Sep 29 2008
I Thought It Would Never End…
No, not the weekend. I knew that was going to be over relatively quickly. I’m talking about The Dark Knight.
This film went on for far, far too long. It was a great movie, I’ll grant them that, but it could have ended a lot sooner (and left us with a better taste) if everyone did not have a monologue. Everyone. I think Gordon’s kid even had a few minutes on a soapbox. But hey, aside from that , I really dug it. Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucuis Fox made me chuckle, had some good lines, and played well against Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne (although, seriously, what’s with the voice, man?). Frickin’ Eric Roberts AND Anthony Michael Hall!?!? How can you go wrong? You can’t. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say that it was a swell follow-up to Begins, picked up where that movie left off and did a real good job of getting you up to speed in case you missed this group’s first outing. I do recommend it, but Iron Man - even though we’re getting into apples and oranges here but everyone asks which one’s better? - beats it hands down (speaking of Shellhead, I can’t wait for Tuesday).
We also watched Tropic Thunder and there were a ton of laugh out loud moments. Sure, they were stupid or corny jokes (sometimes the jokes were stupid and corny), not quite at the level of, say, Airplane, but I’ll give it up to the writers for bringing the funny and the actors for getting it out there. Robert Downey, Jr. was hilarious and I only wish subtitles were an option so I could understand some of what he was saying. Ben Stiller, Matthew McConaughey, and even Tom Cruise in a surprise appearance all had a chance to make me laugh and it happened many times. Brainless comedy which is what was needed. Funny as hell.
I finished the weekend watching Wanted. And color me impressed. Having never read the original mini series, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’m pretty sure my expectations were a little on the low side. And bullshit pshysics notwithstanding, I found myself really getting into it. Again, another movie where I thought everyone brought their working shoes and got the job done.
Fellow heretic, I just wanted to echo yr sentiments about Iron Man vs. Dark Knight. While the latter may have been a better film (pause to polish your monocle here), Iron Man was MUCH more fun. I’ll be buying Iron Man this week and wait until TDK goes down to the $9.99 bin before I pick it up. Nice reviews.
Overall, I feel pretty lucky that we got so many comic related movies this summer season. Between Dark Knight, Iron Man, Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy 2, etc…, it was an enjoyable way to spread the love with friends and family.
And ditto on the fun that was “Wanted”. I probably had as much fun with hearing Morgan Freeman drop F-bombs as I did the shoot-em-up scenes.
Matt: We’ll definitely be picking up Dark Knight when it hits the DVD shelf. If only so I can hear Renee cheer when the time comes to Harvey’s fiancee’s fate.
Chris: Hulk is next and probably this weekend will get it’s viewing. I really want to see Hellboy 2. And yeah, Morgan was slick.