Quantum of Brilliance

"I'm on my way to blow you away..."


OK, I know I've been away for a while, but I had to resurface to give my thoughts on Quantum of Solace, a film I was anticipating heavily.

I went last night to the midnight show and admittedly, was dog-tired. But that soon faded away once the movie started. I was completely sucked in.

Those who know me, know that Casino Royale is my all-time favorite Bond movie and one of my all-time favorites period. So, Quantum of Solace had a lot to live up to. Not that every sequel or entry into a franchise has to top the previous one; I don't normally subscribe to that point of view.

I will start off by saying that Quantum of Solace is an incredible movie. It starts off with such intense action, I was afraid the rest of the movie would be a let-down, which I am happy to report it is not. What Quantum has in spades is its eye on character, specifically that of James Bond, himself. What other franchise, 22 films in, would seek to explore the heart and soul of a character in such a way? Never been done before, and probably never will again. Who knows? We really feel for Bond and may not agree with his choices or actions, but we understand it, something that may be a bit too subtle for most modern audiences.

What most modern audiences will pick up on are the action scenes. As I mentioned before, the movie begins with a huge jolt of a car chase. It's quickly followed by a ferocious foot chase through the streets and canals of Sienna, Italy. We also get a motorcyle chase, boat chase, plane chase and a burning building. While the action might not be as uniquely breathtaking as the freerunning sequence in Casino Royale, it truly is heartpounding.

Some people have complained that the action is shot too closeup, making it hard to tell what's going on. I will agree that it's very "in-your-face", but I never was at a loss for what was going on. I actually liked the fact that the camera is almost a participant in the action. It made me feel like we were experiencing what Bond was experiencing, a nice parallel with the quieter, dramatic scenes. Action, in real life, I would imagine is rather messy and not nearly choreographed.

And let's just put this on the table. Daniel Craig is one bad mofo. You absolutely believe he's a threat. But he's not just a brainless thug. He is constantly called upon to use his wit to get him out of situations. And just watch the interaction between Bond and Agent Fields. They are full of the naughty wit and charm from the vintage Bond days of yore. There are actually quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, more than I was expecting. He infuses the role with brutality when needed, tenderness when needed, Intelligence, humor. Bond really feels like a rounded human being.

Some of the highlights:
Action scenes
Cinematography--this film is gorgeous.
Acting--everyone gives top notch performances. Of course Craig, but Judi Dench, Olga Kuryanko, etc.

There are very few things that I didn't like. Some of the dialogue was a bit muddy, but I wonder if that was just the theater I was at. I didn't catch all of the plot points, but I think that was on purpose, and something that will be cleared up on subsequent viewings (of which I plan to do many times!)

The title song is ok. Not terrible, but maybe not the homerun they were hoping for. I did enjoy the title sequence with the girls coming out of the sand.

In short, I really loved this film. It had everything I was hoping and looking for. Now, the big question is: Will it topple Casino Royale? That, I'm not sure of. Yet. I think I'll need to watch it a few more times before I can honestly make that assessment. I will say, that I think it's just as good, which believe me, is a hugh compliment.

So, the wait is finally over. I'm a bit sad that I have to wait until 2011 for the next one, as they are reporting. I'm very curious as to where they're going to take Bond and his story next. In the meantime, I'll watch this movie several more times in theater, watch it on DVD a bajillion more times, and then be first in line for the next one.

Can't wait.

Final QOS Poster

nice.

First QOS Commercial on TV

apparently this was shown during "Fringe" this evening.





nice.

Casino Royale Uprooted ?

Casino Royale, which not only is my favorite Bond movie, but is one of my all-time favorite movies of any genre just might be in trouble.

After watching this full-length trailer for the upcoming Quantum of Solace (moved to November 14th. grumble, grumble), I have this feeling that QOS is going to kick Casino Royale's butt (in a good way, of course). This looks AMAZING. It appears to have depth, character development and judging by the last third of the trailer, frakkin' awesome action. Just the shot of Bond and whoever he's fighting falling over the edge of the building into the glass ceiling below--the camera following them as the plummet makes me want to shriek like a little girl.

