Let’s try to keep this Spoiler Free, at least for a couple of days.

The Dark Knight is now playing! W00t! I haven’t been this excited for a film since Superman Returns was released. I have my tickets purchased, going to see it on IMAX tomorrow afternoon.

Is anyone else super psyched? Regina already saw it, was anyone brave enough to go to a midnight showing, is anyone else planning on seeing it this weekend? Taking any kids with you? I hear that it’s pretty violent, although it received a PG-13 rating. I’m going with some of Super-Momma’s family while she’s attending a baby shower; one member of our group is 13.

NPR review said it was the most depressing and hopeless super hero movie ever.

That said, we'd like to see it but have no idea when or if that would be possible.

I am very excited. I am going to go sometime between Monday and Wednesday of the coming week since S is in town and can do daddy duty while I get my superhero fix.

I *like* depressing and hopeless. Besides, seeing as how the character of Hellboy is destined to usher in the Apocalypse (not a spoiler, just a recurring theme in the comic), I'd say that's a hair darker.

Super-Papa, what did you think of Superman Returns? And did you ever read the Larry Niven paper "Man of Steel,
Woman of Kleenex?" It is relevant to Superman Returns, and you can find it here:

http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html

I think they were strictly evaluating movie representations and not comics. Hell Boy is a lot more fun and laid back in the movies than Bale's Batman is.

Plus, you know, it could have been hyperbole. :)

I think I failed to mention--I'm very excited to see it. Do you think its thrills and chills might induce childbirth?

I'm very excited to see it but will probably wait for a few weeks to avoid the worst of the crowds. Not sure if hubby will want to see it so I may have to find someone else to go with.

I am hoping I can convince my mother-in-law to come over next Thursday for her weekend visit so we can go without it being a Fri or Sat. This will be the first movie my husband and I will have seen together since Transformers the summer I was pregnant. We've seen movies with friends but not out together! We still have to see Iron Man and Wanted as well. Sigh. DVDs are a beautiful thing but even those are stacking up too.

I'm tingly with excitement. Knowing that my baby would be born around the time the movie was coming out, I have cleverly imported my mother in law, so I could sneak away to see it.

Alas, I won't get to go see it Imax (at least not yet), but I've got my tickets and Sunday evening it will be all about the Dark Knight.

And yes, I'm hearing that it's dark and heady, but also a lot of fun.

we've been hanging out to see this since we heard heath ledger was in it. Plus we love Christian Bale, ever since Equilibrium... so for many moons we've been holding our breath... i think we're going on tuesday, when it will be quieter, like lunchtime screenings and so on, less crowds. Baby is excellent at these things, but the swarms of kids at Kung Fu Panda freaked her a bit, we're hoping for less people this time round. (Otherwise probably would have gone tonight.) Also, love dark. Bring on the dark. And really looking forward to seeing Heath's joker.

We're pretty excited. We probably won't see it for a week or two - next time GirlWho goes to Grandma's. She doesn't scare easily, but I think this will be a bit dark for a 6 yr old.

McGlory - have you been to the baby day movies at Alamo Drafthouse? I think it's on Tuesday afternoons.

Yep Mamawho, did them all the time before the kiddo got old enough to be interested in the screen. We're trying very hard to follow the no tv/movies until 2 recommendation, so when I saw that he was starting to follow the pictures with interest I had to cut it out. It's Tuesdays at the south locaton and Tuesdays and Fridays at the northish one. It's an awesome thing for parents with small babies though.

McG, the best way that I think I've heard it described was not to think of it as a "superhero" movie. Think of it as a great crime noir thriller that just so happens to star a crazy dude dressed as a bat and a psychotic clown. It's also probably the closest we'll get to see to a mainstream comic character getting an adult story.

CPF, regarding Superman Returns. I loved it in spite of it's flaws, and I will readily admit that it had them. I thought Brandon Routh was great as Superman, and as Clark although I thought Clark should have had some more lines. Spacey was great, Bosworth was ok (the wig they had her wear was awful though). There were things I could have done with out, i.e. the kid and another Lex land grab scheme. That said I can't wait to hear official word on a sequel. DGB, know anyone that can get that going? Ha!

I haven't read that article, I'll check it out.

I think that Warner Bros. is really blowing it when it comes to these movies. Marvel is officially kicking their ass in the theaters.

I've been in love with Christian Bale since Empire of the Sun! (I was 12 at the time so it's ok)

I love the Dark Knight books so I'm super psyched that we're seeing it tomorrow.

CPF, that's a very interesting piece. Not to go all geek here, but I think the most logical way for Superman to reproduce would be with Wonder Woman. Her body theoretically could handle the "super sperm" (another phrase I never thought I'd type...). There are other parts of the piece that could be debated, but I don't think that this is the place for a full on comic book store conversation.

This is something that is never addressed in Superman Returns. SR is a "vauge sequel" the Superman: The Movie and to Superman II. In Superman II, Superman gives up his powers to be with Lois. A few Barry White songs later we have Jason. Superman realize that being a mere mortal blows when he gets his ass kicked by some truckers and sets off to get his powers back (and defeat General Zod and Lex Luthor). Leaving Lois prego. Or we can assume that there are no physiological differences between Superman and Lois.

I am with you there MttM. Plus Newsies sealed it for me (I was 15, ok).

I am seriously hoping that the movie induces labor, but that I can hold out until then. We plan to go with a group of my husbands work friends tonight, but I am leary of buying tickets in advance because I have started contracting. I am worried that I will not be able to sit in the car with these darned cramps. It would be so worth crossing my legs tight for a few hours though.

I can't wait either. There is a theater near-ish me that does 9:30 am weekend screenings that as worked out well for my schedule, my have to see if it is there in the next few weeks...

Super-Papa

One problem with the "super-sperm"...(drawing deeply upon my geekdom)...Superman is Kryptonian...the Kryptonian genotype has 98 chromosomes, where human has 46. Wonder Woman is an Amazon...entirely human (unless I missed something, I'm mostly into Marvel, I could be mistaken). Of course, get some magic involved, or some genetic engineering, and that's a whole nother story. :P

Back to the ORIGINAL topic...I'm looking forward to it....although, I LOVED Nicholson as Joker, he set a pretty high bar.

Wow... WBH, I have just been put in my place.

I've recently started to think of Superman similarly to Tarzan. Although raised as one of them, the gorillas and Tarzan are very different, although with Superman he *looks* like the humans. That's how I think Supes would be on earth, always aware that he is not human. And he shouldn't have any desire to be with a human. It would be like Tarzan wanting to be with one of the gorillas.

We were talking about Batman last night in the cocktail party, have you watched it lately? How do you think it has held up?

It's a matter of socialization. An excellent example would be from Harry Turtledove's "Worldwar" series (i.e., the later books, especially the last one), about aliens raised by humans. Raised from hatching out of their eggs, 2 Lizards grow up in a Human family. As adults, they've picked up all the cues, they ogle women (never mind that their species sexuality is seasonal pheromonal based...they never even think about it unless they get a whiff of a female's pheromones...and it's yearly)...interesting stuff.

I haven't seen anything since Batman Begins. I liked it, but was expecting to see the Lazarus Pits (I think that's what they were called) show up with Al-Ghul and got disappointed. much better Batman than the first (Keaton was adequate, nothing more)...but that Joker beat everyone villainous since, hands down.

I can't believe I am witness to a conversation outside a comic book shop that discusses the genetic viability of a Superman/Wonderwoman embryo.

And Jesus Old Man Chrysler, Batman isn't a SUPERHERO film. He's more of an anti-hero, especially the way the franchies has been rebooted. Bring on the dark and depressing!

Overall, however, I liked the reboot of the Batman franchise with Christian Bale. It helped that I am a die-hard Liam Neeson fan as well. I am willing to entertain a lot of discrepancies, departures from cannon, etc in the name of pretty action, decent characters and good pacing in a screenplay. I'm not a huge Hellboy fan but I'd go see the movies for the pretty factor. I actually got something out of Constantine, despite Keanau Reeves.

Since "Road to Perdition" put me into labour last time, I'm seriously hoping that either "Dark Knight" or "Journey to the Center of the Earth" will put me into labour this time. Unfortunately, we only have a sitter for the afternoon, and Dark Knight is not playing the matinee showing in my neighbourhood.

WBW, I may have to look into those. This is seriously more thought than I had to put into makeing my own baby! I recommend rewatching B89. Nicholson's Joker doesn't hold up so well and I imagine that Ledger's will blow his out of the water.

Wookie, I agree. Batman isn't a superhero.

Batman isn't a superhero; he's an OCD Donald Trump.

I don't think that it's going to be hard to obscure Nicholson, Joker-wise. I liked him fine, but I think that there are a lot of directions to go with the character that haven't been explored. That's one of the things that I enjoy about the Bat--both he and his rivals are complex enough to support numerous takes on them. Nicholson's Joker fit perfectly into the fake-noir Gotham of Burton's Batman, but I think he'd look pretty silly in Nolan's world. Not clown silly, but more hammy actor silly.

I can see missing the Lazarus Pits in the first one, WhackBarWhop, but I really enjoyed the real-world feel to it. Batman Begins had some of the aspect that I loved in Unbreakable (favorite superhero movie): if you'd viewed some of the scenes out of context, you wouldn't have known that they were from a superhero movie. Iron Man had some of that, too. I like that a lot.

CPF, I agree the Lazarus Pits wouldn't have worked in Nolan's Bat-universe. However, I don't think that they're done with that story line. I felt that BB left the demise of Ducard up in the air.

By the way, what did you think of Superman Returns?

I liked Superman Returns a lot when I first saw it, but fell asleep upon repeated viewing. I'd've liked to have seen a little more action.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Brandon Routh--I thought he did a great job of playing Christopher Reeve. I'd have liked to see an older, more traditional Superman; I kind of wish that Jason Marsden had gotten the nod instead. Mid-thirties, square jaw, blandly handsome, physically large and muscular. I feel like I'm never going to get to see the mature Superman on screen.

Hey, take a look at this:

http://darwen.us/darrell/blographics/061006a.jpg

It's a fan-created poster with his/her dream cast, and I've got to say: good casting ideas, nicely made fake.

CPF, that poster's great, except for the director...

And on the Superman-baby front. If the Kryptonians can send their only child across the galaxy in a pod, keep him alive, fed, and educate him on all things physick, then somewhere in that crystal wonderland he calls the Fortress of Solitude there has to be a machine that will alter his/her genomes to the point that an offspring is a viable option.

Thank you for this blessing of geekdom.

Super-Papa...I hear that Warner Brothers and DC Comics are having some very serious discussions about the future based on the way that Marvel is kicking their asses. The big difference is that Marvel now has control over their movies. DC has to go through Warner Brothers (same parent company). And the control isn't as great. Hopefully that will change.

As for the Superman sequel...I've heard a few things. I've heard that Bryan Singer isn't coming back for another. I've also heard that he is. Basically...nobody knows nottin.

I thought Superman Returns had some great moments, but overall was not a great movie. It spent too much time conjuring up memories of the past and didn't really create a solid story. I liked it when I first saw it, but it left no real lasting impression on me.

I know this thread lost steam yesterday, but I just wanted to say that I'm going to see DK in 3 hours and I'M PSYCHED!!!!

DGB, Thanks for the comments about WB/DC. I'd read about that meeting a couple of weeks back (although if memory serves me, they did something similar a number of years ago, pre BB and SR and nothing really came of it...) It would be cool if WB gave DC some control over what was going on. Same with Singer and a SR sequel. Nothing but rumors. Hopefully we'll hear something soon rather than later. What are your thoughts on the future of Superman on film? Should Singer get another shot and go "wrath of kahn" like he originally said, or should WB/DC scrap his story line and start over, ala The Incredible Hulk? I used to want to see Singer get to continue his story, but after seeing TDK I just want a kick ass Superman movie.

CPF, the thing about an older more mature Superman is that almost all of the casting is being done with a series of movies in mind. So yeah, Routh is very young looking in SR, but if a Man of Steel and subsequent films are made you may get that. Or go look at Superman III and IV. Revees was older but both films are a joke. However I'd love to see a Kingdom Come film with a "graying" Superman.

Oh, and TDK did kick ass! Saw it on IMAX yesterday, wicked cool.

The trailer for The Watchmen was really cool, I've always meant to, but have never gotten around to reading the grapic novel, now I'm going to have to.

Super-Papa...I think that with the summer Marvel has had, WB would be foolish not to take advantage of DC Comics. Especially when they see how potent a well-done comic movie can be. Just check out what DK is going to make this weekend. Astounding.

I'm not so sure about Singer. I would love another Superman. Maybe he's gotten over his infatuation with trying to replicate the Donner movie and has been taken down a peg enough to come in and really craft a fine film. We know he can do it (Usual Suspects, X Men 1 & 2). But another filmmaker, who's hungry and has something to prove, could be great (see Favreau with Iron Man and Terrier with Incredible Hulk). In any case, I agree with you I would love a kick ass Superman.

Dark Knight was simply an amazing movie. Solid start to finish. Wow. I wish I had gotten to see it IMAX. Hopefully someday soon I will.

The Watchman trailer looks great. An old girlfriend of mine gave it to me like 8 years ago, saying that I HAD TO READ IT. But of course it sat on the shelf until last night, when I figured it was time to crack the thing open. I'm only a fraction of the way through. It's really dense. But it's really good so far.