Last movie you watched......

I thought the scene where they turned Bambi’s mom into jerky and venison steak was way out of line.

 

Red Fawn

 

Saw The Batman the other night and overall I really enjoyed it, though I was a bit disappointed in how the third act degenerated into standard blow up stuff/mass destruction/rescue mission.

I loved that we spent 90 percent of the film with Pattinson playing Batman and not Bruce Wayne. Way too many comic book movies give us like three scenes with the hero in costume, mostly because it’s hard (impossible?) for the actors to earn their money acting behind a mask. They need the face time to “emote.”

This was a lot different because it returned to Batman as “the world’s greatest detective” (with a nice reference made in the film). Instead of having what little detective work there is to be done by Bruce Wayne as has been done in previous films, they basically turned it into “Seven,” with Batman in the role of Det. David Mills and Riddler as John Doe. I half expected the film to end in front of the Batsignal with Gordon asking Batman “Where will you be?” and Batman replying “Around. I’ll be around.” That’s how heavily I thought Seven influenced this film (not a bad thing).

Also, by making Wayne a recluse instead of a playboy, he was far less recognizable to the general public which allowed Pattinson to skip doing a goofy “Batman voice.” Keaton did the Batman voice well because it was more like Bruce Wayne was in a bad mood than it was a disguise, unlike how Bale and Affleck approached it. Pattinson didn’t really change his much, and the film was better for it.

Zoe was good as Catwoman, though she was a bit underutilized. Colin Farrell and John Turturro, I thought, nailed the roles of Penguin and Falcone, and Jeffrey Wright is a very good Jim Gordon.

Loved the use of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” and “Ave Maria.”

 

I still haven't watched it, but have been meaning to get around to it since it is on HBO Max.

There is still only one great Batman voice and that is Kevin Conroy from the animated series. He used his natural voice, which is very deep, for Batman and raised it for Bruce Wayne and it works so much better than what Affleck and Bale did.

 

It’s definitely worth seeing.

 

Looking forward to Top Gun Maverick - extra points for casting Jennifer Connoly as "the admiral's daughter" mentioned in the first movie. I wonder if Goose's son makes it through this one?

 

Saw a preview at an IMAX theater yesterday.

It looks amazing. Now, plot and story? Who knows?

 

FWIW, they've mentioned in the comics that comic book Batman uses two different voices for Bruce and Batman. There was an issue that, IIRC, was part of the Knightfall story where they hinted at it. Robin was taking AzBats to meet Jim Gordon for the first time and they were trying to keep the real Batman's injuries a secret. Robin tells him something along the lines of, "Stick to the shadows and use that rough voice that Bruce uses."

 

I know that is part of the character, just as Clark Kent doesn't just take his glasses off and change outfits when it is time to be Superman. He changes his body language. I believe he changes his voice, too.

Keaton, Bale, and Affleck all changed their voices to some degree when they put on the suit. I don't remember Kilmer or Clooney doing it, but I may be blocking Clooney's version out entirely. I'm just saying none of them did it nearly as well as Conroy.

 

Halloween Kills. Michael is a bit of a dick in this one, getting off on gratuitously torturing his victims. But the folks of Haddonfield are all almost uniformly inbred and stupid, so it all evens out in a tiresome sort of way.

Falls right in between standard horror movie sequel and indie flick. Fails at both. A worst watch than the Rob Zombie sequel - which was schlock but heartfelt schlock, with unicorns and dead mothers and Zombie obscurely working out all sorts of personal issues.

 

The Joel Coen / Denzel Washington / Frances McDormand MacBeth was a tremendous letdown.

Stunning visuals mostly, if derived largely from Welles / Toland / Russell / Olivier et al. But very awkward lead performances.

Also, reducing Shakespeare to plot, to event, misses the point utterly, and is a crime against poetry and the music of language.

Kathryn Hunter as all the witches was a creepy treat.

It didn't really rise even to the level of the hallucinatory 2015 Fassbender/Cotillard version, which has grown on me a little over the years. The Sean Harris Macduff especially so.

 

Dr. Strange.

Didn't love it, didn't hate it.

Therapy would have been the better answer for Wanda.