The Huffington Post’s Alex Remington is now the second person to compare “The Dark Knight” to the western genre (Anne Thompson was the first). I like this idea and suddenly want to mull it over. Next viewing I’ll keep it in mind.
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TDK, FYI
Much as I admire his spunk, I think Awards Daily contributor Ryan Adams might be getting ahead of himself with his Oscar hopes for “The Dark Knight.”In a recent post, he labels the categories of Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Supporting Actor and Best Visual Effects as “virtual certainties.” The other categories mentioned he feels are Oscar-worthy enough and have a good shot as well.
Best Visual Effects isn’t going to happen. This branch abandoned practical effects considerations long ago. The makeup, meanwhile, could find some trouble from aging and transformative efforts later in the season, so I wouldn’t call it a sure thing either.
We can all, I think, assume that Heath Ledger is on his way to a nod, and, indeed, the sound work in the film is top notch and worthy of serious consideration. The rest…nah. In fact, I think the most hastily over-predicted category for this film so far has been Best Art Direction, where Nathan Crowely scored at the BAFTAs in 2005 for “Batman Begins.”
There aren’t a lot of manufactured sets here. All the stuff that looks like a creation was even, for the most part, a practical set. London’s Battersea Power Station really shows up well when used in the film, for instance, and looks like a manifestation. But it’s not.
Lee Smith’s film editing is certainly a possibility, as he took things up a notch (to say the least) in this effort, but James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer will not be eligible for their brillaint score because of that pesky rule Rule 16b.
(By the way, speaking of the boys, anyone else just LOVE that creepy two-note string theme for the Joker that is a clever inversion of the Batman theme?)
I would, however, call Wally Pfister’s work behind the camera this film’s closest thing to a lock. The lensers have tons of respect for this guy (I’d say his nod in 2005 was a surprise) and given the technological steps taken here with the IMAX technology — the sheer balls of lugging those cameras around for these action sequences — I’d say he’s in.
And of course — I’ve always felt Christopher Nolan has a play here. But I’m not willing to go there. Yet.
Just my two cents.
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$66 million
Are we ready to start believing that this film is going to be the highest grossing film of the year yet? Smashing the opening day record is a hell of a start.
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Not recommended
Watching “The Dark Knight” — a two-and-a-half-hour dense piece of textured, cinematic professionalism — twice in the same 24-hour stretch with only two hours’ worth of sleep in your tank I thought I was gonna fall out at the 9:30 last night.The film holds up, though like any film packed with such ambition, there are some scars that poke through once you know what is coming. I’ve decided my issues with length have little to do with the length and everything to do with the structure of what was clearly a complicated, but necessary, string of events.
And of course, Ledger’s performance settles in more and more, proving to be, probably, one of the most controlled portrayals I think I’ve ever seen. Watch his eyes in the mafia meeting.
Gamble: “You’re crazy.”
Joker: “I’m not. No…I’m not.”
Chilling.
Meanwhile, the debate rages for me and my friends. But I don’t want to spoil it here, so see my comment in the geek review.
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The ‘geek’ review
(Read the official “Dark Knight” review here.)Alright, now that most audiences have begun filing out of cinemas across the country, I figure it is time to offer up The Geek Review of “The Dark Knight.”
Bear in mind, this review/column/joygasm will be filled with spoilers. If you want to go into the film fresh (as indeed you should — despite the overall lack of major surprises), then steer clear. Most of the spoilerish stuff I’ll save for after the jump, but for now, I’d like to get into the filmmakers’ handling of the source material.
Christopher Nolan and company have always been aware of the necessity for being faithful to the seven decades of material available to them when digging into this franchise. What has kept the series fresh and not simply a cut-and-paste effort has been a willingness to test those fan-set boundaries and still get away with some rather brazen decisions.
“Batman Begins” was filled to the brim with such instances: Utilizing Ra’s al Ghul as a creation point of sorts for the Batman. Introducing a love interest previously absent from the canon and revealing Batman’s secret identity to her. Destroying Wayne Manor. Etc.
With that in mind, “The Dark Knight” has its fair share of departures that still work in the hyper-real-world setting of the franchise, and, presumably, will be allowed to pass, if not cheered outright by fans seeing the film this weekend.
Spoilers coming! You have been warned!
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Rounding up the big day’s Bat news
Today’s the big day. I’ve embarrassed myself for over a month with consistent “Dark Knight” coverage, and now, I guess everyone gets to see what the fuss was all about. You can find my review here.But before we fade off into the good night of Bat overload (save for whatever box office news is coming in the next three days), I figured it best to offer up a nice primer of the net’s news and views on the subject.
I guess it’s best to revert to the ole’ Oscar Round-up format (which I swear I’ll be implementing again soon enough as a regular feature):
- Christopher Nolan talks us through the IMAX process in an audio slideshow. [New York Times]
- Manohla Dargis gives the film a thumbs up, draws a parallel to David Fincher’s “Zodiac.” [New York Times]
- MSN grasps at straws for coverage, offers a photo gallery of Bat mantle-donning thespians. [MSN]
- Veronica Schmidt has coverage of the Black Carpet premiere in New York. [The Times of London]
- Michael Moran corners visual effects supervisor Nick Davis. [Blockbuster Buzz]
- Wally Pfister gets a nice write-up for his troubles behind those cumbersome IMAX cameras. [American Cinematographer]
- Fellow Bat-enthusiast Ryan Adams makes some fan space for the day of the ‘Dark.’ [Awards Daily]
- Jeffrey Wells stays up past his bedtime to hammer out a few thoughts. His verdict: Ledger’s portrayal belongs in the pantheon of great screen villainy. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
- David Poland can’t let it go, striving to be the only one with “perspective” in this whole pre-sales records media frenzy. [The Hot Blog]
- Tom O’Neil douses the awards hopes of Heath Ledger. (I still don’t understand why people actually think he’ll win…and the bulk of his Oscar nod talk began right here, so…). [Gold Derby]
- Amid tons of Bat coverage (and typical bullshit “exclusives”), Nikki Finke reports shattered midnight show records for the film. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]
- Christopher Campbell offers 10 lam excuses for not seeing the film this weekend. [Spout Blog]
- And at the time of this writing, she’s holding steady at 94%. [Rotten Tomatoes]
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REVIEW: “The Dark Knight” (***1/2)
Perhaps the summer’s most anticipated film lands in theaters today to the record-breaking advance ticket sales of dedicated fans and those newly curious alike. But what awaits in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” isn’t merely a study in the psychology of a nearly 70-year-old character tailored to the familiar; instead audiences will be met with an accessible tale of deep and painful truths, a unique vision of hope in the face of seemingly aimless villainy, a new staple alongside the greatest of tragedies — in any medium.Picking up right where 2005’s “Batman Begins” left off, Gotham City is rebuilding itself in the wake of criminal warfare, infrastructural corruption and weakened, nearly vanquished public spirits. Right off the bat (no pun intended), the film begins to make good on the promise of Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) at the end of the first film — escalation — as a new criminal mastermind has begun to systematically relieve the mob of its accrued earnings, bank by bank, and with a taste for theatricality.
The Joker (Heath Ledger) is revealed in the film’s opening scene (unveiled in December as an IMAX “prequel” with prints of “I Am Legend”) as a methodical, macabre merchant of chaos, yes, but with an ingenious sort of order and preparation that seems to fly in the face of his later insistence on a subscription to bedlam. But his own hypocrisies aren’t on the agenda, as he later exhibits to dramatic effect.
Gotham itself has been provided a sliver of hope amongst the former and upcoming strife of the city in the form of district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a “white knight” grinding away at the underbelly of the city and systematically cleansing the streets. The vigilantism of the outlaw Batman is on the table as well, but Dent is smart enough to understand that Gotham is responsible for the Dark Knight’s existence, having sat silent as the city slowly rotted from within.
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Do we finally have a Bond singer?
The Independent says we do… and it’s Duffy.I wrote last week about the seemingly endless parade of names that had been tipped to sing the theme for “Quantum of Solace,” which had most recently stopped at Alicia Keys. Now a “reliable mole” at Pinewood Studios says the 22 year-old Welsh soul revivalist is “almost certain” to be handed the gig.
There have been so many rumours about this over the months that I remain guarded, but the bookies are certainly believing this one – Ladbrokes have slashed Duffy’s odds to even money. (Yes, the Brits bet on everything.)
If so, I have no complaints about the choice. “Mercy” is a pretty fantastic pop record, and I wouldn’t mind if the “Quantum of Solace” theme turned out sounding something like it, with a few added strings, perhaps. (I only hope they aren’t planning to work that godawful title into the song.)
