The Dark Knight Rises

I reside in the Denver area and although no one I know was affected by the horrific shooting in Aurora on 7-20-12, I've felt emotionally drained since Friday. My heart broke for those people and their families. Killing innocent people in such a vulnerable, relaxed and altered state of reality struck me as a supreme act of evil. In a selfish way, I wish he had just killed himself before being apprehended to end the affair quickly and allow people to heal. But now his existence, trial and the political intrigue will continue to fester in the wound for years to come. To be perfectly honest, it made me feel like asking God to speed up His timeline, return and put us out of our misery... I'm starting to sound like Rā's al Ghūl?

Confident this was a single indecent by one mad-man, I pressed on with my plans to see the movie last night. I thought I would keep one eye on the exit door the entire movie, but it was that good that I hardly glanced at it once or twice.

The plot of this film is fairly intricate and no point in me trying to re-hash it here. I was concerned going in that Anne Hathaway would be ridiculous as the Cat Woman since I'm used to her as more of a cutesy, girl/rom-com actress. But I think she pulled it off quite well. The usual stars such as Bale, Cain and Oldeman are so good you almost take them for granted. Newcomers such as Tom Hardy (Bane) and Joseph Gordon Levitt (Blake) were also solid performances. 

Of course Nolan and his team did tremendous work. Its a very well produced film in terms of costumes, special effects and music from Hans Zimmer. I'll probably go back to see the IMAX version for those reasons alone. This movie hits many of the right notes and I enjoyed the story arc. 

1. Batman Begins - Fear/Power
2. The Dark Knight - Anger/Chaos
3. The Dark Knight Rises - Letting go/Moving on 

Fear and power will breed anger and chaos, but ultimately to find real peace, we have to let go and move on. As a father, I could sympathize with Alfred in this film and some of his lines nearly put me to tears. How long can you watch your child or someone you love go on in misery? Batman's character is someone who is "angry in his bones" and wears a mask to hide it. Easier to embrace the power of anger and death than the fear of forgiveness and love. I thought the ending of this trilogy was excellent and gave closure to not just Batman but the whole cast... and of course left the door open for more. But its not what you'd think and I would actually really like to see where it could go from here. New Territory!  

Its an incredible movie, that just happens to follow two of the best comic book films of all-time and perhaps expectations were too high. Here is my ranking of the trilogy.

1. The Dark Knight 
2. Batman Begins
3. The Dark Knight Rises

If you disagree, I'd love to hear your take as the lines are pretty thin. My primary reason was this last film seemed to suspend reality much more than the last two. 


Its sad to see this trilogy end. I wish they had made 10 of these and fully explored the story arc. Which brings me to a theory about mini-series for movies which I'll cover another day. And yes, I did shout for joy after The Man of Steel trailer, much to the theater's delight! And now I celebrate:

I now have my own permission to die.       

THE SINGULARITY & IMMORTALITY

This video was simply fascinating. As the Rooster said, "my death clock may become obsolete"


Here is another viewpoint that say the Singularity will not be immortality, but the death of us.


APPARENTLY ITS NOT SUCH A BAD THING TO BECOME A GOD MAKER ANYMORE. Thank you Mr. Kaku.

Lovely Still

This is a title that has been sitting in my Netflix Q for nearly a year and I finally got around to watching it. I'll say up front that I'm going to spoil this to death so read no further if you want to enjoy this film untainted by my comments.

I had no clue what this film was about. All I knew is that it centered around an older couple finding new love. One thing done so well in this movie is the depiction of joy and happiness in the discovery of a new relationship with almost no sexual overtones. It allows the viewer to see romantic friendship at a pure level with no strings attached. How wonderful it is to know someone wants to see you and be with you not because of how you look but for how you truly make them feel. That element of this film is rare in today's world and I think its important to see that when all of the physical is gone, something much stronger remains.

As the film progresses it became clear to me that the girlfriend (Mary) was really (Robert's) wife and he was suffering from amnesia. At this point the whole romantic friendship theme transitioned to remind me of our relationship with God.

Once, each of us knew and loved God as his child. We came to earth and by design, we forgot him. Yet He comes and knocks on our door and invites us to know him again. This movie made me realize that perhaps one of the greatest joys in this life is re-discovering how much He loves us. Despite our erratic behavior or the pain we may cause Him, He reaches out to us because He knows how utterly alone and miserable life is without him. At one point Mary exclaims "Can't you see that its you leaving me!?!" Ultimately, Robert is hospitalized and everyone tells Mary to give up. Yet she puts her ring back on, goes in and stays by Robert's side to the end.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for amnesia films, but I think they resonate with me because they speak to our intrinsic desire to be unconditionally loved. This film truly put me in a state of happiness nearly the entire running time and goes on the must see list for all couples into amnesia films. Its clearly not the Notebook and you won't feel compelled to fast forward certain scenes. If anything, you may want to linger on it longer like a good meal or conversation. Here is a fun clip from the movie.

The Amazing Spider-man Re-make!

I need to stop with MEMEs but whatever. 

I knew this was coming. The studio and all the paid hacks said "This movie is totally original and new."

Whatever.

Hollywood has now reached the low of remaking movies just 10 years after the original with barely a hint of plot change. This should be a disgrace right?

Wrong.

I really enjoyed this movie despite it being a COMPLETE RE-HACK of the 2002 film. First, here is a brief comparison:

2002 Toby McGuire - WUSS, can't stop crying and whining. Luke Skywalker in spandex. Kirsten Dunst - ANNOYING wet blanket girlfriend. Uncle Ben - Overly dramatic killed shortly after Spider-man slacks off. Still better than Uncle Owen in Star Wars.  Aunt May - 100 years old and guilt tripping Toby to tears. As if superheroes needed any extra guilt complexes. Plot - Bit by a genetically enhanced spider in a lab no kid would ever EVER get access to, our hero accidentally breaks the house, instantly knows Kung-Fu and uses new-found powers to avenge Uncle Ben. After the death of said Ben, he feels compelled to save the city from a crazed scientist that was initually friendly to him as a callow high school youth with a surprising MIT level understanding of science. The Oscrop scientist then goes nuts after being fired and slays his former employers. Next he decides to wreak havoc on the city. Final showdown involves removal of the spidey mask and a father figure dying and demanding a promise from Spider-man that he cannot keep.

2012 Andrew Garfield - Acceptable, seems sassy enough to fight foes and take a punch. Emma Stone - Fun to watch, seems much less cliched. Martin Sheen - funny, better dialogue, dies in almost the exact same way. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE MYTHOS. ITS ONLY BEEN 10 YEARS CHANGE IT UP ALREADY. Sally Field - Peter's true Steel Magnolia. Forget the blood on your shirt! Where are my free range, corn bred organic eggs! I'm so mad I could hit someone!! BINGO. Nothing changes from 2002.

So why do I like this re-make better? NO TOBY, NO KIRSTEN. More humor and the STUPID promise crap is resolved before the end of the film.

Perhaps the best feature of this flick compared to the original and other superhero films? VULNERABILITY. Spider-man actually seems to have a limit as to how much of a beating he can take. And he does not heal like Wolverine so getting thrown through eight brick walls would not work in this movie. Of course he gets his butt kicked like all heroes in such a movie, but they had me believing the Lizard really could have bit his head off.

If anything it was fun to just keep score of how many things were almost identical to the original. In my mind, this is clearly the superior version of this particular movie and I recommend you go find out for yourself.