Checked out the 3rd Batman flick, The Dark Knight Rises?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Was all stoked to go see this final swan song of the highly anticipated "The Dark Knight Rises" flick. Certainly got my money's worth with it being clocked at a whopping 2 hours & 45 minutes long. Plently of twists and spins to keep the audience wondering how it'll all end. I certainly did get a bit teary-eyed at the end and won't spoil it for the rest of you as to how it really ends. This third outing is truly fitting to close the book on the Dark Knight trilogy.

Sad to hear of 10 victims shot dead (and two more died at local hospitals from their gunshots) at a Colorado based movie theather showing a special midnight showing of TDKR earlier this morning at 12:30am MT. Just surreal. The gunman is in custody indeed. Not to mention the gunman's apartment was boobytrapped to the hilt when law enforcement raced over there to check out his place. The FBI is currently doing an extremely through investigation into why he went postal & rigged up his place.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... E9dKPn9c13

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... E9dKPn9c13

That's unreal. What's going on in America man, you can't even go to see a movie these days without having your head blown off? Terrible. No wonder folk are so apprehensive about holidaying there.

[Mischief Maker]

Nonspoiler Section:

If you're in the crowd that preferred Batman Begins to the Dark Knight, you'll probably love this movie.*

If you're in the crowd that preferred the Dark Knight, you'll probably be disappointed.

Anne Hathaway is the blandest, most un-sexy forgettable catwoman ever put on screen.

Spoiler Section:

* ...because this is the same goddamn movie

Ancient society of Ninjas really want to destroy Gotham City for no other reason than it's their duty. Their master plan involves stealing a technobabble doodad weapon of mass destruction from Wayne Enterprises and using it to nuke Gotham. Batman is once again a clumsy fuckup who must master his fear to be able to stop an effeminate supervillain who is secretly working for the ninjas. Batman hates fish. The end.

This film goes way too many places and has way too many characters doing way too many things and spread across so many locales that it all becomes this confusing time-lapsing morass.

I'm not a comics reader, but based on this film and the Wikipedia summary, I've got to say Bane is incredibly boring. Just take Doomsday, give him a voice that makes him sound like the bastard lovechild of Darth Vader and C-3PO and call it a day.

Not only do we have a 90-lb waif kicking the crap out of 250 pound goons left and right, but she instantly knows how to drive Batman's secret military tech batbike complete with its crazy free-rotating wheels and rolls her eyes when batman tries giving her directions. You know, in Conan the Barbarian, Valeria was totally convincing as an action badass without her constantly outdoing and rolling her eyes at Conan. Why is it in modern films, female action heroes need to be magical?

I was totally prepared for Anne Hathaway to surprise me with unexpected depths of sultry sexuality we've never seen out of her before. Nope. She has so little chemistry with Batman every time she kisses him it's a complete shock. In a "why did she just do that?" kind of way.

I thought the Bat Bike was supposed to be some emergency escape vehicle from the superior Batmobile. Why is it exploding Batmobiles left and right? Especially when the Bat Copter barely makes a dent? Oh right, because a strong female character is driving it.

Ultimately I think the film suffers from trying to do everything the Dark Knight did bigger and better, but missed the fact that it wasn't the size of the crises in Dark Knight that made them so harrowing. Remember, in TDK's ultimate climax, the only people at risk were the passengers of 2 ferries. They were harrowing because these situations were relatable. I can relate to taking a commute and finding out that a lunatic has booby trapped the boat. I can relate to sitting on a schoolbus and having a machinegun wielding terrorist jump onboard and take us hostage. I can't relate to watching a football game and seeing the entire field collapse without the players even noticing. I can't relate to Chicago being placed under a stalinist regime, complete with kangaroo courts. (subtext: see what would happen if the occupy movement gets its way???)

The weakest of the three, in my opinion.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I don't know, I mean, just to go see a special midnight showing and all hell breaks loose. It's not something anybody expects, especially out of the blue, with this horrific situation and resulting outcome. Even the TDKR director expressed his condolences to the victims.

I think with the ease of being able to walk into a retail store and buy guns legally (after a waiting period/background check in some states), there's no one stopping you from doing so.

This really mars an otherwise stellar U.S. film debut for the TDKR flick.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

Just read through the full report. Crazy shit. Unfortunately nothing new for the US, you guys have an absurd number of indiscriminate slayings for a civilised country not domestically engaged in warfare. Banging on about putting an end to public arms is a dead horse been flogged, so I won't bother, but it's clearly not doing anyone any favours.

