“You know what I’ve noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all part of the plan.” That’s dialogue delivered by Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. You might hate Batman in particular or superhero movies in general, but the power of that dialogue cannot be denied. It posits a truth that hasn’t changed since the earliest days of hunter-gatherers scampering across the plains. That truth... Read More

There aren’t many fictional characters that have as many character facets as Batman. You could go in a number of different directions beyond horror if your story involved Dracula — comedy, romance, action for starters. I think the same could be said for Sherlock Holmes. If you compare just Robert Downey Jr’s action-oriented take with the more cerebral approach of Benedict Cumberbatch you’ll see that the character of Holmes provides storytellers with a good amount of flexibility. The nature of superheroes, however, is to be iconic, and that iconography can be limiting. Superman is an icon... Read More

Most of us approach the summer movie season with a kind of resigned dread. We’re confronted with a vast wasteland of sequels, remakes, terrible comedies and cheap horror movies. It can feel like you’re getting punched in the face by CGI, or walloped by an obnoxiously loud kid’s movie. Worst of all is the feeling of, “Oh, dear God, not this again.” It can seem like the summer is where creativity goes to die, where art is thrown into a cell and left to rot. Yet as much as we complain that movies are more terrible than ever, there’s always something original... Read More