Batman carries on beginning in ... The Dark Knight

*crickets*

travers: 3.5 stars

yeah, seriously. It almost makes me (a giant Batfanboy) feel bad about being so apathetic to the huge amt of work that must have gone into making all these websites for an imaginary city. But not quite.

No, they all kind of look like each took about 45 minutes in Microsoft FrontPage.

http://www.gothampolice.com/imgs/home_05.jpg

Oh man, Gotham is apparently safer than the Boise and El Paso airports!

the look of this makes me think they at least have the vibe right: http://www.thehahahatimes.com/

http://www.thegothamtimes.com/page2.htm

take action.
fight back.
eat pizza.

haha.

"No More Unwanted Pets"

Dark Knight theatrical release will supposedly include Watchmen teaser trailer. Excellent if true!

To their credit, most municipal websites all kind of look like each took about 45 minutes in Microsoft FrontPage, so kudos on that front.

The GCN reports are pretty great (tho I had to watch them in IE, not Firefox).

http://gcferries.com/

THERE IS A NUMBER AT THE BOTTOM

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/06/oscar_is_ledger.php

...and so it begins.

Most exciting trailer yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_-NEBvaJHM

Peter Travers sez that Ledger deserves a posthumous Oscar nomination.

Most exciting trailer yet.

Nah. First trailer beats it by a mile, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that most of the good lines in the new trailer are recycled from the first trailer (tho I'll grant you the greatness of the "This town is mine now" line when The Joker and Batman are face-to-face, which appears in the new trailer for the first time).

When did the rules on posthumous Oscar noms change? (I guess that's directed to you, jaymc.) I know Peter Finch had to die between being nominated and awarded to do it for Network.

Nah. First trailer beats it by a mile

I admit I'm heavily influenced by the manipulative use of DRAMATIC MUSIC.

I think Finch died just so he could get the Oscar.

I think its pretty cool that, other than the final shot of the last movie, there hasn't been a lot of "That's the JOKER." "I'm the JOKER." or "My name's The JOKER."

Kind of like a meeting b/t Batsy and an inevitability that doesn't need to be named explicitly.

I am SO f-ing excited for this flick.

yeah this still looks absolutely astounding to me

If it's anything like the previous one, I'm anticipating a juicy ILE debate about it.

Very true. I appreciate how comics engender such fervent discussions here. Means we all had at least a modicum of fun as kids.

I can't wait until Morbius sees it.

I hope Tim Burton sees it and gets Johnny Depp to cut his throat for him.

...that might be a little harsh.

Means we all had at least a modicum of fun as kids.

Haha, but probably not much as teenagers.

Morbius won't watch this, who are you kiddin Alfred. (Unless Morbz has secret mancrush on Ledger that I don't know about)

Naw. Jack Twist owns his "heart."

I'm really excited for it, etc. but am I also the only person who gets disheartened with people's fervid enthusiasm for seeing yet another actor playing the flamboyant psychopath role? The fact Ledger admitted the Malcolm McDowell/Alex influence makes it harder for me to hear people go on about it and wonder how much of this isn't based on typical "live-vicariously-through-the-hip-murderer" fantasy.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2008/07/dark-knight-the.html

first 5 minutes. amaze!!

old news. Catch up!!

was Two Face in the comic and supposed to be in the movie or am I thinking of the other Batman graphic novel with Joker and Batman coming back from retirement?

This new movie != an adaptation of the Miller comic. (But Two-Face was in The Dark Knight Returns, yes.)

In this movie Aaron Eckhart plays the prosecutor Harvey Dent, who will become Two-Face, though I'm not sure how prominently Two-Face will be featured in the movie. He was quite prominent in The Long Halloween, which I think this movie is partially based on.

My guess is Dark Knight will only give us Two-Face's origin story (since in the trailers Eckhart is only shown as Dent, not as Two-Face), and he will be a more prominent villain in the possible future Batman movies.

I seem to recall speculation that Joker was more of a supporting character in this flick and Two-Face was the surprise for opening day. I expect that if that was true say, at new years, a re-edit made for a big difference.

iirc, in trad comics lore the Joker instrumental in Dent becoming Two-Face, so it makes sense that this second one would give the spotlight to the Joker and set-up Two-Face for the next movie.

Was Two-Face a marquee villian in the Batman comics? My impression was always that the A-List villians for Batman were, in order, The Joker, Penguin, and The Riddler. After that, my impression was that everyone was B-List or below.

Yeah, that's my recollection of the relationship between Joker and Dent too. Maybe some bigger Batman buff can confirm if this is true?

(x-post)

The Riddler didn't become a prominent villain before the 60s TV series, and I don't think he's been very popular in the comics ever since. Two-Face is certainly more of a A List villain.

More than The Riddler? I'm completely out-of-the-loop, apparently.

I think it was originally some random jerk who acid-faced Harvey, but later it got retconned to Joker.

edit - yeah, way more than Riddler. Two Face's gimmick is you can never tell what he's going to do, cause of that damn coin. Riddler's gimmick is that he tells you what he's going to do with some mildly clever word play. you tell me which is more resonant.

anyone know if Scarecrow will make an appearance? He was never caught in Begins, and i wouldn't mind seeing Cillian Murphy again.

The problem with The Riddler I think is that he's too close to The Joker. Two-Face is a more interesting villain, because he's basically a good guy turned bad due to the trauma of having his face disfigured, and this good/bad duality in him can be used to a good effect if done by a proper writer.

Yeah, he's an obvious Joker ripoff, only totally defanged.

anyone know if Scarecrow will make an appearance? He was never caught in Begins, and i wouldn't mind seeing Cillian Murphy again.

I read someplace that he's in the film, but "if you blink you'll miss him."

Two-Face has always been a really significant villain for Batman - and its easy to see why he would be attractive for serious treatment, the concept behind him (as with the Joker) is way stronger than the Penguin or the Riddler.

(altho I do think that the one thing Burton did well with the Batman franchise was make the Penguin a great, interesting villain with a compelling backstory)

Oh, I liked the Burton franchise. I thought M. Keaton was a great choice for Batman (and, these days, unfairly maligned for his work in the role). C. Bale is v. good, too, obv.

the Riddler is so goddamned silly, there's no real way you can make him genuinely frightening or compelling. definitely a holdover from campy 60s Batman (which I love, but he wouldn't fit at all into this current incarnation)