Okay, right off the bat (no pun intended) that seems like a misleading title.  New villains are not actually being added to the Batman canon (or they might be, I don’t know, I don’t read comics).  The villains I came here to discuss are actually old Batman villains.  They are Catwoman and Bane, and they are the foes Batman will be squaring off against in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Or are they?  Well, yes, in the case of Bane, absolutely.   What I’ve been wondering, though, is how Nolan will handle the Catwoman storyline.  First off, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.  I like Anne Hathaway, I think she’s a fine actress, I loved Rachel Getting Married; I just don’t know if I can picture her bounding across rooftops clad in spandex (well… I could).  Maybe it’s because I’ve got Michelle Pfeiffer stuck in my head.

And maybe that’s the problem.  As far as live-action depictions of the character go, all I’ve got to work with is Michelle Pfeiffer over-playing the sex-kitten aspect and a fringe familiarity with Eartha Kitt’s less-than-purrrr-fect portrayal (I never saw Catwoman with Halle Berry… nor do I plan to).  Excising that, and bringing into focus the fact that Nolan is striving for a sense of realism with the franchise, maybe I can get on board with Hathaway.  She seems comfortable enough in her own skin to pull off the flirtacious confidence that marks the character, and, as demonstrated in Rachel Getting Married, she does have dark depths to plumb (Catwoman is technically a bad guy after all).

Although that brings me to my second point: Catwoman is only technically a bad guy.  Sure, in the Adam West version, Catwoman was just a straight villain, but that wasn’t a show for psychological nuance.  The far more interesting depictions of Catwoman have her as more of an anti-hero (much like the Dark Knight, himself).  In the special features for Batman: The Animated Series, someone (I forget who [I know, I'm terrible]) boils it down to there being a fine line between good and bad; Batman stands just on the good side, Catwoman stands just on the bad side.

This is what makes the character interesting.  It’s also why it makes sense to have her in the same film as Bane.  Now again, as a non-comics reader, my familiarity with Bane extends to Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin and probably an episode of B:TAS that I haven’t seen since I was a kid (I am in the process of rewatching the series, but I haven’t gotten to Bane’s episode).  But from what I understand (and I could be wrong), Bane is a roided-out freak who really only has designs on death and destruction (seriously though, correct me if I’m wrong).

Here’s where I gush over the casting: Tom Hardy as Bane intrigues the living heck out of me (stronger language than that is actually required to properly convey how exciting this is, but you get the idea).  Hardy was probably the best part of Inception (and I loved essentially everything about Inception), so having him portray Bane suggests both ample amounts of grit to the storyline, and a far more interesting take on the character than my limited familiarity would suggest.  Needless to say, I’m excited.

Now for some mild dissappointments.  I am one of the legion of people who thought a gritty, Zodiac-style take on The Riddler would have been the cat’s pajamas (yeah, I said it), and the rumored casting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt did nothing to dissuade me from those feelings.  For obvious reasons, The Joker will not return, although I don’t necessarily know that I would want him to.  I mean, why reduce such a brilliant performance down to a cameo?  However, since he won’t return, that also means we will never get to see Harley Quinn in the film.  I highly doubt Nolan would have even gone that route in the first place, but wouldn’t you just love to see his take on the character?  Especially given how extra-crazy she’d have to be to fall for Heath Ledger’s Joker?

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Another year has come and gone, and now (as a would-be critic) is the time when I must compile a list of the top ten films of 2010!  The only problem is that as an amateur and as a resident of Eau Claire, I don’t have access to a lot of films that have been released.  As a matter of fact, when I started writing this post, I still hadn’t seen The King’s Speech, but I figured it would rank, so I waited (spoiler alert: I was right).  So, with that in mind, I present you with my Top Ten Films of 2010.

10. The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko’s wonderful tale of a lesbian couple, their children, and their sperm donor somehow manages to simultaneously get tangled up in that peculiar family dynamic and completely eschew it and realize that this is just a normal family.  Helping that cause are terrific performances from all involved, from Annette Bening as the typical working parent who likes to find solace in a glass of wine, to Julianne Moore as the neglected stay-at-home mom going through an identity crisis, to Mark Ruffalo, who’s initial laidback charm gradually reveals a complete lack of direction.  It’s equal parts funny, heart-breaking, and moving, and it proves that family bonds are hard to break, even if your family doesn’t look like everyone else’s.

9. The King’s Speech         

A fascinating (and surprisingly entertaining) depiction of King George VI’s quest to overcome a speech impediment in order to give the people of England the strong leader they needed in a time of war.  Played with astonishing vulnerability by Colin Firth, King George (or Bertie as his friends call him) comes across at first as a hopelessly tragic figure, thereby seeming all the more heroic once he finally faces his biggest challenger, himself, head-on.  With a stellar cast including Geoffrey Rush as the unorthodox speech therapist, Helena Bonham Carter as Bertie’s loving wife, Guy Pearce as his philandering older brother, and a devastating Michael Gambon as King George V, The King’s Speech is a film of adversity, friendship, bravery, and how ultimately, life’s biggest challenges lie within ourselves.

