The Dark Knight: A Minor Complaint
Like Aaron said elsewhere, if you haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, you should. Maybe the best superhero movie yet--really exciting, really well-written/directed/acted, and Ledger's Joker is the most genuinely scary movie villan I've ever seen. But while I applaud the stark realism of Christopher Nolan's film, as well as the respect he's shown for the character and its history, the director's approach has had consequences no one seems willing to talk about. I'm talking about the absence of Batman-related novelty singles in the Nolan-Bale era.
Till now, whenever Batman has loomed large in the public imagination, be it during Adam West's high-camp TV take on the character, Tim Burton's films with Michael Keaton, or the mid-90s Joel Schumacher terrible shitfests, one thing has remained constant: musical tie-ins. The trend ends, apparently, with our generation, and this is what we've lost:
Method Man - "The Riddler"
Prince - "Batdance" (#1 in 1989!)
Jan & Dean - "Batman" (This one is really pretty baffling)
Who'll be the next villain? I hope it's the riddler. Jim Carey!
ReplyDeleteI was saying to Greg after we saw it how cool it would be to get Jim Carey to reprise his role as the Riddler.
ReplyDeleteholy home theatre! Say want you want, but for my money it's Adam West, Burt Ward
ReplyDeleteand all of those Old Hollywood celebs clamoring to guest star on the Batman TV
series. A great time was had by all. Plus lots of slick sounds from Hefti & Riddle-holy audiophile!