, I'm really mangling my meaning today.
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Pomposity doesn't make it not true. I apologize for speaking in terms the lowest common denominator could understand. Sometimes you have to speak to the masses.Romeo wasn't in love with Rosaline. He was just another dumb teenager (albeit one gifted with Shakespeare's words) who was trying to get laid. It's all over the first act, when Romeo and Mercutio talk.
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yeah, superman numero uno was nice. But what about the one with Richard Prior,
NOW THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! -
Spot on. Superman: The Movie wipes the floor with every other comic book movie ever made. The first 40 minutes of Superman are just sublime.
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Ok, yeah, the whole bad guy thing was ridiculous (and I love how Richard Pryor became an instant computer programmer). But come on now: Tar Kryptonite Superman was phenomenal. And then he split and fought himself? Chills, man, chills.
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Jul 15, 2008 10:50:06 AM CDT
Fear, Idealism, Will, Symbols, Theatricality, Failure, Redemptio
by laserpants
All themes of Batman Begins; the only movie I have ever seen (keeping in mind I haven't seen TDK yet) which examines these themes in the context they've been hiding in for years -- the funny books. Its fucking brilliant. If you didn't get it, or it was too murky / dark, thats a matter of taste, but you can't say they weren't there. Burton's Batman was just a flamboyant display of style. Sure, the whole goth-pop-art is kinda appealing, but its really anything different than the campy 60s show.
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It also doesn't make it very interesting. We figured that stuff out about Rosaline before you got involved, thanks.
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because I will at a Bachelor Party in Las Vegas. And I'm actually a little bit irritated now that I "have" to go! Alas, I will survive.
Oh, and where's Neill Cumpston, Goddammit. These reviews just aren't exciting enough. -
Quote: "If you were old enough to see Batman '89 when it came out, you liked it."Uh, no. I was old enough and I did not like it. In fact, coming out of the theater, I told everyone standing in line that Batman dies. That's how much I disliked it.
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Of course, it's necessary for all movies. I just hope he doesn't disappoint us.
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You got size DD fake-ass-tities in your face and all you can think about is Batman....A true geek.
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Spoiling bastard, What's that? He doesn't die? whoops.....
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Yeah, but check out the cinematography in the Smallville sequences, especially the crane shot where the camera comes from behind Clark and Martha and goes over their heads towards the horizon...more majesty in one shot than Singer managed in the whole movie.
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KICK-COCK.
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Jul 15, 2008 10:56:17 AM CDT
Mr. Nice Gaius, you've less taste than mr happy after a shower
by g-ride9000
Burton's Batman ushered in a bar that is often set too low....like in this talkback.
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HA! Wrong year, man! It was BATMAN '89!
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were completely ridiculous and nearly ruined Superman: The Movie. Neither of those roles were Ned Beatty or Valerie Perrine's finest hours. That being said, Glenn Ford should have gotten Best Supporting Actor. But Brando phoned it in. Christopher Reeve is and always will be Superman to me. I thought that both Hackman and Spacey played Luthor too broad. They made him buffoonish rather than menacing though Spacey did try to evil it up a bit. Margot Kidder was the surprise of the bunch. Initially, I just didn't like her look as Lois. But her performance won me over.
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You didn't like Batman '89? Come on, it had the pride of Union New Jersey (my hometown) in it! (No, not Ray Liotta, Robert Wuhl. Oh wait, Ray Liotta is the pride of Union)
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David Edelstein (Slate, New York: http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/48514/) and David Denby (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2008/07/21/080721crci_cinema_denby) Worth reading to keep expectations in check, particularly if you're like me and they're currently through the roof.
I should say that both reviewers seem to prefer the Burton '89 Batman, which I thought was a tremendous disappointment even as a teenager. (Batman Returns, IMHO, is a much more successful Burton film.) And Denby's the same pretentious asshole who spent a review of The Matrix 2 whining that not enough people read Cheever. (I enjoyed his GREAT BOOKS, but he needs to get over himself.) FWIW. -
Jul 15, 2008 10:59:36 AM CDT
g-ride 9000, you think that'll be my geek pinnacle?
by shut the fuck up donny
All the guys going are DnD freaks. Every time we place craps, we say "roll save vs. poverty!"
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or the lack thereof, just keep in mind that it is Batman "Begins." And the final idea discussed in the first movie is "escalation." At first the action scenes in BB did bug me. I wanted something more, but after seeing it a few more times, it all settles in quite nicely. They left room for this thing to grow. From what I've seen, TDK looks to be BB on steroids in terms of action, as it should be.
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Wait, hold up, the one where Superman makes time go backwards, on Earth, by flying really fast in the other direction? Riiiight. So what happened to the rest of the universe? it just stood still and watched? And how come the Earth wasn't ripped to shreads by gravity being torn asunder? D-U-M-B.
Seriously, man, you just lost all credibility. Even Burton's Batman is better. Still, I do admit that the score in Donner's version is perfect, and the Krypton art design was great. Reeves is good, but Lois Lane? She looks like she's 65 years old; not even remotely attractive Pretty much everything else about Donner's version is embarrassingly bad. Then again, it is a children's movie. It was meant for 5 year olds. Batman Begins is for adults (and/or intelligent teenagers). -
Fred can not agree. Fred thinks you are confusing epic scope - with good movie making. Supes was indeed epic. It was a throwback to the big costume epics of fifties and early sixties. It told the story on a grand, and drawn out scale. In that it did a magnificent job. Fred can not quibble with the casting choices either - although Brando was a stretch. The plot, the ridiculous Lex Luthor plot, which still rears ugly head, Fred can forgive that - in this movie, because Hackman was very good. But what Fred can not forgive, and what ultimately sinks this film, is poor pacing. Fred has seen a lot of movies that had epic scope, and very few directors can consistently pull off such while keeping the audience engaged throughout. Superman does not appear on screen in his own movie until 50 minutes into it! And even then, only for a fleeting second. Too much emphasis was placed on telling the origin and giving the big name stars their moment to shine, than on showing the audience what they came to see - namely Superman doing super things. When he finally appeared, with rousing helicopter rescue, it was great. Fred can even forgive bad effects - on cable TV in HD you can see the strings. But it was too little too late. The film had dragged. Fred liked cat and mouse between Supes and Lex, it was genuinely good moments due to great acting. But it could not save overall film, because of slow pacing. BUt Fred movuie viewing is subjective, and Fred know for a fact that some people think Mystery Men is the greatest superhero movie ever made.
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BSG? Really? That's an interesting development for you. I thought Season 4's first half was good but a little uneven. It felt compressed; like they were trying their best to cram two seasons worth of story into one. However, the mid-season finale was pretty incredible and I'm really looking forward to the show's return.BTW - I've got to hand it to you. Your hate on BATMAN BEGINS ranks right up there with I am Batman and Jeff Albertson.
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I've given up all hope for you.
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It's a NY liberal snob rag. Not that I've anything against liberals, just the NY snob kind. I think after all reviews are in, RottenTomatoes will have easily a +90% rating for TDK.
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You're kidding right? They're AWFUL. Of course, that has nothing to do with Donner, it was the best they could do efx wise at the time, but cmon now, you've got to be kidding.
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There is no hope that I will ever like really shitty movies like T2 and Donner's Supermen.
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fuck the 'origin' excuses...you would have two dicks stuck in each eye and another two each ear to not have noticed Batman Begins it wasn't as completely successful as all the talk would suggest..much like King Kong fell a bit flat once reality and repeated viewings sunk in : ultimately audiences left feeling a little underwhelmed...
Oh and I guess we all can see Aint I Suck Your Marketing Department is in full effect on this film. I'll take a Cloverfield Lion Sized chill pill and see this once the uncontrollable blithering has died down..no hurry. -
Good luck then, enjoy T3.
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Fred is happy to see the great one return.
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Sorry, but Burton's BATMAN (and Schumacher's for that matter) were so ruinous, that I wanted it ruined for everyone else. Talk about your lack of taste...
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I can't imagine how that poor guy will possibly be able to articulate his thoughts. But I'm sure we'll hear hyperbole on a level even further than the other reviews; I'm sure he'll declare it the greatest tale ever told in the history of storytelling on planet Earth. I only wonder if it will be compared to getting a simultaneous blowjob/rimjob from that "Heroes" cheerleader and Keira Knightley. Or it was so awesome he will make it his mission in life to actually suck Nolan's dick while tickling Bale's balls. He takes the word "gushing" to an entirely new level. When Harry gets done, the other reviews on this site will sound like they hated the movie. Don't let me down, Harry; I know you have it in you. Say it's better than "Citizen Kane." I'm waiting for it. Oh, and I saw the flick already; while it is fucking great, I couldn't help being a little let down because it wasn't THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE BY HUMAN HANDS. But it is excellent, and undeniably better than "Batman Begins," which was pretty sweet to, uh, begin with. So enjoy, gang. But watch those staggering expectations.
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Jul 15, 2008 11:09:45 AM CDT
DannyGlover, if I want to see a gashed-up filthy red maw
by shut the fuck up donny
I'll check out a nude dancer off the strip. But I digress, I think I can go a few extra days without this little piece of "film history." But I can't promise the movie won't be brought up at least once while we're out there.
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Supermans cinematography is awful, dont talk such bullshit. The cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth, one of the greatest cinematographers of all time winning 2 oscars. Next you will be telling me his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey is crap.
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Howdy. No, I did not like BATMAN '89. I've found that Burton's faux goth-camp has left an unfortunate scar on what the interpretation of Batman & Co. should be. I give it two points though for Nicholson's mostly entertaining performance and Kim Bassinger's ass.
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Its good to know that you care Maud Dib.
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Then we will just have to agree to disagree as i think the whole film looks amazing almost dreamlike. Still i respect your opinion.
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Jul 15, 2008 11:18:33 AM CDT
Entertaining Performance by Kim Bassingers ass
by freds_balls_in_a_mason_jar
Oh, that is not what you wrote, but still Fred like that idea better! Shame Fred's balls in a jar though.
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I mean seriously, it actually has Down's Syndrome. I can buy the idea of a water vaporizer much easier than reversing time. Theoretically, a water vaporizer is feasible. Reversing time by flying really fast in the other direction? Not possible! And completely fucking retarded.
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Prince/Joker parade givin out money and toxic gas...fuck yeah!Empty churches and really dirty bums and really fat cops...fuck yeah!JACK FUCKING PALANCE...You say goth I say German Expressionist throwback...All of his toys/vehicles were perfect...BILLY DEE WILLIAMSthe list goes on. Nice try.
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I just liked it. Loved it, even. But worship? Nah.
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While Fred not argue merits of time travel, Fred does think that basing dislike on superhero movie - about a flying, nigh unto invulnerable alien whose only weakness is Harry Potter and a radioactive rock, might be nitpicking just a tad.
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Jul 15, 2008 11:22:48 AM CDT
I Like When Superman Throws A Cellophane "S" Off His Chest
by laserpants
And smothers the bad guys with it. R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D.
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Isn't that Supes 2. That was a retarded scene. Since when can he make duplicates of himself
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Batman TV show have better theme. BATMAN! Bam! Pow! BIFF!
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Jul 15, 2008 11:25:31 AM CDT
TDK might be near perfect but the score won't touch Elfman
by g-ride9000
dimes for dollars on that one
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LaserPants knows that there are animals that fly, and substances that are nigh invulnerable, and substances that are dangerous or cause sickness; hence its not impossible, just improbable that a being of such power could exist somewhere in the universe. But reversing time by flying backwards really fast? Not possible, not probable, not anything but totally fucking stupid.
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I must say i hated spinning the planet backwards reversing time crap. I would have left ugly lois to die and flown back and fucked miss Teschmacher, she would swallow.
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is the stupidest name ever for a villain? Well, the comics character is Arabic and the name's Arabic, real Arabic words. I don't know if the font will post true, but here goes. رأس الغول (pronounced Raysh al Ghoul, more or less); Ra's - head; al - of; Ghul - ghoul or, in Denny O'Neil's preferred translation, demon. As the comics character is more than six hundred years old, an archaic sounding name is understandable. If we play by the fan-theory that in Batman Begins (also hope those italic tags worked) the title is largely hereditary, passing to each leader of the League of Shadows, it makes even more sense. Ra's is then the HEAD of the league, ninjas who might once have been thought demons by the public.
Just my two cents. -
If Harry's review of the godawful HB2 is any indication, his TDK review will have redheaded man-juice all over it.
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Very cool. How the fuck did you get that text up?
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I just need to get a look at it in action,I already know the story,I just want to see Dr.Manhattan also.
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I just need to get a look at it in action,I already know the story,I just want to see Dr.Manhattan also.
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FOLKS, I'M COVERED IN MY OWN JIZZ AS WELL AS CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S, AND I'M LICKING IT ALL OFF SLOWLY AND SAVORING EVERY LAST DROP OF "THE DARK KNIGHT"
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had a story by Mario Puzo. He and the scriptwriters played it kinda silly because the STUDIO wanted it silly. It wasn't until Mankewicz (sp?) came in that they started to work in much serious material. Everyone figured, even ten years later, that silly was the way to go, at least silly mixed with serious (because even the Batman TV series featured serious threats to people and property). The silliness of "Batman" had carried over to the Broadway musical, "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!" The producers of "Batman" even did some tests for a campy "Wonder Woman" program where an ugly woman (they initially thought Phyllis Diller) would play Wonder Woman, who thought she was beautiful and who saw a beautiful image when she looked in the mirror. Silly was the word of the day. Don't blame Donner. Many reports say he wanted less comedy.
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I saw Batman Begins in Imax and it was a horrible experience. Half the time I couldn't even tell what I was supposed to be looking at (is that Batman's arm? or a steam-pipe?). I'm eager to see DK, but you couldn't PAY ME to watch it in Imax.
Oh yeah--- And I'm actually more excited for the Watchmen trailer than this whole movie. Don't know why... just am. -
I got lucky. I found the Arabic on good old Wikipedia and copied and pasted in the hope the font would hold.
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And granted, a lot of that is just there in the source material, and it's hard to avoid. But Goyer didn't really seem to try. At it's core, the film is saying: The regular, middleclass and poor people of Gotham have no inherent morality and just barely do what it takes to survive, and are prone to economically cannibalize off each other. It's up to powerful (and rich) men to steer the course of the city. Thomas Wayne did so with public works to set an example. He was killed, and his murder "shocked the rich into action," forcing "Gotham to save itself." So, the rich have the power to save the city and steer it morally, they just often don't do so until they are shocked. Thomas was one of the few who would do something. On the other side, a rich powerful Man Falcone controls the city and no one stands up to him. And the rich powerful Ra's Al Ghul is trying to destroy it. In that sense, the film is very anti-populist. Only the rich and powerful have any ability to steer moral authority, the people are just sheep. And that goes very much against the American ethic of self-governance. So, I'm a little surprised everyone likes a story about the elite battling it out for power while the rest of us stand by helplessly. But like I said, that's a trap already lain in the source material, and it's a hard one to avoid. Goyer and Nolan just didn't have the skill to avoid it.
