Well, my movie's been viewed an astonishing 24 times - astonishing in that I can't imagine that I know 24 people who might come here to visit and read my ramblings. I'll just believe that a number of those viewings are repeats... but then again, even that's somewhat hard to believe.

I finally saw Batman Begins today... jaw droppingly good. I've been running hot/cold when it comes to comic book movies. For every Batman Begins, there's a Fantastic Four slouching towards Bethlehem. When done correctly, comic-films play into our natural desire for heroes - heroes who are both us and more than us.

Unlike a lot of people I know, I wasn't a huge fan of the two Tim Burton Batman films (though they were Citizen freakin' Kane compared to the rest of that series). You see, I've been a fan of Batman for as long as I can remember reading comic books. I loved the idea of the lone (or almost lone if you count Robin) figure fighting for justice in a corrupt world. But more then that, Batman is a beautiful contrast to the comic book heroes whose enemies were defeated through superhuman strength or speed; Batman, though strong and trained in various fighting styles, is a normal man. He is a detective, who uses all his mind and strength to beat his nemeses. Burton's vision was too cartoony for my tastes; dark cartoony to be sure, but cartoony nevertheless. It missed the believability so crucial to Batman's world.

Christopher Nolan's vision of Gotham (and the whole story of Batman) is far more realistic - the Wayne business, the famous toys are explained (someone has to make these things for Batman) and, most interesting for me, the psychology of the characters. Sure it's melodramatic, but, with its firm grounding in realism, it's melodrama in the very best sense of the word: sensational drama with heightened emotions. In an interview with Cinescope, my PhD advisor and brilliant screenwriter, George Toles, commented that in order to make films with fantastic subjects, the writer/director must ground that subject in the mundane and every day. So, the incredible Technicolor land of Oz in The Wizard of Oz needs to be grounded in the dull, sepia cornfields of Kansas. Nolan's Gotham is perfectly grounded.

Listening to: Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue... 'cause it's a kind of blue sort of day.