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joshklangley
Reviews
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Escape from Gotham
I bought the trilogy from a grocery store for $7.99, and that's about what it's worth. It's a pseudo-sophisticated attempt to throw everything at the audience, but the result is barely comprehensible. The film is riddled with dozens, maybe even hundreds, of continuity errors. But who cares? It's BATMAN!
These movies are all low-quality garbage. I've watched them over the past few days and see new 10/10 ratings being posted almost daily. Do the rating sites not care? Did Nolan pay a group to inflate these perpetually? The reviews don't even discuss the movies in any specific way. This is really lame.
The first part of the film is indescribable if you haven't seen it: double plane, blood infusion, SWAT team, nuclear engineer, Bane super-villain jamboree. And it only gets more confusing from there.
Bane let out all the criminals, destroyed dozens of streets, wrecked the bridges and tunnels into the city, trapped all the law enforcement in the sewer, so where is the food coming from? What about electricity, sewers, and trash pickup? It looks like a normal day in the city scenes, even after Bane's takeover. Gotham is supposed to be a first-world city with rampant crime, but Bane's attack should have pushed the decay into overdrive. People are living in houses, wearing dress shirts and ties, and the streets are clean, but the island is essentially a hostage colony. The police commissioner still has a fresh haircut? No one sees how glaringly odd this is? Even when the law enforcement gets out of the sewers months later, they have clean uniforms on, look well-fed, and are freshly shaven. Even the "bad guys" who are on Bane's side look clean. Why did Nolan decide to film most of the Gotham scenes midday when it was sunny? Gotham is a dark character which is the background to the entire Batman universe. Gotham should look post-apocalyptic for the majority of the movie. What you are telling us through the story and showing us are so completely different.
Batman is taken to some prison hole and is now watching live Gotham TV. Where is this place? They have TV in a hole halfway across the world? Bruce gets punched in the back by another prisoner, and now he's doing pushups and sit-ups. Okay, WE ARE BACK, BABY! I know you are trying to tie this all in, but it's failing. Is this supposed to be reminiscent of the well Bruce fell into as a kid? Oh yes, it shows that exact scene again later in the movie. I guess it makes sense now that we have to be shown something that happened two movies back.
Can JGL be Robin? Could we have made that movie instead? He's adorable and wants to help out. Oh ... he is Robin, but this plot point goes nowhere. With ten other storylines, we have Robin checking in. "I like your full name ROBIN" says some secretary. What a subtle drop. In my opinion the whole movie should have been trashed to put Robin at the center holding off Bane. JGL is so wonderful to watch on screen but he is handed dirt in the script.
In the most convoluted way, the movie aims to "fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny" for the League of Shadows. This is literally said word for word. Who cares? We only find this out at the very end, and I think most people are confused because it's not a significant enough point to remember. They are all forgettable characters and a forgettable group. I love Liam Neeson, but Nolan could have had Jesus Christ play the al Ghul role, and people would forget about it. He trained Batman-shoulder shrug. Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) was his daughter who became CEO of Wayne Enterprises. This is supposed to be a SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE STORY, but it is all so unremarkable. Scarecrow, the Joker, and Bane were exciting characters, and the trilogy did itself a disservice by adding the "League of Shadows" to tie them all together. I could be wrong, but if you asked any of the 10/10 reviewers, they couldn't tell you anything about this group because they were so insignificant when thinking about these movies. No one even mentions them in the reviews, but it's the whole point of the series.
Why do all the male hero/villain characters have ridiculous voices in these movies? Catwoman has the same voice and demeanor in or out of her persona, so it's not jarring, but everyone else sounds like satire. Batman's growl and Bane's accent with a growl. Who made this decision? "AYE AM DA LEAGUE OF SHADOUGHS!!!" They filmed for months and years without questioning this. Christian Bale has a sophisticated parlance, this would show his "power" as an intellectual voiced Batman. Tom Hardy also has a great voice naturally too. It just takes the audience out of the movie.
The Bat helicopter is laughable. It looks like a cockroach pantyliner. The Bat motorcycle is also pretty atrocious. Nolan is such a dork. I think we have an entire industry of fans who have no real world experiences making movies and media for their own enjoyment. These vehicles are so short cited. I think the original Batmobile in Batman begins was a real world vehicle and Nolan wanted to coolify the rest of Batman's tech but it really fizzled. "THIS ISN'T A CAR! GURRRRR!'
Catwoman: Anne Hathaway is pretty unlikeable. I get her appeal in other movies, but this was not the role for her. Zero sex appeal-a librarian in tight clothes. She kisses Batman near the end, which is the most cringe-worthy part of the whole movie. 2/10. She's no Michelle Pfeiffer. OMG, Anne's hat at the airport-LMAO. You know Nolan said, "Keep it! M'lady looks cool!"
Bane: Tom Hardy is cool, and he did a lot with what he was given. I feel like we have a great actor and character, but the story lacks substance for him to shine. His brand-new shearling coat was nice in theory, but wouldn't it get a little dingy over time? He's been living on his prison island for months, and the fur is still white.
Conclusion: I would never watch these movies again. The Batman (2022) was profound in every way. Beautiful, raw, dark, yummy. Same with Batman Returns (1992). Batman isn't something that I don't like, because I love it. This trilogy was a huge disappointment. I watched these because the rating are so high, but I think they were hijacked just like Gotham.
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988)
10 10 10
I found the last 10 minutes of the film exhilarating, thanks to its beautiful writing. A curve ball that I did not expect. Watching it was truly gratifying.
River, both in real life and in the movie, was too young for this role at 17. A lot of mature scenes for a teen drama/comedy with the actor still being a child. I guess this is why we have movies/shows that have 20 year olds playing high school characters. However, despite this, he undeniably exuded the charisma of a seasoned movie star.
After viewing the film, I anticipated it would become a cult classic, beloved by all, but was surprised to find numerous negative reviews. What aspects did you find displeasing? Was it perhaps Jimmy's portrayal as an anti-hero, which diverged from the typical 2024 apologetic archetype seen in contemporary cinema? Personally, I found his edgy, non-conformist demeanor refreshing. His character arc, culminating in a realization of his own flaws, felt satisfyingly authentic. He wasn't good, and that's the whole point.
Wolf Pack (2023)
Fun show you don't have to think too much about.
Some shows can be completely exhausting to watch because you have to follow multiple story lines and characters. This was great because you just had to follow a few characters and they all had a similar goal. All unique attractive actors who have a few surprises peppered throughout the season.
I have not seen Teen Wolf - but I plan to after watching this because I enjoyed it so much. My only gripe, and I don't know if this is Teen wolf related or I am missing an understanding of werewolf lore, is the werewolf/transition/fire/full moon part. There are character who are werewolves, but they don't have their "powers" yet. I thought that werewolves just automatically have their powers and they couldn't control it. The main characters half turned into werewolves when they were upset, but it wasn't a full moon and would happen sporadically. I thought werewolf had a pretty strict lore where they transition. The main werewolf was hunting every night, so I don't understand how that can happen, if there is no full moon. I could write more about this because there was a fire element that didn't fit into what I know about werewolf lore. Hopefully this gets explained in the upcoming season.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is by far the cheesiest character of the story. She's a great actor, and I liked seeing her on screen, but she would just pop up and be creepy for a plot point in the final episode. Hopefully next season she will be more like Garret who is the protector.
Hopefully this gets many more seasons. I want the main 4 wolf "pack" characters to really get an understanding of their powers. I would like to know more about Garret the step dad who seems to want to be helpful and protect the teens. I love Everett, Blake, Harlan, and Luna - all awesome main characters, none of they were annoying (which Is a rarity for me to say), all had great development and purpose for why they did certain things, etc. The conflicts in all the characters made sense, which is rare for a current show/movie.