Now that we have this much info the reviews can practically write themselves. Blurb Whores all over the internet nation may now commence structuring their reviews...
Little intro -- The Dark Knight is the best -- It's been 4 years since The Dark Knight blah blah blah but in that time, Nolan has proven himself the greatest director who ever lived, even without the pointy cowl etcetera etcetera Inception is a masterpiece ...more here. And other stuff yadda yadda but it must have been daunting as The Dark Knight is untoppable!
[Provocative question here] 'OR IS IT?' [insert "after the jump" here. Increase page views!!!]
Very thorough plot description. [spoiler warning] plot point someone dies / is not who they appear to be / becomes [/spoiler warning] Describe favorite action scene (reference truck flipping from Dark Knight -- even cooler than that no really) end with more plot.
Christian Bale continues to be [insert whatever I thought of him before] proving that he had more fight left in him, bulking back up after his Oscar nominated emaciation in The Fighter. But blah blah Batman has the best rogues gallery of any superhero and once again blah blah villains etcetera. Something about whichever girl gets cast and a defence of Chris Nolan's critiques that he's no good with female characters etcetera etcetera -- But Tom Hardy steals the show. He's AWESOME asThe Riddler_______ and deserving of Oscar attention.
And here's some concluding hyperbole. If the Academy knows what's good for them they'll nominate this one for Best Picture. Grand finish with hopeful plea for a fourth Nolan Batman picture.Done!
* I know I'm the only one who is counting but it's not like people claim there's only 6 or 7 James Bond movies just because that series stops and starts with new Bonds and new decades and creatives and whatnot.
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41 comments:
Tom Hardy at Catwoman?
I just want to see him in leather.
There were some rumors going about that Killer Croc might be the next villain. If so, I believe Nolan needs to reconsider the constant fan suggestion of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin. That or give Danny DeVito another go round the merry-go-round, as he was fantastic in that role.
I still feel that it is Harley Quinn's time to shine. Just play off her origin--psychiatrist driven to madness and devotion by one-on-one work with Joker--and let her go wacky pulling off crimes in the name of her Mr. J. No need for recasting Joker as the imagination of the audience will fill in the blanks however they chose for how the Joker pushes her off the edge. Throw in some of the organized crime goons as a red herring before the reveal of Harley Quinn as a crazy crime lord and BAM!, we got ourselves an interesting Batman film about insanity.
I just really want Edward Norton involved in some way. That guy needs a big revival action vehicle fo sho.
not sure about the title...maybe it will grow on me.
I think the difference is that the Bond films actually all take place in one universe, though, except for the Daniel Craig ones. There are references to Bond's wife getting killed (Lazenby) in Connery, Moore and Brosnan, and Dalton's Felix Leiter is the same Felix Leiter Moore had. Then, of course, there are the repeating Ms, Qs and Moneypennys, and fan theory claims "James Bond - 007" is itself THE alias reserved for the secret service's sexiest, gamblingest, alcoholic killing machines, a theory started by the Casino Royale spoof. Which also acknowledged itself as being part of the established Connery universe.
I mean, if we're going by number of Batman movies made PERIOD, this is Batman 8, surely, since Adam West got there first. But just like that is it's own thing, Burton/Schumacher-verse does not belong with Nolan-verse. It's a different continuity.
And END RANT!
I just came back from Social Network and this post was smarter than the movie. OK, OK I'm not at Sorkin's blog but I really mean it. Still not sure what I think of it.
I can't say I really care about the next Batman since I'm not a big fan of the previous two and I didn't like Inception and having just found Social Network at least overrated, I obviously don't like anything. Well, not exactly. I'm just tired of mechanical, pseudo-sophisticated films. At least the ones I regard as such.
Anonymous beat me. Hardy as Catwoman, indeed. It's not like there's going to be a woman that will not make us miss Pfeiffer. And Nolan doesn't have the guts (read: common sense, duh) to cast Cher.
Very funny, but you forgot one thing in the "give this movie Oscars bit."
They will all demand that the Academy gives this movies Oscars, but they'll also insult the Academy while doing so by saying something to the effect of "who watches the Oscars anyway? nobody! because they don't nominate movies that people actually see!" completely forgetting that a) movies like Avatar were just nominated and b) audiences actually went to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.