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No question that Ledger will probably get a nomination because that's how fucked up the Academy Awards is. See: Color Purple and Ghost if you don't believe me. Whoopi got the Oscar for the latter...
But Direction? Best Pic? HORSESHIT. -
You were kidding, right? Because I can hate on pretty much all of BATMAN '89.
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Overrated.
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Have to try that sometime if i need some foreign lingo to prove my ever-so-important points. he he
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Hating on this movie is like throwing a pebble into a river. Keep picking you little stones Mr. Nice Gaius, because it will never amount to squat.
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One of the single best compositions for film ever created? Really? It always sounded like an aborted Oingo Boingo song to me. All of Elfman's compositions sound campy to me. That must be why Burton has used him so much...(And you'll notice that I did not mention Zimmer or Bay(?!) in my previous post.)
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This is the most hyped I've been for a movie in a long time. I was leary of all of the star wars and Indy but still excited. This I'm just flat out ecstatic!!! God this will own my ass.
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"Harry Says TDK will fist-fuck the heart of your inner child and gang bang your mouth!"Well... tonight... as I type... this. Well, I am... COVERED... in my own sticky man goop while a TONGUE of cinematic goodness is shoved deep in my... fat, quivering asshole. Well, I'm spread-eagled, tongue-fucked, and spent under a greasy coating of my own... jizz. I squealed like a baby with tears of ECSTASY pouring down my enormous cheeks. Well, all my life I thought... the JOKER... and if I were to ever I mean this is kind of Heath Ledger. Well... what he did to me. This was the ABSOLUTE BEST, most salad-tossingly AWESOME thing ever committed to celluloid.I'm married.
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I said he squealed like a baby with tears of ecstasy rolling down his cheeks. I did neglect the quivering uncontrollably, I guess.
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Yeah, I'm not sure what fight you're trying to pick with me here. Because you'll notice that I don't waste much time hating on BATMAN '89 the way some people on AICN spend their days hating on BATMAN BEGINS.
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That made Fred laugh!
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Fair enough.
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I guess with Begins, it's like everyone just accepts that it was this wonderful perfect Batman movie that DID NO WRONG and how DARE you suggest it could be better or was in any way deficient? If you disagree, you are more motivated to make your point. Unfortunately, that same majority has for some stupid reason decided to lump Burton with Schumacker so say you don't like Burton is also a majority opinion and those who do have to work harder.
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Although I thought it was dumb that 200 Balloons wasn't on the soundtrack
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But let's face it, we're all waiting for Mori's for legitimacy and Harry's for hilarity.
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And for the record, I really enjoyed BATMAN BEGINS. However, it's not a flawless film and it's certainly not above criticism.
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One of the rare instances of him being WAY EARLY for a review. Sadly, that will kind of make his review less relevant when the film actually drops...
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Excellent post man. I agree with a lot of what you say. I don't know if you're from America or not, but you have to understand something. The U.S. is a communist-phobic, hyper-capitalist oligarchy. You start talking about empowering the masses in your blockbuster film in this country and you'll not only lose the sheep you're herding into the theater, but you might as well put yourself in the Chair next to the Rosenbergs as well.
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Both capture completely different yet equally important aspects to the brilliance of the Batman comic. Gothic architecture, operatic score, dark fantasy tone, Batman being introduced as a shadowy badass, The Joker being extremely theatrical and homicidal, the tragedy of Bruce's parents, etc = Batman '89 to a tee. Gritty crime saga a la Miller's Year One, the mob becoming suffocated by the emergence of the "freaks", deadly serious tone, tragedy piling on tragedy, The Joker as "the person murderers have nightmares about", etc= TDK.
Let's stop the silly fighting. The Batman mythology is large, and many people prefer many different things about it. Some people like 70s Dennis O'Neal Batman as opposed to 80s Frank Miller Batman or late 90s Jeph Loeb Batman. Doesn't mean they can't all coexist. Let's just be happy that two (well, more like three) objectively superb, objectively important and influential adaptations of Batman exist in the world. Without Burton's Batman none of this superhero boom would have occurred. Without BB there would be no Iron Man, NOR would there be this new trend of doing things "practical" with very little CGI. Whether you prefer 89 or TDK is entirely due to your own taste. Both films are fantastic, and it's stupid for Batman fans not to appreciate this. -
Mori already posted his, and it was pretty good. It was doubled with Hellboy 2.
Not to take more swings at Harry's style, but the part Octagon gets right, the part I would assume most mockers would miss, is the way some of Harry's sentences make no actual sense because it seems like he is overcome with emotion or something that he is finishing thoughts in his head, and stammering out fragments in the article. It feels like someone ripped up his first review, chewed on it and then flung it in the air like confetti and it came down this way. I like Harry, I have fun reading his reviews, but I think he has done the reverse of every other reviewer here-he's gotten more incomprehensible and less tempered as time has progressed. -
We had Batman and Indiana Jones. Spielburg made Indy 3 "For the fans." Funny, that is what he said about Indy 4. He really thinks a lot of us.
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He didn't make it for THIS fan! he he
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It had totally slipped my mind. I guess we're just waiting for Harry's then. And NC of course. Oh, has Vern posted his? That should be a good one.
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...But BEGINS isn't THAT bad. I understand people being critical of it...having disagreements, nitpicks etc. To rip it like it was GHOSTRIDER is like... WHA?! I loved it. I don't need/want to see a pretty, ballet type choreographed kung fu fight scene. It's enough for me to know Batman is in the shadows breaking arms, busting noses...it's sometimes effective NOT to see what's going on. I don't need to have it spelled out for me. I've seen fight scenes before...I get it. THE BATMOBILE: I don't want to see another art-deco style design with swooping tail fins (like bat wings dude...get it? He's a BAT) like it should be on display at a hot rod convention. FUNCTIONAL! Military vehicle. Desinged for specific military puposes...aquired by a billionare for his own vigallante exploits. No magical properties please. I can wildly suspend my disbelief with superhero movies...with Batman I REALLY appreciate a down to earth somewhat reality based take. But hey. Ididn't even mid Katie Holmes...what's the big deal. I had never seen her before but I think people had a bias because she was on WB or some shit like that. Whatever. And no your not in the Jeffrey Albertson league of insanity...that dude is all mouth, no substance.
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I was just curious how he got to see it early, like i said.
I know not anyone can go to these things, but just curious how he got to go early to an imax showing, plus another one a day later.
Im not asking him to take me.. I just didnt think they had early showings of movies for previews on IMAX.
You jumped on me like i was taking your man away or something... some pent up man love for quint? hmmm? -
I think they all have value except for the Schumacher versions.
Im not the biggest fan of the Burton films but they put forth a unique vision and a take on Batman that is legitimate, that is lurking there in the source material. Same is true of Nolan's first movie(which is currently my favorite). I even like Batman: The Movie, mostly for it's camp value, but it's oddball silly take is also based off some sensibilities in the comic of the time.
Batman Forever and B&R seem so far off from what Batman is or has ever been, that it's hard for me to even consider them when having this discussion. -
1. Superman
2. Spider-Man 2
3. Spider-Man
4. Batman Begins
5. Iron Man
So far, nothing has surpassed the 1978 Superman film, although SPIDER-MAN 2 came pretty damn close. If this film actually lives up to the hype, we could finally have a new Best Comic Book Movie Ever...
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you see Hellboy 2 yet? Cause I think it jumped to the top of that list IMO.
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Living in a Red State and everything! So I appreciate your counter post, it's very true. But c'mon, Back in the day, when we were founded, America was all about empowering the masses to take control away from wealthy elites! Man, we just don't remember anymore...
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Loved HELLBOY II but let's be honest, it's not in the Top 5. Top 10 perhaps, but not Top 5.
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I am pent up about hook ups...I work in live music and always have acquaintances calling me up for hook ups to shows. It gets soooo lame after tons of people hit you up for years. I feel for quint and the fact he's gotta double check who's his friend and who's there for the free ride. Maybe you are not, but your statement still hit a tender spot for me.
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The cellophane S scene is from the Superman 2 shoot by Richard Lester. Nothing to do with Donner. Do try to keep up.
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be at the top of my list, though it might be at #5. But, I am glad you did see HB2 and that you loved it.
But isn't it negligent to have a top 5 list WITHOUT Return of Swamp Thing? Iconic. Simply iconic. After swamp thing, we don't need another hero. -
Naked all the time? I've never seen that take, but hey, I'm game! Sounds good to me!
What I don't get is why so many Nolan-philes are against using Catwoman. Robin, I get the resitance there even if I don't agree with it. But Catwoman? EASILY as important a character as either Joker or Two Face. And honestly, the one, true, proper love interest for Batman. To me, Rachel Dawes always seemed lame. Just an attempt to give Batman a Lois Lane or Mary Jane Watson, someone outside of the Superhero life that would tempt Batman out of it. But that aint Batman. Kinky leathery sex with Catwoman is what Batman is all about. -
Hellboy 3 "slutty and naked all the time. But shaved."
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Hey, Swamp Thing! Tell Shaq how his ass tastes!
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I saw all the glowing reviews, but I couldn't get past how much I didn't care for and was disappointed by the first one. Guess my instincts were on the money.
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Jul 15, 2008 12:34:23 PM CDT
Batman Movies - There are WAY more than you think
by freds_balls_in_a_mason_jar
Fred did little research, Fred astounded by how many Batman movies -worldwide there are. Check out this link.
http://www.superheroeslives.com/indexbatman.htm
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of all the villains, honestly. I mean her take in the comics, not so much the bizarre burton take. And the fact that Catwoman is not so much a hardcore villain as she is mostly a thief and sometimes aid to Batman. Having her in a third, after the apparent darkness of this film, showing that there are redeemable facets in the criminal face of Gotham(just as there are corruptable elements in it's harbingers of justice) would probably help the movie from sharing the fate of every third superhero movie.
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There isnt any major backlash to Hellboy 2. This is AICN. IF free money fell from the sky on friday, on monday someone would be on here complaining about how it smelled funny and with so much of it for everyone, he had to wait in long lines to spend it.
HB2 was a far cry from HB1.Though I did like that one. -
Just STFU. The movie has hilarious moments from start to finish. It's one thing if you have no taste and disliked HB2 but don't make an ass of yourself.
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Jul 15, 2008 12:43:54 PM CDT
Hellboy 2 is no doubt one of the best comicbook movies ever made
by hobocode
Only the douchebags in Harry's review TB hated it. Everyone else loved it.
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We're on the same pag bro. I'm a midwesterner myself, at least used to be, and this country has become completely out of touch with its founding principles.
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I agree, the humor was laughable (hmm not sure that works) Unlaughable??
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Fred one of first to post review about HBII - Fred saw at a sneak, Fred not like HBII as much as first one. Fred truly think lots of geeks feel they must like a geek oriented movie just for sake of it being a geek oriented movie. Maybe they fear if they not like even bad geek movies, that none will get made. Fred thinks this website -especially editors, have that mindset. So almost every movie gets overhyped and over praised. Some people are sheep who follow the shepherd and agree no matter what. Some are contrarians who disagree no matter what. And some, like humble Fred, just have opinions and accept that is is subjective.
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I thought Burton's take was spot on, but I'd love to see Nolan's take on the character.
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If that's your sense of humor, you have none
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Dreck is a pretty cool word though. It's like the non-food version of "slop" or non-verbal version of "blah".I prefer the alcohol references myself, like "That dipshit's opinion is pure SWILL."
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Brilliant adaptation of the graphic novel.
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I respect your feelings on the film, Fred, but I could hardly be described as a lover of geek oriented movies, despite my presence here, and I LOVED HB2, much more than the first one, which I also liked despite major plotholes and a somewhat lackluster final act. HB2 had humor, rich characterization, breathtaking action, and an all around unique vision. In my mind it took all the best things about HB and fixed its weaknesses to create a perfect summer action film that managed to have heart.
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I am a little wary of sitting through two and a half hours of wanton cruelty torture, with no light to balance it. Is that what I am looking forward to seeing?
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He's a tool
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Populism was a secondary effect that was totally unexpected by the elites (thus Samuel Adams being an absolute dick during Shay's Rebellion). I recommend Wood's "Radicalism of the American Revolution" for a great (if arduous) discussion on the transformation of American society as a result of the Revolution.
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Fuck you and your disgustingly despicable moniker you piece of shit. But you're right. I've said my peace with you and anyone else who dislikes HB2. I won't drag it out for a month like you did with Indy IV, you fucking whiny little acerbic twerp.
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Front wheels of the Batmobile deployed as a vehicle! I have said so since the pictures were released last year.
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I stand corrected.
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Jul 15, 2008 1:01:23 PM CDT
Too often people try and defend their opinions to the death
by freds_balls_in_a_mason_jar
Without considering that they are only opinions. Only their opinions. Some may agree, some may not. It is the immature person who can not understand that no matter what you think, some one else may think differently - and they may not be wrong.
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That's about the first or second time I haven't referred to you as "DGDB," which I use just so I won't puke an swallow it. Look it up. Try again you punkass fuck.
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Things like the electoral college were created to keep power DIRECTLY out of the peoples hands. And this was all recited to me by someone trying to argue such a thing as modern MORAL elitism such as only people who believe a certain code of ethics and policies, (and you better believe this was religiously driven) should be allowed to lead. The kind of people who argue this are the people who seem "astonished that "this Christian Nation has been taken over by radical non-Christian elements" and who also argue that "Separation of church and state was not intended by the constitution inspite of the establishment clause." Yes, I'm wandering far a field from Batman Begins, but man, this kind of stuff irks me. Taking the Constitution not literally but as a secret code meant to be deciphered by an elite few, give me a fucking break.
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what sucks is that I probably wont get to see it, even early on friday..this movie is going to be sold out all weekend
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ill try to, but if not then ill have to settle for HB 2 since i havent seen that yet..which im sure will be good
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registered as MELGIBSONS_MENSTRUALSTAIN at this point. Seems like a logical extension. And with that, I'm off to work!
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You're not really looking for mature people on an AICN talkback are you?
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yeah, Thinking about giving it a few days bfore I even attempt going.
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While I strongly disagree with his feelings on the movie, that's fine. What happens here is everyone wait's for other opinions(usually from the staff here) to validate or inform their own. Someone saying that HB2 is humorless is fine(I laughed quite a bit, and I don't think Im mentally challenged or easily amused). The annoying thing I think is that things are handled here as if this is a battle to determine a movie's worth and whoever has the most and the best opinions on a side wins. I saw The Happening and hated it. Somehow, remarkably, Roger Ebert and Stephen King saw it and thought opposite of me. My advice is not to avoid Happening if you really want to see, but be aware that it might disappoint you. Sometimes we can save each other time on bad movies, but that's why it helps for reviews to describe the viewers experience of the movie. With details of the movie. So that you can read the thoughts and determine if the movie you are walking into is something you at least want to give a try to.
I read Fred's review and I felt that was his honest experience and yet at the same time it mostly cemented for me, my interest and excitement to see it. That was a successful sharing of his opinion I thought. He accurately described the movie, and he conveyed his feeling of it. -
"Im not a baby, Im a tumor."