Best lines (so far):

Bond: "I don't think the dead care about vengeance." (wow, that line and the way Craig says it gives me shivers...)

Camille: "You catch whoever did it?"
Bond: "No. Not yet."
Camille: "Tell me when you do. I want to know how it feels."

And how sweet is that music?!?!--the Bond with the heavy strings.

can't. frakkin. wait.

Oh, and Casino Royale--consider yourself on notice...

QOS more pics

The hits keep on coming...from jamesbond-fr.com



cool, cool, and more cool!

Dang.

new pic from QOS (which is now moved back a week to November 14th. grumble, grumble)

STAR WARS: The Clone Wars Review

OK, so two posts ago, I was stating how I really wasn't excited about the animated STAR WARS Clone Wars movie. I decided I was going to go and have an open mind.

So, I went to the sweet theater in Boise (21 huge screens, in a little movie village, it really is like heaven....) at the very first showing: 11:30am. As expected, there were the tell-tale STAR WARS "geeks"--think comic book guy from The Simpsons, although no one was dressed up that I saw, thank goodness, and families (lots of fathers and sons).

I got great seats and after relishing the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer (of course, it still said coming November--waaaaahhh!), I sat awaiting the movie, keeping my mind open.

OK, so did I like it? Um, kind of. Was it as much of a disaster as I was expecting? Not quite but close. Was it kick-butt amazingly awesome STAR WARS movie? Oh, no.

The bulk of the movie is action. The film launches you right into a battle with guns blasting, lasers flying, and lightsabers deflecting all over the place. It only slows down midway through the film. This is probably a good thing since the bulk of the actual plot, involving the kidnapping of Jabba's son (What?! What happened to him in Return of the Jedi?), which was really, really lame.

After about 15 minutes, I discovered the secret to enjoying this movie: IT'S A MOVIE FOR LITTLE KIDS.

Now, the same could be said about the live-action STAR WARS movies, but this is even more so. Some of the dialogue, characterizations, etc. are extremely juvenile, and it wasn't until I noticed there were a bunch of little children in the audience (not too dissimilar to Kung Fu Panda) and could hear them laughing at the horrifically lame jokes (seriously, if you thought the humor in the live-action movies was bad, you're in for a world of hurt with these "jokes".), that it dawned on me--this is for children. This is made with the intention for little kids (or at least I hope so). This would also explain the Clone Wars toys in the McDonald's Happy Meals (which, sadly, yes, I stopped there today for lunch and got an Anakin bobblehead toy. Hey, it was *right* across the street from the theater, and I had to get some food cos I was teaching lessons until 4 in the afternoon, and I get really cranky without food, and it was cheap, and right across the street, and I got an Anakin bobblehead, and....oh never mind, yes, I freely admit I'm a sucker).

I can just hear all of the "older" STAR WARS funs ripping this movie to shreds, when if they only realized it's just for kids, they'd probably ease up on it.

However, that being said....

The new character, Anakin's Padawan, Asoka was so grating, it was hard to take in most of her scenes. Her dialogue and attitude seemed totally out of place in a STAR WARS movie. I really wanted to hit her every time she referred to Anakin, her Jedi trainer for crying out loud, as 'Sky Guy', but then I remembered she's just a computer-rendered character. But seriously, Jar Jar, who was not in the movie, was wholly tolerable compared to her. I really couldn't stand her. She was horrible!!

The Jabba the Hutt subplot, with the kidnapping of his son, was incredibly awful. Having Asoka call the little Huttlet "Stinky" was not endearing to say the least. I was cringing in my seat the whole time the little creature was on screen. And wouldn't you know it, at some point, he burps up a disgusting green cloud. Natch.

But, the kids all roared at that, so again, target audience.

Oh and don't get me started with Jabba's uncle, Ziro (?!) the Hutt. I would've taken six entire films of Asoka and the baby Hutt if it meant I didn't have to withstand this abomination on screen. I don't know if they were intending to make it a strange hybrid of Truman Capote and Nathan Lane, but it was so bizarre and wrong. I heard some people chuckling when he (?) was onscreen, but I don't think it was 'with' the character, if you know what I mean. It was so out of place and horrifyingly stupid that it was absolutely painful to endure. Fortunately, it wasn't in it very much.

