The Burr in the Burgh

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. And a grand decade-and-a-half it's been. To celebrate I took my lovely bride out to eat at an elegant Spanish restaurant I know. It's called Mallorca and is on the southside area of town. The food is outstanding and the service is second-to-none. I asked one of our servers where she was from; the accent was unfamiliar to me. Portugal, she says.

After dinner, we headed over to the new movie theater nearby to see Batman Begins. I wanted to see War of the Worlds but that would've gotten us home too late for the babysitter. However, both of us liked Batman more than we thought we would.

Weakness: Katie Holmes. I'm sorry; I'm sure she's a very nice person and is talented, to be sure. But she just didn't convince me that she was one of the lonely fighters for goodness in Gotham City. Too young or too cute or something. Not strong enough.

Strengths: The rest of the cast. Morgan Freeman is still probably one of the best actors in the history of the whole world. Michael Caine is another sure hit, in my book. Liam Neeson, another favorite. And Gary Oldman, gotta love im. He probably played the best Dracula in the history of the whole world.

Mr. Christian Bales did a fine job. Nice steely gaze he's got going on there. Needs to work on the other 35 zillion facial expressions though. Nonetheless, he's done Batman better than anyone else I've ever seen.

I applaud the writers and director for getting away from the Willie Wonka-ness of Tim Burton which was turning the series into nothing but camp. Each episode was getting more embarrassing than the last. The spooky creepiness does it better justice, I say. But then again, I'm partial to spooky creepy things in general. [I also like my beer, coffee, and chocolate to be dark and bitter to match my persona.]

It can't be easy to make a comic book superhero movie that works. If I put on a cape and a mask, you'd laugh your heads off. But this film, like few others, makes the absurd believable. Huzzah for that!