The Dark Knight Rises Review "Mind Blowingly Awesome"

    Leaving the movie theater and processing this movie is no easy feat, your legs don't want to move and your head is spinning with amazement and curiosity, your heart is pounding with excitement and the lingering emotions brought on by the movie are still ever present, this movie is just that impacting. Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" changed the Batman game forever, there is no going back after this one, of course when adding this movie to the other two preceding it this statement becomes even more true, but honestly after seeing this trilogy reach its end one can't imagine a better combination of movies put together by any other director, in fact there is a part in all of us that saw this movie that wish that Nolan will continue this story, that he'll change his mind and take the project further, the movie is just that good.

     Prepare yourself though before going to watch it, if you couldn't tell already by what they showed us on the previews this movie is dark, very dark, not Joker dark, but very human dark, mental even at times. The movie messes with your psyche and your understanding of not only how Bruce embraces the world but how you yourself look at the world. This movie moves you to ask some tough questions, it's as if Nolan is including some personal truth time between you and him within the movie, there has not been a more engaging movie than this one in a long time, and yes saying that about a superhero movie was something many would never have said in the past but those days are over, this movie is just that amazing.

    The first person that needs to be praised is Tom Hardy for his performance as Bane. There will never be a better representation of the psychotic mercenary, Hardy hit the target in every way possible, he was fearsome, loathsome, and represented pure evil in such a pure and crude way that you couldn't help but to look away whenever he was on screen, in fact some people within the theater would place their hands to their eyes whenever he came on screen for fear of what he might do next, here's the kicker though, nothing he did was overall too gruesome or barbaric but he did it in such a raw fashion that you couldn't help but be scared of him, there is something in him that just brings out that emotion. Bottom line, Tom Hardy was a boss, no lie, this man did what many thought no one could ever do, he successfully captured the Bane of the comics within a movie.

    Anne Hathaway is delightful throughout this flick, she is everything we all want her to be, she is seductive, she is fierce, she lies like a villain, but expresses care for those around her like a saint, she is a master thief and the way Nolan spun her story is freaking amazing, no one was expecting a Selina Kyle the way that Nolan depicted her, many even brushed her off as some side character before seeing the film, but Anne Hathaway would not have things be that way, Anne stole the show in many scenes throughout the movie, she was so good at playing Selina that it made some people want a Catwoman movie to come from this flick, meaning, her performance was so good that it made people forget how bad the last Catwoman movie was, that is quite a feat indeed.

    And finally how can we not mention the great Christian Bale finally giving us the performance we have been wanting to see from him since the beginning, don't take me wrong Christian Bale did well in the first two movies but he wasn't great, it was in this film that he really pulled through, he pulled no punches in his performance as the Bat and kicked some serious ass. This movie was a lot more challenging of a role for him for he needed to play a broken bat who gets even more broken before coming back to evolve into something new, it was a masterful performance and one cannot help but wish an encore performance by him in the future. Though Nolan and Bale have both stated that this will be their last Batman movie one cannot help but wish that this is not the case, that they change their mind and bring us another film, this film was just that good.

    Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, and Morgan Freeman were fantastic as well, especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I've purposely not talked much about these characters in order to not give anything away, anyone who spoils this movie for another person should be punished, this movie is just that good.

  Love from your humble blogger,

The Comic Books That Inspired Nolan's Trilogy

The reason behind the Nolan films being so good is that all the movies are based off of some of the greatest Batman comic books ever written, most people are not aware of that but if you were to read the books prior to watching the flicks you will actually learn to appreciate the movies even more than you had before. As it turns out the last installment in the series is coming out this Friday and it is hosting Bane, one of the most infamous Batman villains, though most people have no idea who Bane is and thus I've had to sit down often with people and explain the significance of his character and why this movie is going to be amazing, thus inspiring this post. It felt wrong to not mention the first two movies as well thus we'll be focusing on the three comic series that inspired Nolan and changed the comic book movie game forever.

Batman: Year One

     The first Nolan film set the scene for what was going to be one of the best concepts ever, basing a comic book movie off of a comic...yeah, one would imagine that more directors would have thought of this sooner but Nolan was the first and by sticking to the comic he created the best Batman film at that time. Batman Year One follows more or less exactly like the movie did, the comic is obviously better but Nolan did do a good job illustrating the main story on the big screen. It doesn't matter if you love comic books or not, every comic book that inspired the series is fantastic, this one is equally great, one you should definitely think about picking up and giving it a read.

  The Killing Joke

     There are a ton of Joker stories out there, a ton no joke, but none of them are as good and as well presented as The Killing Joke. This was the comic that inspired Heath's performance in "The Dark Knight", the movie is not necessarily based off of the comic but it is inspired by the comic, which was a pretty cool deal being that this was by far the most "real" presentation of the Joker in the series. Most of the time directors have done the Joker in the past has been a more carefree silly villain and not his psychotic self that we see in the comic books, the feared and maniacal Joker, it was refreshing to finally see the infamous villain being played correctly on the big screen. Needless to say "The Dark Knight" was the best Batman film ever made so far, it blew every other Batman film out of the water.

