holiday follow up

So I spent the holidays in Alabama with the fam. Good times. Had decent success with the online poker. Didn’t really watch that much football. Not enough compelling match-ups in college or pro. Weather was pretty nice down there and a nice touch was that it started to snow the moment we got back to Michigan. Why do we live here again?



Watched The Dark Knight again. It really is a great movie, not just a great comic movie. I now appreciate the contribution of the Two-Face character. Will they continue the renegade Batman storyline? My guess is that the next movie will be about his redemption and how Gotham comes to accept the caped crusader. Who will be the foil though?



Erin got me a 6 month subscription to NetFlix. I had movies waiting for me when we got back and I’ve already loaded up my queue. Right now I’m focusing on soccer and movies that are hard to get a hold of (independent, foreign, etc.). Any suggestions out there?



Finally I finished the second season of 30 Rock. Absolutely one of my favorite shows of all time. Each show is 22 minutes of comedic ecstasy. The interplay of the characters is hilarious and the guest appearances are the perfect accessory. Greenzo!! How great was that? And James Carville giving Cajun style advice to any and all?



This week I’ll be watching the first season of Monk and Burn After Reading. Maybe even the BCS Championship game. Not too much soccer on TV this weekend, but a huge clash between Manchester United and Chelsea that should influence the destination of the Premier League trophy.



Ta Ta.

The Dark Knight: a review and ideas for the future

Saw The Dark Knight in IMAX last Friday night. And was left wanting. And I don’t know why. Maybe I was expecting perfection and it didn’t quite hit the high notes.

Anyway, a couple of points about this film and the franchisee going forward.

Joker. AWESOME. Imagine The Killing Joke coming to life. Imagine the crazy Joker of the Dark Knight Returns in the flesh. Amazing. Without spoiling the movie for any one who hasn’t seen, I will just leave it as, if you love this villain of Batman, you will enjoy this.

Two Face. SPOILER!!! At first I was pissed that they killed him, until I started talking to people who said, “Did you see the body?” It does leave it open for a possible comeback. I think they could explore the character a little more and possibly have a movie where in Two Face is involved in the criminal underground and Batman/Bruce Wayne has to appeal to his good side. Aaron Eckhart was a great choice and was better than I could have hoped.

Batman. Decent. In the background of the film actually which worked for me. The voice is annoying but what are you going to do. I read an article this morning that said that not only does Bale change his voice, but then it is further modulated to create this weird growling almost indecipherable pitch.

Whatever score you give to the movie and extra half point must be added on for the death of Rachel Dawes. UGH!!! Enough. Get out. The next movie must be absent of a love interest.

As for the future of the Batman movies, a couple of ideas:

Two Face sequel. It’s possible. Don’t think it’s the best option because they will have to undo the heroic Harvey Dent angle to pull it off. Batman, now on the run, will have to save Gotham from Dent/Two-Face and thereby be reinstated as the hero.

Next Villian. Could be Riddler. If so, I think they would have to follow lead of the Animated Series and make him a sort of a nerdish, accountant who will not get physically involved. Penguin. Not too excited about that. I mean his main weapon is an umbrella. What does excite me is Zsasz or the Ventriloquist or Anarchy. Anarchy would have less of an impact because of Joker’s role in the last film. I’m not sure that the Ventriloquist could be pulled off but I’m not as familiar with his character. But imagine Zsasz. A serial killer on the loose in Gotham. Get Batman in touch with his detective side, which hasn’t really been explored.

My favorite idea is a Joker, Ra’s Al Guhl, Batman movie. Imagine Ra’s trying to reshape Gotham complicated by the agent of chaos while both are fighting Batman. I think there are some great dynamics as the each character would be constantly shifting allegiances. But Austin, Heath Ledger is dead. Not a problem. Let’s say they make the next Batman in about 3 years, then bring Joker back in the one after that. Find a new actor who plays a Joker that has been further deformed in Arkham. He gets out and we go from there. As for Ra’s, he was killed in Batman Begins. Again, not a problem. The Lazarus Pit. Imagine what CGI could do with a Lazarus Pit, and this is a key aspect of the character. You don’t even need Liam Neeson. Have a body go and a younger, more ripped version comes out and off we go.

Anyway getting back to my original sentence about IMAX. I sort of wish I had seen in the regular theater first, taken in the movie and then been blown away by the IMAX experience in the second viewing. There was so much going on and IMAX scenes were so mind blowing that I couldn’t keep up.

Well that’s about it on the latest installment. I hope they can keep this up. If they can deliver this caliber of performance down the line, this is going to be a rockin’ franchisee. It can’t go down. It can’t go the way of Burton/Schumacher. I’ve got to get started on my screen play for Batman 4 or is it Batman 9?