I will say, there were some things that were entertaining about it. I still don't like the animation style, however the backgrounds and action scenes were well done. The character animation worked better for some characters than others. For instance, Anakin was fine, however I thought Obi-Wan, and the way his facial expressions moved was horrible. Still too wooden for my tastes.

The voices were ok. Anakin didn't sound like Hayden Christensen, but it wasn't offensive. Palpatine didn't sound anything like him, but fortunately, he's not in it very much at all. I was amazed, though, at who lent their voices from the original films. Anthony Daniels, voice Threepio, not surprisingly, but Sam Jackson and Christopher Lee voiced their characters! I'm curious if they're going to do the entire series or not.

So, all in all, it wasn't absolute complete waste. I've seen worse, but I've certainly seen way better. Remember, if you go in expecting some grand epic, you'll be completely distraught. IT'S GEARED FOR LITTLE KIDS. Taken in that light, it's not so bad. Case in point, midway through the film, I heard a little kid whisper to his dad, "I really love this movie!" Which drove my point home of the intended audience.

It is still a kick in the pants to see lightsabers, troopers, lasers and droids, but that's just not enough. Ho-hum.

Oh well. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I still have my live action DVDs, and that's just fine with me.

Here is a review that I agree with completely:
http://gizmodo.com/5037486/star-wars-the-clone-wars-review-verdict-the-first-star-wars-movie-you-will-truly-hate

NY Times review:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/movies/15clon.html

Channel 4 review, which I agree with too:
http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=166217&page=3

themovieblog.com review, which I agree with, but I think he gave it too high a number (his description of Asoka is *dead* on)
http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/08/star-wars-clone-wars-review

cinemablend.com review (OK, I honestly wrote my review before reading his and was in shock that he described Ziro the Hutt exactly the same way!!):
http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Star-Wars-The-Clone-Wars-3274.html


Oh, if you do go see the movie, remembering all the time it's a kid's movie to soften the blow, stay after the credits for a little scene.

Harry Potter and the Moving Release Date

WHAT?!?!?!


This was announced today. From yahoo news:

It's summer school for Harry Potter.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment in the blockbuster film franchise about boy wizard Harry, is moving from its planned Nov. 21 release to July 17, 2009, distributor Warner Bros. said Thursday.

The move was made to take advantage of an open weekend in Hollywood's busy summer season, said Alan Horn, Warner Bros. president and chief operating officer. The film had been on schedule, and the change was not due to any production snags, he said.

"The picture is completely, absolutely, 100 percent on schedule, on time. There were no delays," Horn told The Associated Press. "I've seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November."

The switch will mean a two-year lag between the film adaptations of books five and six in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series. But it will shorten fans' wait between "Half-Blood Prince" and the final two installments, which are being shot simultaneously next year.

Based on book seven, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last two movies are due out in close order, in November 2010 and summer 2011. Horn said the later release of "Half-Blood Prince" will not affect the schedule for the final two movies.

Horn said the studio has had success with past summer "Harry Potter" releases, including the fifth movie, which was released in 2007 and became the second-highest grossing in the franchise.

The recent Writers Guild of America strike also had affected Hollywood's lineup in next summer, leaving a key date open for Warner to slot in "Half-Blood Prince," Horn said.

The July 17 release will be over the same weekend that Warner debuted this year's blockbuster "The Dark Knight," which had a record-breaking opening weekend and is on its way to $500 million domestically and the No. 2 spot on the all-time box-office charts behind "Titanic."

"Half-Blood Prince" finds Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) returning to his wizard classes with a clandestine assignment to root out dark secrets about the early years of his archenemy, the dark Lord Voldemort.

The film is directed by David Yates, who made the fifth movie and also is shooting the final two.

Last February, another big Hollywood film, Paramount's "Star Trek," was bumped from a December release to May 8, 2009. Paramount executives said that move also was intended to take advantage of an open weekend in the summer lineup.




Phil first alerted me to this. This blows, to put it lightly. I was really looking forward to it in three months time. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to apply the money I would spend on tickets for Harry Potter and spend it on Quantum of Solace instead. That's not so bad. But still!

BOO!


"We can't believe we have let DL down like this! We're at such a loss for words!"

Ugly Confession: DL is Not Excited About STAR WARS: The Clone Wars

Ok, this post may come as a shock to some people. I wasn't sure I was going to write about it, but I figured the world at large (or at least the few readers that actually still read this) would be curious about this issue.

So, most people may know that there is a new STAR WARS movie coming out at the end of this week: The CG-animated Clone Wars. And I've barely said anything about it.

For this who actually read this blog back then, before REVENGE OF THE SITH, I was blasting out posts every other minute, most of them glazed with giddy anticipation at the upcoming film. And I was truly excited about every aspect of it: the midnight toys, the midnight showing, seeing it again and again and again...

But for some reason, I'm finding myself...not as excited. In fact, I don't know that I'm excited at all. Curious is more like it. Now, I hope some of you were sitting down when you read this cos that was bound to be shocking, but I believe it had to be said.

I'm not really sure what's been going on. Maybe it's the fact that I feel like we've already done this before. There already *was* a Clone Wars animated series, done quite well, I may add. I just don't see that we need to see any more of it. Perhaps if this series was covering a different aspect of STAR WARS lore, I may be more into it, but retreading the same period of SW history, seems, well redundant. Not that The Clone Wars weren't cool, mind you, they're awesome, but it just all feels a bit, been there, done that.

Or maybe I'd be more excited if I was a little more sold on the animation. Apparently, they've been going for a "different" look for this type of animation. That different look, to me, looks like a video game. I'm sorry, but everything about it, smacks of a video game. When I see the characters talk, move, interact--it all looks like video game animation. Not that video game animation is bad, it should just belong in...a video game.

Another thing about this whole STAR WARS thing that has been bothering me for some time now, is the merchandising. There is something weird about being a STAR WARS fan, especially one who has grown up with the films as I have. You have a sense of obligation to buy stuff. Now, I will concede that most of the time it's been stuff I've *wanted* to buy, but lately, within the last year or so, I've found myself buying stuff just for the heck of it.

Case in point: I was in a post office several months ago. I was standing in a huge line and it was taking forever. On the wall, next to me, was a print of Yoda and underneath was an envelope with a STAR WARS stamp on it. It was a nicely matted 11x17 print. Nothing special. At first I picked it up and looked at it, thinking, "Oh, that's cool." and put it right back. I kept waiting in line, even moving forward. But something strange happened, I couldn't stop thinking about that print. My thought process was going something like this: "Maybe I should get that." "Why? You have a million things to put on the wall that is STAR WARS-related. You don't have enough room for it." "Yeah, but it has Yoda stamps on it." "So?" "But that's cool! And it's 'first-day-of-issue--that *has* to be worth something, right?!" "Whatever, they print a zillion of those, slap 'limited edition' on it, making it seem more limited, when it really isn't." "Yeah, but what if..." "What if--nothing. You don't *need* that. You're moving soon and you have enough stuff." "I guess you're right....BUT YODA STAMPS!!!!" "NO! You are stronger than this!! You are not buying that!"

Well, apparently, I'm not stronger than that, cos I stepped out of line, hurriedly grabbed it and bought it, feeling completely remorseful when I got back into the car. And you know what? It's still in the plastic, propped up against the wall on the floor. I'm not putting it on the wall; I don't even really like the artwork of Yoda that they used. I'm hoping to sell it on ebay soon.

*sigh*

I've also felt kind of gypped with the whole toy thing. For the past year, Hasbro has been glutting the pegs of the toy aisle with hundreds of figures. The problem is, half of the time, I can't tell if they're new or not. There have been several times when I've bought a figure, thinking it's a new sculpt, only to come home and find out it's just been repackaged, and I already own it. ARGH! So, as a result, my figure-buying has seriously dwindled down to almost nothing.

A major part of this has undoubtedly come from having just made a cross-country move. I'm a packrat, I love collecting things, but as soon as I have to pack and move, I want to disavow every possession I own. I start to loathe everything little thing that I just "had to have" previously. Even the really cool stuff that fits easily into tubs, like my action figures. So, I think I'm still reeling from the huge move and feeling bewildered at how much stuff/junk I've accumulated over time.

Just a few weeks ago, as is typical with STAR WARS, Toys R Us was having a midnight whoop-de-doo to release the toys for the new Clone Wars movie. Three years ago, I was all over that, and I was--Chris Knight and I had a blast going around to the various stores picking up stuff. Well this time around, I didn't go. A big reason was that this was the evening of my anniversary and I was NOT (and I know this is hard for some of you to believe) going to leave my wife at midnight and go purchase toys. NOT cool. I didn't even go early the next morning as soon as the store opened. I went two days later, just cos I was running other errands and happened to be right next to Toys R Us. I almost didn't go in, cos frankly I didn't feel like buying anything, but again, I felt obligated. Huh?

I went in, checked out the huge display, thought it was mildly cool, thumbed through the huge glut of figures overstuffing the pegs and walked out. And I didn't even feel the guilt I did in the post office months earlier.

Now, a week or so later, I did buy a Clone Wars-style Anakin at Target, and two days ago bought a Clone Wars-style Yoda at Target (again), but that's been it. I've been in both Borders and Barnes and Noble and walked past HUGE STAR WARS tables and displays overflowing with new books and whatnot, and didn't even blink.

I think I'm just tired. Or maybe it's just that at the time of REVENGE OF THE SITH, I had resigned myself that this was the end of an era and it wouldn't be happening again, enjoying it while it lasted. Only, it's happening again, over a movie that while I'm sure it's going to be entertaining, don't know that it's needed.

And that's the thing. Do we *need* an animated STAR WARS movie/series? especially about The Clone Wars? Maybe I'll get more excited about the live-action series that is supposed to take place in a time that we haven't heard about. But frankly, I just want George to move on.

There I said it.

George, it's time to move on from STAR WARS *and* Indiana Jones. Indy 4 was fun, but it was really pushing the good faith/nostalgic factor. Now, I hear him talking about Indy 5?!?! I read it, and my first thought was, ugh no. Leave it alone.

I still have complete faith in George as an idea man and storyteller. [My friend Phil has an excellent opinion that George Lucas is an amazing "idea" man, but terrible at executing it on his own. If only other people had been allowed to direct the prequels, they would've been amazing. And I tend to agree with him.] But I want to see him do something else. Apparently, he's had all of these other ideas for TV series and films that have nothing to do with projects he started in the late 70's, early 80's. Let's see them! He's supposedly been more of an avant-garde filmmaker who just happened to make a mainstream sci-fi that struck at the right place at the right time. Let's see those artsy films that you claim "no one will want to see".

Well, some of you are probably shocked to your foundations right now and never thought you'd hear these words coming out DL's mouth, but it has been brewing for a while. And it really needed to be said.

Now, I have plans to go see The Clone Wars on opening day (there's no midnight showing in my area), and who knows? Maybe it will blow me away. But I'm going in with extremely low expectations based on everything I've seen. I keep seeing commercials for it during the Olympics and instead of feeling exhilarated and my blood pressure skyrocketing (like it did for the last couple of films), I just feel blah. We'll see if that continues once I see the film, but I'm not counting on it.

Maybe I'm just in a SW slump. I don't hate Star Wars or anything. I'm just tired and not thrilled about the new stuff that's coming out. I really do think it's time for George to let it go. Cos you know, holding on to stuff can just lead to the Dark Side. Look what happened to Anakin, Georgie!

Thoughts?

Casino Royale 3-Disc DVD Artwork

DVDActive just published the first look at the upcoming Casino Royale 3-disc Special Edition DVD:




I love that they're using the teaser poster. That was my favorite one--not that I didn't like the release poster, but the teaser one has a slight edge over it. The gatefold thing is nice too. They did a great job. Now, if it would just hurry up and be October so I can buy the darn thing...

QOS Featurette

thanks to commanderbond.net, I discovered there is an Official Quantum of Solace Featurette that's been released today. This one is labeled #4, so I'm assuming there are 3 others that have come before. I'll have to check out the other three...

