HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, here goes another year! Happy New Year everyone and hope this one is going to be a great! Here I am at work just hanging out and writing this blog on my phone thinking about how fast 2012 has sped by. Can you believe it?! Man, I can't believe just how fast 2012 came and went. There are so many things to reflect on the past year, both good and bad but since it's the first of the year, let's focus on the positive shall we?

Well, first of all we've had a crucial election between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Obama beat Romney out of the park and will be President for the next four years! I am ecstatic about that! Back in November I was working the polls with my dad and friend James and working at a polling place really, really worked my ass out and to have Obama win was such a triumph.

In addition to that, there've been some great movies this year including of course, [i]The Dark Knight Rises[/i] which is one of my favorite films of last year, not to mention the newest 007 flick, [i]Skyfall[/i], [i]Men in Black 3[/i], [i]The Intouchables[/i] and umm...damn who cares but yeah, what an awesome year for movies!

Before I get ahead of myself, I just want to say that I'm also very grateful for my friends and family. You guys all come first because without you, I would not be the person I am today. I know I don't always say these things to you guys but want you to know that each and every one of you mean a great deal to me. I really am looking forward to this new year with you all and for those that read my blogs, you know who you are, please keep coming back and checking out my latest adventures or what not and just make this a great year for yourselves and those around you!!!

The Dark Knight Rises

Well, now that the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, is filming, I'm really looking forward to it. I've been anticipating it since the beginning of the year and finally the teaser poster has come out! Man, I'm really diggin' it too! Hard to believe there's more than a year to go before the release of the movie, but, at least there's a nice poster to look at and enjoy until the official poster comes out. Back when The Dark Knight came out in 2008, there was a shit lode of teaser posters featuring the Joker, Batman and Harvey Dent. I hope they do the same with this campaign. Heck, I'm sure they will since it's touting as being the final Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan. Anyway, why am I blogging about The Dark Knight? Well, here it goes.

When Batman Begins came out back in 2005, I was disappointed with the whole reboot of the franchise. I guess you could say I boycotted the idea. I mean, we already knew about the character, why go back in time and talk about his origins again? I mean, is it really necessary? I waited years later until I finally saw it for the first time last year. And to be honest, it wasn't really all that bad. With the disaster that came out in 1997 with George Clooney as Batman, I think it was time a break was needed. But I just felt that it didn't have to start from scratch. However, I guess this is what the franchise needed if it wanted to stay fresh. Then of course The Dark Knight came out in 2008 and that was a major hit. I saw that on DVD as well but far closer to the release date of the film. It blew me away! Heath Ledger's performance was great and it really differed from Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the character.

Again, since I didn't see Batman Begins in theaters, that's why I waited to see The Dark Knight. But in any case, I ended up seeing it before I saw Begins. I would have to say that The Dark Knight is my second favorite behind Batman Forever.

Now that the new movie is coming out next year, I will most-likely be the first in line to see it! I can't wait for it and have a whole year to brush up on my Batman knowledge and watch the previous Nolan films again before doing so. This poster is really badass and although I'm not going to go in with the highest of expectations, especially with the villians as I'm sure they won't be able to top Ledger's performance of the Joker, I am still going to enjoy myself and who knows, I might even like it better than the previous one.

I am also aware of negative aspects of the third film in a franchise. They are usually the worst. Just follow this list of examples:

Superman III
Spider-Man 3
RoboCop 3
Blade: Trinity

These are just a few examples of movies that just don't perform well. I hope that Nolan can break this trend. And I'm sure he will! One thing about Nolan is that he spends time on his productions, rather than just coming out with a new movie every two years...well in this case with comic book hero.

The Dark Knight...Any Resolutions?

You know, I've been thinking about the latest Batman flick, The Dark Knight and I've come to realize that the movie itself doesn't resolved a lot of conflict and most of the characters die. Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal dies in the middle of the film, Harvey "Two-Face" Dent dies at the end of the movie after he goes mad when he realizes that the love of his life parished in the building detonated by the Joker, the chief of police, along with the judge dies, several police officers parish, Joker's minions die one by one in the beginning of the film, and finally the owner of the bank dies (most likely). Not much is resolved in terms of the classic "happy ending" like with Spider-Man or the other superhero movies, which leads me on to the focus of my blog: Batman is not a superhero, he is just a hero with problems like anyone and everyone else. This is why The Dark Knight is so different compared to other DC and Marvel comic heros. This movie is genuenly different and really takes a big step in showing the dark side of Bruce Wayne and his hard times of dealing with the people he cares about and the ones that hurt him the most.

There isn't really any resoultion in the end of the movie. Most of the characters are dead, except for the Joker, and the damage had pretty much been done. However, Batman does continue to run from the police as usual with Commissioner Gordon being the only one who accepts Batman's help and knows him for more than just a vigilante. And yes, Batman did save Gordon's family as well as the people on the two boats, but in the end things just ended up badly for Batman and his life. He lost the love of his life, someone who helped him out in terms of fighting crime before becoming a criminal himself (Harvey) and then of course the death of the mayor. These things are so hard for anyone to live with I wouldn't be surprised if Wayne had gone along with hanging up the Batsuit since he has nothing else to live for.

Which brings me to another thought:

I wonder what Batman does after the end of the movie. We see him on his cycle running from the cops, but at the end of the night when he reaches his apartment, what goes on through his mind? Do you think he just sits looking out the window becoming depressed? Or does he actually try to just erase the loved ones from his life and just focus on fighting crime like he always does? Now, I don't mean erase like just forget about them, but just put them in the back of his mind until he actually has a chance to sit and think about it when he isn't in the moment capturing a criminal. These are the questions that just came into my head as of today when asking my mom what she thought of the film. She responded with, "I thought it was...well dark. There is not resoultion and everyone dies." Even though I don't fully agree with her opinion, it has opened a new door for me to consider hense me writing this blog.