The Dark Knight Rises Review

     I give Christopher Nolan credit for 2 reasons; first of all, he made Batman awesome again. The Batman movies that were made in the 80's and 90's wern't that good. Also, he was able to keep important spoilers from leaking onto the internet. Was The Dark Knight Rises an amazing end to the saga, or was it a major disappointment?   
     Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne and he was amazing as he was in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Micheal Caine returns as Wayne's trusted butler Alfred. This was the best performance Caine gave in this series. Tom Hardy plays Bane and he was absolutley menacing. He was intelligent, he was powerful, and he was the biggest threat to Gotham in the series. Joseph Gordon-Levitt played Blake, a Gotham City police officer, I think he had one of the best performances in the movie. Gary Oldman was fantastic as Comissioner Gordon, I believe this was his best performance in the series as well. The one question I had about this movie was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. In the trailer, it didn't show her doing too much, but she pulled it off. I couldn't have been any happier with the acting.  
     I've heard some people complaining about the special effects in this movie. They said that in some of the fight scenes, you could tell that it was staged, but I didn't see any problem with it. I think the fight scenes were fantastic.
     Overall, this movie was very compelling. It's exactly what you want in a Batman movie. It's what I was expecting with this final chapter in the series. Batman Begins was emotionally compelling, The Dark Knight was even more so, The Dark Knight Rises wasn't as compelling as The Dark Knight but it was still very good. It gets five stars.

Joe Paterno's True Legacy

     For years on end, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno ruled supreme as a great coach and overall good person. So when the sex scandal involving his long time assistant Jerry Sandusky first came to light, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know if Paterno was innocent or just as guilty as Sandusky. After reading the headline in the newspaper today, I know the truth. And it's disturbing. 
     It turns out Joe Paterno knew full well what Sandusky was doing. He knew full well all the horrible things that Sandusky had done. Even ttehough he knew that Sandusky was destroying the lives of many people, Paterno covered it up to protect himself, and his football program. I can't believe that the students at Penn State rallied in attempt for him to keep his job. Paterno had many chances to stop Sandusky. In 1998, A mother claimed Sandusky molested her son, Paterno lied to a grand jury and said he didn't. In 2001, Penn State president Graham Spanier, Vice president Gary Schultz, and athletic director Tim Curley were going to call child services on Sandusky, but Paterno talked them out of it. Paterno wasn't comfortable going to child services. That is the most selfish act I've ever heard of. lives of young boys and their families ruined to protect their comfort, and their football program. Joe Paterno protected a monster the way I see it, that makes him a monster as well. 
      The statue of Paterno on the campus of Penn State must be torn down for starters. The NCAA needs to deal out the largest punishment it can give. Spanier, Schultz, and Curley should go to prison for perjury. That school of monsters should be punished severely.