I'm heading to England tomorrow. If anyone's at BullDog Bash this weekend, stop by the Tribe of Judah tent and say hi. We'll be amongst the vendors selling bike parts and tatoos. I'm the taller of the two yanks. Ask for Brian.
Wish I was going to be there! Have a good one, DR. So, has everyone seen the new Batman (Bat-man?) film?
I have indeed Bidley. From someone who adores both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I found The Dark Knight Rises slightly disappointing. A very good film but not able to reach the heady heights of the previous two. The final five minutes I was wearing a grin a mile wide. It's nerdvana!
SPOILERS I enjoyed it massively, I thought it was on a par with Begins. The biggest thing was that, despite the long run time, it never dragged and not a second was wasted. The pace was excellent too, the part where Wayne gets put in The Pit threatened to be a drawn-out affair, but Gotham going to **** kept it urgent. The only thing I was disappointed about was Bane's death - what an anticlimax! You never got chance to really appreciate the bird as a villain, but there was more drama when she died yet Bane was swept away. Also, there wasn't much Bat-on-Bane action. I liked how they portrayed 'Robin', and Catwoman was spot-on - a scheming, manipulative cow, how she should've been! Liked the very subtle reference to Killer Croc too. And Scarecrow's cameo.
The biggest problem for me was Bane. He always felt like a pantomime villain, and some of the stuff he came out with was laughable 'Let the game BEGIN!' and 'Your punishment must be more severe!' especially with that awful voice he was given did not sound threatening at all. In fact the only time he felt threatening was when Catwoman said 'You should be as afraid of him as I am' At that moment I felt if she is afraid, surely I should be too? Frustrating really as Nolan has a history of creating these interesting villains such as The Joker, Scarecrow and Two Face from his previous films. There were far too many plotholes for it be be considered a 'great' film such as how Batman would have escaped the blast radius at the end, why weren't the police just killed off while trapped underground, and how did Batman get back to Gotham when every route was severed except the bridge which was under constant watch? Nit picking I know, but the reveal of Robin did just enough to keep my smiling at the end.
I watched both of Schumacher's efforts recently. Batman and Robin was meant to be a tribute to the Adam West TV series from the 60's, it wasn't meant to be serious, so on that level it succeeds. Batman Forever however was absolutely intended to be serious yet is probably the worst of the three. I quite like the Burton films but all of Tim's hard work was ruined in the first 60 seconds of Batman Forever with the close up shots of the rubber batsuit, crotch and ass shots too and the God-awful 'Can I persuade you to take a sandwich Mr Wayne?' 'No thanks Alfred, I'll get drive-thru' AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
I must admit I did stifle a laugh at Bane's voice in the opening scene - "No brother! You must stay here!" - but I thought it did fit with the comic representation. There wasn't much in the way of references to it, but he is supposed to be Batman's most intelligent enemy, and the voice fitted that description. The holes were there, but they were unimportant, IMO. The bast radius thing was because he had fixed and replaced the autopilot months before, so obviously ejected a few miles before the Bat blew up. I'm guessing the police were kept alive for similar reasons to Bane's not killing Wayne and just dumping him in The Pit. And the bridge thing - he's Batmaaaaan!
His representation both related to and differed from the comics. Yes he is an intelligent enemy of Batman, unlike the Bane you saw in Batman and Robin, basically a steroid induced brute. But TDKR made no attempt to explain the use of venom (source of his strength) and the function of the mask he wore. 1. Blake/Robin sees the Batpod fly off into the distance, Batman does not eject. I know he could have jumped out but the blast radius was for miles, I don't think he had enough time to escape it to be honest. 2. He kept Batman alive so that he could watch Gotham crumble, 'When Gotham is ashes I give you permission to die' I don't think he cared so much about the police officers as he did Batman. The fact that the police officers all came out of the ground clean shaven also made me chuckle haha. On a brighter note, I was really impressed with Anne Hatthaway.
Yes, guys, I was joking - although the Tim Burton Batman Returns really is one of my favourite films. In fact, it is the reason why Warner Bros changed director for the third film to Mr Schumacher. They didn't like the fact that Batman Returns was not aimed at a family audience and was a bit too raunchy/scary for kids to go and see. Burton had even cast the third film with Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, Keaton as Batman (he subsequently resigned from the film in disgust at Burton's sacking) and Marlon Wayans was signed to play Robin - Needless to say when Schumacher came on board the whole cast changed.
Oh dear God. That would have been awful. I loved Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne but thought De Vito as Penguin was a misfire.
He divides opinion. Was nominated for a Razzie for worst supporting actor, yet in other awards he was nominated for best supporting actor. Personally, I like him as an actor so thought he was good. Yeah, can you imagine Marlon Wayans as Robin? Apparently when the director changed and he was no longer required he was paid his full fee - for doing nothing!
There was no mention of venom at all, Bane was just a really muscular bloke. And the mask was to hide his face because the prisoners made a mess of it when he protected the girl in the pit. The Bat flies off away from Gotham, then you see an explosion - given the blast radius was 6 miles, you can assume the explosion was a lot further than that, and I think you'd have trouble seeing Batman eject from that far away. It's all open to interpretation. I think it's a credit to the film that such nits are being picked.
There wasn't a lot wrong with his appearance, despite the fact that Penguin is usually well groomed, not looking like he's lived in a sewer all his life. But I can make my peace with that. He just felt like a pathetic character. All of Batman's villains are supposed to push him to the edge, mentally if not physically such as The Joker (mentally) and Bane (physically) but Penguin did neither. I did very much like Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman though.
Yeah, Burton did away with the metaphorical 'Penguin' that was in the comics and went literal... which was pretty cool, IMO, made him much more repugnant. I do like Burton's Batman films, such a shame he starting making the same film over and over, with the same characters and his mates cast every time!
I used to love Burton but now actually make it my business to stay away from his latest efforts. The same with Depp really. Burton is actually good at making films that don't have a gothic feel to them. Check out Big Fish if you haven't seen. A great film.