I’ve already said I’d have preferred Amy Winehouse, but that was clearly not happening. Meanwhile, Duffy, with her throwback Springfield-esque voice, button-cute blonde looks and squeaky clean personal image, is essentially the Winehouse you can take home to mom. She’s a hot property right now – her (rather good) album “Rockferry” is the biggest seller of 2008 in the UK so far, and it’s gone gold Stateside too. It’s not hard to see why she would appeal to the 007 producers.
Not betting the house on this yet, though.
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Loving from a distance
Well, “WALL-E” finally lands in the UK today, and this weekend I’ll be able to evaluate it for myself at last. (But hey, at least we got “Mamma Mia!” first. Score!)I am always a bit nervous about approaching something that’s been praised to the skies so far in advance of my own interpretation – but today’s very interesting Guardian review gave me some pause. I’d ignore it if it were by that wily contrarian Peter Bradshaw, but Xan Brooks is a genuinely thoughtful writer whose views I value more than most:
What a rich, strange and intriguing picture this is; a wintry Cassandra in the guise of a pearl-bright summer blockbuster. There is something giddyingly impressive in the way in which its makers have cherry-picked a crop of antique ingredients and then forged them into something new. The plot is a meld of Silent Running, Metropolis and Robinson Crusoe. At times it is possible to catch the ghost of Charlie Chaplin behind Wall-E’s silent, stoic pursuit of his social better. At others the film’s central romance plays like the Genesis story with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton cast in the roles of Adam and Eve. That narrow neck and blinking binocular specs are a dead giveaway.
For all that, faint doubts remain. Wall-E (the character) is eminently lovable, by far the film’s most human inhabitant. And yet Wall-E (the movie) actually has more in common with EVE. It is an exquisitely rendered piece of work; beautiful, flawless, serious in its intent and hermetically sealed. You can admire it to the skies and back. You can even learn to love it from a distance. But does Andrew Stanton’s film amount to much more than a brilliant aesthetic exercise? I’m not convinced it does.
I understand that there are more than a few people who have been intensely moved by the film, and who would therefore not identify with this perspective at all. But in an environment where Metacritic scores are bandied about as if they’re some irrefutable artistic Solomon, it’s always healthy to read an alternative individual voice. I can’t wait to find my own on this film.
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Oh, and putting a number to it…
I’m gonna go with $153 million for the opening weekend haul of “The Dark Knight.” I could be grossly off the mark, but I also kind of feel like a lot of the big box office naysayers are part of some strange backlash against all the pre-sales story madness. It could just as easily land around $135 million, but I sense a record-breaker, so that’s my call.
We’ll see. To those hitting up the late screenings, enjoy the show.
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The top 10 Joker stories of all time
In a a few hours’ time, I’ll be loading up on a few Red Bulls and braving the wee hours of the morning to take in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” as will thousands of other movie-goers who have apparently broken pre-sales records across the country.In the meantime, however, I thought I’d offer up a list of the all time greatest Joker stories, in honor of the late Heath Ledger and his portrayal in the film.
Here’s my take (no time for explanations…I want to get a nap in at some point tonight):
10. “Wildcard!”
By Marv Wolfman and Jim Aparo (Batman #450-451)9. “Slayride”
By Paul Dini and Don Kramer (Detective Comics #826)8. “Soft Targets”
By Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (Gotham Central #12-15)7. “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge”
By Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams (Batman #251)6. “Mad Love”
By Paul Dini and Bruce Timm (One-Shot) -
Revisiting ‘Nemo’
I still haven’t made it out to see “WALL-E” since returning to the States, but today I thought I’d pop “Finding Nemo” into the player and soak up some of that old Andrew Stanton goodness in the meantime. And it really does stand-up as the most sensational entry in Pixar’s steadily increasing portfolio.Back in 2003 the film landed in my top three for the year, and I’ve only given it two or three looks since. But every time I do, the reward is considerable. This is a sincerely affecting study, one packed with vivid and dynamic characters, the most gorgeous animation of the genre and applicable, resilient themes that work on various levels. It fires on all cylinders.
Not to mention, the film contains the only vocal performance I’ve personally ever deemed worthy of major awards consideration. “When I look at you I remember. When I look at you I’m home. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to forget.” Absolutely beautiful.
It also looks damn spectacular on an HDTV. I don’t have a Blu-ray copy of the flick, but on a simple upconvert the image is crystal clear, sparkling. Especially with the new 120Hz technology (which is dodgy with live action films).
