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Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 15:05:26
New York Magazine has a good piece on the diverging careers of Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly who once starred opposite each other on Broadway and in the films "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia."Friday, July 25, 2008 - 07:14:11
Another Will Ferrell comedy? These seem to come out about every three months. They made a second "X Files" movie? Why? Head to Market Street Cinema for "Mongol" (88% on Rotten Tomatoes) and "Reprise" (89% on Rotten Tomatoes) if you're looking for something interesting.
Or you can catch another showing of "The Dark Knight".
Monday, July 21, 2008 - 18:59:35
MOVIEGOER REVIEW: "THE DARK KNIGHT"In 2005, Chris Nolan did a wonderful thing: he brought Batman back to life. After a series of miserable films, including the unwatchable “Batman and Robin,” Nolan, a relatively inexperienced director, decided to take the franchise in another direction. Gone were the days of lazy storytelling, silly villains dressed like cheap carnival acts and popcorn-fed one-liners. Pulling from Frank Miller’s 1987 graphic novel “Batman: Year One,” Nolan delivered a darker, more authentic Batman, much to the satisfaction of audiences and critics alike.
“The Dark Knight” picks up where “Batman Begins” left off. Wayne Manor under reconstruction after being burnt to the ground, and billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is living in a penthouse apartment and working out a makeshift workshop that might once have been an incinerator. Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) remains by his side, as does Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). His love interest, Rachel Dawes (this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal), has fallen for the new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).
In any other film, and, arguably, with any other villain, this might seem like boring and idle nonsense. After all, doesn’t every crook make promises they can’t keep? But with The Joker – I’m sorry – Heath Ledger’s Joker, you believe he can live up to it, especially when he smashes a pencil through a mobster's face and calls it a magic trick.
The opening sequence sets the tone for the film. Smartly, he avoids credits and gets right to it: a swiftly conceived bank robbery reminiscent of “Heat,” Michael Mann’s superb cop drama of 1995. And from then on, mayhem ensues.
The Joker and Batman chase and fight and beat each other a pulp all across
Mr. Bale’s role in this film is limited, which is a shame. No one has been better as Bruce Wayne or Batman. Mr. Caine and Mr. Freeman, veterans that they are, bring their charm to their roles. Mr. Eckhart is picture perfect as the all-American Harvey Dent, and Ms. Gyllenhaal is a far more grown-up (not to mention sexy) Rachel Dawes than was her predecessor, Katie Holmes.
But the film belongs to Mr. Ledger; his interpretation of The Joker is something to behold. He slouches about with his face smeared white face paint mumbling words and scaring the hell out of people. Bright red lines highlight two nasty scars on either side of his mouth. Black circles surround his eyes, and filthy green hair hangs down like the worn-out end of a moldy mop. He is a terrifying sight.
Mr. Nolan along with his brother Jonathan devised an interesting plot with only a few minor distractions. The action sequences (and there are many) are finely orchestrated, although I wish Nolan would take a play from Mr. Mann's book and widen the lens from time to time. Still, when he, without the use of computer generated images, flips over an 18-wheeler, my mouth dropped in wonder. And no one should gripe about the cinematography; watching Batman fly through the air will leave you breathless.
“The Dark Knight” is a wildly ambitious film for which Mr. Nolan and the entire cast should be commended. In the hands of lesser talent, this might have amounted to nothing more than a flimsy, stupid re-take of a tired story or, “The Incredible Hulk.” Instead, Nolan serves up a though-provoking and morally complex tale about a man striving to find good in a city overrun with evil. The result is filmmaking of the highest order.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 12:52:31
Little Rock born film director and writer David Gordon Green gets a retrospective at BAM in New York. Nick Pinkerton of Village Voice previews the event and notes that Green's in line to direct a remake of the horror film Suspiria followed by a Grisham true-crime adaptation ("The Innocent Man"?).
Friday. Like it matters what else is playing. But for those of you that are curious, "Mama Mia" and "Space Chimps" open at the big theaters while "The Fall" opens at Market Street Cinema. New York magazine film critic David Edelstein is catching hell for his negative review of "The Dark Knight." Rather than absorb it and move on, he's posted this response on the magazine's website. He writes, "The fanboys can’t make up their minds: They attack you for snobbery, for treating films like The Dark Knight as unworthy of serious discussion; then they call you a pretentious for engaging with those films beyond the level of “Wow!” (There’s nothing wrong with the level of “Wow!” by the way. I was wowed by the bat-flights in The Dark Knight.)"
More critics are weighing in. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gives it four stars. Kyle Smith of the New York Post and KyleSmithOnline.com gives it three and a half stars. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune loves it. Claudia Puig of USA Today gives it four stars. Both of the Los Angeles trades, Variety and Hollywood Reporter, score it near perfect.
12 hours, 45 minutes and counting . . .
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 11:54:13
It's "The Dark Knight" week here at the Movigoer. We're only a day and a half away from the first screening, an 11:59 showing in Little Rock, which is sold out at the IMAX.Scott Foundas of Village Voice released his review of the film. It's tasty. He writes of Ledger, "By now, of course, you know that the Joker is played by Heath Ledger in the last role he completed before his death, this past January, at the age of 28. And it is perhaps the best compliment one can pay to this gifted young actor to say that his performance here would have cemented his legend even if he'd lived to see the film's release."
Of the film's director, Chris Nolan, he notes, "I should add that Nolan also delivers the kick-ass goods, from an opening bank heist à la Michael Mann to a climactic episode of vehicular mayhem à la William Friedkin."
And this from Maryann Johanson, the Flick Filosopher:
"Everything about this is wrong.
"It’s wrong that Heath Ledger is dead, that he’s gone and will give us no more like this, a performance that is so heartstoppingly, terrifyingly authentic that it barely seems like performance. It’s wrong that we’ve lost his promise, that we’ve lost what he might have given us a decade from now, two decades from now. I cried for him, watching this, and for us."
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