The Dark Knight is not The Godfather Part II. For one thing, it isn’t entirely superfluous. No flashback scenes starring Robert DeNiro, either. It isn’t the Godfather. It’s not Chinatown and it’s not Goodfellas. But it dares to come close. It is a very, very good film rather than just a good superhero movie. It could actually do with being longer and has some strong characters, all of whom have an arc.

The cast is fantastic and Maggie Gyllenhaal is so much better than Katie Holmes as to elevate the film by herself. You could actually believe someone loving her, rather than wishing for her character to be removed from the film entirely.

Heath Ledger is occasionally scary and always convincing, Christian Bale is great but unfortunately surrounded by people who get better lines than him but, for me, the star is Aaron Eckhart. His character has the most dramatic arc and the pivotal moment may be too sudden, but he brings the nobility, confidence, darkness and anger of his character to life. The film is a tragedy, and never moreso than in the case of Harvey Dent.

Nolan’s direction is assured, the best moments both wordless and scoreless, and the film feels grounded in reality and grimily believable. There is spectacle and huge scale, but it is the human characters and their heroism, corruption and inhumanity that really set the film apart. It is a great distillation of a modern myth and a brilliant piece of cinema.

“Soon I Will Be Invincible” by Austin Grossman will be published in America in June and in this country in August. I have read an advanced copy which is an uncorrected proof. There were only a couple of places I think a line editor will make corrections so I would hazard a guess I have seen something pretty close to the retail text.

The story is a parallel examination of the dissolution and reformation of a superteam and the escape and machinations of their arch nemesis. Told in the first person by both the newest member of the superteam and the villain in question, the story is fairly linear and insular. It’s reliant on homage (mainly to DC comics and the JSA and JLA/Teen Titans) and, bar the occasional profanity, simplistic in both language and narrative. This is not a work of depth or profound insight, both the first person voices are strikingly similar and there are no real distinctive dialogue traits from any of the characters. Most of the characters are archetypes and short cuts are seemingly taken in their personality and characterisation as a result of this.

The book is overlong, with large swathes reading like filler (particularly the scenes written from the hero’s perspective) and the plot being not particularly interesting. The dramatic conclusion is reliant on a piece of information that the reader is earlier presented as fact being wholly false. False on two counts. It reads like a cheat. Events occur without explanation and the internal logic of the story is haphazard and one particular scene is not explained at all. For the simplicity of the language and straightforwardness of the story there are leaps in logic and too many parts of the plot left to mere acceptance.

This is not a stunning reappraisal of the genre. It is not, even, a particularly good stock story. It’s clumsy, the story would benefit from stronger distinct voices, more ambiguity is needed over greater stretches of the book to get away with the failings in internal logic and the whole milieu is so dependent on the sources that it affectionately homages that I can’t see it appealing to anyone other than a certain class of fanboy. If it sells more than 10,000 copies and is appreciated by even half as many people I will be astonished. It would have benefited from a better story, more introspection of premise and a much stronger editorial hand.

George Brown has made his last budget address as Chancellor. He made a shameless grab for the premiership with a two percent cut in the basic rate of tax. He also abolished the lower rate of tax. If a Tory Chancellor had delivered that budget while I was growing up I would have rightly hated it.

Gordon Brown cares nothing for the working class, and wants to penalise people on low income. A Labour Chancellor who is soon to be a Labour PM cares so little for people struggling to make ends meet in low paid jobs he doubled their taxes. At a stroke. He wants to make being poor harder, trap people with low incomes and disincentivise work. I’m not just disgusted, I wont vote for him or any representative of his party. He has ceded to the left in this country to anyone who wants to take it. Forget the (deserved) venom towards our last few Labour Home Secretaries, this is the most right wing action of any Labour politician in my lifetime. Hell, this is to the right of Ken Clarke and even Norman Lamont. It’s not just a political misstep, it is morally and ethically disgusting.

As I understand the rhetoric I am hearing, Gordon Brown is going to make much of David Cameron’s privileged schooling. He is going to trade on the politics of envy and class warfare and it is going to backfire spectacularly. Think about it: he is telling the aspirant and caring in this country that he opposes any effort to educate their children or offer them a better future. He is not just determined to penalise his core support, he is going to disenfranchise the middle class supporters that swept him into power. Because he is steeped in negativity, reprehensibly opportunist and has no morals or ethics to guide his judgement.

He has also gifted the Conservatives the next election. He has damn near done all their campaigning for them. They will have to be spectacularly inept to lose now.

I saw Hot Fuzz last night. I went to a preview screening that was attended by the director and stars. I was given free popcorn. I say these things in interests of full disclosure as I am going to say complimentary things about it.

Hot Fuzz is by the same team as Shaun of the Dead so comparisons between the two films are inevitable. They also follow the same formula of marrying a Hollywood staple with a British setting. Whereas Shaun was zombies in London Hot Fuzz is cops in rural village.

