The Times They Are A-Changin'

Epic.  Get excited for Christopher Nolan’s third and final installment in The Dark Knight Legend trilogy.  The argument going around seems to be whether or not Nolan will be employing the use of 3D for The Dark Knight Rises.  3D inevitably garners more money (since the running price for a 3D ticket is the life of your first born child), while simply using the digital IMAX format makes for a sharper image.  C’mon, really? You honestly think Nolan is going to sacrifice quality to score a few bucks?  Get real.  Christopher Nolan has achieved one of the hardest things to do as a big name director: not disappointing your fans.  How does this happen?  Well for one, he DOESN’T make stupid decisions like turning what is potentially a great movie into some sort of bogus, mass-marketing, 3D-mania crap (I’m looking at you, Kenneth Branagh).  Not only does Nolan reward fans by not sacrificing the quality of his films for a business decision, the content of his films continues to live up to their hype.  A key part of not disappointing your fans? Making sequels that don’t suck (hope you’re jotting this down, Wachowski brothers).  Batman Begins relaunched the Batman franchise with amazing success.  Then, defying logic, Nolan made The Dark Knight which lived up to expectations.  I know what you’re going to say, and I think you’re wrong.  The Dark Knight would have been just as successful and well received if Heath Ledger was still alive - the only difference would be Ledger would be Hollywood’s hot commodity right now.  Too many filmmakers want to cash in on the trilogy scheme and blow it.  Take the aforementioned Wachowski brothers: The Matrix was revolutionary, it changed the way my generations looks at movies and bullettime photography was copied ad nauseum for quite a while after it was used in Matrix 1.  Then the Wachowskis let the hype get the better of them, promptly acquired a case of the yips, and choked hardcore on Matrix 2 and 3.  Need proof? They wrote the screenplay for V for Vendetta, arguably one of the best films of the last 10 years.  I rest my case.  So The Dark Knight Rises, #3 from Nolan in his Batman trilogy?  Yes please.  The official trailer will be running before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  Unfortunately, there is no Anne Hathaway included.  Watching Anne play Catwoman will just be icing on the cake.  Now I know why they call it a teaser trailer.