Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[jvcarroll]

The new Batman is good, but I'll wait for Blu-ray to see it again. Anne Hathaway contributed a stronger performance than I would have guessed. As much as I love Nolan's telling of Batman, now that this series is done I hope they go with something a little closer to the comics/animated series the next time the Dark Knight rises.

 

[Drtooth]

I decided to wait a week for Batman... not so much for the one isolated incidednt that clouded the film's release, but for the warning of large crowds AND the fact that something I thought was coming up didn't, so I didn't think I'd be able to have seen it anyway (but could). Oh well, at least I got the fifth season of The Batman at Five Below.

it is a little disappointing that Batman didn't overtake Avengers. I wonder how it would have done without that tragedy... which again, was an isolated incident. meanwhile Avengers is still pulling in small amounts of dough. I REALLY hope it overtook Titanic by now.

Funny thing is, I'd consider seeing Ice Age 4 only AFTER I see Batman. The pirate gorilla intrigues me. And then there's that short Maggie Simpson cartoon.

 

[jvcarroll]

I decided to wait a week for Batman... not so much for the one isolated incidednt that clouded the film's release, but for the warning of large crowds AND the fact that something I thought was coming up didn't, so I didn't think I'd be able to have seen it anyway (but could). Oh well, at least I got the fifth season of The Batman at Five Below.

it is a little disappointing that Batman didn't overtake Avengers. I wonder how it would have done without that tragedy... which again, was an isolated incident. meanwhile Avengers is still pulling in small amounts of dough. I REALLY hope it overtook Titanic by now.

Funny thing is, I'd consider seeing Ice Age 4 only AFTER I see Batman. The pirate gorilla intrigues me. And then there's that short Maggie Simpson cartoon.

It's merely due to the higher ticket prices of the Avengers in 3D.

 

[Drtooth]

It's merely due to the higher ticket prices of the Avengers in 3D.

Yeah, but for some reason that doesn't count as different. Same as how matinee tickets are cheaper than nighttime ones. They don't count the number of tickets sold, just the over all amount of cash the films make. It would be far too difficult to calculate single tickets, right?

And for some reason I thought Batman was 3-D. I know they have Imax, though.

 

[Drtooth]

I finally got to see Dark Knight Rises, and it was just as extraordinary as everyone says it was. Bane was much more than the big guy that usually just beats up Batman, and the film was richer for adding that depth to him. I especially like how Catwoman wasn't even mentioned by name (like TwoFace was). But the thing that really made the film sing? It tied the whole thing together, moreso the first one than the second.

Even if the competition wasn't extremely weak, this is the best and frankly only useful third super hero movie ever made. But again, you have Spider-Man 3, Superman 3, Batman Forever, and (I'll add it because it counts in my book) TMNT 3. All DKR had to do was not wet itself to be better than those films. But as far as it stacks up against itself, I can say that it completely outdoes the first, but I'm torturing myself if I think it is a better film than the second. I'd say that's a close call.

I noticed a couple spoiler related things... unlike the betrayed Clowns facing their doom at the hands of The Joker at the beginning of the second film, it seems the one henchman of Bane's that was left to die was willing to for the cause. That's an impressive contrast. Also, it REALLY helped the big reveal at the end that I forgot Ra's Ah Ghoul had a daughter... even though I saw at least 2 Batman cartoons where she had an appearance. D'OH! And finally, this film closed up as many loose ends as possible. I mean, there's potential for a Nightwing spinoff with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but I hope that never happens.

Overall, I'm just bummed because, there's going to have to be Batman films in the future. I know Nolan cannot be the end all be all, but you still got to wonder about the direction the film series is going to take.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Overall, I'm just bummed because, there's going to have to be Batman films in the future. I know Nolan cannot be the end all be all, but you still got to wonder about the direction the film series is going to take.

If it went back to Tim Burton I'd be happy, hehe. Don't get me wrong I appreciate what Nolan did. His version of the Joker was great for the modern era. Honestly I think most of my annoyance is directed at Bale and his ridiculous Batman voice, lol. I just could never take him seriously.

 

[Drtooth]

If it went back to Tim Burton I'd be happy, hehe.

Dear sweet Glob no! The movie would feature Johnny Depp as Joker and Helen Carter as Harley Quinn and that would be the whole movie. When he did the first 2 Batman movies, he was a young dynamo that gave us a visionary world. Now he's stuck in his ways, locked into a comfort zone of same actors, same writers, same employes all around, and same style. And anything is better than Joel Schumacker. I kinda dug Forever (even though Twoface was Joker 2.0), but no one likes Batman and Robin. I've said it a hundred times... there's no wrong way to do Batman, except that.

I want to see someone talented and fresh faced that can find a go between between the cartoony stylization of Tim Burton's films and the dark gritty realism of Nolan's films. That's the line comic book movies all have to walk. Often times, they veer too far off on the realism, and it screws up the film's suspension of disbelief. Batman's a lucky comic book character. A lot of the mythos is realistic and could hypothetically happen. He doesn't have super powers, most of his key villains are just as mortal as he is. Meanwhile, they worried over the Hulk too much in 2 films, but managed to get him just right in Avengers, a film that didn't take itself too seriously and a film that KNOWS it's a comic book with aliens.

There is one major thing about Nolan's Batman films, however... they're the only successful DC comics films they had. Superman Returns was so fussed over that it set itself up to fail (didn't help with the crap about him having an illegitimate son and LEAVING him). Green Lantern showed and exaggerated all the problems with origin stories (and yet it demands a sequel, since Sinestro's story was the most interesting bit of the film, and yet the most truncated). And who even wanted to see Jonah Hex? Worst thing is, they want to build a Justice League movie on the same ground Avengers did. I don't think they can have that many successful films to lead up to it.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Dear sweet Glob no! The movie would feature Johnny Depp as Joker and Helen Carter as Harley Quinn and that would be the whole movie.

You are right about that. I guess I'm saying I want 1980's Tim Burton back. But don't we all, lol.

 

[jvcarroll]

You are right about that. I guess I'm saying I want 1980's Tim Burton back. But don't we all, lol.

I was personally disappointed in this last bat-installment. I'd personally like to see a quazi-real-world version of Batman: The Animated Series. Something that's in between Burton's visuals and Nolan's grit. No need to reboot. Just hit the ground running with compelling stories of the classic graphic novel version of Batman t at different places on the time line. They only have two hours to tell a story, so they should just cut to the meat.

Just imagine the classic Joker and Harley Quinn with their henchmen and hyena pets. That relationship has never been done in live action. Imagine something kind of like the Arkham Asylum video game. That could be fun too. There are endless possibilities with Batman that I feel were squandered in this last film. The first two were pitch perfect.

 

[Oscarfan]

I saw the Dark Knight Rises a week or so ago and the thing that stood out to me the most was the LACK OF BATMAN. We don't see him for about a half-hour-forty five-minutes, then he's gone 20 or so minutes later, and doesn't show up until the last half-hour again. And I agree with Doug Walker in that his voice was quite exaggerated, which at times was pointless because he'd be speaking to people who already knew his identity.