I bet there were more people killed in the dark and disturbed movie than were shot in the theater. I wonder why we find these kind of movies entertaining? The good acting is there, but the topic is off. The shooter could have said to himself, 'If you want to see violence, I'll show you violence'.

I saw the midnight show on Thursday at AMC Fresh Meadows, and saw it again the next day, Friday, at AMC Raceway in Westbury; the second time, after hearing about the tragedy.

The atmosphere was very different. The first night was filled with excitement, joking, cheering, and applause. The second show was more somber. I overheard discussions on physical security, metal detectors, terrorism, motivation, and McVeigh and OKC. There was a police car with lights flashing by the theater, but no additional (visible) security personnel.

In my second viewing there was no laughter at the laugh-lines, only quiet applause at the very end.

(No spoilers) Contrary to some of the opinions I've been hearing on the air, I thought the film was quite good. Ross Douthat in his column doesn't equate any of Christopher Nolan's work to art, but if you've seem 'Memento' and 'Inception,' it's clear that Nolan -is- an artist, and doesn't choose easy filmmaking. Nolan single-handedly raised the bar on the comic book-film genre by focusing on drama and characters, rather than solely concentrating on action sequences. Clearly the tragedy will color any future viewing of the film, and of course -no- film, no matter how good or deep, can compete with senseless loss the country has just experienced.

Brian is an intelligent and sensitive host, and I'd like to think this offensive and blatantly exploitative topic wasn't his idea. It made me cringe in embarrassment for WNYC.

America is a country of 300,000,000 people. You cannot comprehend how big that is. 13 people dying in a movie theater is a statistical blip and meaningless.

Enjoy your movie. You're not going to get shot by a guy dressed in combat armor.

You're more likely to get eaten by a rabid shark stuffed with bees that are stuffed with smaller bees.

It's come to this ... it used to be that we were urged to go shopping to do the patriotic thing. Now it's go see the Batman movie.

The comparisons to 9/11 and calling what this deranged fellow did "terrorism" are completely off base and trivialize true terrorism which has a political agenda. We know nothing of the Aurora perpetrator's motives.

Where is common sense??

Wouldn't anyone planning a copycat shooting pick a theater that *wasn't* showing the same movie, esp. after hearing that that's where the police would be? It seems shortsighted to station police only in those theaters. (On the other hand, these days it's probably hard to find a theater that's not showing it on 1 of its screens.)

No, one time the room was no dark and we had to go tell the movie workers because they had forgotten...forgotten... Do not think too much into it.

According to rotten tomatoes, the film has an 86% rating. I think the last two caller's viewpoints are the exception.

Saw "The Dark Knight Rises" at 10:20pm last night in Union Square. I was more concerned with someone mocking the tragedy in Aurora by shouting out "I am the Joker!" than an actual attack. Still, I had no interest in showing solidarity or thinking it would be inappropriate to not see it because we don't know everything about James Holmes' motivations or ideas.

There's an article in yesterday's NYTimes saying we should not be quick to judge or assume why Holmes did what he did, and I think we should avoid tying the movie and Christopher Nolan's work to what could have been an isolated act of one person. Would we associate Oliver Stone's "Savages" with terrorism if he happened to shoot up a theater showing that movie instead?

The movie has nothing to do with the event, and the event has nothing to do with seeing the movie.

Be brave America! It can happen anywhere with the lack of ration gun laws in the US. Spineless politicians who can't seem to call out gun nuts and criminals for what they are, sick, sexual impotent and of marginal intelligence.

Yes, we went with my 84 year old mother-in law and enjoyed a good movie and was in a movie theater where the movie was applauded at the end.

Brian, understand that every politician and pun dent plays with us and our real needs.

JDR

What!!!? that caller is crazy!! This was a fantastic movie and any real fan knows it.

Bane. B(ruce)(W)ayne. Hmmmm...

So many young children at a midnight showing, why not a matinee?

It should be mentioned that there seems to be a lot more police on the subway - not only enhanced security in movie theaters.

movie earnings may be skewed because many theaters refused to report (to respect those in aurora)

This bit of gallows humor on Brian's part is against the backdrop of the human tragedy that occurred in Colorado is in really bad taste. Who cares if one saw the movie or not. Interested? Just look on IMDB and see what are Dark Knight's weekend figures. Shame on you, Mr. Lehrer.

No Spoilers please!

I saw it the day after the shooting in Brooklyn, Cobble Hill Cinemas... The police kind of set me at ease, as did the small crowd, however once the movie started every time there were gunshots i found myself looking around the audience to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary going on... it wasn't until halfway through the movie I finally relaxed and was able to enjoy the movie without looking around me every 5 minutes... I couldent stop thinking about the shooting for the majority of the movie.

i sometimes wish there were an, "irony meter", built into text. some of these postings leave me wondering;just how literally, they intend their writing to be taken.

I have not seen it but that is not because of the shooting, just don't happen to like Batman. The film should not be avoided, going to the theatre should not be avoided because of this gun nut.

I went to see The Dark Knight Rises yesterday. It was tougher than I expected.

We saw it at Battery Park, which is alongside the financial district, where most of the action in the movie takes place, which makes things jump off the screen a bit more. It's also right next door to ground zero, which makes seeing films with killing or large-scale destruction harder to swallow.

I got really emotional toward the end of the movie. There's a theme of the characters choosing to do the right thing versus choosing to be selfish or evil, and of certain characters moving on with their lives. And then I also thought of the plane that landed in the Hudson River - on the other side of the Battery Park theater - and how all those people survived a plane crash, something people don't usually walk away from. While all these people last weekend went to a movie, the last place you'd expect to not walk away from, and yet. All of this was too much, I had to cry it out for a few minutes in the ladies' room.

Whole story at http://meetthepressler.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-dark-knight-rises.html

why would someone bring a 6 year old to that movie at that late hour?

Obama's reference to "evil" may also be a sincere nod to his indebtedness to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who positioned himself against the wide-eyed optimism of Christian liberalism in the early 20th century. Obama's theological orientation does leave room for the recognition of evil, so it's not entirely strategic or rhetorical.

Of course I went to the movies to see Batman. The last thing we want is to let these home grown terrorists terrorize the people into staying home and believing that anything can happen anywhere. The Colorado shooting is terrible and it is very sad, but we cannot keep talking about this single situation. We need to focus on the laws, the country as a whole, and how we can make it safer for all of us. Furthermore, we MUST live normally and NEVER allow these events to stop us from going forward with our plans.

Gosh, Brian, I feel so guilty for enjoying The Dark Knight Rises in Imax 3D because some lunatic shot a bunch of people on the other side of the country. Yes, that bad news has got everyone down. But that's like saying you feel bad about walking around Ground Zero. If we don't live our lives as usual, "they" win.