E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

James A. George eyes movies for Eyewear Eyewear's Film Critic James A. George on  The Dark Knight Rises (12A) Christopher Nolan is a rare gem. The last in his Batman trilogy is similar to his previous hits The Dark Knight and Inception , in that he creates entertaining blockbusters that are both art films in disguise and intelligent. Rather than regurgitate the same old Hollywood tricks, Nolan believes his audience are as smart as him, that appreciate complexity and room to contemplate and reach their own conclusions – and with the financial figures from these movies it seems fair to agree with his enlightened vision for Hollywood. Collaborating with brother, Jonathan Nolan , The Dark Knight Rises is a spectacular work and subsequently one of the most sublime end of trilogy ever filmed. Politics, economics, psychology; it all weaves through the plot effortlessly. The scale has been amped up, it needed to be after Heath Ledger ’s iconic performance in the predeces...

So many people die, it is often hard to keep track.  Two lesser-known figures in popular culture were recently the subject of obituaries in The Guardian : Michael Gough and Mark Tulin .  I met Gough once years ago after a play in London - he was very kind.  I knew him best from Brideshead Revisited and, later, the Batman films.   Mark Tulin was the bass player for the greatest American garage band of the 60s, The Electric Prunes , one of my favourite bands.  They heavily influenced some of the music my brother later played, in Montreal, as a bass player in the 1990s.  Both talented men will be missed.

Eyewear   is pleased to feature the second of a series of Batgirl portraits from the film academic and photographer   Dr Will Brooker , of Kingston University. What next?  And why that cheek-smudge?

Holy Moly Batman! What a week... yet another fabled anti-war protester has died - this time, beloved camp cabaret act, Eartha Kitt, famed for her feline fling as Catwoman. Sad news. Kitt, as singer, actor, and kitsch heroine charmed millions. There is a slight irony in her dying on Christmas day (yesterday) as one of her most famous songs was Santa Baby. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7799852.stm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOMmSbxB_Sg