Clearly the arrival of this film this autumn has been keyed to convincing all those Batman fans that Ben Affleck is a fair choice to take over the cape and the mask. Maybe the rebooted Dark Knight will have a pool of crocodiles at stately Wayne manor. That would be cool.
Online poker! It’s as bad as drugs, kiddies. Don’t do it. Or you’ll end up like poor ol’ Justin Timberlake, caught between the FBI and is-too-dark-and-intense Ben Affleck.
I couldn’t possibly be any less interested in this.
Maybe you just haven’t applied yourself? :)
While I don’t have too much a problem with Ben Affleck playing Batman – he could pull of being Wayne, it’s just the persona of Batman requires more determined intensity – I do consider another actor like Jensen Ackles having the brooding and intensity factors down pat.
Playing Batman isn’t that hard. The costume – and the stunt double – does most of the work. If one stops to really analyze the performances, every actor from Keaton on is at his least convincing when ever it’s clear it’s actually him behind the mask. (Yes, even Kilmer and Clooney, who – let’s be honest – were getting no help whatsoever from Joel Schumacher.)
Critic John Bloom put it better when in response to all the publicized complaints about how hard it was for Michael Keaton to wear the Batsuit, he suggested that Keaton spend a day at the Brooklyn Shipyards so that he could get a sense of perspective.
John Bloom as in Joe Bob Briggs? I suspect that John Bloom made such a statement with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. And even if not, it wouldn’t be the only time he said something completely full of shit.
ETA: I think you may also be misinterpreting my use of “hard”. I mean to say that, in the modern films, it isn’t all that artistically demanding. one you put the costume on, most of what a particular actor brings to the role is bone structure. Case in point: David Duchovny was on a shortish list to play Batman in Batman Forever. His audition got as far as putting on the costume, whereupon everyone involved, Duchovny included, realized that his nose was just too big.
Yes, the John Bloom I meant is the alter ego of Joe Bob Briggs. And given how often the media make a fuss about celebrities and the “troubles” they endure, I would argue that particular statement is not that full of shit. YMMV, however.
That said, David Duchovny’s nose was too big? Funny how no one ever mentioned it prior to now. After all, we’re not exactly talking about someone like Bob Hope or Danny Thomas who has generated his share of big nose jokes.
So, because “the media make a fuss”, Michael Keaton needs a real job?
Also: You ever notice how no one ever suggests the dock workers put on the heavy rubber suit, and spend 16 hours a day, at all hours of day and night, playing hurry-up-and-wait, while standing under several thousand watts of hot lights, in order to perform the same set of motions over and over until someone else thinks they did it just right?
Dock workers generally don’t make that much money compared to movie stars. And when they strike for extra money, they rarely get the same sympathy from the general public that actors do.
Then again, a lot of my relatives are members of the working class. So I’m biast.
As a union employee from a union family, I’m trying to remember the last time a striking union got sympathy from the general public. :-)
The UPS strike in 1997. Here in NYC, lots of people were stopping by the picket lines with drinks and food and of the editorials and articles about the strike, the majority were positive towards the union members. I was told that there was a lot of public support in Minnesota, too. The outcome wasn’t fantastic, but there was support.
but that’s nearly 20 years ago… and attitudes have changed — or been changed for us. i am totally pro-union because i truly believe the bosses will stick it to you every time. every. time.
Gallup polls support the notion that the majority is in favor of unions…
http://www.gallup.com/poll/164186/majority-approves-unions-say-weaken.aspx
Actually, I’d say that data indicates a slim majority in favor of the notion of unions.
Fair enough. I’ve been a union member throughout my working life, which typically means employment in either the public sector or the educational sector. When I’ve taught a course that introduces students to Industrial Relations (with an emphasis on unionized workplaces), I’ve found a mix of reactions to unions from my students. My dad, who was working class throughout his working life, but never a union member, has been (AFAICT) anti-union his entire life.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=david+duchovny+has+a+big+nose
As for this film, I suspect it could be summed up as “easy money isn’t”. Because we haven’t had films about greedy people getting into trouble before.
I’m not sure when this film is scheduled for release, but in tone and theme it’s somewhat like the upcoming films, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “American Hustle,” which may cause some confusion (like, wasn’t Oblivion and Elysium the same movie?).
Affleck and Timberlake have the same problem for me here: their voices have a nasally, whiny quality. This, along with his slightly beady eyes, may also prevent me from getting totally on board with Affleck as Batman, although I do not otherwise have a problem with his being cast for the role. But when either Batman or Bruce Wayne speaks, there has to be a sense of authority that is conveyed, not just intensity or menace.