Films

[When Jokers Attack]

Highly recommend 'The Man From Nowhere'

[G-Stud]

Saw Pacific Rim tonight. Loved it! So much fun!

[Spindles]

I watched it last night, also really enjoyed it. Harmless visual bubblegum, great fun.

I watched Man of Steel the previous evening, also comes highly recommended as a visual sci fi treat, more than a comic book film. Very pleased with seeing a different take on Superman.

[Big Vern]

Only God Forgives is a prime example of what happens when a new director has a great first major film, then basically gets put in a sweet shop unsupervised for his second film.

The trailer looks beautiful, all brooding neon drenched style with heavy synth music ie Drive Part 2.

What we got was not far off Guy Ritchie's Revolver. All gloss and no substance.

[Big Vern]

Just watched Behind The Candelabra, fantastic film. It's got Oscar written all over it for Michael Douglas.

[WS_Jack_III]

Just rewatched The Dark Knight. What a great film, one of my fave ever! And a proper villain in the Joker. I enjoyed all of the Nolan Batman films but the first is a bit slow going and Bane really annoyed me in the third. That voice just about ruined it for me.

[kaosmark2]

Just rewatched The Dark Knight. What a great film, one of my fave ever! And a proper villain in the Joker. I enjoyed all of the Nolan Batman films but the first is a bit slow going and Bane really annoyed me in the third. That voice just about ruined it for me.

I think Batman Begins is more enjoyable to rewatch than the Dark Knight. I agree it's slower to start but it doesn't have as many unnecessary scenes as TDK. The Joker absolutely makes the film though, that performance by Ledger is something special.

Bane didn't bother me that much in TDKR, it was the pointlessness of Robin, and even moreso Catwoman that really irked me. She added absolutely nothing to the plot at all apart from gratuitous sexuality. The main problem with TDKR though was the cheesy ending and Alfred's personality being a complete contradiction to the support he showed in the first 2 films. They didn't take the batman from the end of TDKR as an honourable hunted vigilante and develop that, they reset to Wayne building himself into Batman, overcoming an obstacle to become that and becoming something beyond a hero. It didn't work in the context of the previous films.

[Purple Monkey]

There's one bit in the Dark Knight I really can't stand - that bit with the two boats near the end. Film is pretty damn good right up to that bit and it goes off course with a moral dilemma with the public that could have been done using more of Harvey Dent. There's this trend in superhero films to show general public as heroes, probably a 9-11 thing that started with Spider-Man, but it's still cheesy and cringeworthy every time they shoe-horn in a "you mess with one of us you mess with all of us" scene. Also Batman sounds like Napolean Dynamite through this entire bit where he's injured. Sounds ridiculous.

Also the ending makes no sense. Two Face kills a couple of people and so Gordon and Batman choose to offload the blame onto Batman. Yeah, it's not as though there was a psychotic clown murderring countless people a few minutes ago they could have pinned it on instead or anything....no, much better to send Batman into hiding for the rest of his life. He would at best be wanted for the murder of Harvey.

I rooted for Bane the entire time in the sequel too. Wished they had the balls to kill off Batman but they sacrificed artistry because money.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Purple Monkey

[jump]

There's one bit in the Dark Knight I really can't stand - that bit with the two boats near the end. Film is pretty damn good right up to that bit and it goes off course with a moral dilemma with the public that could have been done using more of Harvey Dent. There's this trend in superhero films to show general public as heroes, probably a 9-11 thing that started with Spider-Man, but it's still cheesy and cringeworthy every time they shoe-horn in a "you mess with one of us you mess with all of us" scene. Also Batman sounds like Napolean Dynamite through this entire bit where he's injured. Sounds ridiculous.

Also the ending makes no sense. Two Face kills a couple of people and so Gordon and Batman choose to offload the blame onto Batman. Yeah, it's not as though there was a psychotic clown murderring countless people a few minutes ago they could have pinned it on instead or anything....no, much better to send Batman into hiding for the rest of his life. He would at best be wanted for the murder of Harvey.

I rooted for Bane the entire time in the sequel too. Wished they had the balls to kill off Batman but they sacrificed artistry because money.

