The Dark Knight

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Ex Nihilo
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The Dark Knight

Post by Ex Nihilo » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:44 am

Holy crap. i saw it. i seriously shat a kitten, it was so amazing.

i'm not gonna give any kind of review here cuz it needs to be experienced.

go see it now. until you do, your life has no meaning.

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Post by horns2thebachs » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:10 pm

Best. Movie.Ever.

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Post by tooweird » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:45 pm

im definitely gonna go see it...i need to wait for the lines to stop being so flippin long! 8-)
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Post by Suhibandman » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:52 pm

So I sit here in my band office having just about completed another day of teaching (at a year round school), and am completely exhausted from the 1 hour of sleep I had, but it doesn't matter because the Dark Knight was completely worth it. I think I might go again this weekend! This movie is going to shatter box office records.... Words cannot describe the awesomeness that it reaks of...

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Re: The Dark Knight

Post by fieldshowqueen » Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:24 pm

Ex Nihilo wrote:Holy crap. i saw it. i seriously shat a kitten, it was so amazing. i'm not gonna give any kind of review here cuz it needs to be experienced. go see it now. until you do, your life has no meaning.
Oh heck ... and here I was under the misguided assumption that I was placed on this earth for a preordained purpose! LOL

Other than the 2 1/2 hr. length (which is only really a "reduced bladder size" issue and a warning NOT to buy the X-large drink), this version of Batman (something like the 8th movie or TV show??) is by far the best. Even most of the critics give it an A-.

BTW ... someone posted on College Humor a side by side comparison of the 1989 trailer to the Dark Knight trailer ... they are almost identical.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1813453

But like ExNihilo says ... yeah ... go see the movie. :)
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Post by Nreuest » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:08 pm

i haven't seen it yet, but it already sounds like pure hype and nothing more. hopefully i won't have to see batman begins in order to understand it, i was never interested in seeing that movie. everyone's always saying that each new superhero movie that comes out is "by far the best one" or "the best superhero movie..EVER!" and i've found that to be false. or is this new movie doing good because of heath ledger's death? i think the fact that he's dead only magnifies his performance and how people watch the movie, an extremely sympathetic viewpoint. had he still been alive, the results might have been much different. who exactly went crazy over batman begins? yeah, no one. and let's see if people remember this movie a month from now. i mean i just can't trust movie critics anymore, especially when all of today's movies are exactly the same.

call me crazy, but that's my pre-viewing opinion on this movie. what does this movie have that other movies today don't? this hype is not selling me.
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Post by fieldshowqueen » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:53 am

Nreuest wrote:... everyone's always saying that each new superhero movie that comes out is "by far the best one" or "the best superhero movie..EVER!"
My comment was that this is by far the best of the Batman movies ... not "the best superhero movie EVER!" In comparison to Nicholson's Joker, Ledger's is far superior and more believeable ... and it's not because Ledger is dead. And don't even get me going on comparisons to the cheesy Adam West version of Bruce Wayne/Batman vs. Michael Keaton vs. George Clooney vs. Christian Bale. (Bale is great, but my vote would be for Clooney if not for the fact that Batman & Robin was horrible overall.) The special effects this time around are, not surprisingly, much better than the 1989 version, too.

No you do not need to see Batman Begins to understand it. The story has basically remained the same. And if you do not like the Superhero genre, then my advise is to skip it and use the money you save on another movie or something you consider more worthwhile.

And I won't call you crazy.
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Post by Ex Nihilo » Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:23 am

fieldshowqueen wrote: And don't even get me going on comparisons to the cheesy Adam West version of Bruce Wayne/Batman vs. Michael Keaton vs. George Clooney vs. Christian Bale.
you forgot Val Kilmer

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Post by Nreuest » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:57 am

not that i don't like superhero movies, it's just that ever since spiderman came out (or maybe x-men, who knows...) there's been this insane crave for more of those kind of movies and now it's just getting old.
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Post by Ryan H. Turner » Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:58 am

Nreuest wrote:not that i don't like superhero movies, it's just that ever since spiderman came out (or maybe x-men, who knows...) there's been this insane crave for more of those kind of movies and now it's just getting old.
I didn't think a 19-year old had the capacity to be cynical at this age. GOOD FOR YOU!! Can't wait to talk to you when you're like, uhhh...42.

:roll:

However, even though I'm jabbin' you in the ribs, I sort of have to agree with you on one point. HYPE!!!!!!!!!! Boy how I hate thee HYPE!! It's important to know that I am a fan of movies--all kinds (except for anime, which just annoys the hell out of me, but that's another story)--but I do have a special place in my heart for science fiction and comic book genre. I was absolutely blown away by "Spiderman", so I just knew "Spiderman II" was going to be even better. It was (in my opinion), and so "Spiderman III" was going to be :shock:

But it SUCKED! And it sucked WORSE because of the hype. This is just one example of how hype ruined a movie. At least for me. It's happened time and time again.

Conversely, "Iron Man" was a movie I actually didn't even want to see. I'm no fan of Downey (the actor, not the city), I hadn't heard any hype about the movie, and I don't know a thing about "Iron Man". But I saw the movie, grudgingly, and was blown away. With very rare exception, I've seen every "superhero/comic book movie" since 1978's "Superman". I thought "Iron Man" bested them all--even my beloved "Superman" and "Batman" (the Keaton/Burton version).

"Batman Begins" was really good. I liked it a lot. But I didn't like it THAT much. Just didn't. So, the incredible hype I've been hearing about "Dark Knight" has been interesting--I've read "post humus Oscar" possibilities for Heath Ledger, and "Best Picture" possibilities for "Dark Knight". I don't know...I'm with Nreuest in a sense. Hype can kill.

I'll try to keep my expectations in check before I go see it. That way, I won't run screaming out of the theater like I did after watching the celluoid vomit known as "Spiderman III--The Wussification of a Hero", or the gigantic waste of time "Transformers--Another Michael Bay Orgasm of Explosions and Stupid Dialogue".

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Post by Hostrauser » Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:49 am

Iron Man was great. I haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, but from what I'm hearing, what makes the movie so impressive is the un-comic book like nature of the film. Yes, it's still a fantasy films with explosions and chase scenes and toys, but all of the gimmicky bombast and cheap humor that filled Tim Burton's version has been stripped away. The Joker, it's important to remember, was always intended to be not a "funny ha-ha" clown but a "can't sleep, clowns will eat me" type of clown: a terrifying psychopath with gallows humor that it's difficult to find funny.

One of the few movie critics I respect and will actually pay attention to, Roger Ebert, says this about the movie:
Nolan also directed the previous, and excellent, “Batman Begins” (2005), which went into greater detail than ever before about Bruce Wayne’s origins and the reasons for his compulsions. Now it is the Joker’s turn, although his past is handled entirely with dialogue, not flashbacks. There are no references to Batman’s childhood, but we certainly remember it, and we realize that this conflict is between two adults who were twisted by childhood cruelty — one compensating by trying to do good, the other by trying to do evil. Perhaps they instinctively understand that themselves.

Something fundamental seems to be happening in the upper realms of the comic-book movie. “Spider-Man II” (2004) may have defined the high point of the traditional film based on comic-book heroes. A movie like the new “Hellboy II” allows its director free rein for his fantastical visions. But now “Iron Man” and even more so “The Dark Knight” move the genre into deeper waters. They realize, as some comic-book readers instinctively do, that these stories touch on deep fears, traumas, fantasies and hopes. And the Batman legend, with its origins in film noir, is the most fruitful one for exploration.

In his two Batman movies, Nolan has freed the character to be a canvas for a broader scope of human emotion. For Bruce Wayne is a deeply troubled man, let there be no doubt, and if ever in exile from his heroic role, it would not surprise me what he finds himself capable of doing."


http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc ... S/55996637

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Post by Ex Nihilo » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:03 am

Hostrauser wrote:a terrifying psychopath with gallows humor that it's difficult to find funny.
is it bad if i found the joker quite hilarious and always have?

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Post by fieldshowqueen » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:16 am

Nreuest wrote:not that i don't like superhero movies, it's just that ever since spiderman came out (or maybe x-men, who knows...) there's been this insane crave for more of those kind of movies and now it's just getting old.
I totally agree with you Nreuest (and Ryan) on the hype (and I've had 31 and 8 more years respectively to develop my fine-tuned cynical skills.) Most heavily advertised movies do not meet up to the challenge, and I typically purposely ignore the hype so I can form my own opinions. In the case of Dark Knight, I really was not expecting what I saw.

My pet peeve is the sequel thing. The first 1 is typically great ... #2 may or may not finish the story or be just as great, but usually doesn't quite hit the mark. My first reaction to Dark Knight was two fold ... "Oh heck no! NOT another Batman movie!" and "Oh heck no! NOT another d**ned sequel!" It isn't just the comic book genre either and we're getting movies that should have been left in the grave. I can understand following a book or series of books (like Harry Potter or LOTR) or my beloved Star Wars, but even those grow old. Do we REALLY need a Rocky 24 or a 90 year-old Indiana Jones (as the main character vs. just a flashback with his grandchild on his knee type thing) or Jurassic Park 8? I hear they are making Saw 6, or thinking about it. Oh come on!! After #2 they should just make it into a TV mini-series. Seriously. It gets to the point where a movie plot is so predictable its fallen into what I call the Bewitched Syndrome (from old TV show: Samantha promises Darren she won't use magic, Darren does something idiotic, Samantha tries it the mortal way and fails, Samantha uses her magic to rescue said lame-o, Darren wags his finger at Samantha, Samantha promises Darren she won't use magic, and the circle begins again. Yawn.) You can actually completely miss seeing it and still know what happens.

... and yes ... oops ... Val Kilmer.
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Post by fieldshowqueen » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:23 am

Ex Nihilo wrote:
Hostrauser wrote:a terrifying psychopath with gallows humor that it's difficult to find funny.
is it bad if i found the joker quite hilarious and always have?
yes and no ...
yes if you are a terrifying psychopath with gallows humor ...
no if you are just reacting to what you have been raised on.
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Post by Ryan H. Turner » Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:40 am

fieldshowqueen wrote:
Ex Nihilo wrote:
Hostrauser wrote:a terrifying psychopath with gallows humor that it's difficult to find funny.
is it bad if i found the joker quite hilarious and always have?
yes and no ...
yes if you are a terrifying psychopath with gallows humor ...
no if you are just reacting to what you have been raised on.
OH NO!!! I was raised by psychopatchic parents!!

DANG IT!!!

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