What I'm Watching: Gotham

In case you've missed it, this is one show I don't miss:

Gotham

I hesitated to watch Gotham at first, because I figured (rightly) that some plot devices simply wouldn't work because we all know that certain characters live to know the adult Bruce Wayne, etc. and because I figured it's all kind of been done and the current over-saturation of comic-book media might be getting to me.

But... Gotham! I loved Batman Begins so very, very much, and I really like Batman as a character, so I had to give it a chance.

The Batman

My expectations for "The Dark Knight Rises" were somewhat shaky. After the dark, evil tones of "The Dark Knight", I was nervous to see this one, unsure what to expect, and a bit cautious in my anticipation. I knew there was a good chance this one would also be dark and evil, but I have faith in the very talented Christopher Nolan, and though I kept them in check, I did have hope that it would be a more... enjoyable ride than the second film, which was almost a painful experience-- effective, emotive, but agonizing.

"Batman Begins" is one of my most favorite movies, partly because I really appreciate Christian Bale, but also because it was a wonderful Batman movie. Gritty without being overly heavy, emotional without being melodramatic, and the origin story is authentic and heartfelt. Plus I like Christian Bale. A lot. Remember what I said about him at the Oscars this year? Impressed by his recovered classiness and professionalism? Yep. I'm a fan.

Besides the darkness of the second film, I also found myself increasingly irritated by Bale's affected, gravelly voice whenever Bruce put on the mask, and as I recall, I felt like he was in costume more than not, which is fine, but I like to see Christian Bale, and I felt like there was too much mask.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I was thrilled that though it's dark and violent and has some decided brutality, there is a lot more light. Joseph Gordon Levitt as Blake is a bright, fresh face, a great actor in his own right, and Anne Hathaway is a refreshing as Catwoman- she's funny, sexy and butt-kicking-awesome without being campy or too absurd. And there is a lot more Bruce Wayne out of the mask than in the last film, so I was happy on that count, as well.

Bane provides a very frightening villain, though the dialogue was hard to understand-- maybe I rely on being able to see lips moving to be able to really "hear" what's being said, but his character was a great nemesis for Batman. 

There are a few surprises in the film that I won't give away, but the end was deeply satisfying and made it worth sticking with the franchise just for that. I loved this movie- it felt much more like "Batman Begins" than "Dark Knight", which was refreshing-- "Dark Knight" was completely right to set us up for this final film in the trilogy, though I would be fine only watching the first and third in the future... the second movie was very hard for me to watch.

I really wanted this blog entry to better thought out and executed, but I'm frightfully busy and feeling overwhelmed and I've had a broken-brain week, so this is all you get. Sorry it's not my best assessment of a movie. Short version: I liked it. Very much. Especially Christian Bale. Did I mention I kind of like him? 

Avengers Review Take II

I woke up remembering something I wanted to say. Continued from the first entry about this movie... Sleep does wonders for the brain!


When it comes to Superhero movies, there are some very formulaic elements which have become cliche and almost ruefully expected by moviegoers. Whedon managed to avoid them all, I think. 

From This Site

For example, many movies suffer from "damsel in distress" syndrome, where the hero's love interest or elderly aunt is grabbed/captured/endangered directly by the bad guy. In "The Avengers", all the love interests are conveniently unavailable for perilous life-threatening. And it isn't done in an overly dramatic way, it's just the way things are. My son mentioned that he would have liked to see the men reunited with their ladies at the end, but I liked the fact that they weren't. It kept the movie feeling fresh, genuine and not syrupy.


Another thing we didn't have was outer-space alien goo. Most alien and sci-fi movies have an unbelilevable amount of goop, slime, and schloky-sounding muck. But our heroes fight aliens that are mercifully slime-free. 


In fact the only thing I can think of that is remotely cliche about this movie is that the bit battle/attack scene happens in New York City. Though, with 9-11 for evidence, maybe that's realistic enough to not really be a cliche. There was one moment, when a woman runs to look out the cafe window after being saved by one of our heroes, her hair is disheveled and her face is dirty, and she looks up and out with a look of awe on her face. I felt like I had seen it before in Superman, Spiderman and maybe even Batman movies before. But it also almost felt like a tiny homage that any comic fan would appreciate. It was short and sweet and over before I had time to process the feeling of familiarity.


Most importantly, Whedon never stops surprising the audience (or at least me) by doing the unexpected. The characters say and do things that are both natural and real and completely surprising. That makes a movie move so much faster and keeps you riveted, waiting to see what will happen next. I don't want to give anything away, so I can't say much about this, but more than once Loki has confrontations that end in completely unexpected ways. Brilliant.

From This Site

If I didn't say it last night, let me say it now, "The Avengers" is the best movie I've seen in a very long time and I think Joss Whedon is a genius. Fa-bu-lous. 

Geekyness

As a sort-of geek girl, I do love my superhero movies. I haven't really read a lot of actual comic books, nor do I collect anything specifically superhero-related, but I'm kind of gleefully dorky about the movies-- especially the upcoming "Avengers". I've allowed that movie to mentally overshadow the other two huge films of 2012: "The Amazing Spiderman" and "The Dark Knight Rises", but I will be seeing them opening weekend with my three teenage sons. Maybe the reason for my love of these movies is aesthetic... maybe I just like watching hunky (and moderately good-looking) actors flying and leaping and slashing and shooting and climbing and... hmmm. I think I'm on to something.

So who's your favorite super hero? Who is your favorite actor-as-hero?
Here are a few to get you started:

Christian Bale as Batman? Awesome.

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

Chris Hemsworth as Thor- yummy...

There are so, so many others, it would fill up many pages, so I'll stop here. I'm really looking forward to all the superhero movies coming out this summer. What about you?