DC Movie Review: ****^ The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

 Batman (Christian Bale) has been retired for eight years, and has become a recluse mourning the death of Rachel Dawes.  The city has been doing well, having locked up 2000 criminals based on the Dent laws.  But there is evil brewing beneath the surface.  Batman's old nemesis, the League of Shadows is returning.  Not Ta's Al Ghul, but those who think like him are filtrating the city and government.  Bane (Tom Hardy) in particular is the essence of evil.  He breaks people's necks, or rips out their trachea with his bare hands.  

Commissioner Gordon's (Gary Oldman's) wife has left him, but he continues to protect the reputation of Harvey Dent, and lets Batman take the blame for his crimes.  John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn) wants to take over Wayne Enterprises and kick Bruce Wayne out.  Cat Woman/ Selina (Anne Hathaway) steals Wayne's finger prints, and sell them to Bane.  They attack a stock market bank, and using the fingerprints are able to wipe Wayne out of money, and Daggett gets his wish, but Bane ends up killing him.  Bane has bigger goals.  

Gordon is kidnapped by Bane's men, but escapes with the help of new police man, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).  However Gordon is hospitalized from the trauma.  Alfred (Michael Caine) leaves, hoping he can keep Batman from becoming involved again as Batman.  Batman is older and Bane will certainly kill him.  Batman does confront Bane, and Bane beats him in a fight, injuring Batman's back.  Bane keeps him alive but puts him in an Asian prison.  Meantime he takes over Gotham, using explosives so as to isolate it on Gotham island, trapping the police under ground, liberating all the prisoners who are set up as mob rule.  He comes upon nuclear material from Wayne Enterprises, and having kidnapped a scientist to make it into a bomb.  They hold kangaroo courts presided by Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) in which the put wealthy people to death.

Batman is in the Asian prison for five months, giving his body time to heal.  He is finally able to climb out of the prison.  He finds that a child of Ta's Al Ghoul was also in the prison and escaped.  The child was helped by a protector.  Batman assumes the child is Bane.

Batman returns to Gotham, and takes on Bane with a different result.  He is able to knock his breathing mask which causes great pain.  However just as he is on the point of victory, an ally, Miranda stabs him in the back, literally.  She worked for Wayne Enterprises but turns out to the Talia Al Ghul (Marion Cotillard), daughter of Ta's Al Ghul.  Bane is the protector.  Talia attempt to detonate the bomb but fails as the signal is blacked by Gordon at the bomb.  Thali takes off to go to the bomb.  Catwoman kills Bane with the bat cycle.  The chase Talia, and finally catch her, but the bomb is going to detonate.  Batman takes the bomb in a bat plane out into the ocean where it explodes, ending the threat and Batman.  Batman had said the remote for the plane was not working, but they later discover it was working.

This movie as very good.  I liked it better as the evil characters played their parts well and were truly evil.  Blake is set up to be Robin as he finds the bat cave. 

Movie Review: ****^ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

 This is a fun expose of the two bandits, Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford).  It includes the son, "Raindrops keep falling on my head."  I is a really good view at the relationships.  The outlaws are forced to leave because of the intense pressure placed on them by the railroad company detectives seeking their death.  They move to Bolivia with Etta Place (Katherine Ross).  They go back into the business with some success robbing banks.   Bur they hear the detective from America has come to track them down, so they stop all criminal activity.  However working as guards they have to kill more then at being criminals.  Etta returns to America, and Butch and Sundance face and army.  That is where the show ends because of all the controversy of whether they returned to America or not and are buried in Bolivia.  

I really enjoy this history and this movie is fun.  

Movie Review: ***^ The Dark Knight (2008)

 In the Dark Knight Batman (Christian Bale) gets darker; as does his nemesis Joker (Heath Ledger).  The Joker is without scruples.  He kills even those who for him or with him.  As such he takes over the crime syndicate in Gotham.  He does behave in conventional ways, and this throws Batman off.  Also the district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is being aggressive going after organized crime.  The assistant is Bruce Wayne's interest, Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal).  Joker is very good at getting what he wants.  He takes on the task of killing Batman.  He fails to do this but he does turn turn Dent.  He kidnaps he and his fiancé, Batman's friend Rachel.  He forces Batman to save one of them, and Rachel is killed.  Dent is left as Two-face.  Two-face ends up dead and Batman takes the blame so the people can have a hero in Dent, and the laws against organized crime go into effect.  At the end of this movie Batman becomes the Dark Knight and goes into hiding.

The Joker is really devious and evil, and always seems to be a step ahead.  Hedger plays him very dark.  Michael Cane continues as Alfred the butler and support Wayne and Batman.  Gary Oldman continues as commissioner Gordon.  It is Batman and the commissioner who decide the perception has to be that Batman is evil and Dent is a hero.  Joker had messed with Gordon and his family, kidnapping them.