I'll probably see DKR as there's not much else I was looking forward to this year, and I'm definitely giving Spiderman a miss.

[Specineff]

Hope the bat-jerkwad gets bat-raped in whatever facsimile of Arkham Asylum they toss him in. Daily, and without bat-lube.

Since I didn't like TDK (Heh. Same initials as the media manufacturer) better than Begins, I'll be going to see this one for sure.

[Damocles]

Word on the street....well...CNN...is that the dude had dyed his hair red and was calling himself The Joker. They very well could be full of shit, however.

[DragonInstall]

I'm not sure why some Europeans get so shocked about these things that happen in America. Yeah crazy people sometimes go and kill people it happens. It also happens around the world too.

Wasn't there some Norwegian shooter that killed 80 people like a year ago? Also I think I recall a German school getting shot up by some kid a couple years back. In an interview some German lady said, "I expect this in America but not here." Almost like some Europeans are brainwashed to think their country is perfect and America is hell.

Well I guess it's to be expected. It's a normal practice for government to make themselves look better than other countries.

[Specineff]

I sense a thread split coming. If that's the case, let's try to keep it civil.

[Skykid]

I'm not sure why some Europeans get so shocked about these things that happen in America.

Unfortunately it's just the opposite, it happens so often that some crazy fucker shoots a bunch of innocent people in the US that you may as well stop keeping tally.

It's not the only developed country with major incidents of this nature, just the most frequent and subsequently the least safe (we assume.)

[Mischief Maker]

I'm not sure why some Europeans get so shocked about these things that happen in America.

Unfortunately it's just the opposite, it happens so often that some crazy fucker shoots a bunch of innocent people in the US that you may as well stop keeping tally.

It's not the only developed country with major incidents of this nature, just the most frequent and subsequently the least safe (we assume.)

You're not correcting for population. 300+ million Americans. Statistically a lot more outliers in the mental stability department.

[DragonInstall]

Oh don't take what I said the wrong way. I'm not trying to start something negative, just throwing some food for thought on that matter. Also you seemed pretty surprised yourself Skykid, which is why I responded. Plus I do recall murder rate by population was higher in some Europeans countries compared to America(I guess like some states have higher murder rates). I guess America is just so big, news of it comes out more when it happens...

On another matter... good to hear that movie is good. Guess I'll have to check it out... well long movies are kind of annoying to me to be honest. 3 hours for an action flick is kind of overkill.

[Jonathan Ingram]

I'm not sure why some Europeans get so shocked about these things that happen in America. Yeah crazy people sometimes go and kill people it happens. It also happens around the world too.

Wasn't there some Norwegian shooter that killed 80 people like a year ago?

Breivik is a right-wing terrorist who took action against what he perceived to be "cultural Marxism". And he`s also got more supporters across Europe than you can imagine. I wouldn`t really classify him as crazy.

[Skykid]

You're not correcting for population. 300+ million Americans. Statistically a lot more outliers in the mental stability department.

Agreed. But gun control right, it ain't rocket science. Until someone deals with the matter, this list will keep getting longer because the world isn't getting any saner.

[DragonInstall]

I'm not sure why some Europeans get so shocked about these things that happen in America. Yeah crazy people sometimes go and kill people it happens. It also happens around the world too.

Wasn't there some Norwegian shooter that killed 80 people like a year ago?

Breivik is a right-wing terrorist who took action against what he perceived to be "cultural Marxism". And he`s also got more supporters across Europe than you can imagine. I wouldn`t really classify him as crazy.

For whatever reason someone feels the need to take innocent life, I'll label them crazy in my book.

[Jonathan Ingram]

For whatever reason someone feels the need to take innocent life, I'll label them crazy in my book.

Depends on one`s perspective. Breivik clearly didn`t think those he killed were innocent.

[Vamos]

+1 for Anne Hathaway being the most poorly casted cat woman of all time i literally do not know how the fuck they managed to fuck that up so badly.

[DragonInstall]

For whatever reason someone feels the need to take innocent life, I'll label them crazy in my book.

Depends on one`s perspective. Breivik clearly didn`t think those he killed were innocent.

I suppose. That just makes him seem all the more crazy and detached from reality to be quite honest.

