This past week, trailers for two massively anticipated movies came out. Thanks to the holidays and running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I watched those trailers immediately, but didn’t have the time to post them on the site and write about them. I feel like I need to rectify that situation, starting with the one that came out first: The Dark Knight Rises.

We still have a way to go until the public gets a real look at, so I’m just going to go through the handful of things I noticed.

For one, my absolute favorite part of the trailer was Alfred’s voice over. It rang true, especially since Bruce has been absorbed into this alter ego for almost 10 years now in the film. Michael Caine just sounds so sad, so guilty, but also just slightly defiant.

Notice the intense chanting during the mob filling the city? As far as I know, you can still be a part of it. This is so, so very cool.

And lastly, the football scene. The first thing I thought was… wow. Nolan is really taking this to another level. The effects could maybe be a little better, but they’re still editing the film, so this could look a lot different when we see it in the summer. My second thought was … did Nolan reveal this too soon? Anyone remember the first Clash of the Titans trailer? I saw it in 3D and the reveal of the Kraken was incredibly impressive, even scary. But then I saw that shot twenty thousand times before actually watching the movie and the effect was more-or-less ruined for me. I question whether the football stadium collapsing into a crater would have been more effective as a surprise for us during the actual film.

Friend and JPS supporter Charlie postulated this idea about the football stadium: if this is what Nolan is showing us, what could he possibly be not showing us? Charlie thinks this is just the first real reveal of Bane in the film, and that something far more intense is still being kept for the premiere. I hope so.

There are still some questions I’d love to have answered: What is Marion Cotillard’s role going to entail? How big of a role will Joseph Gordon-Levitt have? How sultry can Anne Hathaway be? What’s going to happen to Batman, for crying out loud! But fellow fans, we’re just going to have to wait and see.