Saw it again a few days ago. No two ways about it - for me, it's the best Batman film there is, by far. Come on Dec 4th.
CatBus said:
3000:1 - A famous Hollywood hillside landmark gets some of its letters replaced,
You should have taken that bet...
AntcuFaalb said:
Anchorhead said:
AntcuFaalb said:
Can you ask more explicitly? I'm running on very little sleep :-(
So what you're saying is that your lack of sleep has caused you to become intolerant of others?
I think if people have had very little sleep, even no sleep, they should be able to turn that exhaustion off when they log in here and not start angry ranting topics.
Incorrect. I was saying that my lack of sleep prevented me from understanding what he was asking of me. It had absolutely nothing to do with my level of tolerance.
Nice attempt at trying to turn my argument against me, but sadly, it didn't work.
A+
Incorrect. It was me poking a little fun, but sadly, you didn't catch it.
Tyrphanax said:
"Baby, you got the body of an APE! DAMN!"
Bingo, you gotta work on your pickup lines.
I nearly did a spit-take. Nicely done, sir. ;-)
AntcuFaalb said:
Can you ask more explicitly? I'm running on very little sleep :-(
So what you're saying is that your lack of sleep has caused you to become intolerant of others?
I think if people have had very little sleep, even no sleep, they should be able to turn that exhaustion off when they log in here and not start angry ranting topics.
;-) My inspiration.
For the record: I don't care about a bunch of prequel & SE gushers. We're from entirely different worlds, so engaging them in conversation would be pointless. I did think the kid's "raped my Google" comment was hilarious though. He's truly angry that their victory isn't clean. The originals are gone, but the truth about them will never be.
Man, you have to dig that at one point, that Rob kid says - and he means it seriously - that we raped his Google because people searching the internet for Star Wars inevitably end up seeing what a liar Lucas has been all these years because we won't quit calling him out for it.
That is fucking comedy gold, man. Gold!
I fully agree, by the way, about the douches ruining the Trilby. Same for the Stingy Brims. I was just goofing because you guys are all with your 007 theme now.
I was very tempted when I was in Chicago recently to go to Optimo, one of the premier hat makers in the U.S., and get a nice Fedora. Had the address and had the hat picked out - but in the end, the douche culture surrounding Fedoras kept me away. I'll eventually make the jump, but I'll first have to make peace with Johnny Depp & Charlie Sheen polluting the Fedora landscape.
A co-worker of mine who is always quick to jump on the latest "I'm not mainstream, I'm a hip outsider" trend is probably the one guy who was most influential in putting me off of getting one. Once I saw it in his office and heard him mention that he and his wife took turns wearing it at a Flaming Lips concert, I knew I'd have to wait another year or so.
Tyrphanax said:
the trilby .......that all the young douchebags wear
007 from the novels and early films would like a word with you. ;-)
Just got back from a trip to San Francisco to see The Dave Matthews Band. They played The Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. It's my second time to see them this summer, potential third time in a couple of weeks (haven't decided yet).
I'll spare you the nerd gushing. Suffice to say, I'm a big fan. For those who may not be familiar, their shows can be either a more traditional concert with some extended jams, or they can be huge jam sessions with an occasional album track thrown in every half hour or so.
Sunday's show was the latter. Being someone who has long preferred live over studio, I'm in my element at a DMB show. An added treat was Stanley Jordan joining them on stage for two songs. They were amazing jam-based renditions of Satellite and Lie In Our Graves. Really a treat for those of us who dig that sort of thing.
We also worked in a day of wine purchasing Saturday and a Giants game Friday night. Were in SF a lot anyway (3 - 4 times a year) but this particular trip was scheduled specifically for the DMB show. They didn't disappoint.
Went to see The Dark Knight Rises again Sunday. It's official, it's my favorite of the three. Batman Begins is a very close second, but Hathaway, Levitt, and overall depth of story push this one to the top. Hathaway's Kyle puts it out of reach.
I also gave The Dark Knight a second look and was much more ok with it than before. I still grew tired of Joker after a while, but I wasn't watching the clock like I was a couple of years ago. I found the hospital scene to be my limit for Joker & Dent (Joker dressed as a nurse, Dent fully revealed). It just doesn't work for me. Too much of both by that point.
