Not Anonymous

So it's been kinda-sorta confirmed that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is going to be in the third Nolan-verse Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.

Let me tell you, my eyes bugged out at seeing it confirmed that he's going to be a villain. Alberto Falcone, that is the Holiday Killer, I'm pretty sure he hasn't appeared in any other run other than "The Long Haloween", which I didn't think was the best Batman run in comics, but my tastes are peculiar.

For those who aren't aware, Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman, in one version of her origins is Carmine Falcone's illegitimate daughter.
Oh, for god's sake, please don't make her a prostitute, for all that is holy, please! Not because a prostitute can't be a hero, but because I'd like to see a heroine that doesn't have a sexual trauma, and I doubt that be pulled off in a movie like this with that kind of narrative.

I'm really hoping Nolan does something with that, if not I'm sure the Fandom will.

Not to mention, there has to be interaction between Falcone and Bane in the film, if they're the villains, because now that Batman is actually considered a criminal vigilante (rather than a vigilante hero) he is going to need allies in the criminal world - enter Catwoman.

Oh, there are so many possibilities!

It will be, I can already see (without much surprise) that it will be a Bechdel Fail, and honestly it doesn't have to be, but Nolan is, by now, notorious for creating really awesome movies with less than awesome female characters (Oh, Ariadne, you could have been so much more!).

Regardless, the Fandom is going to wild, because JGL and Hardy together again, in a Nolan movie, it is automatic awesome inducing and even if there is minimal interaction between Falcone and Bane in the actual film (which I doubt, there is definite cahoots potential there and after the whole Dangerous Loner shtick that was the Joker, a little Baddy Buddy Violent Interaction is called for!) the fandom will totally make up for it.

I seriously cannot wait for this movie.

Holy Stock Actors Batman!

In case you haven't heard Tom Hardy is going to be in third Nolan Batman film.

Hells yes!

I'm currently watching the mini-series Tom Hardy was in 2009 The Take and once again, his range is amazing! Despite being type cast as a heavy and a gangster, the characters are different people! He doesn't look the same. He managed to change his body shape in every film that I've seen him in.

I get the feeling that he hasn't really given up on the whole self-destructive thing he had going on earlier this decade and has decided that in order to get the immortality rush he just puts his body through hell and Yo-Yo's his weight like... a Yo-Yo.

For batman though, it would actually be interesting to see him as NOT a villain. We all know he can do deranged (and we love him for it), but doing something a bit more demure, but not as morally ambiguous as Eames (ambiguous is simply my code word for Eames, his picture is there in the dictionary, yeah).

Unlikely, as there are far more morally ambiguous characters than not in Gotham, whether they're goodies or baddies.

Still, hells yes Tom Hardy in BATMAN!

Nolan, you keep doing that thing you do. Two women talking to each other about Batman would be okay, btw. Just sayin'.

	I received 71 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
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Well, now that that's established maybe we can go on to Meta?

On today's agenda, you ask.

A wee bit more on The Dark Knight, as I'm eagerly awaiting my Iron Man DVD Ultimate Edition to arrive and will probably watch it over and over for in order to write a more cohesive mini-thesis about Tony Stark's Gender Fluidity in the movie.
And as soon as I have the Nolanverse Batman DVD's I'll be able to write a more comprehensive comparative analysis of Iron Man and Batman.
Hopefully deeper than this Player vs Player strip: ( under the cut )

My brother however, sent me two interesting articles about the nature of Batman and the Joker as they've been presented in the Nolanverse which, as most comic books readers know, is quite different from the sequential art mythology.
The two articles, written by two of the members of the Vulpes Libris collective, one of whom (the one who wrote the Joker article) admits to being a newcomer to graphic literature, a "noob" in their words. Both have some very interesting insights on the Hero and the Nemesis.

Having read those two reviews I feel compelled to comment, not on the articles themselves (which are worth reading, hence them being linked above), but on the implication of Batman and the Joker being, oppositional forces, forced to do this danse macabre(1) until one of them dies, which is the comic book myth is unlikely.

I think it's very simplistic and reductive to say that Batman is a Hero in the archetype sense of the word. The articles details various incarnations of "Batman" in myths and stories - including Hercules, Odysseus and Harry Potter.
While modern day Super Heroes have certainly replaces the heroes of old mythology in their function of (re)telling the Way of the World, I don't feel it's right to compare them in their characters.
While Bruce and Odysseus certainly have the an ingenuity that gives them an edge on their enemies, they are two quite different personality types.
Also Bruce Wayne and Harry Potter *snort* and I like Harry Potter!
And yes, I know, niggling.
Functionally and archtypically they share characteristics and when it comes to myth that is probably the most important bit.

