The Dark Knight Rises (2012):

This city needs me.

– Christian Bale, as Bruce Wayne, 

in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

I’ve been asked to pick my favorite from the trilogy of Batman movies directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale as the titular Dark Knight. I can’t. The trilogy is three parts of one whole story and I don’t have a particular favorite. Each movie is outstanding in its own way. Let’s face it, if ever a franchise needed a reboot after so many dire efforts – it’s the Batman story! And, as reboots go, it doesn’t get any better than this. I doubt many fans even expected Batman Begins (2005) to be as brilliant as it was.

I’ve loved Batman ever since I can remember. It was the comic book of my choice as a child. Elements of The Dark Knight Rises movie plot is inspired by the Knightfall graphic novel series, particularly with Bane breaking Batman’s back and taking over Gotham.

When I was a child in the 70s, the only on-screen adaptation to enjoy were reruns of the 60s Batman TV show, starring Adam West in the role.

Remember the scenes with Batman and Robin slugging it out with the villain’s henchmen? KA-POW! ZAP! OUCH! ... etc. My imagination had tasted the dark, gothic delights of the graphic comic book and, even though I was a kid, the TV show was all too pale, pastel-colored, diluted, lame, tame and downright silly to please me.

Then, at last, came Batman (1989), starring Michael Keaton and with Jack Nicholson in the role of The Joker. Michael Keaton was formidable and intense in the role of Bruce Wayne and being a life-long fan of Jack Nicholson, he was a joy to watch as The Joker. The cast had a riot making this one, Tim Burton recreated a suitably dark, smokey Gotham, but still it wasn’t quite right. Still those pastel colors were there on screen, as if they were trying to make the sets and costumes look like a page from a kid’s comic book and there was too much emphasis on comedy. The worst thing about the movie was Prince’s music. Many will disagree with me, but it made me cringe. Sorry Prince.

Next came Batman Returns (1992). Michelle Pfeiffer purred and meowed as Catwoman and Danny DeVito waddled and sneered as The Penguin. It should have been (at least) a good movie. Again, many might disagree … but to me it was a poor sequel.

The downward trend continued with Batman Forever (1995), with Val Kilmer donning the mask. Tommy Lee Jones grinned and flipped his coin as Harvey ‘Two-face’ Dent and Jim Carey posed, shrieked and gurned as The Riddler. “Was that over the top?” The Riddler asked in one part. Frankly – yes! The movie was forgettable … very forgettable.

Batman and Robin (1997) was both beyond the joke and the last straw for many fans (me included). George Clooney was cast in the main role. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered his one-liners as Mr. Freeze, Uma Thurman was the toxic botanist Poison Ivy, with the late professional wrestler Robert ‘Jeep’ Swenson as Bane, wrongly written in to the story as Poison Ivy’s brainless bodyguard and henchman. Everything about this movie was a misfire. The humor didn’t work and fans of the original stories had more fun pointing out where it all went wrong and critically crucified it. This turkey of a movie stunk so bad, it seemed the studios had abandoned the franchise forever, which suited me fine if this crap was the best they could come up with.

I admit that when Batman Begins came around in 2005, I wasn’t expecting much. I was more surprised that another Batman movie had come around at all. I sat down to my first viewing with more than a little apprehension and my teeth gritted. However, my dread turned to delight as director Chris Nolan went back to basics with the entire story: taking us through Bruce Wayne’s early years, the tragedy of the murder of his parents, Butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) becoming his guardian and confidante, Bruce’s phobia of bats inspiring him and becoming the basis of his alter-ego: Batman (Christian Bale).

We see how he builds his suit and gathers his equipment, explaining to Alfred that it was time the criminals shared his dread as he hones steel throwing darts into the form of a bat.

What marks Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy above all that preceded them is in the writing: they play it all for real. The characters are invested with feelings, character traits and emotion, and the stories are played out smart and plausibly. Bruce Wayne is not a superhero (as many wrongfully categorize the character); he’s very much human, with more than his share of pain, regrets, and moments of weakness.

The bad guys are also human, driven by psychosis or twisted ideology. Like Batman, they rely on theatricality, costumes, make-up, and high-tech gadgetry to get the job done. In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne is up against three villains: Gotham’s crime lord Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson):

The enigmatic and complex Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson)...

... the head of the League of Shadows, an organization that has endured for centuries, destroying entire cities that have succumbed to evil and corruption.

They take no prisoners and show no mercy to the innocent caught in the cross-fire. They believe the only way to cure evil in a place is to wipe it off the map, settling everything in one swoop.

The criminal psychiatrist, Dr. Crane, aka Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), uses a hallucinogenic gas and psychological methods to exploit the source of his victims’ fears and break their mind.