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I wouldn't pay any attention to a New Yorker review of a genre film. Both their critics know a ton about film, but, where we have big wide genre loving hearts, their hearts are just tiny ironic nano hearts that can never really feel joy at what's happening on the screen (unless it's in a foreign film). Especially that Anthony Lane - I think he just sits there in the dark, hunched over his notepad, scribbling zingers. God is he clever, and funny, and joyless.
I'm really looking forward to this one. I thought Begins was good but got a little too nutty/cartoonish towards the end. Cartoony is cool but I felt like it went against all that realism they set up so well in the beginning. But everything I've heard about this one makes it sound awesome - like it sticks to a dark crime/thriller tone throughout. I especially like that they're playing up the detective aspect a little more. -
Taking the constitution literally - the so-called strict constructionist view, also has inherent dangers. But Fred does see your point. Fred believes that enlightened thinking is best when dealing with matters impacting constitutional rights. Neither extremes are viable.
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Much of the humor is subtle, like when Manning won't give HB the file on Krauss and HB mumbles his dislike of Germans, or simply visual like the locker fight, but how about:
"I'm not a baby, I'm a tumor."
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I did laugh at that line Jonah, fuck. I said to my brother that was the only good one. Nice call. I was really disappointed. Again, just my humble opinion
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of their hands. I think those who were motivated to break from Great Britain did so at of their own personal interest, not those of the nation at large. They expected the larger society to continue to function afterwards as it always had, with just a minimum of government that was based in Washington, not London.
The problem is that the ideals of the Revolution were easily communicated down throughout society; it seems inevitable now, but if you had asked Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and others at the time if they thought that suffrage should be extended to non-land holding males, they would've disagreed. Not because they were elitists, but because their value system was still tied to their British origins.
But remember, the Bill of Rights wasn't part of the original constitution. Things like the establishment clause came about because the 'radicalization' started happening during the war and continued afterwards. In many ways, the Constitution without the Bill of Rights is a throwback to the political mindset of the second congress. Only the transformation of society in the decade following the Declaration of Independence brought such ideas as the establishment clause to the forefront of the national mindset.
The constitution is about government. The amendments are about the people. -
I'm a douchebag because I didn';t like it, remember. Fuck Off
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LOL. I'd like to see you find those quotes, DGDB.
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Jonah Echo - Fred greatly respect your opinion, even when Fred disagrees. Mutual respect not mean we must agree all the time, but that we be cordial. Fred like that a lot. kwisatzhaderach: Fred know it losing battle to expect maturity, but Fred hopless optimist!
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It's your opinion. Tickets and time are valuable. I'm sure you don't walk into a movie hoping you find it humorless or disappointing. Different strokes..you know the drill. I know how it is. I had the unenviable task of explaining to most I know that I just didnt care very much for The Departed.
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Why the fuck does everyone end up sounding like pre-adolescent girls fighting over dollies?Anyone who says 'dreck', 'swill' or especially 'tripe' is observably full of shit via their sanctimonious choice of expression.
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I thought The Departed was fucking terrible. A nonsensical joke of a movie that transforms into a comedy in the final reel. Good on.
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I am totally psyched for TDK. And the summer movies I saw: loved HB 2, Iron Man...Indy 4 was okay. If this lives up to expectations, it will have been a high quality summer indeed for me.
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Yeah, I'd disagree with you on Departed, but you wouldn't be a douchebag b'c you disliked it. I actually found myself liking The Departed more with multiple viewings...
I think I read Harry's review of HB2 before I saw it, nothing could live up to that. -
agree on?
Beverly Hills Chiuahua anyone? -
Liten man. I'm sorry you insinuated that but I never directly called you a douchebag. You however have called me a humorless tool. So why don't we just call it off.
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Fred agree. Too often the hagiography surrounding the founders, obscures the simple fact that they were doing what was in thier best interest, and not necessarily in the countries. It was an elitist and minority view that brought about the war of independance. Yes, it caught on with the majority, but thw very fact that only landing owning white males could vote for the congress, limited who would have a say in the affairs and direction of the country.
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It was a pretty decent movie, The Departed. But that was it. And I preferred Infernal Affairs, which I saw after. So, I fell into that limbo of "eh, it was alright" which is usually a feeling I dislike having. I want that extreme. That's why this has been one of the best summers in a long time in my eyes. I have really liked pretty much everything except The Happening, and that one left me wide-eyed with disappointment, confusion and even a little frustration. It definitely made me feel something.
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agreed. Opinions only
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So sayeth the Fred
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Thought it was great. Very cool, gritty film. Pretty different films the two, considering
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I'm at work and have to type on the fly. If pointing out my punctuation errors is all you have left in the tank, than my work is truly done.
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my trash of choice. Danny, the day my wife and I got back from our honeymoon at something like 1 in the morning, we found ourselves in the living room opening the gifts from our wedding. There was a 35" flatscreen tv among that stuff, and my groomsmen had gone together and got us a stereo system, so we hooked it all up that night(we were all thrown off timewise, coming back from Cozumel) and then realized we didnt have my dvd player on hand. That was still with my old roomates. So we turned on the tv, that still had cable from the last tenants(we were in an apartment the first year) and there was FRANKENFISH. So I watched it with my new bride, after our awesome honeymoon, basking in the glow of a new tv and the promise of a new life. Of course I loved it. It was terrible, but that is it's charm. And when I see it on tv, I stop and watch a few minutes, because of that first experience I think.
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Jul 15, 2008 1:28:42 PM CDT
What happened to George the 7th chicken or whatever?
by bricktops hammer
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they are different films, which is the strength of Departed. It didnt slag out a subpar remake. It is a different movie, and stands seperate.
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did you see Quint's movie of the day, Strange Invaders? It's done by the same team that did Invaders from Mars, and it's the second film on the disk. Go over there and read it, if you havent..
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No. Fred is Fred. Fred not have name prior to Fred. Fred just like saying so sayeth the Fred. It beats saying: free Fred's balls. But Fred will not use it as tagline, because taglines irk folks around here. Fred just a humble wart on the broad back of humanity.
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To paraphrase a Venture Brothers character: IGNORE HIM!
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Not to spoil for anyone, but the bad cop doesn't get wacked at the end of IA, right? He just becomes a good cop? I thought that was cool
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I like both, but I prefer the IA ending to The Departed's.
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They get into a fight because the sheriff or someone want's to lure it with puppies.
Bricktop, yes. And for me, that made most of the difference. -
Why so serious?Fred make pillow laugh sometimes. "Fred just a humble wart on the broad back of humanity."
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WHEN!?!?!
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nuff said
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although, Damon was such a dick, I can't see him changing his ways in Departed. Glad he got snuffed out
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Why so serious?
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just out of curiosity, what movies have you seen this summer, and your thoughts on them?
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If Fred make a funny, it is the same principle of: Get enough monkeys together, and something funny bound to happen.
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Loved Iron Man
Liked The Hulk (had some issues)
Not sure how I felt about Wanted. Had some great scenes, and some wtf scenes
Missed The Happening, though not sure that's bad
Loved Wall-E but still think The Incredibles is my favorite animated film. Also though Ratatouille was better than Wall-E -
That was a check just to see if our tastes are at all similar. Iron Man I loved. Hulk, I would agree. Thought it was good, and appreciated all it did right, but it didn't go as far as it could have. Love Wall-E, and think it's about close to Incredibles, which is my fave. I also love Ratatouille, and think it's pretty much nearby as well.
I also really liked Indy 4 and Caspian. Loved HB2 and thought it was most fun this summer. Mongol was good. ADORED The Fall. Even rather enjoyed Journey to the Center of the Earth 3d.And Son of Rambow was classic. -
and watch hilarity ensue! Aww..you made me blush Danny boy. BTW, where the hell is toad?
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That's one of our fave topics. That, and is there any movie from the past you can't identify. I had a pretty successful run of identifying a great number of those over in the mori dark knight thread.
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and my wife and I were having dinner with a couple from our church who actually said, somewhat sheepishly(knowing I'm a movie freak) "We saw a movie called Primer. Do you know what that was about?" And then I got to utilize that chart you shared. Good times.
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Jul 15, 2008 1:52:46 PM CDT
What if the Monkey's all had flaming legs?
by freds_balls_in_a_mason_jar
And spit tobbacco?
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Ad hominem arguments invalidate your position.
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Wanted to see Caspian, didn't get a chance. My 12 year old niece keeps turning me down for movies. I guess I'm not cool enough. We already disagree on HB2 but that's fine. NEED to see Son of Rambow, can't wait. I'll skip Journey, b'c I can't fucking stand Fraser. I keep hearing about The Fall, can you give me a synopsis? Also, redarding Indy4, maybe I need to see it again, but I had a kind of confused feeling after like there were 3 different films in there or something
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I'm totally up for that!
:D :D :D :D -
Does anyone else think that the Dark Knight will be a turning point for IMAX?? It's expected to break all records on IMAX...hopefully major studio productions begin using IMAX cameras.
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Donner shot like 75% of them movie before he was replaced with Lester. So yeah, not only am I keeping up, I lapped you, and ran so fast I made time go backwards!
PWNED!!! -
Jul 15, 2008 2:00:30 PM CDT
Greenstyle, just think about your question for a moment.
by fluffyunbound
The BATMAN movies are based on a comic book about a superhero character who fights supervillains. OF COURSE stories told in that way will emphasize the effects extraordinary individuals have on a society. It's kind of absurd to even ask a question like, "Why didn't that superhero story sound like it was written by Howard Zinn?" How exactly do you propose that we fit a cape and a mask on "the broad laboring masses"? You can only fit a cape and a mask on ONE GUY. In addition, a story about solving social problems using existing mechanisms of change and broad coalitions of social actors across all classes would be pretty boring, because you may as well just read the New York Times. It is precisely because audiences find the pace of "the people's" problem-solving frustrating and slow that superhero stories have appeal. Because it is annoying and slow to fight crime using police and courts and due process, people want to watch stories where a guy in a cape and a mask finds criminals and beats the crap out of them. Changing the story to make it more closely resemble the way the "middle class" or "regular folks" solve problems takes away the story's entire reason to exist.
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Waterloo, promise to love you for evermore
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I try to see as much as possible though I have a feeling you've seen a lot more and I might get buried in a discussion. Loved Primer, by the way. Superintelligent film with no exposition, still not positive about all the Aarons and Adams, continuity etc.
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I'm going to be trying to come up with a way to 'fit a cape and a mask on "the broad laboring masses"' for the next hour.
Oh, wait! V for Vendetta movie ending! ... sorta.
Damn, let me try to come up with something. -
See that one, Jonah?
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Keep catching their vines on fire, makes it very hard to keep swinging.
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will turn my view on it and I'll end up liking it more than I do now.
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For Dark Knight? I've got mine for The Senator in Baltimore. Gonna be great, or at least I hope.
My wife can't handle midnight shows, so we are also seeing it on Sunday night as well. If it's a fiasco(which I doubt) it might be painful to sit through twice. -
We had a big talk about Rutger Hauer over in the 2012 talkback. I brought up Split Second. see it?
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You are right about Monkeys falling from trees due to their flaming legs burning down the vines. The lions love the monkey-bar-b-que though.
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What's it about? Always thought Rutger was great, even though he chooses some questionable roles (i.e. Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
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I'm such an Indy fan. I wanna like it, I do. Perhaps another viewing with a lot of weed, I don't know
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fighting a monster. So ambiguous was the monster's origin, that a whole crew of us couldn't pinpoint what it actually was. A rat mutant. The Devil. Maybe an alien. All three?
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I was at the start of the Worst Movie Ever thread. Some great bad titles in there
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What a piece of shit that was. OK, here's one for you Jonah...It had Rutger, apocolyptic future, androids...I think Rutger was an android (I wanna say Megaman even though I know that's a videogame)
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it wasnt blade runner right?
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Not sure if that's a real word but.. who cares, I'm seeing it in two days.. Can't. Wait.
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if I couldn't identify Blade Runner. Millenium Man?? maybe
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it's hard to resist a rhino sized beast tear-assing after someone in a darkened space. I did resist it though in The Faculty. Not in the Mimic though, which I liked a bit.
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Jul 15, 2008 2:28:37 PM CDT
Fred just scored tickets to Wednesday sneak showing at IMAX
by freds_balls_in_a_mason_jar
Fred's pal just saw movie at morning critics screening. He is blabbering with joy over it. Called it best superhero movie ever. Fred's friend tends toward hyperbole, not unlike some people on this site. So Fred is cautiously optimistic - but giddy at same time.
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Omega Doom is the movie you mean, I think. As long as it isnt bladerunner, which I assume it wasnt. What a sad state of affairs for Rutger that he has such a similar basic concept and the much later movie is so much worse.
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Sorry man, didn't like it. What was that monster anyway? I can't remember.
Jonah, thanks that's it. You are good, my friend. Now I know where to go when I can't pinpoint a shitty sci-fi movie, he he -
Jonah-- saw it yesterday in IMAX... have tickets for Fri. and Sat. in Seattle. I can't wait to see it again.
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Imax and a day early..sweet.
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I can never resist any monster-attacking-humans movie. Hell, the last two movies I watched was Thing from another world and C.H.U.D. It always makes for good comedy.
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I always watch like 5 minutes and give up.
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I worked for a while at a video store during high school and I have a pretty detailed memory, so I become a walking repository of useless fact.
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though i hear danger diabolik is pretty good.
i'd love to see it, i thought someone was going to remake it. -
Have you ever seen Dark Drive? THAT'S a pile of shit.
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by the worst 80s music score ever. It makes The Running Man music seem like Vivaldi.
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Here is your Sub-Zero, now plain Zero!!
I miss old Arnold lines, Maybe Tarantino will cast him in IB and give him a couple gems -
with the virtual prison or soemthing that shuts down and people escape? What a piece. Thank you digital cable and insomnia for giving me that experience.
Hallow..how was dark knight? spoiler-free opinion of course. -
Jul 15, 2008 2:37:33 PM CDT
On advice from 2012 TB, Fred saw Sunshine and Shooter
by freds_balls_in_a_mason_jar
Hmm. Well, Sunshine started off well. Fred like the early tension. But the sun freak psychiatrist was weird. And o9ny way to generate any drama was to have Evans irrationally mad at Murphy (maybe because Murphy sucked a lemon as scarecrow in BB?). Michelle Yeoh was wasted as an obsessed with her plants type. But still, fred was enjoying movie, until captain whasthisname showed up. Thenm Evans blames whole thing on Murphy, and fate of planet rests on blowing himself up. Fred left scratching head - not bad movie but not great either. Shooter, very entertaining, but massive plotholes and stupidity!
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Jonah, in all honesty it was fantastic. The best Batman movie I've ever seen. If you're a fan of 'Begins' it does nothing but improve on that concept. The film is so damn BIG, and never lets up for a second. Everyone is great... especially Mr. Ledger. You'll all get why people are tripping over themselves about his performance. You cannot take your fucking eyes off of him. Makes Nicholson look like Ceasar Romero's taint. I had a few problems with one glaring plot-hole... but it doesn't come close to tarnishing the overall product. I loved it. BTW: I know you guys are sick of hearing it... but see it in IMAX and your brain will turn to shit with how awesome it looks.
