Today's 5: Batman Begins, Dick Tracy, Lara Croft...
Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 10:06AM Happy Thursday!
Five mood-boosting ways to celebrate this day (June 15th) in movie history
2005 Batman Begins opens, taking Christopher Nolan from critical darling to mainstream sensation, particularly for the fanboys. It also reignites the Batman franchise which we'll never be free of. In short: it's a good movie but it basically doomed us to countless retellings of origin stories we already sat through and reboot culture. Thomas and Martha Wayne have now died so many times... (sigh)
In its honor today: If you've been feeling down in the dumps, consider today a chance to Reboot your own franchise. Start over. You can be a bigger hit than you were before!
2001 Angelina Jolie IS Lara Croft: Tomb Raider new in theaters. Wish Alicia Vikander luck trying to outdo her next year. We love Vikander but wouldn't want to be in her boots in this particular pop culture iconography duel.
In her honor today: Let your bangs hang seductively in your face all day. If you are hair-challenged, pretend. You're a sexy beast!
1990 Dick Tracy opens. Becomes a commercial and Oscar hit. Is still one of the best comic adaptations ever made for the big screen.
In its honor today: Wear something really colorful. And listen to Sondheim's great songs today.
1960 The Apartment has its world premiere in New York City. It will win 5 of its 10 Oscar nominations the next spring including Best Picture.
In its honor today: Don't get caught up in your office politics. Shut up and deal.
1952 Cinematographer John Toll born. He wins back to back Oscars for Legends of the Fall and Braveheart but his amazing prowess behind the camera also brought us beautiful, earthy, and sensual images in Sense8, The Thin Red Line, The Last Samurai and more.
In his honor today: Take a walk outside. Look at how beautiful the world can actually be.
Other Anniversaries
ACTORS: Jorge Rivero (1938), Polly Draper (1955), Julie Haggerty (1955), Helen Hunt (1963), Courteney Cox (1964), Ice Cube (1969), Neil Patrick Harris (1973), Ray Santiago (1984), Alice Englert aka Spawn o' Jane Campion (1994) and Oscar nominated Barkhad Abdi (1994); OTHER LUMINARIES: Composer Edvard Grieg (1843), Comic book artist Neal Adams (1941), Director Laurence Cantet of Palme d'Or winning The Class fame (1961), Dancer Benjamin Millepied aka Mr Natalie Portman (1977); MOVIES RELEASED: The In-Laws (1979), Rocky II (1979), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Reader Comments (11)
Whenever I think of Dick Tracy it brings me back to a time of Ninentdo and VHS. The Dick Tracy trailer played before "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and the video game version was so fun, wasted so many childhood hours on that.
Graduated from high school June 15, 2005 and went to see Batman Begins with my sister at an opening night packed house showing. Just got back from her wedding this weekend. Hurrah! Loved that movie--saw it 5 times and was angry when my friends wanted to see Mr&Mrs Smith instead one day. How dare they.
I was rehearsing for a production of Ragtime when Batman Begins hit theaters. I remember being hesitant to see it because I was in love with Tim Burton's film adaptations, particularly Batman Returns, and didn't want my childhood memories sullied. Still, I saw the movie at my castmates' urgings and recall being entertained if underwhelmed.
I snuck into Tomb Raider after paying to see the original Fast and the Furious and have the distinct memory of both being unequivocally dreadful, therefore, never returned for any of the sequels.
I'm not a huge Nolan fan, but his Batman films are really good, and the second one is fantastic. It's too bad that so many superhero films since have borrowed his brooding template (and added relentless, video-game violence to the mix). I remember seeing Batman Begins in the theater and being pretty thrilled by it--at the time, it felt like a truly fresh and creative way of telling the Batman story, and it felt markedly different from other superhero films.
