I've been playing all evening on a site called Hollywood Stock Exchange, where you can invest playmoney on various movies, stars, genres, directors, derivatives, and such. It's fun to see what movies are in the list. I have a weird love of faux stock exchange games.

Just got back (well, to Joe and Aimee's...It's an hour to my house, and I don't think that would be a wise choice) from TDKR. Apart from the utterly craptastic sound mix (I had my ears plugged any time there was bass, and I missed significant chunks of dialogue that I couldn't hear over the score. At first I thought it was a design choice to have inaudible dialogue, but, no), it was very good.

I loved the call-backs to the previous 2 films (Holy Liam Neeson cameo, Batman!), and wish that I'd watched both of them recently (did see TDK just before, which was good). The thematic threads across the three were particularly interesting, although the order vs. chaos of TDK was much less politically on-the-nose than the Occupy-esque/French Revolution-y (As Aimee said, Anne Hathaway must have wandered around the set wondering why she felt the urge to burst into song) thing this had going on, I'm not sure how well it worked to make its points on that front, but I'm not sure that Batman movies are where you can do that, anyway. Unless, of course, it's that you can't trust anyone who claims to want to take power away from the elites and give it to The People, since they only want it for themselves (or to blow shit up, whichever)

I, embarrassingly, did not put together "Oh, Talia" before they used her name, although I had the "she's got it. No, no, Bruce. She's got it. Bruce, stop beating him up and turn around. She's got...fine" (second only to the "take off the rope" in the "I'm getting frustrated because I've figured this out and the characters haven't" game).

In summation, JGL Nightwing movie now, yes? Please?

eta: Also! Up until the ending, did anyone else read Catwoman as lesbian-in-a-reasonably-committed-relationship?

Connie,

I did HSX years ago. I even ran a fund on HSX. There are a couple of buffistas who also were on HSX, but I didn't know them then. I retired after my account got really big. I haven't logged in there in ages.

I also did HSX years ago and haven't logged on in ages.

I am reading the spoilerfont! WOO

He should just be in every post-credits scene of every movie from now on. Romantic comedies, Pixar movies, subtitled foreign films -- everything.

This would be the best web series in the universe.

I don't know if I can use words with actual syllables in them until I see it again--but I really liked the first viewing. I thought it had some interesting contrasts with The Avengers, as well as being entirely entirely different. However, although all super bad guy plans fall apart in the light of reality, this movie at least had a plan. And this plan made me sad--I didn't just cry at the "let us rally!" bits like in Avengers (Enver! Call me!), but also at the "Oh! This is gonna be bad, huh?" bits here and there.

1 and 2 aren't that related, but this one is related to them both, so if you're foggy on either and could stand a rewatch--give it a go. It makes two movies with the same characters into a proper trilogy pretty well, in that we end up with a definite arc for Bruce, and kind of an arc for some of the other folk.

The people new to the movie worked well--I didn't doubt Anne Hathaway (or her heels--they lampshaded them acceptably) within the genre. T-Hard did really well considering the fucking hell mask--his body language was really terrifying at parts. He was just so...brrr. Menace. I liked that. And I don't know if we got the brilliant genius Bane is in the comics, but he's certainly in control of shit--not in a sly way like Loki was, but deftly none the less.

JGL fucking tore shit up. If you loved him before, your loins are still ready. He was great, just great. Convincing, solid, emotional appropriately, everything I think he needed to be. And he got a crypoint from me...when he grabbed the shotgun and went to the hospital for Gordon --he looked so fierce and capable I choked up.

I found the trailers worked well for me, because there was a bit that's a fucking crawl up to a memorable trailer scene (I don't usually remember scenes properly, but this one sticks out), and I feel each moment (each note) just ratchets things up more and more.

Politically, I have no fucking idea. I'm generally used to Batman falling on the excessive side of what is right, and the bad guys falling on the "I don't care if you have a kernel of a point, YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO GOTHAM." And it was mostly that, again.

Science you can pretty much guarantee fails and fails hard. There's no way detonating out to see doesn't end up killing lots of people and wildlile, and where exactly did Batman bail out?

I have to say--I did think that Bane was one of the older prisoners, because of how the faces were covered, but I could not work out who made the kid. So I decided he was the kid after all, because I never made it all the way to Talia DESPITE EVERY SPOILER EVER ABOUT COTILLARD'S ROLE. I felt kinda dumb after that.

On the flip side, when they made the perfectly obvious Robin reveal (I'm assuming it's a Tim-Dick amalgam if anything (hell--you can throw Jason in if you want--maybe he crossdresses and there's some Stephanie?), and they named him Robin so they don't have to match origin stories and your average non comic reader doesn't have to do the math and gets to fist pump along with us dorks I did exactly what Nolan wanted, and I felt no shame at all at being manipulated.

So, basically, I liked it, I intend to see it again at least once in the theatre though maybe not again at IMAX prices, and I'm buying it as soon as it comes out.

And it wasn't perfect, but it was mine. ALL MINE.

Oh--something that crisply compares the difference between Gotham and Earth 616--The Avengers starts with Tony casually plugging in remorse-free perfect energy, and this movie hinges on the fact that they've been hiding this potential from Gotham from years, because the moment anyone sees it, they're going to use it to blow the entire city up and leave it a nuclear wasteland.

Because that's how Gotham rolls.

Maybe he pops up at the end of Magic Mike to be all, "I'd like to talk to you about the Strippers Initiative."

That would have made the movie 769 times better. Possibly more.

NINE ELEVEN HOURS TO GO. Exactly.

t edit What the hell? I can't count when I wake up, apparently. (It's no longer 11 hours as of this edit, but I felt like I should edit the original for posterity and to own up to the fact that math is harrrrrrrd.)

JGL fucking tore shit up. If you loved him before, your loins are still ready. He was great, just great. Convincing, solid, emotional appropriately, everything I think he needed to be. And he got a crypoint from me...

Predictably, I love this.