i went to the friday night standing room only showing of Batman and came away satisfied for once that i paid so much for a movie ticket. although i had to put up with the usual goofy mothers bringing their infants and toddlers to a serious movie and the occasional numb nuts who flips his phone up to text his mom to tell her that hes having fun(note to the clueless: a glowing cell phone screen is just as annoying as a ring!!!!) the film was intense enough to make me forget the rest of the crowd was there in the theater - and thats an achievement.
heath ledger was of course brilliant, he definitely puts the crazy-get-back into the jokers character and makes other portrayals of the joker look pathetic and anemic. it really is to bad he had to die because i think he would have explored other roles with great intensity like the jokers and maybe even have wanted to do other characters or villains....but who knows. RIP. Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman(i heard his accent come out at one point i wonder if anyone else caught that), and Maggy Gyllenhaal all do great jobs as well but because of Ledgers performance and death i think most of it will be overshadowed.
the movie dives into several deep areas about life that you would think would be reserved for stage theater or a serious novel. how many films can you think of that touch on human nature and all of our competeing plans, terrorism, and game theory decisions? what choices would you make if each choice came with a cost? what do you do when life gets gray and no option looks good? how far do you go when confronting terrorism without sacrificing your own moral integrity?...these are some of the questions that the films raises i think.
i also came away fearful of terrorism, i know the director didnt intend for the film to be statement about the war on terror but there sure are strong parallels to be made, especially with the joker representing the irrationality of radical islam. it makes a person appreciate the sacrifices that have been made to protect our civilization from people who, "just want to see the world burn".
the dark knight was not without a dash of comic relief though. the joker at times is genuinely funny, especially seeing him dressed up like a nurse, man that was hilarious. and when he is being interrogated batman slams his head on the table...that brought chuckles to the whole audience. overall i give the film an A-. it could have earned a plus if it dared to show how dark things could actually get because i thought for sure that someone in the real world would have pushed the button on that detonator on the ferry. i think the director, nolan, was making a statement in that scene which wasn't wrong. there are people who do choose to do right. but on any given day you never know who might just have to make that decision and i guess that what game theory is about. google the 'prisoners dilema' thats a classic that will shed light on the ferry scene.
where on earth do we place this film? its darker than the hulk, deeper than spiderman, and more serious than ironman. its definitely close to the spirit of our times. this film would not have resonated prior to 9/11. i think it would have scared people away. but for some reason it just fits at this time in american history. 10 years from now what will people think of the dark knight? another 'dances with wolves' that people just kind of watch and scratch their heads? who knows, i think it will have a timelessness about it.
after serving in the same parish for 30 years father potts of Boston decided to start molesting boys in order to get transferred to another more dynamic parish in Los Angelo's. "I was tired of this congregation," said father potts. "every Sunday the same old lame people stuck in the 40's would show up. i mean come on, its a post Vatican 2 world. we need rock music not a return to the latin mass"
according to diocese records father potts applied for a transfer 8 times over a 15 year period and was turned down each time. cardinal walter who oversees all parish assignments said, "father potts needs to be content where he is at and stop romanticizing about other congregations. if the grass looks greener on the other side its because your not taking care of your own flock." in an exclusive interview with local a news station father potts was quoted as saying, "after molesting over 30 boys they finally approved my transfer. i now can go to California or Chicago. what a blessing"
ironically the catholic church has paid out an estimated 1 billion dollars over the past ten years in priest sex abuse cases including 35 million to clean up after father potts yet little has been done to rectify the transfer angst that exists with so many priests. "we are considering the matter very seriously," said cardinal walter. "we simply have to find a better way to transfer priests without it costing us so much money. father potts should have stated in his first letter that he was going to molest boys, then we could have transferred him right away."
irregardless with recent pronouncements by the Vatican that a 1 boy 1 transfer policy will be instituted by next year the problem of disgruntled priests feeling trapped in dying congregations in a dying faith may be solved.
the National Organization of Women (NOW) and the National Transgender League(NTL) have successfully filed suit in the 9th circuit court of California to have Hollywood remove all gender specific references from films including the scripts, screen titles, and dialogues. "We believe these films perpetuate misogynistic stereotypes and convey an ethos of female inferiority and thats why we have worked so hard to achieve what we have achieved this day" stated Betty Frigid of NOW. "We have suffered so much in this country and in a male dominated world. by eliminating these references in gender specific films we can change the way people think and eliminate prejudice against women worldwide."
Several Hollywood executives who did not want to be named have stated that fan favorites such as 'Spiderman', 'Superman' and the 'X-Men' will all be refilmed and rewritten in order to comply with what they believe will be more politically correct and gyno safe dialogue. According to one exec 'SpiderPerson 4' will be out in 2010 and 'SuperPerson Returns' will debut in the spring 2011. Some obstacles will have to be overcome though in order to release 'X-Persons' because it sounds so vague and no one is sure if anyone would actually go see a movie with that title. "Its important that creative freedom and movie goer preferences be subject to a small minority of people who are easily offended " , stated one Hollywood Producer "we have even considered making superman... i mean person, a transsexual because they are really super people."
Of major concern is the film 'Men In Black' or 'MIB' which would have to be changed to 'Persons In Black'. many on the Hollywood inside just don't think it would do well. some fear that the only thing to do in order to prevent the spread of patriarchal structures through portrayal of female inferiority by the use of gender specific terms such as 'men', 'male' and 'man' is simply to burn all films and scripts that have these terms. it has been rumored that 'MIB' s digital master has been deleted already and that all thats left is to collect the remaining copies and destroy them. "we must stamp out all that is offensive for the greater good" stated Frigid.
in response to NOW and the NTL and what will eventually be a supreme court victory an online underground of black market for 'gender specific' films has quietly formed and has marked over a million downloads of 'SpiderMan' with the old title still unerased just in the last month. and the United States Marine Corp has petitioned the president to keep "A few good men" as a slogan despite righteous indignation of an angry minority.
the recent success of Batman has also been very very problematic. with so many people going to see the movie no women have come forward to complain about the title. "It will be changed to 'Bat Person'," said Frigid angrily. "if you think im going to stand by while women are shamed liked this your all crazy."