I think it was meant to emulate Killing Joke were the Joker proposes the scenario that everyone is just like him under the right circumstances. TBH the comic did it in a much better way.

Yeah I find those scenes annoying particularly in Spider-Men (expect the 2^nd where they got it almost perfect) where it needs to be shown in every one of those flicks even the new take, it think it’s because they want to show Spider-Man as an outsider in a thankless struggle but want to remind people his actions he takes have meaning or some bollocks.

I always find killing off the main character an easy ending, I prefer the character to reach a conclusion than just the kill him because it's finished, saying that tho I wasn’t greatly impressed with the ending mainly as they showed it to me already 20mins in so I was waiting for it to happen the entire time.

[metallimuse]

Just watched Behind The Candelabra, fantastic film. It's got Oscar written all over it for Michael Douglas.

It wasn't released as a movie in theaters in America,it was a made for tv HBO special.It's up for quite Afew Emmys but can't see it being accepted for Oscars.

[kaosmark2]

There's one bit in the Dark Knight I really can't stand - that bit with the two boats near the end. Film is pretty damn good right up to that bit and it goes off course with a moral dilemma with the public that could have been done using more of Harvey Dent. There's this trend in superhero films to show general public as heroes, probably a 9-11 thing that started with Spider-Man, but it's still cheesy and cringeworthy every time they shoe-horn in a "you mess with one of us you mess with all of us" scene. Also Batman sounds like Napolean Dynamite through this entire bit where he's injured. Sounds ridiculous.

Also the ending makes no sense. Two Face kills a couple of people and so Gordon and Batman choose to offload the blame onto Batman. Yeah, it's not as though there was a psychotic clown murderring countless people a few minutes ago they could have pinned it on instead or anything....no, much better to send Batman into hiding for the rest of his life. He would at best be wanted for the murder of Harvey.

I rooted for Bane the entire time in the sequel too. Wished they had the balls to kill off Batman but they sacrificed artistry because money.

That scene stands out as one of the best examples of superfluous cack around.

I think it was meant to emulate Killing Joke were the Joker proposes the scenario that everyone is just like him under the right circumstances. TBH the comic did it in a much better way.

Yeah I find those scenes annoying particularly in Spider-Men (expect the 2^nd where they got it almost perfect) where it needs to be shown in every one of those flicks even the new take, it think it’s because they want to show Spider-Man as an outsider in a thankless struggle but want to remind people his actions he takes have meaning or some bollocks.

I always find killing off the main character an easy ending, I prefer the character to reach a conclusion than just the kill him because it's finished, saying that tho I wasn’t greatly impressed with the ending mainly as they showed it to me already 20mins in so I was waiting for it to happen the entire time.

Not surprising that Moore given managed to do something far better than a blockbuster film did.

I agree about killing characters being an easy ending, but that would have been a better ending than the cheesy lovey crappy ending they did show.

[TheGayTent]

Re BB/TDK - one thing I felt watching both movies was that Katie Holmes had chemistry with Christian Bale and Maggie Gyllenhaal didn't.

Clearly Gyllenhaal is the more skilled actor but for whatever reason I didn't think the Batman/Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes character worked as well with Gyllenhaal playing Rachel as it did Holmes.

Possibly a view not shared by many.

Edited July 30, 2013 by TheGayTent

[jump]

Re BB/TDK - one thing I felt watching both movies was that Katie Holmes had chemistry with Christian Bale and Maggie Gyllenhaal didn't.

Clearly Gyllenhaal is the more skilled actor but for whatever reason I didn't think the Batman/Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes character worked as well with Gyllenhaal playing Rachel as it did Holmes.

Possibly a view not shared by many.

I thought neither of them had chemistry myself, I think Katie got a lot more to do in the script but I didn’t buy her as anything more than arrogant and self-righteous where as Maggie had fuck all to do apart from be killed.

[The Nal]

There's one bit in the Dark Knight I really can't stand - that bit with the two boats near the end. Film is pretty damn good right up to that bit and it goes off course with a moral dilemma with the public that could have been done using more of Harvey Dent. There's this trend in superhero films to show general public as heroes, probably a 9-11 thing that started with Spider-Man, but it's still cheesy and cringeworthy every time they shoe-horn in a "you mess with one of us you mess with all of us" scene. Also Batman sounds like Napolean Dynamite through this entire bit where he's injured. Sounds ridiculous.