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What you describe is the horror that is 'Dark Drive'... but again, Julie Benz riding the hobby-horse is worth it.
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Totally agree with you about Sunshine, great leadup, strange unfathomable ending
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Fred just stumble on IMDB listing for movie called Sins of the Fleshapoids - bad movie TB part 2?
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It sounds great. And I was one who loved Batman Begins. I'm throwing on the bluray of BB up on the home projector on thursday, right before the new one. I'm quite excited for this.
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but couldnt bring myself to watch it.
I have seen, however, Creepazoids and Children Shouldnt Play with Dead Things -
Trust me.
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Jul 15, 2008 2:47:43 PM CDT
Im just as psyched as the rest of you chumps...
by i made wilhelm scream
But consider this... with Ledger dead, and with this roll as DEFINITIVE as some of you are saying it is... do you honestly think they can re-cast the Joker for the third film?
And also consider Nolan, as wonderful a job as he's done with this little piece of the DC Universe, don't you think he's written himself into a creative corner now, considering how he's based Batman in reality? I mean, assuming he does a third, and Two Face isn't the main antoagonist *which I really don't think he SHOULD be* who the fuck is going to be the main Baddy? The Riddler? As great as Ledgers Joker seems to be, his Joker REALLY comes off as more Riddlerish, so I don't see what direction they could take Edward Nygma in without ending up with another Jim Carry ass fuck...
I just dont know... The present is bright as day, but the future for the franchise is a dark as a rainy night in Gotham. -
Two things, your namesake comes from the book where Steve King actually references the existence of the movie Creepazoids(though he remembers it as Attack of the Creepazoids).
And if Lou Diamond hadnt made Bats, Knight Club might be the worst thing on his resume. -
Me and the old lady decided to watch all of the Batmans from West on up to Bale. It was kind of pathetic that I could watch the West Batman on Blu-Ray, but none of the Burtons in the format. It was nice to end on the Blu-Ray of 'Begins' though. I'm telling you guys, I think I can stomach 'BandR' more than 'Forever'. At least you can laugh at Arnie and the utter atrociousness of it all. 'Forever' thinks it's good... and it's so pathetically bad you want to punch baby-heads. Carrey and Jones are disgustingly bad as the villains.
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Its ridiculous, but it's clear it knows it is. B&R could have gone that way, but it's just a creepy crappy mess. Forever is the breaking point. The clear fracture of the series. I am not in love wih Burton's movies, but I hoped there would just be increase in quality(as Returns is better than the first)
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You're dead-on. I've seen 'TDK' and I echo your sentiments completely.
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Someone earlier mentioned having Joker in the shadows in prison (might work). And it doesn't have to be The Riddler, if anything Batman has several baddies to choose from.
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1. Batman Begins
2. Spider-Man 2
3. XMen 2
4. Spider-Man 1
5. The Incredibles (I know, not based on a comic book, but it's still about superheroes.) -
and go a whole different direction and make a 40s era Batman with Clayface, Catwoman and Croc. That will confuse them well and good.
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It did not help that it was hard to discern where the ship ended and the bomb began. That may have been intentional, but it still led to more head scratching.
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Regardless, I'm a douche for buying the 'Batman Anthology'--though it is fascinating to watch uppity Hollywood-types justify horror shows like 'Forever' and 'BandR'. I'm glad someone else feels the same that 'Returns' is the best. It definitely holds up better than Burton's first attempt... and doesn't sport a "Prince" on the soundtrack.
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I bet 3/4 of the talk-backers regurgitating that term over and over think it's pronounced like "hyperbowl".
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Directed by?
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Begins is my current fave...and actually after that, it's Mask of the Phantasm, but of all the first four live action, only Batman Returns is original, thoughtful and even close to the nature of the comics(even though it's way off in most other respects).
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Great list. I would throw ol' Iron Head in there to replace 'The Incredibles'. I have a feeling your list will change come Friday... especially if you think 'Begins' is the best.
Mosquito--I think I first saw Faraci use it over at CHUD, and now everyone is getting their Hyper-Bowl on. Excellent. -
And was the doctor a superhero? Is that why he could fucking survive 12th degree burns over his entire body and walk around and FIGHT for fuck's sake?
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How much did WB pay you Quint;)
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David Fincher, if he could lighten up even a little.
Maybe Alex Proyas could do it. That's the genius of this month. It has Hellboy, Batman and XFILES in it, and it ends with Dark City Director's Cut. -
hy·per·bo·le
Pronunciation: \hī-ˈpər-bə-(ˌ)lē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from Greek hyperbolē excess, hyperbole, hyperbola, from hyperballein to exceed, from hyper- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century
: extravagant exaggeration (as “mile-high ice-cream cones”)
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After yesterday, it's:
Dark Knight... Begins... Returns...
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I love Dark City, but was I the only one who couldn't stand Kiefer as the doctor. His Igor accent pulls me outta the film every time. Great flick though
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It's a directors cut with improved fx and added 15 minutes. But to prevent the wreck that sometimes happens, both versions, the old and the new are available on the same disc, it's on bluray as well, and it has two documentaries on it.
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You can call Fred: Fred. Cap was either a superhero, or living seven years in isolation with 12 degree burns, and nothing to eat but dehydrated rations, and meat paste squeezed from a tube, imparts super strength.
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Is 'The Crow' considered a superhero movie?
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Thanks, man. Yeah, you know, I thought about adding Iron Man, but I dunno. As much as I liked it, and I liked it lots, I didn't love it. I don't know why, but it didn't stick with me as much as the films I listed. Still I thought it was great, looking forward to the sequel, gonna buy the dvd and all that, but, I dunno... it fell just short of making me fall in love with it.
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I liked it when it came out, but I don't think it holds up. The soundtrack is way too rooted in the early 90s. I fucking LOVE Nine Inch Nail's cover of Joy Division's Dead Souls, though.
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I was referring only to the scene you mentioned with Superman throwing the giant S symbol. That sequence was directed by Lester. I'm well aware that Lester replaced Donner. And I also knew what movie that sequence was in. Unlike you.
FAIL! -
Fred liked Dark City better, and Fred agree that Kiefer accent was very distracting, much, much worse than Bale in BB.
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Right on. I saw 'Crow' many times in the theater and always forget about it when talking about comic book movies.
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One of the best ever. I'm particularly fond of that one...'Natural Born Killers'... and 'Lost Highway'.
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I've had it preordered for a while now. Stoked for it.
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Geez, Dickblood, lighten up.
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1.Superman The Movie 2.The Rocketeer 3.Batman Begins 4.Superman II 5. Batman Returns
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The Macy Gray cameo in 'Spiderman' is so fucking cringe-inducing. Hate it.
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Well, Bale is English for one. But Fred should have clarified. It not his accent, it his choice of vocal style that Fred should have mentioned. Also, if changing his voice that big a deal, why not just get a device that alters voice box?
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Do you dig 'Begins'?
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Nice to see some Rocketeer love.
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needed a little more 'Rocketeering' if you ask me. Homey only fires the engines up on that thing like four times the whole damn movie. Still loved it though.
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My friends and I say "Storm's coming" all the time. It is a funny voice. Hope there's some more good/bad quotes in TDK. "It's not who you are on the outside, but what you DO that defines you" he he he
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Jul 15, 2008 3:21:29 PM CDT
Best superhero films. I'm sure this will cause very little deba
by hobocode
1. X2: X-Men United
2. Ang Lee's Hulk
3. Batman Begins
4. Blade II
5. Unbreakable
6. Superman Returns
7. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
8. The Incredibles
9. Spider-Man 2
10. Richard Donner's Superman -
Fair enough. 'Returns' is a flippin' fantastic movie.
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it's like my all time favorite movie, it definately needs a proper special edition on blu-ray. granted it has this grainy "cheap" look that helps the atmosphere so maybe blu-ray would hurt that but maybe it would only make it more awesome. and i had no clue Dead Souls was a cover, the things you learn on the internet. lol
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Good call on Unbreakable, i'll replace Superman II from my list with that.
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1. Blankman 2. Meteor Man 3. Steel 4. Catwoman 5. Dolph's Punisher
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2) - Underdog. 3) - Inspector Gadget 4) - Zorro the gay Blade
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Was a Rutger Hauer film called 'Blind Fury.'Best superhero movie? A no-brainer: 'The Shadow'Obviously I'm kidding, but I did always think that young Alec Baldwin should have been the perfect Bruce Wayne.
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I too learned just months ago that Dead Souls was NOT originally NIN. I also think tennis balls contain poisonous gas.
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Since you included Hulk and Unbreakable i'll ignore you placing Singer's Superman higher than Donner's Superman.
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He was a comic character beforehand afterall. That movie was very cool. As dark and gothic as it all was, had one of the most sympathetic"out for revenge" characters-like it was his fate to do this, regardless of what he himself would have chosen.
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is that like some torture porn amateur video of him getting what he deserves for all those bad movies? oh and those tennis balls sound awesome, i need me some.
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"THIS SUMMER... HE WILL BREAK HIM"
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but then again he's a giant prick.
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The Shadow is so bad it's good somehow. Phantom is just plain bad
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i have this cool ass poster of The Crow that says "Darker than the Bat" on it....after Dark Knight, i wonder if that'll still hold true?
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Don't forget black scorpion or the 70s Dr. Strange movie.
My list is:
1. Incredibles
2. Hellboy 2
3. Unbreakable
4. Iron Man
5. Batman Begins
6. Spiderman 2
7. Rocketeer
8. The Crow
9. X2
10. Superman: The Movie -
Hey, I just did some "research" and found that the cellophane 'S' was indeed removed by Donner. So, I concede on that. But making time go backwards and Lois Lane's cringe inducingly awful "Can You Read My Mind?" thing? That was 100% Uncut Donner shit. I'm still waiting for a good Superman movie. Perhaps, someday, I'll get one. Probably when they hire Geoff Johns to write and... uh... somebody good to direct.
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Oh, so, if you go really fast you can go back in time? How come when I fly on planes and stuff I don't go back in time? Perhaps I need a rocket ship. Dumbass.
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Flux Capacitor + DeLorean + Twin Pines Mall = TIME TRAVEL
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Jul 15, 2008 3:38:31 PM CDT
"I had a dream I was on a beautiful beach, basking in th sun..
by jonah echo
and dabbling my toes in the water. It was wonderful"
"Oh. I had a dream I tore all the skin off my face and I was someone else underneath."
"You have problems."
"Clearly".
How can you not like THE SHADOW?
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Besides the shit-stain of the actual scene-- who thought it was a good idea for Lois to look like a coked-out hag who smokes five packs a day?
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I like your list sans HB2 (but we've talked about this) and might put BB before Iron Man but otherwise very nice
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Jul 15, 2008 3:41:51 PM CDT
Btw Way, It Clearly Shows The World Slowly Turning Backwards
by laserpants
At least thats the way it looks, and the way more or less everyone sees it. As if Superman is going so fast that he's pulling the Earth backwards along with him inexplicably making time go backwards. But maybe you're right, maybe it's supposed to be him going backwards so fast he goes back in time. How does that makes it any less stupid?
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That's what i always thought they were trying to get across with that shot.
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am i the only one who thought it was eerie how Alec totally looked like his brother William when in Shadow makeup?
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Yeah, you can really see how Supes would go loopy for her. I'm sure he fell in love with senior citizen coke whores all the time.
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Before The Dark Knight:
1. Batman Begins (2005); Christopher Nolan
2. The Crow (1994); Alex Proyas
3. Spiderman II (2004); Sam Raimi
4. X2 (2003); Bryan Singer
5. Iron Man (2008); John Favreau
6. Darkman (1990); Sam Raimi
7. Batman (1989); Tim Burton
8. Superman (1978); Richard Donner
9. X-Men (2000); Bryan Singer
10. Sin City (2005); Robert Rodriguez; Frank Miller -
How do I explain this ... Donner was trying to come up with a visual representation of Superman going back in time ... he chose flying around the Earth (and the Earth going backwards) to do so. It was a confusing representation. You basically have to ignore what's on the screen and just accept that "Superman flew back in time"
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Looks like 'Sin City' is taking a hike come Friday. You will lose your shit over TDK.
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However much of a 'representation' it is. It shows the earth fucking spinning backwards and everything reversing itself. And if what's shown isn't actually 'what happened', the idea of flying really fast in the direction opposite the earth's rotation=going backward in time, is fucking dumb.Superman gets way too much of a free pass. Clark as bumbling nincompoop? Lois as ragged-out man toilet? Can you read my mind? Chris Reeve brought a lot of heart to the picture, but it just isn't that good.
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..."Give me the fucking elephant."
--Liam Neeson, right before his face fucking bubbles. -
"What is it about the dark? What mysteries does it hold?"
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Superman is so fast (in Superman:The Movie) than he can travel back in time. Yet, not fast enough to catch 2 missiles. How fast were those missiles? Were those missiles also fast enough to travel through time? Or they were not flying in the right direction (right-to-left)? Or the missiles just can't travel in time cause, as "inanimate objects" they have no intent of traveling through time? Maybe the traveling in time thing has nothing to do with speed, and it's just some random superpower created for the movie, like the mind-wiping SuperKiss in Superman II? That movie is alright, but that ending can't be analyzed.
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Just what Donner was trying to convey.
Of course, I'm the person who thinks Superman was more realistic when he "leapt over tall buildings with a single bound" than when he started flying.
And don't forget Bill's explanation as to why Superman was Clark Kent that way. -
Yeah it's number 10 on my list. But I think my friends overrate it a little even thought I like it. It's like the greatest thing ever for the wannabe geeks.
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And beforehand knew the fate of the various characters.. Does take away from the impact of the movie? Or changes nothing?
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It will be at the top of the list for the geeks and the wannabes.
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No. if anything, it enhanced it. Harvey's story is f'ing heartbreaking.
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Now I'm going to run around my block really fast until it's 7:00 am again so I can do all the work I was supposed to do instead of ranting and raving about funny book movies all day.
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Was that line right before or after he bent that dude's finger all the way back. Loved that part. Also the main villian standing on the steel beam firing a rivet gun randomly in the air while he screamed.
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Right before. They have the clip on Youtube under like, Darkman Elephant, I think. It's fucking hilarious... and SO pre-Spidey Raimi.
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Need to remind themselves that this is a movie.. Not the second coming of yourself in a prime Barbarella. Be realistic. Expect goodness and not a new way to see life.
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Really? Where? Last I checked, being a geek was more or less of a social stigma. I mean, okay, there is the "hipster geek" thing, but even that is stigmatized.
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Make sure to run around the block in the direction opposite the earth's turning. Should work out fine.
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(not that i've seen Dark Knight yet but)... I'd love to see Batman hang it up at the end, possibly setting up another trilogy in a decade or two along lines of Dark Knight returns. an older Batman out of retirement. could you imagine a movie with him fighting the mutant gang??
