The Adventures of Batman: Soaring High & Falling Down

THE DARK KNIGHT
So what's the latest buzz in Tinseltowm last weekend? Chaos! It's chaos at the box office as millions of batman fanatics trooped to the cinemas to catch the hotly anticipated installment of the Batman Series. The "Dark Knight", which stars Welsh actor Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, was directed by English filmmaker Christopher Nolan and co-stars the late actor Heath Ledger as the anarchic Joker.

Breaking Box Office

"The Dark Knight" began with a record $18.5 million from midnight screenings, topping the previous high of $16.9 million for "Star Wars: Episode III The Revenge of the Sith." Batman's joust with the Joker has set another box office record. Stoked by fan fever over the manic performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, "The Dark Knight" set a one-day box office record with $66.4 million on opening day. The movie's Friday haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by "Spider Man 3". The opening day grosses for "The Dark Knight" far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, "Batman Begins", which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005. Going into the weekend, the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" smashed the weekend record set by "Spider-Man 3" last year, selling an estimated $158.4 million worth of tickets during its first three days.

Dark Knight's opening gross is the all time biggest.

The Legder's Factor

The death of a fine actor taken in his prime, a legendary performance, and a movie that lives up to all the hype, all these things have combined to create these record-breaking numbers. But it is Ledger's performance as the Joker, a role last taken on by JAck Nicholson for 1989's "Batman," that has generated the most buzz. It was the 28-year-old actor's last completed role before he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January. Many pundits have already declared that he is a shoo-in to receive an Oscar nomination for his creepy turn as the bane of Batman's existence.

Heath Ledger's performance as the mad criminal Joker, is said to have generated much of the film's hype and as early as now, critics are saying his performance is as shoo-in for the Oscars.

Two Thumbs Up
Aside from the soaring box office figures, the "Dark Knight" also flies high with overwhelming critical success. Spectacular reviews, the incredible buzz and good word of mouth that preceded it after the early screenings have all together bolstered its commercial success. Almost all critics favored the film and no one has any bad words to say about it. Take a look at how crictics reacted to the film:

Chicago Sun-Times

Roger Ebert
"...a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy."

Boston Globe

Ty Burr
"You come away impressed, oppressed, provoked, and beaten down, holding on to Ledger's squirrelly incandescence as a beacon in the darkness."

Chicago Tribune

Geoff Berkshire

"The Caped Crusader scales new heights--and yes, Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar."

Entertainment Weekly

Owen Gleiberman
"...ominously labyrinthine and exciting ..."

Hollywood Reporter

Kirk Honeycutt
"One nervy blend of top entertainment and thoughtful character study."

Los Angeles Times

Kenneth Turan
"Christopher Nolan's powerful, disturbing Batman sequel is fueled by Heath Ledger's indelible Joker."

New York Post

Kyle Smith
"...summer blockbusters don't get much better ..."

New York Times

Manohla Dargis
"...Mr. Ledger’s performance and the film’s visual beauty are transporting."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sean Axmaker
"...a pulp epic with mythic overtones..."

USA Today

Claudia Puig
"Though it clocks in at 21/2, hours, the film has a notable economy of storytelling and is tautly edited."

THE BAT-TERED GIRL

Having too much excitement in mind, me and my friend Rowell wasted no time and early Friday afternoon we set to meet at Al Ghurair Cinema to avoid the ticket rush. I arrived there ahead of him so i already bought tickets for the 3 pm schedule. Ten minutes past the start of the movie, Rowell arrived in a "mahangin-ba-sa-labas" look, we were a bit late yeah but fine anyway, the movie is suppose to run 2 hours and 30 minutes, so there's still lot to see. We decided to buy some snacks because i have not taken anything since morning. We were not expecting that our excitement to see the Batman & the Joker would be interrupted (spoiled?) by the counter attendant. While she was taking our orders, she would always tell us to hurry up and then she messed up our Nacho toppings and she even has the guts to complain the we were telling her so many things all at once. My friend Rowell, who came so cool and so relaxed couldn't stop the girl's nastiness from getting to his nerves, so she was battered with his words (and mine, too)...

....Alam mo miss, Filipino kami, wag ka na mag Igles, ang sakit sa tenga..

....Wala ka man lang ka PR PR..ok sana kung maganda ka eh...kaso...

.....Miss, bakit ka nagdadabog at parang tinatapon mo na yung pagkain, di mo ba alam na marami ang nagugutom at walang makain tapos tinatapon mo...

.....Ciguro Miss, mayaman ka sa Pilipinas noh? Kac kung umasta ka para kang kung sino?...

.....Eh bakit nandito siya sa Dubai...

.....At ang work nia lang eh... oh well tindera in short...

The moral of the story: be good to fellow filipinos and don't look at how the person looks from the outside. Naka tsinelas lang kac kami, but it doesn't mean na wala kaming pera so you would treat us differently. Malay mo, baka yung sweldo mo pala in 5 months eh sweldo lang namin sa loob ng isang buwan...hahaha.

THE REAL BATMAN
.If you are a batman fanatics, would you dare name anyone of your child as "Batman"? Oh well, somebody from the East Indies did, but unfortunately, having a superhero for a name didn't give the child any special reception or welcome from other people, rather it has made him become an object of mockery and tremendous embarrassment. He even solicited the help of another superhero, the ultimate superhero actually no less than the man of steel, but that has just made matters much worst. So having enough of "is-that-for-real-wow-it's-so-funny" compliments, he tried to leave the place he grew up and head somewhere where people would take his name a bit serious. At the airport security:

Customs Official: May I know your name?
Customer: Batman.
Customs Official: May I know your name?
Customer: My name is Bat-man.
Customs Official: Trying to be funny?! What is your surname?
Customer: Supar-man.
Customs Official: Arrest this joker.

Hahaha and that's how his sad luck has ended. The Batman has become the Joker. He was so helpless. The name of an admired Superhero has turned into a curse he'd wish he never had. Below is the passport copy of the poor Batman.

Sometimes, having this kind of name isn't funny and helpful anymore..