Also the ending makes no sense. Two Face kills a couple of people and so Gordon and Batman choose to offload the blame onto Batman. Yeah, it's not as though there was a psychotic clown murderring countless people a few minutes ago they could have pinned it on instead or anything....no, much better to send Batman into hiding for the rest of his life. He would at best be wanted for the murder of Harvey.

I rooted for Bane the entire time in the sequel too. Wished they had the balls to kill off Batman but they sacrificed artistry because money.

The last third of the trilogy - from when The Joker gets arrested after the truck chase in the 2nd movie, and all of the third movie - is shit.

Bane. Worst baddy death ever. Dying off screen?

[G-Stud]

Great action scenes, but the worst acting - across the board - I've seen in a long long time.

That was part of the appeal for me! It was just this cheesy, B-Movie but was incredibly fun

[Purple Monkey]

I get that the two boats bit was proving The Joker's point about people eating each other, but they had Harvey for that, that was the point. He took the hero and warped him. Job done. End the movie there.

Blockbuster Movies are getting way too long and too full of stuff that really should be edited out. It shouldn't be about how long a film can be padded out - but how effective it was with its time. Seems to be an obsession with making every movie an epic butt numbing ordeal. It's supposed to be fun.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Purple Monkey

[The Nal]

Blockbuster Movies are getting way too long and too full of stuff that really should be edited out. It shouldn't be about how long a film can be padded out - but how effective it was with its time.

Agree 100% but Nolan has a habit of that. I was looking at my watch for the last 30 minutes of Inception.

[windy_miller]

Agree 100% but Nolan has a habit of that. I was looking at my watch for the last 30 minutes of Inception.

I never got past the first 30 minutes! I was drunk though

[Purple Monkey]

Agree 100% but Nolan has a habit of that. I was looking at my watch for the last 30 minutes of Inception.

Yep - I generally like his movies. i like the ideas mostly. I like his adherence to 2D and the image quality is always a spectacle in itself. I think all his films are 30 minutes too long though and a bit souless with characters that are functional but robotic. Edited July 30, 2013 by Purple Monkey

[Ted Dansons Wig]

Thing that annoys me about Nolan is that every half arse Director seems to be trying to emulate him and his presentation. Fuck the elliptical plot lines, change of protagonists, gimmicks and false endings - just tell me a story.

[nightcrawler13]

the thing about the Batman movies was they were supposed to be realistic, if Batman was a REAL person what it would be like, hence they used 'normal' bad guys as opposed to Poision Ivy, Mr Freeze, Clayface, etc

I think Dark Knight was excellent because the Joker was real, so very real, he was a crazy guy with grand delusions and points to prove about society. That scene with the boats? I loved it, I really don't understand why so many people didn't like it. "It's too long" is the only response I ever hear, but it was GOOD, so who cares how long it is? Surely your attention span can last? LoTR extended versions are LONGGG, but they are good, so just sit down and watch it and enjoy!

Dark Knight Rises was fucking stupid, it was not realistic, it let the trilogy down with all the MASSIVE plot holes, at least Batman Forever was funny with it's stupidity, DKR was just annoying. Off the top of my head...

• why would a giant hole in the desert in Morocco have a tv with the news is Gotham?
• how does being hung by a rope fix a broken back?
• if the hole is impossible to escape, how come all it takes is a running jump (after a broken back)?
• How does Bruce Wayne, with no money or passport, get back to Gotham?
• Why on earth would he stand and paint the bat symbol on a bridge with flammable liquids, how long would that even take?!
• STUPID NUKE BEING CARRIED BY THE BATPLANE SCENE

I've not watched the film since it came out, but I still remember being annoyed by all of those during the film, which makes the film stupid, and Dark Knight Rises the superior of the three

[Purple Monkey]

The real stupid thing with realistic Batman is that he isn't fucking shot dead almost immediately after turning up

Speaking of Batman's magic recovery and return to Gotham, it's funny how the comic books are actually more realistic than the movies in many regards.

A truly realistic Batman movie would be 90% training and pressups and then at the end he ventures out and immediately gets shot in the face.

That's the problem with taking them out of their original medium. As soon as you put them into three dimensions their logic falls apart. Why does nobody shoot Batman in the head? Tim Burton knew this which is why his Batman works so much better in many ways - it's a comic-styled movie. In the comics Batman is so Batmanny he can dodge bullets, so you believe he can function, but in a movie like The Dark Knight you do think - how is he still alive? His no guns and no killing rule would be a total fail for his approach to crime. Batman Begins is the only one that makes sense. Apart from that microwave bullshit.

That fight in the last film shot in broad daylight between Bane and Batman among a load of people fighting - not one of the many rioters/police turned around and thought of unloading a clip into either of them. Did ANYBODY think of packing a gun? Why are they punching each other to death?

I guess that's another problem with superheroes - they're a conceit of the 1930's zeitgeist where crime was solved by literally punching it. That's not what people in the 21st Century believe any more. Authority and law means something else these days. What good could a superhero do now? Batman is a rich sociopath who beats the shit out of the poorest and most desperate. Batman is a dick. Alan Moore at least understood this which is why his stories still stand. They often depict the superhero as equally deranged or part of the problem as the villain.

These days superheroes have been hijacked by executives to shovel toxic political agendas down our throats. They seem to be allegorical tales for the mythical battle against the god damn 'turrists'. It's all post 9-11 garbage.

Where's the superhero that rounds up all of the oil barons and bankers and throws them all in jail? Where's the superhero that actually questions the systems and corruption that causes crime and injustice in the first place? If these characters are so smart then why are they incapable of asking the kinds of big questions a fairly normal person is capable of?

I mean, look at how clever The Joker came across in The Dark Knight. That's how clever Batman should have been to be his equal. Instead Batman just punched things and fell off a bike. He's the hero? Really? Batman came across as retarded against Joker.

Looks like the next one is Superman vs Batman. That's not a rushed cash-grab at all is it? Rush straight into that without building up Cavill's Superman any further.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Purple Monkey

[kaosmark2]

None of the "greatest detective" aspect of batman was shown in Nolan's films, I quite liked the grounded realism aspect, but I'd have loved to see more detective work and intelligence coming from the title character. Nolan's batman is more like a self-absorbed Bond going back to Fox for gadgets when in trouble, rather than a genius introverted detective solving crimes before apprehending criminals. I'd hoped we'd get The Riddler, an insane criminal, but one that provides an intellectual challenge to the hero, rather than the same cheesy moral quandries Hollywood insist on showing time and again.

[Purple Monkey]

None of the "greatest detective" aspect of batman was shown in Nolan's films, I quite liked the grounded realism aspect, but I'd have loved to see more detective work and intelligence coming from the title character. Nolan's batman is more like a self-absorbed Bond going back to Fox for gadgets when in trouble, rather than a genius introverted detective solving crimes before apprehending criminals. I'd hoped we'd get The Riddler, an insane criminal, but one that provides an intellectual challenge to the hero, rather than the same cheesy moral quandries Hollywood insist on showing time and again.

Aye. At least with Keaton you got the impression he built his bat gadgets and his car too. He had no Q handing him stuff. He got by on crazy alone. I liked Keatons hushed, unhinged nutjob Batman.

Batman should be mental. He is mental.

"My parents are dead, I shall now dress as a bat" - Batman.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Purple Monkey

[kaosmark2]

Aye. At least with Keaton you got the impression he built his bat gadgets and his car too. He had no Q handing him stuff. He got by on crazy alone. I liked Keatons hushed, unhinged nutjob Batman.

Batman should be mental. He is mental.

"My parents are dead, I shall now dress as a bat" - Batman.

I liked it, but I think there should be room for a serious Batman film that shows him being appropriately batshit. After Nolan's first two films I'd hoped he'd evolve from there to explore further dynamics, instead he just rehashed elements from the 1st two films but in a shittier way.

Damn it, I think I'm going to have to fish out some of my batman trades again.