Hot Fuzz starts with an effective montage showing the hero’s career to date in London. He is then told he is being reassigned to a rural village where, upon first setting foot, he manages to arrest a good portion of the townsfolk showing both his approach to policing and the town’s attitude to crimes and misdemeanours.

From this the contrast between inner city policing and rural law enforcement is established which is used to comedic effect throughout the next portion of the film and also as an angle by which to view the rest of the plot. A buddy element is also introduced, which is both a staple of the genre being subverted and allows comedic interaction for the two leads. All very efficient, but I do feel that the makers has an affection and familiarity for the rural pace and foibles of the setting that I don’t appreciate and thus had me miss some of the nuances of the humour.

Time and time again I think of the film and try to decide why I don’t feel quite as engaged by it as I did Shaun of the Dead. I think it comes down to the lack of empathy I feel with either lead and the unfamiliarity of the setting. Whereas Shaun was about being irrational and not actually knowing what is going on, Hot Fuzz is more standard fare and clearly has a more defined framework that relegates the characters in it to their component actions more. It has less charm even as it has more craft.

Hot Fuzz is a good film, but it is a more mainstream film. It is more atypical of a British film and does get some good moments from the sheer incongruity of the events juxtaposed into the wrong setting, but it still feels familiar in a way Shawn didn’t manage. It feels less British and less of a cultural statement than it does a piece of entertainment. While still relying on being very British indeed for much of its humour and atmosphere. It’s a good film, and I will see it again, I just don’t feel it was the great film I was hoping for.

And Brummies are bloody embarrassing. On no account do you ask someone “Why are you so great?” Ever.

Casino Royale has garnered some glowing reviews. This is not to be one of them.

It is not a bad film. It is a good James Bond film, even. It is not, however, very good or great. My expectations were a little too high and the film has too many faults with pacing and misplaced action scenes to really win me over. There is no great action sequence in the film and the best set pieces occur earlier in the film, with the ending being distinctly anti climatic.

Daniel Craig is a good action hero. He is definitely the best actor to play Bond. He has a better presence than most of his predecessors. Unfortunately, he looks rather like Iain Dowie. He doesn’t seem quite suave and elegant enough for the film.

The pre credits sequence is shot in stark black and white. For reasons I can’t immediately put my finger on it reminds me of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. It intermixes flashback with conversation, so has the oddly meta effect of being a framing device housing a framing device as well as distinctly low key and offering a large amount of exposition. James Bond pre title sequences just tend to be an action set piece and a frothy quip. As a statement of intent it is striking, as a storytelling segment it is intriguing, as an action scene it falls rather flat.

The credits themselves are a cross between Gaelic influenced angular pop art and nouveau inspired tendrils of card imagery. I actually liked them far more than the cocktail music imagey that normally populate the series, but the theme is bloody awful.

Music is a recurring problem for the film. The James Bond theme makes but one appearance, and really is missed. Fortunately, the theme is not used again until the closing credits. David Arnold provides the score, but he seems oddly restrained and understated.

The real problem with the film is the main plot. Poker is not a spectator sport. It just isn’t interesting, as much as it is interspersed with violence and action. All the most exciting spectacle occurs setting up the game. The Le Parkour chase is my personal favourite.

All in all, a good film that doesn’t strip away quite enough of the franchise or come to it with quite the revisionism it needs to transcend enjoyable and competent to become great. And, in that the plot actually seems to detract from the film it is far more a Superman Returns than a Batman Begins.

When I was young I used to go to the dentist at a practice on Manningham Lane called Dental World. Now, you used to wait in a room with a fish tank and often you would hear the segment “Our Tune” on the radio, which always dealt with some couple overcoming adversity to be together and had them picking some god awful music. I hated going to the dentist largely because of the music rather than the actual chair itself.

Now, some 20 years later, the same ruddy feature is syndicated through local radio stations. Now, ignoring how soul destroying it must be to have not progressed beyond a specific feature in 20 years and seeing that same feature become parochial where before it was mainstream, the feature is always the story of some couple who have overcome obstacles and then a song is played. Unfortunately, the obstacles are always pathetic and relate to one or both partners’ indecision and lack of confidence and the song is always pure drivel. So, to amuse myself, I have decided to create a random Our Tune generator. It will have random blocking characters such as suave foreign waiter, overbearing parent or demonic boss and situations such as moving for work, jail terms and ill advised marriages. However, the music will not be awful. Just really, really inappropriate. So far I have come up with Caught Out There by Kelis, I Don’t Care by Transvision Vamp, The One by Foo Fighters and Fast Love by George Michael. Any suggestions?

In 1999 there were two reasons I got back into comics: Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch creating widescreen comics with The Authority and Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse marrying childlike wonder and pulp heroism in Tom Strong. Tom Strong quickly faded in quality and novelty, but The Authority remains a touch stone for the genre. The art was spectacular, but the story understood the trick of decompressing action scenes to build excitement and had a pace and energy beyond anything I had seen before. Warren Ellis quickly became a firm favourite of mine.