8. True Grit                                                       

The John Wayne version of True Grit stands as a classic of the Western genre, and the film to net the Duke his only Academy Award.  So with a pedigree of this magnitude, what were the Brothers Coen possibly thinking when they set out to remake this.  Well, by adhering close to the original novel, and assembling one of the best ensembles of the year, including a stellar debut from Hailee Steinfeld, it’s easy to forgive Joel and Ethan.  And really, with the story’s ample opportunities for gorgeous cinematography, unique characterization, and colorful dialogue, the question isn’t why did the Coen Bros. do this, it’s why didn’t they do it sooner?

7. Exit Through The Gift Shop

Is it a probing documentary about street art and the corrupting power of fame?  Or is it, itself, an elaborate piece of performance art being perpetrated by street artist and filmmaker, Banksy?  The film offers no answers to that question (nor, do I think, will Banksy), but it really doesn’t matter.  Because Exit Through The Gift Shop was not only the most entertaining documentary of the year, hands down, it was one of the most entertaining movies, period.  With it’s engaging interviews, astonishing footage, and a rare look into a world few people have ever seen, the film is compelling in ways that few films ever manage.

6. The Social Network

A typically motor-mouthed screenplay from Aaron Sorkin, beautifully restrained direction from David Fincher, and a mesmerizing lead performance from Jesse Eisenberg all combine to make this depiction of the early days of Facebook one of the greatest films of the year.  That is to say nothing of the tremendous performances from Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, and especially Justin Timberlake.  It’s a unique take on a unique story that wound up being way more entertaining than common sense would dictate.

5. Inception                                                     

With Inception, Christopher Nolan assembles all the spectacle of his Batman films and all the labyrinthine intricacies of Memento and The Prestige and combines them into one of the most jaw-dropping films to hit theatres this year (or any year, to be slightly hyperbolic).  Allowing myself to wallow briefly in cliche, this is a game-changer.  Much in the way Jaws, Terminator 2, and The Matrix re-shaped our notion of what a summer blockbuster could be, so too will Inception change the face of cinema.

4. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Edgar Wright’s wizz-bang take on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels wound up being less an adaptation of a comic book, and more an adaptation of 90′s nerd culture.  With obvious influences in video games and comics, gorgeous special effects that enhance rather than dominate the film, and one of the best supporting casts ever, Scott Pilgrim took the notion of an alternative love story, and presented it as the most unique movie-watching experience of the year.

3. Winter’s Bone              

As a 17-year-old left in charge of caring for her two younger siblings and frantically searching for her out-on-bond father, Jennifer Lawrence gives a commanding performance.  She walks the tightrope required to convey the endless bravery and outright fear of dealing with her meth-producing neighbors whose sense of self-preservation and disdain for law and order far outweigh any sense of family or community they might hold.  This southern noir combines dark humor, wonderfully realized characters, and some disturbing visuals and creates a stunning atmosphere that digs in deep and doesn’t let go.

2. Toy Story 3        

Pixar continues their winning streak with this conclusion to the film that started it all.  Few franchises manage to get better with each installment, but Toy Story 3 is that rare exception.  The toys we know and love are back, and they’re dealing with the prospect that Andy probably won’t have much use for them anymore now that he’s off to college.  This sets off a story that is exciting, hysterical, astonishing, terrifying, heart-wrenching, and life-affirming.  I say this after every Pixar film, but this time I really do think it will be hard to top what they’ve accomplished, and what they’ve accomplished is turning out the most emotionally affecting film of the year.

1. Black Swan                                              

Darren Aronofsky’s dazzling, dark, and twisted voyage through the mind was not only one of the most surprising and disturbing films of the year, it was the best film of the year.  It’s a visceral film that shocks and confounds, but it also contains moments of undeniable beauty.  It’s a tale of a ballerina (Natalie Portman) slowly losing her grip on her sanity as she struggles to find the darkness required to properly portray the Black Swan.  Complicating matters is rival dancer Mila Kunis, who Aronofsky films with a lilting grace to counteract the abject terror he brings when filming Portman.  Filling out the world are Vincent Cassel as the dangerously erotic (seriously, that’s the only way to describe him) ballet director and Barbara Hershey as Portman’s deranged, overbearing mother.

But, by far the brightest spot of this film is Portman, herself.  She’s alternately wildly unhinged and terrifyingly controlled.  She descends so deep into herself that she becomes almost unrecognizable.  The person she was at the beginning of the film and the person she was by the end bear only a passing similarity to one another, and Portman expertly conveys the difficulties of that transformation.  It’s a tremendous performance in a film that demanded no less.  A film that aims for beauty, terror, excitement, and danger.  A film that achieves all of that, and transcends it to become an absolute masterpiece.

