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There is a lot of news coming out of Gotham city these days, even with the premiere more than 6 months away. Recently the prologue to The Dark Knight Rises was shown to journalists and bloggers, with reactions being mostly positive – which is impressive, considering director Christopher Nolan set the bar high, introducing Heath ledger in the bank robbery sequence that was used to promote The Dark Knight. Despite the superlatives (like jaw-dropping and mind-blowing), some did complain that the new bad-guy, Bane, was hard to understand. Bootlegs of the video are floating around the net but it is probably worth it to go and watch it on the big screen, you can see it as a preview to the new Mission: Impossible film. Here is a quick recap of the things that have come out over the passed weeks and months, thanks to interviews with Nolan and the media that has hounded the production team that has been everywhere from India to Scotland – did you know they have Gotham landmarks built in an old zeppelin hangar in the U.K.? Now you know. The story takes place eight years after the end of the last movie. Nolan tried to explain why, see if you can figure it out:
“But it’s not a great mystery — it’s the jumping-off point for the film — but it’s hard for me to articulate it. I think the mood at the beginning of the film will make a lot of sense. If I had to express it thematically, I think what we’re saying is that for Batman and Commissioner Gordon, there’s a big sacrifice, a big compromise, at the end of the ‘The Dark Knight’ and for that to mean something, that sacrifice has to work and Gotham has to get better in a sense. They have to achieve something for the ending of that film — and the feeling at the end of that film — to have validity. Their sacrifice has to have meaning and it takes time to establish that and to show that, and that’s the primary reason we did that. It’s a time period that is not so far ahead that we would have to do crazy makeup or anything — which I think would be distracting — but it gave them something to get their teeth into, particularly Christian in terms of [portraying] this guy who has been frozen in this moment in time with nowhere to go. He really has done an incredible job figuring out how to characterize that and express that.”
So that’s not exactly a synopsis in cleartext but it does provide insight into why Gordon was sick and in bed in the preview – and why Bale as Bruce Wayne looks a bit more haggard than any serious caped crimefighter should. We know from Liam Neeson, that his character makes an appearance in what we can expect is a flashback. We know that Christian Bale and Nolan won’t be doing another Batman film. In all it’s shaping up to be the epic end to a trilogy, there are many more details that have been released, regarding the appearance of certain actresses and what that might reveal about the plot, I’m purposefully avoiding them myself and I hate to speculate but judging by the poster and talk surrounding the film it seems unlikely that Bruce Wayne will carry on as the Caped Crusader, but that’s just speculation on my part.
Bernd would have been proud. The premier of the latest adaptation of The Three Musketeers is a milestone in the development of the film market in Germany. While the country has been the backdrop for numerous Hollywood-productions of late, such as: Valkyrie, The Reader, and Inglourious Basterds, the new 100 million dollar production price tag marks Germany’s most expensive film – shot and developed entirely at home, it is intended for worldwide consumption. 
Lament for a Wall Street Protest
Democracy in your face. Pepperspray at close range, protestors were then handcuffed and dragged away.
In the last couple of weeks, the Occupy Wall Street protests have been broken up in New York City and elsewhere – students in California braving batons and pepper spray in truly disturbing clashes with campus police. Despite their staying power – after almost two months the news media is tired of reporting on them – they didn’t really accomplish much, despite their creative consensus building and action committees. Nevertheless it’s still remarkable, and the results will hopefully be felt, come election time in the United States. Even since the 2008 financial crisis, plenty of work has been released dealing with the financial system, in all different kinds of media from film to literature. From the documentary Inside Job to the more recent film Margin Call, all laying bare the machinations of the financial system. There is plenty to protest about, the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street, the billions in executive bonuses, but more importantly how Banks and other financial institutions privatize profit and socialize losses.
William D. Cohan wrote a book called Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World said in an interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show “I’m not a violent person [...] but I dodn’t understand why there hasn’t been protests in the street about Wall Street did here.” That comes form someone who worked on Wall Street for almost twenty years. While the immediate reaction was one of disgust the mobs didn’t come until recently, probably a combination of things but most immediately as a result of the U. S. reaching the debt ceiling. In the end people took to the streets, but it seemed they wanted to start society anew, reduce the role of government, but spread the wealth – that’s not going to fly. In the end they didn’t have a consistent message, they were just there, and now they’re gone. Polls showed that at the beginning, most Americans were behind the protestors, but as things dragged on support waned. The problem was, there was no clear message, what started as a protest against greed and corruption on Wall Street, turned into a free-for-all on the wealthy and government in general. I’m not saying they need a PR consultant to give them a slick slogan and talking points, but they do need a direction, some kind of goal.
It’s a crying shame, had they focussed on real, actionable change, they might have got something done – two concrete policy issues come to mind: financial reform and taxes. The promised changes in financial regulation have no teeth – Wall Street lobbyists are helping write it, and only a small portion of the promised reforms have actually been enacted, the rest hasn’t been written yet. With regards to taxes, the rich need to start carrying more of the tax burden, period. While concrete policy intiatives might be a little lame for the hemp-wearing drum-beating crowd, it might have had more of an effect.