The movies Warner Bros are putting forward for contention are ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,’ ‘Cloud Atlas,’ ‘Argo,’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises. + Magic Mike.

So basically, all of their movies.

Actually, Argo and The Dark Knight Rises the best movies I've seen this year.

And I'm really looking forward to The Hobbit and Cloud Atlas.

What else has there really been this year?

You've seen TDKR? Finally?!? What'd you think?

Well I laughed about the Magic Mike nomination, but I heard it was a good movie. Maybe.

Yes, you're right; Argo, and TDKR are the two best movies that you've seen this year; Cloud Atlas will be the third when you see it. And I suspect The Hobbit the fourth. :)

Skyfall next week. Avengers. Hunger Games. Looper. Alex Cross -- ha. Twilight Breaking Dawn II in 2 weeks -- double ha.

My top movies in no particular order

End of Watch

The Dark Knight Rises

Argo

Looper

Cloud Atlas

Skyfall (expected)

The Hobbit (expected)

The Cabin in the Woods

Oscar contenders I could foresee: Argo, TDKR, End of Watch, Hobbit and of course a few indie-style movies that I'll probably never see.

I think Christian Bale deserves the best actor spot. Nolan deserves best director. And of course, Hans Zimmer best score.

TDKR made me sad that Batman hates the 99 percent: http://www.salon.com/2012/07/18/batman_hates_the_99_percent/

The problem with The Dark Knight Rises is that Batman is an Ayn Randian douche bag, or at least that's what Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi has to say. Taibbi writes:

The film doesn't disappoint, despite its "message," which one could almost describe as a Hitlerian whack-off fantasy about an unfairly maligned billionaire who sneaks out at night in bondage masks and Kevlar underpants and uses secret military technology to beat the living shit out of the Occupy movement.

Most of the "messaging" in this direction is so idiotic that it goes way over the edge into unintentional comedy — like when Bruce Wayne loses his money and discovers the true meaning of poverty (he answers his own doorbell), or when Batman Begins villan Cillan Murphy appears in a cameo to run the neo-Soviet show trials that naturally begin as soon as our billionaire protector is expelled from Gotham.

[Batman]'s a brooding, self-serious douche who lives in a mansion, drives a Lamborghini, and acts like he can't even imagine wanting to get laid unless it somehow helps him fulfill his mission of protecting Gotham from its lurking proletarian community...

What depresses the Batman is us: our decadence, our disobedience, our refusal to appreciate and treasure the gifts of civilization given to us by the noblesse oblige types like his father. We suck so much that when Rises starts, Batman is in the eighth year of a self-imposed Atlas Shrugged-ian strike, refusing to leave his mansion until we stop blaming him for all of our problems.

It's hard to shake that review. I think Taibbi nails it.

Having said that, the part where Batman trains himself to take the leap of faith... That was awesome.

Ãœber founder loves Ayn Rand, too: http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/

I don't like Ayn Rand for three reasons:

1. She believes the rich are being exploited by the poor.

2. She believes that greed is good and altruism is evil.

3. She believes that women should hero-worship men.

The Dark Knight was a much more satisfying film than TDKR.

Interesting; this is a view point I had not before considered, thank you much for considering it. While I disagree with its conclusion, it presents some cogent points.

Perhaps I look at the movie as one man's struggle, and I don't really consider the Gotham arch or story. Perhaps I view Joker and Bane as agents of chaos and anarchy; to be sure, I believe in Nolan's stories (irrespective of David Goyer's influence) he is rather pro-proletariat.

Selina's story, in essence, is supposed to represent the Gotham arc. Like it or not.

//

I think Uber could have given away rides or something: http://pandawhale.com/convo/8434/uber-surge-pricing-in-nyc-good-or-bad

Interestingly enough, this article: http://pandawhale.com/convo/8026/travis-shrugged-the-creepy-dangerous-ideology-behind-silicon-valleys-cult-of-disruption-pandodaily was on the front page on Hacker News but was quickly buried.

Ãœber should have created more goodwill. That would have served them well.

Thanks for the Travis Shrugged article.

If Batman Begins is about overcoming fear, The Dark Knight is about overcoming chaos, and The Dark Knight Rises is about overcoming the combination of the two, then Batman's message is still that only a philanthropist billionaire can save we the masses.

Unless you're a thief who slips under the radar like Selina.

As one man alone, he was broken.

When he united with the good people of Gotham; Alfred (in spirit), Lucius, Blake, Selina, The police officers, Gordon -- then, and only then were they able to save gotham.

Bruce Wayne as an eccentric philanthropist billionaire failed; he was broken, lost his wealth, and his reputation was tarnished. He failed.

Batman as a symbol, as a force for unity against chaos and fear, as an inspiration to the ordinary citizens...He succeeded.

Yes, Bruce Wayne was a person. Who lived and died, and lived again.

But Batman was more. He was a symbol. He was an ideal.

He was a legend.

And if you look throughout history, you will find, that there are real-life examples -- both the ones we read about in our history books and the ones we ignore -- who so too, in such a manner devoted themselves to an ideal and became symbols.

Which is why, in the end, Robin Blake becomes the new Batman.

Like in The Princess Bride when the torch gets passed to a new Dread Pirate Roberts.

See also dictatorship of the proletariat in Gotham City.