The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard
Director: Christopher Nolan

 

 

When Christopher Nolan began his re-invention of the Batman franchise in 2005, the whispers among the DC nerds of the internet universe were deafening. Could this guy resurrect what was left of the caped crusader after Joel Schumacher had left our nocturnal hero in rubber nippled tatters?

 

 

The answer was a resounding and just as deafening...............HELL YES!

 

 

The first movie took us on a fantastic journey through the scaffolding and building blocks of the early adolescent years of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the spoilt rich boy who had lost his parents at an early age and squandered the families money and reputation. But while every hero has a tragedy in their past, not every hero has a faithful butler in the form of Alfred (Michael Caine). Alfred is Bruces voice of reason in an otherwise chaotic world and the man responsible for kicking him in the butt and telling him to pull his finger out and do something good with his life to honor his parents memory.

 

So, with an almost unlimited budget, a seasoned police officer, a tech nerd and a few of his funky toys, our batty boy defeats the first big bad in the form of Ra's Al Ghul, played by Liam Neeson.

The Batman was re-born without a rubber nipple in sight and the cheers among the fan boys went up around the globe. Nolan had done it, and we waited impatiently for the next instalment.

 

Three years later, in 2008, he gave us The Dark Knight.

Once again, Bruce battles with his rich boy ego and the love of his life Rachel, (Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes from the first movie) while trying to save Gotham City from it's less than desirable citizens. The ultimate bad arse for this movie was of course, The Joker. The tragedy of this film, however, was that Heath Ledger, who played the Joker, passed away before the film was released. His performance was chilling to say the least. It brought back way too many memories of when Brandon Lee was killed while filming The Crow. Another actor, gone before his time. Many called this Heaths performance of a lifetime, but he never saw the endless accolades. Heath gives the Joker a presence that not even Jack Nicolson could pull off in the earlier franchises. He is dark, psychotic and more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and this makes his performance so worth the watch.
Another new character is brought forth in the form of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). For those that know the background of Batman, Harvey becomes another villain called 'Two Face', and it is this character that causes utter chaos in Bruce Waynes life at the end of the film.

 

Nolan had done it again, taking us on a dark and exciting ride through the streets of Gotham and into the minds of pyschopaths.

It was announced two years later, that the next instalment, would be the last, so in 2012, he wrapped it up with The Dark Knight Rises.

Gotham City has changed much in the last 8 years, with the death of Harvey Dent and the reclusive behaviour of it's most wealthy citizen, Bruce Wayne. Batman has been blamed for Dents demise, and is a hunted figure. Commissioner Gordon sings the praises of Harvey Dent, knowing the truth behind his death but keeping up the premise of him being a hero.
In the first few minutes of the film, we are introduced to the sleek, gorgeous and crafty Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), who is caught stealing a string of pearls that once belonged to Bruce Waynes mother. Bruce catches her but is in no shape to pursue the alluring thief in the night and so she escapes with the pearls around her neck. Bruce is intrigued by the stranger and starts investigating.
Newcomer John Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt), is a police officer with a heart who has questioned the disappearance of Batman ever since he left, but his world is turned upside down when a new threat comes to Gotham. Enter Bane.
Bane thinks that the citizens of Gotham should rise up against their oppressors and take back the city that once belonged to them and so he takes over the tunnels beneath the city and begins his plan.

I will not go any further in detail with this movie as I believe it needs to be seen. It really is a fantastic piece of cinema that does the Batman franchise proud.

The entire cast make this movie what it is, brilliant. Fantastic cameos from villains of the past, and wonderful performances from regulars like Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman.

I'm not sure how I feel about how this ended. In some ways I loved it, but in other ways it made me a little sad.

If you weren't one of the millions that saw it when it was out at the movies and haven't watched it yet, I recommend you see it.

Looper

Looper (2012)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels
Director: Rian Johnson

Around Christmas time, I purchased 3 or 4 Blurays that I had not seen before, Dark Knight Rises, Resident Evil: Retribution, Bourne Legacy and this, Looper.
The trailer had always intrigued me, the storyline seemed interesting and original and my hopes were high being a Bruce Willis movie.
Set in the year 2044, Joe (Joseph Gordon Levitt), is an assassin, but he's an assassin with a difference. Joes boss gives him a time to be at a location specific to him and a person with a bag over their head and their hands tied behind their back 'appears' before him and he shoots them within seconds. He then retrieves silver ingots strapped to the victims back, disposes of the body and collects his money for a job well done.
Fast forward to the year 2074 where the mob has trouble killing people and disposing of their bodies because of tracking devices. They end up using time travel as a convenient way to send their victims back 30 years to be killed by assassins like Joe, called Loopers.
Now every now and then a Looper shoots a victim and finds gold strapped to their backs instead of silver. This is basically their retrenchment letter as the victim is their future self. This is called 'closing the loop'.
So what do you do when your future self doesn't want to be killed?

There is a huge story to this that at first did my head in, a little bit like Inception, but simpler.
Joseph Gordon Levitt is pretty good as a younger Bruce Willis, but his face freaked me out. Wearing prosthetics through out the movie changed his face completely and I couldn't help but think how weird he looked.
I can't get too much into the storyline as it will give the ending away and the ending was pretty good. I was a bit disappointed as it wasn't wrapped up as neatly as it should have been and there were a few holes in the storyline that could have been patched up pretty easily.
All in all, a pretty decent movie.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2012)
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare
Director: Tommy Wirkola

 

Please don't go and see this is you take movies too seriously. This is nothing but good, kick arse, twisted fairy tale fun. If you have a tendency to analyse a movie to death, don't bother, it's not going to win any awards and I guarantee you, the director probably doesn't care what you think.

 

Did I like it?

Hell yes!!!

Hansel and Gretel, as the title suggests, is about the German brother and sister invented by the Grimm Brothers in the 1800's.

The film opens with the story we all know about the siblings being left in the woods by their father and finding themselves in the cottage of a rather frightening looking witch.

Against all odds, the plucky Gretel, manages to use her brains and they make the first of many career kills.

 

Much older now, and with a fair few kills under their belts, the pair hire themselves out to whoever needs their unique skills. But this time, they come up against something they do not expect in the form of a Grand Witch, played by the stunning Famke Janssen, who is leading a larger band of witches in stealing children from a nearby village.

 

Along the way they pick up a couple of stragglers in the form of a love interest for Hansel, a love sick teenager who follows Gretel around like a puppy dog and an unusually large companion who comes in handy at the end of the film.

It had a similar feel to Van Helsing and The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, but I found it a bit more exciting.

 

The CG is pretty good, rather gorey and very bloody. I loved the weapons that they had and the various ways in which many witches......pardon the pun.......meet their demise.

This was good fun, nothing more.

Please don't think it's suitable for kids because if you take them to see it, then you deserve to have them wake up screaming in the middle of the night. This is one bed time story that is NOT for kids.

 

Major bonus seeing Jeremy Renner without a shirt on. Hansel works out apparently!!