Batman smells

Okay, few more thoughts (as you can see, this ones going to take time to settle).

It seems fashionable in the wake of Heath to complain about Jack Nicholson's Joker. I just want to take this moment to remind people i've been doing it for years ;)

I think a lot of Batman fans are feeling pretty happy right now. We've spent years complaining that the Joker is never done right, and people give us funny looks. Because, to most people, mentioning the joker brings up images of Nicholson gurning, or Romero laughing, or of a silly clown with a white face. My description for years has been that Mr J should be 'Hannibal Lecter with a grin', and i think we finally got that. Except we got more than that. Whenever he was on screen, you could feel the tension in the theatre go through the roof because, for the first time, a screen Joker was scary.

The only time in the whole fim that i was conscious i was looking at Heath Ledger, and not The Joker, was in the interrogation screen. Not that he wasn't wholly in character at that point, as it was one of his strongest scenes. But because the makeup was so smeared, Heath's features were discernable for the firs time. It's a massive tribute to him that there's only one point in the film when you realise it's a famous actor playing a part.

Theres little point raving on further about him. Everyone's doing it. And they're all right. It's a stunning performance. Aron Eckhart gives a fantastic performance too, probably the best of his career and the best of many peoples careers. His is such a beleivable and heart breaking performance, but sandwiched between two mythical figures it will get lost a little. Another stand out performance is Gary Oldman. For the second film running, Oldman totally vanishes inside Jim Gordon. A sentiment i've seen in a few reviews is that this is the first time people have seen Oldman THIS good. Well, okay. If you're view of Oldman is the gurning guy in the mainstream films, yes. But THIS is Oldman. THIS is what he's capable of, and what he has done in smaller roles and with good material. The crime is that he hasn't dome THIS more.

It's almost easy to forget that Christian Bale is in there too, and that his performance was note perfect.

Anyway. I'll be attempting a decent review of the film over at my other blog, looking at the writing and the structure. I think this is as valid a political study as anything else right now, if in a different way to projects like THE WIRE. But more on that another time.

And flaws, there are flaws to be poked at.

One other quick thing, everyone is worried about 'where next'. That Nolan can't possibly top this one with a third. Well, that's the point. You don't try and top this. The third one will need to be as different from THE DARK KNIGHT as TDK was from BATMAN BEGINS. The story arc is there to be completed, and the third one would be it's own story, as with any good epic story. The whole 'how to we do this?' is only a problem if you get stuck in the hollywood mind set that each story needs to be a bigger and louder retread of the one before it.

This film is full of characters having t betray themselves in the hope that they are doing it for some higher ideals, that they are staying in the right side of the line. There is a natural payoff to that line of storytelling, and Nolan is the best director there is right now, so stop worrying.

wow.

I have just seen the Joker.

After a lifetime of waiting, i've just seen THE JOKER.

I'll have more thoughts once i've thought. I do have to say, if you havent seen it, if you're planning to see it soon...YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS AT IMAX FIRST.

The depth in those scenes, the scale, the.....wow.

ALMOST ruined it...

I downloaded the Ifanboy special edition podcast of THE DARK KNIGHT last night and started listening. I caught myself just in time, and stopped before they got down to spoilers, but not before hearing some overwhelming praise of the film.

And yikes, this thing is making a shit ton of money in its opening weekend. It seems like everywhere has gone Batman crazy.

grumble of the day (only 5 minutes into it)

I loves me a bit of mac. Everyone knows it.

Sometimes i get lablled as a raving mac fanboy and apologist, which is not true.

To wit;

Had my mac powerbook running osx for about four years. It crashed once. It its fourth year. It was still a perfect little machine when i sold it, it was just a little slow compared to modern models.

I've had my Blackbook for less than a year, running leopard, and i've rebooted it a number of times. Nothing major. No blue screens, no lost files, nothing above a little irritation and a few minutes wasted while it swicthes on and off (with little fuss, it's very polite about rebooting). But still, it's something that didnt happen with my other model. Its pissing me off.

bonekicking is a dangerous business

The second episode of Bonekickers...was...i'm scared to say....very wathceable.

The plot make, like, sorta, sense.

The direction was handled as if some thought was put into it.

It was topical, either by accident or design (depending on how long ago this script was written).

The first episode was crass silly hokum based on extremely tired cliches. The result was crap. The second episode was silly hokum based on some interesting ideas and a topic worth thinking about. The result was entertaining.

If you watched episode one and decoded never to watch it again, i would recomend giving episode two a chance.

if you dodnt watch the first one, i would recomend pretending that one doesnt exist, and skipping straight onto this.

Still, next wek is another chance to return to the crapness. If it does, then it's tw strikes out of three and gone. If it carries on like this weeks, i'll keep tuning in for some silliness.