Also that year, at almost the same time, Warren Ellis created a comic with John Cassady called Planetary. Planetary was originally a clever deconstruction of a different genre every issue aided by some astounding and chameleonic art from John Cassady. His Steranko pastiche made me realise how great Steranko really was, his character work was like a superior version of Tim bradstreet but actually sequential. But, again, it was the writing which really sold me on the comic.

In many ways the comic was more innovative than The Authority, the book had different art styles incoporated by the same art team within the stories and a different visual look and design to the cover with every issue. The inital issues were self contained with an over reaching background arc and the mystery of who the fourth man was ran through the early issues of the series.

And now, seven years later, with The Authority undergoing another relaunch and John Cassady and Bryan Hitch both stars of the field, Plantary is drawing to an end.

Now, to me, nothing will compare to the first 12 issues. To falling in love with Steranko by proxy. With the tingle and excitement of Snow drawing a giant 4 or announcing he knows who the fourth man is. But my favourite issue and greatest regret is issue 9.

Issue 9 features a previous incarnation of the Planetary field team raiding a strange scientific base where an experiment is taking place. Snow’s predecessor exhibits powers that essentially act like Neo’s powers in the Matrix (which the story actually bears some parallels to, but not in the way that you may expect) and dies at the hand of an individual extracted from a fictional reality. The whole idea appeals to me on a viscreal level and, to date, has not been revisited in the book. It’s a dangling plot thread and my single favourite element of the series. And I only hope it gets resolved and revisited in the final issue.

My dad hates Halloween. He hates children expectantly chanting “trick or treat” without any understanding what to do when you don’t give them sweets and money. He hates the fact they get it from shops and American TV. He hates the commercialisation of culture and the separation of meaning and history from a holiday. He talks of American Cultural Imperialism, and while the sublimination of our culture and identity in the face of monoculture is a real grievance for him, it is deeper than that. It is a distrust of a youth without a sense of heritage, of tradition or even a basic understanding of why they do the things they do and where the practices originate from.

And while I share a great deal of his opposition, I do like to see people happy and people dressing up without feeling self conscious.

Last night I walked through All Saints to go to a corner shop. I saw children who shouldn’t be out alone dressed in all black costumes going from door to door. I saw the same mass produced costumes on many different children. I saw dark and unwelcoming houses and huddles of children clustered on pavements. I didn’t feel any spirit or sense of celebration.

Still, there is always bonfire night.

If you wear a baseball cap.

If you have a bumfluff ‘tache.

If you put on a telephone voice.

If you like Eminem.

If you model yourself on him.

If you’re male and your jeans do not come up to your hips.

If you tuck your trousers into your socks.

If you are seen in tracksuits in public while not jogging.

If you like Kanye West.

If you think someone’s sexual orientation has any bearing on their personality.

If you’re a goth.

If you talk like an American and don’t live there.

If you live there and go to church.

If you tell people your nationality and add “and proud!” at the end.

If you aspire to own Burberry.

If you think having children is a good career move.

If you watch daytime television.

If you genuinely care about celebrities’ lives.

If you name your children after them.

If you like Desperate Housewives.

If you like Friends. There is a circle in Hell reserved for you.

If you like Ally McBeal. There is a circle in a very special Hell for you. With unisex toilets.
if you don’t change your opinion of someone despite evidence.

If you borrow without asking.

If you borrow without returning.

If you don’t read the error messages and then expect someone to diagnose your problem.

If you litter.

If you like Westlife. We’re going to round you up and stone you in public.

If you think your children are anyone’s responsibility at any time but your own.

If you think “he’s only playing” excuses you for not controlling your dog properly.

If you neglect your children.

If you neglect your pets.

If you don’t own any books.

If you say “wassup”. Or any derivative.
If you have an “amusing” ringtone.

If you give your political beliefs no thought.

You say you will do things you never do.

You complain about something you don’t try to change.

You’re British Gas.

You believe the American experience will happen in any other country.

You’re Trevor Phillips.

You believe being a dissident is a suitable role for head of state. What are you? 15?!

You’re Charles Clarke.

You think identity cards will have any impact on terrorism.

You supported the invasion of Iraq.

You don’t believe a woman has a right to decide to have an abortion.

You’re David Blunkett.

You think suspending someone from office for 4 weeks is proportionate to him insulting someone who happened to annoy him that day.

Cross-Posted

Warren Ellis is running a thing on his website where he has people send him photographs of their bums with a Warren Ellis loving tag-line. So, purely to help her promote herself, I have tried convincing Zof to post her’s.

Also, in the interests of promotion, go and visit ScarletArts.Com because she gets nearly as few hits as I do and clearly deserves better.