BATMAN
I don’t have the luxury of friends.
Luckily for us at AD, we have the lavish luxury of countless friends. Some of those friends have blogs, and better yet, some of those blogs are all about movies. I’ll get around to linking to Stephanie Zacharek’s TDK pan eventually (maybe), but on the eve of the opening it’ll be more fun to link to our friends Nick Plowman at fataculture, and Alexander Coleman at CCC (Coleman’s Corner in Cinema). Nick writes from South Africa, and by dint of his dedicated ambition has managed to score a sweet pass to an early screening of The Dark Knight. Alexander on the West Coast is resident expert on past masterpieces, and looks back to 2005 for an illuminating retake on Batman Begins.
Nick ventures into the dark night of the soul:
Broadening his visionary scope to almost unimaginable lengths, Christopher Nolan’s poetic continuation of his methodical origin tale “Batman Begins” is a darkly ambitious crime-epic focusing on an unusual amount of existential dilemmas more than it is simply a glossy comic-book adaptation. Relentlessly heavy, but never heavy handed, “The Dark Knight” is a flawed film, even if only because monumental expectations allow the film’s ruthless determination to be a vigorous reinvention of the comic genre to be all the more apparent.
But that doesn’t stop it from being an immense debate on the implications of the clean-cut decency vs. malevolence friction and malleability of power in the hands of ruthless men ever present in the justice starved, beleaguered and allegorical Gotham City that never ceases to take a moment to reflect or even breathe.
Alexander rewinds to where it all began:
In Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, the themes and obsessions that have animated Nolan’s worlds, from Following to Memento and Insomnia to The Prestige are actually crystallized, enlarged upon and finally made whole.
If there is a single young auteur out there who can claim to be the artistic heir of Fritz Lang–in terms of themes and obsessions–it’s indeed Nolan. Like the great German titan, Nolan’s films are fixated on the vexatious dilemmas, secrets and moral perplexities of the search for justice in what is a frequently unjust world, the makings and deconstructions of identity, what that identity means and what it doesn’t mean and the savage vengefulness that resides in the heart of fallen man.
11 Responses for "Nolan’s Batman, Past & Present"
God I loved “TDK” so much.
Your exuberance shines through Nick. Terrific job. More fun to read than half the louche louts on metacritic.
Maybe not “movers and shakers” in Leonard Maltin’s limited opinion of what matters, but in my view both Alexander and Nick express their passion for film with such dynamic intelligence, it makes what Maltin squirts out on Entertainted Tonight look scrawny and weasly in comparison.
I know, Maltin works in soundbiteland where a three syllable word would run overtime. But even in his online journal — where he has a chance to expand — it’s all about where he just got back from and where he’s been invited to next. It reads like a Christmas newsletter to his cousins.
So Maltin can sneer all he wants about who’s generating keen thoughts about film, and who’s fueling the engines of movie enthusiasm. Whoever he thinks they are, we know it’s not him.
Admiring the level of sophistication at CCC and fataculture, it’s all the more remarkable to realize Nick and Alexander have only been doing this for a matter of months.
(Who else has a blog they want to link and describe? I know you can embed the URL in your ID, but I always forget to click and see where it takes me.)
Alexander Coleman and Nick Plowman did fantastic work here and I issue my sincerest congratulations.
Add me to the list of the admirers of Mr. Coleman and Mr. Plowman.
Thanks, guys.
“Remind me what we’re talking about again. (ha)”
I don’t know what YOU are talking about. And how can I if you changed the subject?
So FYI, Ryan I never accused Kris of “wallpapering” his site with anything. I stand by my “righteous anger” comment, especially after he tried to turn me into a hater (and, judging by your response, was quite successful) – there’s more histrory to this that I don’t want to get into.
In reality, I can’t wait to see TDK for myself and my post was meant to be good natured provide some perspective on Terry Gilliam as a man (I’m been in contact with a few people who know his personally over the past few years).
Proman, I think the only thing I said to directly address you was “I’m not sure where you’re coming from,” but that wasn’t meant to imply you’re coming from a bad place. I sincerely meant that I couldn’t figure out what either of you were arguing about. I could have easily have said, “I’m mot sure where either of you guys are coming from.” But as you say “there’s more history to this” so at least understand now that I shouldn’t try to understand something without knowing the background.
Must be a volatile situation though, since it’s boiled over all the way to another unrelated site and topic. I promise you my comment was intended to be in spirit of conciliation and friendly referee, but I guess that was a FAIL.
Back to Alexander and Nick though, reading the mainstream major reviews of The Dark Knight, I find that so many of them touch on the same dozen points, as if ticking off items on a list of talking points. Reviews from “non-traditional” or alt media writers like our blogger buddies are often so much more engaging and filled with insight from unexpected angles. Traditional critics can begin to sound like the drone of Muzak, while the fresh voices are more like jazz riff solos in cool underground clubs. Love it. Love it.
Don’t worry, Ryan. As far as I’m concerned you are physically incapable of FAIL. Like Wall-E it’s just not in your machine code
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It’s not a violatile situation at all and I’m sorry I responed harshly to you. It’s just that for a moment I didn’t know what we were talking about either. It’s really just a matter of two guys being very opinionated. Sometimes it may be hard to jump-in mid conversation and understand what’s going on.
And the reason I posted here is because I just want to give you a clarification and this seemed like a more neutral place. Other than that, everything’s peachy.
And sorry for hijacking your thread
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I’ll be seeing TDK pretty soon and who knows, I may even post a review. I’m excited.
jazz…
When I read Nick’s writing, I forget how freaking young he is (& that he gets to see all these cool movies before me even though I’ve been in this game in this country for about as long as he’s been… in his teens… or longer… I dunno… what?)
Anyway. Nick makes me very proud, even tho I don’t know him from a bar of soap. I guess its ‘Charlize’ syndrome. Fortunately you both deserve the praise. (recently saw Charlize’s stint in Arrested Development… oh my. very loud ha). Nick really writes from the heart & a hard-working brain, and seems to examine every angle of his movie-going experience, but refreshingly. I wish I visited his site more, as he seems to have reviewed everything, ever during his winter break. But alas I have been largely internet-starved.
But Roo-hah to the ambitious young blogger from the country with the worst movie accents ever..!
(& Nick, if you, or anyone else, reads this… am I alone in actually having high hopes for upcoming ‘Hansie..’? Maybe I should post this on YOUR actual page..?)
Thanks all, seriously
Closer to the time I am totally going to do a post on the “Hansie” flick, September 24th I think, and yeah my hopes are high!
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