Other key characters are brought expertly to life: Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), honest cop and Commissioner-to-be James Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), the wise-owl in the Applied Science Division of Wayne Enterprises who supplies Bruce with his hardware. Each character is well-rounded and believable – full credit to the writers again. The movie ends with the guilty punished, evil vanquished (for now) and Gordon explaining to Batman how, although they have won, there is now the problem of escalation. As he describes the latest bad guy to emerge from the shadows, he hands Batman the criminal’s calling card. It’s from a deck of playing cards. Batman turns it over to reveal the card of The Joker. “I’ll look into it,” he calmly reassures.

This led the story on deftly to The Dark Knight (2008):

Based on the graphic novel, The Killing Joke, the movie opens with a bank robbery and the entrance of The Joker, chillingly played by Heath Ledger, who tragically died in the same year.

The movie has some brilliant set-pieces, particularly the chase through the night streets of Gotham as The Joker attempts to kill Harvey Dent.

The Joker is a terrifying entity, a ruthless killer with a maniacal cackle. Part of what makes him dangerous is his unpredictability; you can’t anticipate his next move.

He describes himself as an agent of chaos who likes to introduce a little anarchy into a situation … just to see what happens next, declaring that whatever doesn’t kill you, only makes you … stranger! 

The warped nature of The Joker is described when Bruce Wayne discusses the situation with Alfred:

BRUCE WAYNE: Targeting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They’ve crossed the line.

ALFRED PENNYWORTH: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.

BRUCE WAYNE: Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. We just need to figure out what he's after.

ALFRED PENNYWORTH: With respect, Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man you don't fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anyone who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.

BRUCE WAYNE: So why steal them?

ALFRED PENNYWORTH: Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) ...

... follows on eight years later. Bruce Wayne is a recluse after taking the rap for Harvey ‘Two-Face’ Dent’s crimes and death. He’s hung up the cape and is content to take the blame so the city can have the hero he feels it needs, in the legend of what Harvey Dent stood for – not what he ultimately became at the hands of The Joker’s manipulation. The city of Gotham at last has an uneasy peace, but it’s only a period of calm before a new storm is set to hit. Batman is forced out of retirement when Bane (Tom Hardy) dramatically escapes from a prisoner transport plane.

Beautiful and crafty cat burglar, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), thieving her way to a clean slate and fresh start in life, leads Batman to Bane’s underground lair.

Bane (Tom Hardy) is Batman’s most formidable adversary. He’s highly intelligent, baroque in his manner and communication, a calculating strategist, and lethal in his dealings with those around him.

Like Bruce Wayne, he was also trained by the League of Shadows, until even that organization kicked him out because he was too extreme to handle. Tom Hardy excelled in the role, gained weight and trained to add a physical menace to his appearance.

The performances are excellent and the visuals and effects uniformly seamless. There are also a host of supporting roles and cameos that add greatly to an already polished movie. Among them: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Uri Gavriel, Matthew Modine, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Nestor Carbonell, Alon Abutbul, William Devane and Tom Conti.

Chris Nolan has proved himself to be an exceptional director, with works as original, dark, intelligent and diverse as his neo-noir debut thriller, Following (1998), Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), The Prestige (2006) and Inception (2010). I’m looking forward to seeing what Chris Nolan comes up with next. Unlike some directors and studios, he gives the audience credit for having the intelligence to appreciate complex non-linear stories that are not needlessly shortened or dumbed-down.

Is this really going to be the last Batman movie ever made? Time will tell. The ending of The Dark Knight Rises does leave possibilities for a continuation.

But if this is the last outing for Batman, then he couldn’t have hoped for a better conclusion than this. For now, Hans Zimmer's thundering soundtrack of the Batman trilogy resonates in the mind, building to its feverish climax.

Every year the term ‘event movie’ is used. It was never more true than for this third (and final?) part of the Batman trilogy. The cop in The Dark Knight Rises could have been addressing the viewing audience when he stated: “You are in for a show tonight!”

Chris Marker – RIP:

Little known outside of European art-houses, Chris Marker, who fought with the French resistance during World War II, was a unique, original, multi-talented French photographer, documentary and movie director, artist, writer and essayist. Among his works is AK (1985), focussing on the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.

My personal favorite of all his filmed works is La Jetée (aka The Jetty/The Pier) (1962).

This 28-minute short movie brought him fresh acclaim in 1995, when director and one-time member of Monty Python, Terry Gilliam, used La Jetée as the inspiration and basis for his movie: 12 Monkeys, starring Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer and David Morse.

