Friday, July 20, 2012

Prayers go out to victims of Colorado shooting

I think it's despicable that someone would come in and disrupt the lives of many that are just trying to enjoy a movie. The midnight showing should be the most exciting event for movie fans, including myself. I love going to movies at midnight, mainly the big movies such as this. It is a great experience to have eager movie fans join and celebrate the joy of the experience before everyone else has the chance to see it.

For those that don't know what happened, a patron bought his ticket and entered the theater, and then took the emergency exit, propped it open and came back as the movie was starting, he was armed and had a gas mask on, and then started firing at everyone in the theater, as well as throwing gas bombs. 12 were killed and about 49 more were injured. It was a true tragedy. I have a hard time believing that someone would be this senseless to commit such a despicable crime. The guy's name was James Holmes. H was dressed up in a way that others wouldn't suspect him for anything.

My prayers go out to those that have lost loved ones in this horrible shooting, and also those that have been injured that they may have a speedy recovery.

I would also like to make a statement. Yes, this was a tragic event, but this should not stop us from going to the movies. That includes the movie, "The Dark Knight Rises", Which is an excellent movie that is a must see. Don't let terrorist attacks or anything of that matter keep you from living. If you let fear get the best of you, then the terrorists have won.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

10 Days till Dark Knight Rises

Well, we are now less than 10 days away till The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters and IMAX. It's that time to get your tickets for the midnight showing, or the showing that weekend. I would suggest you get your tickets soon because you never know, they could be sold out soon, especially for a midnight showing. As for me, I am going to a 3:30 am showing on Friday morning, that's right, it is at an IMAX. In my opinion, this will be a massive movie, and the way to experience it the first time around is to go to the biggest screen possible to experience it. So I will drive about 45 minutes to get up to my nearest IMAX theater to see this, to honor the huge experience. I recommend anyone of you to see it on the IMAX. Why not finish this epic trilogy by seeing it on the biggest screen possible.

Well, besides that, this has been the one movie that everyone has been looking forward to since the end of The Dark Knight 4 years ago. To prepare for this grand experience, here is a list of questions to think about and to get one speculating before entering the theater. As well, I will share some thoughts on some of the questions. Feel free to share your ideas as well, I am open for possibilities, but if any of you have already seen the movie for some odd reason, please don't spoil.

Is Batman still being hunted and considered a criminal? I am pretty sure it’s safe to assume so. At the end of The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent was killed after going around killing cops that were responsible for the death of his girlfriend, and Batman decided to keep his madness a secret and put the responsibilities of the deaths on his soldiers. It is pretty safe to assume that Batman basically went into hiding, because there is an 8 year gap between the events of The Dark Knight and this new movie. If you have watched the trailers, which I am sure you have, you will have witnessed an older Bruce Wayne who seems a little worn out, and is spotted with a cane. Why is he worn out, what has happened?

Who is John Blake? To give you an idea who this is, it is a new cop assigned to Gordon’s unit, he is played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. There seems to be more to him than we might originally think. There are rumors going on that he could possibly step in for Batman after… (so much speculation that Batman could die, or his back could be broken)

Will Dent’s true demise come to light? We all know that Harvey dent turned into a fallen hero at the end of The Dark Knight, but of course that was hidden from the public, except for Batman and Commissioner Gordon, and possibly Alfred and Fox. Will the truth come out? Will everyone come to see Batman as a true hero?

What happened to Lucius Fox? At the end of The Dark Knight, the results of that device that was used to track the Joker are not very clear, did it stay at Wayne Enterprises for a while or is it still there, or is it now at the Bat Cave or has it been destroyed. We saw Lucius type in his name like Batman asked him to, but did Fox quit after that or did they destroy it? Obviously Fox came back to Wayne Enterprises seeing that he is back, but did differences have to be resolved, or is everything OK?????

What is Bane’s goal? Who is Bane? We have seen plenty of him in the trailers, but honestly, we don’t know very much about him. He’s big, he wears a mask, and we have a hard time understanding him. But why does he want to terrorize Gotham? Why is he after Batman? We found out the goals from the previous films for each foe, Ra’s al Ghul found Gotham corrupted and therefore he felt he needed to destroy it and rebuild it. The Joker want to cause chaos and bring out the insanity of the public. What would Bane want to do? There is obviously some sort of revolution going on. But what is the purpose. Each villain has a purpose, a reason for doing what they are doing, and we will have to wait to find out what it is.

How does Catwoman play in all this? We have Catwoman in this new movie, but why is she in it, how does she become Catwoman. Is she a good cat or bad cat? She is Selina Kyle who is an employer over at Wayne Mansion, I think a maid of some sort. But I have also heard rumors that she is also working for Bane, and don’t know exactly what she is doing for him and how she got involved. But of course we will find out when the movie arrives.

Will the Joker make an appearance? The answer is no, he will not be in this movie, Christopher Nolan has confirmed this. He did not want to do anything to corrupt Heath Ledger’s final performance, it was a wonderful performance and obviously gave it his all, so therefore I do not feel it would be right to bring the Joker back either with a different actor, and of course Christopher Nolan did not shoot anything with Heath Ledger for a future movie before his passing.

Will the Scarecrow make an appearance? There has been a rumor that he will, the actor Cillian Murphy has been spotted on the set. What kind of role will he play in this new movie if he is in it? Will any other characters from the former movies make an appearance? Obviously Rachel Dawes won’t as she is dead, and anyone else that was killed in The Dark Knight. But wait, Ra’s al Ghul is rumored to be in the movie, but of course he died at the end of Batman Begins. Possibly a flashback, and that means that the League of Shadows will play a role in this movie, but what would that role be?

