Just the Ticket #63: Peace Offerings and Dark Knights
In light of the recent tragedy, it didn't seem right to go about business as usual.
If you're watching the news this morning, you know that there was a shooting at the Aurora, CO premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. A man named James Holmes burst into the Century 16 theater at approximately 12:30 this morning in full assault gear, bearing a rifle, two handguns, a shotgun, and tear gas canisters, killing 12 people and wounding fifty others.
As someone with friends who went to Santana High School, I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with the citizens of Colorado. First, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold come to Columbine High with shotguns, killing 13 and wounding 21 before committing suicide, and now this asshole does what he did, and police are evacuating entire city blocks in response to the possible explosive device(s) in his apartment. There is definitely something in the water in that state.
As someone who has mad respect for comic books, I see the Aurora shooting as an insult to American values. Police say Holmes has no terrorist ties or criminal record (in other words, if I hear anyone say "he was such a nice, quiet man," I promise to scream loud enough to bury the entire state of Colorado in an avalanche), but shooting people who are watching a Batman movie on opening night is an act of terrorism in my opinion. Superheroes are a magnified anthropomorphism of the good, logical choices we make, or should make, in response to our malfeasance-prone peers. Do not let this tragedy keep you from going to see The Dark Knight Rises, or any movie for that matter, do not stop listening to techno music (neighbors say Holmes was listening to gunfire-accompanied techno music before he left for the theater this morning), heavy metal, or rap, and do not stop playing violent video games. If you do, the terrorists have won.
I plan to see The Dark Knight Rises this week, using a free movie ticket I got from a bag of Schick razors, as is the American way. But until then, here's a re-release of my previous Christopher Nolan Batman reviews:
FROM May 12, 2005 (A New Beginning): Coming Distractions is back, this time focusing on Batman Begins, the upcoming fresh start to a complete bomb of a franchise. Memento director Chris Nolan takes over a look at the years before Tim Burton made a killing and Joel Schumacher fucked it all up. In the Batsuit this time is Machinist-to-be and all-around American Psycho Christian Bale. Filling out the kick-ass cast are Michael Caine as Alfred the Butler, Morgan Freeman as inventor Lucius Fox, Katie Holmes as Bruce's first love, and Ken Watanabi (the warlord from The Last Samurai--SW@ Ticket Most Wanted) as Ra's Al-Guhl.
The upside: the cast is great, the concept is fresh (this might also be a downside), the research for building the set was nerdishly thorough, and who could ask for cooler minor villains than Ra's Al-Guhl (one of the best minors, next to Clayface) AND The Scarecrow? One guy has a Yu-Gi-Oh supervillain complex where he wants to become immortal and rule the world, and the other wants to make the city tremble in fear and beat the crap out of Batman. Cool, huh?
The downside: The gear design sucks. The Batmobile is a clunky piece of rolling shit that looks like an SUV in the rear and a Tank in the front (Yes, there is also a jet engine strapped to the back) and almost nothing like the Batmobile I remember (I see a war machine and I want it painted black), and the Batsuit (minus cape and cowel) looks as bad as it does in the latest Batman cartoon series. Overall, I hate it when people rehash movies and call it new, but this movie is actually something to look forward to.
Cast: A+
Concept: A-
Gotham: A+
Batgear: B-
Villains: A+
Batman Begins: Big Upside
FROM June 26, 2005 (Let the Reviews Begin!): Watching movies has become somewhat of a bland experience lately, what with all the as yet unseen hits on the way in the coming months. Fantastic Four looks promising; with Michael Chiklis (The Shield) as the Thing, Jessica Alba (Sin City) as the Invisible Woman, Chris Evans (Cellular) as Human Torch, and Julian McMahon (demon Cole on Charmed, womanizer Christian Troy on Nip/Tuck) as Dr. Doom.
War of the Worlds, I would watch even though I couldn't finish page one of the book and the movie stars Tom Cruise in all his solo headlining glory.
What the hell is Kurt Russell doing playing a superhero? Why is his character's son (Jack's illegitimate son from Will & Grace) going to a top secret superhero high school (I hope I never see that phrase again)? Is Sky High the best movie title they could come up with? Let's not find out.
Billy Bob Thornton getting drunk and coaching baseball; what could be better? How about Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, and Willie Nelson as the Dukes of Hazzard?
