Kevin's Watch

Bah to the Rob Zombie Joker. At least I can't recognize Heath Ledger. That's a relief.

I actually like the new look. It looks less like something that's design purpose is to look cool, and more like a practical suit of armor, while still looking intimidating.

Batman begins was fantastic (even with the poorly edited and shot fight scenes). It shows you just how much you can do with a movie that *perish the thought* has a good script.

Edit: Youtubed a trailor that had two-face's coin in it. I also noticed some focus on Aaron Eckhart, is he going to play two-face? I was maddened by the fact that they got that dumb bimbo (Katie Holmes, giving a D+ Performance) playing Dents part. (From Batman: Year One)

That would be an awesome casting choice. (Hard to beat Tommy Lee Jones, but I buy Eckhart more as Dent)

The Dreaming wrote:I actually like the new look. It looks less like something that's design purpose is to look cool, and more like a practical suit of armor, while still looking intimidating.

That's true, but look at how much he relied on mobility, agility and stealth in Batman Begins. Wearing all that chunky armour stuff, he'll be waddling around like a penguin (no pun intended).

The pirated trailer I linked to earlier is now up in glorious Quicktime.

atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm

I think this movie looks good. But they are obviously trying to sell the joker; very little Batman in there. Except he seems to have a cool Batcycle.

And was that Voldemort I saw?

Looks good!

Wayfriend wrote:I think this movie looks good. But they are obviously trying to sell the joker; very little Batman in there. Except he seems to have a cool Batcycle.

My favorite part of the trailer was when Batman crushed that car by landing o n it. The Joker felt forced. I suppose I like the more suave, Mark Hamill Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. His zaniness was fun--not dark and disturbing, like Ledger's. Of course, a trailer is never a fair indication of how good the movie will be, let alone an actor's performance.

I'm excited! When does it open?

Summer '08, just like the trailer said, O blind one!

Lord Foul wrote:

Wayfriend wrote:I think this movie looks good. But they are obviously trying to sell the joker; very little Batman in there. Except he seems to have a cool Batcycle.

My favorite part of the trailer was when Batman crushed that car by landing o n it. The Joker felt forced. I suppose I like the more suave, Mark Hamill Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. His zaniness was fun--not dark and disturbing, like Ledger's. Of course, a trailer is never a fair indication of how good the movie will be, let alone an actor's performance.

Were we watching the same cartoon? Hamill's joker was pretty much as disturbing as they could get away with on a saturday morning cartoon. He still was a homicidal manic, he just had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. I actually see a lot more of Hamill than Nicholson in the trailor.

Lord Foul wrote:

Wayfriend wrote:I think this movie looks good. But they are obviously trying to sell the joker; very little Batman in there. Except he seems to have a cool Batcycle.

My favorite part of the trailer was when Batman crushed that car by landing o n it. The Joker felt forced. I suppose I like the more suave, Mark Hamill Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. His zaniness was fun--not dark and disturbing, like Ledger's. Of course, a trailer is never a fair indication of how good the movie will be, let alone an actor's performance.

The Joker should be dark and disturbing!

High definition trailer with lots of shots of the Joker:

www.atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm

LF wrote:Bah to the Rob Zombie Joker. At least I can't recognize Heath Ledger. That's a relief.

Bah to your "bah"! The proof remains to be seen but from the early glimpses this Joker is much closer to Frank Miller's definitive Joker!

I thought Nicholson's Joker was way to hammy and he wasn't in the best of shape either. He just wasn't very threatening imo.

Anyone here think that Burton's movie was better than "Batman Begins"?

The Dreaming wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:

Wayfriend wrote:I think this movie looks good. But they are obviously trying to sell the joker; very little Batman in there. Except he seems to have a cool Batcycle.

My favorite part of the trailer was when Batman crushed that car by landing o n it. The Joker felt forced. I suppose I like the more suave, Mark Hamill Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. His zaniness was fun--not dark and disturbing, like Ledger's. Of course, a trailer is never a fair indication of how good the movie will be, let alone an actor's performance.

Were we watching the same cartoon? Hamill's joker was pretty much as disturbing as they could get away with on a saturday morning cartoon. He still was a homicidal manic, he just had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. I actually see a lot more of Hamill than Nicholson in the trailor.

I suppose I was trying to say Ledger's a more anarchic interpretation than Hamill's. As you said, that's because one's on the big screen, the other on TV. I'll admit the line is pretty thin between the Joker variations (unless you compare the 60s TV show), but I did find a kind of iconic warmth with the animated Joker, which is lacking in this one. Maybe it's the Crow makeup I don't like. Heh.

It'll probably take the movie itself to dispel my fears. I had similar fears when I saw Gollum in FotR. Thank God they revised him before Two Towers to look like Andy Serkis. But I digress: the suave Joker with the slicked-back hairdo is the one I'm familiar with. The Joker's always been unrealistic to me, and Nolan's take seems too real. The formula seems "give him a scar, some grungy make-up and bad clothes."

Brinn wrote:

LF wrote:Bah to the Rob Zombie Joker. At least I can't recognize Heath Ledger. That's a relief.

Bah to your "bah"! The proof remains to be seen but from the early glimpses this Joker is much closer to Frank Miller's definitive Joker!

Bah to your bah of my bah. Frank Miller's Joker looked like a bodybuilder, which Heath Ledger is not. If anything, it's the lanky look that began in the 1970s.

Hrm, We coulda said all of these things about Cillian Murpheys "scarecrow", but he has a curious menace that you would *not* have been able to see in a trailor. Let's see the movie!

(Eckhart as Dent, that's absolutely genious! Finally a Two-Face that will break our heart as much as it broke Bruce's)

Brinn wrote:Anyone here think that Burton's movie was better than "Batman Begins"?

I don't!

dANdeLION wrote:

Brinn wrote:Anyone here think that Burton's movie was better than "Batman Begins"?

I don't!

Me neither. I remember it fondly as a kid, but I don't think it's aged all that well. I'd be interested to know which one Brinn prefers.

I hated Burton's Batman. Too stylized and cartoony for my tastes. In summary, a typical Burton movie. My exposure to Batman at that time was mostly through Miller's Dark Knight Returns and the Batman that Burton imagined was far from Miller's vision. Nolan's Batman was a near masterpiece and I can only hope that the third installment is based upon the Dark Knight Returns. It seems to me to be setting up that way.

I thought Burton's first Batman was a fine negotiation between the darkness of the source material and the campiness of the TV series. I'm sure he felt that he needed to honor both sources, to entertain both audiences.

Brinn wrote:I hated Burton's Batman. Too stylized and cartoony for my tastes. In summary, a typical Burton movie. My exposure to Batman at that time was mostly through Miller's Dark Knight Returns and the Batman that Burton imagined was far from Miller's vision. Nolan's Batman was a near masterpiece and I can only hope that the third installment is based upon the Dark Knight Returns. It seems to me to be setting up that way.

I hated Burton's Batman also, but Kim Basinger was some nice scenery though, wasn't she? Nicholson was fun as the Joker but his portrayal couldn't be further from the way Joker should be. Joker should be 90 % evil/10% insane, and he needs to be able to hold his own against Batman in a physical confrontation (at least for a short period of time.)

I just beg Nolan - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not feel the need to kill off the villian at the end of the film like Burton did. The biggest shock in Burton's was killing off the main Batman villian at the end. I didn't really like the formula of the previous Batman incarnations: Meet villian, get beat up for a while, kill villian. I did sort of like Batman Returns (wasn't that the name of the second movie?) mainly for the mood, but have really not enjoyed any of the others, including the first one. It's something that angered me a bit with the Spiderman movies too, but at least they gave more going on with Spiderman himself to make it a bit more interesting.

Still, send the damn Joker to Arkham or however you spell it. He's a very interesting villian and let's get superheroes out of the James Bond formula please! But keep him alive with a possible cameo later. I would love to see Batman develop the way Spidey has in the movies, but damn...have the villians develop too. Kind of like the Hobgoblin in the Spidey films.

My dream is for the Nolan Batman future films to suddenly have an Arkham breakout and all the supervillians escape and the fun really gets rolling. They've already developed the characters, and you can introduce a new one (like Harley Quinn) and see how well the baddies all play together. It's probably too much to hope for though, as actors pretty much sign on for one film. Still, I'd rather see these franchises a bit less about introducing interesting villian(s) then killing them off.

Rant done.