I loved the Batman "universe" as a kid, so a part of me will always be curious about what the new iterations of Batman onscreen are. I do wish we could take a break, though--we're getting saturated with sub-par versions. Superman vs. Batman was indeed awful--I caught it on HBO and ended up fast-forwarding through parts of it to get to Wonder Woman LOL. And I didn't even bother with Suicide Squad. I'd be down for the Batman franchise to take a rest (what can I say--I'm a dreamer!) and return with a fresh and unique vision (translation: not Zack Snyder).
One potential bright spot on the horizon: the planned Batgirl movie. If it's good, I am so down for that.
I think Vikander though an uninspired choice can make the character her own cos Jolie was woeful in the first 2.
I like Alicia Vikander, but Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft is tops in "Fictional Life I Can Imagine Myself Living In and Being Perfectly Content".
Foremost is Jolie's joyful ability to convey that she gives zero fucks and that you cross her at your peril. Her Lara does exactly what she likes, and takes great pleasure in it. She has tons of money, a beautiful house that is arranged just the way she likes it, a clever and loyal staff.
She is smart, knowledgeable, practical, adventurous, travels everywhere, and has helpful acquaintances wherever she goes.
The only important thing she lacks is good female friends, sisters, mother, grandmother. I like to think of these women living nearby, just over the hills, and coming to visit.
To augment Vikander's appeal as Lara Croft, add 3 or 4 women to the cast in central parts, and maybe try having a woman director, script writer, crew. Take the Wonder Woman lessons and add a good script and have the motley crew be fellow Amazons.
Just gonna drop this here and run:
BATMAN BEGINS is the best of the Nolan Batman trilogy.
There, I said it.
@ Lylee - I sorta agree with you and I sorta don't. The movie as whole, yes, TDK probably is worse (especially that ridiculous ship with explosives scene in that lousy third act), but it has that uncanny Ledger performance and that, to me, is the only point in which the trilogy actually achieves greatness. Everything else fluctuates between awful (e.g. Bane's duck voice) and solid (most of it, really), with the occasional laughable misstep (Marion Cotillard's death scene).
The worst part about it, though, is its legacy. The success of Nolan's Batman gave us the unbearable trend of emo superhero movies, which seem to mistake a blank faced acting, dark monochromatic pallette and giving characters daddy issues for "depth". It ruined DC movie adaptations for at least a decade, until Wonder Woman came to the rescue. And on top of that, we had to suffer through all those stupid articles about how Anne Hathaway was OMG the best Catwoman ever, which is an insult to any person who's ever seen Pfeiffer in Batman Returns (still the best Batman movie).
Now, speaking of colors, Dick Tracy!! What an antidote to the DC boredom! Dick Tracy probably has more color in one frame than all of Nolan's Batmans and Zack Snyder's crapfests combined. Color and music and excitement and fun! You really don't need to sacrifice any of them to make great art. I love Madonna in it, as well, especially the scene when all hell is breaking loose and she's singing More!
Regarding Jolie in Tomb Raider, I'm certainly in the minority, but I think it's some of her worst work as a movie star. The early aughts were a rough patch for her, most of her movies sucked and I don't think the Lara Croft ones are an exception to that.
The Apartment stands practically alone in the roster of Best Picture winners. What could be a companiion piece? Maybe It Happened One Night, or is it too goofy? Annie Hall is prpbably the next but neithe compari
*neither comparison works 100%.
(Phone slipped I tried to grab it mid air, ended up posting in the middle of the sentence) =\
Literally the only thing I still remember about Batman Begins is the weird Liam Neeson-Ken Watanabe sequence, and, OK, the fact that Katie Holmes really lucked out with her 2005 releases (Thank You for Smoking being the other). Everything else is simply a blur.
Love Angelina Jolie, but she's straight up (bad) cartoonish in Tomb Raider, with wacky facial expressions in this as well as in Mr. & Mrs. Smith that defy explanation. She's much more relaxed and cool in Wanted and Salt.
Barkhad Abdi was only 18 when he filmed Captain Phillips?! He looks literally twice as old as that. Anyway, happy b-day!
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