March 22, 2022

My fitness goal this quarter (I just started a new Panda Planner) is strength, speed, and flexibility. I know how I'm going to try and improve the strength and flexibility, but I'm not sure about speed. Maybe I'll jump rope? It's honestly a stretch, but it would be nice to be faster in basketball. 

My scene partner and I did our first showing last night. We did alright, I think. It's just Acting 1, but the teacher is pretty tough. I didn't get the brunt of the criticism -- he went pretty hard on the first group who performed -- so I can't say this with 100% certainty, but I like his toughness, I think. It's refreshing to get straight forward notes that aren't wrapped in false praise. 

I'm still having a one-sided conversation with that guy on Instagram. It's weird that I haven't let it go... I guess I still see good potential upside? I'm also impulsive, and I'll be feeling good and think of something to say... then I'll just say it. Then he won't respond, and I'll remember, Oh yeah, he hates me or something. I'm listening to a book called Cultish as research for the script I'm working on with my writing partner, and it says that impulsive people are more likely to join cults. So I should probably watch out for that. Impulsive people are probably more likely to do everything. 

MLog Time! 

**SPOILERS**

THE BATMAN

2022

Directed by: Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) 

Written by: Matt Reeves, Peter Craig (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Parts 1 & 2)

Watched: 3/18/22

Robert Pattinson is the new young-ish Batman. He has a gothic mansion that seems mostly underground – it must be UK interiors, come to think of it – and saves boatloads on the electricity bill. (It’s very dark.) He’s been doing his vigilante thing, crushed and enraged by the death of his parents. A new menace is attacking the elites of the city, starting with the sitting mayor during his bid for reelection. The mayor has a son who’s the same age Batman was when his own father died. Officer Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) brings Batman along to the crime scene because the perpetrator – the Riddler (Paul Dano) – left a card addressed to him. The card contains clues revealing the word “drive.” Batman goes to the mayor’s garage and finds a thumb drive (with the mayor’s severed thumb attached) that contains images of the mayor with a woman from the Iceberg Lounge, an underground club operated by The Penguin (Colin Farrell). There, Batman meets Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz). The woman in the photographs is her lover. Catwoman goes to the mayor’s house to get the woman’s passport – is confronted by Batman – but when she gets back home, the woman is gone and it looks like there’s been a struggle. Catwoman wants to get this lady back. Batman wants to get the Riddler. Catwoman goes into the secret club with Batman running surveillance. The whole DA team is down there doing a drug called drops. The Riddler later puts a bomb collar on the DA’s neck and has him crash into the mayor’s funeral. Batman is looking for the rat on a big drug bust case. Anyway, the Riddler targets Bruce Wayne, sending a letter bomb which hits Alfred. Batman figures out the rat is crime boss Falcone (John Turturro) and drags him out of the club. The Riddler snipes him. The Riddler is caught and brought to Arkam. He wants to see Batman. Batman thinks the Riddler is going to unmask him but then realizes that the Riddler thinks he and Batman are on the same team, both vigilantes, both battling corruption. The Riddler then blows up the Gotham seawall and the whole place floods. His followers from online gather to shoot people, and Batman and Catwoman fight them off. 

I liked this movie. The cinematography and the action sequences were cool. Paul Dano was great as the Riddler. Batman comes across as deranged, which is nice. Like, he’s really unhealthy and isolated. The candidate running against the mayor asks Bruce Wayne why he’s not honored his parents’ commitments financially. He’s fallen off on the philanthropy end, and Real thinks he could do a lot to help the city. It’s a really nice critique of the whole premise of Batman – is it really violence that’s going to help the city? Batman beating up thieves? He’s a billionaire. He could be working on the structures and conditions that are allowing crime to look appealing to people. Batman winds up, in the end, helping people in a fireman sort of way. Clearing debris, loading people onto helicopters, lighting the way. It’s rare in a superhero film, where guys most commonly “help” through punching. 

One complaint I have is that The Riddler’s motivation breaks down in the end. He’s targeting powerful men very specifically, enacting vengeance on these men’s corruptions and how they’ve harmed the city. But then he just kills lots and lots of people by flood and wants to kill the next mayoral candidate… I guess because she’s a politician? It’s what separates him from Batman, and it’s too bad because it doesn’t really follow. Riddler seems actually principled until he doesn’t. But up to that point his principles seem genuine as opposed to a cover for something else – megalomania, racism, something. It’s reminiscent of the January 6th attack on the capital, accept we’re not given a reason. The final plan is against someone who hasn’t even been elected yet, someone who wasn’t part of the corrupted drug bust, someone who doesn’t have power. It just breaks down, which is too bad because I think the question of what’s so different between Batman and Riddler is a good one. 

Another kind of annoying thing is how quickly Batman is solving the Riddler’s riddles. As far as I know, Batman is not supposed to be some very clever verbal guy. I’ve barely heard the riddle and Batman has already answered it. It’s kind of weird how in these macho movies, the protagonist isn’t allowed to struggle with anything. They have to be top notch proficient at all things, even when those things go against character. I supposed watching Batman’s face for five minutes while he tries to think of the answer to a riddle isn’t that cinematic, but still. (He could fight fight while he thinks. Sometimes that’s good for problem solving.) 

The cinematography was great in this movie. Dark, noir-like, with cool angles and experimental lighting – there’s a whole sequence in a hallway that’s only lit by gun blasts. The cinematography and the score were what made this whole movie work. The most recent iterations of Batman are so somber that it feels like one accidental joke would make the whole thing crumble. Like letting in an ounce of light would tip the whole thing into revelry. The moodiness makes the characters’ actions palatable. It creates the whole world. 

Some stills:

 

 

Gorgeous. 

Rating: ★★★