[Vamos]

Thats the thing though Your perception is your reality .

[brentsg]

That's unreal. What's going on in America man, you can't even go to see a movie these days without having your head blown off? Terrible. No wonder folk are so apprehensive about holidaying there.

Right, because nobody has ever gone on a murder spree in any other country. Heck, one of the people killed in the theater barely avoided being in the middle of the Toronto shooting at the mall.

[Moniker]

Anne Hathaway didn't really bother me, though I expected her to. I kinda wish they'd've fleshed her out (wordplay!) more fully, but she got the job done. I find her very boinkable, so that helps. Same goes for Marillon Cotillard (sp). Although I imagine upon another viewing I'll pick out more things about their characters & so forth.

I think the only thing I really missed was a standout performance.. too spoiled by Heath Ledger. Tom Hardy might've benefited from being able to express more without the mask in the way. The horror of the revolution and his brutal invincibility did get to me though, in the same way that the Joker's unstoppable reign did.

I'm not sure where I'd rank it. Probably above BB but below TDK. So much goodness in each movie, though. Rare thing to love every movie in a trilogy. Offhand, the only prior trilogy I can think of that was this consistent was LotR.

[Mischief Maker]

+1 for Anne Hathaway being the most poorly casted cat woman of all time i literally do not know how the fuck they managed to fuck that up so badly.

Well Noland did manage to make the actress from "Secretary" look positively homely so I guess it's his trademark.

Anne Hathaway didn't really bother me, though I expected her to. I kinda wish they'd've fleshed her out (wordplay!) more fully, but she got the job done. I find her very boinkable, so that helps.

I'm not saying Anne Hathaway isn't pretty, but there's more to playing a femme fatale than just plain looks. I don't buy her kidnapping a Senator and turning him into her sex slave. Eartha Kitt she aint.

[undamned]

+1 for Anne Hathaway being the most poorly casted cat woman of all time i literally do not know how the fuck they managed to fuck that up so badly.

I want to see this movie, but this is something I've been dreading since the day I 1st heard who was playing cat woman. Sad I was right, from the sound of things.
-ud

[xbl0x180]

Man, it would suck to die watching a movie that sucks... such as Batman Begins

[Ed Oscuro]

Hope the bat-jerkwad gets bat-raped in whatever facsimile of Arkham Asylum they toss him in. Daily, and without bat-lube.

No, they'll just throw him in a regular ol' supermax, which will be far more humiliating because it won't reinforce his particular repression / loner fantasies / fetishes.

I had some discussions here and there about it - a lot of different (STRONG) opinions from both sides of the gun debate.

Gun control advocates point out the use of beta mags (or whatever it was that he might've had for 100 rounds in an AR platform rifle) as a sign that there could be progress restricting the amount of damage possible in these situations.

Concealed carry advocates point out that a guy with a legal concealed carry permit was politely asked to leave a Cinemark theater a few years ago. If that guy had been there when it happened, the people would almost certainly have had a better fighting chance, even factoring in the suckness of pistols + the tear gas + the effects of being in that kind of a stressful situation.

If the only considerations were good people with guns for defense vs. bad people who get guns through subterfuge or other reasons, there would be no argument - most people are legally minded and want to protect others. But there are confounding issues, like people with a vigilante complex (the Zimmerman / Martin case raised awareness of this possibility, although I hesitate to call Zimmerman a vigilante at this point), as well as the dangers inherent with carrying firearms daily. Maybe not this kind of danger but, if you're sealed in a box hovering in an alternate dimension, having a gun lying there is more dangerous than not having it lying there. However, the preponderance of the evidence seems to show that legally-minded defensive gun owners and carriers stop more crime and more harm generally than is caused by gun ownership, and we can't rule out bad guys. Fertilizer bombs and other things, even knives, show that firearms are not the cure-all that some believe they are (or are represented as, for suspicious gun control advocates).

I'd rather have the guy who shot himself by accident sitting to my left in the theater than I would sitting there hoping for an opening to flee, tackle, or try to talk down the guy.

How do you choose to carry your gun only when it's needed? Unfortunately, you don't. That's why here in the US police carry them most of the time. In the UK it must be nice to not have to worry about that, but some of the stories I've read about the things Bobbies face off against in some cities late at night in the evening doesn't make me think their jobs are made easier. Sometimes, I think that the police or private defenders have no choice but to respect a crazed person's decision to be completely unstoppable by non-lethal means.

