xantm70

July 23, 2012 4:27 pm All I can say is: FINALLY.

July 23, 2012 12:53 pm I suppose I look at it like this: Why is it that a movie where no violence takes place can hit us harder than a movie where hundreds, if not thousands are killed--but in real life, if someone we've never met dies, it hits us far less (typically) than a massacre such as this? Somehow, the concept of death has become meaningless in the realm of entertainment until and unless an emotional bond is forged between audience and character. To an extent, I get the sense that that was one of the points Nolan was trying to make with The Dark Knight. Shouldn't the fact that people died be enough to get us riled up, regardless of who they are? It does tend to be permanent. Of course, not everyone is going to watch this movie and think of Colorado, but some will, and perhaps this is why. That said? You're right, an action film can be perfectly harmless. But when the violence inherent in the action genre becomes glorfied, then I, as an individual, take issue. Ike once said, and I think aptly, "There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs." But then, this is just my opinion. Others can and will disagree, and that's entirely their prerogative. #treehuggingliberal #sorry

July 23, 2012 12:25 pm Simply put, I will never be able to watch this movie without thinking about that massacre. On the other hand, one shouldn't have been able to watch this movie without thinking about massacres in any case. Nolan is a genius in that, as a director, he forces his audience to grapple with ethical dilemmas that we normally don't even think about, and he does so by putting them in a real-world context. In The Dark Knight, for instance, the Joker waxes positively eloquent--if psychotic--about how people will readily accept violence if it is part of the status quo, if it is scripted, but are terrified by chaos. Watching The Dark Knight, we were faced with scripted violence, and it didn't bother us. Watching The Dark Knight Rises, we are now confronted with a vivid memory of chaotic violence, and it terrifies us. Life imitates art in a horrifically twisted way, and we realize that Messrs. Nolan and Ledger were right all along.

July 13, 2012 1:34 pm I thought this was abosolutely fantastic. I like being made to work with my literature, and this was far and away the most taxing comic I've read since "Our Love is Real." Very evocative of Morrison at his most Postmodern, and very deep in its probing of the concept of life as an enacted sequential art. I will likely reread this several times, and possibly write a term paper on it.