[...] I still like the atmospheric music. I hadn’t realized I could sing along to most of the songs, still — but then, I owned the Music From and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy cassette tape. Watching the movie again — which looks great, let me reiterate — was a fun reminder of what good comic movies looked like before we got the artistry and relative subtlety of things like The Avengers, Iron Man, or The Dark Knight. [...]

[...] because I find these spectaculars too dark for my taste. I don’t even recall if I ever saw The Dark Knight (because I was upset by Heath Ledger’s passing), and I was three years late on Batman Begins. [...]

[...] Dark Knight Rises, the third in the most recent cinematic Batman trilogy (the one directed by Christopher Nolan), comes to Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on December 4. [...]

[...] The writer was interviewed at Publishers Weekly. I found it interesting that he points out how rare it is these days for DC to release original, non-continuity graphic novels — he’s right, they’ve backed away from the format after a number of earlier experiments. In this case, the driving force was the blockbuster movie. [...]

I wonder if waiting for the DVD over theater is because how less specialy the theater experience is now? I mean you go now and you have commercials just like at the house. The previews tend to be ones anyone with an internet connection has seen for months and it costs so much these days.

Plus its all become so homogenized, you can go to just about any theater in the country and you couldn’t tell from inside the difference.

I used to love going to my local theater that was locally owned and run. It was old and had a neat atmosphere. Then the man who ran it retired, and Fandango bought it out. Now its no different than the big multiplexes, heck worse as with the smaller setting (one theater only) you notice things like poor bathrooms, bad seats, and unclean look more.

More and more, it seems that people dislike the actual theater-going experience, be it ticket prices, noisy patrons or just going out to the movies.

With people have 40-inch + HDTVs at home, with super sound systems and all that jazz, is watching a movie at home really a drop in quality the way it was back in the 1980s?

I know I pretty only go to the theater when I want to see something I expect to be “great” or “interesting.” I mostly go to the arthouse these days, unless there’s something I wnat to specifically patronize, like Hellboy 2(of course, hindsight is 20/20 and I should have waited for DVD on that disappointing picture).

That said, I’ll go see Batman soon, once the crowds have died down.

Jim, it’s not just about legs, but about theaters rushing films in and out more quickly than they used to, too.

Good point!

I thought Ledger was good in his role, though it was one that seemed to be written conflictivly. I mean on one hand he bemoans order, plans and schemers. Yet he seems to have a lot of complicated plans and schemes as well.

Lord knows I have my problems with TDK, but this wasn’t one of them. It doesn’t strike me as problematic, from either a plot or theme perspective, that the crazy evil guy says one thing but sometimes does another.

Jack, calling other people names isn’t allowed here. I’m sure I’ll enjoy Iron Man more than Dark Knight, too — in fact, if patterns hold true, I probably won’t even see DK until a couple of years from now. :)

James, great response. And feel free to discuss.

I thought Ledger was good in his role, though it was one that seemed to be written conflictivly. I mean on one hand he bemoans order, plans and schemers. Yet he seems to have a lot of complicated plans and schemes as well.

I do strangely prefer the IM movie I must admit. (which is odd as I prefer Batman to Iron Man) Iron Man was just more… bright, fun and interesting. Batman was dark and the tragedy was hollow seeming to me. It would have probably worked better for me if I’d been made to care about the people the tragic events were happening to.

I bet you didn’t like The Departed either. Let me guess, you think Water World doesn’t get a fair shake either…

I bet you haven’t even seen the movie

I couldn’t help but compare it to Iron Man. IM has the superhero blowing things up and flying in a great looking costume, Batman has the character fighting in darkly lit buildings in a goofy costume.

Don’t get me started on the female characters. Or should I call them trophies?