BATMAN!!!  (that was supposed to be the old Batman theme… weak, I know, but believe me, you should appreciate it more than me singing it, that’s for damn sure)

So I went to see Batman with Kim (our third time hanging out, but I didn’t get lucky dammit… man, is she gonna kill me when she reads this…) this afternoon.  First of all, as far as I can remember, I think this is the first time I’ve ever been to a movie in the middle of the day.  I’ve always gone as part of an evening out.  Does that make me strange (or just stranger?)?

Anyway – the movie is really good.  Batman has always been my favorite superhero character because he was the most "human" – I’m the far from being a "fanboy" or anything, but I always thought it was a cool character.  What makes this movie so great is that it IS about the character Batman, and not just a big dumb blow-shit-up action flick.  I like good special effects as much as anyone else, but when they start to take over the movie – or are the point of the movie to begin with – I’m just not into that.  The movie does a great job connecting some big gaps in the Batman mythology, such as why bats, how the hell did he get so good at fighting and where did all these neat gadgets come from?  It makes for a really interesting and attention-keeping moving.

The closest thing I got to feeling like a giddy fanboy was when they showed him loading his utility belt.  That was pretty cool.  Great Batmobile too, though I have to admit, I don’t understand why he has to do a sit-up in order to fire the guns and make a jump.  Not getting that. 

One thing that I liked which hasn’t gotten a lot of play in the critic reviews is how legitimately scary some of the scenes are – not just the stuff with the bats, but when the Scarecrow is going around drugging people (he is the the most believable superhero villain in any movie ever, BTW), the resulting scenes are actually disconcerting and frightening, making you hope that the stuff they are spreading around doesn’t actually exist, or that you at least will never come in contact with it.

One question I do have about the main evil plot in the film revolves around the microwave emitting machine.  I don’t want to bring too much reality into a superhero flick, but since this was a very grounded one, I’ll do it anyway: if this machine emitted such high-powered microwaves that it vaporized all the water around it, shouldn’t have all the people near it gotten cooked as well?   Hell, if it is that powerful, they should have been exploding right along side the water mains.  That’s how microwaves work… put a glass of water in the microwave and it boils and evaporates.  Put a kitten in it and it gets cooked (just an example folks, don’t get angry).

Anyway – it was good, and I’ll probably buy it when it comes out DVD.  From Kim’s perspective, she just really liked seeing Christian Bale all muscled out, but was disappointed with the outfit.  She was apparently hoping for more spandex (I picked up on that from her constant "spandex" chanting during the costuming scenes).  She was also disappointed that the most she saw of Christian was a topless shot in his pajamas. (I just thought he made for a really good Batman)

Of course, that’s more than we get from Katie Holmes, who is her usual almost-disturbingly cute self.  I wonder if she as much of a sex vixen as all men everywhere hope she is?  She looks great in the film, running around in skirts with boots (as some of you know, that pretty much gets me every time).  One  very funny thing that happened in the movie as a totally gratuitous erect nipple shot – when Katie is being lifted off a table after being drugged, her right breast is visible and so is a very erect nipple, right in the middle of the screen – pretty tough to miss, and completely pointless, other than making people like me type about it on-line, I guess.   Must have been cold in the Batcave…