But what really caught my eye was Batman Begins. As I said in Coming Distractions above, small-timer Christian Bale is the new mouth and chin of Batman, Michael Caine is Alfred, Morgan Freeman is unknowing Batgear inventor Lucius Fox, Katie Holmes-what-was-she-THINKING?-Cruise is the latest love interest who knows the identity of Batman, and Ken Watanabe is the immortal Ra's Al-Guhl. Previously unmentioned big names include Gary Oldman as a young soon-to-be-Commissioner Gordon (who actually bears some resemblance to the comic book Gordon--for once, the character is true in more than name), British actor Cilian Murphy (Red Eye--looking more this time like a bleached, Botox'd Jude Law and sounding seamlessly American without sounding Gay-American) as The Scarecrow, and Liam Neeson as Bruce Wayne's mentor and Al-Guhl's #2. The suit and gear look less stupid on the big screen than they did on the small, the characters (except for Alfred, who didn't age a day throughout the thirty-odd year lifetime of his young master Wayne) are well thought out and realistic while remaining somewhat authentic, Gotham (Chicago) looks great, and the villainous scheme is absolutely EEEVIL (INDEED).
But the action is dark, close up, and consequently confusing; Scarecrow is deemed unworthy of a dramatic death and is made second fiddle (actually, 503rd fiddle if you count the ninjas and the #2 man) to Ra's Al-Guhl.
SW@'s final thoughts: WHY are you replacing the Joker movie with a sequel to Batman Begins?
Jack Nicholson OWNED that role! Who will you find to play the next Joker? Will the sequel have a decent, original title? What about Two-Face in Batman 3, V.2? I can't wait to see what Chris Nolan will cook up next.
A- (Most Wanted)
FROM July 24, 2008 (Why So Serious?): Welcome to the first spray of SW@ Ticket freshness on MySpace. If you've seen the movie, you know that the title of this issue is a quote by Heath Ledger, who plays the Joker in The Dark Knight, the sequel so blatantly and brilliantly alluded to at the end of Batman Begins.
In a rare turn of events, The Dark Knight beats the odds by succeeding as both a superhero movie and a sequel. It's too long, as most superhero movies turn out to be, but every second is spent wisely. Christian Bale (as lispy billionaire Bruce Wayne and gravel-voiced guardian Batman), Aaron Eckhart (as smooth DA Harvey Dent, later sporting the half-skeletal Terminator mug of Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred the Butler, once again), Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes), Morgan Freeman (better at putting two and two together this time around as Batgear inventor Lucius Fox), Gary Oldman (Detective-turned-Commissioner Gordon), and the late-too-early Heath Ledger (as The Joker, deserving more discussion later) share the almost three-hour running time in equal parts, with near-equal magnitude.
The plot, like The Joker (its fixture character), is a necessary chaos; it jumps from bank heist to love triangle to hostage situation to all-out action to techno-thriller and back again so effectively as to hide the superhero-ness of The Dark Knight (despite the leather and spandex) in its Detective Comics origin as a crime drama. And I am so glad that Christopher Nolan decided to double-up in the villain category. The balance between Joker and Two-Face is so much better than the imbalance that existed between Ra's Al-Ghul and The Scarecrow in Begins. Furthermore, I believe that if Nolan had split them up in favor of a shorter running time, Eckhart's Two-Face would not have been a strong enough villain to headline anything as action-packed as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight already are.
As promised, let's talk about The Joker. With the hideously clownish voice and make-up, Ledger is nearly unrecognizable in this role. So, for that matter, is the character itself. What I grew up with was the Mark Hamil/Jack Nicholson incarnation of The Joker; a gangster-prankster with a coatful of lethal gag devices, hell-bent on delivering the Del Mar promise of "a smile on every face" whether the face in question wanted one or not. Nolan and Ledger have created something wild of hair and wide of grin; the theatrical face of Hell itself. Unlike past Jokers, Ledger's character has no concrete origin story (to further illustrate his craziness, The Joker tells his own, and changes it every time). Instead, he simply is; the same way that Batman is a symbol of good for the people of Gotham City, the Joker comes on the scene as a primal force of evil-someone who "just wants to watch the world burn." So why did they have to make The Joker in The Dark Knight so serious? Because killing the seriousness just wouldn't be that much fun.
A (Most Wanted)
FROM May 6, 2012 (Before The Avengers): Then came the final chapter to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. In this third installment (as if you guys don't know what a trilogy is), Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has gone into hiding, on the run from a police manhunt for Batman. Bane (one of my favorite lesser Batman villains, played by This Means War's Thomas Hardy) looks sufficiently menacing, and Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs) is sexy as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, replacing Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes & Maggie Gyllenhaal) as Bruce Wayne's love interest from the previous films. My only problem with the film, from what little I've seen in the trailer, is the new Batwing design, which looks like a damned flying squirrel. Seriously, you couldn't come up with a better design for a man dressed as a bat than a vehicle that looks like a flying squirrel? Did I miss the press release that said this was going be a parody?
I guess I'll have to watch it to find out on July 20th.