Honorable Mentions

Combining well-executed action and some top-notch performances, The Town proved itself one of the most entertaining thrillers of the year.  Noah Baumbach’s latest offering, Greenberg, invokes the same tense discomfort of Baumbach’s The Squid and The Whale, but filters it through an unflinching Ben Stiller performance, making for an awkward, yet endearing film.  Offering a disturbing look at what the war in Afghanistan is like for the people there, Restrepo‘s unflinching look at combat is terrifyingly mesmerizing or mesmerizingly terrifying, I haven’t figured out which.  A truly stellar performance from James Franco manages to save 127 Hours from the overly wandering hands of Danny Boyle, to tell the harrowing true story of Aron Ralston, the hiker who wound up pinned under a boulder and had to resort to the unthinkable.  A magnetic turn by Emma Stone and some terrific support from Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson went a long way towards preventing Easy A from becoming the terrible, terrible movie it so seems like it should have been.

Most Underrated

“Overkill is underrated.”  And so was the film that spawned that bit of dialogue.  Several people seem to have gone into The A-Team expecting… well, quite frankly, I have absolutely no idea what they were expecting, because what I was expecting was a big, dumb action movie that never took itself seriously.  A movie that wasn’t afraid to shy away from over-the-top spectacle because if ever there were a movie where that was allowed, this is it.  Overkill is underrated. Indeed.

Most Overrated

With it’s brutal violence (mostly involving children) and the fact that it has no idea what kind of film it’s supposed to be, Kick Ass bounced back and forth between misplaced humor and horrifying depictions of death and physical abuse.  There are times where it seems like an action comedy, but thinks it’s a gritty crime drama, and there are times when it’s a gritty crime drama, but presents itself as an action comedy.  This schizophrenic style amounted to one of the most frustrating cinema-going experiences of the year.  Plus, it’s just not that entertaining as a movie.

Biggest Surprise

Dreamworks’ animated films have typically consisted of little more than pop culture gags and gross-out humor, so when How To Train Your Dragon displayed genuine humanity and a hefty dose of heart to go along with it’s breath-taking visuals and breakneck pace, it proved that perhaps the studio doesn’t want to play second fiddle to Pixar anymore.  They’ve still got a long ways to go before they unseat the reigning champs, but more output like this, and the future of animation is looking brighter all the time.

Full Disclosure

I am pretty satisfied with this list, however in the interest of fairness I present you with a brief list of potential list candidates that I have not yet seen, for one reason or another: The Fighter, The Illusionist, Dogtooth, Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole,  I Love You Phillip Morris, Never Let Me Go.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

In Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Natalie Portman plays a ballerina who, by all accounts, has achieved perfection.  She is unmatched for technique, she is more devoted than any other dancer at her company, and the Artistic Director (Vincent Cassel) has a crush on her.  The only problem?  After being cast as the lead in Swan Lake, she is being asked to transcend perfection, and that task proves damaging, both physically and mentally.

For the physical aspect, Aronofsky provides a disturbingly visceral attention to the abuse ballerinas have to endure for the sake of their craft.  He also masterfully uses sound to enhance every creak and groan of floorboards and bones, and by doing so he creates an unsettling air of dread that permeates the film and doesn’t subside until well after the credits have rolled.

As for the mental, Portman displays a shocking vulnerability as the dancer, Nina, struggling to find the key to transforming from the virginal purity of the White Swan to the unhinged darkness of the Black Swan.  A transformation she is completely unequipped for; still living with her mother who treats her like the 12-year-old girl she used to drive to dance class, still sleeping in a pink bedroom bedecked with stuffed animals, who is uncomfortable dealing with the advances of men, and who can’t even handle a night out without a psychologic episode.

Helping her with the transformation (although helping probably isn’t the right word) is fellow ballerina Mila Kunis.  Kunis brings a surprising darkness to the role of Portman’s real life Black Swan, making her presence felt in all corners of Nina’s world, even when she is not actually there. 

Filling out the supporting cast, Cassel gives an astonishing performance as the Artistic Director who uses sex and quiet vitriol to completely disassemble Natalie Portman into the psychotic mess she becomes solely for the benefit of his production.  And Barbara Hershey is phenomenal as the horrific stage mother who feels completely entitled to live vicariously through her daughter, and who responds with emotional outbursts when she is denied the opportunity to do so.

All these elements combine to form one of the most vividly upsetting and altogether astonishing films of the year.  Aronofsky skillfully balances sex and violence, abject horror and astounding beauty, the physical and the mental and uses all of it to provoke, confound, and mystify the audience.  In doing so, he has managed to transcend perfection in making a film that is more than a sum of it’s parts.  A film that makes for an unsettling experience, but one that is an absolute pleasure to behold.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture