Entries tagged as ‘the dark knight’
living in grand rapids is often tough for a film geek, mainly because it takes ages for smaller films to get here, if they ever show at all. because of this i haven’t had a chance to see two of my most anticipated films of 2008, slumdog millionaire and the wrestler. so here’s my top five movies of 2008, which obviously only includes those i’ve been able to see thus far.
1. the dark knight
i’m not sure i even need to explain this one. it’s fucking brilliant, relentless, bleak, heartbreaking, all of the promise of batman begins amped up 100% and mixed with clearly the best performance of the year in heath ledger. while i’m not sure if it should win best picture, ledger definitely deserves a posthumous best supporting actor win.
2. wall-e
talk about gorgeous. i can’t even imagine what this looks like in 1080p. not since the silent era has a character done so much with so few actual words. pixar can really do no wrong and wall-e is further proof of that. i have a hunch that this might be the first animated film since beauty and the beast to garner a best picture nod from the academy.
3. forgetting sarah marshall
i actually didn’t think i was going to like this one going in, but i think i enjoy it more and more every time i watch it. it’s easily the best of the apatow crop from this year. paul rudd, russel brand, jack mcbrayer, bill hader, the entire support cast is hilarious. and russel brand, christ. i get “inside of you” stuck in my head every time i hear it.
4. bigger, stronger, faster*
i’m a documentary junkie. i really want to see dear zachary, but considering the doc’s i’ve seen this year, bigger stronger faster is my fav. and i don’t even like sports or care about bodybuilding. it’s just really compelling and well done and makes you interested in something you would have never thought twice about before. that’s the mark of a great doc.
5. let the right one in
i’ve talked about this film here before, but i just can’t say enough about it. the cinematography is breathtaking, the relationship between the young protagonists is honest and refreshing. it’s a great new take on a tired genre that goes above and beyond standard fare and dares to do something unique. there’s already a remake in the works, which is troubling. see the original now.
-srd
Categories: movies
Tagged: best of 2008, bigger stronger faster, dear zachary, forgetting sarah marshall, let the right one in, movies, slumdog millionaire, the dark knight, the wrestler, wall-e
mccain/palin ’08: welcome to earf!
i don’t know about you, but i’m not voting for some frakkin skin job and the first lady from independence day.
in other news, the
chrome beta was released today by the folks at google. in my little experience with it (it’s only windows at the moment, so i run it in parallels both on my mac mini at work and on my macbook) i can say it’s pretty sweet. i’m relatively satisfied with safari (gasp!) but i can see myself switching over when they add native mac support. then fully 90% of my existence will be owned by either apple or google. the remaining 10% belongs to sony and marlboro.
speaking of sony, i played a bit of siren: blood curse this weekend. truly frightening game. it makes me hunger for resident evil 5, and a host of other really exciting upcoming releases, including but not limited to: star wars: the force unleashed, resistance 2, little big planet, rock band 2, silent hill 5, and killzone 2. it’s gonna be a sweet couple of months for gamers, that’s for sure.
also, this is damned awesome:
-srd
Categories: movies · politics · video games
Tagged: apple, battlestar galactica, chrome, john mccain, killzone 2, little big planet, ps3, resident evil, rock band 2, sarah palin, silent hill 5, star wars: the force unleashed, the dark knight
ali go, aka skunkgal, sent me a link today to a story on cnet regarding the dark knight’s recent ascent to the top of imdb’s top 250 list, dethroning the godfather. apparently zealous fans have actually been down-voting coppola’s classic in order to bump nolan’s epic to the top spot, dropping the godfather to number three, behind the shawshank redemption. what does this mean?
not much, aside from the fact that people on teh internets really like the dark knight. a lot. the article makes some comparisons to the hd-dvd issue on digg. a) i don’t read digg, mainly cause i’m not a ron paul supporter. b) they’re completely different situations.
mob mentality doesn’t really apply here. teh internet community (the article uses the terrible “web 2.0″ buzzword) is opinionated and vocal, but by no means represents the world at large, especially on a site like imdb that caters to hardcore movie nerds, like myself. i loved the dark knight; i saw it again on sunday with my mom. is it better than the godfather? no. and a bunch of nerds on a website aren’t gonna change that any time soon.
-srd
Categories: movies · the internets
Tagged: imdb, movies, the dark knight, the godfather, the internets
when i was 15, kevin dufendach, michael turk and i would watch the trailer for the phantom menace every day before mr. smith’s english class. you see, i was (and partly still am) a huge star wars geek. i read all of the expanded universe books and comics, played all the video games, had hundreds of dollars worth of toys and collectables. it was the most excited i’d ever been about a movie. ever. until nine years later.
i’ve always loved batman. i think it was tim burton’s batman that originally got me into the character, but i also enjoyed the adam west version, and especially the original bruce tim batman: the animated series. there’s something about him that always gripped me more than lesser “superheros.” as far as dc is concerned, you’re either a superman person or a batman person. me, i’m a batman person. superman has to be a superhero, batman chooses to be one. maybe that’s why i like him, cause he doesn’t have powers, but he goes out there anyway and defends the city he loves.
but as the years went on and the batman movies gradually and then spectacularly declined into utter schlock, i lost faith in the movie franchise. then chistopher nolan’s batman begins came outta nowhere and knocked me on my ass. i’ve been waiting for the dark knight ever since. when the trailer comes on tv, i literally shush people around me. i’m that stoked and i feel like i’m 15 years old again, waiting for what i hoped to be movie-geek nirvana.
nine years ago i was ultimately disappointed. i have a distinct feeling that tonight at 12:15 am, i won’t be.
-srd
Categories: movies
Tagged: batman, movies, star wars, the dark knight
there are ton of early reviews floating around out there on the interwebs for my most anticipated movie of the year, the dark knight. everyone i’ve read is resoundingly positive, many digressing into hyperbole. comparisons are being made to the empire strikes back, heat, and the godfather two. some are even suggesting a posthumous oscar for heath ledger, the only other in the history of the academy awards going to peter finch in sidney lumet’s network in 1976.
me personally, i’m frakking stoked.
i do have a theory though, and if you want to avoid potential spoilers, i’d suggest you stop reading now.
(more…)
Categories: movies
Tagged: movies, the dark knight
eh, it was better than temple of doom, which was all i was hoping for. could have used more cgi prairie dogs in my opinion, but that’s just me. i still think the dark knight is going to be the best movie of the summer.
on a related note, baz lurman’s new one looks kinda interesting. i wasn’t immediately a fan of his, but both romeo+juliet and moulin rouge have grown into two of my favorite movies. so we’ll see.
also, if you have the time, and i know you do if you’re reading this, slate has been following the r. kelly trial this week. it’s nuts and there’s a lot of great crap in there, including using the wayans brothers movie little man as part of the defense, but my personal favorite is this:
Along with the logs, the lower level of Kelly’s former residence includes a short lap pool and a basketball court with a mural depicting the singer shooting hoops with the Tasmanian Devil.
i would buy that. for a lot of money.
-srd
Categories: movies · music
Tagged: baz lurman, indiana jones, movies, music, r kelly, the dark knight
