Why so serious?

[vimes]

Goddammit, I just confirmed it's going to be released on the 13th of August in France. Luckily, Wall-e is being released next Wednesday.

[Roderick]

Good points there, Thunderpeel. I don't think it'd be a good idea to start making up their own bad guys though. Caricatural though they may be, the Batman villains carry enormous weight with them that elevates their appearance in the movie. You go into the movie knowing Two-face is this incredibly tragic figure in all his incarnations. Without it, it just wouldn't feel like Batman. I do understand your point though, but I think the challenge the writers face is to take those existing characters and make them fit into their own universe.

That's part of the intruige in any case; to see how they've interpreted those villains. That's what's interesting about the entire Batman universe: that constant reimagining of the characters.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yep, I guess you're right. They're not going to change the formula now.

[Wrestlevania]

Right, I've resolved to see it on my own this evening. Otherwise I'll never get to see it on the big screen.

Billy No-Mates am I, but this is in the name of Art, dammit!

[Roderick]

If I could, I'd hop on a plane to accompany you, because this is just ridiculous. Do people not want to see this movie? Absurd, say I!

[Wrestlevania]

Heh, thanks Rodi!

It seems very difficult to organise a trip out at work now there are so many of us. Also, some have now seen it already and would like to again, but can't agree on an evening when they're next free.

So fuck them, I'm off.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Good move

[DanJW]

I think I'm going to do the same thing.

Most of my friends went to see it without telling me (bastards!). The remainder are proving hard to coordinate with.

So a lonesome daytime viewing it is.

[Scrobbs]

Make sure it's an imax! As the opening rolls, you're treated to an overhead shot of chicago. You feel like you're hanging onto the helicopters skids! Awesome.

[Nappi]

Finally went to see the movie yesterday.

I'm not a big fan of super heroes (which, apparently, Batman is not, as mentioned several times in the movie), and I was there mainly for the Joker which is a very intriguing character, in my opinion. The film was good enough and Heath Ledger sure did an excellent job as a Joker with all the uncertainty and unpredictability in his movements and a hint of insanity in his tone. I'm so happy they made him the agent of chaos (as the Joker points out himself) and not just a clown. However, I was expecting a bit more from Joker's dialogue. There were good moments, sure, but then there were really lame ones. For instance..

...the hospital scene where Joker basically points out that people don't panic if everything goes according to plan, but causing a bit of anarchy causes chaos.

I think that with a bit more effort from the writers' part it could have been a bit more "deep" and less "stating the obvious".

And then there was this whole mess with...

the Two-Face.

First of all, I really think they didn't justify him turning batshit insane nearly enough. Or at least well enough. To me it almost seemed that he realized living in a city made out of shit only after one of the shit bricks had been heated up and thrown at his face. But as a district attorney in Gotham City he must have already known that.

In a way, he had more than enough reason for his revenge, true, but I really think the makers should have paid a lot more attention to this part of the movie. That is because of the attempted symbolism of Joker tainting the only White Knight of Gotham City (as pointed out by various characters in the film). Now, to me, it didn't feel like Joker did that (although, in a way he of course did); it didn't even feel like the pure chaos (the agent of which the Joker is, remember) did much there.

The other thing that annoyed me about Two-Face was his alleged two-facedness. I haven't read the Batman comics and don't remember much of Batman Forever, so I don't know how he is usually portrayed, but at least in Dark Knight the supposed duality seemed lacking. He didn't feel two-faced before the shit brick (even if he was called Harvey Two-Face or whatever) nor did he feel two-faced after it (even if, you know, half of his face was burned along with the other heads of his coin). I appreciate the (underlined) symbolism but did he really act that two-faced? Was the guy from No Country for Old Men two-faced for letting the coin decide? Was the guy from half of the hollywood movies who did bad things for, what he thought was, a good cause two-faced? I mean two faced enough to have his bones showing on the other half.

All in all, that character was without a doubt the worst part of the movie for me, but I'm afraid I can't fully explain why. At least I tried.

One of my minor complaints about the movie, as you may have already noticed reading this, is how it tends to underline meaningful things. In a way, I would have liked to be allowed to discover them myself..

BTW. Even though I focused on negative things, I didn't hate the movie. I liked the dark tone and loved Joker and the level of "abstraction" that someone already pointed out. If I had just watched a complete piece of shit I would be pointing out the shiny pieces of stone I had found in it.

[Roderick]

This weekend was another manga/anime convention and seeing as I have been slowly perfecting my Joker costume over the months; time to don the grime again.

This picture is unfortunately blurry, but decidedly bad-ass. I was selling my new graphic novel on the convention: Quelle Horreur. I'll post a link to it as soon as it's available in an online shop. The picture here has a Don Corleone feel that's fitting.

And here's a special message from the man himself:

[Erkki]

Cool