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Don't hate on me for this, guys. Sure, there is a fucking magnanimous amount of hype surrounding TDK... that can set people up for some painful disappointment. But the movie is FUCKING TITS. You will all enjoy it. Again, a few nit-picks here and there, but the negatives aren't even in sight of the positives.
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Saw sci-fi channel airing Darkman sequels as Arnold Vosloo took over. Weird seeing him as Darkman.
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Are the poseurs that pretend to be part of the cool kids but won't be there at midnight to see TDK.
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I'm not expecting Citizen Kane or anything, but I know from what I have seen in reviews that it is a very good movie. Some reviewer said it was like Heat, but a super-hero movie. Good enough for me. But yeah, the hype is slightly ahead of anything I have ever witnessed for a movie. You would think they will be burning down all theaters after they show it, as no movie will ever live up to it afterwards. I still think over $100 million come Monday morning.
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of Wayne kicking everyone out of his mansion. Hilarious scene
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Was the big De Niro and Pacino in the same movie crap. Some of their scenes felt forced and oozed way too much of the fact that it was their first shared scenes which made the movie drag a bit toward the end.
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i always imagined Clint Eastwood as the aging Batman (15 yrs ago) When i saw him in UNFORGIVEN,i could really picture it.
ANYWAYS:
Top 5 words/expresions Harry will Use in His Review: 1.Giddy 2.Holy Fuck 3.Loveeee It 4.Masterpiece 5.Holy Shit -
All is good. But: Batman cannot fly. I can't get past that. The wing area is too small, the weight distribution is impossible, he has no control surfaces, and landing without shattering his body is problematic. I like the mountain climbing equipment a realistic Batman would use. But every time he glides across the screen, I lose the critical suspension of disbelief.
That said, I can't wait to see the movie. -
They only had the one shared scene and the shootout with no dialogue.
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that bugged me.
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the crow, darkman, the rocketeer all put together.
no scene in any other superhero film matches the emotional intesity of superman dragging lois' body out of the car and realising she's dead.
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I kinda liked the dialogue. Even if you didn't like that scene you have to admit the rest of the movie kicked ass.
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Dunno it felt forced (the acting).
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Was the fact that the diner owner who was ripping off the ex-cons didn't get capped in the head in the end. Hated that scumbag. Can you imagine him trying that shit with 2for2true?
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Thursday night can't come any sooner! Thank God for Christopher Nolan.
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there's a flip side to that coin, though. he he
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Nice pun.. flip side to that coin.
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Is this the one where Imhotep stole drug money from the Lawnmower Man? I get it mixed up with the second. Man I must have been drunk when they were showing those, as I was flipping channels and would forget to go back.
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This is the most anticipated movie of my life, I've never been as excited as I am for The Dark Knight. There is no doubt that this movie will kick the living shit out of all comic book movies that were made before it. Batman Begins has spawned Iron Man. Just think how fucking awesome will the movies inspired by TDK be. It seems to be a film that defines a genre, raising the bar much higher than ever before. Hopefully the Academy gives it the same treatment as LOTR. There hasn't been a movie this year that even comes close to TDK. Benjamin Button will be cool, but it doesn't look half as great as this.
It has to be fucking unbelievably, insanely awesome, since I cannot remember a spoiler free review from you guys for any previous big movies. Indy 4,Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk reviews all had spoilers in them, you do the math -
Was there a Watchmen trailer?
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In theory, if you exceed the speed of light, time reverses. This is an extension of relativity theory. As one increases in speed, time slows for you, relative to a "stationary" thing like the earth. Time dilation is barely noticable until you approach quite close to c, the speed of light, at which time the differential increases forever as you inch closer and closer to c. To achieve c, you would require infinite energy; at that point, time would stop for you relative to Earth. Now, to achieve c is impossible because of the energy requirement (I think you would have infinite mass as well - dunno). The math suggests that if you *kept accelerating -- which the math also proves you cannot do - the time arrow would reverse. Hell, you might have negative mass, whatever that would be. Nothing can break c; in theory particles could exist that started out moving faster than c and never would need to crack the limit - those are called tachyons. In Superman, the Movie, apparently Kryptonians have a little more math than we do, and Clark sidestepped the rules and ran the clock backwards. How? Hell, the man commands infinite energy and is invulnerable, capable of canceling inertia, and can fly. Traveling in time should be no problem. Hell, it was established in comics in the Fifties that he could do so.
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The thing about the Riddler is that, despite his gimmick, he should be a pure intellectual, not insane like the Joker. He NEEDS to be smarter than Batman. So approaching it like that, you could almost make the argument that whereas a Batman/Joker dichotomy is order/chaos, a Batman/Riddler dichotomy would be something like heart vs. mind. Spacey circa Usual Suspects would've been a perfect Riddler. These days...Depp? Downey? Day-Lewis?
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I always thought the same thing about Superman and the time travel. Maybe that is why he took so many risks and seemed laid. He was thinking "Fuck it, if I screw up I'll just go back in time and shore this up."
I bet Superman banged many a skank and then saw her in the morning and took off for a few laps around the equator. -
Chomping at the bit to see this in IMAX, sounds like filmic Nirvana! ;-)
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That's fucking fantastic. I was thinking maybe Clive Owen but Bettany could just own that role.
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...is calling the Riddler a lame-ass villain? Heh.
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They can have the Penguin.. who when about to be uncovered by the Batman for what he truly his (a arms dealer) enlists Killshot to hunt Batman and kill him.
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... the riddler is not a very interesting character. Also, people who imitate DGDB's nick are even lamer than he is.
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He's one of the worst villains of all time.
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I never even want to hear about the Riddler again.
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as the Scarecrow? Oh Christ.
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Was that supposed to be for Batman and Robin or something?
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Well, I'm happy you like Mr. Sinister, who always struck me as another desperate ploy by Claremont to make everything cohesive...yet AGAIN. Kinda like Vader building C-3P0 and that shit. Regardless, though, I fail to see your logic regarding Nolan's take on the Riddler. A character in a bright suit? You mean kinda like the Joker? Why would I want to see Nolan's take on that? Besides, wouldn't you be interested in seeing if Nolan could MAKE the Riddler cool to someone like you, who doesn't see that in him (and trust me, I'm not always a fan of the way the character's been interpreted in comics or film/TV)? And furthermore, given the "real world" spin Nolan's giving these films, the Riddler's one of the only ones that really fits well with that. We'll see him before the Mr. Freezes, Man-Bats, or Clayfaces.
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What villains do you think would work in part 3?
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Only The Batman's first fight on the docks, where he is purposely supposed to be a blur amongst the thugs he's fighting, is effectively done. In the rest Nolan puts the camera too close to the action and employs a quick cut editing style that just makes things choppy and unclear. Like a lot of directors these days. And I'm sure not the first person to point this out. My main hope for TDK (cause I've got no strong complaints about the rest of BB) is that Nolan has become a better director of action.
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Yeah, I'm not usually one to do the whole "grandmother buttfuck" thing...I guess I lack the gene that allows Knowles to compare Blade 2 to eating a woman out. Guess we'll just have to disagree on the Riddler front. And who knows...for all we know, Nolan might not even come back or, if he does, might just make the third one entirely Two-Face-centric with no new villains at all. Or he could have an aneurysm in a year and do a third one with Jack Black playing King Tut.
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Hey, where is the "Mama Mia" talkback? And why am I not hearing about "Batman--The Musical" coming soon?
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For Part 3
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Nevermind the fact that microwaves powerful enough to evaporate the water in the city water lines, THROUGH cement and metal would literally cook anyone standing near the device. In any case, there is so much more wrong with Begins than that one dunderheaded plot fail.
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There are plenty of times in BB where Batman uses a normal volume in his voice: On the subway catwalk with Rachel, when talking to Gordon about 3 times, on the final rooftop scene "Escalation?", etc.
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and then birth and raise them for you.
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King Kong or IJ:KOTCS? Which is the biggest disappointment? Which one can you forgive more? Which one the better FX? Discuss. ;)
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that will allow as independence from mideastern oil.
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Without Burton's Batman, BB and TDK would either never exist, or be radically different. Batman's suit and gear, the aesthetics of Gotham city, and morbid seriousness of the tone are all to some degree derived from Burton's original two films. Before Burton, Batman, was a fat guy in a bright blue and grey suit, dancing to bad 60's pop. Mkay?
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I wish Nolan wouldn't have blown his load by killing off you know who. Idiot.
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Can NOT wait.
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Where to go? Good question. Probably be Catwoman. But she could not carry a film. I could see Riddler being done as a side character who is a l33t computer hacker or something whose screen name is Riddler--but Riddler really is ridiculous and emblematic of the cheesy '60s show. As is The Penguin. I wonder when is the last time anyone put The Penguin in a Batman comic?
That being said, I would probably bring back Raz ah Ghul (however it's spelled), or just let Nolan dig through the books and find something he likes that works. I think he's earned that kind of creative trust. -
Those Burton films owe everything to Frank Miller's comic reinvention of the character in The Dark Knight Returns and Year One. Burton tried but did not translate them very well; he just coasted on the ideas and goodwill Frank Miller reinvented, so let's not get carried away with Burton's achievements.
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Penguin was the star of his own comic last week.
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Anyone would be stupid enough to put Catwoman in a movie again. One thing's for sure, it's all downhill from here.
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What is Penguin nowadays? A mobster, arms dealer, mutant or what?
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of Batman are campy and stupid except for the ones that Nolan has already used.
And RE: Fiester, there's simply too much that goes into a film that doesn't go into a comic that Burton has to be given credit for. Sorry, I just don't buy the Miller theory. -
I'm sorry, but what would ever possess Nolan and Co. to put both Joker and Two Face in the same movie and then kill off Dent in the end after very little screen time? Aaron Eckhart couldn't have been making THAT much.
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Egghead! You can't get more "realistic" than that.
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You're saying Burton contributed more to the Batman mythos than Frank Miller? Any shred of credibility you had in discussing Batman just disappeared.
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Just as I was, Dickblood is talking about the contributions to Batman in film. Sure, Miller's reimagining saved Batman from comic book obscurity, but like I said before, there's a lot more than goes into making a movie than making a comic... and let's not forget, no one in the general moviegoing public gives a shit about Batman unless the MOVIES are entertaining, completely disregarging what anyone has ever done for the comics.
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He said "His contribution to the Batman world has been exaggerated for years." He didn't limit it to Batman in film.
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and not even watch it.
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Sorry, Brother's Mcmullen reference. Seriously though without Frank Miller (comic god, see the tie-in) Batman is not Batman, Nolan is drawing a lot from him
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to keep my expextations level. No movie can live up to the unbelievable hype this is getting
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Iron Man had 93% and it wasn't even that good...if DK is worse than that, then I really don't care.. But dreamers keep dreaming...personally I won't believe the hype
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I erased ALL performances from my memory, have to go back and check Farrell's performance
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has NOT aged well at all. I tried watching it last night but just couldn't finish it. It does bring back great memories from that time though. But FUCK! Jack Nicholson's Joker was so shitty! I remember being EXTREMELY excited to see B89. I was there for the opening midnight screening (like I will be Thursday for TDK : ) and as fired up as I was, I couldn't help but feel a little let down by Jack's Joker. I TRIED to like it. I think I even convinced myself for awhile that I actually DID like it but eventually I was honest with myself. Jack sucked.I am so glad Nolan got Heath Ledger to portray the Joker. At first I was like "Heath Ledger??" Now, it was obviously the RIGHT choice.
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I just saw The Watchmen trailer that came with The Dark Knight. It looks pretty good. The CGI needs to be A little more subtle. The Smashing Pumpkins song is The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning. This might get people confused with the song The End Is The Beginning Is The End from Batman & Robin, but it's in no way the same song. It's slow and melodic and works very well with the imagery. They just need to take their time and perfect that CGI. They got virtually A whole year so things are looking very good as I knew they would.
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I understand your point about Burtons films setting the tone for BB and TDK but that's a very hard point to prove you know? And besides, big fucking deal. Burtons first Batman was...okay for 1989 (even though Jack's Joker sucked donkey balls) and Returns had all the grand scope of a high school auditorium stage (GOD that movie SUCKED!) but something like Begins and TDK was bound to happen. I guess. Fuck, who cares?! 50 hours and 22 minutes to go!! FUCK TIM BURTONS BATMAN! FUCK FAT, OLD JACK'S LAME JOKER!! HERE COMES THE REAL BATMAN AND JOKER!Oh man, I am suck a loser.
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Jul 15, 2008 9:41:25 PM CDT
I said it here on these Talkbacks the first day Ledger was annou
by brighteyes
He will completely own this film.
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His whole thing through the movie is anarchy and doing things on a whim, but at the end you realize he had a major long-term plan. Fine with me though, I just thought that point was interesting. Brilliant movie.
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OOoohh, ooohh, OOOOHH!!! TRUST.... who do ya? TRUST..... what makes you a real lover? TRUST..... I put this question to ya cuz I want you to be with me......
Classic stuff. -
I can not believe that ManBat hasn't been brought into the films yet! Get Rick Baker to do some sick makeup transformation work! Batman VS ManBat the perfect conflict! Think About It!
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Who do ya? TRUST... What makes you a real lover? TRUST... I put this question to ya cuz I want you to be with me.....
Damn, got that song stuck in my head now. Gotta go listen to it for two or three hours. -
Jul 15, 2008 11:23:24 PM CDT
Did so many of you really not understand the flying backwards th
by coop
In the Donner Superman movie, Superman wasn't spinning the earth backwards, he was going faster than light to go back in time and the earth looked like it was going backwards to visually represent time going backwards. I'm suprised so many people didn't get that.
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UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE!. Lives up to the hype in every way. Cant wait to see it again thursday night.
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The other way is to just not play up that aspect at all. Don't make it about this rich guy trying to force all the poor people into his vision of submission. You could just make him an insular asshole who is NOT doing it for society at large but just his own inner turmoil. That's what Burton did. Or you could make it not this grand scheme or power play between powerful elites, and just have Batman save one victim at a time from individual criminals, and not drag the larger picture into it. That's what the Animated Series did.
But I will agree that you can't really make a superhero story populist. It's against the genre. I'm just suggesting that Batman Begins was played almost anti-populist though. But I don't think it was intentional, again, in the source material. And not really many people have interpreted the movie that way, but I'm not the only one who has either. -
I suppose I was responding to the idea that the movie was supposedly "racist." It's not, but maybe that guy picked up on something else going on and didn't know the right word for it...
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Everybody hail the new king in town!!!!
Partyman!!!
That was a damn good soundtrack. -
Iron Man was well over 90%...so if this isn't as good as Iron Man, then who cares really
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Iron Man was well over 90%...so if this isn't as good as Iron Man, then who cares really
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Iron Man was well over 90%...so if this isn't as good as Iron Man, then who cares really
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get in line and see this movie u asshole!!!!!!!!
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Dunno if this has been asked in one of the TDK talkbacks or not yet, but for those who've seen the prescreenings: Did they have to cut the movie down to fit within the 2-hour runtime limit for IMAX features, or have they found a way to dodge the issue here? I'd kill to see TDK at the IMAX, but not if they have to cut a half hour from the movie in order to run it...
