In this reel of COL Movies, It’s another “very special episode” as the boys talk about the Dark Knight Trilogy. They kick off with the original Nolan-verse creation, “Batman Begins”, and move on to what they feel is the gem of the series, “The Dark Knight”. In theaters, of course, they review the conclusion of the triumvirate, “The Dark Knight Rises”. In trailer news, they look at the (spoiler alert) utterly forgettable preview of “The Expendables 2”. In brief movie news, we bring up John Favreau’s partnership with Pixar and Peter Jackson’s attempt at making “The Hobbit” into a trilogy! It’s the 115th reel of COL Movies…”Fear, Chaos, Pain”
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News:
The Past: Batman Begins
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% Fresh; 90% Audience
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The Past: The Dark Knight
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh; 96% Audience
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Director: Christopher Nolan
Staring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger
Trivia:
Talking Points:
- The flaw of the microwave emitter
- When you first saw this did you expect it to be a trilogy?
What We Learned From Batman Begins:
- The world is too small for a man like Bruce Wayne to Disappear
- A vigilante is just a man lost in the search for his own gratification
- Death is not considerate or friendly
- We fall, so we can learn to pick ourselves up.
- All creatures feel fear, especially the scary ones.
- Invisibility is simply a matter of patience and agility
- You always fear what you don’t understand
- It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.
- Never go into business with someone without finding out their dirty secrets.
What We Learned From The Dark Knight:
- What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.
- When your the Gotham D.A. if your not getting shot at your not doing your Job right
- You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain
- Criminals aren’t complicated you just have to figure out what they are after.
- Some men just want to watch the world burn.
- The night is darkest just before the dawn
Trailer:
Recommendations:
Jeff: Nolan has really taken an amazing approach to what has to be my favorite superhero ever. He stays relatively true the the Batman story but knows that it’s his universe and Batman does things differently in his world. Heath Ledger’s Joker was amazing and perfect for the world. I can’t recommend these movies more.
Ray: Anyone who is a fan of superhero movies needs to watch these, but the great thing about these especially The Dark Knight is that you don’t have to be. I consider The Dark Knight one of the best Crime Dramas to come around in the last 10 years, plus it’s pretty cool that Batman is in it too. Cemented by an amazing performance by Heath Ledger that also demands to be seen.
Steve: OK…I admit that I enjoyed the Dark Knight the most! Heath Ledger is awesome – although Maggie G just didn’t do a darn thing for me. That’s one time I missed Katie Holmes. Batman Begins just kind of set the stage for the rest of the films…and drags for me.
The Present: The Dark Knight Rises
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% Fresh; 93% Audience
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard
Trivia:
Talking Points:
- The tale of two annoying voices. – Bane – Raz al Ghul
- The soundtrack.. good or bad?
- The Ending – could it have been done differently?
- Sequel in the nolanverse?
- Wait! What? Talia’s in this movie!
- Plot Holes!
Critic Notes
- Positives: Production value was extremely high and Nolan knew the look he was going for and delivered it; the conclusion was a fitting end to the story and the epicness of the hero;
- Negatives: “clunky”; an ordeal to sit through; acting was manufactured; hard to understand the dialogue; extremely stretched out because every recollection had to be done in flashback; overall Nolan tanked or dialed this one in.
What We Learned:
- Detectives are not allowed to believe in coincidences
- People don’t pay attention to you until you put on a mask
- Hope is really the key to torture
- A hero can be anyone
Trailer:
Recommendations :
Jeff: I was right. This movie did not pull out the amazing awesomeness that The Avengers did and I don’t expect it to perform as well in the box office still. It still was an incredible ending to the Nolan Batman story line but this was still I movie I could have waited for and just suffered from a pre-release lack of enthusiasm. I think it’s definitely worth seeing in the theaters but I wouldn’t say there’s much off a rush.
Ray: A good strong finish to the Trilogy but not my favorite of the three. This is very much the “Return of the Jedi” of the series for me, but instead of annoying ewoks, it’s got annoying vocal performances and plot holes. A must see if your a fan of the other two though.
Steve: Definitely not my favorite, except for Tom Hardy of course. Just didn’t have the same punch as the others and seemed like it was just there to wrap up the story. It was pretty though. I actually liked that they did bring stuff in from the previous movies – made it feel more complete than just 3 stand alone films.
The Future: The Expendables 2
Release: August 12, 2012
Director: Simon West
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture
Summary:
After taking a seemingly simple job for Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), the Expendables find their plans going awry and one of their own is brutally murdered by rival mercenary Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme).[2] The Expendables set out into hostile territory – with their new members Bill the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) – to put a stop to a deadly weapon and gain their revenge against the people who killed their brother-in-arms
Talking Points:
- Why are we reviewing this trailer? Did we not destroy the first film?
Trailer:
Excitement:
Jeff: Hey, The Expendables again. . . . Would love to see this on Netflix streaming.
Ray: Move along…nothing to see here.
Steve: Slept through the first one…I image it will be more of the same.
The Past:
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The Present:
The Future:
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