Of all the villains that Stetson-sporting U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens has squared off against on Justified, none have been as fascinating, brilliant or unnerving as Mags Bennett. Margo Martindale came into the show in season two and, like a true force of nature, completely dominated the series, eventually earning an Emmy for the role. She has a new film out today on DVD and Blu-ray called Scalene, so we took the opportunity to sit down with Martindale to discuss her award-winning role, her experience working with Clint Eastwood and life after Justified. It’s a chat as pleasant as one of Mags’ Apple Pies.

Imagine landing a part in The Dark Knight Rises, a surefire summer blockbuster. Now imagine that your part in the film is so secretive that even you aren’t sure who you are playing. That was the case for British model-turned-actor India Wadsworth, who plays The Warlord’s Daughter. If you’ve already seen the film, you know what that part entails (and why it is such a secret). We caught up with India before The Dark Knight Rises premiered for a completely spoiler-free interview discussing what it’s like to have a small, but pivotal secret role in a big budget Hollywood film.

After four years of waiting, The Dark Knight Rises has finally been released. First and foremost, make sure you check out our review of the film:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2012/07/20/review-the-dark-knight-rises/

Then, make sure to check out feature story on Bane, the villain from The Dark Knight Rises. We talked to Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan and Dennis O’Neil, the creative team who dreamt up Bane for the 1993 Batman Knightfall storyline. They reveal how the character came to be and share their thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises and Batman and Robin:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2012/07/17/getting-to-know-bane/

Speaking of Bane, Joel Murphy responds to Rush Limbaugh’s “Bane-Bain” conspiracy theory in his latest Murphy’s Law column:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2012/07/18/murphys-law-bane-for-president/

Also, we caught up with the film’s official Tumbler and Batpod Tour when it came to Baltimore back in May. You can find that post here:
http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2012/05/28/hanging-around-the-dark-knight-rises-tumbler-and-bat-pod-tour/

We also did a new feature called Retro Reviews, which is doing a “Batman Countdown,” rating all eight theatrically-released films from worst to best. Here are those reviews:

8. Batman and Robin (1997)
7. Batman Forever (1995)
6. Batman Returns (1992)
5. Batman: The Movie (1966)
4. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
3. Batman Begins (2005)
2. Batman (1989)
1. The Dark Knight (2008)

If you are looking for a rational, objective review of The Dark Knight Rises, you came to the wrong place.

I was 12-years-old when the Knightfall story unfolded in the Batman comic books. I was instantly drawn to the character of Bane, someone who had an intelligence and strength that rivaled Batman’s. He was a great villain with a really captivating backstory. Plus, I was the perfect comic book reading age when the series came out. It’s still the comic book event most vividly etched into my mind.

So needless to say, I’m very protective of Bane. I made my dad take me to see Batman and Robin on opening night, excited that the villain I loved would be included. My hopes were quickly dashed as I watched Jeep Swenson turn the character I adored into a bumbling moron who existed only as muscle for Poison Ivy.

The Dark Knight Rises is the Bane film I’ve been waiting for. It’s not a straight adaptation of Knightfall, but it definitely has many aspects of that storyline in it. It also pulls from a variety of other Batman comics. You can tell Christopher Nolan read a lot of comic books when making these films and he loves to pick and choose little moments and aspects from a wide variety of sources.

What he does best is finding the essence of a character and staying true to who that character is while adapting him or her for the story he is telling. Heath Ledger’s Joker wasn’t exactly what fans had seen in the comics over the years, but he was true to the spirit of the character, which as his core is a mischievous agent of chaos. Same with Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul, who is a man who believes he should be controlling the world.

[singlepic=1008] The Dark Knight Release Date: July 18, 2008 Director: Christopher Nolan Writer: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman MPAA Rating: PG-13 HoboTrashcan’s Rating:

When The Dark Knight was released on Blu-ray in December of 2008, I gave it five stars, concluding the review with this paragraph:

While the film isn’t perfect, it’s perhaps as close to perfect as a Batman film will ever be. It’s a film that raises the bar for all future comic book movies and shows what you can do with the genre. In the film, Lt. Gordon says that Batman is “the hero Gotham deserves.” After Joel Schumacher’s campy Batman films and Tim Burton’s films that strayed too far from the source material, The Dark Knight is finally the film Batman fans deserve.

Overall, I still believe that. The film elevated the discussion of what a “comic book movie” could be. It was an entertaining and action-packed summmer blockbuster that didn’t talk down to the audience or treat you like you were an idiot. It also, thanks to a mesmerizing performance by Heath Ledger, redefined what The Joker could be – giving us a character with a twisted sense of humor and a mischievous persona that didn’t seem cartoonish or over the top. Nolan also showed us how beautiful and breathtaking action sequences could look when shot with IMAX cameras.

But as close to perfect as this film is, it still has some major flaws. So, in the interest of (pretending I have) objectivity, I think it’s worth taking a look at the film’s biggest drawbacks.

Perhaps the most glaring one is Christian Bale’s Batman voice. The ridiculous growl he uses to deliver his lines has become the subject of countless parodies in the past four years. The voice only gets worse the more you watch this film. It was such a terrible choice as it distracts you from key bits of dialogue, both with the absurdity of it and the general incomprehensibility the voice adds. Making matters worse, Bale chose to use the Batman voice every time he was in the costume, even if the character knows his secret identity. So in moments like the pivotal scene where he and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) debate the ethics of his surveillance technology, he’s still using his Cookie Monster voice while launching into his impassioned defense of his spy software.

[singlepic=1011] - Batman Release Date: June 23, 1989 Director: Tim Burton Writer: Bob Kane (Batman characters), Sam Hamm (story/screenplay) and Warren Skaaren (screenplay) Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger MPAA Rating: PG-13 HoboTrashcan’s Rating:

Tim Burton’s Batman gets so many things right about the character and the overall vibe of the comics. Unfortunately, he gets a few key things wrong that keep this very good movie from being a truly great Batman film.

Until this movie came out in 1989, most casual observers thought of Batman as the campy character Adam West portrayed in the 60s TV show. For a while, the comics embraced this persona and gave fans a similarly lighthearted version of the Caped Crusader, but over time they shied away. By the 70s and 80s, Batman had gone back to what he always should have been – a brooding, intense vigilante looking to clean up a corrupt and dirty city.

With the black rubber suit, the cool car and Michael Keaton’s snarling Batman voice, this film reeducated America on what Batman could be. I was eight years old when it came out and already in love with Batman from the comics, but this film set it over the edge for me. Danny Elfman’s amazing, sweeping score and the overall Gothic look of the film made an indelible impression on me and countless other eight-year-olds. The film’s success also spawned Batman: The Animated Series (which kept Elfman’s iconic theme song and the overall dark, Gothic tone of the film and stylized it with an awesome cartoony look), which is perhaps its greatest legacy.

Overall, Michael Keaton is a really interesting and solid choice for Bruce Wayne/Batman. Much like Luke Skywalker is a little short for a Storm Trooper, Keaton is a tad too short and physically small to be Batman, but the suit and the camera angles mostly disguise this fact. What I love is his intensity as the Dark Knight and the quirky, aloof way he plays Bruce Wayne. He’s not who I picture in my head when I close my eyes and think of Batman, but he made the role his own and found a way to make it work.