Musical Movie Review: **** Calamity Jane (1953)

 Calamity Jane (Doris Day) is a western woman who dresses in men's clothing.  She is the guard of the stage, and exaggerates how many Native Americans she has killed.  She rescues Lieutenant Gilmartin (Philip Carey) when he is captured by Indians.  She has a crush on him.  Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel) has a thing for Calamity Jane, but would like her to wear woman clothes.  Calamity goes to Chicago to recruit and actress, but gets the wrong woman.  She comes back with the maid, Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie) rather than the actress; but Brown she does the best she can.  Calamity and Brown move in together, and Calamity get jealous when Brown and Gilmartin kiss.  She is so upset she tells Brown she must leave.  But Gilmartin really likes Brown.  Hickok finally proposes to Calamity, and everything ends happy.  

The voices of Howard Keel (baritone) and Doris Day are excellent and their singing really carries the musical.  I especially like the song "The Black Hills of Dakota."  They both sing with lots of energy.  "I Can Do Without You" is also very fun.  

John Wayne Movie Review: ****The Searchers (1956)

 This is a very good movie, and the racism of the lead character spills out all over the movie.  I think this was the point.  Uncle Ethan Evans (John Wayne) has returned home three years after the Civil War ended.  He is caught up in rescuing his nieces who are taken by Comanche.  Their brother, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter) goes with him but he is not a blood brother, but adopted and has Cherokee blood, which Uncle Ethan doesn't let him forget it.  Pawley has a girlfriend, Laurie (Vera Miles).  Early on they find the older sister murdered.  However the search for Deborah (Natalie Wood and Lana Wood), the younger sister goes on for many years.  Pawley is worried Uncle Evan will kill her as she has been amongst the Indians too long and will be an Indian.  The learn Cicatriz, or Scar (Henry Brandon) has her, but make little progress in finding him.  The first time they come upon Debbie Uncle Ethan does want to kill her, and Pawley intervenes.  However the second time there is a major operation and Cicatriz is killed.  However when Uncle Evan gets to the niece, now about 15 he says lets go home, and it is both he and the niece going home as Uncle Ethan lets go of some of his hate.  

The party would come home from time to time.  On one of these occasions they enter the wedding of Laurie and Charlie McCorrey (Ken Curtis, later Festus).  Laurie had grown tired of waiting and McCorrey had worn her down.  McCorrey and Pawley fight, and there is no wedding.  It is after this fight we hear that Cicatriz is in the area.  Another interesting character is Moss Harper (Hank Worden).  People thinks he is crazy, but it is he who was able to discover the whereabouts of Cicatriz.  Sisters Natalie Wood and Lana Wood portray Debbie, Lana the young Debbie and Natalie the older Debbie.  

I enjoyed this movie.  You have to remember Uncle Ethan's racism is his character form seeing death in the Civil War and fighting against the Native Americans.  

Western Movie Review: *** Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

 This is a Sergio Leone spaghetti western.  It stars Charles Bronson as Harmonica, a mysterious character who is extracting revenge as he goes.  Is ultimate goal is Frank (Henry Fonda), who is a very evil character but who is tied with the rail road, Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) and thereby gets away with it.  He and his men murder a family; but Cleveland (Jason Robards) is blamed.  Frank and the railroad want the property of the man they murdered.  They did not know he had recently married.  His widow is Jill McBain (Claudia Cardinale).  Cleveland and Harmonica form an alliance of sorts to keep McBain from being cheated of her estate.  Even Frank and Harmonica form an alliance for a time, as Harmonica wants to be sure he is the person to kill Frank, who lynched his father when he was a boy.  

The movie is very slow at times with periods of violence.  Leone really drags out gun fights.  It is a 2 1/2 hour movie and could have been compressed greatly.  

John Wayne Movie Review: Rio Bravo (1959)

 Sheriff Chance (John Wayne) arrests a man Joe Burdette for murder, and his brother Nathan Burdette (John Russell) doesn't like it.  John is a big land owner and is complicit in a murder himself, paying people to do his evil work.  Chance has two deputies, Stumpy (Walter Brennan) who is crippled and Dude (Dean Martin) who has been on a two year bender after things went sour with a girl.  But they do have the fortress of the jail.  There is a woman (Angie Dickinson) new in town, who befriends Chance.  Also a young gun man, Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson) whose boss is murdered by Burdette's men, and becomes a third deputy.  Finally the dye is cast, when Burdette's men kidnap Dude, and arrange an exchange for Joe Burdette.  This sets up the final gun battle.  With the help of some dynamite things do not go well for the crooks.

I enjoyed this movie.  The action was very nice, as was the romance.  The nicest part was a couple of songs the deputies sang while they holed up in the jail where they thought they could defend against the criminals.  One of the songs the Tabernacle Choir has also sung, "Cindy."