So the Phillies find themselves between a rock and a hard place. With the non-waiver trade deadline only eight days away, the Phillies reside four games behind the first place Atlanta Braves and nose-diving Washington Nationals.

The Phillies desperately need another starting pitcher to help them make a run at first place, but who can they trade to get one, and are there any pitchers on the market who are worth it?

The problem is this: No one wants any of the players the Phillies would like to get rid of. Bell is a sinkhole at third base, Lieberthal might not even be in professional baseball anymore if he didn’t have that contract (on which yet another year remains), and Thome is too banged up for anyone to consider taking on his enormous contract. They also can’t trade Ryan Howard because of Thome’s aforementioned injury problems.

History would indicate that the Phillies have no chance to catch the Braves and only an outside shot at the Wild Card, for which they would have to pass the plunging Nationals (not a problem) and suddenly formidable Houston Astros (a big problem—more on that later).

Since the only decent starting pitcher on the market is A.J. Burnett—and the Marlins aren’t about to trade him to the Phillies—perhaps the best course of action would be to stay put and see what happens.

If anything, the only trade they make should be Wagner for a third baseman and/or catcher of the future. Urbina and Madson, while not as good as Wagner, both have the stuff to close games and give the team a chance to succeed today while dealing Wagner, who is a free agent after this year, can help them build for tomorrow.

Then again, perhaps the best thing that could happen is for Ed Wade to make another worthless trade, watch the team fall out of contention, and have his ignominious reign finally come to an end.

Welcome to the new and improved PhogLights.

Looks the same, you say? Well, it will be different from here on out, because now PhogLights will be solely dedicated to sports, particularly Philadelphia sports.

Where are the movie reviews? Those have moved to my new blog, Motion Picture Sickness, where movie reviews and thoughts on the entertainment world in general can now be found.

The reason for this is that I have two distinctive audiences: one interested in the Phillies and sports, the other interested in my opinions on movies. Only a handful are interested in both. So rather than have neither come to one site because they’re not interested in half the content, I’m dividing it. Those of you interested in both topics will have to visit two sites, but don’t worry, I’ve provided a handy link at both blogs to the other one.

So from here on out, if you’re looking for movie reviews and commentary, head on over to Motion Picture Sickness. I’ve also moved all past movie reviews from this site to that one, and new ones will be posted in the next day or two.

As for the Phillies… stay tuned right here.

Batman Begins (2005)

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, and Morgan Freeman

Synopsis
After wandering the globe for years, a young Bruce Wayne returns with a new set of skills and a new alter ego to avenge his parents’ murder by fighting the criminals who have overrun Gotham City.

Review
The loss. The anger. The guilt. The training. The car. The city. The cape. The cowl.

This is no cartoon. It’s finally real. This is how it’s supposed to be.

As an avid Batman reader in my youth, I’ve been waiting for a great Batman film my whole life, and director Christopher Nolan has resurrected the franchise from the festering cesspool Joel Schumacher left it in and delivered me to movie-geek heaven.

Other superheroes in the comic book realm have super powers, and a universe must be created to fit them. But Batman has none. He’s just a man who uses his brain, brawn, willpower and infinite monetary resources to combat evil. It is a real world –our world – and the economically-depressed, crime-ridden Gotham of Batman Begins’ feels very real. With that solid cornerstone in place, Nolan and co-screenwriter David Goyer construct the rest of Batman Begins with great aplomb.

The psychological torture endured by Bruce Wayne in the years after his parents’ murder leads him to wander the globe, committing desperate, violent, directionless attacks against criminals driven by anger, guilt, and fear. His subsequent recruitment and training by the League of Shadows, an organization of ninjas led by the mysterious Ra’s Ah Ghul, teaches him to overcome his fear and gives a purpose to his rage: to defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Batman Begins really shines upon Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham. Old relationships are revisited: His faithful butler Alfred, played by Michael Caine as more of a mentor than a manservant. New ones are forged: Sgt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman, finally playing a good guy), the only honest cop in town, and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), the science genius at Wayne Enterprises who equips Bruce Wayne with his tools of the trade, including that amazing automobile, which replaces the sports car sleekness of previous Batmobiles with the practicality of a combat vehicle.

Most importantly, however, is Batman’s screen presence, both in terms of Nolan’s visual presentation and Christian Bale’s fiercely captivating performance. The criminals are petrified. They fear this Caped Crusader – who moves among the shadows with an eerie grace, striking with efficient precision – the way a teenager in a slasher movie fears the ax-wielding maniac. Batman is the terrifying representation of the kind of justice every criminal truly fears.

That’s where the terror ends, however, because Nolan and Goyer go out of their way to make Batman’s ethos clear: He does not kill. For someone whose vigilante tactics are rightly suspect, the temptation to become that which he fights against would be irresistible if the value of human life were not preserved. Nolan and Goyer must be applauded for not succumbing to the purposeless violent wasteland most Hollywood action movies have become.

By the time the full breadth of the plot against Gotham City (which I won’t go into here) is revealed and resolved, the set-up for the sequel is almost as gratifying the film we’ve just seen, and that is another true mark of Batman Begins‘ greatness.

Memo to Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros., et al: Take your time and get it right again. If it takes two years or five years, we Batman fans will be here waiting. We waited much of our lives for this one; we can a wait a little longer for an equally enjoyable sequel.

Grade: A

So what did I miss while I was gone? The Phillies have comfortably pulled away from the smoke-and-mirrors Washington Nationals and are cruising towards the playoffs, right?

What’s that? The Phillies offense was stymied by a bunch of junk-ballers in Seattle and Oakland? I see. Wait, you mean to tell me they’re 6-13 since that 12-1 homestand and 8½ games behind the Nats?

Geez, what else did I miss?

Billy Wagner sharply criticized the team’s poor play? Seems justified. Apparently they’ve been stinking up every ballpark they’ve set foot in.

Jim Thome is back on the DL, this time with elbow tendonitis? Sounds like the poor guy is falling apart.

Jason Michaels beat up a cop? Tim Worrell is back in the bullpen?

Did all that pain medication I was on* transport me to a parallel universe where the Phillies fall apart and never live up to expectations? What’s that? Oh, right. Silly me.

* Sorry for my extended absence, but I had some unexpected medical problems followed by some traveling, both of which really set me back a bit. (For those who care: without getting into specifics, it wasn’t serious, but it was excruciating – the medical condition, not the traveling.) Anyway, I’m back now, feeling much better, and ready to follow the Phightins again and review more movies. More to come soon.