Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Dark Knight - WHY SO SERIOUS?



Really, there is no way to review this movie as “best comic book movie ever” because it really stepped right out of the comic book realm. I’ve seen this many times now and … well, let’s just say “Batman Begins” left me speechless, “the Dark Knight” leaves me feeling deeply humiliated for all other writers and directors who aren’t named Nolan. Really, come on … this is what Batman has always been about. No super powers, only psychosis which, sadly, breeds psychosis.

The Joker (played far too well for Heath Ledgers ultimate health) is a manifestation of the Dark Knight’s own philosophy. The Joker appears in Batman’s wake and, as he himself says, he is an agent of chaos. He doesn’t care about crime or a plan; he just wants to do insane things. He is honest in that respect and, in a way, at least to the criminal class of Gotham city; he’s just as bad as the Batman.



This movie is still so deeply disturbing that I find it rather hard to describe my feelings, apart from the mere fact that I haven’t walked out of a movie theater feeling like I’d really seen something truly amazing in YEARS. This is not just the best super hero movie ever … it might be one of the best movies ever made.

This is not a review; this is merely a statement of fact.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Noise, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk

Return of the media monster blog

OK, I’m no critic. Those who can’t create, criticize. But, I do create, but I do have opinions. I’m going to once again attempt to keep up with pop culture in my own obscurest way.



Noise - Tim Robbins stars as a guy living in New York city fighting noise pollution (car alarms particularly annoy him) and he becomes a vigilante called the Rectifier. What I really liked about this quirky movie was the resolution. It isn’t exactly fun all the way through -- his life turns to garbage, Robbins is stoic if not almost dead through the entire thing, and there is a lot of questionably strange activity going on with the younger female stars -- but the ending is worth the watching.



Iron Man - Yes, this is months old but it really was one of the great summer movies. Marvel comics is now making their own films and this one, which really shouldn’t have been very good at all, became my (OK, second) MUST SEE movie the minute I heard Robert Downy Jr. would be playing Tony Stark. As everyone in the critic world has said, Downy Jr. is pretty much Tony Stark in real life … at least the party playboy part. Instantly, you don’t really need much back story. You know this guy and you see his transformation from arms manufacturer to super hero and you feel the change. Jeff Bridges, daringly shaving that incredible head of hair, is an interesting villain adding yet another layer of acting grit to this very good mixture of story structure. Admittedly, the final robot battle was the same old stuff we’ve seen in all Marvel films. Flashy, chaotic, almost impossible to follow, but it doesn’t matter. The tag ending with Sam Jackson turning up as Nick Fury to put together the Avengers team is like that little piece of ice cream on a wonderful cake.



The Incredible Hulk - Personally, I’m one of the few people that will admit to two things that are not popular opinions. 1. I actually liked Ang Lee’s Hulk and 2. I don’t think Ed Norton is that great an actor. He certainly doesn’t have much going on as Banner. Oh, and I never even liked the Hulk, anyway, so I was already in a big corner when I watched this film. Unlike Iron Man, Norton just comes off as an unsympathetic, disaffected prick as Banner and that’s sad. Bixby, in the TV series, was what held that show together. His acting and the feeling of his plight carried the show. Norton seems like some wise ass running from a bunch of cartoon characters. The Hulk’s appearance in this version is actually less affective than Lee’s Hulk, so that’s not so great, either. The only thing that I loved was the end … when Downy Jr. turns up to say “we’re putting a team together.” Again, all leading to an Avengers movie.