Batman Begins

[Ultrahip]

Yes, those are the one's!

[Tryskadekafobia]

Spoilers, Perhaps?

I agree with Losing the Horse on the briskness of the scenes.  It was a little disorienting.  Like when Batman busts the dock workers bringing in the drugs and the homeless guy with the coat is there all of a sudden.  Or when Rutger Hauer comes in to question Morgan Freeman about the lost cargo piece and then just fires him, to move onto the next scene.  "WTF?"  But those are small little things.  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  And I'll take one Gary Oldman one-liner over too many shitty ones from Schwarzenegger.  

Definitely the best Batman movie, by far!

[AntiDumbFrogQuestion]

for some stupid reason I didn't recognize Cillian Murphy and somehow my imagination equated him to be Zach Braff with cheekbones.

The movie is worth the bucks. A couple one liners, a few recurring 'themes' repeated verbally, Katie Holmes (even though we'd all do her)...but it was made up for by most everything else. Even the blurriness and the closeups of the action seemed visceral. And Tom Wilkinson NOT playing a doctor? Whew!
Oh, Christian Bale, that cinematography just makes me wanna ya
well...my Christian Bale I still mean Katie Holmes.

Speaking of Mr. Freeze one-liners...the better part of my last fall semester was spent spouting lines like "ICE TO SEE YOU!" and "I thought I'd order a pizza with extra FREEZE!!" in an Arnie voice. Pretty soon we just yelled stupid shit like "BLIZZARD!".  Man we milked that for about 3 weeks  

[Finn]

I thought it was an excellent Batman film. It was much more of a character study than a loud action movie. Bale was great as Batman and the rest of the cast was strong (except Katie Holmes was a litte stiff). The writing was very good and Christopher Nolan did a wonderful job with the camera work. At first I thought the scenes were moving a little too fast like they were trying to cram it all in. But it wore off after a while and became solid as a whole. Easily one of the year's best.

[RegularKarate]

I really enjoyed this one, but everyone who is saying this movie "got it right" probably aren't that familiar with Batman.  

What I liked is that it changed almost all the right things.

I think Bale is the best as Batman the person, but when it comes to being behind the mask, Keaton has him totally beat.

If this follows the latest trend where the sequel is better than the next one will be the best of the current batch.

oh yeah... and DC's intro is a little too much like Marvel's.

[AntiDumbFrogQuestion]

oh yeah... and DC's intro is a little too much like Marvel's.

cuz DC know they ain't got SHIT on Marvel

[Finn]

Christopher Nolan interview that aired today on The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell:

http://kcrw.com/cgi-bin/ram_wrap.cgi?/tt/tt050615Christopher_Nolan

[Ghostboy]

I think Bale is the best as Batman the person, but when it comes to being behind the mask, Keaton has him totally beat.

Agreed.

[Kal]

I liked it... but I was sorta dissapointed... I thought I was gonna love it. Love it like I did with Star Wars ROTS.

++++ BIG SPOILERS ++++


Bruce Wayne was very good as himself, not so much as Batman.

Cillian Murphy was bad.

The dialogue was pretty bad most of the time.

I didnt like Liam Nesson being the bad guy, and at the same time the mentor. Its kinda like Obi Wan turning to the Dark Side.

The Morgan Freeman character conflicts a lot with Alfred. Neither one got enough attention or credit for their influence in Bruce.

The whole deal with the CEO of Wayne Enterprises is also wrong. The guy was really protecting Bruce's interests for 20 years, and sold the company, and did everything a businessman does. He wasnt involved in all the shit. So why does he get fired? And why does he fire Fox in the first place? He looks like the bad guy but its not clear.

Tom Wilkinson seemed like a great bad guy a the beginning and ends up being nothing.

So yes I liked the film... I enjoyed it... but is not as good as Batman 1 with the Joker. I think Christian Bale is awsome and I was happy that he landed this role and he played it well. But I was really expecting MORE in the script, more in the dialogue, more in general.