B+
Quote Of the Week: "Have an Ice evening" -Mr. Freeze, from The Batman
I've decided that starting next issue, I will be going through my old Just the Ticket posts, picking out movies I have alluded to reviewing previously, and posting them anew as Just the Ticket re-issues. Stay tuned, Ticketholders!
Now that you're done reading all this, I'm going to put on Jay-Z and Linkin Park, play some Marvel Avengers Alliance, and watch Shoot 'Em Up before I go to work. Take that, terrorists!
If you're watching the news this morning, you know that there was a shooting at the Aurora, CO premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. A man named James Holmes burst into the Century 16 theater at approximately 12:30 this morning in full assault gear, bearing a rifle, two handguns, a shotgun, and tear gas canisters, killing 12 people and wounding fifty others.
As someone with friends who went to Santana High School, I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with the citizens of Colorado. First, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold come to Columbine High with shotguns, killing 13 and wounding 21 before committing suicide, and now this asshole does what he did, and police are evacuating entire city blocks in response to the possible explosive device(s) in his apartment. There is definitely something in the water in that state.
As someone who has mad respect for comic books, I see the Aurora shooting as an insult to American values. Police say Holmes has no terrorist ties or criminal record (in other words, if I hear anyone say "he was such a nice, quiet man," I promise to scream loud enough to bury the entire state of Colorado in an avalanche), but shooting people who are watching a Batman movie on opening night is an act of terrorism in my opinion. Superheroes are a magnified anthropomorphism of the good, logical choices we make, or should make, in response to our malfeasance-prone peers. Do not let this tragedy keep you from going to see The Dark Knight Rises, or any movie for that matter, do not stop listening to techno music (neighbors say Holmes was listening to gunfire-accompanied techno music before he left for the theater this morning), heavy metal, or rap, and do not stop playing violent video games. If you do, the terrorists have won.
I plan to see The Dark Knight Rises this week, using a free movie ticket I got from a bag of Schick razors, as is the American way. But until then, here's a re-release of my previous Christopher Nolan Batman reviews:
FROM May 12, 2005 (A New Beginning): Coming Distractions is back, this time focusing on Batman Begins, the upcoming fresh start to a complete bomb of a franchise. Memento director Chris Nolan takes over a look at the years before Tim Burton made a killing and Joel Schumacher fucked it all up. In the Batsuit this time is Machinist-to-be and all-around American Psycho Christian Bale. Filling out the kick-ass cast are Michael Caine as Alfred the Butler, Morgan Freeman as inventor Lucius Fox, Katie Holmes as Bruce's first love, and Ken Watanabi (the warlord from The Last Samurai--SW@ Ticket Most Wanted) as Ra's Al-Guhl.
The upside: the cast is great, the concept is fresh (this might also be a downside), the research for building the set was nerdishly thorough, and who could ask for cooler minor villains than Ra's Al-Guhl (one of the best minors, next to Clayface) AND The Scarecrow? One guy has a Yu-Gi-Oh supervillain complex where he wants to become immortal and rule the world, and the other wants to make the city tremble in fear and beat the crap out of Batman. Cool, huh?
The downside: The gear design sucks. The Batmobile is a clunky piece of rolling shit that looks like an SUV in the rear and a Tank in the front (Yes, there is also a jet engine strapped to the back) and almost nothing like the Batmobile I remember (I see a war machine and I want it painted black), and the Batsuit (minus cape and cowel) looks as bad as it does in the latest Batman cartoon series. Overall, I hate it when people rehash movies and call it new, but this movie is actually something to look forward to.
Cast: A+
Concept: A-
Gotham: A+
Batgear: B-
Villains: A+
Batman Begins: Big Upside
War of the Worlds, I would watch even though I couldn't finish page one of the book and the movie stars Tom Cruise in all his solo headlining glory.
What the hell is Kurt Russell doing playing a superhero? Why is his character's son (Jack's illegitimate son from Will & Grace) going to a top secret superhero high school (I hope I never see that phrase again)? Is Sky High the best movie title they could come up with? Let's not find out.
Billy Bob Thornton getting drunk and coaching baseball; what could be better? How about Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, and Willie Nelson as the Dukes of Hazzard?
