Batman carries on beginning in ... The Dark Knight

ahahahaa

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_62MBVz5zYo4/TCMFT6ih46I/AAAAAAAABWE/loYR49gOl8U/s1600/sam_bowie3.jpg

Bruce, don't make me your only chance fr a normal life :(

prob the best non-ledger scene in the movie is just before the big action set piece in the middle, with the police convoy setting out and you're wondering just what in the hell is about to happen...

kind of agree, and did like the chase scene as a whole, but that was the point at which i began to disengage from the film. and i'd managed to fool myself into thinking that it must be nearly over, so i spent the next hour+ in increasing frustration that it was still fucking going. i mean, i love ledger, freeman and caine in it, but really did not enjoy this film.

then again, i haven't liked anything nolan's done since memento, so i guess i'm doomed to hate.

I agree that The Prestige was better than both Batmans. Even if it kinda relied on the twists, they weren't there just for pure mindscrew value, they actually added depth to both main characters. Inception was probably more impressive and than The Prestige, but at times it felt like Nolan was too much in love with its cleverness, the plot was kinda needlessly complex. The Prestige was more streamlined, basically just a ripping yarn with good characters, with no particular message or anything. But the best bits in Inception were still better than anything else Nolan has ever done, hard to say which of the two is better.

Rewatched Begins last night for first time--it really is a bit of a mess. Kind of surprised, actually, that it did well enough to spawn a (much, much better) sequel. Ra's as villain? Tedious and silly first hour? Stupid supervillain microwave panic gas plot? What IS this shit? It's as though they did their 'Batman & Robin' before their 'Batman Returns', rather than after.

ehhh....Batman is a kind of ludicrous premise to begin with...I imagine all the Year One stuff is at least a little necessary if you want to even begin to take it seriously.

I haven't seen Inception yet. I heard it was loosely based off another Christopher Priest novel--A Dream of Wessex--which I've wanted to read for a long time. I imagine I'll read it before I go see it (and yes that means that I will miss the experience of seeing it in the theater, but my policy dovetails nicely with my poverty...)

"michael caine"

all he does is the tangerine thing really

"morgan freeman"

Useless character, rote performance

"looks great"

yeah I guess

"fighting/action scenes & setpieces all great'

Except for the China one which is fast forward city for me.

I really loved the effect of the helicopter crashing into the building.

Next movie: more shit blowing up, less batman dealing with moral dilemmas, plz.

less batman, period, plz.

just blow shit up, call the movie batman 3.

I really am gonna be mad if they go with the batman growly voice again.

Except for the China one which is fast forward city for me.

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, September 1, 2010 8:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is awesome wtf

batman is **about** moral dilemmas

that's true, and it's potentially an interesting angle. but this version of the franchise doesn't seem to be able to do anything interesting with that idea.

don't get me wrong, i liked the last batman movie. but ledger's joker was the only good thing about it.

so then how could you like it if Ledger was the only good thing in it?

so then how could you like it if Ledger was the only good thing in it?

― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, September 2, 2010 3:21 AM (47 seconds ago) Bookmark

Cuz he's in a lot of it?

http://media.bigoo.ws/content/gif/music/music_139.gif

i don't know why i don't like the prestige, but i don't. i like the novel, but only kinda. i mean, of christopher priest i've only read that and inverted world, and i like christopher priest, but it's not my favorite book or anything. and it succeeds by virtue of its ideas more than its storytelling. in the movie, the ideas get refined (streamlined and improved, frankly), but the characters become even more two-dimensional, and for some reason it just doesn't work. i loved thinking about the movie after the fact, but watching it did nothing for me. and (can i say this?) i fucking loathe christian bale in this visceral way that is 100% unfair, i'm sure, but is nonetheless unavoidable. i just do not like looking at or listening to him.

have yes to see inception. in spite of everything, i'm looking forward to it...

never mind 'in spite of everything' it's awesome.

i don't know why i don't like the prestige, but i don't.

i fucking loathe christian bale in this visceral way that is 100% unfair

also I mean this in nicest way possible but gtfo.

don't get me wrong, i liked the last batman movie. but ledger's joker was the only good thing about it.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, September 1, 2010 11:09 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I dunno I really kinda liked Eckhart as Harvey Dent before he turns into Two-Face. I thought he made him a very dynamic character and it was cool that the first two-thirds of the movie was a sort of Joker/Dent binary with Batman being a sort of combination Dent henchman/looney third-wheel (that voice!)