[Ravi]

I liked Batman Begins but I too felt that overall it was rushed and that neither Morgan Freeman nor Michael Caine's characters were in it enough.  And it was cool that the villains weren't as over-the-top as in previous films.  Overall it was good, and I certainly liked that it tried to be "realistic," but I didn't think it lives up to all the ecstatic praise.

And Holmes is just another in a line of uncharismatic women in superhero films.

It was weird seeing Cillian Murphy (Cheekbones) and Tom Wilkinson in the same film again, as I just watched Girl with a Pearl Earring a couple of days ago.

[Myxo]

..caught Bale and Nolan on Charlie Rose tonight. It was a good interview. I'm very impressed with the amount of Batman lore that Bale took it upon himself to read about.

[Pubrick]

Ghostboy, on your interview with Don Hertzfelt, which I have not read yet but will shortly, is he the same fellow with those banned, hilarious, stick figure commercials? The one's with "I'm a banana!" and "My spoon is too big!" Because those are fucking great.

go to www.bitterfilms.com and see his other stuff which hasn't been referenced to death..

[Raikus]

Ghostboy, on your interview with Don Hertzfelt, which I have not read yet but will shortly, is he the same fellow with those banned, hilarious, stick figure commercials? The one's with "I'm a banana!" and "My spoon is too big!" Because those are fucking great.

go to www.bitterfilms.com and see his other stuff which hasn't been referenced to death..

Hertzfeldt has some great shorts on The Animation Show, Vol. 1 DVD available at theanimationshow.com. Billy's Balloon is just wonderful, although when we screened it--no one laughed and I'm in the back cracking up. I think it could be rather disturbing if you don't know his style before hand.

Intermission in the 3rd Dimension was also a standout. Plus, everyone should own The Animation Show DVD just because of all the great work on it. It will make your DVD collection a better place.

[Brazoliange]

Ghostboy, on your interview with Don Hertzfelt, which I have not read yet but will shortly, is he the same fellow with those banned, hilarious, stick figure commercials? The one's with "I'm a banana!" and "My spoon is too big!" Because those are fucking great.

go to www.bitterfilms.com and see his other stuff which hasn't been referenced to death..

Hertzfeldt has some great shorts on The Animation Show, Vol. 1 DVD available at theanimationshow.com. Billy's Balloon is just wonderful, although when we screened it--no one laughed and I'm in the back cracking up. I think it could be rather disturbing if you don't know his style before hand.

Intermission in the 3rd Dimension was also a standout. Plus, everyone should own The Animation Show DVD just because of all the great work on it. It will make your DVD collection a better place.

I just wish they would've released the entire Animation Show from last year on it

[MacGuffin]

New 'Batman' begins with a $15.1 mil bang

The highly anticipated return of the Dark Knight to the silver screen became a reality Wednesday, when Warner Bros. Pictures' "Batman Begins" took flight in 3,718 theaters and grossed a solid but not record-breaking $15.1 million.

"We're ecstatic about the opening for "Batman Begins," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. "It's the first 'Batman' movie that ever opened on a Wednesday, and it's the largest Wednesday opening in June for Warner Bros." Fellman noted that the last "Batman" film to hit theaters, "Batman and Robin" in June 1997, grossed $16.1 million its first day of release, which was a Friday.
 
The latest and fifth film in the "Batman" franchise stars Christian Bale as the caped crusader and was helmed by Christopher Nolan. Prior to Bale, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney have donned the cape.

The theater count for "Batman Begins" expands slightly today, moving to 3,858 theaters.

Although the Wednesday debut fell short of industry records, it was the 11th-biggest Wednesday opening of all time. The PG-13-rated film has been generating primarily positive reviews, and Fellman said the exit polls were outstanding. Heading into the weekend, "Batman Begins" most likely will have at least $25 million under its boxoffice utility belt.