On Harley: If Ledger lived, I'd probably want a movie completely without Batman. The whole idea is: You know all those crazy, wacky, out of strict reality villains Nolan doesn't like? (Firefly, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Clayface and the like.) The Joker is responsible, in some way, for all of them. All offscreen, of course, but mentioned. That caps off Nolan's triolgy, utilizes the Batman mythos in a way other than "action" (this would be distinctly horror flavoured) and allows another director to take the reigns of whatever other villains he wants. That having been said, use Harley to do that instead and you'd have a wonderful end to Nolan's tenure.
Hmm I'm currently betting on Black Mask/Red Hood/Hush/Deadshot for Tom Hardy and Catwoman/Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn for Marion Cotillard.
Oh come on, it's so obvious he's going there. After THAT performance in "Inception" and in "Nine" I really don't mind if she tackles one of La Pfeiffer's signature roles.
That said, I get that you Nathaniel are tired of those extraordinary raves Chris Nolan gets for everything he does (really, one would imagine he gets applauded just for walking down the street) but do you really think this 3rd installment of his Batman's franchise will be that successful critically-wise?
Hmm I doubt that.
And I did not know this until a while ago but Marion Cotillard also has (if she gets the Batman role) "The Danish Girl" (it's been rumored she is in negotiations for the Paltrow part) in 2012 and Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" and "Contagion" from Steven Soderbergh and "Second Coming" (with Anjelica Houston and Mark Ruffalo - hmm intriguing) coming out in 2011.
What a busy, busy calendar she has.
Yes, you're right, no hype of this type touches anything like, say, "Avatar."
Oh wait, I forgot. We don't dare speak a word against James Cameron around here.
Heath was amazing in The Dark Knight, but when I watch the trailer for Black Swan (which is almost every day at this point), I can't help but wonder in the back of my mind about Barbara Hershey as a gender bending Joker (she looks positively terrifying and has that same menacing grin...)
Joking(?) aside, when the news hit earlier today about the new title, I realized I'm not Batman'd out, but I'm kind of Nolan'd out at the moment (his fanboys have much to do with that).
And, btw...The Dark Knight Cometh...much better title.
You know, if Nolan was actually interested in doing Catwoman as "a vamp in her twilight years," I'm all for Barbara Hershey continuing this comeback...
Liz, PLENTY of people criticised Cameron and Avatar for months on end.
It's 7 already? Wow! The title is a perfect description of Batman, though. Think I'm gonna watch it.
Just like plenty of people criticize Nolan and his movies. There are plenty of forums and and related message boards that did/do exactly that. Just choosing to ignore them does not mean they don't exist.
I just get tired of certain people insisting that anyone who likes Christopher Nolan is a drooling, mindless fan. Pointing to the most extreme people in a group and holding them up as an example of the entire group (as, to be quite honest, Nat has a tendency to do) is no way to prove a point.
Liz, sure i have a tendency to do that... I freely say "guilty"
but i think it's disingenous to suggest that James Cameron was never criticized for AVATAR. Avatar had plenty of noisy detractors. Nolan has never faced anythign of the sort.
I would argue that in fact Chris Nolan is the biggest sacred cow in Hollywood (currently). I mean, remove Armond White from the equation since he's always the contrarian (confession: I have no idea how he feels about either filmmaker) and I'm willing to bet without clicking over to any rotten tomatoes or metacritic score that Cameron has a lot more detractors.
I've seriously never seen anything like the mania surrounding Nolan who is a good filmmaker surely, btu not one without pretty obvious (and common) flaws. I mean even Spielberg had more detractors in his heyday.
it might have something to do with Nolan coming to power during the Bush years when everyone got used to addicted to the the whole 'good vs. evil / no gray areas / "masterpiece or disasters" binary thinking.
I find it very weird so I like to make fun of it a bit ;)
I think the impassioned fan-base (my opinion only here) comes from the fact that he hasn't made one BAD film...perhaps he's made a merely good film or two, and at least two excellent ones, but of the seven films he's made: they may have flaws, but they're really consistent in quality, not even Spielburg had a run like the one Nolan is having...Chris Nolan is akin to a mainstream Paul Thomas Anderson in that way. He's the film-maker for the average movie fan who feels just a wee bit smarter for going to see his movies, but doesn't have the gumption to sit through say, an Almodovar film, so thusly the impassioned response.
I dunno, just a guess...people seemingly have gotten very defensive about taste in this internet age as well.
