Adventure Time!

Gotham always seems to be portrayed less like a city that is a part of a larger country, but than a city-state by itself. As in, the rules that apply to Gotham don’t work in Cleveland or Rapid City (the only not-Gotham cities i remember being mentioned in the film). Crime and the rule of law and the police aren’t connected to the laws and rules of the larger body politic of the United States in the same integral way that they are in, for example, real-life New York City.

There is something jarring about seeing an armed group assault the stock exchange- the heart of a global interconnected network, not a local one- and then just take off on some dirt-bikes with stockbrokers holding on to the back. Not jarring-as-unsettling, but jarring-as-unrealistic. There is no way that an event like this happens that it doesn’t galvanize the nation around the stock-exchange, that politicians in Washington and the everyman, joe truck driver in main street don’t nationalistically rally around that space as we’ve seen in the past.

This narrative improbability is only compounded when it comes time for the Banians to take over the city- something they might be able to accomplish as seen in the film quickly but that would not last long. The financial, cultural, and political capital of the nation that Gotham seems to represent would not be acquiesced by the rest of the nation so easily, even with the threat of the weapon. It wouldn’t be a month before special forces were in the city; they would have neutralized the threat within hours, days at the longest. The multi-month occupation stands out as another strange aspect to the film, as one could imagine the action playing out over the course of a shorter period, but several months (necessitated obviously by the need to repair Wayne’s back as well as moral authority, but cinematically unwieldy as filmed) seems too long to be realistically maintained.

These issues dissipate to some degree if we imagine Gotham as a City-State like Hong Kong or Singapore, but come with their own problems.

So much disappointment for one movie.

Picture: The Artist
Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris
Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants
Foreign Language Film: In Darkness
Documentary Feature: Undefeated
Animated Feature Film: Rango
Documentary Short: Saving Face
Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Live Action Short: Tuba Atlantic
Film Editing: Hugo
Art Direction: Hugo
Cinematography: Hugo
Costume Design: Hugo
Makeup: The Iron Lady
Score: The Artist
Song: “Man or Muppet,” The Muppets
Sound Editing: Hugo
Sound Mixing: Hugo
Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I’m from Fresno, Ace!

I’m from Fresno, Ace!

Luckily, I speak leet

Bellflower

Top Five Unmade Video Game Movies:

1. Deadly Towers
2. Diablo
3. Space Lords
4. Revolution X
5. Homeworld

#randomlists

The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen!