First up in theaters today, we have Red Riding Hood. You’ve seen the trailers. You probably know a tween or a Twi-hard who’s good and pumped about this latest effort from Catherine Hardwicke (who brought us the very first TwiSagaSegment). Full disclosure: I have met Catherine Hardwicke more than once and I am a big fan. I have seen the aforementioned Saga more than once and I am a big fan. This latest film, based on the wolf/girl/grandma triumvirate is not something I will see, largely because it looks way too creepy and horror-infused. Doesn’t have the romance appeal. What it does have is an abundance of attractive actors, among them Amanda Seyfried from Mama Mia, et al. It also stars the predictably adorable Max Irons, son of Jeremy who is about to get extremely popular and will be profiled in sidebars of countless magazines this month as “one to watch” – mark my words. The fact that the same actor who plays Bella’s dad also plays Red Riding Hood’s dad here seems a little absurd, until you get inside the average TwiMind in which case it’s probably just brilliant casting. Shiloh Fernandez is the other swain here, so be prepared for a lot of divisive swooning among fans. Gary Oldman also stars and all you have to know is that this is based upon the fairy tale, only it’s probably a whole lot scarier. I predict it will do very nicely at the box office, indeed.

But it probably won’t do anywhere near as nicely as Battle: Los Angeles, the big alien invasion film opening today that’s all about what happens when the apocalypse comes to LaLaLand and Aaron Eckhardt and Michelle Rodriguez hop into fatigues to get involved.  It wouldn’t be Spring Break without a good old urban devastation yarn. I’m thinking the only thing surpassing this film’s popularity will probably be its volume.

On a quieter note, we have an English period drama out; it’s one that’s been remade a zillion times but it looks kinda good. It’s called Jane Eyre and here Mia Wasikowska from Alice in Wonderland and The Kids Are All Right falls for Michael Fassbender. There will be many kerchiefs/high-waisted bodices/ bonnets, with lots of dewy-skinned people taking walks in spectacular meadows thinking about doomed/diverted, and/or inappropriate love. Plus, expect plenty of formal language and lingering stares. I’ll totally go see this. It’s one of those classic tales that might make you think twice about hooking up with your boss.

Then for kids, we have the animated Mars Needs Moms which is getting very nice reviews and has voices courtesy of the ever dependable Joan Cusack and Seth Green. Kids will flock to it; I think the animation is slightly jarring (let’s just say it’s no Rango). Still, the story is a good one and Disney has high hopes for this latest venture. So there you have it. What’ll you see this weekend? As always, let us know what you decide to catch… and what you thought. Enjoy.

Today’s poll:

Voice your choice in today’s featured poll and tell us which of these new movies looks most promising to you:

1) Battle:LA

2) Jane Eyre

3) Mars Needs Moms

4) Red Riding Hood

I dug ”Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas” when it came out.  The drug-fueled insanity and Terry Gilliam’s studied weirdness worked.  That and it was funny as hell watching Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro stumble around huffing ether.

In any case, “The Rum Diary” doesn’t come out till October so we’ll have to wait a bit to see if this is any good.

What I do know is that Amber Heard, the female lead in the flick, is pretty easy on the eyes.

Don’t believe me?  Well, why don’t we take a gander at some pics to see if I’m right.

See, I was right.

Enjoy!

UPDATE:  Yeah, the old headline was lame as hell.  As per the great Other McCain–who has a neat piece on the Tuscon Shooter-Douche, I’ve changed the title of this here hot chick post.

UPDATE II:  Welcome welcome The Other McCain readers!  Come on in, make youselves at home and enjoy the other menu items I’ve got here.  Big ups to RS McCain, who continues to rule.

Christmas is just three days away, and we’re still not feeling it.  Just the same, or maybe because of it, here’s the rest of the dozen movies and gone-too-soon television shows that we recommend as smart, funny, honest, and wickedly creative – in other words, everything the holiday season is not.  They’re all available on DVD, and they all make perfect ways to escape from holiday celebrations into something that better fits a sour mood

A couple of days ago we published the first half of the list here, but the total listing remains (as always) in no particular order of importance. Where possible, we’ve included video that was available on YouTube when we looked for it.

Thank You For Smoking (2005) – Smug, blithely amoral tobacco industry lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhardt, never better) juggles raising his tween son (Cameron Bright) with romancing a journalist (Katie Holmes) and pitching cigarette product placement into Hollywood films. Opposing him are a yokely U.S. Senator (William H. Macy) and… well, pretty much the entire world.

Writer-director Jason Reitman (Up In The Air) adapts Christopher Buckley’s novel with fierce comic wit and timing, and the leads get a giant boost from a supporting cast full of ringers – Macy, the great J.K. Simmons, Maria Bello, David Koechner, among others. It’s the kind of film that at first you think you shouldn’t laugh at, then admit you can’t help yourself.

The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) – Struggling, bottom-feeding New York press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) lives at the beck and call of cynical, world-loathing newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Hunsecker, who despises Falco and the whole world besides, can make or break Falco’s clients – and, by extension, Falco too. Hunsecker offers him the chance to get his clients real publicity, but only if Falco will sabotage the jazz guitarist (Martin Milner) currently romancing his sister (Susan Harrison).

By and large, the mainstream films of the 1950s aren’t known for their character depth or social commentary, but like Elia Kazan’s A Face In The Crowd (released the same year) Alexander Mackendrick’s film has dozens of barbed comments to make on the media, public image, and moral hypocrisy; consider it Mad Men from the time of Mad Men.

Gone Baby Gone (2007) – Ben Affleck’s directing debut adapts Dennis Lehane’s novel about a pair of romantically attached detectives (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) pulled into helping the search for a young girl kidnapped from a poor neighborhood. But the investigation ends unhappily, and the couple drifts apart. Months later, a second kidnapping raises nagging questions about the first, complicated by police treachery and the girl’s own conniving, possibly complicit mother (the superb Amy Ryan, in an Oscar-nominated performance.)

This was one of the first films SBR reviewed, and it still holds a warm, if dark, place in our film memory. Read our complete review here.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – A film lover’s dream movie, George Roy Hill’s loose, self-assured take on the two real-life train robbers still sets the bar for all things masculine cool. Pursued by a crack team of investigators to the remote hills of Bolivia, Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) continue their life of crime even though the stakes are higher and the authorities deadlier. Times’s running out for the two gentlemen bandits, largely because their era of frontier freedom is ending.

In the meantime the pacing is sharp and the performances perfect, as in this following scene where Butch confronts a mutinous member of his Hole In The Wall Gang (Ted Cassidy.)

Point Blank (1967) – You always hear about how the 1960s was a decade of change yet Lee Marvin remained the biggest badass on the planet throughout, as this John Boorman (Deliverance) pseudo-homage to French New Wave proves again and again. Here he’s cast as Walker, a thief and enforcer double-crossed and left for dead by both his partner (John Vernon) and wife (Sharon Acker).

But he recovers, and with help from a mysterious benefactor (Keenan Wynn) begins to take apart the criminal syndicate that his ex-partner now represents. Walker wants revenge and no more, no less than the $93,000 that was his take of their last heist. He’s helped, in her kitten-with-a-whip Sixties way, by his wife’s sister (Angie Dickinson). If any of this sounds familiar, Mel Gibson remade the film with 1999′s much weaker Payback.

Arrested Development (2003) – We’re still parsing out how good this dark comedy actually was, seven years after its debut.  A labyrinth of in-jokes, meta-humor, recurring gags and brilliant character beats formed the structure of the Bluth family’s saga in Orange County, as storylines of infidelity, coming of age, treason, and so much else moved them from episode to interconnected episode.

The show nominally centered on straight-laced son Michael (Jason Bateman, kicking off his career comeback) but included more than a dozen regular and recurring performers including Portia de Rossi, Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, Michael Cera and David Cross. All three seasons are on DVD, and lately IFC has put reruns heavily into its nightly schedule.

Happy holidays. We’ll return once next week, to close out the year with its last installment of Miscellaneous Debris. Be safe on the roads and take care.

-  Michael Kabel  

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

That central part of the mother of a dead child is a stunning turn, if it is done right. I am not a big Cynthia Nixon fan, and yet, I was sooo taken with her searing portrayal of a seemingly unending, unbearable grief  at the Biltmore on Broadway, under the auspices of the Manhattan Theater Club, I VOTED for her for Best Actress when the Drama Desk Awards came up later that season. And she won! Tyne Daly also was nominated I think for her memorable turn as the grandmother of the dead child. I remember her very vividly.

So I was surprised at how wishy-washy the great Dianne Wiest is in the part in the movie that has just opened this week. Wiest is dressed down and is underplaying it like crazy. No make-up. Strange choices. Tyne Daily was a powerhouse in that role. However, wishy-washy Nicolle Kidman is not. She really is going to get an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for this. And she deserves it.

In a less competitive year, she could’ve won. But with Natalie Portman’s screama ballerina in play for “Black Swan.” And Annette Bening dyking it up to a fare-thee-well in “The Kids Are All Right.” I do not think Nicolle’s “Rabbit Hole” Mama is going to top either of them. But she’ll give them a run for their money.

And I think Nicolle is IN. Like the veritable Flint. However, she also HAS an Oscar and therefore, will unlikely be given one again so soon. She won not too long ago for “The Hours” playing the suicidal British author Virginia Woolf. And here again, the role that is going to take her back to the Kodak is a part dealing with death. I’ve never seen a film that deals so directly with DEATH and the grieving process as “Rabbit Hole.”

Aaron Eckhardt is also marvelous as her equally grief-stricken, but considerably more upbeat husband. But Kidman has the flashier, rangier, more surprising role. One is astonished at how well she does this. She goes to all the necessary dark places. One forgets what a good actress she really is.

Onstage, the power of David Lindsay-Abaire’s drama was overwhelming. And it won the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony AND the Drama Desk Award that year.

Transferring it to film, although it is still powerful and not at all talky, it loses some of that power. But is effective none-the-less. Choosing an extremely understated, naturalistic tone for “Rabbit Hole” the movie, director John Cameron-Mitchell has done an excellent job in what is for him, probably, a career-changer. I mean that in the best possible sense, in that “Rabbit Hole” the film shows him to have a very impressive, serious dramatic range that his other two previous films “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Shortbus” only hinted at.

So except for the under-achieving Dianne Weist, “Rabbit Hole” scores a “A” all ’round.

Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhardt in Rabbit Hole

This week’s must see film is Rabbit Hole, an exquisite exploration of the grieving process with great performances by Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Diane Wiest, Sandra Oh and Miles Tenner.  Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a rip roaring thriller and a showcase for Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey. Fair Game, the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson story with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, is also excellent.  For some delectable food porn, see Kings of Pastry.

Morning Glory is a passable comedy, as is Love and Other Drugs.

There are some Must See films still kicking around in theaters this week: Inside Job, The Social Network and Hereafter. All three are already on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

The Town is hanging around theaters and, without strongly recommending it, I can say that it is a satisfying Hollywood thriller. If you’ve seen the first two Lisbeth Salander movies from Sweden, then you should complete the trilogy with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I have not yet seen The Fighter, The Tempest or The Company Man, opening this weekend. You can see the trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is Inception, perhaps the year’s best blockbuster. My top two American films of the year are now available on DVD – the indie Winter’s Bone and Pixar’s Toy Story 3. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include Stagecoach, A Shot in the Dark and The Searchers on TCM.

This is an exquisite film – one of the year’s best.

Now let’s continue on with our second nominee in the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress (and boy, is this a tough race. Have you voted? Didja get the Droid app? ) Here then  is yet another gal who went  seamlessly from TV to film and made quite a splash. She also seems to prefer the big screen, which prompted her departure  from the very show that put her on the map – much to the dismay of her many  fans. Katherine Heigl evokes a certain timeless Hollywood glamour, and like Jennifer Aniston she does comedy really well.  She initially shot to fame with Grey’s Anatomy before the movies came a calling, and she’s been working a funny, chic, exasperated  screwball  Doris Day for The New Millennium ever since. Due in no small part to Judd Apatow (who also, it should be noted, knows how to make raunchy movies guys love that women can also enjoy. And see twice).  Another fun fact? She is the sister-in-law of one-third of Lady Antebellum. Without any further ado, voice your choice in today’s featured poll and tell us which of these Katherine Heigl movies is your favorite:

1) 27 Dresses

2) Knocked Up

3) Life As We Know It

4) The Ugly Truth

“Yay, we’re going to have sex aren’t we!?”

A THN is not a chick flick, which is defined as a movie mostly about
female bonding and female empowerment that women like to watch together.
Fried Green Tomatoes and Beaches are chick flicks. Possession, An
Affair to Remember, Camille, Return to Me and Now Voyager are THNs.
Usually, THNs revolve around a doomed couple who love despite impossible
situations and walk with open eyes toward their inevitable heartbreak
because “it is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at
all.” There is even a whole sub-genre of Three Hankie films about lovers
separated by death: Ghost, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Truly, Madly
Deeply.

What Ash is thinking on his hike

Possession opens with a beautiful shot of Jeremy Northam walking
toward the camera through a pastoral landscape in a blousy,
open-collared poet shirt, his lovely, Neil Diamond-esque locks backlit
by the sun. This scene and others like it (notably Colin Firth’s
emersion from a certain non-canonical pond in a certain miniseries) have
been known to cause spontaneous ovulation. I have a screen saver at my
work which I call Boots and Shirtsleeves that features lots of these
moments from historical romantic dramas. Women frequently take tiny
little five minute holidays at my desk watching the Boots and
Shirtsleeves. I do my bit for morale in this way and I get to look at
lots of pictures of Jeremy Northam in poet shirts. It’s a win-win, you
might say.

“Make that Boots, Shirtsleeves and Corsets Screensaver.”

Possession tells the dual story of a pair of modern academics (Gwyneth
Paltrow, Aaron Eckhardt) on the trail of a literary mystery involving a
secret affair between two famous and seemingly unconnected Victorian
Poets (Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle). In Neil LaBute’s adaptation of
A. S. Byatt’s novel, the moderns and the Victorians are posed in the same
landscapes, often overlapping the same frame. This has a somewhat
disconcerting effect the first few times you see the movie. (With scenes
like Jeremy Northam freeing Jennifer Ehle from her corsets by
candlelight you are likely to watch this movie more than once.) As the
modern lovers work slowly toward a romance whose only obstacle is their
own hang-ups, the Victorians dive head first into certain doom, their
pain made worse by the fact that they are poets, self-awareness being
part of the job description. This makes a wonderfully ironic
counterpoint for the moderns who are so obsessed with over-analyzing
every aspect of their newly born romance that they threaten to smother
it before their first kiss. Kids today, with their baggy pants and their
post-structuralist criticism!

“How can we bear it. Every day we shall have less.” See what I mean? Self-awareness can be a real bitch!

LaBute’s film, as gorgeous and heartfelt as it is, suffers from
adaptation syndrome. If a novel is to be made into a feature-length
film, its world will have to be contracted. To this end, characters are
eliminated or combined, plots streamlined, situations simplified and
casting choices are made with an eye to box office rather than
faithfulness to the source. (LaBute was pretty heavily criticized for
replacing the homely, bookish English hero with an American of rugged
good looks who doesn’t look particularly studious or intellectual.) Most
damaging is the fact that so little can remain of the prose and, in
this case, poetry that often make a book great.

Mollusk hunting was never this hot. Also, I think that Ash and Christabel may experience the only sunny Yorkshire holiday in the history of ever

Possession has all these flaws and yet, it does Byatt’s novel justice
by focusing on the straight-forward aspects of the literary mystery and
the romance. The latter should be an awkward business, with dialog
culled from letters and poems, but Ehle and Northam pull it off
beautifully. The poets are rather loosely based on the Brownings who had
a secret affair and passionate correspondence which ended in elopement,
not in the tangled web of scandal and misery that befalls our fictional
lovers.

Spiritualists get up Ash’s nose. I would provoke him with episodes of The Ghost Whisperer just to see his “angry” face. Le sigh

Northam and Ehle make the most of their limited screen time. They move
smoothly from the courtly formality of their early acquaintance to
intimacy with a remarkable authenticity. I have about twenty favorite
moments in this movie, but one of the best is when both the poets bring
pretend wedding rings on trip to Yorkshire in order to try to secure
lodgings together. There are a lot of emotions floating around in this
scene, each of them walked through by the actors and registered without
much dialog. The scene ends with Ash’s somewhat cheesy declaration to
Christabel, “you take my breath away.” Cliched? Yes! You can tell a great actor by how they take a potentially awful line and make it, um, squee-worthy.

Another squee-worthy moment: Ash admits he’s a little afraid

Another hallmark of a great actor is the way in which they use their
reactions as effectively as they do in the moments when they are the center
of attention. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in a scene in
which Ash has a seemingly prosaic conversation with a little girl who he
discovers to be his daughter. His eyes fill with tears, his voice begins
to crack, but he carries on talking to the little girl because he
doesn’t want to tip her off that there is anything unique about their
meeting. OK, I’m starting to cry as I type this. Dang, this movie! I
guess that is the fourth hankie, right there.

by Jennythenipper

Screencaps courtesy of
http://caps.desert-sky.net/

With many thanks to Jenny for contributing to The Jer Blog. Jenny is the author of three books about classic film stars published under the name “Jenny Curtis”. She is equally well-known in the world of classic movie geekdom as “Nipper.” If you’ve ever seen Bringing Up Baby or The Awful Truth, you may remember “Jerry the Nipper” on which the nom de blog is an obvious pun. To read more movie reviews by Jenny, visit her blog Cinema OCD, where she reviews classic movies.

So there you have it. Big movies opening  theatres this weekend. Will you go? Will you take the kids? Does anything  catch your fancy? And of course, if you do go to a movie please voice your choice in today’s poll and let us know how you would prioritize the weekends top three releases?

1) Jennifer’s Body
2) Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
3) Love Happens

Batman – O Cavaleiro das Trevas

Acho que este foi o filme mais falado do ano passado… É um filme que consegue agradar a todos: aos fãs de quadrinhos, aos fãs de filmes de ação, e aos fãs do bom cinema independente do estilo. Então, o que falar agora, já que todos falaram por aí?

Sim, a atuação do Heath Ledger é impressionante, assim como Aaron Eckhardt e Gary Oldman (como sempre) mandam bem. Sim, as sequências de ação são de tirar o fôlego – nem parece que são duas horas e meia de filme.

Gotham City está um caos: enquanto o crime organizado tenta destruir Batman, anônimos vestem fantasias e tentam combater o crime por conta própria. Ao mesmo tempo, surge um “Cavaleiro Branco”, o promotor Harvey Dent, um homem íntegro e que, diferente do Batman, mostra a cara. E aí surge o melhor vilão dos últimos tempos: o Coringa.

O Coringa de Ledger é genial. Deve até ganhar o Oscar póstumo domingo que vem. Mas independente disso, é genial. O jeito de andar, de falar, a ironia, a loucura, mostram que o único objetivo deste coringa é criar o caos. Desculpe, Jack Nicholson, um “garoto” te passou pra trás…

Outra coisa boa de se ressaltar é a quantidade de efeitos especiais que “estão lá” – usa-se pouco CGI, as explosões são verdadeiras, as perseguições de carro também. Numa época onde tudo é feito no computador, bola dentro para Christopher Nolan e seu “filme-sem-cara-de-computador”.

Não gostei da Maggie Gyllenhaal no lugar da Katie Holmes. Ela é boa atriz, mas acho que a franquia merecia uma atriz mais bonita (afinal, já tivemos até Nicole Kidman e Michelle Pfeiffer!). Mesmo assim, ela funciona, assim como todo o elenco.

Enfim, um forte candidato a ser lembrado sempre como “um dos melhores filmes de super-heróis”, como é o caso do Superman de 1978…

Wobei das natürlich das Letzte ist, was sich der Mann mit der rot überschminkten Karikatur eines Grinsens im Gesicht tatsächlich wünscht. Denn ohne den schwarzen Ritter im Fledermauskostüm, der wie von Zwangsneurosen getrieben beständig Gutes tun muss, ist er, der Joker, gänzlich unvollständig – doch das beruht auf Gegenseitigkeit. Die Maske des gesichtslosen Outlaws aber herunterreißen, um sein Geheimnis zu zerstören, seine Motive korrumpieren, um sie gegen ihn zu richten, ihn Dinge tun zu lassen, die alles verraten, wofür er steht – das ist der Mordplan des Jokers, und so sehen es die Karten vor, mit denen er spielt. Frei von den Fesseln einer wie auch immer gearteten Vergangenheit, die nur lähmt und fremdbestimmt, aber vor allem unbeeindruckt von moralischen Prinzipien, und damit in beiderlei Hinsicht seinem Gegenspieler ein entscheidendes Stück voraus, stellt der Joker seinen eigenen Regelkanon auf, und der bedeutet meistens: Entscheide Dich zwischen zwei Möglichkeiten, die Du beide nicht verantworten kannst. Folterspiele wie aus dem KZ, nur raffinierter und von langer Hand geplant, formale Terrorakte, die auf allen ideologischen Unterbau verzichten, und ein umfassender Blick auf die Natur seiner Gegner, der ihn immer einen fatalen Schritt voraus sein lässt – das sind die Waffen des Jokers, und sie verfehlen ihr Ziel nur, wenn genau das auch Teil des Plans ist. Kann man einer solche Figur ernsthaft applaudieren? Wohl kaum – aber die Zügellosigkeit, mit der sie über alles triumphiert, was die Zivilisation auch nur im Ansatz zusammenhält, fordert eine Form von Ehrfurcht ein, die sich nicht so leicht von der Hand weisen lässt. Das ist vielleicht des Jokers größter Triumph, und er braucht gerade einmal knappe zwei ein halb Stunden, um ihn davontragen zu können – was so unfasslich ist, dass man das Ganze wieder und wieder verfolgen will, weil man es einfach nicht glauben kann.

Schon das Versprechen am Ende des Vorgängerfilms, mit dem der Joker seine Wiederkehr auf die Leinwand angekündigt hatte, ließ so manchen Fan in echte Verzückung geraten. Waren doch bereits 16 Jahre seit dem letzten Kino-Auftritt des faszinierendsten und unberechenbarsten aller Gegenspieler aus dem DC-Universum vergangen – und das mit einem Stempel, den ausgerechnet der irrste aller Filmirren der Figur damals so nachhaltig aufgedrückt hatte. Die Nachricht, dass der sensible Heath Ledger nun die Lücke füllen sollte, die das frühzeitige Ableben von Nicholsons Joker-Fassung hinterlassen hatte, löste nicht wenig Skepsis aus, denn es schien ein weiter Weg von Mad Jack zu jenem homosexuellen Cowboy, mit dem Ledger sich merklich vom Image des austauschbaren Frauenschwarms ohne nennenswertes Profil hatte lösen können. Doch Ledger hatte die weiterführende Entwicklung seiner bis dato eher eindimensionalen Karriere bereits deutlich im Blick. Mit dem Heroindrama „Candy“ und seiner Interpretation des identitätslosen Bob Dylan in „I’m not there“ war der Schritt, den Ledger als Schauspieler anstrebte, unübersehbar, und die Entscheidung für Christopher Nolans kompromisslose Wiederbelebung des Jokers hätte genau jenen Wendepunkt bedeutet, der wohl auf seiner Agenda stand. Doch bekanntlich sollte es dazu nicht mehr kommen, und als der Schauspieler am 22. Januar verstarb, hat man im Hause Warner vermutlich mit einem unsicheren Balanceakt aus politisch korrektem Bedauern und marktstrategischem Jubilieren reagiert. Alle Aufnahmen mit Ledger waren bereits abgeschlossen und der Film somit nicht in der unangenehmen Lage, digitaler Nachhilfe zu bedürfen (wie etwa im berühmten Fall von Brandon Lee in „The Crow“ oder auch Oliver Reed in „Gladiator“). Für die Vermarktung also galt „Why so serious?“, denn nichts lässt sich in der Entertainment-Industrie so gut verkaufen wie der tragische frühe Tod eines Künstlers.

So erhielt der großangelegte virale Rummel um den mittlerweile sechsten Film des Batman-Franchise eine recht unangenehme nekrophile Note hinzugefügt: Die erste Joker-Actionfigur nach Ledgers Vorbild war schneller ausverkauft als die Kassen klingeln konnten, und ein unisono angestimmtes Oscar-Plädoyer mit dem Beigeschmack einer Erpressung, die sich der Joker selber nicht besser hätte ausdenken können (ein Anspruch, der darüber hinaus in der Mitte des Jahres so sinnlos ist wie die Forderung nach weißer Weihnacht, und der in seiner Absolutheit einfach einmal alles Spätere vorab ignoriert), sicherte dem kommenden Film eine Form der Bedeutsamkeit zu, die sich einzig aus Ledgers plötzlichem Ableben speiste. Am unwürdigsten allerdings gestaltete sich die Invasion schmierblättriger Spekulationen aus der untersten Schublade der Küchenpsychologie, die ungebremst darüber schwadronierten, wie der Schauspieler von der Rolle, die ihm soviel abverlangt hätte, absorbiert und an ihr zugrunde gegangen sei, wie die Trennung von Frau und Tochter ihn hierauf vorbereitet hätte (eine 1:1-Übertragung des Falles Owen Wilson, über den – da für einen Comedian nicht wirklich verkaufsfördernd – längst der Mantel des Totschweigens ausgebreitet ist) und Ähnliches mehr. Für die Legendenbildung sind solche Rahmenerzählungen aus der Kenneth-Anger-Schule unvermeidlich, und das erst recht, wenn ihr Träger ansonsten ein eher unbeschriebenes Blatt ist. Denn Ledger stand – und das unterscheidet ihn von der Riege der einschlägigen Frühverstorbenen – im Grunde für nichts als solides Handwerk: Keine Skandale, keine Ideologien, kein exzentrisches Auftreten. Umso mehr muss der Joker nun für seinen frühen Sturz herhalten. Absurd ist das allemal, und mit der Realität wird es reichlich wenig zu tun haben. Dem Absatzwert des Produktes hilft das ungemein, doch den klaren Blick auf Ledgers unstrittig exzellente Leistung trübt es gehörig. Denn die Heldenlieder, die von Anfang an auf seine Joker-Darstellung gedichtet worden sind, schießen in einer Art und Weise über das Ziel hinaus, dass sie durchaus an Hysterie grenzen.

Dabei wird vor allem übersehen, wie viel von Ledgers Interpretation in erster Linie auf der Grundlage einer perfide gestrickten Joker-Version Christopher Nolans und seines Bruders Jonathan beruht. Denn erst die Entscheidung der beiden Autoren, die Figur dort anzulegen, wo sie in ihrer schlüssigen Einheit aus Faszination und Abscheu für echtes Blockbuster-Kino eigentlich am unerträglichsten ist, und sie damit ausdrücklich von Burtons Vorgängerfassung abzuheben (die immer noch ein geheimes Einverständnis mit dem durchweg amüsanten Jack Napier zuließ), machte den Weg erst frei für Ledgers entfesselnd-verstörende Darstellung. Dabei hat diese Möglichkeit auch viel zu tun mit einer langen Entwicklung von Nemesis-Figuren im Hollywood-Film und der gewachsenen Bereitschaft, mit Abscheulichkeiten Kasse zu machen. Dass Nolans Joker nun auf seine Weise die genaue Schnittmenge zwischen „Hannibal“ und „Hostel“ getroffen hat, ist ein echter Glücksfall. Dabei macht er im Grunde nichts anderes, als sich der vorrangigen Version der Figur, wie sie in den Comics angelegt ist, möglichst weit anzunähern und andere Interpretationen außen vor zu lassen. Alternativen hätte es nämlich durchaus gegeben.

Seit der ersten Ausgabe der Serie von 1940 ein zentraler Bestandteil des Batman-Universums, durchlief die Gestalt mit dem verstörenden Dauergrinsen im Gesicht über die Jahrzehnte ihres Wirkens hinweg einige entscheidende Mutationen – und das ganz ohne Einfluss toxischer Chemikalien. Zu Zeiten der sogenannten Comic Codes Authority etwa, einer Art freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Verleger als Reaktion auf populäre Thesen, denen gemäß die bebilderten Hefte vor allem antisoziales und homoerotisches Verhalten förderten (berüchtigt: Frederick Werthams “Seduction of the Innocent: The Influence of Comic Books On Today’s Youth” von 1954), degenerierte der Joker bis in die 60er Jahre hinein zum gemeinen, aber doch eher harmlosen Einbrecher und Spaßmacher, der so lange durch alberne Gimmicks auf sich aufmerksam machte (und von dem Nicholsons Version einiges erbte), bis ihn der damalige Herausgeber Julius Schwartz schließlich in die Verbannung schickte. Erst 1973 erschien der Joker wieder auf der Bildfläche, und das dank Denny O’Neil und Neal Adams nun als echter Soziopath mit Hang zu Mord, Folter und sadistischen Spielereien.

Über seine Herkunft besteht eher Uneinigkeit. Die bekannteste Version – nach Motiven eines „Detective Comics“ aus dem Jahr 1951 – stammt von Alan Moore (dem Vater der „Watchmen“) und erzählt die wilde Geschichte eines erfolglosen Stand-Up-Comedians und ehemaligen Chemieingenieurs, der zwei Gangstern den Zugang zur Fabrik seines früheren Arbeitgebers verschafft, um seine schwangere (im Verlauf der Ereignisse tödlich verunglückende) Frau finanziell versorgen zu können. Die Sache geht schief, und auf der Flucht vor Batman stürzt er sich in ein Säurebad, das seine Haut weiß, seine Lippen rot und seine Haare grün färbt. Der Tod seiner Frau und seines ungeborenen Kindes lassen ihn den Verstand verlieren, und aus dem glücklosen Niemand wird ein gefährlicher Krimineller. Doch wie bei Shaffers Salieri-Historie ist auch die Geburtsstunde des Jokers nur die fragwürdige Erinnerung eines Wahnsinnigen, der von seiner Vergangenheit ausdrücklich behauptet, sie habe vielfache Varianten. Tim Burtons erster Batman-Film etwa geht bekanntlich gänzlich andere Wege.

Von solchen Erklärungsversuchen nimmt Nolans Fassung bewusst Abstand. Ganz im Gegensatz zur detailliert zurecht erfundenen Historie von Bruce Wayne in „Batman Begins“ (ohne Drehbuch des Regisseurs) sollte die Herkunft des Jokers ausdrücklich unthematisiert bleiben. Den Gedanken einer multiplen Vergangenheit, wie Moores „The killing Joke“ (einer der wesentlichen Einflüsse für „The Dark Knight“) ihn durchspielt, übernimmt Nolans Film ein Stück, indem er den Joker Geschichten über den Ursprung seiner Gesichtsnarben der jeweiligen Gelegenheit und seinem Gegenüber einfach anpasst (oder vermutlich schlichtweg erfindet). Bei Nolan gibt es keine Vergangenheit für den Kartenspieler, keine Erklärung für seine Motive. Der Joker ist weder ein Terrorist (wie es eine ganze Abordnung von Kritikern gerne sehen will), noch ein ungeliebtes Kind, noch ein Prophet des Chaos, oder gar schlicht ein Fall für die Psychiatrie. Er ist all dies nur als Projektionsfläche, doch wirft er selber jeden Erklärungsversuch mit der nächsten Handlung wieder über Bord. Er gehört auf diese Weise in die Klasse der bedrohlichsten aller Villains, nämlich zu denjenigen, die sich nicht durch ihre Motive erklären lassen, um den Zuschauer mithilfe von Kausalisierungen in Sicherheit zu wiegen. „Beruhigen“ sollen solche Schemata, sagt Michael Haneke bei Gelegenheit, und damit der Tat selber ihren Schrecken nehmen (weshalb seine Figuren in „Funny Games“ bekanntlich nicht nur unerklärt bleiben, sondern auch noch die gängigen Motivklischees aktiv verhöhnen). Nolans Joker springt zwischen den Motiven, stellt seine Mitspieler (als Gegner würde er sie vermutlich nicht betrachten) so lange vor Alternativen, zwischen denen sich niemand wirklich entscheiden kann, und treibt sie vor sich her, bis sie zerbrechen, sich verleugnen, die Seiten wechseln oder resignieren.

Tragischstes Opfer seines Spiels ist der einst lupenrein demokratische Staatsanwalt Harvey Dent – von Bruce Wayne tatkräftig unterstützt in der heimlichen Hoffnung, mit Dents Aufstieg seine eigene Existenz als Batman beenden zu können. Doch Dent, der Mann der gerne eine Münze wirft, wenn Entscheidungen anstehen (ohne jedoch irgendetwas dem Zufall zu überlassen, denn seine Münze hat zwei identische Seiten), wird im Joker seinen Frankenstein finden und damit, wie es in Superhelden-Comics oft der Fall ist, auch den Vater seiner Identität als Monster. Wo die Münze zuvor Dents unbedingten Willen zur Entscheidung repräsentiert, wird sie später – nun wirklich mit zwei Seiten versehen (den sprichwörtlichen zwei Seiten der Medaille, und damit Spiegelbild der Figur selber) – den radikalen Wandel eines Weltglaubens zum Prinzip erheben lassen und den Zufall an die Stelle der Moral setzen (eine Technik, die sich auch der Bolzenschusskiller Anton Chigurh aus „No country for old men“ zueigen gemacht hat). Doch von derartigen Spiegelungen, Doppelungen und Inverssetzungen ist „The Dark Knight“ ohnehin randvoll.