I'm more than fine with TDKR and Begins as my go-tos (watched Begins last night, in fact), with an occasional side of TDK. That's a very hefty Batman trilogy\personal canon. I have no desire to see it continued.
Ziz said:
Question for those that have the score/soundtrack - which track has the music from the chase sequence when Batman first "comes out of retirement"? The scene where the old cop says to the rookie "You're in for a show tonight" or something to that effect.
Risen From Darkness.
Man... Neil Armstrong. He had a profound effect on my generation, as well as me personally. Space travel and walking around on the Moon became reality for me, largely because of him and the Apollo program & astronauts.
Particularly growing up in Houston, where a great deal of that took place. Even as a little kid, it was our cultural identity. You were surrounded by it constantly and I loved it. I went to Ed White Elementary, my high school was home of the Apollos, our baseball team is the Astros, we were referred to as Space City (the police still have that on their uniform logo), first word spoken from the moon, home of Mission Control, etc, etc.
I'm not going to lie fellas, this news brought the day down for me.
RIP, Mr. Armstrong.
generalfrevious said:
I think he is upset because he had the least involvement in that movie, and it turned out to be the best.
I imagine that's it exactly. He's been a control freak forever, up to and including how the films are presented. Which is often times not the way the fan base wants them to be (unaltered, high definition). For the most part, he gets to exercise his control because he owns the rights to it all.
However, he can't control what the fans want or how they feel about the films - no matter how hard he tries. I've long suspected\assumed that his dislike of Empire is really his dislike of Empire's popularity. It's sort of an emotional pouting on his part.
Bingowings said:
.... taking a whored out memory and making it wear a sandwich board advertising it's own continued debasement.
That's how I feel about everything Lucas does with regard to the Star Wars brand. I don't know if I could find the guy any more repulsive than I already do.
zombie84 said:
Looks like no Canadian dates. Sometimes they just don't announce them on American websites though. Waiting with hope!
They must be adding locations gradually. There were no Houston theaters when this was first announced (just Dallas). Now there are two here that will be showing it.
Minor delay in rereading Survivor's Quest.
I forgot about Mist Encounter, a short story at the end of Outbound Flight.
* Spoilers *
Enjoyed it. Ground-based military & quasi-military actions are Zahn's wheelhouse. This is the short story on how Thrawn became involved with the Empire. He's discovered living somewhat primitively on a deserted planet after having been exiled years earlier, due to his actions in Outbound Flight.
Mid-book review of Outbound Flight. I thought I'd mention a few quick, spoiler-free(ish) thoughts since I had planned to skip this novel. Because this story takes place during the prequel era, I had decided it wasn't for me. As is well documented, I have zero interest in any of that.
However, I was browbeat by a couple of members who shall remain nameless ;-) and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. I was not digging it at first because it is very Prequel early on. Not so much story, but character mentions. Because of that, I nearly put it down. I stayed with it, but slowly. It's taken me a while to get into it again, but now that it's moved past those characters it's been hard to put down.
The Lorana, Car'das, Thrass, and Thrawn story is Absolutely fantastic. Lorana, in particular, is up there with any of the strong Zahn characters from past novels. The second half of the novel reads like a film. Great stuff. Full review soon.
*Edit*
Full review with spoilers;
Parts of it I loved, parts of it I struggled through. As I mentioned before, I struggled with the Prequel characters of the early portions. The struggle for me wasn't with the story or how the Prequel characters were written. It was more of a struggle for me not to just put the book down and forget about it.
I stayed with it (reluctantly) because I'd been told it was worth it and because I was very interested in Lorana and Car'das. He's an interesting character in some earlier novels so I wanted to see how he was in his early years. Lorana was interesting in her own right and ended up being what saved the story for me. Particularly after she partners with Thrawn's brother as they head to The Redoubt. The last few chapters are very well done. The attack and the subsequent crash are textbook Zahn.