So with that, I’ll probably stumble into the El Capitan over the weekend and finally take in Stanton’s latest. His is a creative mind and I’m truly happy he’s out there generating content such as this. Few compare.
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‘Watchmen’ trailer makes editor soil himself
httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=R3orQKBxiEg
And in Quicktime here. Also, it just occurred to me the Smashing Pumpkins song on the trailer is a remix of a tune which originally showed up on the “Batman & Robin” soundtrack. Ha.
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TIFF keeps ’em coming
More announcements out of the press office from Toronto today.Great to hear that the first of the potential Oscar films is coming, Ed Harris’s “Appaloosa,” with Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger and Harris starring. Harris’s last directorial effort “Pollock” opened here and went all the way to Oscar night, winning Best Supporting Actress for Marcia Gay Harden.
Jonathan Demme returns with “Rachel Getting Married” featuring Anne Hathaway as a crisis-prone sister returning home for her sister’s wedding bringing her acid tongue with her to unleash hell.
From England comes “The Other Man” from director Richard Eyre. Liam Neeson stars as a husband who discovers his wife (played by Laura Linney) has been receiving emails and messages from another man, portrayed by Antonio Banderas. Enraged and deeply hurt that she would violate the trust he thought they had, he seeks out an encounter with the man.
The titles have started emerging and we’re look forward to more in the coming weeks. Festival fever is starting!
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So I guess that’s ‘Body’ not ‘House’
The new trailer for “Body of Lies” has dropped, and it seems they’ve stuck with the original David Ignatius title rather than the switch to “House of Lies.” It looks like a nice mix of Ridley Scott’s work and his brother’s brand of cinema as well. Russell Crowe looks to have a solid role.
I’ve had this script for months now but have never found the time to give it a read. Soon, I guess.
Have a look (kudos to Awards Daily):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUkk9MsWrFA
And in Quicktime here.
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Deakins on the web
OK, it seems to have been around for a few years, so a lot of you are probably aware of it already, but I’ve only just discovered the great Roger Deakins’ website.It’s a pretty bare-bones affair, but there’s some fascinating stuff on it nonetheless. I for one am gobsmacked at how this prolific man, between shooting some of the most significant films of the past few years, somehow finds time to answer so many queries in the forums section. You have to wade through a lot of drivel there, as does Deakins – there are a depressing number of people out there who see fit to ask one of the most gifted DPs alive such probing gems as, ‘How is Leo and Kate’s acting in “Revolutionary Road?”‘ (Only without the correct spelling and capitalisation.)
Dig around, however, and there’s a wealth of technical information and insight for fans and filmmakers alike. As if that weren’t enough, he’s posted some of his lighting diagrams too, including ones for “No Country for Old Men” and “The Man Who Wasn’t There.”
Finally, for those who can’t get enough pretty pictures, he’s put up some of his photography work too. (I’d pay good money for a print of that “Rain Begins” shot.) The man’s a true artist.
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Alright…the 20 WORST endings of all time from The Times
So The Times has followed up last week’s collective assessment of the 20 greatest movie endings of all time today with a list of the worst, and there are some reasonable choices here and there.Like “Grease” for starters, probably my favorite movie musical but with an undeniably wretched denouement. And then there’s the cheeky mirror of the “Planet of the Apes” saga (the original made the best list, while Tim Burton’s remake lands here), not to mention “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which would definitely be near the top of my own list (ballsy to go so recent, too).
I also like the shout out to the never ending ending of “The Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King.”
But beyond those and perhaps a few others, the rest of the list is populated with terrible choices (many of which landed on my own best list). “There Will Be Blood” (which was deemed the #2 film of all time by The Times’ film critic James Christopher)? “Psycho?” “2001?” Fucking “Citizen Kane” at #1???
Lots of eyebrow raisers. And from what I can gather, merely an attempt at being controversial.
Their choices:
1. “Citizen Kane”
2. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
3. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
4. “2001: A Space Odyssey”
5. “The Maltese Falcon”
6. “Grease”
7. “Brief Encounter”
8. “The Great Dictator”
9. “Saving Private Ryan”
10. “The Great Escape”
11. “Apocalypse Now”
12. “Psycho”
13. “There Will Be Blood”
14. “Magnolia”
15. “Blade Runner” (original release)
16. “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
17. “Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”
18. “Planet of the Apes” (2001)
19. “Cast Away” (totally disagree here…I think it’s a beautiful ending)
20. “Velvet Goldmine”
