playevenbig: ararat mount turkey

So Iapos;ve seen quite a few movies recently and I wanted to keep track of what Iapos;ve been posting about them.�I frequent basically two message boards and lately Iapos;ve been full of chatter. Iapos;m including responses as of today because I want to have the whole convo intact. I am not including names of the other posters because I feel I do not have the right to do so.

First up ... The Dark Knight

This was posted at Vanguard by me in reply to a "Thoughts on TDK" type post ...

I saw it at the midnight showing and it was fantastic. Thankfully the full house had minimal talking and the normally not so great theatre had a great screen and IMO great speakers. I think Heath did a marvelous job, but I canapos;t help but feel his performance is over hyped. Everything about the movie fit perfectly together, from the acting to the script to the cinematography. Definitely one of my favorite films.

I saw it for the second time at the drive in this past Saturday and Iapos;m hoping to see it in IMAX sometime.�

Here is the first response to me ...

Iapos;ve seen it three times now and plan to go IMAX for the next round (my son works at a science museum with an IMAX, but the film was sold out for days in advance there). The movie just gets better with repeated viewings, IMO.

I donapos;t think Ledgerapos;s performance was overhyped as much as the others were underhyped. Aaron Eckhart was tremendous as Harvey, Oldman was perfect as Gordon and Bale, Freeman, Gylanhaal - they were just tremendous. There are a few continuity flaws, seemingly made by the editing out of a scene or two, but still, a film truly deserving of the overused term "masterpiece."

My reply ...

I agree about the roles being under hyped, gothamdragonfly. Thatapos;s somewhat why I felt Heathapos;s was over hyped. This was a true ensemble piece. With that said, Bale did a fantastic job with showing how childlike Bruce still is. The Rachel situation really showed that well. His optimism with being with her, the way he talked to Alfred about her waiting for him after her departure, both situations showed an innocent and vulnerable side I think every other Bat film has failed to portray. It was as if it never occurred to him that she had to move forward or, better yet, life in general has to move forward.

Gary Oldman did a brilliant job as Gordon. Every second of his screen time had significance to the movie as a whole and it was great to see his family. Iapos;m interested to see what happens with his son. I find it odd to give him the screen time he was given without having a purpose. Personally, Iapos;d love to see his daughter become Batgirl, or at least start the journey toward it, in a future film. Her name was never revealed, but I find it hard to believe Nolan would use a name other than Barbara.

Maggie was a superb choice for Rachel. She gave her own spin and it worked. I wished they wouldapos;ve cast her in the first film because I canapos;t help but feel like Katieapos;s was a completely different person.

Morgan did a good job as well. His assistance to Batman throughout was one of the many fantastic things about the film

Every time I heard Aaron Eckhart talk in his angry/two-face tone it sounded similar to Baleapos;s Batman voice. Maybe it was just me, but I found that a little annoying. In no way is that intended to criticizes his performance, just something I noticed.

What I found so fantastic about the film was how it wasnapos;t a super hero film, it was a film about people, about society and about life. The super hero bit was the icing on the vegan cake.�

And of course, their reply ...

A good point. Not everyone sees that the decision to devote your life and soul to the protection of a city requires an enormous degree of optimism. You have to believe youapos;re making a difference, even when it seems otherwise. Parts of Bruce, including his emotional entanglements, have been stunted since his parentsapos; death. Quite honestly, I think he saw Rachel - as she pointed out to him - his only chance at a normal life, while Harvey loved her wholeheartedly for who she was as a person. He certainly knew the adult Rachel much better than Bruce did, which is why it was ultimately right that she chose Harvey.

Youapos;ve also pegged it right in regard to the replacement of KH with the eminently more talented Maggie G. I wanted to smack the Batman Begins Rachel for kissing Bruce first, leading him to believe she could accept him as he was, then add, "By the way, you and me? Not gonna happen." Rachel was portrayed much more sympathetically and heroically in TDK. Her death scene was a counterpoint to the Joker asking the cop guarding him if he wanted to know which one of his friends were cowards. She died a hero. Itapos;s just a shame that she had to die believing Bruce had chosen Harveyapos;s life (the symbol of Gotham City) over hers.

I agree completely And yay for vegan cake

My response ...

I completely agree about everything youapos;ve posted. One of the many things Nolan and co. Did well with was having a purpose for every character, if they were in a scene it was for a reason, if they said something it was because it had meaning, etc. Rachelapos;s death was crucial on so many levels, as youapos;ve stated. Definitely not a "Women in Refrigerators" situation.

I too found it tragic that she was so sure sheapos;d be saved instead of Harvey, verbally wishing theyapos;d save him instead, only to discover in her last few seconds that they did save him. Of course Bruce thought he was saving Rachel until it was too late. When Joker told him where Harvey and Rachel were being held I felt they nailed the character. Typical Joker to mess with peopleapos;s heads. Heapos;s crazy, but very intuitive and knew Batman would go for Rachel first. For some reason, I think a lot of people who saw it at the theater I was at the first time (canapos;t say the second because I went to a drive-in) didnapos;t get that. Heath and Bale played off each other well, especially in that scene.

Canapos;t forget the vegan cake, way better than its dairy filled counterpart