To me, the Prequel characters seemed forced. Kenobi and Annikin felt out of place in a Zahn story and particularly so in this one. Annikin reads like an after-thought. Zahn's work is much deeper than Lucas Prequel, so they felt like filler and I'm sorry they were there taking pages away from Jorus and Lorana. The Kenobi and Annikin roles could have very easily been one of the other pairs of Jedis on that trip and in the context of the story would have made more sense. Their reason for being added to the crew of Outbound Flight was thin.
Kenobi and Annikin also took pages away from the story of the ship itself, which I wanted to know more about. I dig the idea of several ships married to a large inner core for a years-long exploration of unknown space. In the story they plan on being gone at least ten years.
The other Prequel characters were fairly limited. I've seen pictures of Sidious, Windu, and others so I knew who they were referencing. A few Prequel droids and events are referenced also.
I'll end up reading it again, but it will be because of the Zahn characters, not the Lucas characters. Lorana, Car'das, Thrass, and Thrawn were all interesting and well handled. I will say, the whole thing makes me want to go back and reread Survivors Quest. I'll probably start tonight.
I guess if I had to sum it up I'd say Outbound Flight has something for all Star Wars fans. If you dig Zahn EU, his characters in here are strong. If you dig Lucas Characters, there are plenty for you and as a bonus you end up getting introduced to some iconic Zahn characters. It's a great way to see how much better a grasp Zahn has of the Star Wars universe compared to Lucas.
Sad to hear about Phyllis Diller. She was a very popular star when I was a little kid. She was on the Tonight show and Laugh-In regularly. I remember her crazy routine like it was yesterday. The crazy laugh, the jokes about Fang, and the long cigarette holder. Funny stuff.
Good job, sir. Always nice to hear.
Now that it has settled in, I’m leaning toward saying Rises is the best of the three. Begins and Rises are both great stories, but I don't think the acting in Begins is on par with Rises. Not bad by any stretch, but Holmes brings it down a notch, as does Hauer.
In Rises, the depth of the character of Selina, as well as Anne Hathaway’s expert handling of her, push the film to the next level. Joseph Gordon-Levitt puts the thing out of reach. Everyone else is their usual fantastic. Bane is fine but there isn’t really a lot of depth there. He’s more of an archetypal bad guy character, as opposed to depth. He works perfectly as a symbol of danger, but it’s mostly a visual performance. I dug the Sean Connery vibe in his voice. He worked perfectly for this story. He was a welcome pull-back from the Joker in the previous film. Limiting Bane gave the story and the other characters room to breathe.
As I think about the film now, my mind’s eye sees it as a Selina\Blake story. Those two performances and characters left the deepest impression. In the clip linked below, when Selina says “I’m not sure”, you see that she really is the person Batman tells her she is when he puts his trust in her later on. Outstanding. To me, just in this clip alone, Levitt and Hathaway become the film for me.
http://www.moviefanatic.com/videos/the-dark-knight-rises-interrogation-clip/
Second viewing this weekend.
That's me - always on top of current events. ;-)
Dances With Wolves
2001: A Space Odyssey
Apollo 13
A word about the score. I've been a film score nerd for as long as I can remember. First LP I ever bought was a movie score and they've been a huge part of my life ever since. They probably make up 50% of my music library and I listen to film scores more than anything else. By far.
Needless to say, I have both Nolan-Batman scores, and listen to them a lot. Even though I don't care too much for Dark Knight the film, the score is fantastic. The Dark Knight Rises kicked it up a notch.
The first two scores are somewhat similar and I expected more of the same this time. However, this new one really gets deeper and more layered. Zimmer brought his A game. I particularly dig the quieter Selina pieces. Without a doubt, Mind If I Cut In? is my favorite. The simple piano cords are haunting and intoxicating. The heaviness of Underground Army is also fantastic.
Along those lines, I downloaded this app;
http://entertainment.time.com/2012/07/24/dark-knight-rises-app-is-a-musical-tour-of-gotham-city/
I did it to get the extra hour of music not on the soundtrack and some of which isn't in the film. The Origins Suites were written early on and not included in their entirety. The functionality of the app is also very interesting.
Sickening.