Buzzed on Batman

Just finished wrapping up write-ups for both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and couldn't have had a better time assembling them. You know, having a fond attachment to a character that grows and matures with your own development pace over time is quite a treat. Herein lies the waiting game to see how The Dark Knight, the fastest film to reach $300 million gross, will be received once awards season hits. I'm interested to see how Mendes' Revolutionary Road, Baz Luhrmann's Australia, and Ridley Scott's Body of Lies will be received, because right now The Dark Knight resides as my favored film of 2008 -- period.

Now, if some comic-savvy filmmaker could just step up to the plate and update the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise to reflect Eastman and Laird's original dark tone ... but, alas, there's always something to be wished. It's hard enough for our culture to accept mutated amphibians running around New York City fighting crime with ninja weapons. Heaven knows what the average person would think if these turtles were shedding blood and spouting out lyrical lines that might, gulp, undermine some of our own verbose. Could we handle verbal upstaging from a pensive, blade-wielding hero-in-a-half-shell?