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the runtime is the full 2.5 or whatever...saw it tonight
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You are one of my favorite AICN writers, but this line: "it is as giant a leap forward from the first film as EMPIRE was from STAR WARS or that Godfather Part II was from the first"- pisses me off. The first Godfather was perfect but the second, which I love, is not better than the first, let alone a huge leap forward. The people who love Godfather II are just more vocal, but that doesn't make its superiority set in stone, like the inferiority of part 3 is. Here endith my rant on a completely off topic move. So, Batman looks pretty cool, huh?
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AICN, bought and paid baby..cheap at twice the price
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It's only 89% cos not all papers had posted their reviews check it out Friday
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thank god...no more flashbacks to him being a kid and his parents dying...that got old fast in the previous installments (not including BB)
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I didn't love the first one, and I found this one to be a major improvement. I didn't think it was a perfect film or a masterpiece, but thoroughly enjoyable with some awesome moments. It's not without its problems, but ultimately it left me wanting a part 3, and I guess that's good enough.
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Eh. There were enough cutaways from the violence that it actually kind of annoyed me. I really wished it was a hard R. The movie was not without its brutal moments, but it still managed to feel a bit sanitized. And I'm not usually the one calling for more gore or violence, either...
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It's pretty amazing... I only wish we got more flying/falling shots that really took advantage of the immersion IMAX affords.
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I think Ras returning is a big possibility or Talia but her being more bad than good. I think connecting Begins to the third film will happen somehow. Manbat and Clay Face I don't think are possible. But why not Hush? I think avoiding Riddler and Penguin wouldn't be so bad since they were done before.
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I'm sick of people blaming BB's problems on her, and after seeing TDK it's pretty apparent that the problem with Rachel has more to do with how she's written and less to do with who's playing her, because Maggie Gyllenhaal is only a minor improvement (and not nearly as attractive). There's just a chemistry that everyone keeps talking about in the film between Bruce and Rachel, but you never really feel it, though at least they give her a little bit of a personality in this one, she's a bit more vivacious. Personally I hate recasting, so I'd have preferred Katie come back and Nolan just force her to step up her game a bit, but whatever.
My problem with BB were the dizzyingly shot action, the bland as FUCK villains, Nolan's fairly ordinary direction, and a kind of anticlimactic plotline. Nothing in the film stuck out for me. There was no real style and I find it hard to remember much of anything about it when I think back on it. TDK has seen Nolan refine his style abit, he's gotten a harder edge, he's a bit more unrelenting. The performances he gets out of everyone are better, though Christian Bale doesn't emote much in this film, really. It's just a significantly better, more refined, and certainly more epic film. It feels huge... a story worthy of an icon like batman, finally. -
Is there a place for her in The Nolan Batverse??
How could she be developed as a "realistic" character??? Who would play her? Villain or Vigilante? Hmmm....I see it in 15 hours. -
Anthony Michael Hall? I wanna know what's what.
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i read by a guy calling himself harveydentdies that he does falling off a building, rachel gets it in an explosion, gordon's death is a fake adn the joker gets caught in the end. is that true?
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Empire Strikes Back however IS better than Star Wars. Get your sequel comparisions right.
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would be fuggin orgasmic. Hush's storyline is a bit too wide in scope to execute on the silver screen though, methinks.
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Believe the hype. Seriously. The film is so good it renders all previous Batman films unwatchable. TDK is the definitive version of this character on film. And, yes, it is absolutely breathtaking in IMAX. When that first aerial shot filled the screen the audience literally gasped. I shit you not.
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***MILD SPOILERS***
That's because Anthony Michael Hall is barely in the film. -
Damn people get some brains. Since when is the percentage on RT the ultimate measure of movie quality? And besides, personal tastes differ, so do not take reviews for granted, they're only there as a guideline. Oh Roger Ebert said that Crash is teh fucken awesome, lets all pray at the altar of Haggis so he blesses us with more hack-jobs. IT EVEN HAS A GREAT SCORE ON RT!!!! Gimme a fucking brake.
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As is anyone who would spoil this movie without warning after such a long wait for it to arrive, and after it being one of the rare films of it's type that is actually worth the wait.
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and Quint was spot-on. Its incredible. Its every positive hyperbole you can muster+10. Its great...I cant wait to see it again. What a masterpiece.
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and it's the greatest batman story ever told, and one of the greatest crime movies ever made. Yes. Fucking Crime Movie. One of the best. I can't believe what I saw, so adult, so brilliant, so epic.
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I'm with Sledge Hammer...if you want to spoil this, go yak at your momma. DONT RUIN IT FOR OTHERS. Douche.
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Black Mask as a twisted version of Bruce Wayne. etc. Crime War between penguin and black mask.
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i havent seen it im just curious if its a load of ass or not. since ive heard so many contradictory "spoilers"
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As the film was nearing its end, I found myself getting really emotional. I was in complete awe of the selfless heroism and epic tragedy on display. It was profoundly moving to me. I've never seen anything quite like it.
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at least for me, a misanthropist who always understood the Batman mentallity, and his choice at the end of pure sacrifice for the greater good is inspiring but sad because that's the way the world works and Bats knows that, if anything he's proving Ra's Al Ghul right and wrong at the same time. interesting huh.
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Hope that gets shown at the local IMAX instead of the Dark Knight. Oh, yeah, second the love for the RELIC.
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As the next villain? Since the Spider-Man movies never got around to introducing the Lizard, beat them to the punch. Just dig up that old Star Trek GORN costumer. Good to go.
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Chris Nolan should remake ALL Tim Burton's movies. Guy above me; gorn? GORN????? Where's Harry's Dark Knight review? - oh, he's off this week - OFF FROM DOING WHAT?? OFF FROM WATCHING MOVIES?!?!?!
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My two cents:
Damn good film. VERY different tone than Begins. Have to say I enjoyed Begins more.
Joker is fantastic, his speeches are glorious... but they do go on for a while.
Disappointed with the Scarecrow cameo. If you're getting Cillian Murphy in for a day, at least give him something cool to do.
All up, a solid film, a great sequel, but the rewatch value won't be as high as the first one. At least not for me. -
It was really good except for the ending.
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I'll keep this review spoiler free. I went in as spoiler free as possible, not having seeked out all the TV spots or having watched the trailers ad-nauseum, and to ruin this film would be a crime.
Finished watching the film ~ 5hrs ago so I'm still processing what I've seen. This isn't a superhero film. It's a crime drama (that can stand aside films such as Heat or LA Confidential) of the superhero subtype. It's a tragedy. It's about dealing with the unforeseen consequences of actions undertaken with the best of intentions, it's about making difficult choices when presented equally terrible options. And it's very very good. Perhaps even great. I really need to see the film a few more times to appreciate it's subtleties, as it's an enjoyably layered story.
Compared to Batman Begins this film is on a whole nother level. The action scenes flow much better with the camera pulled back and the editing far less rapid, the stand out being a chase scene in the middle of the film. The FX work is top notch, much like Iron Man nothing screams "This is CGI". The script is where the real magic happens however. Simple conversations between characters steal this movie, the actors obviously relishing with working with such quality material. All the shitty one liners from Begins have been jettisoned, although the movie is humorous in places.
Heath Ledger's depiction of the Joker is every bit as good as the press is reporting. He is walking contradiction ("Let me tell you how I get these scars..."), a mad man, an enigma, an anarchist, an unstoppable force who can't be reasoned or negotiated with, and in the blink of an eye switches from a darkly humorous weirdo to manic violent sociopath. And while he initially presents as a man who indulges in his every whim, he is also an absolute mastermind in the paradox he presents to Gotham City and it's inhabitants. The scope and genius of his plan cannot be fully appreciated until the final moments of the film.
Sometimes an interpretation of a character will resonate with an audience to such an extent that it will influence all future interpretations of the character. Just as Frank Miller's run on Batman in the 80's redefined the characters, or the Blade movie introduced Whistler to the characters mythos, Ledger's interpretation is so definitive that it will influence the character in comics and animated form for decades. Just wait until you see The Joker's "Magic Trick" (20 seconds of character shorthand that tells you everything you need to know).
And because Ledger is so damn good people are going to miss the other brilliant performance in this movie. Aaron Eckhart is superb, deserving all the accolades that Ledger's performance has received. His story arc is the centre of the movie and is what drives it. He gives the best performance in the film IMO.
Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman provide solid support. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes without missing beat. Gary Oldman's Lt. James Gordon gains the most of the characters returning from the first film however.
Dependant on other films to be released this year, I'd expect TDK award nominations for Heath Ledger (Best Supporting Actor), Wally Pfister (Cinematography), Christopher & Jonathan Nolan (Best Screenplay), along with a swag of nominations in various technical and production categories (Best FX, Sound Mixing, Design etc etc). If their is any justice (which there isn't when it comes to acting nominations, too often nominations are given for an actors body of work rather than their single performance) Aaron Eckhart would be a lock for Best Supporting Actor Along with Ledger. Addition nominations for Best Film and Best Director may be a stretch, but not out of reach.
Highly Recommended. 4.5/5 Stars.
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Anyone else in the UK watch this excellent documentary last night? Showed previously unseen footage of Kubrick on the set of Full Metal Jacket. Absolutely brilliant.
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Read it here!!!
http://chud.com/articles/articles/15591/1/DEVIN-WATCHES-THE-WATCHMEN-TRAILER/Page1.html
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you just called everyone who is not from the USA a faggot. Show that ignorance sometimes has no limits.
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Batman begins paled in comparison to Burton's Batman. The second half worked but the entire first act fell flat with all the stupid zen/ kung fu shit.
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Sonic water boiling machines, impractical elevated bullet trains or any of that nonsense.
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Jul 16, 2008 9:34:52 AM CDT
All the hype about Heath as portraying "true evil" at a PG-13
by psalmolive
Are ridiculous. Go watch a movie like Michael Haneke's "Funny Games", or "Apocalypse Now" or "Clockwork Orange". Does the Joker shoot children in the back of the head with a shotgun? Does he cut off the arms of poor Vietnamese children? Does he rape women and rape and rape some more? The important point is that its a PG-13 movie, and all this talk about how disturbing this movie is going to be is a complete crock. Real evil does all the aforementioned atrocities with no fanfare. They do these things without theatrics. They commit evil acts while eating a sandwich. When the rivers flowed red with blood in Rwanda as chunks of bodies washed up on its shores- that's evil. Real evil is efficient, with no talk- just unblinking mechanical murder.
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wow! how is this for coincedence Quint just after I read your review that night I got up to Susan Delagados, "reaping" nearing the end of Wizard and Glass, Best story Ive read since OtherLand, I knew it was coming, King basically tells you earlier in the story, but still, what a story. Hopefully The Dark Tower series will make a great film, (I hope they make an OtherLand movie too)
O yea and this movie looks hotter than monica bellucci's quim! -
...there are one or two sci-fi devices that are a little over the top. Shouldn't break your film-going experience, though.
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The Joker's as evil as a comic book villain can get. Yeah, he's not raping babies or whatever, but do you really want to see that in a movie based on men-in-tights funnybook?
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the first act is the best part of the movie even though the rest of begins is great, but the first act is magical. and Burton's batman is a joke, watch it again, talk about a dated movie.
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over at deepdiscount.com. Got my eyes on Brazil and The Vanishing.
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The only bad one liner i didn't like from begins was 'nevermind' by the cop during the tumbler chase scene, the rest don't make any difference. And Nother isn't a word.
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Batman Begins had plenty of shitty one liners:
Batman to homeless guy wearing his old jacket: "Nice Coat"
Batman to Arkam inmates after blowing up their door: "Excuse me"
Gordon after seeing the tumbler: "I've gotta get me one of those"
Police guy radioing in for a description of the tumbler then quipping "Never Mind" when it flies past.
And that is just off the top of my head. Begins unfortunately became more and more Goyer-fied as it went on.
And the word "Nother" is perfectly cromulant slang. -
not about action, intensity, violence(non-gory). It's a way to keep most of the good stuff and to let the kids in the theater. THE KIDS KEEP THE INDUSTRY RICH. On top of that they like geek movies more than adults. Does anyone on this list know why big movie come out in the summer??? FOR KIDS. I don't get summers off. So without PG-13 we would have less Geek movies, less summer movies and less spectical.
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the fights are completely different, the skaycam is cmpletely gone and so is the fast editing. are you retarded or did you watch the wrong movie? plus the people where you are must suck, buzz in the sessions i've been to was high.
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try the monday afternoon shows, I love them....also tuesday at midnight is pretty good. The cinema is a hard place these days for the astute film geek. There are good theaters everywhere, and show no one goes to.
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like i said the nevermind one is the only one that bothers me, the others don't detract from the film at all. stuff like nice coat make no difference due to the beautiful shot and that music. and goyer wrote the first draft only so stop talking shit.
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Jul 16, 2008 10:39:44 AM CDT
Maybe WhinyNegativeBitch is just living up to her name.
by rev_skarekroe
But to answer her question, yes, that was Cillian Murphy at the beginning. He had four or five lines which were, paraphrasing: "I said my drug would take you places, I didn't say they'd be good places," "Feel free to go to another supplier if you can find one with the Batman around," "That's not him," "Now that's more like it!," and "That's not MY diagnosis."
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"Wah! I'm a set design fag and I only want to see movies made the way Tim Burton would make them! Even though no one who has seen Burton's Planet of the Apes ever wants to see a movie with Burton's signature production design tics ever again, I'm stuck in the 80's and that's what I want to see so I am going to give this film a negative review because I'm a Burton groupie cunt!" and "Wah! This is really violent and kinetic and since I write for the New Yorker I only want to see G-rated movies that crawl along at the pace of The English Patient on frame-by-frame slow mo!"
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Cillian Murphy was the dealer at the beginning, he even had his mask on when first exiting the van. To bad they didn't do more with his appearance in the film (he should have hit multiple vigilantes with his hallucinogen and let Batman deal with them). While his appearance was a nice callback to Begins, Batman could have been chasing any type of drug dealer and it wouldn't have changed the script.
When exiting the cinema I heard numerous people bitching that the middle of the film was too confusing plot wise. Word of mouth for this film may not be great if too many people can't keep up with what was happening (although there were some idiots in the cinema - taking 4 year olds to see a 2.5hr movie as dark as TDK, and texting on their phones throughout). -
"Seeked" isn't a word. The word is "sought".
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Do it.
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http://tinyurl.com/62kpfe. It really works and is battery powered.
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My point was, simply, that Maggie isn't much better. And we know that she can act bigtime. Katie is not in the same league as Maggie, clearly, but I think her performance could have been significantly better had the character been written better, and had Nolan directed her a bit more.
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It demeans the material, emasculates directors and whores the film out to the lowest common denominator. No one respects someone who moves to the center, as they end up standing for absolutely nothing- which is exactly what PG-13 is. The studios and MPAA should grow some balls and elevate filmmaking to higher level- they should have no fear as the audience will follow with their wallets. Just expect more.
