Okay, we have this OTHER movie theater in town now. I hadn't been there until last night. I heard it was excellent, but more expensive, and I never thought it'd be worth it. Still, a couple of friends said they were going to see The Dark Knight at the new theater and invited me to come along.
It was like a dream where you're in your ordinary surroundings and suddenly turn the corner and there's THE FUTURE or some crazy, imaginary world that can't possibly be real. It still feels dream-like to me.
I've never been to an IMAX theater before, and this is not one of them, but I can't imagine IMAX being any better. I heard almost every line. The picture was crystal clear. The seats recline. Mama, I'm home.
As for the movie, you've already heard the hype. It's all true. EPIC. "The Godfather Part II of comic book movies."
And if I didn't know better, never in a million years would I have recognized Heath Ledger in that role. You could watch it a hundred times but if you didn't know, you'd never guess.
I don't know how he did what he did, but he found a new way to be absolutely terrifying.
Anyway, just wanted to report that I got to see (and HEAR) the movie. Go see it. And I know this kind of movie never gets Oscar recognition, but when the DVD comes out, I'd like to see "ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor" sported on the cover.
34 comments:
I'm glad you got a second chance. I can't wait to see it now!
I don't know about Best Picture, but a Best Supporting Actor for Ledger would be justice. His acting in "Brokeback Mtn" still haunts me to this day. And I haven't seen the Dylan "I'm Not There" movie yet, for some idiotic reason.
That's sweet you got to see it again. I'm genuinely happy for you. Go over to see Soto's review and give him a smackdown if you feel like it. He says it was a half-hour too long. I never pictured my Blog Hero to be part of the Short Attention Span set, but he may just need some Vigilante straightening out.
"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you STRANGER." - Joker
May be my new saying. Still may take all my kids, even the 5-yr-old, to it. Then again, I can always wait for the DVD. I have "Generation Kill" to occupy my time.
Oh, and it's interesting you bring up "Godfather II" because Peter Travers of Rolling Stone compares Christian Bale's inner struggles with those of Pacino's in that classic. Check out his review on the website. I'd link you but I don't know how.
It is incredibly violent. Not gory, but shocking. VERY shocking. And sickly funny at the same time.
I don't want Ledger to get the Oscar as a dead tribute thing. I hope it doesn't come off that way. I want him to get it because we talk about actors as being "good" or "bad" in roles, and then there are performances that are just legendary. Nicholson in "Cuckoo's Nest", Pacino in "Scarface", Pesci in "Goodfellas", etc.
This is one of those performances. We'll be talking about this for years.
There IS some animal stuff that bothered me. Joker sicks some dogs on Batman, and he tosses one off what appears to be the edge of a building under construction. It's not clear -- we don't get the gratuitous "yelp" or watch the dog falling and hitting the ground. So I'm just gonna say he tossed the dog to the floor below.
Still haven't seen Brokeback, haven't seen it on the movie channels. I'd probably stop to watch, just to see what everyone raves about.
I read Travers' review this morning and I will go beat on Soto for his ADHD.
Somebody just asked me if there was a squad car parked in front of the theater. No, there wasn't last night.
Usually there is because for SOME reason they built this gigantic, Epcot Center movie theater right in front of the fuckin' Cabrene Green of Bloomington. Section 8.
WHY??
Oh well. Shopgirl never goes to movies anyway. She hates crowds. Maybe I bring my nines next time, case I need to cap some beyatch.
I'm sure there's smoke coming out of Jeff's keyboard right now regarding Brokeback. I watched it and thought it was very good. Particularly Ledger.
Not sure about a 5 year old seeing a lot of shocking violence - and don't underestimate the power of a scary face on the screen to inhabit the nightmares. I learned that the hard way letting my son watch Thriller when he was little. Sure, he understood as I explained about makeup and spooky contact lenses, but he still had nightmares!
I'm sure Brokeback's great, and I love Jake G., it's just that I'm not into romance movies, even if they're not your usual romance.
Just posted on Soto's Short Attention Span Theater.
Good job!
Oh shit! Christian Bale got arrested? WTF??
Sheesh, his mom and sis say he assaulted them. Wonder what happened there?
Brokeback was good but if it was a love story between two people of the opposite sex who couldn't be together for some reason it wouldn't have even been noticed but for the beautiful scenery. Yeah, yeah I know the gay aspect was important to the film but I just didn't find the emotional depth that lots of other people seemed to find in it.
[shrugs shoulders]
Heh, snark. I still haven't seen Bridges of Madison County, either, and I hear it had pretty scenes of ... bridges.
When Shopgirl and I were English majors in college, I used to read Bridges of Madison County aloud to her and we'd just about piss ourselves with laughter.
Like our Uncle Tom says about romantic trash like this: "Why do all the men have 'sinewy' arms?"
Sinew isn't very flattering, seems to me. It puts in mind those bicyclists who are nothing but skin and sinew - yuk!
Didn't read it.
Didn't see it.
Sinewwwwwwwww!
Bridges sucks my left nut, especially the book. Brokeback was unforgettable, intelligent, amazingly acted by everyone cast and gutsy with all the homophobia rampant in this country. Emotions were expressed without words often times, which is a credit to director Ang Lee. But the story there, as with the new Batman movie, was Ledger. I haven't seen a better performance, mainly because it wasn't a Sean Penn/Pacino/DeNiro-type shouting and waving arms deal. Ledger crawled in the character and somehow was acting inside-out. It's hard to explain, but it's almost unbelievable how good he was in that film. I'm so selfishly pissed that he's dead.
Sorry you didn't like it as much, snark, but it's not a deal where my outspoken love of that movie is meant to be politically correct or a statement of any kind, it was just a great fucking film. With some unusual but great fucking in it.
Batman arrested! Please update! Great timing.
Gotta go check out your Soto smackdown.
Sorry you didn't like it as much, snark, but it's not a deal where my outspoken love of that movie is meant to be politically correct or a statement of any kind, it was just a great fucking film.
Maybe that's part of my problem with it. It's not that I disliked it. It was good. But I think maybe all the hype, and the perception that all the hype was self-perpetuating the hype because of the homosexual aspect sorta made me say, "So?" Maybe I should watch it again, but I just wasn't that impressed. Ledger was better than Jake. I'll give you that.
The hype sucked. It was turned into a Gay Film instead of just a film. Once it was turned into a Gay Film I had to defend it twice as hard 'cause all the homophobes attacked it twice as hard or were twice as resistant.
I hate hype.
And I reacted really strongly to it not because I'm gay but because the whole unrequited love Gatsby at the dock staring at the light thing really touches a nerve with me.
Where's my Batman beating someone up details?
Hey, did anyone see that 20-ft jump shot Obama drained yesterday with the troops? That was flippin' sweet!
The hype is probably what's keeping me from wanting to see the damn thing; it's probably why Obama bores the shit outta me (and scares me a lot).
And I know he's an exercise-aholic, just like Bush, but it makes me uncomfortable all the hype about his bassaball skillz. Such a stereotype, it seems to me.
Batman's people deny. He voluntarily popped into the London cop shop to address allegations made against him by his sister and mother. He has been charged with no crime.
He has been charged with no crime.
Him an' Rev. Al got somethin' in common now!
The Obama basketball thing is bizarre. The way the media likes to focus on it. Weird though. I mean, can "respectable" black people not play basketball now BECAUSE of the stereotype? Sorta like white people and hunting?
Good point, snark. I would think any respectable black person would HAVE to be able to shoot hoops. It's reinforcing the stereotype either way, but if he threw up a brick you think we wouldn't hear about it?
Then Jesse would REALLY wanna castrate him.
Wait a minute. Is Obama really even "black"? His father was a black Kenyan. His mom was a white American from Kansas. Barack was born in Hawaii.
His parents separated when he was two and he only saw his father one more time before said Black Kenyan father passed away. He probably has no memory of his father.
White Mom then married Indonesian Dude and he lived in Indonesia until he was 10.
Then from age 10-18,the "formative years", he was living with his white maternal grandparents in Honolulu.
How does any of this make him "black"??
Bear in mind, "black" or "white" hold no significance for me, but the media is all about his blackness. CNN is all a-twitter today with theories that a BLACK president might actually hurt BLACK people because it would assuage WHITE guilt.
What the fuck is going on here? Who decided he was black?
Yeah, that's why I was uncomfortable with it. But I think the media loves the stereotype, which is why they emphasize it - and for the same reason, they tried to make hay with his lack of bowling skillz. As if any of those talking heads ever picked up a bowling ball.
I read a great post this morning on TMW, here that kinda touches on framing and how the right is very adept at speaking to the lizard brain and the left is no good at it. I hate the word "framing," I use narrative, but it's the same thing. And I love Bob Harris! He was a Jeopardy champ - very smart guy. Sounds like it was a fun conference.
What the fuck is going on here?
Unfortunately, just one drop of blood, to some people, makes you black. And hey, his skin is darker than McCain's so, come on, he's "different!"
Hilarious. This is awesome. I'm gonna post on TLC: "Is Barack Obama Black?" Then use MV's outline and disprove his blackness. Can you imagine? Whoo-Hoo!! Let's stir the pot!
If he wins, I'm only referring to him as The First Hawaiian President.
He looks black to me.
And scary too! :O
My neighbor, Science Boy, settled this for me last night. In this country at least, you're either Wonder bread or wheat bread.
Anything darker than a pinkish hue and you might as well be black.
LOL! MV, I just now clicked on your avatar to see it full size. Up til I did that I thought it was a dark skinned (tanned?) guy with a white beard drinking a cup of coffee. Totally blanked on the mask thing.
Apropos of the conversation I suppose.
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