Even though I thought TDK was one of the five BP of 2008 and I'm a very big Chris Nolan fan, I kind of found that review starter kit funny in places. Then again, that's probably because I'm a little bitter that TDK stole the spotlight from X2 and Spider-Man 2 (both of which I find to be better than TDK... Well, SM2 not so much but definitely X2).
Overall, though, it's kind of vicious to start this. After all, not all of us Nolan fanboys are bad and TDK genuinely made people feel it was a great film. Hell, I thought Avatar was barely a three star film but I certainly don't begrudge anyone from loving it (yet I can't see what was to love, lol). Speaking of Avatar, what are your feelings on the back to back sequels, Nat?
ADDED NOTE: As for villains, I'm okay with no Riddler - especially if that means no Johnny Depp camping things up - as long as they use Black Mask. Either way, I hope Tom Hardy gets to play the villain and not some reporter or police officer.
LOL ! I don`t like when a great movie splits in several parts... They should stop this kind of things...I saw that they will do the same thing with Avatar. In my opinion this is not good. They will destroy the whole magic of the first story of the movie.A movie should stay a movie not a serial.
Filme Online Gratis -- agreed. too many movies are trying to actively BE television series now and we already have television. Both mediums should play to their own strengths, you know? The long form serialized narrative is great on TV but in the movies it almost always feels like a desperate cash grab -- especially when they're doing all these "let's split this story that would be taught in a 2 hour film into 4 hours where it can be padded and unurgent but we can make twice as much money.
boo
Daniel -- well in my opinion you've just named the two best superhero films (spider-man 2 and X2) so we agree on that. I'm not trying to diss people for liking Nolan -- I'm just having fun with the mania that surrounds his good films. I mean aren't like 90% of his movies on the IMDB 250 LIST? That his hilarious. [sarcasm]. Spielberg Lynch Altman Scorsese Bunuel Bergman Cukor Wyler Sirk Anderson Curtiz and the rest ONLY WISH they were as good as Nolan [/sarcasm]
Kyle -- I agree on that point. I do think he is very consistently delivering quality so good on him for that. But I wonder if people would even notice (at this point) if he made a bad film? I mean nobody noticed that Pixar made CARS... they just kept saying PIXAR only makes great movies. they don't know how to make anything other than masterpieces! etcetera! Errr.... CARS. hello. Pixar is great but they aren't infallible as they've already proven.
walter -- i always count the Adam West Batman as its the first feature.
so what am i missing?
BATMAN (with adam west)
BATMAN (with keaton
BATMAN RETURNS
BATMAN FOREVER (kilmer)
BATMAN AND ROBIN (clooney)
BATMAN BEGINS (bale)
THE DARK KNIGHT (bale)
oh oops. that's seven already. haha i am bad at math.
Nathaniel -
I won't argue with you there, I've always found the Pixar hype machine to be befuddling and agree that the similarities are quite strong.
I do think though that people will notice when he finally drops a bomb, which is inevitable (you can't bat 1.000 all the time). Pixar, being lighter fare, has alot more wiggle room for "oh it's just a silly kids movie anyway", whereas Nolan is constantly mature, adult themes (such as they are), etc etc...
The real question is, can he recover from a bomb? We'll see...truth be told, I think he'll catch hell for the Superman movie if it bombs out, much like Judd Apatow does for every movie he produces that sucks the proverbial nut regardless of his actual involvement.
Side-note, if you count the two serials (which were in theatres, and are awful btw) Batman has been on the silver screen 9 times.
Nat, I love you, but are you really saying AVATAR wasn't the subject of this EXACT same kind of hyperbole-laden review? Because, speaking as someone who was on the lonely end of that street, it absolutely was.
And I don't think I'd say Nolan has had no detractors either. Seems everywhere I turn around these circles is another dismissal of Inception.
Which is fine, of course, and it doesn't detract from the fact that TDK was indeed insanely overhyped. But that this has been happening, increasingly, with EVERY big movie -- ones you love (Avatar, Social Network) as much as ones you don't.
Nat -- Cameron has said that each Avatar sequel will be a standalone film so that should easy everyone's worries, slightly. I've learned to avoid IMBD's list but Nolan having more films on their than Spielberg and the rest is a bit scary. Also, Insomnia was pretty weak so Nolan has already proven that he can fail (I just hope he doesn't go into M. Night territory).
