—Last week, in a shameless, cowardly act, Congress passed the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, which has a few provisions causing a bit of unrest. What provisions, you ask? Sections 1021 and 1022, which make it a-OK to detain anyone, including American citizens (why the big stink over Americans and not anyone else? Because! That's why!), without trial, indefinitely. IF they get themselves caught as part of a group associated with, or maybe might've supported terrorism. We don't get specifics here, which is the scariest part. I'm not one for conspiracies, but we've seen a metric shit-ton of liberties taken away since 9/11. This has happened under both Presidents Bush and Obama. Who'd have thought that Barack would have as bad a record on civil liberties as Dubya? For more info on the NDAA, check this out and read up on it yourself (always, always, ALWAYS research!).
—To continue with a bit of negativity (I want to get it out early), a television show, All-American Muslim, has come under fire from the supremely bigoted group, Florida Family Association. Lowe's pulled advertising, and more recently, so has Kayak. You see, Muslims are evil and poisoning the rest of 'Murica. Bet you didn't know that (unless you watch FOX News). The AV Club has a good write-up about it, but Jon Stewart and The Daily Show crew really said it best:
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—And for my last politically-tinged bit, we have this letter from America's port truck drivers. See, last week, the Occupy movement occupied Seattle's ports amongst many others. They shutdown business, essentially. The letter is an incredible read that puts on display the underhanded, disturbing, disgusting, profits-first/people-last, mentality of, at the very least, those companies in control of shipping. It shouldn't come as a surprise, because hey, if you can take advantage of people who need a job and can't afford to be unemployed or on unemployment, why not? That's the free market, baby, that's capitalism. No, excuse me, that's corporatism. When those corporations hold the same rights as you and me? I say bullshit. And good on the truck drivers AND the Occupy movement!
—Now that all of that is out of the way, let's get onto the juicy, movie tidbits! First up? Of course, Batman! Where would this blog be without Batman? Rotting in Arkham Asylum, most likely. So, what happened with Bats, besides that prologue? How about the release of the trailer? Watch it now because I'll be diving deep into it:
Let me say up front I feel that this is much more of an extended teaser than a full-on trailer. Maybe my expectations were a bit high for the first trailer (how couldn't they be after this from 4 years ago?).
And again, fair warning: What I say here may be spoilers. I don't know, because I've kept myself as in the dark as possible regarding this movie. It's really all just speculation.
Our old pal, Bruce Wayne, has grey hairs. More importantly than that, he's using a cane in a lot of his scenes (a lot but not all). You all know what Bane did to Batman in the comics? He broke the Batman's back. I imagine one might need a cane after that.
Is there an Occupy Gotham? Selina Kyle seems to be implying a revolution against the rich, in an incredibly sultry, awesome delivery. I can't wait to see more of her.
The football field could stand some polishing. I'm not worried about it right now. Bane's voice doesn't bother me either, as I haven't had much problem understanding him, but I get the criticisms.
Bane's one single line in the trailer: "When Gotham is...ashes, you have my permission to die." Bad. Ass. Intentional or not, I love that his mask, if you squint, resembles the luchadore mask he's known for in the comics. And it's also an inversion of Batman's mask: mouth covered, face mostly revealed.
What is that stair room? At first I thought the Batcave. Then I thought flashbacks to Bruce's training with the League of Shadows, but it can't be, because he's sporting greys. So now I have no idea.
I fully intend on going much further in depth in a later post, which will include the prologue.
—And lastly (for this post, anyways), Tuesday saw the premiere of the first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Take a gander!
Now, tell me you didn't get chills when you heard Sméagol's voice. Wonderful tease there, especially with the addition of The Ring's theme. This is exactly the sort of trailer I love to see: characters introduced, a taste of the plot ("I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure..."), and some serious foreboding. And how good was it to see Gandalf the Grey again? He's easily my favorite character from the movies and was sorely missed in the latter parts of Lord of the Rings. I'm feeling good about Martin Freeman as young Bilbo, especially since, when not watching the trailer, I had trouble distinguishing the transition from Ian Holm and to Mr. Freeman. As an unabashed nerd who just received the Extended Edition LotR trilogy on Blu-Ray, a year is too far.
—Well, this wraps up Part II of my neverending Year Ender! I hope you've enjoyed it, as there will be more to come after the holidays but before the new year. I know for sure I'll be talking about Ridley Scott's debut teaser for his Alien prequel, Prometheus, and I can see a mention of the late Christopher Hitchens. What else have I got? I don't know! I'll surprise you!
Until next time, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Winter Solstice, etc., etc., and so on and so forth!
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