La Jetée is composed almost entirely of black-and-white still photographs, with the story being told as voice-over narration with added music and sound-effects. The viewer gets so engrossed in the story and used to the flow of the still images that the only moment of actual real motion is almost surreal; with the character of The Woman (Hélène Chatelain), opening her eyes and blinking into the camera – from the point of view of The Man (Davos Hanich), a faint smile moving across her face before it cuts to the next still image.

La Jetée opens with a view of Orly Airport, in Paris, with flash images of a man apparently being shot and killed while a woman looks on.

Jump to a stark future, following the world being devastated by World War III, and the survivors living under ground (the difference in 12 Monkeys is that the world’s population has almost been totally wiped out by a flu-like virus). A callous heirachy exists far below the city, with survivors being used as prisoners and slaves, subjected to harsh experiments as their controllers struggle to harness the means to travel through time.

The Man is chosen because of his recurring dreams and memories of the event at Orly airport, which he witnessed as a child. During his hypnosis-induced jaunts back through time, he meets and develops a relationship with The Woman.

Will his love for her provide him with an escape through time? Or is his fate inexorable?

Anyone who has enjoyed 12 Monkeys and is passionate about movies should make the effort to see La Jetée.

Chris Marker died on 30 July 2012, the day after his 91st birthday. His body of work is vast and varied, but he’ll always be remembered most for the ground-breaking and atmospheric La Jetée.

In memory of Chris Marker (29 July, 1921 – 30 July, 2012)

Aurora Colorado Tragedy:

No words are adequate to sum up reaction to the horror of the shooting that happened at the Century 16 cinema, in Aurora Colorado, on July 20, 2012.

My heart goes out to the 12 people killed, 58 injured, and the families and friends affected.

May justice be served.

Ernest Borgnine – RIP:

Hollywood lost one of its most talented and prolific actors when Ernest Borgnine died of renal failure, on July 8, 2012, with his family at his bed side, in California.

Not only did I enjoy many of his movies, I also empathize with his strong work ethic, share his opinion on the concept of retirement, and whole heartedly agree with him when he said:

“I think you have to keep going. Otherwise, you know these fellas that say: ‘Boy I can't wait to retire. Boy, I'm going to be 65 years old, and I'm retiring and I'm quitting and that's it.’ Well, two weeks later they're saying to themselves, ‘What the hell am I gonna do?’ And first thing you know they find themselves in a wheelchair, or in a rocking chair going back and forth, back and forth, and that's the end of it. And suddenly you're dead.”

Borgnine’s statement on retirement sums up my own feelings on it: I have no desire or intention of ever retiring. Why should I? When I work at things I love to do, it doesn’t feel like work, so why would I want to stop? Inactivity-induced boredom is a big problem for me. The idea of eventually doing nothing but sit around, counting the hours in so-called retirement mode sounds to me like something close to torture. So, like Ernest Borgnine, I’ll just keep on going for as long as I can.

Born of Italian parents who migrated to America, Borgnine initially had no desire to go into acting. Instead, he enjoyed sports in his youth and joined the navy after graduating at 18. He served for 10 years and left in 1945. Unfulfilled with working dead-end factory and warehouse jobs, he went into drama school. He enjoyed a succession of roles and was awarded the Best Actor Oscar in 1955 for his portrayal of a kind-hearted butcher, in the title role of Marty.

His height and formidable stature, combined with his gruff voice and stern looks made him perfect for tough-guy roles.

He had a natural ability, dry wit and was gifted with a cruel, sardonic grin that added to his authoritive ‘don’t dare mess with me’ image.

Among seven of my favorites are The Devil's Rain (1975), a now dated but still fun horror movie about a satanic cult that starts and ends with a gloopy, gory meltdown fest. Watch carefully to spot John Travolta in an early ‘blink and you miss him’ role.

He had a small but memorable supporting role in The Dirty Dozen (1967), one of the greatest war movies ever made, alongside an ensemble cast headed by Lee Marvin.

Borgnine also played in all three sequels.

He would star again with Lee Marvin, this time in a lead role, in the depression-era movie, Emperor of the North (aka Emperor of the North Pole) (1973), as a railroad worker who ruthlessly bludgeoned, with a large hammer he hung on his work belt, any hobos he caught attempting to ride his train for free.

Lee Marvin co-starred as a hobo who turned riding his particularly train into a challenge and battle of the wills.

Next, I saw him in another supporting role, in Hustle (1975), a gritty and sleazy cop thriller starring Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve and Ben Johnson – his previous co-star from The Wild Bunch (1969).

In Escape from New York (1981), he played an eccentric prisoner, called Cabbie, starring with another great, ensemble cast, led by Kurt Russell, in an exciting action sci-fi, as Cabbie joins a race against time to rescue the President from New York City, which has been walled-off and is the one maximum security prison for the entire country.

Convoy (1978) had cult-hit status when it was released for video tape rental during the early 1980s.

