Five Pros/Five Cons - Chris Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy

Next up is something that I’ve been meaning to re-visit here. A few years ago, I briefly talked about the Nolan trilogy right when The Dark Knight Rises was being released. Now that we have had more live action Batmen come and go, I thought it was time to see how this momentous trilogy stacks up now.

I don’t remember when I first heard that new Batman movie was coming. I also didn’t know who Christian Bale was, but I knew he was that jackass racist from the 2000 Shaft movie. Anyway, Batman Begins was released in 2005 and I was really surprised. I even read the novelization and played that PS2 game. Then, The Dark Knight came three years later and set everything ablaze. After that, you knew a sequel had to come. It took four years, but The Dark Knight Rises made its way to theatres in 2012. I’ll have you know that I haven’t seen this movie since its release until now. I know, it’s kinda weird to say that especially since I’ve seen the first two plenty of times. Now that I’ve finished my re-watch, what are the 5 pros and 5 cons of the trilogy? Yeah, it’s got some problems… come at me, Nolanites!

Random Thoughts On... Grant Morrison's Run on Batman and Robin

Next up for this phase of Batman talk, I thought I’d return to ‘ole Grant Morrison. This time, we’re not dealing with the dankness of Grant Morrison… oh wait, Professor Pyg shows up here. Never mind! Anyway, I’ve talked about Morrison’s Batman run from the 2000’s. I got through Black Glove, R.I.P., and Battle For the Cowl. Yeah, that last one wasn’t Morrison, but you needed it to get to the next phase: the Dick Grayson Era or “Batman Reborn”.

                                               

“Batman Reborn” started off the small era where Dick Grayson donned the cape and cowl, Damian Wayne became Robin, and Tim Drake became a restaurant. I’m only talking about the Morrison themed stuff here, so you’ll have to wait on my thoughts about Judd Winnick’s time on Batman. Morrison left the Batman book and got his own series, Batman and Robin. While he worked on that book for 16 issues, he also returned to Batman to write some issues. Then, he also had a mini-series called The Return of Bruce Wayne. Guess what happens in that mini. There’s also Batman: The Return, a one-shot that basically started off Batman Incorporated, to consider, but I’ll save that for another time.

Favorites - 12 Favorite Songs from Mr. Mister

It’s been a minute since I’ve gone into some music, so I thought I’d take a left at Albuquerque and talk about some 80’s pop group called Mr. Mister. I don’t have to turn in my “Awesome Black Dude” Card again, do I? Oh well, I think I switched it out for the “Average Black Dude” Card anyway. For those who don’t know who Mr. Mister is, they’re the dudes who did the 80’s classic, “Broken Wings.” Another song they’re also known for is “Kyrie.” That was where my knowledge of the group ended for years. Those were the only two songs I heard from the group. I can thank Mixed 92.9 FM for that.

It didn’t stop there, though. As I started to peruse through different stations on Pandora, I came across the group again and something clicked for me. I think it had to do with hearing another song of theirs, “Don’t Slow Down.” For some reason, that made me want to search more for the group on YouTube, and I started to look for more music. I even bought their most successful album, Welcome to the Real World, on iTunes. As I listened to more and more, I started to become a bit of a fan. Also, and this is a personal detail, some of their music helped me get through some tough times last year. Heck, it’s still helping me.

The group was formed in 1980 and lasted throughout the decade. The members were Steve Farris (guitar and background vocals), Steve George (drums/percussion), Pat Mastelotto (keyboard and background vocals) , and Richard Page (bass and lead singer). They technically released four albums during that time with Welcome to the Real World, the second album, being their biggest one. Pull, their last album, didn’t see the light of day until 2010. It was supposed to be released in 1990, but their studio didn’t release it.  The group went their separate ways after that. Since I’ve finally listened to all four albums, I thought I’d do a list of my favorite songs. It’s not in order, but my favorites are up top.