    Kightfall

    So finally we reach the third movie where we are introduced to Bane who was made famous by the great "Knightfall" series. The Knightfall series has three parts, Knightfall, Knightsquest and Knightsend, there is a ton of speculation going around about how Nolan is going to join all three epic arch's together into one movie, but we do see various elements of each one of the comic books within the preview, thus enforcing that Nolan did in fact decide to follow some of the core elements found within this story arch. Keep in mind that we're talking about the comic books so this is not a spoiler to what is going to happen in the movie but it is a guide to what might happen in the movie and why it is a big deal that Bane is going to be the villain within it, so take this as your warning, if you are worried that knowing what happened in the comics will spoil the movie then stop reading this post now.

    Knightfall opens with Bane getting a group of villains together to take over Gotham, he explodes the entrance of the Arkaham Asylum (as seen in the preview) and lets loose the scum of Gotham into the city. He later makes brilliant moves in order to strike fear into the people of Gotham and not only fights Batman but wins and breaks his back leaving Batman half-for-dead in the streets of Gotham City. The second volume is Bruce choosing Azrael as being a suitable replacement to go and take on the mantle as Batman in order to clean up the city a bit, this seems to be working well but in the end the mantle goes into Azrael's head and he goes crazy. The third volume is Bruce recovering, picking up the mantle of the bat once again and reclaiming himself as the one true Batman by defeating Azrael and then Bane.

    The movie will obviously not have all that in it, but a few things will probably follow from the comics, things we see in the preview, first Bane is a feared criminal mastermind just like in the comics, he will defeat Bruce and humiliate him, Gotham will fall, and Bruce will have to evolve as a man in order to rise and defeat this threat. If you are interested in more details on Bane and his background I recommend that you pick up the graphic novel and give it a read, it's a good read for sure, and will give you a better appreciation of what Nolan is trying to do for the last movie, more or so bringing it to life. All we can hope is that this movie will not disappoint and that it will live up to its hype, you never know, but personally I can't wait to watch this flick.

  Love from your humble blogger,

Remembering The Batman Films Of The Past

   Dark Knight Rises is due to come out this Friday the 20th of July 2012, this will be the last Nolan Batman and is expected to be the one to top them all, this is a big promise being that the last movie with the Joker was just simply jaw-dropping. There has been a long history of Batman films, mostly they aren't that good, and when in comparison with the Nolan films they all fall short, none can really stand up to the last two movies, the Friday release looks amazing and hopefully will follow suit, blowing all our minds again. There has been a long history to the Batman movie franchise though, and its about time we recap them all starting with the Burton films, those were the ones that really attempted a serious movie in my opinion.

  Batman

    Michael Keaton as Batman, Jack Nicholson as the Joker, and was directed by Tim Burton, that's about all one needs to say about the movie for you to understand where the movie is headed and what kind of quality to expect from it. It's not a great film but it isn't a bad film either, out of all the 4 Batman movies preceding the Nolan films, this one was certainly the best. Jack Nicholson here did a fantastic Joker, he was out-shined later on by Heath Ledger's performance for sure, but this was a more cheesy comic approach to the villain, it was a job well done. This is a movie you should check out if you ever have the time, it's not one you should pay more than five dollars for though, if you find this at a Wallmart then do yourself a favor and add it to your movie collection.

   Batman Returns

    Michael Keaton again returns in his amazing performance as Batman but a very poor Bruce Wayne, can't fault the guy there, he just doesn't have enough swagger to play the role. This movie is defined by its villains though, Christopher Walken as Max Shreck, Danny Devito as The Penguin, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, simply a great cast and a solid choice in villains. Though Penguin could have been played better as more of the mobster we see him being in the comics, this was still a great flick, definitely a great Tim Burton film and one of the better Batman films preceding Nolan. It was after this film that everything went south, what was said about the previous movie applies to this one as well, if you find this movie at a Wallmart be sure to pick it up for it is a great addition to your movie collection.

   Batman Forever

    You should know by the title itself that this movie is going to be horrible, when paired with the fact that Val Kilmer is playing Bruce Wayne, well, the movie just doesn't even stand a chance at doing well, there just wasn't any hope at making this good from the beginning. Jim Carrey as "The Riddler", Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, and Nicole Kidman as a random love affair for Batman attempt to make this movie a little better but fail at every turn. One would imagine that this movie could not get worse but then it does by adding Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson, or the first Robin, it was just a mess from beginning to end. Even if you have nothing better to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon I wouldn't recommend you watch this movie, in fact only watch it if you haven't been able to appreciate any of the Nolan films, watch this one and understand how much better Nolan's work is.

   Batman & Robin

     Kilmer only lasted one movie though, apparently after the previous movie came out the producers finally understood how horrible of an idea the whole thing was, so they brought George Clooney to take his place, one would imagine this would be a great idea but no, this was horrible, Clooney is a very good Bruce Wayne but it a horrible Batman, he has one voice "The Clooney" so that was pretty stupid but the movie really fails due to poor writing, horrible directing, bad casting, and just plain absurdity everywhere. I have no idea what Joel Schumacher was thinking as he directed this movie, it's as if he wanted to make a bad movie, it's just that bad, bat nipples included (George's Batman suit's got nipples O.o). To make matters worse we have Arnold as Mr. Freeze, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Alicia Silverstone playing Batgirl, one would imagine Alicia and Uma would save the film somewhat but no dice, the movie falls as the worst Batman flick ever made. Save this one for a "bad movie night" if you have them.

   So as we anticipate Nolan's epic conclusion on Friday let us brace ourselves for what looks like to be the best Batman film trilogy ever produced coming to a close. The movie is sure to be amazing, and of course we will have a review here for you as soon as we can on Friday so stay tuned.

  Love from your humble blogger,