TPG Batman Facts

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of the tragic attacks in Aurora. I struggled if I should post this but since the character of Batman has brought me and so many others great joy and memories for so long, I think it's fitting that a personal reflection on the character gets posted. Seeing Christian Bale visit the victims on his own accord reminded me of the power of this character, so here you go, some real deep TPG Batman Utility Belt tools.

1. I endured two Christmas and two Birthdays of not getting the "Batcave Commander Center" toy. Do you you know what it's like to expect the Batcave Command Center and end up with some bullshit like the Baxter Building. Whatever, that was my first true test of Batman fandom and it made me the fan I am today.
2. In the build-up to to The Dark Knight Rises I once theorized that Tom Hardy was going to be playing Superman and that Superman would be the villain in the film. Right actor/wrong villain.
3. My good friend Jesse, notable comic book guru and internet music deity gave me his copy of The Dark Knight Returns to read when I was in 9th grade. Best Batman story in any medium ever made. Read it.
4. Someone is borrowing my copy of that, if you have it, please give it back.
5. I've been deep in the potential Knightfall storyline connections to the film for a while. Peep my post here. For good reason though, my oldest brother is a huge fan, and made sure that my other brother and I were totally immersed in the story. When we scored this epic poster of the Azrael Batman for his birthday it was the greatest gift I've ever given my brother.
6. The first comic I ever bought was a Tim Drake Robin comic where he fights the Joker when Batman is overseas. Bought it at Bob City Comics in Natick. Bought it cause it had a hologram on it. Holograms are still cool btw.
7. The Batman Forever soundtrack was a key part of my childhood. Full of choice songs from U2, Method Man, and The Flaming Lips.
8. Batman Forever was the first Batman movie I saw in theaters. Batman & Robin was one of my first cinematic disappointment experiences. Bad explosions, stupid villains, and somehow they made the girl from Clueless not hot.
9. I once wrote a college essay on the connection between Batman and Gothic literature. Got an A and everyone thought I was a nerd...am I a nerd?
10. Bruce Wayne is cooler than Tony Stark? Do I believe that? Not sure. Do you?

How The Dark Knight Rises Succeeds and Fails Spectacularly At The Same Time

"The Dark Knight Rises" is an excellent conclusion to Christopher Nolan's cinematic take on Batman, yet it's also a disappointing sequel to "The Dark Knight." Don't freak out here folks, the movie is not bad by any means, it's totally deserving here of your money and at 2 hours and 45 minutes, your time as well. And while I may just be someone recovering from my massively high expectations, I still can't shake the feeling that Nolan botched his follow up to the one of the greatest films of all time.

In order to understand this, let's take a look at "The Dark Knight." Full of incredible performances, epic action, and a tight focused story, it won a boatload of awards and received the distinction of being "more than a comic book movie." The reason it carries this badge of honor is because it is a film about the battles of ideas, just as it's a showdown between Batman and Joker. A clear parable for eight years of the Bush Presidency, the film makes statements on the effect of terrorism on society, the burden of protecting the populace, and the individual's deep potential for good. The climax of that film is not a comic book showdown but rather a Shakespearean battle of ideas with three deeply psychologically wounded men trying to save what they believe in. It's all deep, rewarding, and while not totally entertaining (I've always found it to be a little heavy), it's completely effective.

Going into "The Dark Knight Rises," I was expecting more of the thematic weight mentioned above. Written by the same creative team and trailers featuring dialogue seemingly ripped from the "Occupy Wall-street" movement (Nolan even discussed shooting at the camps) I was expecting more social commentary about our world and Batman's place in it. Sadly, these ideas are nowhere to be found in the story. That isn't to say Nolan doesn't try to make this a political story. Scenes of mutilated bodies hanging off bridges, debris clouds enveloping police officers, and airplane hijackings all are clear images inspired by the "war on terror," yet the driving force behind them, the primary villain Bane, doesn't give them any thematic weight.

Physically intimidating than anything else, Bane doesn't stand for anything as clear as the Joker's anarchistic message. He gives some great speeches, but ultimately as details of his plan, back story, and a certain alliance seem to render it all mute. Seeing him battle Batman is thrilling powerful stuff, but he's just muscle, and little else (which has to be disappointing to comic book fans) At the end of the "The Dark Knight" the Joker is literally left hanging, but it doesn't matter, his power is felt beyond his actions. Here...Bane is just...a beast...and not much more, his actions don't have real impact on the story and the film suffers because of it.

But where the film fails to execute on it's interesting ideas, it succeeds everywhere else. Michael Caine is astounding as Alfred, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as a noble Gotham cop, and Anne Hathaway's Catwoman is very enjoyable. The action particularly in IMAX is thundering and the insistence on practical effects over computer generated stuff is refreshing. Thislalife readers will be happy to know there are many Oh Shit Moments and many times I found myself pumping my fist in excitement.

Finally while the film may fail on making a statement about the world we live in, it does a great job of concluding the journey of Bruce Wayne and The Batman. As a whole, this is probably the best super hero movie trilogy ever made, and maybe even the best trilogy ever*. In the future I'll be dropping more posts about how the film stacks up against other comic book films, where I think the franchise is going, and soon, I'll be giving you some news about it, but for now, go see "The Dark Knight Rises," its a great movie, but not as good as the masterpiece known as "The Dark Knight."

*It's definitely better Spiderman and X-Men. I'd even say it's better than the original Star Wars trilogy. The only one it has trouble with is Godfather.

*For a great article about the politics of the film check out Badass Digest

Trekking for the President

Between the come down from "The Trek" and the sneaking realization that "Angels & Demons" just won't be that good, I had to reflect on "The Trek" and what it means. The truth though, is that it doesn't really mean that much in the grand scheme of the world. While people will make goofy photos like the one above and hope to convey some type of visual message, the bottom line is "The Trek" is just a film, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Watching the film, I didn't think that anything was a metaphor for the current state of the world. Unlike "The Dark Knight" where gargantuan themes of heroism, vigilantism, and anarchy where throw around with serious power, "The Trek" was just a blast of excitement.

If I had to stretch for some hidden meaning, I would say that Obama is not Spock. Spock, like Sylar on "Heroes", is a class A nerd, if didn't have that Vulcan death grip, he probably would be getting stomped out for his lunch money in the alley behind Comic-Con.

He's the obsessive play-designer to Kirk's pointguard. And if history tells us anything, the guy with clipboard isn't the guy getting the glory. If Kirk is Obama then David Axelrod is Spock, or if you want to get really deep, the American people are Spock. Guess we need to start changing our ears.

Wolverine: You should have killed more Commandos

I WANT MORE OF THIS!!!!

When the best things of the midnight opener of "Wolverine" are the dude dressed exactly like the man himself (yes, claws included), the people throwing cards at the screen when "Gambit" appears, and the collective groan of the audience when the scene after the credits is a waste. Basically, the movie sucks, it does not deliver as an action movie or as a fanboy flick.

It doesn't take much to please the nerds, I mean, the place went bananas when "Gambit" just physically appeared. However, the fact that not a single throwaway mutant doesn't even appear during a mutant jailbreak was claw to kidney of all fanboys. One of the best parts of the X-Men movies are the mutants from the comics who appear. Think of Colossus's cameo in X2, Multiple Man in X3, things like that. There is nothing like that at all in this flick. And if there is, it's not clear enough (Quicksilver maybe makes a cameo, but honestly, who is Quicksilver, let me get some Omega Red).

But beyond the nerd complaints, the weak story, and the un-inspired direction, the major flaw with the film is the lack of quality action. Rather than show Wolverine in all his glory, the film is edited so rapidly you can't appreciate it. For example when Wolverine kills all those commandos in the mansion in X2, you know exactly what he's doing, you see it, the camera lingers. In this film, first off, he doesn't kill nearly enough commandos, and when he does fight, it's so rapid, it's tough to tell what's going on. I wanna see claws in chests, not rapid fire editing that reminds me of Hancock

To sum it all up, this movie was a massive disappointment. Granted it's probably like that because I was so excited for the film I considered taping knives to my hands and was screaming like Logan himself while waiting in line. But either way, this movie doesn't deliver at all. In other news, check out this awesome picture from IRON MAN 2!

Batmobile for Sale

Yesterday it was reported on "Deadline Hollywood Daily" that Warner Brothers is selling off furniture. First off, when you have a movie make 1 billion bones (The Dark Knight), why are you selling furniture? Then I realized they are probably in the yard sale business because they gotta raise money for the Batman Sequel. Either way, if you're trying to raise some cash, there is only one thing that can elevate the cash supply and solve the problems of the auto industry: Batmobiles.

If they just sold off some of these suckers, their fortunes would rise. Anybody with one of these on the road would literally be a knight among serfs. Think about Warner Brothers.

Has Christian Bale Become Batman

Yesterday was a big day for Christian Bale. "The Dark Knight" came out on DVD and the new trailer for "Terminator: Salvation" was released. My how things have changed for the young man who once sung and dance in "Newsies." But after watching the Terminator trailer, I have this creeping fear that Bale, a skilled actor has become Bruce Wayne, aka The Dark Knight, aka Batman.

Christian Bale has some serious acting jobs, one must only watch "The Prestige" or "The Machinist" to see this. However, with Terminator he seems to be reverting back to the Batman "devil on vocal steroids" voice that he perfected in the two caped crusader films. If you don't know what I'm talking about check it out here.

But hope is not lost, Bale is also in this summer's "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, and considering that film is a gangster epic set in the 1920's, I don't expect him to tapping into that gutteral roar which is reserved for crushing robots and destroying jokers.

Slumdog Millionaire = The Dark Knight

"Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Dark Knight" are two shining examples of movie magic at it's finest. "Slumdog Millionaire", the new film from Danny Boyle, is a brilliant and touching study of what effect hope and optimism can have on people's lives. "The Dark Knight" on the other hand is a masterful and terrifying study on what fear can do to a society and an individual's character. Yet while "The Dark Knight" is the product of eight years of the Bush Administration, "Slumdog" is a product of the hope that begin to seep into the world with the emergence of Barrack Obama.

Both films show the physical and cultural effects a society can have a person. Just as the Bruce Wayne story could not exist with the massive skyscrapers and colorful citizens of Gotham, Jamal from "Slumdog" would not be succeeding on the show if it wasn't for the slums. However, beyond the physical is the cultural. Batman exists because he thrives off the fear of the criminals of the city. Jamal answers questions on the show based off cultural experience, a hodge podge of almost every cultural aspect of India, from cricket to celebrity figures to mantras on it's flag.

And finally, both films are very traditional stories at heart. Jamal is noble "knight" driven by never ending love for his princess. He undergoes many trials on his quest, including a climax with the King (the millionaire host (why is he the king, cause he's got the loot ). Batman is a knight driven to save his kingdom, at great personal cost to himself. However, where one film shows the toils of being a hero and believing in good, the other film soars on the power of hope.

Batman is Dead

According to numerous real news sources, Batman is going to die today in the final issue of his current comic run titled R.I.P.. Written by Grant Morrison, the current run of the comic has Bruce Wayne finding out some nasty truths from his past.

First things first, let's me real here. Batman is not dying, people die in comic books all the time. Superman died, he came back, sure he had to deal with some bullshit (alien supermen mainly), but the dude's back. Captain America died, he's back, I mean you think can kill the American spirit. Hell naw.

Second off, the timing of this could not have been better. Warner Brothers, which owns DC comics is having a Batman spectacular. First this comic event happens then The Dark Knight comes out on DVD and fanboys around the world explode in a brilliant burst of Batman love and spending.

However, the comic book geek in me has to get one thing out here. This "death" has the potential to be interesting because Batman is one of the most grounded superheroes. There are no powers involved here, so a death to the character would have to result in two things.

1. Resurrection: This would take the character into the realm of the supernatural, something that Christopher Nolan and the boys at Warner Brothers Pictures do not support.

2. A New Batman: Bruce Wayne such a huge part of the character. His guilt drives him, so anybody taking over would be strange.

Either way, DC and Warner Brothers are at a crossroads. I'm saying old Bat's will be back. Maybe even in time for the new Batman film.

Saturday Nerd Post: Halo 3 Recond

Above is the trailer for the new Halo expansion pack: Halo:Recon. It's the next chapter in the HALO universe, but the protagonist of the game is not the Master Chief. It could be cool, but it sure is risky having a whole game not based around the central character of your series. That would be like if you made a whole Batman movie with Alfred instead of Batman.

Favorite Movie: The Lion King (I'm proud of it too)

"The Lion King" is my favorite movie, and I'm not afraid to say it. If you are thinking I'm some sort of super wuss because my favorite film is a Disney film, I also like "The Godfather", but who cares they are basically the same movie. Let me break down why this movie is still the best.

1. Simple yet compelling story- The story follows the classic theme of facing one's destiny. This theme is everywhere in literature and films. Luke Skywalker, Michael Corleone, Batman, and my main man Simba all suffer setbacks and then rise up to meet their destiny.

2. Classic Animation- PIXAR is great, but there is something to be said about old school animation. It's like going to an art gallery and watching the paintings move inside their frames. PIXAR is just like watching a video game.

3. Hakuna Matata- In case you haven't realized it Timon & Pumba are the headiest characters in a Disney movie. They don't do anything except chill out and eat. They are the Cheech and Chong of Disney movies. They're just a bunch of bro's living the good life.

4. Lions- Tell me one reason why lions are not cool. This story would never have worked if it was the "The Deer King."

Mark Millar, Nerd of the Moment

While this picture is not nerdy, the man on the left, is the most sought after nerd in Hollywood as of late. His name is Mark Millar and while he looks like some type of study abroad leprechaun, he is the biggest comic writer around.

He wrote the comic that "Wanted" was based off. His next movie "Kick-Ass" based off one of his comics comes out next summer. He just sold another comic series "War Heroes." He's riding high now, and even rumored to be writing the new "Superman" which is going to be more like "The Dark Knight" than the last one (which was pretty
"Mama Mia" like).

That's about all I gotta say, he's just a comic nerd who is making some great stuff. I'll be back tomorrow with a new trailer.

The Dark Knight 2

Yeahhhhhhh, that title is incredibly misleading, but bear with me for a second. "The Dark Knight" is one of the best films of year and also one of the few times that was hyped up and delivered. I'm calling it now, "Quantum of Solace" is going to be just as awesome as "The Dark Knight."

Wow, you say, TPG is really putting it all out there. But after watching the trailer above and seeing "Casino Royale" for a second time, the new one will deliver for the following reasons.

1. The Cast: Daniel Craig is a total badass as Bond, however the exciting thing here is Mathieu Almaric, who was so great in last years "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." He has played a slimy character before, he was an arm's dealer in Munich. He should be comparable to Craig on how magnetic he is on the screen.

2. The Stunts: Take a look at the trailer. There are boats, planes, cars, motor bikes, explosions, ropes, falls from high places, and everything else you would want. They also shot footage during the Palio de Siena, a horse race that is taking place while Bond is chasing someone, and I hear it's the best sequence in the film.

3. The Story: It takes place directly after "Casino Royale", and I deals with Bond tracking down the organization hinted at in that film. The Hollywood rumor mill reports that we will get a glimpse of the big boss of the organization, and he is none other than________(click for the surprise). This is just a rumor, but think about it.