I still have a soft spot for Bale because of Empire of the Sun, despite increasingly weird behaviour and acting.

many xposts but er if 'inception' is based on 'a dream of wessex' it is veeeeeerrrrrrrry loosely based

i mean, total recall is about as close to that book as inception is

'based' is not the right work--'a possible source for' might be a little better...still gonna read it before seeing the movie.

the connection is pretty much just DUDE WHAT IF WE COULD PLUG OURSELVES INTO STUFF AND SHARE DREAMS DUDE. n.b. not a spoiler

HOW DARE YOU SPOIL DARK KNIGHT BY TELLING ME BATMAN WAS IN IT

whatev: Dream of Wessex then Inception.

also I mean this in nicest way possible but gtfo.

― rotting-month story (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, September 2, 2010 7:55 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah okay, point taken. but i loved him in empire of the sun, and liked him in american psycho. even though i think he's horrible, horrible can work in the right role. i.e., "i just do not like looking at or listening to him," was overstated cuz unpleasantness is sometimes a cool character trait. eric roberts did some great work in the 80s while seeming at all times like a complete asshole, and i've liked ray liotta in certain roles, despite the fact that he creeps me the fuck out.

...trying to defend the idea that there's something more to my disappointment in the prestige than a visceral loathing of the bale. not sure i'm pulling it off though.

I wish we'd seen more of Bruce Wayne's pecs and poon-chasing side.

but it's not on the comic book, yeah, whatever, blah

*in

i wish there'd been some "Secretary" type scenes w/ Maggie

yumz

ok so gyllenhall & holmes look alike because they're playing the same character, but how far back does this female lead resemblance go?
who was the lead in that movie before memento?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8UiJmCN_K4&feature=player_embedded

Jim Emerson takes down the chase sequence in this video.

I found this sequence utterly baffling the first time I saw it, and every subsequent time. At last, I now know exactly why.

... You're an idiot?

I mean, it's not like this is a Transformers movie with two vaguely humanoid gunmetal grey robots wrapped around each other so tightly you can't tell where one ends and the other begins, or which one is the good guy and which one is the bad guy.

I wasn't quite as harsh but...yeah.

I think he took down himself, not any chase scenes.

I thought that Christopher Nolan was a pretty poor director of action sequences was commonly accepted.

Funny that he does a shot-by-shot breakdown of what doesn't work in the sequence and he's still called an idiot.

action sequences /= chase sequences

he's not so good with the hand to hand combat stuff imho. but he is VERY good with the car chase-y stuff.

two vaguely humanoid gunmetal grey robots wrapped around each other so tightly you can't tell where one ends and the other begins

seriously bummed that i can't find gr8080's transformers porn thread to link to here

I agree with Shakes. Interesting thing I found out recently about Nolan is that he shoots his own second unit stuff. or I guess more accurately, his movies are entirely first unit. could probably use that as evidence that he's either doing something massively right, or massively wrong.

Funny that he does a shot-by-shot breakdown of what doesn't work in the sequence and he's still called an idiot.

In fairness, the video is blocked by my work so I can't watch it

However, I didn't think there was anything the least bit baffling or confusing about that chase sequence so I don't really expect to be enlightened as to all the ways it was confusing or didn't since, for me, it did.

I don't think it's a question of whether the sequence works for you or not, but there are significant issues if you're looking for them. Or more accurately, if something about it didn't work for you, the video might be a good explanation of why. The SWAT van has always bothered me, and I was never sure why. Even if you don't care about where Dent is sitting in the police van or where the cop cars are positioned, that fall into the river really makes no sense at all.

there are significant issues if you're looking for them

this seems like a critical statement to consider

I mean, we're not really talking about Rob Liefeld and his tenuous grasp of human physiology here, we're talking about minor continuity gaffes that happen in every single movie ever made.