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Lets get some new fucking villains in here. I don't want this series to just become "Oh look how much better Nolan's version of the universe is than everyone elses". Give us a new character, not just a new version of one we've already seen.
Plus Batman Returns will always have a special place in my heart. Devito IS the penguin in my mind. -
Whoever said that the film would make $400 billion dollars in the opening weekend was wrong. It's going to make $400 billion dollars in the first showing! When the film opens everyone on Earth will be in movie theaters, collectively experiencing the single greatest event in human history. Utter epic euphoria will grasp hold of all people and their will be an eruption of world peace and harmony emanating from the movie theater. Cancers will suddenly be cured, the money from the film will be used to feed all of Africa, the film will be projected on the moon and nations under dictatorial regimes will be able to see it's utter perfection and will realize the errors of their ways and immediately become totally harmonious and perfect utopias. The space aliens planning to destroy our planet will see the film on the moon and will realize that our species is worth redeeming and will spare us destruction. People in the movie theater will be so transfixed by the film they will all burst into rapturous applause and hug complete strangers and cry intensely for sheer joy to the point that they lose all bowel control, but no one will notice because of the glee that they feel. This film will solve all of the world's problems overnight. We will carry Nolan out into the streets on our shoulders and give every single Academy Award ever issued and that will ever be issued to him, and stop making movies forever. Just you wait!
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He recognized the real batman out of the fakes.
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One of the other charcetrs fro mthe universe we haven't seen on screen yet, because the others are decidedly bland or just plain silly. Or are you suggesting a completely new one?
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Don't even pretend you've never had masturbatory fantasies about her.
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Two face is silly and they made it work.
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does not resemble a coked-out 65-year-old whore. She looks like a woman of her time. Donner tried to ground "Superman" in the real world to an extent and the newspaper sequences are a good example. Lois is supposed to be older than Clark, city-bred, hard-charging, a cigs-and-coffee-all-day kind of professional woman who some nights probably tosses back more than a few shots after she leaves The Daily Planet. She's not a sex object, not glammed up except in the date sequence, and she looks like a fairly attractive professional woman of the '70s. Kidder was 30 when "Superman: The Movie" came out, and in the '70s being 30 and a hard-driver meant it showed in your face. A typical professional woman in the '70s didn't get plastic surgery to deal with those eye bags. It cost too much. There was no botox, no collagen fills. Go back and look at Kidder's non-bimbo contemporaries and you'll see a lot of women who don't look all that much different from Kidder when they play women like Lois. Jill Clayburgh is a good example. It's easy to criticize a 30-ish woman for looking real when the next prominent actresses to fill her role are a former 49ers cheerleader and a 22-YEAR-OLD. Be realistic, folks.
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pg-13 allows films to show graphic violence to people at a much younger age. This is so the government can start the desire to shoot things, kick ass and blow stuff up earlier in life. They think this is important as part of a master plan to keep up armed service enrollment.
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I think Frank Miller's Catwoman would fit very well into the Nolanverse. Dominatrix turned cat burglar 'cos she saw Batman up close and thought, "it's a kick." No other motivation. Got to include Holly, though.
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Im heading over to the Outlander talkback..there's a movie that could use some support. DK is in good hands.
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Okay okay I get it, TDK is the greatest thing in course of human history since the invention of the wheel and it's more amazing than Jesus walking on water. I truly think that Nolan could have taken a shit on the celluloid and all you Batgeeks would still have said it was the greatest film ever. The goddamn movie hasn't even opened and I'm sooo fucking tired of it already.
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Naw, he would have had to've wanked on it.
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Jul 16, 2008 12:10:07 PM CDT
PhxMonsterGuy, have you read my posts on the other TDK review
by g-ride9000
I think you'll be pleased by the sentiment of them. Oh and my friend here, TDK, he was wondering if he could wash and wax your car. He says he uses ionized water. What can't this guy do?
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Jul 16, 2008 12:22:57 PM CDT
Like, why the fuck did the Scarecrow turn into a wimpy ass wanna
by rev_skarekroe
Huh? He was dealing fear gas as a recreational drug from the back of a van. What kind of wannabe good guy does that?
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Don't forget the 50% drop in global warming that weekend. I also hear that The Dark Knight's awesomeness will solve the housing crisis in the US, as well as cure AIDS in Africa. Bono, on the other hand, will shoot himself in the head because he has nothig left to do . . .
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...is a weird looking chick. Is she attractive? Is she unattractive? My opinion changes by the second whenever she's on the screen.
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So many people hyping this movie, I can't help to think that I will be totally let down because people are making this movie as the best film in the last 30 years.
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stupid fucking enter button always getting in the way. Anyway, saw it last night. High expectations like most of you here. The film blew them out of the water. It was that good. Nearly fucking perfect.
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Anyone who's seen "Secretary" will not carp about whether her face is traditionally pretty. Heh.
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You are 100000 percent correct. Some scenes in this movie she looks like a bulldog, and others you really want to fuck her. I dont get it.
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or Harley Quinn. She's got the face for it.
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He doesn't like what they've done with the Joker, and says that this alone proves that Superman 1 and 2 have to be better than this movie. Leave aside for a moment the fact that Ledger will probably get an Oscar for this version of the Joker. Let's consider instead the depiction of Lex Luthor in Superman 1 and 2. I really love both those films, but Luthor is turned into a comic relief frustrated real estate developer. Superman 1 and 2 are great films, but they don't show any respect for Luthor as a villain in the tradition of the comic books. That would seem to indicate that it's possible for a film to be good even if the writer and director make different choices with a traditional villain than you would have made. You can hate the film if you like, but you need a different reason, because if not doing the villain "right" means the film is automatically bad, then Superman 1 and 2 were automatically bad.
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It's exactly the kind of teaser I hate. There is almost nothing in there to make me go "holy shit!" Aside from the theme, which still kicks my ass by the way," there's almost nothing in here that tells me it's a terminator movie. I'm hoping for really good movie and I'm still looking forward to this but.....give the crowd a little something to go wild for. There's got to be a shot of something to wet our appetites.
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FUCKING SWEET!
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No love for Mama Mia?!! What's this world coming to?
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theme of the film. Also, his fear gas tested on Arkham inmates (and released on the streets) sets up the potential for other crazy, costumed villains.
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Oh you got me again. Oh my, I am SO 'PWNED'. BTW, You never answered my question: If Crispin Glover made a cameo in Brokeback Mountain' (gay-cowboy movie as you put it)...would that disqualify him from playing the Joker as it apparently does Heath Ledger? It's amusing as hell to see your frustration when your self-serving, rigid criteria in casting your favorite superheroes isn't adopted by all. Damn Infidels!
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Your "I'm so smart" and " Your so dumb" schtick is a bore. Carry on.
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Godfather II is not better than the first. They are about the same level.
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would be hilarious if y'all weren't so sad. Grow up, for all the gods' sake.
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Think about it. Batman is just one dude, and he will need help to protect Gotham eventually, which makes sense in the real world of the Nolan films. Why not pick one member of the Batman Family that he has a rather tenuous relationship with. The Helena Bertenelli Huntress has the mob background, her family gets killed by a rival family as collateral damage during the mob wars that took place after Batman emerged. So how she takes on crime is much more violent than Batman. They could bump heads on how to protect Gotham in a realistic way, but have to work together to take down whomever the main villain is. But they won't be a dynamic duo or anything. I'd take that over Robin. What do you guys think?
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Just don't put her in a see-through, plastic rain coat. And pass on the armor. Pass on leather, for that matter. Just put her in some workable street duds with an identifying feature that's easily hidden when she needs to dissolve into the night or the crowds.
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looks kinda like silly putty where it's not really a symetrical kind of face. It'll be interesting how well this flick holds up a year from now or a decade from now.
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"What? Oh no, I thought that was just a figure of speech. CASE CLOSED." - Lionel Hutz
"OH COME ON!" - Me when I say "OH COME ON!" -
i didnt even realize eddie murphy has a movie out right now till i checked the showtimes for TDK..lol
what the hell give eddie murphy some love AICN! -
Maggie gyllenhal was sexy in Sherry baby..Machete got to spank that ass!!
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Overstuffed Story,
Half-Baked Dialogue.
The Joker is reduced to a visual gag - everything relies on you being freaked out by his make-up.
When he's not mugging, he's referencing his own appearance.
They needed WAY more moments like his pencil trick + the n****'s costume.
Heath Ledger does an admirable job w/ a script that didn't give the Joker a single joke to utter.
No one chuckled at a single line of dialogue in our theater.
Nearly every one of his scenes ends with you waiting for the Joker to do something Jokeresq - and you're left waiting.
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to respect and understand Watchmen put a band that didn't even exist when the book was written in the trailer when the book itself refers to MANY musical artists quotes as chapter closers? Pretty bad fuckup from a "getting the tone right" perspective.
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The Dark Knight
// / July 16, 2008
Cast & Credits
Bruce Wayne: Christian Bale
The Joker: Heath Ledger
Harvey Dent: Aaron Eckhart
Alfred: Michael Caine
Rachel: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Gordon: Gary Oldman
Lucius Fox: Morgan Freeman
Warner Bros. presents a film directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. Running time: 152 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for for intense sequences of violence and some menace). Opening today at local theaters.
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By Roger Ebert
“Batman” isn’t a comic book anymore. Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy. It creates characters we come to care about. That’s because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production. This film, and to a lesser degree “Iron Man,” redefine the possibilities of the “comic-book movie.”
“The Dark Knight” is not a simplistic tale of good and evil. Batman is good, yes, The Joker is evil, yes. But Batman poses a more complex puzzle than usual: The citizens of Gotham City are in an uproar, calling him a vigilante and blaming him for the deaths of policemen and others. And the Joker is more than a villain. He’s a Mephistopheles whose actions are fiendishly designed to pose moral dilemmas for his enemies.
The key performance in the movie is by the late Heath Ledger, as the Joker. Will he become the first posthumous Oscar winner since Peter Finch? His Joker draws power from the actual inspiration of the character in the silent classic “The Man Who Laughs” (1928). His clown's makeup more sloppy than before, his cackle betraying deep wounds, he seeks revenge, he claims, for the horrible punishment his father exacted on him when he was a child. In one diabolical scheme near the end of the film, he invites two ferry-loads of passengers to blow up the other before they are blown up themselves. Throughout the film, he devises ingenious situations that force Batman (Christian Bale), Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to make impossible ethical decisions. By the end, the whole moral foundation of the Batman legend is threatened.
Because these actors and others are so powerful, and because the movie does not allow its spectacular special effects to upstage the humans, we’re surprised how deeply the drama affects us. Eckhart does an especially good job as Harvey Dent, whose character is transformed by a horrible fate into a bitter monster. It is customary in a comic book movie to maintain a certain knowing distance from the action, to view everything through a sophisticated screen. “The Dark Knight” slips around those defenses and engages us.
Yes, the special effects are extraordinary. They focus on the expected explosions and catastrophes, and have some superb, elaborate chase scenes. The movie was shot on location in Chicago, but it avoids such familiar landmarks as Marina City, the Wrigley Building or the skyline. Chicagoans will recognize many places, notably La Salle Street and Lower Wacker Drive, but director Nolan is not making a travelogue. He presents the city as a wilderness of skyscrapers, and a key sequence is set in the still-uncompleted Trump Tower. Through these heights, the Batman moves at the end of strong wires, or sometimes actually flies, using his cape as a parasail.
The plot involves nothing more or less than the Joker’s attempts to humiliate the forces for good and expose Batman’ secret identity, showing him to be a poser and a fraud. He includes Gordon and Dent on his target list, and contrives cruel tricks to play with the fact that Bruce Wayne once loved, and Harvey Dent now loves, Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The tricks are more cruel than he realizes, because the Joker doesn’t know Batman’s identity. Heath Ledger has a good deal of dialogue in the movie, and a lot of it isn’t the usual jabs and jests we’re familiar with: It’s psychologically more complex, outlining the dilemmas he has constructed, and explaining his reasons for them. The screenplay by Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan (who first worked together on “Memento”) has more depth and poetry than we might have expected.
Two of the supporting characters are crucial to the action, and are played effortlessly by the great actors Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. Freeman, as the scientific genius Lucius Fox, is in charge of Bruce Wayne’s underground headquarters, and makes an ethical objection to a method of eavesdropping on all of the citizens of Gotham City. His stand has current political implictions. Caine is the faithful butler Alfred, who understands Wayne better than anybody, and makes a decision about a crucial letter.
Nolan also directed the previous, and excellent, “Batman Begins” (2005), which went into greater detail than ever before about Bruce Wayne’s origins and the reasons for his compulsions. Now it is the Joker’s turn, although his past is handled entirely with dialogue, not flashbacks. There are no references to Batman’s childhood, but we certainly remember it, and we realize that this conflict is between two adults who were twisted by childhood cruelty — one compensating by trying to do good, the other by trying to do evil. Perhaps they instinctively understand that themselves.
Something fundamental seems to be happening in the upper realms of the comic-book movie. “Spider-Man II” (2004) may have defined the high point of the traditional film based on comic-book heroes. A movie like the new “Hellboy II” allows its director free rein for his fantastical visions. But now “Iron Man” and even more so “The Dark Knight” move the genre into deeper waters. They realize, as some comic-book readers instinctively do, that these stories touch on deep fears, traumas, fantasies and hopes. And the Batman legend, with its origins in film noir, is the most fruitful one for exploration.
In his two Batman movies, Nolan has freed the character to be a canvas for a broader scope of human emotion. For Bruce Wayne is a deeply troubled man, let there be no doubt, and if ever in exile from his heroic role, it would not surprise me what he finds himself capable of doing. -
In the first movie, it's a neo-noir/Blade Runner/CGI futuristic/retro city...and in TDK it's...Chicago? HUH? Ummm...continuity...anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Hey this time, does Nolan put the camera right in everyone's armpit during the action scenes?
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at the dog chasing a car joke.
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he managed to be both bat shit crazy and believable as someone who could exist in the real world. i think a lot of people who criticise this gotham as not be, well gothic enough have missed the point. nolan has not created a dc universe where there are caped crusaders and masked evil geniuses, he has putted hero's and villains squarely in the real world, a world where others look at them and say 'weridos'
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are you fucking serious? fuck that. i am already getting to the point where i will refuse to go to the video shop out of angst. i prefer to pay fairly for a product but there are always ads i can't skip over and warnings about piracy i can't skip over. pirated dvds don't having warning i can't skip over and so i'm think about just watching those. esp when often there is scratch on the dvd and you have to go back to the start and skip forward, watching the fucking intro again. this happens all the fucking time and i am ropeable.
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Why don't you both just REST and STFU? Why do people like you two insist on these running battles? Everybody knows what you think. You've only told us half a dozen times. Neither of you is going to convince the other. At this point it's clearly just trolling and ego-boosting. And insults based around a writer's poor spelling are pretty sad. I grow very tired very quickly of the you're/your, it's/its, their/there/they're confusion, but that failure doesn't mean the writer is stupid. Sloppy, yes, ignorant, possibly - which wouldn't surprise me given the state of education. Stupid, no. Expressing invalid opinions, no. Don't play to stereotypes. Don't play games. Don't waste the time of the other people reading this TB. Exchange emails or IM IDs somehow and TAKE IT ELSEWHERE, ASSHOLES!
