I was going to write this introduction in BAT-CAPS, but thought better of it. No one needs that so early in the morning.
“The Dark Knight Rises“: Christopher Nolan’s latest obscure art project involves Oscar-winners Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Marion Cotillard, and also Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and that Gary Oldman guy. I dunno, I guess it has a chance at finding an audience.
“First Postion”: I missed Bess Karman’s documentary about aspiring ballet dancers at TIFF — and again at TIFF Kids, I think — but I’m really keen to catch up to it. Especially since reading Glenn‘s review.
“Moving Day”: After the inept “Afghan Luke”, I had very little hope for Mike Clattenburg’s next picture, a far less ambitious comedy about a decent guy (Will Sasso) in a dead-end job. Susan thinks it’s okay, so maybe I’ll give him another chance.
“The Redemption of General Butt Naked”: Rad is really high on this documentary about the eponymous Liberian warlord, who claims to have renounced his murderous ways and turned to the path of peace and light. Sounds like “Machine Gun Preacher” without the incoherent moral stance or the button-pushery, and without a white American running around saving generic dark-skinned characters. I’m so there.
“Trishna”: Michael Winterbottom’s third adaptation of a Thomas Hardy text — after “Jude” and “The Claim”, which reimagined “Jude the Obscure” and “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, respectively — transposes “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” to contemporary India. Glenn is unenthused.
“Vito”: Jeffrey Schwarz’ documentary pays much-deserved tribute to Vito Russo, the author and critic whose book “The Celluloid Closet” had a seismic impact on American film at the beginning of the queer cinema wave . Glenn calls it essential viewing for interested parties; color me interested.
Also, the Projection Booth is running an Argentine comedy called “My First Wedding”, which I review here, and the “Jaws” restoration is going into its fourth week at the Lightbox, so woo hoo on that. Anyone know if it’s playing any dates in Cinema 1?
You are far too generous to The Dark Knight Rises. The movie is a narrative and thematic mess. I couldn’t make heads or tails of what the villains’ goals or agenda or motiviations or purpose were, or how anything they did was supposed to accomplish those things. The plot made no sense to me at all.
As far as I can tell, Christopher Nolan is trying to say that the Occupy movement were a bunch of psychopathic terrorists literally trying to destroy the world, and that we need a rich white guy to save us, but only after he becomes poor and learns to live like the rest of us – except for those reserves of fabulously expensive toys that he kept stashed away for himself. Am I close?
And who the hell thinks it’s a good idea to make a three-hour Batman movie with barely ten minutes of Batman in it?