But what really caught my eye was Batman Begins. As I said in Coming Distractions above, small-timer Christian Bale is the new mouth and chin of Batman, Michael Caine is Alfred, Morgan Freeman is unknowing Batgear inventor Lucius Fox, Katie Holmes-what-was-she-THINKING?-Cruise is the latest love interest who knows the identity of Batman, and Ken Watanabe is the immortal Ra's Al-Guhl. Previously unmentioned big names include Gary Oldman as a young soon-to-be-Commissioner Gordon (who actually bears some resemblance to the comic book Gordon--for once, the character is true in more than name), British actor Cilian Murphy (Red Eye--looking more this time like a bleached, Botox'd Jude Law and sounding seamlessly American without sounding Gay-American) as The Scarecrow, and Liam Neeson as Bruce Wayne's mentor and Al-Guhl's #2. The suit and gear look less stupid on the big screen than they did on the small, the characters (except for Alfred, who didn't age a day throughout the thirty-odd year lifetime of his young master Wayne) are well thought out and realistic while remaining somewhat authentic, Gotham (Chicago) looks great, and the villainous scheme is absolutely EEEVIL (INDEED).
But the action is dark, close up, and consequently confusing; Scarecrow is deemed unworthy of a dramatic death and is made second fiddle (actually, 503rd fiddle if you count the ninjas and the #2 man) to Ra's Al-Guhl.
SW@'s final thoughts: WHY are you replacing the Joker movie with a sequel to Batman Begins?
Jack Nicholson OWNED that role! Who will you find to play the next Joker? Will the sequel have a decent, original title? What about Two-Face in Batman 3, V.2? I can't wait to see what Chris Nolan will cook up next.
A- (Most Wanted)
In a rare turn of events, The Dark Knight beats the odds by succeeding as both a superhero movie and a sequel. It's too long, as most superhero movies turn out to be, but every second is spent wisely. Christian Bale (as lispy billionaire Bruce Wayne and gravel-voiced guardian Batman), Aaron Eckhart (as smooth DA Harvey Dent, later sporting the half-skeletal Terminator mug of Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred the Butler, once again), Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes), Morgan Freeman (better at putting two and two together this time around as Batgear inventor Lucius Fox), Gary Oldman (Detective-turned-Commissioner Gordon), and the late-too-early Heath Ledger (as The Joker, deserving more discussion later) share the almost three-hour running time in equal parts, with near-equal magnitude.
The plot, like The Joker (its fixture character), is a necessary chaos; it jumps from bank heist to love triangle to hostage situation to all-out action to techno-thriller and back again so effectively as to hide the superhero-ness of The Dark Knight (despite the leather and spandex) in its Detective Comics origin as a crime drama. And I am so glad that Christopher Nolan decided to double-up in the villain category. The balance between Joker and Two-Face is so much better than the imbalance that existed between Ra's Al-Ghul and The Scarecrow in Begins. Furthermore, I believe that if Nolan had split them up in favor of a shorter running time, Eckhart's Two-Face would not have been a strong enough villain to headline anything as action-packed as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight already are.
As promised, let's talk about The Joker. With the hideously clownish voice and make-up, Ledger is nearly unrecognizable in this role. So, for that matter, is the character itself. What I grew up with was the Mark Hamil/Jack Nicholson incarnation of The Joker; a gangster-prankster with a coatful of lethal gag devices, hell-bent on delivering the Del Mar promise of "a smile on every face" whether the face in question wanted one or not. Nolan and Ledger have created something wild of hair and wide of grin; the theatrical face of Hell itself. Unlike past Jokers, Ledger's character has no concrete origin story (to further illustrate his craziness, The Joker tells his own, and changes it every time). Instead, he simply is; the same way that Batman is a symbol of good for the people of Gotham City, the Joker comes on the scene as a primal force of evil-someone who "just wants to watch the world burn." So why did they have to make The Joker in The Dark Knight so serious? Because killing the seriousness just wouldn't be that much fun.
A (Most Wanted)
FROM May 6, 2012 (Before The Avengers): Then came the final chapter to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. In this third installment (as if you guys don't know what a trilogy is), Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has gone into hiding, on the run from a police manhunt for Batman. Bane (one of my favorite lesser Batman villains, played by This Means War's Thomas Hardy) looks sufficiently menacing, and Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs) is sexy as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, replacing Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes & Maggie Gyllenhaal) as Bruce Wayne's love interest from the previous films. My only problem with the film, from what little I've seen in the trailer, is the new Batwing design, which looks like a damned flying squirrel. Seriously, you couldn't come up with a better design for a man dressed as a bat than a vehicle that looks like a flying squirrel? Did I miss the press release that said this was going be a parody?
I guess I'll have to watch it to find out on July 20th.
B+
Quote Of the Week: "Have an Ice evening" -Mr. Freeze, from The Batman
I've decided that starting next issue, I will be going through my old Just the Ticket posts, picking out movies I have alluded to reviewing previously, and posting them anew as Just the Ticket re-issues. Stay tuned, Ticketholders!
Now that you're done reading all this, I'm going to put on Jay-Z and Linkin Park, play some Marvel Avengers Alliance, and watch Shoot 'Em Up before I go to work. Take that, terrorists!
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