Life and Times of Eyovar Station

No picture of the day today. Instead, I come bearing this:



The only words that come to mind are a rather geekily enthusiastic 'Hells yeaaaaaah!'

Complete with accompanying hand gestures.

And... okay, maybe 'Opening weekend, motherfucker', too.

There are crazy, crazy and scary things happening in the world. There are things that I have no control over, no power over, and sometimes all I am reduced to is hoping that things work out favorably for all. It makes me feel very small.

Which is why I like the escapism of these genres... and even though I've never lived in a place where I could participate, or never had the money to go to a con, or have had to put priority in trying to make my own life function, I love seeing things like these movies and stories start spilling out and playfully blurring the borders of reality. I love the illusion of fantasy and its escapism, and I love it when the illusion gets pushed a little further... because it makes me believe that such wonder just might... just might be out there, just beyond my reach.

I might turn the corner tomorrow and see it with my own eyes, a bit of magic.

Sometime believing in the possibility of that magic makes the world less scary, less terrifying. Sometimes it makes the world feel bigger and you feel small, but only so you can realize just how much real wonderment is out there, waiting for you... and things might work out okay.

My favourite DDR tune of all time has to be 'Captain Jack', because even on Light Mode, you are not allowed to stand still. And it's a catchy tune, dude.

So. Last night there was the word, and the word was Batman.

Perhaps there were a few more words, like "Awesome" and "Fucking Amazing", but used only in association with said first word.

I honestly can't recall the last time I watched a movie with such an enraptured grin on my face. I'm sorry, but not even Sin City was this good for me.

Liam Neeson and Christian Bale were perfect. Gary Oldman gave Gordon some well-needed respect. Micheal Caine and Morgan Freeman were gems as well, but a bit moreso for the fact that they were Micheal Caine and Morgan Freeman in a Batman movie and obviuosly enjoying every damn second. Cillian Murphy... the only word that comes easily to mind is 'hypnotic'. In a good way.

Holmes? Eh... Love her or leave her, but I agree that Bruce Wayne was never meant to have a love interest that lasted longer than the weekend.

There are car chases. Good car chases. Bruce Wayne is the playboy doof that he's supposed to be in public. Gotham is a city, not a parody of a city. Humanity. Just the right amount of snark where it was needed.

No cheese. Period.

And I had no idea that Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard were the composers for this thing... *adds CD to list*

Some people may think that it's a bit of a farce to take superhero movies and/or comic book movies seriously, by way of logic, sanity, and respect for the character. Those people can choke on George Clooney's nipples.

I don't read DC very much as a whole, frankly. Batman has always been a bit of a hit and miss for me. Perhaps it was the full-size Micheal Keaton poster in the basement that scared the beans out of me when I was six (it always riplled ominously whenever I walked by it). Batman is, was, and always has been the mortal among the pantheon of superheroes. No flight, no heat vision, only an obsession and a hell of a lot of money to back it up. A friend of mine lent me the trades to Hush, though... and I started to sit back and look at it. The way you have to look at Batman is to completely remove the spandex factor.

Zorro was a superhero, if you really think about it.

Batman is a detective with an edge. A mentally unbalanced and obsessed man. Kinda sociopathic, when you think about it. He is the most likely of superheroes to exist.

This movie breaks down Batman into what if... I mean, really, what if...? And this is where my movie geekery starts to step in. Things like how the Batmobile (the Tumbler) was an actual vehicle without a front axle and can do 0-60 in six seconds. How Bale trained like a maniac to get into shape after dropping sixty-three pounds for The Machinist last year. And don't get me started on memory molecules.

This is my kind of superhero movie. It gives me that deep down glee of hope that maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to put that kind of logic and love into something like tekMage.

So. Batman Begins. Best damn movie I've seen this year.

Schumacher who?