I would definitely like there to be a world without any bad things like guns, but it's not happening. In fact, it's not possible. All you can do with firearms is try to mitigate the damage - trying to restrict gun ownership to those who are the most peacefully minded (kind of like the old saw about the best politician being the one who doesn't seek office) and willing to train in much more than just learning to shoot things well, but still ready to use it if need be - police, in the typical situation, won't be there when you need them, which incidentally is in a mugging or personal assault type of situation, not a mass shooting, but even in a mass shooting one person in the right place can make all the dif-ference in the world, as G-Man would say. I see two obvious approaches from different ends of the problem: One focuses on supporting legitimately-minded gun owners in making the right calls and having the right training (this includes listening to the dispatcher, to allude to the George Zimmerman case again); the other focuses on weeding out bad eggs.

(Maybe this ought to be split off into a new discussion soon?)

[BrianC]

I saw the midnight showing. I liked Dark Knight Rises quite a bit. I'm surprised by the Anne Hathway bashing. I acutally liked her as Catwoman. Some aspects of her character are a throwback to the earlier versions of Catwoman in the comic (robbing without the costume and initially called "the Cat"). I liked that the goggles weren't used as often and weren't as goofy as some recent versions of the character (what is it with those goggles?). I liked the TDKR version of Bane too, though it was odd that the tubes weren't in the back like most incarnations. I forgot that Bane was in Batman and Robin as well, though forgetting that was probably a good thing. If I remember correctly, wasn't he really dumb in that movie?

Eartha Kitt was a good Catwoman, but wasn't Catwoman mainly bad in that series, when in the comics (including ones predating the series), she has an on/off relationship with Batman and occansionally helps him? I like the 60s series myself, but it's not really meant to be serious like some other incarnations of Batman (the funny thing is, the comics were actually made campy for awhile becuase of the popularity of the series).

[Mischief Maker]

I acutally liked her as Catwoman. Some aspects of her character are a throwback to the earlier versions of Catwoman in the comic (robbing without the costume and initially called "the Cat"). I liked that the goggles weren't used as often and weren't as goofy as some recent versions of the character (what is it with those goggles?).

Eartha Kitt was a good Catwoman, but wasn't Catwoman mainly bad in that series, when in the comics (including ones predating the series), she has an on/off relationship with Batman and occansionally helps him? I like the 60s series myself, but it's not really meant to be serious like some other incarnations of Batman (the funny thing is, the comics were actually made campy for awhile becuase of the popularity of the series).

We're not talking about the script. We're not talking about the costume. We're talking about the acting.

[Ed Oscuro]

Are you insinuating there is something in Batman other than floating costumes?

[BrianC]

I acutally liked her as Catwoman. Some aspects of her character are a throwback to the earlier versions of Catwoman in the comic (robbing without the costume and initially called "the Cat"). I liked that the goggles weren't used as often and weren't as goofy as some recent versions of the character (what is it with those goggles?).

Eartha Kitt was a good Catwoman, but wasn't Catwoman mainly bad in that series, when in the comics (including ones predating the series), she has an on/off relationship with Batman and occansionally helps him? I like the 60s series myself, but it's not really meant to be serious like some other incarnations of Batman (the funny thing is, the comics were actually made campy for awhile becuase of the popularity of the series).

We're not talking about the script. We're not talking about the costume. We're talking about the acting.

I know. I was saying that comparing serious Batman to 60s Batman is a poor comparison. Anne Hathaway isn't the best actress out there, but I don't think she was bad as Catwoman. She wasn't the sexiest Catwoman, but I liked the way she interacted with Batman with the on/off relationship. I think making her less sex charged than later incarnations was intentional, which was my point in mentioning the throwback to earlier Catwomen. Why the condesending post? Only part of my post was in response to your post and mentioning costumes and other things means I didn't know you were talking about the acting?

BTW, I was going to say how I thought the casting of villians is 60s Batman is good, but I think comparing the acting to serious Batman is like comparing apples and oranges since the show is purposely campy.

[Acid King]

That's unreal. What's going on in America man, you can't even go to see a movie these days without having your head blown off? Terrible. No wonder folk are so apprehensive about holidaying there.

And those people are irrational fools who don't understand statistics or risk.