The Dark Knight Rises, huh? Was hoping for something simpler and more striking like Gotham or Resurrection or something. I'm fine with there being no Riddler, though now I need to know what Tom Hardy will be doing in this film. Yum!
Joe -- ok i hear you and that's true. but honestly i was just having a little jabby fun because I SWEAR TO YOU that some of the reviews will read like this.
when i published that "history of angelina jolie" 4 years ago people got mad that i suggested that in 2012 people would still be all "ohhhh, is JENNIFER okay?" in relation to the Brad drama. It was a joke but i suspected it'd be true and in 2010 people are still wanting to coddle her abotu that and discuss the state of her broken heart over Brad so I feel vindicated about the poking of fun even though people thought it was obnoxious of me.
not that i am a mad prophet or anything (or that i am not obnoxious) but in these two instances i am right. Or expect to be ;)
joking!!!! is my point (to make a long story short)
I'm not ignoring that Nolan fans are often overly effusive, but...(and this is a big BUT, because I love the two directors I'm about to mention)
Aren't fans of Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Aronofsky's work different sides of the same coin?
Yes, I know that Anderson and Aronofsky haven't raked in the squillions at the box office that Nolan has, but then again, they don't make the types of films that are going to make that kind of money anyway. Perhaps I'm talking in circles, but I get a lot of the same "How dare you not recognize their genius!" from fans of these two directors. I love There Will Be Blood, but I tried to suggest to an acquaintance that the third act of that teeters dangerously close to collapsing in on itself and he nearly jumped down my throat for daring to suggest that the film isn't perfect. I think it's a matter of everyone having a certain measure of frenzy and lack of perspective when it comes to people/things they love, ya know?
Watching GLEE a friend pointed out that Matthew Morrison would make an awesome Joker.
Look at his face while he's singing "Creature of the Night" in "Touch me" of the ROCKY HORROR GLEE DISASTER SHOW this past week.
Oh since it's BATMAN 8 do they have to have 8 villians? Or 3 becuase it's the 3rd of this series.
Am I the only one who is rather underwhelmed by the title of "The Dark Knight Rises"? Personally, I liked the title of "Gotham City" more than the one they've chosen. But it may just be me!
^^^ You're not the only one. I think that title is quite lazy and uninspired.
Henry & Gerry, it woulda been cool if it was really minimal like GOTHAM. or something. it's not like they have to worry about name recognition awareness -- the Batman film have never had any trouble whatsoever building public awareness.
I think this series has a nice pattern to it...Begins, Started, Complete. I dig it man.
"Gotham City" sucks for a title I think.
But then here comes my concern: Nolan, especially in The Prestige and Memento, seems like he hates the idea of "open books." Why can't someone treat the more "ridiculous" villains seriously? Obviously a lot of comic writers do. Back out of the series after 3, leave the canon open for a new director to pick up in 15-20 years, having a new actor flow naturally from wherever he leaves Bale. There's 70 years of material: Nolan's uncomfortable with half the villains, fine. Leave the future open for someone who's more visionary, willing to experiment with the more fantastic elements of the myth.
I'm not a big fan of the title to be honest, but hopefully the female character is more well rounded.
I think everyone has his/her share of detracters, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson (There will be Sleep...blood)and James Cameron. There are always rabid fans that will defend them. HOWEVER I tend to agree with Nathaniel it seems as if Nolan has hit an all time high, probably because of the Batman series. I do think it has become a bit excessive. I like Nolan, but Inception had its flaws.
Hardy in Catwoman kissing Bale in Batman:it would see a great idea (and a X-rated dream)
Nathaniel, I think Nolan's stature has more to do with the fact that he came of age in the internet era than any Bush era doctrine. I find your response to him fascinating.
The villains in The Dark Knight Rises are going to be "the terrible trio" (the shark, the fox, and the vulture). Seriously. Look 'em up. They fit perfectly in Nolan's world.
I'd also say The Ventriloquist and Scarface are a pretty legitimate option too, to also throw into the mix with the Terrible 3. They would be a new gang syndicate moving in town picking up the pieces the joker left behind.
The terrible trio would take this weakens of the gangs fragmentation and begin their criminal enterprise.
For Female Villian and Love Interest, I'd have to say Catwoman and Talia Al Ghul obviously come to mind, but it could also be a new female DA, or a cop... i read somewhere Sarah Essen?
Oh Harvey Bullock, Gill, Max Cort are also viable candidates, not as a villain but as an antagonist to Batman from within the police.
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