Für Nolan ist die Verzahnung zweier Figuren, die sich gegeneinander definieren, bedingen und ausliefern, ein beständiges Motiv, das selbst in den Filmen, deren Vorlage er nicht selber geliefert hat, deutlich hervorscheint: Beobachter und Beobachteter in „Following“, in dem letzterer seinen Verfolger zum Komplizen und gleichzeitig zum Spielball macht, wenn er die Beobachtung potenziert – Leonard in „Memento“, der seine schwindenden Erinnerungen mithilfe von Tätowierungen festhält, und diejenigen Menschen, von denen er sich eine wiederkehrende Stringenz erhofft, selber aber zu deren Opfer wird (Natalie) oder ihre Identität bewusst umlenkt (Teddy) – die beiden rivalisierenden Magier aus „The Prestige“, ihre vielgestaltigen Doppelgänger und die Frau zwischen ihnen, deren Schicksale durch gegenseitigen Verrat bis in den Tod unlösbar miteinander verbunden bleiben – selbst Detective Dormer und der Kindermörder Finch aus „Insomnia“ sind durch den verschleierten Kollegenmord des Ermittlers und die Mitwisserschaft des Verfolgten so eng miteinander verbunden, dass keine klassische Auflösung möglich wird – und schließlich ist es Bruce Wayne selbst, der in „Batman Begins“ von Henri Dunn erst zu dem gemacht wird, der er als schwarzer Ritter mit Fledermausmaske sein Leben lang sein wird, nur um demselben Mann später als erbitterter Gegner gegenüberzustehen. In der Konfrontation von Batman und Joker finden derartige Motive ihre Nahrung und werden auf eigene Weise noch eine ganze Stufe überhöht.

Doch doppelte Existenzen und schicksalhafte Zweierkonstellationen stellen auch anderorts in „The Dark Knight“ die Koordinaten für dramaturgische Einheiten bereit (Wayne / Dent, Wayne / Rachel, Rachel / Dent, Dent / Joker, Dent / Twoface, Twoface / Gordon und andere mehr). Überall wird vorgetäuscht, mit Identitäten gehadert, versprochen und nicht gehalten, die Wahrheit verschwiegen oder umgestaltet – und überall ist es die Münze des grausem entstellten Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhardt, wie man ihn noch nie gesehen hat), die als zentrales Symbol das beständigen Ringen um die Seele von Gotham City repräsentiert. Am Ende bleiben die Versuchungen des Jokers Zeichen dafür, dass irgendwo in der Stadt ein schwarzes Loch darauf wartet, alles in sich zu verschlingen. Von nirgendwo gekommen und auch auf seine Weise nach eben dorthin wieder verschwindend, ist die bloße Existenz des bösen Clowns Beweis genug für die ständige Bedrohung eines grausamen Weltenendes. Mehr Mephisto als alles andere, was man in ihm sehen mag, hält er Batman am Leben und raubt ihm dasselbe im gleichen Atemzug. Denn kaum Schlimmeres hätte er ihm antun können als dasjenige, was dem um Luft ringenden Zuschauer mit unumstößlicher Sicherheit bald schon eine weitere Fortsetzung der Serie bescheren wird. Batman forever.

Artikel © 2008 Thomas Lenz. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Filmplakat: Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH

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The new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight” opened in Hong Kong even before it opened in United States or European cinemas. It’s breaking a lot of box office records, has already received plenty of good reviews, and – so the buzz goes – could even earn Heath Ledger a posthumous Academy Award for his turn as the disturbed and disturbing Joker.

When I first heard people raving about Ledger’s performance I thought some of the enthusiasm might be due to emotion at his death. It isn’t. The Joker is a brilliant and subtle piece of acting.

People who listen to these reviews regularly will often have heard me say of the comic book super hero movies: “Well it’s not bad for a movie in this genre.”

Not only is “The Dark Knight” the best comic book adaptation I’ve seen, it also transcends the genre. There’s always a limit to how much you can care about what happens in these films. After all, it’s just a comic book. “The Dark Knight” takes you well past that limit. And it doesn’t just go beyond the genre’s limits in terms of tension. Working from a story by David S Goyer, director Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan have introduced many ideas and themes of a seriousness you don’t get in many Hollywood movies at all, let alone fantasy stories. It raises, seriously, questions that are relevant to the way we, and particularly the United States, live now. And it doesn’t give you easy answers. Those issues, here include, the limits of surveillance, how far you can go to combat terrorism, and others much more dark and existential.

I’d advise many people planning to see The Dark Knight to be very careful in reading, or listening, to reviews of it. There are a couple of surprises in the plot that you don’t want to know about before the movie begins. It should not be spoiled.

Essentially though, the central character is probably the Joker even more than it is Batman. He’s a demented genius who enjoys pain, whether inflicting it or having it inflicted on him. He decides to steal money from many of Gotham City’s mobsters, and to turn them all against Batman. He wants Batman dead or unmasked, and he’s willing to kill one “innocent” and “not so innocent” after another until he gets that. Does he have a personal grudge against Batman? Not that we know of. He just regards the fight of good against evil, right against wrong, as a personal slight. He believes the universe is evil, is chaos. He has the darkest possible view of human nature. He also has no rules. Batman has. The Joker wants to show the world that there are few principles human beings will suffer to uphold. Batman doesn’t even like to use a gun or to kill his enemies. The Joker is quite happy to turn them into human bombs.

In all this the Joker is far removed from the character that Jack Nicholson played in the earlier campier Batman films. Heath Ledger plays the Joker with total seriousness. He’s an agent of chaos.

There is, in The Dark Knight, another agent of rationality and law, or so we hope at the beginning. He’s a new District Attorney Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhardt). Millionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale of course) has long wanted the mantle of Batman to be taken from his shoulders, but feels that as long as he’s needed he must be there. He feels that if he can trust the crusading Harvey Dent to take on the underworld, Batman can hand up his cape. Wayne’s relationship with Dent is not completely straightforward though. The attorney is involved with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who Wayne has known and loved since childhood.

For much of the movie the Nolans take a dark view of humanity, or at least of the citizens of Gotham city. Inspired by Batman, many of them dress as him to exact their own kind of vigilante justice. Unfortunately, they are not very good at it. The Joker takes particular delight in teaching some of them a lesson. Their actions fuel Bruce Wayne’s self doubt. Is he really helping maintain law, or is he worsening the situation?

Batman does have a few allies on his side, including butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), his science wizard Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and police Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). Apart from that, it’s hard to know if anyone can be trusted.

Batman’s world is usually a hermetic one, bounded by the edges of Gotham City. In “The Dark Knight” he makes a trip to Hong Kong, to capture a key underworld figure. Even here though, director of photography and longtime Nolan collaborator Wally Pfister maintains the almost monotone and bleak atmosphere.

The shots of Batman flying above the streets of Central are a spectacular set-piece. “The Dark Knight” has many. But the skill of Christopher Nolan as a director is that they do not swamp the film’s ideas, or even its human interest. It’s so easy for someone to take on a project this big, and this expensive, and lose all touch with a personal vision.

In the years I’ve been watching movies I’ve seen many serious middlebrow art movies make a big fanfare of dealing with the issues that are dealt with here. Give me “The Dark Knight” over “Sophie’s Choice” any day. Ultimately, it dramatizes those concerns better.

At two and a half hours, I did feel that “The Dark Knight” began to slow down after a while, but no one can claim that not enough happens throughout its length. Perhaps, in part, that sense of hiatus was caused by the unexpected direction the movie takes. For the most part editor Lee Smith keeps it moving, abetted by the driving score of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.

It is so rare that a movie merges spectacle with drama, excitement with ideas, as well as “The Dark Knight” does. One respected American critic who has been relatively impervious to Christopher Nolan’s earlier, perhaps more arty, movies, has said that “The Dark Knight” finally convinces him he finally needs to reconsider just how great a filmmaker Nolan is.

I walked into it without particularly high or low expectations. I came out of it feeling I’d seen something brilliant, and now – thinking about it – want to see it again. This is craftsmanship of the highest order, on so many levels. Sometimes you don’t want to praise a movie too much for fear of creating a sense of anti-climax when people actually see it. “The Dark Knight”, I think, can live up to the praise.

It might not be the best movie ever made, but it is certainly the best movie I can remember seeing for myself.

I went to see it Saturday at the IMAX which was of course sold out.  When I got to the ticket booth, I asked the guy if there wasn’t one single seat left in the IMAX.  He said no sir, I’m sorry.

So I bought a ticket for the regular showing.  But being the sneaky guy I am, I walked into the IMAX theater just to see for myself.  At the IMAX you purchase numbered seats and they have ushers in there to help seat you.  Just so happens as I walked in, the usher on my side was helping someone to their seat up in the middle of the theater leaving the first row unguarded.  And there has a sparkly, golden seat calling my name.

Ha ha, suckers.

I didn’t feel safe until the lights went down though.  The theater was packed.  And there probably wasn’t a single empty seat.  I am lucky I didn’t get busted.

Needless to say, I was blown away.  Awesome is the only word that came to mind as I was walking out of the theater into the blinding sunlight of a humid July day in Louisville, Kentucky.

It was so good, I went to see it again the next day.  Just to make sure it was truly as bad ass as I thought it was.

It is.

It would have been nice to see all the same people reprise their roles from Batman Begins, but apparently Mrs. Tom Cruise didn’t think.  That’s it, she just didn’t think.  How can you not get back in this film?  Just one more reason I hate Tom Cruise.  I’m sure it’s his fault.

But that’s okay, Maggie Gyllenhaal looks like her a little bit and acted just like her, really.  I don’t know if she was intentionally trying to be Katie Holmes but she was dead on.  Speech patterns and all.  She’s just not quite as cute as Katie. 

Screw you Tom Cruise.

This thing was as good if not better the second time I saw it.  I’ll probably see it a third time.  I think it’s easily going to make more money than any movie in history; certainly it will make more money than any other movie this year.  And I know that’s not what gets you Academy Awards, but I’m starting to think they need to take box office draw into consideration.  I mean, gas is four bucks a gallon and it is at least six bucks for a matinee most places.  And if people are forking out that kind of bread two and three times to see the same movie, that means it’s pretty damn good.

The Guardian reports opening weekend ticket sales near $200 million. 
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2291950,00.html

That’s a lot of bread.

Go see this movie.  It is a definite full price, as soon as it comes out on DVD purchase. 

I give this film eleven dead Joel Shumachers out of ten dead Joel Shumachers.  Because Joel Shumacher should be buried under alive under the used ticket stubs of this film for what he did the Batman franchise with Batman Forever.  What a douche.

Oh, Heath Ledger’s Joker is off the charts frightening and hilarious.  Often times in the same scene.  In both screenings I saw this weekend, the audience reacted to his Joker like I have never seen in any other film.  Ever.  They laughed with him one moment and where scared to silence the next.

It might not be the best movie ever made, but it is certainly the best movie I can remember seeing for myself.

I went to see it Saturday at the IMAX which was of course sold out.  When I got to the ticket booth, I asked the guy if there wasn’t one single seat left in the IMAX.  He said no sir, I’m sorry.

So I bought a ticket for the regular showing.  But being the sneaky guy I am, I walked into the IMAX theater just to see for myself.  At the IMAX you purchase numbered seats and they have ushers in there to help seat you.  Just so happens as I walked in, the usher on my side was helping someone to their seat up in the middle of the theater leaving the first row unguarded.  And there has a sparkly, golden seat calling my name.

Ha ha, suckers.

I didn’t feel safe until the lights went down though.  The theater was packed.  And there probably wasn’t a single empty seat.  I am lucky I didn’t get busted.

Needless to say, I was blown away.  Awesome is the only word that came to mind as I was walking out of the theater into the blinding sunlight of a humid July day in Louisville, Kentucky.

It was so good, I went to see it again the next day.  Just to make sure it was truly as bad ass as I thought it was.

It is.

It would have been nice to see all the same people reprise their roles from Batman Begins, but apparently Mrs. Tom Cruise didn’t think.  That’s it, she just didn’t think.  How can you not get back in this film?  Just one more reason I hate Tom Cruise.  I’m sure it’s his fault.

But that’s okay, Maggie Gyllenhaal looks like her a little bit and acted just like her, really.  I don’t know if she was intentionally trying to be Katie Holmes but she was dead on.  Speech patterns and all.  She’s just not quite as cute as Katie. 

Screw you Tom Cruise.

This thing was as good if not better the second time I saw it.  I’ll probably see it a third time.  I think it’s easily going to make more money than any movie in history; certainly it will make more money than any other movie this year.  And I know that’s not what gets you Academy Awards, but I’m starting to think they need to take box office draw into consideration.  I mean, gas is four bucks a gallon and it is at least six bucks for a matinee most places.  And if people are forking out that kind of bread two and three times to see the same movie, that means it’s pretty damn good.

The Guardian reports opening weekend ticket sales near $200 million. 
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2291950,00.html

That’s a lot of bread.

Go see this movie.  It is a definite full price, as soon as it comes out on DVD purchase. 

I give this film eleven dead Joel Shumachers out of ten dead Joel Shumachers.  Because Joel Shumacher should be buried under alive under the used ticket stubs of this film for what he did the Batman franchise with Batman Forever.  What a douche.

