The Dark Knight Rises by Christopher Nolan (2012)

The last episode in Nolan’s trilogy where Christian Bale is the perfectly bodied Batman with very little emotions.

Michael Caine is the loving and loyal butler who wants the last of the Waynes to lead a normal life. The last of the Waynes does not seem to agree with Alfred but will finally surrender to a more traditional lifestyle. Before that happens however, he needs to destroy Bane – one masked barbarian who plots to destroy Gotham.

What sets off as an impressive show off shot on the IMAX camera, smoothly transforms into the high life world of parties, charity balls and cocktails. Things get spiced up for Bruce Wayne, when Catwoman robs his safe. She is the only thing that gets him ticking – because they are both alike?

Nolan went wild with the last of his Batman series therefore it is hard to miss on anything. There is a love story, revenge, treason, nuclear bomb, loyalty, friendship, orphaned boys and along comes Robin.

My favourite action scene? The one with two planes in the air.

My least favourite element? The fact that Bane is barely understandable in terms of what he has to say through the metal mask – that looks a little bit like a sieve. How does he eat?

There are quite a few impressive scenes shot from the air – breathtaking.

Thank you Mr Nolan for this experience. As of today – Christian Bale is my favourite Batman.

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Wag the Dog by Barry Levinson (1997)

“Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail.” goes the opening quote.

The main question in this fine piece of cinematic feast seems to be – who is the most important person/shaker in the film industry? Is it the director? No. Is it the writer? No. It’s the producer!

Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman – two old classics accompanied by blondely bobbed Anne Heche – deliver a fictitious war on Albania to stop the leak from the White House two weeks before the presidential elections – for the second term. All that to cover up a sexual harassment case that did or did not happen, but certainly got created as a story.

The main message delivered through the mouths of Mr Fix-It (De Niro) is that no matter the truth, people believe in what’s on TV.

It is finely written, delivered and full of golden quotes and thoughts for our times of media/news industry running our reality. A definite must watch every 5 years.

Redlegs by Brandon Harris (2012)

It takes a lot of guts to be true to one’s self and stand up to one’s principles seems to be the key message of this short and sweet – only 67 minutes long – story. The film was co-written by the actors and the writer-director Brandon Harris.

It usually is neck-breaking to focus the plot around three characters. And yet it seems to be working fine. It is not your typical buddy movie for one reason – the story follows each guy separately. Their secrets get unveiled gradually – thickening the plot and building the back story.

The three friends rejoin at their fourth friend’s funeral. One of them – Marco – no longer lives in town – he decided to take up farming and work on self sustaining sources. That is the one I fell head over heels in love with straight from the first scene. Nathan Ramos definitely has got that something making me want to watch out for him in his future projects. His persona is a mixture of mystery, looks and certain sensuality not often encountered in the cinema these days.

The other two – Aaron and Willie – make an archetypical couple of two extremely different blokes – one is a big confident pal, the other is shy, slightly closeted and it is not obvious for a while why. With one friend out of town and the other gone, they form an almost grotesque sort of friendship of two polar opposites.

Without revealing too much, it has to be said that the four friends must have created quite a gang. I like how we learn about the fourth absent member through the interactions between the three left. I like how each of the friends has a story to tell, how different each of them is. They fight and it can be only imagined this is the natural way of expressing their feelings, emotions, and it must have been the same when the four of them were together.

It’s fresh, it’s beautifully shot, I like the grading, the coulours. It feels real.

Looking forward to the next project!