Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Let’s test this out
Hmm. Has my audience flown the coop? The only way to find out is to enable comments. Protected Static thinks it’s coincidental that the hacks stopped when I closed B&W to comments, but I’m not so sure. Here’s what I’ve done: I’ve subjected all comments to moderation. I’m not sure that will protect me from code injection hacks, but I’m about to find out.
I’ve backed things up first, just in case . . .
In other news: we watched The Dark Knight on TV last night. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one movie do so much damage to Newtonian physics. Batman gets to fly like a bat, you know, thanks to these itty bitty bat wings in his suit (and I’ve got news for Batman: titanium is heavy). (Oh, and speaking of heavy, the Batmobile must harbor a small black hole in the trunk. That’s the only thing I can figure, since when it collides with the Joker’s semi head-on, it sends the semi flying backward.) And when the love interest, played by oh-so-bland Maggie Gyllenhaal, plummets from a 40-story building, the Bat dives after her, catches up to her, and breaks both their falls . . . how, exactly? Wind resistance on those batty wings, which aren’t even fully deployed?
The script is lifeless. What the hell does this mean? “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” It gets said twice, so it must be important. And then there’s the movie’s big closing line: “Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.”
WTF? My bogosity meter is stuck in the red zone.
We liked Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent, and had a split vote on Heath Ledger’s Joker. I liked the performance but Karen thought he was too over the top. Definitely better than Jack Nicholson’s Joker, though, which brought back fond memories of Cesar Romero. We both felt the writers could have done more to show “the making of the clown”; as written, we’re given precious little insight into the character.
The movie needed more Julie Newmar
Oh, and while I’m kvetching, Christian Bale’s Batman is lifeless. The voice he provides for the man behind the mask is, what? Some aged rocker after he’s effed up his vocal cords? That got old fast.
My overall rating: three out of four Mehs. I didn’t hate it, but I do feel like I wasted my time watching it beginning to end. I want Michael Keaton back, but I guess that won’t happen. Not unless some production company decides it’s time for an “old Batman” movie — old Batman appeared as a well conceived character in one of the animated versions for TV.
And while we’re on the subject of TV, nothing cinematic compares to
Batman: The Animated Series.
Okay, ready to post. Time to see if fully moderated comments can kill my blog. Of course, y’all will have to make some comments to test this thing out.
D.
I’ll go first.
Okay…I’ve been reading via Google Reader and haven’t stopped by in a while. Did you change your template? It’s fine, I just missed the frog pics.
Re The Dark Knight, I looked forward to seeing it. Then never got around to seeing it while it was still in theaters. And now cannot be bothered to add it to the Netflix queue. Same with Terminator: Salvation (well, not the Netflix part yet). Too much movie hype, you think?
you know, i didn’t like that movie either, and for mostly the same reasons.
hope your latest trick works 🙂
I think Dark Knight would suffer on the small screen; we enjoyed it tremendously, but I do remember saying words to that effect when we were leaving… Of course, the fact that we saw it in a 21+ theatre with a full bar in the lobby might have helped. Maker’s Mark FTW!
And yes, I still think it’s coincidence 🙂
I must say, I enjoyed The Dark Knight. To be fair, though, I’ve always liked Batman and his mythos, and I’m willing to enjoy a superhero blockbuster with my brain turned most of the way off. (Though the fact that Batman sounded like he had the worst cold ever was a little irritating.)
The lack of backstory on the Joker was one of my favourite aspects, too. I liked that his history, his origin, was left unexplored. He’s the kind of villain whose history should be unknown, I think.
Did you at least like the magic trick?
Pat: Yes, the magic trick rawked. And yes, I usually am able to turn off my brain, but not when there’s an all-out assault on Newton going on.
ps: Dayum! I wish we had movie theaters like that!
joolz: great minds 🙂
jmc: Yes, I’m using a default template. I need to switch back to the old template, and then I need to find that old image, but I’ve been reluctant to do anything until I’m sure I’m unhackable.
Can’t stand Christian Bale either. Hope this works.
i disliked that movie, because it gave me the creeps. i dont like horror movies of any sort, including most psychological thrillers…and after watching the other christian bale batman movie, i didnt expect this one to be so freaking DARK. i left the theater unhappy and creeped out. i dont tend to notice things like you did, though, like the mechanics of the wings. i kinda give the creators a pass, artistic license, you know.
glad i can comment again!
Yup . . . yay for comments! Although I’d prefer it if people’s comments could show up right away. Always bugs ME when I have to leave things in moderation.
I kept hearing about how dark this movie was, but I didn’t think so. Not at all. Dark would have been if the Joker’s plans for the ferries had borne fruit. Instead, the way that played out was uplifting. Yuck. Also, what if Morgan Freeman had embraced or even decided to exploit his newly expanded powers of surveillance? IMO, Dark Knight had a far cheerier concept of humanity than what we find in the real world.
It was okay, definitely overhyped. I don’t think we will buy the DVD but The Kid might.
And, yes the 1992-1995 Animated series RAWKED. Like totally. And I geeked out on the joker. Didyou know he was voiced by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker?) Happy sigh.
I really liked the new Batman. I didn’t get the funny Batman voice either but Husband says he used a voice changer thing so he’s not recognized – apparently they show this at some point. I did get a bit tired of the seething rage noises. I thought more Joker, more please, he scares me witless but can’t stop watching. Shame. And thank you for agreeing Maggie was the stink in this! And she’s a great actress so I can only imagine she hates Bale or they just gave her the worst direction ever – it’s a guy movie, the girl’s a prop, props can’t act better than the guys.
I hate a love/hate thing for Bale. He’s my badboy crush. He was however the voice of Howl and for that he’s wonderful.
I liked it, too — but I’m also one of the ones who turns her brain off for these action-type movies. Doesn’t make scientific sense? Who cares! It’s cool. 😀 Boy Einstein (aka the Hubs) does tend to notice the rules of physics being broken, though, but he’s good enough to keep his venting to a minimum. *g*
I also agree with Shaina — I left the theatre feeling chilled and creeped out, and found the movie to be quite dark, myself. (I also really liked Aaron Eckhart, but I’ve crushed on him since Thank You For Not Smoking…)
Did you ever watch Iron Man? Now that was a good one.
I enjoyed the performance of Heath Ledger as the joker. He was more realistic than Nicholson’s Joker. I didn’t much care for Batman in this movie though, his voice was awful and distracting. Glad you’re back!
I’ve never worked up the enthusiasm to see the Dark Knight.
In other news, I have not actually been eaten by the Bermuda Triangle.
In the end, I’m not interested in this version of Batman. Somehow it’s gotten too dark, and just maybe too hyped. I would have liked to have seen it just because of Heath’s performance was supposed to be good. Was the Joker character great because of the actor’s performance, or just because it was his last performance? How much was hype.
Anywho, I’m glad to hear of your good news, and YAY to comments being on again!
All I really have to add is
HOORAH! I HAVEN’T LOST MY AUDIENCE!
Thanks, y’all, for sticking with me through all of this . . . whether it be my job-related doldrums or the recent bs with getting hacked. You deserve something special. Maybe I need to go out and buy me a Cosmo . . .