Will the Valcone crime family play a role in this movie? They were fairly big in the other movies, so do they play a role in this one, or is it other criminals? If we remember in The Dark Knight, the Valcone crime family had been killed by The Joker, and also Harvey Dent (Two Face at that point) killed some of the members of the crime family, including Muroni and one of his planted cops. But of course someone from the crime family could step up and recreate the entire business.

What new toys will we be introduced to in The Dark Knight Rises? The one thing we are already aware of is The Bat, the famous copter that Batman flies around, is it more slick than the Batpod, which I think is amazing, I am not ready to answer that, but I want one, maybe more than the Batpod. That would make getting to places far away much easier, maybe a trip to Hawaii would be more affordable than paying for a plane ticket. But anyway, that is one of the big toys, there are bound to be really cool toys besides that. We will have to wait and see what Lucius has up his sleeve.

Will Batman die at the end of the movie? Predicting a death of a main character, yes I am, Christopher Nolan has stated that this movie will be the last movie of the Batman world that Christopher Nolan has created. In order for that to happen, something dramatic would have to happen at the end. That event could be the death of Bruce Wayne. It has been stated at the beginning of Batman Begins that if Bruce Wayne devoted himself to an ideal that he could be more than just a man, that he could become a legend. Even Bruce Wayne on his way back to Gotham, that he couldn’t fight the injustice of Gotham as Bruce Wayne but that he would need to become something else to do so, a symbol of hope.

Now here is another big question that has been discussed since the release of The Avengers. Could this possibly beat the records that The Avengers has set? I am going to say yes, there is a very strong possibility that it won’t, but honestly, many predicted when Dark Knight came out four years ago that it wouldn’t beat any records, but of course it had set many new records, which were enormous at the time, and are still huge today. So I could see the same results with this movie. Therefore, I will predict that it will surpass Avengers monstrous record.

Now feel free to share speculation.

Plus, here is a new TV spot as of today.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

2011 review

Yes, I know, I haven't touched this blog for almost a year, I have gotten really busy lately. But I decided that I should post something new, so I decided to give my top 11 list of 2011 (why 11, because it was 2011, I think 11 would be appropriate)

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – A perfect way to end off a series, I think the great thing about this series was that the cast stayed the same (except for Dumbledore, but honestly you can’t do much with that), and also that there really wasn’t a bad movie in the series (there were a couple that weren’t great, but honestly that’s it). There much excitement in the theater during the early shows, and honestly, that is when a movie is fun. Plus a really good story that is well crafted.

2. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol – Many third sequels aren’t good (Batman and Robin, need I say more), but honestly here they got creative and pushed the boundaries of intensity a bit. They had a strong crew for this with the likes of Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg. I say the best way to see this is IMAX. And this is my favorite in the series.

3. Captain America – This was one superhero that I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing on the big screen, mainly because I don’t think much when I see this character, I was so wrong, this was a great movie, one that exceeded my expectations, and really made me like the character more. Plus it had a really solid story and was much fun to watch.

4. Super 8 – Think of ET and The Goonies meshed together, you get this. I felt the strongest thing about this was how much it had the feeling of a movie that could have been made back in the 80s. Plus a really solid cast, mainly with people I don’t really know. That’s right, you don’t always need a Hollywood Class A cast to make a movie good.

5. Hugo – Personally, I think 3D got really abused this year, it had potential, and still sort of does if they can not make every movie 3D, but this was one movie that actually really used 3D to their advantage, and was a big part of the story. This was such a unique world to explore, and had a lot of nice history of filmmaking. This also had a really good story, and good things to think through. This one should not be missed.

6. Moneyball – A movie really doesn’t always need car chases or explosions to be good, if it has a good story and strong acting, then a movie can be great. I learned a few things about Baseball that I never really thought about before. Plus I think this is one of Brad Pitt’s better roles.

7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes/ X-Men: First Class – Honestly I had a hard time taking one of these off the list so I decided to have them at a tie. Both prequels (maybe Rise of the Planet of the Apes may be more of a reboot but not sure) and they certainly restored my faith in prequels and made me see that they have stronger potential then what they tend to be. As well, this X-Men movie was the best one I have seen in a long time, and was well crafted. Rise of the Planet of the Apes had some really strong performances, and can make you feel sorry for a soon to be villain, honestly X-Men First Class was also great at doing that too.

8. Rango – This was definitely one of the weirder movies that came out this past year (Tree of Life is way more trippy), but because it was, it was a ton of fun to watch and had many elements that make a movie great. Personally I see this one winning Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

9. Thor – Again, one of those superheroes that I didn’t have much anticipation for, but it was good. Man, the visuals were very cool to look at.

10. Limitless – This was one movie that had a very different concept than was is normally found in the movies today, and a very interesting way of presenting it.

11. Muppets – I never really watched the series as a kid or many of the movies, but this was a ton of fun to watch. I really enjoyed the many cameos throughout the film.

Movies that didn’t make the cut but are still worth seeing: Unknown, Source Code, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 2, Real Steel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Lincoln Lawyer, War Horse.

Now with 2012 here, I am making a list of the top 12 movies I want to see this year

1. The Dark Knight Rises
2. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
3. The Avengers
4. Brave
5. John Carter
6. Hunger Games
7. Journey 2 the Mysterious Island
8. Wrath of the Titans
9. Men in Black 3
10. Man on a Ledge
11. GI Joe Retailiation
12. This Means War

Other Mentions: Chronicle, Secret World of Arriety, Lorax, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Mirror Mirror, Safe House, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Battleship, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Amazing Spider Man, Madagascar 3, Ice Age 4, Bourne Legacy, Total Recall