Many, many computer woes this week. Most centering on our new wireless apartment and the lack of function thereof. Steve will work his techno-magic I'm sure, and things will eventually return to normal, but for now I spend more time cursing out this thing than enjoying it.

It figures, immediately after I blast Scott Kurtz for being an ass, I'm forced to agree with him on something. In this case it's Batman Begins. I very much liked the movie, but I had all the same problems with it. For me, the things which stood out as particularly in need of change were these...

Katie Holmes. I think we're all in agreement here. The fact that they passed on using Ra's daughter Talia in the movie is simply impossible to understand. No Lazarus pit, I get that. This movie was too based in reality for that to make sense, sure. But Talia would have made a lot of sense, and provided a much better female part.

The Batmobile. God-damned ridiculous. I don't care what anyone says, that thing was absurd. A very cool vehicle, mind you, but completely out of place. Batman is supposedly all about stealth and fear, trained by ninja and all, but this is not a ninja car. There's a really halfhearted attempt at some kind of "stealth mode" which would have been cooler had it been brought up earlier, like most of his other gadgets, or lasted more than 5 seconds before it was simply shut off. Admittedly, all the batmobiles have been shameless attention getters, but this one is more glaring. Especially given the movies otherwise largely realistic take. And I'm sorry, but GPS or not, that rooftop chase would have ended on the second roof. When it would have landed, and continued to crash through the floors, killing even more innocents than it would have chasing through the streets. And yeah, there's some dead cops on that freeway. Don't even try to tell me different.

The suit. Fortunately one of the best things about Batman is his changeability. He's been drawn so many ways, and written so many ways and in so many different "timelines" and such that a different costume here and there is simply a given. In this case, there's a lot about the suit that works, but it has issues. The gear is all fantastic, especially the belt and shurikins. But the ears need work. Having them point inwards has always resulted in a less impressive outline and generally silly appearance. They remind me of hunched shoulders for some reason. And while having the cape get an explanation for it's flight capabilities is kinda cool, it simply seemed too small most of the time. Moreso than these though is the suit itself. The Batman of the comics would never put this damn thing on. This is one of the most consistent issues I have with the recent Batman movies. Batman does not wear a full suit of body armor. It doesn't make sense. He'd dismiss it outright as too bulky and heavy. Sure he wears Kevlar, and in most cases it's agreed a kind of bulletproof vest. But body armor? Hell no. The ironic thing is this is the first time they've gotten an actor who actually had the physique to pull off a less sculpted costume. One of the charms of Batman is that he is a man, who uses his mind and to a lesser extent his gadgets to accomplish his goals. In this movie he spent a lot of time leaning on his technology. He did little to no real detective work, choosing instead to throw more gadgets at his enemies. Fortunately, since this is all early in his career, all of this can still be addressed. And I'm sure some of it will, but not nearly all.

Fight scenes. Pull the camera back a yard or two and they'll be fine. Seriously, close-up fight scenes suck. Why are so many movies these days using them? It's a trick you use in a fan film to cover up the lack of choreography, not in a multi-million dollar budget film. Disappointing.

There's probably more, but I've got stuff to do. Again, I liked the movie, I just hope they give the next script some polish before turning out the sequel.