Rant over. -
...that TDK will be a shitty Batman film? The only thing you can prove on an AICN talkback is exactly how much of a limber dick cocksucker you truly are. And Mr. Albertson has proved that.
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WE ARE WAITING FOR IT. COLORFUL LINK TITLE AND ALL.
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And it's july 16th release date! I just saw it last night, it IS everything you've heard and more. Seeing it again tonight, and booked in for IMAX on friday. CANNOT WAIT. After all the hyperbole, it was actually ledger's performance I scrutinized the most, but that's not his fault, it due to all the glowing reviews. Dont get me wrong, he's still awesome, I just wasn't sure what to expect after the reviews. I'm sure it'll sink in the right way after tonight's viewing. I also had some issues with the bat-suit, not scary enough. But thats obviously a very minor issue, and im happy to ignore it. Not like the film needs my endorsement, but seriously, don't fuck around go see this thing.
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It's 40 minutes shorter than Titanic, it's got a built-in audience, it's got a buzz that's reaching Titanic-esque proportion. Will it top it? No. But it will come relatively close. I'm gonna go out on that proverbial limb and say it will make over $400 million.
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what about international box office? If it only makes 400 domestic U.S., it's gonna need a colossal international haul to even come close to trumping titanic.
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it would need over a billion dollars in internation receipts!
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I'm off to watch it again. gotta fly!
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BB was quite good when in my first viewing. But after awhile, I found the movie to be quite boring. Badly written lines, some par acting, a stupid "FEAR" theme, really badly shot action sequences, and HORRIBLE editing.
TDK however looks to be much better. -
There's gonna be like 6 people seeing mamma mia. Running time is only an issue against stiff competition, and this film has none - spot on yackbacker.
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completely agreed on Begins. I cringe every time when the little kid goes "the other kids won't believe me". The only thing less realistic than the line of dialogue is its delivery. And thats not the only instance. But trust me when I say this, last night's viewing of TDK was positively cringe free.
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http://tinyurl.com/5h5f9v
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Long and challenging, but it is definitely a good flick. Not an action movie by any means. It is a film, by the very definition of a film. Citizen Kane with scenes of action.
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come close to that 1.2 billion international gross. Domestically, though, this is going to be a very interesting next couple of months, though. :)
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The Joker's dad didn't give him his scars. He makes up at least three different explanations in the movie. He obviously did it to himself.
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TDK is going to be amazing. it's the definitve batman movie - aw, hell -- comic book movie we've all been waiting for (until watchmen ....hopefully). but beating titanic is going to be damn-near impossible. think of all the franchises that haven't even come close: spider-man; pirates; star wars; lord of the rings; harry potter. TDK will do killer box office, but thinking that it will reach the near $2 billion worldwide that Titanic brought in is flat-out absurd.
And batman begins only made $200 million something domestically -- which puts it far below burton's batman.
this one will reach $300 million, easily, and quite possibly $million -- but $600 million? NO CHANCE IN HELL. -
WOW! I'm still replaying it in my tiny mind.
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Jul 16, 2008 10:41:46 PM CDT
Hey, Jeff... I've got some spelling for you to correct...
by finding forrestal
UR A SHIT HED.
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Vs. 53% for Mamma Mia.
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I like the line that this film may be "immune from ridiculous expectations"..... well not mine. And the use of the word ridiculous is highly appropos for this pretense at story telling. DK has absolutely the most silly set pieces since Supes turned back time by making the Earth rotate clockwise. The Joker's machinations are entirely impossible, often laughable, even in a comic book galaxy far, far away. Wiring dozens of targets up well in advance with tons of explosives that are never discovered before or after the fact? Always having an accomplice at exactly the crucial place and time with no explanation? What are these, the Keystone Cops? The BATMAN TV show was more credible than this, and it was a parody. There is no suspension of disbelief that covers this much nonsense of a plot. Anyone should choke comparing this to a classic like EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Story gets a D. ....................................................
Acting is top notch, if at times over the top. Ledger is very good, but if his popularity and death had not generated such sympathy, there would be zero chance at an Oscar nod, and many reviewers would accuse him of overacting, big time. Maggie did what she could with a character that had no depth and that established little chemistry within the script. Similar flaws that were not corrected from BEGINS. As comparison, look what Favreau and Paltrow did with Pepper Potts in IRON MAN. With a minimal amount of exposition, a beleivable and touching relationship was established with HER rich boss, that this totally lacked. And unlike IRON MAN, a huge chunk of DK's plot revolved around her unconvincing relationship with the leads. Characters and acting B..................................
The movie is the massage. I wish that were so here. Who knew the Comic Book Code would be alive and well in Hollywood Babylon? Not as bad as the last movie, but suffering much the same from a heavy handed nonsensical message. Essentially the theme is not moral, but pacifist in nature. But the film is duplicitous in that it revels in violence. That's why the villain steals the show, the Bat is an irresponsibe pussy who will let innocent people die, even those he cares about, so he won't have to kill the bad guy. He's not upholding the law, hell he could kill Joker ten times over well within the law. And should if he wasn't a wimp. There's no moral quandry there. Bruce really should find another profession, like selling Buicks, if he's going to be so bad at protecting the innocent. Reviewers are saying that DK themes have echoes in our own post 911 world. What echoes are those? I see a metaphor for Liberal media and politicians trying to undermine our own defense at every turn, NOT because they really think terrorists should have the rights of American citizens, but that they think Americans shouldn't have the right to defend themselves at all. That we aren't worthy of defending. It's the same kind of self hate that permeated GALACTICA... "Well, maybe humans DESERVED to be wiped out by Cylons." Well, I believe the only people who deserve to be wiped out by Joker, Cylons, and whoever is standing in for Al Queda these days, are those who prevent us from defending ourselves. Message grade D.........................................
This movie may be entertaining, cool, good looking, and a notable performance by one actor, but don't kid yourself that this is a good movie beyond popcorn fare and left wing wet dreams. There's a mass delusion going on because of sympathy for Ledger and media agreement with the enshrined liberal theocracy. It isn't a classic, it hasn't got legs, and when folks come to their senses, they'll recognize that there is no there there. No true substance. Much like a certain Democrat running for President. Now that's a metaphor to me that rings loud and clear. -
TDK is a great film.
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That's his role. Complaining about the logic (or lack thereof) proves you completely missed the point. Besides, the film states on numerous occasions that the Joker attracts and inspires loyalty from just about every whack-job in Gotham. With that many (insane) people at your disposal you can orchestrate all kinds of mayhem. And that's what the Joker does. Remember, "it's all part of the plan."
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I understand that many many folks have already decided this is going to be a masterpiece, sight unseen.
If you want a very dark, very "heavy" Batman movie - you'll get it.
But expecting EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is bound to disappoint you.
THE DARK KNIGHT wants to have it both ways - they hammer you with a grim, realistic aesthetic - they want you to think of this as "film noir" - but - there's no logic to the mystery, no logic to the set-ups, no logic to the twists, and frequently no logic to the characters.
Everything and everyone falls neatly into place wherever the convoluted plot demands.
And cell phones are magic wands - if you have a handful of cell phones - there's nothing you can't accomplish in Gotham. -
The Joker is "chaos personified", but all his machinations require an almost magically aligned "order" of random events - there's no room for the slightest deviations, much less "chaos" in his convoluted plots. We can accept that his entire existence is illogical. That's how he should be. But each of his schemes requires 20/20 vision of the future - the Joker is seemingly aware of every single minute action + deduction + consequence + random occurance that will take place days in advance.
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The Joker is "chaos personified", but all his machinations require an almost magically aligned "order" of random events - there's no room for the slightest deviations, much less "chaos" in his convoluted plots. We can accept that his entire existence is illogical. That's how he should be. But each of his schemes requires 20/20 vision of the future - the Joker is seemingly aware of every single minute action + deduction + consequence + random occurance that will take place days in advance.
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***SPOILERS***While the notion of Lucius Fox watching video feeds from a bunch of sonar-imaging cell phones and actually FINDING the Joker is a bit far-fetched, the logic behind the technology itself is sound. There is also thematic and narrative logic in having Batman utilize sonar to locate his enemies. Would you have preferred a standard take on the "cell phone as plot device?" Personally, I thought it was smart, simple and added an interesting visual twist to the climax of the film (it also lengthened Morgan Freeman's screen time, which is never a bad thing, IMO).
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When Space Chimps owns this movie at the box office.
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I used the word "chaos" to convey that the Joker is nothing more than a plot device whose sole purpose is to "upset the natural order of things." Nolan himself compared the Joker to the shark in JAWS. Nobody questions the shark or criticizes the fact that it continues to harasses "The Orca" and its crew far beyond the point of logic. A more apt comparison would be to liken the Joker to the tornado in TWISTER, because that's exactly what he is: an unstoppable force of nature, unpredictable and seemingly omnipotent in his destruction.
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Screw Iron Man, Screw the Hulk, Screw Spider-Man, Screw the X-Men, screw Superman...IT' ALL ABOUT THE BAT, BABY!!!
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as general idea i get it, but lets keep in mind that there is scene toward the end that, as far as i read it requires members of a swat team to have kept their mobile on them... presumably in case their mum rings. but this is just nit picking.
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Just sayin. s'fucked up.
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I won't mice words, your a cunt. A director just handed us a seriously fantastic piece of pop-art for the ages and you knock it. Iron man was satisfying but this is in another realm. hopefully the reviews, box office and fan reactions will make you reconsider.
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I was thinking the same thing. Not that they're paid off, but it seems all the negative reviews are coming out of New York. I won't ever agree with hating this movie, but I don't hold it against anybody... I just wonder why it's all New York critics that don't like the flick...
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The reason why they are bashing this movie is simple,it was shot in Chicago instead of their beloved
city. Especially that idiot who gave it a 1/6 score. -
That is when the world will be saved by the Dark Knight. . . . depending on your time zone.
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I think the new york critic thing may have something to do with their respective magazine audiences, once small, but now immediately widened by Rotten Tomatoes into mainstream scrutiny.
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I hope you're right. I'd love for this to be more like The Long Halloween, or some of Greg Rucka's writing for Batman. As long as they stay away from Frank Miller's obvious, cliched take, it should be fine. As much as I hated Batman Begins, this appearing to be a more serious crime drama is very promising.
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Saw it last night in NYC for the IMAX friends and family showing @7PM..the wtachmen trailer was nothing short of amazing!!
the movie..there's a point with the batmobile exploding, a truck, and the batcycle..that is jaw dropping and cheer inducing..we see Gordon's family ..but no Barbara..I'm mad!!! anyways enjoy! -
(both considered to be top critics) gave it praise. So not all of NY is against it. But hooray for Chicago. 17 midnight showings in downtown area alone, and they're all sold out. Can't wait to see it at Navy Pier in IMAX where some of the film was actually shot (Navy Pier that is, not the IMAX theater).
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Midnight, 3am, and 6am IMAX showings all sold out too. Let the chaos begin.
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Hello,
I work as a projectionist at a movie theater and had the privilege of seeing this movie last night. I will first start off by saying that it is indeed a great movie and does live up to the first film.
That being said...
The hype for this movie is absolutely ridiculous. It is NOT the giant lead forward from the first that these AICN assholes are claiming it to be. A great movie yes, and by far the best of the summer. But, in this summer of shit, that is not saying much.
Don't walk into this with huge expectations. If you do, you may be mildly disappointed. NOT the I-Thought-This-Was-Suppose-To-Be-Good disappointment that came with Spiderman 2, but disappointed never the less.
The Joker is amazing, Harvey is great, and Batman is superb as usual.
The story is a bit clunky at times, but the action makes up for any flaws it may have. And I'm kind of annoyed that they altered the production design from BEGINS. (Pay attention the new Wayne Enterprises building and sets to see what I mean).
Any to prove I'm not pulling this review out of my ass, I will tell you a few tidbits from the film.
The Batpod emerges from the damaged Batmobile very similar to the way the Batmissile did from the Batmobile in RETURNS.
Rachel gets blown-up in a You-Must-Choose who dies scenario.
The Joker lives and Two-Face dies.
Oh, yeah. Batman decides in the end to take the blame for Two-Face's shenanigans, thus keeping the legend of Harvey Dent alive in the eyes of the people. He in essence becomes a villain in the end, but not really.
I'd really like to see a sequel here. I know the the THIRD movie curse haunts all franchises, but I think they can actually one-up this.
When you see the film let me know what you guys think.
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Holy crap.
Thank you Mr. Nolan. -
was excellent in this movie. a real notch above holmes.
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...shut the fuck up? The vomit that continually spews from your mouth is tedious and tiresome. We get it, you HATE Batman.
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You LOVE Batman. So much, in fact, that you trash his new film without having seen it. Makes sense to me.
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"First, I'll need to find some nice people around here." Boo Hoo.
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Jul 18, 2008 1:00:54 PM CDT
"I can’t imagine a filmmaker in their right mind that would want
by darquelyte
Actually, if Nolan never made another Batman movie, I'd like to see a movie with multiple directors, like the Gotham Nights DVD. You go to one movie and see 5 30 minute Batman tales as told by Tarantino, Del Toro, Cuarón, Snyder and Scorcese...or whoever. That would be very interesting and different.
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Damn. Bat-tacular. Ledger was amazing. Now that is a Joker!
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Jul 18, 2008 2:16:44 PM CDT
Actually I think the Clock King would work in Nolan's
by crichtonastronut
world. The emotionally caudized product of a violent noir Gotham played by Michael C. Hall. Anyone else would look camp in the Clock King glasses but Hall could so pull it off.
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toxic relationsip that pushges Brce further into his persona of Batman the complete opposite of Rachel Dawes and the promise of a normal life. And Carrie-Ann Moss should definitely wear the Cat suite. She'd be the best.
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I think the only way to make a 3rd Chris Nolan batman that reaches the bar set here AND bypasses the Ledger dellimma is to make it The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman and Joker are in late 40s early 50's. That story line continues on themes from this movie as well (Joker yin to Batmans yang; does Gotham need a hero, copycat batmen, etc)
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Just saw it. If you can see this movie and not enjoy it for what it is then there is something wrong with you. The sets aren't the same? Who cares? It's Chicago! Boo hoo. It is an excellent movie. It is not the same old superhero bullshit. It deserves to be compared to Heat and The Departed. I feel sorry for anyone who sees it and comes out complaining. These people are truly miserable and deserve our pity.
Excellent acting. Wonderful script. Part 3 can't get here soon enough. -
...in a good way. Best movie of 2008 so far. Heath Ledger as The Joker made me forget Jack's version. He will be nominated for an Oscar and win it. His performance was unbelievable. His magic trick with the pen was incredible. Hell, just the way he walked away from Gotham Hospital (see the movie) was amazing. I will see this again and again and again. Chris Nolan should win the Best Director Oscar too.
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