You may have read on the Internet that this week’s big movie release is the “new” original Star Trek movie, and it is going to make millions of dollars. It is the latest manifestation of Hollywood studios’ race to abandon all creativity: after a popular movie series like Batman or Superman has run its course, just start over and make the first one again. Critics then praise the director’s “new vision,” and political writers note that all of the characters are famous politicians, secretly, in real life. Everyone remembers last year’s important Wall Street Journal column, “George Bush Jr. Is The Bat Man.” This year’s version? “Barack Obama is the Spock.” Steady yourself… MORE »

THE BEST CONSERVATIVE MOVIES OF THE LAST 25 YEARS: “#12. The Dark Knight (2008): This film gives us a portrait of the hero as a man reviled. In his fight against the terrorist Joker, Batman has to devise new means of surveillance, push the limits of the law, and accept the hatred of the press and public. If that sounds reminiscent of a certain former president—whose stubborn integrity kept the nation safe and turned the tide of war—don’t mention it to the mainstream media.” MORE »

Well here’s a story, we suppose: Some nut in Minnesota spray-painted weird religious things on the garages belonging to Senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Representatives Keith Ellison, John Kline, Michele Bachmann and Jim Ramstad. So, Democrats and Republicans, Lutherans and Jesus Freaks, even a Muslim! What the hell? MORE »

This is getting kind of crazy, isn’t it? First, we had the Penguin-Batman debate which so eerily and precisely predicted this week’s McCain-Obama debate. MORE »

Thank goodness for Video Friday Day! Cuz holy balls, John McCain is even dressing like The Penguin these days. [YouTube]

We posted this charming debate scene from The Dark Knight way back in May 2008. But it has gained new relevance this week, because we can now reveal that John McCain used the actual script of this fictional comic-book-character debate between The Penguin and The Batman during Wednesday’s bizarre spectacle. [Look See We Posted This In May/And Boing Boing, Today!]

Hmm so yes, this is what it’s come to: our national financial crisis was predicted by a comic book movie about a villain with a lumpy white sliced-up face. This mashup of George Bush’s sad address from last night and Heath Ledger’s bravura performance as an insane person with drymouth is dreadfully offensive to the beautiful legacy of The Joker, who would have suspended the filming of his movie in order to tend to the nation’s business in Washington DC. Also why isn’t Sarah Palin running around in a neoprene cat suit listing the regulatory accomplishments of her running mate? Fail. [YouTube]

COMMENT OF THE DAY: “I remember when Batman told everyone to go shopping and to fly more to fight the Joker. Also, when he gave up golf for a few weeks. That was so brave to do, in this time of terror and war.” [George W. Bush Is Exactly Like Batman]

Have you seen the new movie about The Batman? If so, you know what everybody is talking about: How dead Heath Ledger is super awesome as the crazy-ass Joker terrorist. How the idiot George W. Bush is exactly like the heroic Englishman, The Batman. “There seems to me no question that the Batman film The Dark Knight, currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war,” writes some dingbat on the Wall Street Journal op-ed page today. Yep, no question at all. [Wall Street Journal]

By the Comics Curmudgeon

Say, have you heard that all boundaries between high and low art have been blurred? It’s true, supposedly! That’s why comic books written for socially maladjusted children are now being turned into critic-friendly movies, and famous paintings are being transformed into dopey kitsch. Is there any kind of art that it’s still legitimate to mock and deride? Why, political cartoons, of course! Join in the hate, after the jump. MORE »

Did you spend double-digit money this weekend to see the Most Important Film Of Our Time, Batman Vs. The Dead Gay Cowboy Clown? YEAH YOU DID BECAUSE YOU LIKE HIGH ART. As we’ve mentioned previously, the dead Joker harasses Sen. Patrick Leahy at some fancy Washington cocktail party (Capitol File?) in this Work of Deep Brilliant Cinema, which is based on a comic book for children. And because Pat Leahy is a whore in real life, he has written a review of the film for known modernist film trade publication The Hill. It is an exciting review which you can read in its entirety after the jump. MORE »