Journal #1

After doing a little research on a number of movies I came across a critic that seems to have the same taste in movies as I do. He also seems to judge a movie on its entertaining value instead of analyzing way too far until it becomes to miniscule it doesn’t even matter. This critic is Lawrence Toppman from The Charlotte Observer. The review I chose was by Lawrence Toppman on Batman Begins. The movie is about the roots of batman and how he became the superhero we all know and love.

I like how he talks about all of the elements of the movie which I feel are important. He makes a great point about Gotham City being somewhat more realistic than the past Tim Burton Gothams which seemed almost too over the top. I also think that Nolan cleared up the story of batman. In this movie the viewer will learn where batman learned to fight, where he got all of his gadgets, and how the bat cave was made.

“Nolan has found precisely the right blend of back story, action, sardonic humor, emotion, menace and characterization. He and Goyer don't aim to create a myth; their Gotham looks like a grungy version of New York or Chicago, not the dark fantasyland of Tim Burton's two "Batman" outings.” (Toppman)

Another way Toppman shows his knowledge of a superhero film is by stating the needs of a good superhero film. He goes over the main points that all superhero films have in common. He carefully examines each one and shows how the movie clearly has all of those things.

“Superhero pictures require certain conventions: a romance, a sidekick, cool weapons, a juicy but inconsequential bad guy who answers to the master villains. Nolan and Goyer meet these expectations in unexpected ways.” (Toppman)

I like how Toppman goes in depth but not so far that it’s hard for a normal movie watcher to take the review seriously. Sometimes critics seem to only write good reviews on movies they think will win academy awards. When I see critics analyzing a movie way to far I stop reading the review right away. Toppman analyzes the film critically but he doesn’t go so far that I want to quit reading. He seems to judge a movie on if he enjoyed it or not instead of judging a movie on its award winning excellence.

Overall I liked the review very much. It reinforced my liking of Batman Begins and he wrote about things I hadn’t even thought about after the movie. I think he explained himself very well because sometimes critics write to little and leave the reader still confused. Also I like Toppman because so far he likes and dislikes the same movies as I do. We need a critic that we trust to make the right judgment of a movie. Everyone has different opinions about certain movies and I like Toppman because he pretty much shares mine.