It’s a hugely enjoyable action comedy in which Borgnine played a mean sheriff, ‘Dirty Lyle’ Wallace, who battles against a Convoy of truckers attempting to escape across the border into Mexico after a fist-fight in a diner. The movie gave Borgnine a role to get his teeth into and one he clearly relished.

Last night, I took time out to rewatch The Wild Bunch (1969), a classic western I was fortunate to see in the cinema again a few years ago as a one-off special screening.

Director Sam Peckinpah, who’d later work with Borgnine again on Convoy, made one of the bloodiest, existential, realist westerns in movie history.

The climax with the titular ‘Wild Bunch’ (pictured from left to right: Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, William Holden and Ernest Borgnine) walking to and confronting the entire Mexican army, going out in a true blaze of glory, remains powerful to watch. There were many other memorable roles in his career, spanning over sixty years, on stage, TV and cinema, although not all of his movies were great, and some got him nominated for the ‘Razzie’ award, but he took it all in good humor.

Married five times, he also marched every year for three decades as the ‘Grand Clown’ in Milwaukee's annual Great Circus Parade, and enjoyed touring the US and meeting fans. He remained a prolific and talented actor, outspoken and an active Republican.

We have lost the actor, but his talent will remain forever in the roles he played, to be enjoyed and admired by future generations to come.

I defy anyone not to join in with Ernest Borgnine’s infectious, hysterical laughter during the end credits of Convoy.

In memory of Ernest Borgnine (January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012).

Pet Sematary, by Stephen King:

I was reminded of King’s novel by – of all things! – a clip from the 1980 episode of The Muppet Show, featuring Linda Ronstadt. One of the sketches in the show had Rowlf the dog singing: ‘The Cat Came Back’, updated from the song by Harry S. Miller, originally written in 1893.

The Muppet version’s a hilarious sketch and hearing the following lyrics from the chorus prompted me to re-read Stephen King’s Pet Sematary:

But the cat came back

She wouldn’t stay away

She was sitting on the porch

The very next day

The cat came back

She didn’t want to roam

The very next day

It was home sweet home.

Yep! A nostalgia trip back through Muppetville brought me back to King’s creepy classic for the second time! As a double-whammy, the song is also mentioned in the course of the story.

In Pet Sematary, Doctor Louise Creed and his wife, Rachel, fall in love with their new home in Maine. They have two children: daughter, Ellie, and son, Gage, who is still a toddler. They also have a cat, Church (named after Winston Churchill). The location of their home is not without its drawbacks: there is a wide road with trucks that thunder back and forth across it at every hour. Their elderly neighbor, the wise and friendly Jud Crandall, saves Gage from wandering into the road before they have even set foot into the house. After Ellie spots the narrow footpath leading into the woods, Jud senses their curiosity and takes them on a guided tour. It’s a long trek that snakes right into the heart of the woods and leads them to a place, created and maintained by children over many generations, called the Pet Sematary. Rachel is immediately spooked by the place as it triggers her phobia of death, relating to the tragedy of her deformed sister, Zelda, a victim of Spinal Meningitis. Ellie is fascinated by the grave markers and Jud explains that cemeteries are places of remembering, where the dead rest and the markers speak. Rachel takes the children to see her folks, but Louis declines the trip because of tensions between him and the in-laws. While the family are away, Church is found dead on Jud’s front lawn, presumably another road-kill victim. Jud leads Louis past the Pet Sematary, to an ancient Micmac burial ground and instructs him to bury the cat there. Afterwards, he urges Louis to keep the incident a secret. The next day, the cat is back, but its nature is markedly different. Tragedy soon strikes again and this time Gage is killed by a speeding truck. Will Louis’ grief drive him to the burial ground again? I first read this novel in 1983, when I was 15. The ending made the hairs rise up on the nape of my neck and the story stayed with me ever since. It was a treat to read it again after so many years.

The characters are rich and there are some brilliantly described passages, particularly the long trek through the woods, where the loons howl in the distance. There are also lines of narrative and dialogue in both the book and faithful 1989 movie adaptation that resonate in the memory: ‘Each buries his own … The soil of a man’s heart is stonier … A man grows what he can and tends it … What you buy is what you own … And what you own, always comes home to you.’

This is one of King’s best stories about tragedy, loss, bereavement, and the high price that can come from giving in to temptation.

Don’t be tempted to mess with burial grounds – Micmac or otherwise. As Jud Crandall warns: “What you put up there, isn’t what comes back. Sometimes, dead is better.”

Stephen King sets the tone for this story brilliantly from the beginning: Death is a mystery and burial a secret.

Pet Sematary is an eerie, morbid pleasure.

Here’s to your bones!