But then, why is Batman so popular? Ridiculously so.
I mean The Dark Knight went on to be the highest grossing movie of the summer, I mean hype dies down after the first two weeks and there's usually an sink after the first ebb.
But this was just a cinematic phenomena!
I went on to see it five times, which is a hell of a lot for me (and earning crazy looks from my family, films are not cheap, especially if you want to go to a good cinema).
This is not just movie wise, Batman is still DC's best seller in monthly issues and in trades and if I'm not mistaken, it's also the best seller in mainstream comics over-all.

There's something compelling about a man, who pretends to be a monster, in order to avoid becoming one.
In Arkham Asylum: A serious house on a serious earth, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean take this idea and expand it in a horrific (effing fantastic!) way.
The Joker isn't so much a Nemesis, but a guide; The Cheshire Cat to Batman's Alice.
Regardless, Batman is pinned against his greatest fear, becoming The Monster.

This is similarly done in the film, mainly through the Joker's own sense of grandeur. He truly believes that his "games" will free humans of their measly societal constraints.
Too bad he's a psychopath.

Do you like that?
There shall be more.
Alas, my train of thought has been slightly severed.
Worry not loyal readers, I shall write more on this oh so interminable subject.

Notes
(1)a musical piece I always associated with the Joker, and is especially apropos for Nolan's Joker.

Here be Spoilers for The Dark Knight

Finally went to see The Dark Knight for the second time yesterday. (Going again this evening, *squeee*)

A second viewing certainly enables you to see the funny of the movie, of which there were lots, actually. The Joker was so unexpected in this incarnation that I had time, the first time around, to actually enjoy the film - seeing as I was constantly cringing, turning away, feeling slightly nauseous and otherwise speechless and shaken from the tension of the film.

Unlike the first time I saw the movie and was utterly blown away from the philosophical/moral/ethical overtones and utter coolness in the movie, I am able to see where I'd really like Christopher Nolan to improve.

Mainly, to have a female main character (or two or three), that with any luck, won't bloody well die.

With the untimely (and weep worthy - yes I cried, shaddup) demise of Ms. Dawes. There is now ample opportunity to bring in three of the bestest women the DC universe has ever thought of.
Selina Kyle (a.k.a Catwoman), Talia Head (a.k.a Talia Al-Goul) and Dr. Harleen Quinzelle (a.k.a Harley Quinn a.k.a The Harlequin).

( Cut for length, no need to eat up your f-lists with my Fannish Ruminations )

If in the end Selina is to be in the third Nolan Batman and her origin is that of a prostitute like Effing Frank Miller wrote I will be severely, utterly disappointed.
Also, if I catch a whiff if Miller anywhere near the Batman movies they can forget my money. I'd rather wait for it to be on television than know that a percentage of my money is lining that sexist, racist, over-rated so-called "writer".

Here are the opinions of other comic books writers of what they'd like to see in the third Nolan Batman movie. All the writers are men by the way, just FYI, of course.

Those of you who have seen the movie, know exactly what the title of this review alludes too, no more needs to be said.
Those of you who haven't seen the movie... what, exactly, are you waiting for?*

I'm still not sure what it is that I can say on this film that hasn't been said. It has been out in the States for over a week and the European opening weekend has come and gone. I think I manged to convey if a few words in my previous entry the feel of the movie, as it related to me.

It is, without a doubt, one of the most intense, tense, thrilling, terrifying and exhilarating films I have ever seen, if not the most. I'm having trouble thinking of another movie that left me so shaken and speechless. The Dark Knight is a work of cinematic art.
I came into this movie with a huge amount of baggage; not only have I been lapping up the hype for the past two years, since the announcement that a sequel to Batman Begins was in production, but also as a Bat-Fan. I've been a Bat-Fan since I was a child, before I began reading comics regularly.
I was, obviously, not disappointed.
( My Review - No Spoilers )

It is a deeply horrific film. It is a far scarier movie than any slasher movie out there. Human nature is displayed flayed and gutted for us all to see.
Not every movie goer is a conciseness viewer, but unless one ignores the guts and glory, there is no way you miss the moral and ethical tragedy that is played out before you.
Though I didn't and still don't, feel any kind of catharsis, it is a very satisfying movie and you can't help but bask in its affects and effects.

*Real life obligations that prevent one from having free time not counting. We all have jobs, or school, or lack of funds, life's just like that at times.

Just watch the video:



Because it is ensuing hilarity.
Especially because just at the end there Iron Man kind of went Joker on Batsy, but whatever :)

Let me tell you, nothing will stop me from going to see The Dark Knight, which is opening this coming Thursday on the 24th... yeah, try and stop me.
Nothing will.
.
.
.
*squeeee* Yes, I've totally bought the hype.
I dun care! Nyah!

Oh and this is the fourth video of my two favourite "Men"