Oh, Heath Ledger’s Joker is off the charts frightening and hilarious.  Often times in the same scene.  In both screenings I saw this weekend, the audience reacted to his Joker like I have never seen in any other film.  Ever.  They laughed with him one moment and where scared to silence the next.

this isn’t the sort of movie i ever expected to write about on this blog. but then again, i never thought i’d be as incredibly impressed by iron man as i was earlier this summer, a fact that led me to see the incredible hulk, hellboy 2, and the dark knight. i remember seeing batman begins a few years ago and enjoying it, too, but those who know me well would probably say it’s just not like me to get sucked into the whole superhero thing.

but i think we should pause right there. it seems that in the years between michael keaton’s batman, jack nicholson’s joker, and danny devito’s penguin, someone in hollywood caught wind of anti-heroism and that fact that cookie-cutter morality took its exit somewhere around the same time that george bush senior left office. we live in a complex world, and crime may be one of the more complex aspects of it, and with dubya’s war on terror and all, it’s hard to let the grasp of actions unpredicated by causes escape the repository of mass anxiety. christopher nolan’s the dark knight capitalizes on this fact, so we need to retrace our steps if we’re inclined to call it a “superhero” movie, or a “crime” movie, because it is neither. in certain slow dramatic moments, it’s a meditation on cause and effect in a world where convictions have grown thin, a reflection on the uncertainties of human character and behavior, and a canvas where humanity is laid bare and proven capable of multiplicitous actions way outside of any script. On this level, the dark knight succeeds completely, and in an era of vapid heiresses and mindless fashion spreads, reality tv and gimmick-driven network tv hype, to have a big picture production successfully entertain an audience with some philosphical merit is credible, refreshing, and long overdue in action-driven american cinema.

however, despite the film’s substance, as a formal piece of work, nolan falls short of his other should-be-masterwork, memento. nolan’s breakthrough work was a formal masterpiece and pinnacle of top-drawer directing, editing, and knowing exactly how to mesh actor, action, word, script, and shot in a way that revealed new possibilities in our understanding of personal history and the social lives of criminals. while the dark knight is worthy of its duration it drags in parts, falling victim at the beginning to over-long shots and a pageantry of setup sequences that would have looked better on the cutting room floor. the dark knight raised the stakes over batman begins and memento on script complexity and the multitude of variables that nolan had to manage, so given the sheer breadth and depth of the undertaking, he did really well. too bad that math doesn’t factor into the calculus of movie enjoyment, though, because it’s really the simplicity of memento and the sheer turbulance, darkness, and torque of batman begins that made them sing. like with a good short story or novel, sometimes impact flows directly from the word choices, pacing, and punctuation, and the dark knight wavers a bit under the burden of its construction, trading complexity and flash in its weak moments for blunt, awesome impact in others (remind me to try the pencil trick on someone at my next really annoying meeting).

despite some tradeoffs and complexity that weaken the film, i have to go back to ledger’s performance which is pretty much unmatchable, and while the other performers are all fairly strong to quite strong in their roles (my next favorite performance was gary oldman who could sneak by you if you didn’t stop to appreciate how understatedly he played gordon), but this was really ledger’s baby. he deserves a posthumous oscar for his achievement as the joker. christian bale also turned in a strong performance but was overpowered in the craft by ledger; perhaps this is in the way the dark knight was written but something substantial was missing in batman compared to the last installment. you will thank aaron eckhardt for smoking; he does a commendable job as harvey dent, and maggie gyllenhaal turns in an average to slightly-better-than-average performance as rachel.

if you haven’t seen the dark knight, check it out, even if you think you’re not into that kind of thing. the acting is solid if a little imbalanced, the complexity of nolan’s undertaking must be appreciated despite the occasional flatlining on the emotional satisfaction scale, but it’s clear that all the main players delivered quality and it’s yielding big dividends in review merits and box office receipts.

my hope for batman 3 is something simpler and more direct, featuring brad pitt as the riddler. so riddle me this: who would you pick to play the riddler if the writers choose that villian angle in the next sequel?
Rating: B+/A-
Score: 8.8

If Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight isn’t the best superhero movie ever, then it’s pretty damn close. The Dark Knight takes place in a much less stylized Gotham City than its predecessor Batman Begins did, and so the action, though still summer blockbuster scaled and often spectacular, takes on more of an immediacy. Nolan has also much improved as a director of said action: Whereas Batman Begins was marred by incoherent action scenes, it’s not only clear what’s going on in The Dark Knight, but also clear what’s at stake. The acting is also top notch, with Christian Bale and Gary Oldman doing effectively understated work as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Jim Gordon, respectively, Aaron Eckhardt very good in a very difficult role as Harvey Dent, and Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman employing their considerable charm and intelligence as Alfred and Lucius. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over the role of Rachel from Katie Holmes, and puts her own spin on the character, adding some shading and dimension. The role that will get the most attention, and perhaps justifiably so, is Heath Ledger as the Joker, who frequently got applause for his scenes at the premiere midnight showing I saw. He drew laughs while at the same time being utterly hateful and frequently scary. It’s a mesmerizing, unforgettable performance. Nolan, however, is a smart enough writer and director not to let Ledger’s Joker take over the movie, instead limiting his appearances and then using them to maximum effect. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard have also crafted a unique, often eerie score to complement the often stunning visuals onscreen. The Dark Knight is not without flaws, mild overlength, for one, and there’s some hokeyness that creeps into the last act, but in general, it’s the one superhero movie that absolutely means to transcend its genre, and ends up, especially in its last moments, elevating itself into the realm of myth and legend.

MONKEY RATING: ZERO MONKEYS

(For a brief explanation of the Monkey Review rating system, click here.)

Interestingly enough, and contrary to the title’s suggestion, this movie isn’t about anything demonic. It is a wonderful romance featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, playing Maud Bailey, and Aaron Eckhardt, playing Roland Michell.

Here’s part of the plot summary, courtesy of imdb (written by C.D.):

Roland Michell is an Americian trying to make it in the difficult world of British Academics. He has yet to break out from under his mentor’s shadow until he finds a pair of love letters in the textbook that once belonged to one of his idols, a famous long dead Victorian poet. Michell, after some sleuthing around, narrows down the suspects to a woman not his wife, another well known Victorian poet. Roland enlists the aid of a Dr. Maud Bailey, an expert on the life of the woman in question. Together they piece together the story of a forbidden love affair, and discover one of their own.

This movie hit every level of enjoyment for me. It showed the development of a mystery, the growth of a modern day romance and managed to sprinkle a bit of skulduggery into the mix as well. Even my husband, who usually prefers movies packed with fast paced action and plenty of explosions, admitted to enjoying Possession.

Here a link to the trailer on You Tube: