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Out in cinemas this week: A caped crusader fights his own darkness, and a computer avatar fights for her right to legal independence.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Never has a superhero so battled with the concept of idealism, and Christopher Nolan has made it his mission to somehow provide resolution to the seemingly intractable problem of being Batman.
The story: Eight years on, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.
Starring: Tom Hardy (Bane), Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Liam Neeson (Ra's Al Ghul), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake), Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle/Catwoman), Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Marion Cotillard (Miranda Tate), Michael Caine (Alfred), Juno Temple (Holly Robinson), Aidan Gillen (CIA Agent), Joey King (Young Talia Al Ghul), Matthew Modine (Deputy Commissioner Foley), Daniel Sunjata (GPD Special Operative), Josh Stewart (Bane's Mercenary), Christopher Judge.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
The Singularity Is Near (2012)
Fighting Ant Productions
The Singularity Is Near started out as Ray Kurzweil's bestselling nonfiction prognostications on the ramifications of technological achievement in genetics, nanotechnology, and so on for the nature of humanity over the next four decades. That social and philosophical transformation is explored from two perspectives simultaneously in the film adaptation, which proceeds as a documentary intertwined with a future-set narrative involving Ramona, an increasingly independent avatar who saves the world and her own legal rights thanks to attorney Alan Dershowitz and self-actualization guru Tony Robbins (as themselves, and not with their heads in Futurama jars).
The story: Computer avatar saves the world from self-replicating microscopic robots.
Starring: Pauley Perrette (Ramona), Raymond Kurzweil (Himself), Anthony Robbins (Himself), Alan M. Dershowitz (Himself), Lillian Askew (Samantha), Borzin Mottaghian (The Marine), Matt Silverman (Capt. Smith), Daron Jennings (Joel), Rod Loomis (Justice Collins), Anthony Waller (Dr. Carlton), Keith Stevenson (Turing Test Judge #2), Ples Griffin (Turing Test Judge #3), Joan Mankin (Turing Test Judge #1).
Directed by: Anthony Waller, Toshi Hoo, and Raymond Kurzweil.
