It’s Wednesday (actually Wednesday not like that fake Wednesday I started the day with yesterday). That means it’s comic book day, but instead of talking about today’s new books we’re discussing what is expected to be one of the biggest comic book movies ever to hit the screen, next summer’s Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. Last night we had a chance to see a special presentation of a six minute prologue for the new film by Christopher Nolan and it left a lot to talk about. The IMAX screen we saw it on and some of the production choices left us a little less thrilled than we’d hoped.

A spoiler filled discussion of the prologue and The Dark Knight Rises in general follows…

UPDATED 12/20/2011: With the release of the first trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.

UPDATED 5/2/2012: Footage from the latest trailer released this week contained much of what we attempt to describe in this post. See below.

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Spongebob's Quickster.

Wow. I am completely out of the loop. I blame the baby. I also blamed him for the fact that I have no time for movies anymore. But, I like him, so I guess I will keep him and give up movies. Today, someone on Facebook referenced Reed Hastings. Having no clue who that was, I Googled it and found this article.

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The X-Men’s Havok has long been my favorite comic book superhero. In fact, we’ve even set up a fan site for him here at MLD. While he’s by no means a central figure in the Marvel Universe, or even in the X-Men’s corner of it, his inclusion in X-Men: First Class introduced Alex Summers to a whole new audience in theaters this Summer. His appearance in the movie was certainly fun to see, but like every character that has been brought to life on the big screen there’s a very different version of the man called Havok that you’ll find in the pages of the X-Men comic books.

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 If ever there was a movie that was basically review proof, it’s Conan The Barbarian. The title spells out the concept very clearly. Either it appeals to you or it does not. And if it does, then I promise you that Marcus Nispel’s Conan film pulls no punches and delivers some hardcore barbarian action complete with countless beheadings and (as they’re credited on IMDB) plenty of “topless wenches.”

The film’s opening moments are slightly awkward as we experience a series of prologues including a voice over that introduces us to some of the sinister history of Hyboria, followed by Conan’s birth in the midst of battle, and finally his emergence as a warrior as a young teen and the murder of his father. From that moment forward, the film places a laser tight focus on the adult Conan, played by Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones), and his quest for revenge against his father’s killer.

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First off, I’d just like to say to anyone releasing a romantic comedy in July of 2011, pointing out how cliche your scenes are does not make them somehow better. It just makes you look lazy. You know you’re being cliche and you don’t care.

Having said that, I definitely found Crazy, Stupid, Love. to be an entertaining mix of awkward comedy and drama with a few really big laughs. Sure there are plenty of moments that rely too strongly on coincidence or were completely unrealistic, but I thought it was a decent film over all.

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