Copied from http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/tdk by Aaron Swartz, 2012-11-01 Spoilers, obviously. As we’ve discussed, in Batman Begins 1960s-style full employment and antipoverty programs lead to skyrocketing crime while in The Dark Knight Rises 1980s-style tough-on-crime policies and neoliberal economics lead to a revolt of the economic underclass. The films are mirror images, one about the failure of liberal policies; the other about the failure of conservative policies. In this sense, The Dark Knight is truly the final film in this nihilistic trilogy, documenting the hopelessness of anything outside that usual left-right struggle.

Copied from http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/looperexplained by Aaron Swartz, 2012-10-08 First off, go see Looper. One of the best movies I’ve seen. Spoilers follow. OK, let’s start by explaining how a looper’s career is supposed to look. You get hired as a looper, spend your time sitting in a corn field shooting people, eventually shoot yourself and get a big payday, live off of it for thirty more years, then get kidnapped and sent back in time and shot by yourself.