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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:17 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Well, one of my best friends saw The Dark Knight last night and loved it. Almost makes me willing to see it. Except the thing is apparently 2 and a half hours long. Come on. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:45 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| Saw a longish Pakistani movie, Khuda Kay Liye (For God's Sake) made by a first-time director. It is about the difficulties being a Muslim in post-7/11 America, as well as difficulties living in fundamentalist circles in Pakistan. The story is about two brothers, one of whom joins the Talibans on the Afghan/Pakistan border, only to be disillusioned by them, the other goes to Chicago to learn music, but gets arrested as a terrorist on false charges. There are some contrived scenes and some boring stretches, but considering the present state of Pakistani films, this is a good effort. It won several awards in Pakistan and has been a major box office hit in Pakistan, India and among Soth Asians living in the USA and UK. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:12 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| <gone underground> |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:39 am |
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Quote: Was it just me or when we were in the troll market - did you think of the bar scene from Star Wars for just a second. Probably just me.
Yes, of course that came to mind immediately. The market had a lot of interesting things. What a chore that must have been to set up. And I don't think it is in the least way a SPOILER.
I wondered why all the advance comments about the movie said that it was even better than the first Hellboy. I suspect either that it was just a publicity campaign or that the critics really didn't appreciate how good the first one was. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:14 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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I liked Memento - more engaging that the average bear. Although I'd make the comparison with Irreversible more than Se7en.
BTW, marantzo, I knew someone who named her kid Folasade (nickname Sade). She'd get highly incensed if someone called her Shar-day. I wished her luck because she was facing multitudes who had run across the name only because of the singer. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:14 pm |
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lady wakasa wrote: I liked Memento - more engaging that the average bear. Although I'd make the comparison with Irreversible more than Se7en.
BTW, marantzo, I knew someone who named her kid Folasade (nickname Sade). She'd get highly incensed if someone called her Shar-day. I wished her luck because she was facing multitudes who had run across the name only because of the singer.
Does she have tendencies along S&M lines?  |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| I just removed The Dark Knight and Hellboy II from my "to see" list. No more comics hero movies or zombie movies for me, except perhaps on TV. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:17 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Ghulam -- you might be missing one of Heath's greatest performances. I am really, really scared of the hype. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:28 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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I really shouldn't say too much before I see the film, I respect the Nolan brothers to wring as much from the material as it allows, and some more besides, and I think heath ledger was a very good actor, but, that said, he is playing a larger-than-life, second-time round, comic book character in the fifth installment of well-worn franchise. Let's not get too caried away.
it's interesting that this film pits too of the best actors around against each other. Heath Ledger perhaps has more star quality than Christian Bale, and is more than capable of hamming it up a la Jack, but like the consummate, though occassionally bland Mr Bale, he also, when the part demands. can lose himself in the character he is playing. I wouldn't like to say one is better than the other, but it's definately a shame that this is the only opportunity we'll get to see them together. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
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| Earl |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:45 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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The Dark Knight
The hype about Heath Ledger's performance in this movie is not mere hype; it's on the money. He has created in this movie one of the scariest screen villains in a long time. Perhaps seeing The Dark Knight the day after I'd seen a Midnight showing of Jaws made me think of it, but The Joker was as scary and dangerous (in some ways, more so) as the shark of the latter film. Either one might or might not kill you, if he happens to notice you there.
It is almost as if killing is incidental to the anarchy The Joker wants to bring to fruition. That makes him a much scarier and more formidable foe than if killing were his primary goal. He does not fear death or pain, so how can you frighten him? He does not seem to want anything, so how can you bargain with him? He has no human conscience, so how can you appeal to his sense of mercy? Ledger's performance is a masterpiece of acting, pure and simple.
The rest of the movie suffers in comparison. When The Joker is not around, The Dark Knight is a mediocre, by-the-numbers action flick. The movie doesn't really deserve Ledger's performance. It's as if Anthony Hopkins' work in The Silence of the Lambs were inserted forcefully into, gee, I dunno, one of the Die Hard movies or something.
I was a big fan of both Nolan's and Bale's work in Batman Begins. On The Dark Knight, however, I have very mixed feelings. |
Last edited by Earl on Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:47 pm |
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Location: Houston
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ehle64 wrote: Ghulam -- you might be missing one of Heath's greatest performances. I am really, really scared of the hype.
You'll probably be upset with me for asking this, but is there any reason you want to see this movie other than the Brokeback Mountain connection? I don't remember your expressing interest in Ledger before that. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:50 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
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Location: Houston
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Joe Vitus wrote: Well, one of my best friends saw The Dark Knight last night and loved it. Almost makes me willing to see it. Except the thing is apparently 2 and a half hours long. Come on.
Yeah, the running time is another problem. And you and I had just been discussing that topic, too, in the bar of the River Oaks Theater right before Jaws.
By the way, good thing I didn't go see Mamma Mia!, as I had considered, or I'd have been drawing Jaws comparisons to that movie instead: "Three men make a journey over a body of water to encounter a man-eating..." |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| McBain |
| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:18 pm |
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Joined: 26 May 2004
Posts: 1987
Location: Boston
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I will say again: Heath Ledger is amazing as The Joker. I will purchase the film on BluRay just so I can watch that performance as often as I like. He blows Jack Nicholson out of the water.
So I'm re-reading Watchmen, and thinking that a film version of this story will be pretty much impossible to pull off in a satisfying way. |
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A life, Jimmy. You know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:17 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Rod, I remember that you saw Breillat's "The Last Mistress." I've been searching for your comments. Have you reviewed it?
I saw it today. Asia Argento is dynamite, once again...and to think that the S.F. critic said she's not a good actress!
Has anyone else seen it? This is a period film (ca. 1830's), rather slow-moving, with stilted dialogue. The sex scenes are raw and reminded me a bit of "Lust, Caution."
In many respects this is a very modern love story - lovers who are more compelled by obsession than by affection or devotion.
I wish Marc would show this movie in Taos, but I don't think it would go over with Taos audiences. It is a cold, but thoroughly engrossing, film. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:49 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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Possibly because I've tended to call it by either its original French title, Une Vieille Maitresse, or its title down here, An Old Mistress. Mo. One of the three or four best films I saw last year, anyway:
http://ferdyonfilms.com/2008/01/an-old-mistress-un-vieille-mai.php |
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