After Christopher Nolan’s fabulous trilogy of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, I was sure we wouldn’t see The Caped Crusader in a standalone film for a long time. Nolan’s series was pure perfection. Whichever director attempted to bring, arguably, the most storied superhero in comic book history was already behind the eight-ball before a script was even imagined. With its 29% Rotten Tomatoes score, 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was far from what we all hoped it would be. 2017’s Justice League (39%, 68%) didn’t help much. However, However, Zach Snyder’s 2001 director’s cut, while chalking in at over four hours, faired much better (71%, 94%). Matt Reeves’s (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield) The Batman is a darker, more mysterious take and is the perfect movie to bring the iconic superhero back to the big screen in his own story.
Category Archives: Andy Serkis
Long Shot (2019)
Long Shot is a terrible title for a not-so-terrible movie. I won’t mention too much more about the title other than to say that it’s a difficult title to remember and to associate with a film about a Secretary of State (who isn’t really a long shot) and her political campaign and run for the presidency after the incumbent president decides that he won’t be seeking reelection. Nevertheless, Jonathan Levine’s political rom-com (50/50, The Night Before) packs in the laughs while cutting into today’s political landscape just enough to be edgy but not so over the top that it will divide audiences. Long Shot may not be remembered for its title. Still, it will be remembered for its intelligent, timely writing, witty banter, crunch-worthy predicaments, and solid performances from its two leads.
Black Panther (2018)
2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expanded on a tradition that had existed since 1927. It increased the number of potential Best Picture nominations from the usual five to a potential maximum of 10. It was a move to inject more blockbusters into the Oscar mix and to give movies like Avatar, Inception, and Toy Story 3 the recognition of Best Picture that they deserved. But in essence, this was The Dark Knight rule. This 2008 film, the most incredible superhero movie ever made, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two (Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger, Best Achievement in Sound Editing).
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
I’m not the biggest fan of reboots. I often think, “Why?” or “What’s the point?” or, “Can Hollywood not come up with an original idea?”. However, at the same time, I’m a big fan of origin stories. Usually, if the first movie in a franchise is good, I’ll keep watching the sequels until they start to stink. Once you lose me, though, you lose me, and I’m not coming back. So each subsequent movie in a franchise doesn’t necessarily need to be better than the starting movie (in fact, I don’t expect it to be), but it still better be pretty darn good. My favorite movies in the last decade include Batman Begins, Iron Man, and The Hangover. These three movies illustrate my point perfectly. The Dark Knight, unquestionably, and The Dark Knight Rises, probably, were both better than Batman Begins. In the Iron Man franchise, Iron Man was the best, Iron Man 2 was very good, but not great, and Iron Man 3 was still decent. With The Hangover, the first one was brilliant, The Hangover 2 one had me asking, “Why are they doing this again?” and the third one was so terrible that I will not pay another dollar if these franchises continue and has made me much less interested in ever watching the original one again.
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