Ranking the Batman Films: Part 2

Bruce Wayne: Hater of Murder and Bats

After we watched The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan's trilogy, we thought it would be good to go back through the seven films that make up the modern Batman franchise and compare them to one another. We've already ranked the bottom four movies, and we were definitely stalling on the final three. Firstly, we didn't want to disappoint readers. Secondly, we were a little sick of the Caped Crusader.

Then, The Dark Knight rises made a billion dollars, and suddenly the films were thrust back into our minds. So here it is, our ranking of the top three Batman movies (with the generous help and support of our many guest bloggers and future guest bloggers). Read the list below and let us know what you think (spoilers ahead):

The Dark Knight Rises Makes 1 Billion Dollars

You know what's cooler than a million dollars? Apparently, it's The Dark Knight Rises, which, even without a cameo from Justin Timberlake, managed to finally cross the $1 Billion mark this Labor Day weekend. That's worldwide, people, and it's only the thirteenth movie to hold that distinction!

There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. 

We may not be the biggest fans of the movie here at Tableau Your Mind, but we did need an excuse to post the above picture of Anne Hathaway, which we admit looks a little wonky.

In other news, The Avengers has officially made all the money. Or, at least, the approximate 2011 GDP of Belize.

Ranking the Batman Films: Part 1

After we watched The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan's epic trilogy, we thought it would be good to go back through the seven films that have made up the modern Batman films thus far, starting with Tim Burton's Batman in 1989, continuing through Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (that temporarily killed the franchise) and ending with the Nolan films in the last seven years. How did they stack up to one another? Which was the best? And since we couldn't make up our minds alone (this was too important), we enlisted the help of tons of guest bloggers, friends, and colleagues to rate and talk about the seven films. Or, at least, we tried to talk to all of our guest bloggers - My Mom kindly declined, saying that "these are frivolous movies. I have no need for them." Harsh words, but, for the rest of us, here are the rankings:

Film Pre-Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Tableau Your Mind recently had a somewhat-drunken conversation with guest blogger Square Peg about Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises. Mostly, we’re excited, but something about the film is still stuck in our craw.

Whip It Good!

We are very big fans of the first two of Nolan’s Batman films. We’re even willing to forgive him Katie Holmes, because everyone makes mistakes and we admit to feeling a little something for Joey back in our Dawson’s Creek days. We’ve also been fine with him taking Batman characters from previous Batman movies and reimagining them for his films. The Joker and Two-Face have both already been Batman villains in movies (played by Jack Nicholson and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively), but we have been pleased with Nolan’s reimagining. And we look forward to his interpretation of Bane, who was pretty forgettable in Batman & Robin.

However, we cannot, in good conscience, endorse Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, the role

[Spoiler Alert] Best Picture Nominees #1: Inception

Looking back at this year in movies, the film landscape seems to be scattered with tons of good-not-great movies, and the nominees for best picture this year makes the Academy's decision to expand the category all the more ridiculous.  We at Tableau Your Mind will be looking back at this year's best picture nominees in as quick a fashion as possible, and hopefully bitter in-fighting will ensue.

First up is Inception, a film that suffers from what we like to call "Avatar Syndrome."  That is, it's a visually stunning and fun movie that is hindered by the pretentiousness of the director.  With Avatar, James Cameron harshed everyone's buzz by constantly talking about how original and innovative the storyline was and how his amazing new technology was changing the landscape of modern film.  The movie is gorgeous, but the storyline is trite, many of the characters one-dimensional, and antagonists so evil they're more cartoonish than the doe-eyed N'avi.  Let's call a spade a spade.

Ellen Page is FALLING! Someone catch Ellen Page!

Inception is similarly afflicted. It's beautiful, and a lot of the ideas