But in the meantime, check this one out. There's some great footage towards the end that is different from the stuff we've seen in the trailer and it looks AWESOME!

Enjoy!

http://www.moviegod.de/x/viewer/trailer_viewer.php?t=766&f=6421


UPDATE Here are the first three featurettes:

"Featuring ME!"

Holy Hopeful Thinking, Batman!

I just read this on mi6.co.uk and let me tell you, I got goosebumps. No offense to Martin Campbell (who directed the amazing Casino Royale) or Marc Forster (who directed the looks-amazing upcoming Quantum of Solace), but if this is true, my head will probably explode.

vis-a-vis the following:

Dark Knight` director Christoper Nolan discusses 007 influences

"The Dark Knight" director Christoper Nolan discussed how James Bond influenced his new Batman film to SlashFilm.

Q: You’ve said that you’re a big fan of James Bond...

Christopher Nolan: Yeah.

Q: And did you purposely put in some of more of that more secret agenty stuff into this film because of that?

Christopher Nolan: Well, we certainly did in both films. We started it in Batman Begins, and I think the Bond films were a big influence tonally in terms of trying to explain to the studio, you know, if you look at the early Bond films you’ve got extraordinary things happening, but there’s an overall tone you can buy into as a regular action movie. You’re not completely stepping outside the bounds of reality particularly with the earlier films and I think that winds up being pushed even further in this film, partly as a result of not wanting to do everything at night and not wanting to. I mean, if Batman controls the night, in Gotham, than the Joker is much more dangerous in the day, and so the daytime scenes actually become more threatening and more interesting in a way. So you wind up having to deal with, OK, how does Bruce Wayne deal with that during the day as well, so there’s more of that.

Nolan has been rumoured as a potential director for the 23rd James Bond film after "Quantum of Solace" helmer Marc Forster said he will not be returning to the franchise.


Now, this is probably premature news, and probably too good to be true, but the mind reels at what he would do with a Bond film. I'm trying not to get too excited because that would just be too sweet, especially in light of how awesome 'Batman: The Dark Knight' is.

Keep your fingers crossed folks!


"He could handle the Bat, but can he handle me?"

The Dark Knight Cometh

Dr. Mrs. DL and I just got back from the 9:30am showing of Batman; The Dark Knight--of course in IMAX. woot-woot! First off, let me say that the movie complex we went to is amazing. I can't wait to see a regular film there; the IMAX is actually in a separate building (remember, in my previous post I said this was a complex).

We got really good seats probably due to the fact that there wasn't a huge crowd at 9 in the morning. I guess people have to work or something--suckers! haha.

OK, so what did I think? Well, you'll have to excuse me, because it was such a wild ride, I'm still trying to digest it all. I will say that I thought that it was absolutely amazing. I'm not sure if it is better than Batman Begins, I'll need to process it a little more. But I will say that it is totally worth the hype. It's an incredible film.

Of course, what everyone has been talking about, ever since he was cast, was Heath Ledger as the Joker. And once again, the final product lived up to the hype. He is truly amazing. His take on the Joker is so right, it feels completely organic. For once, in a "superhero" movie (which I'm not so sure this really qualifies--that's simplifying it greatly, I think), the villain is actually a threat. Yes, he makes somewhat corny jokes and cackles, but he is also so unnverving and disturbing that you have no idea what he's going to do next. And that's why this performance (and film) is so compelling. I had no idea where it was going and what was going to happen. Of course, you know Batman will live to save the day, but that's not the really the point. The Joker is actually a threat.

I just rewatched Tim Burton's 'Batman' yesterday just to compare. I saw it once in the theater and maybe one other time on video when I was younger. Batman has always been a favorite comic character, next to Superman, but the Burton film always left me unsatisfied. I did not agree with Michael Keaton as Batman, so I could never reconcile the movie with my vision of the character. It was weird how everyone was going crazy over this movie and yet I was really disappointed (and don't get me started on those wretched Prince songs). Val Kilmer was a better choice, or at least headed in the correct direction, but by that point, the series had disintegrated into such silliness it was really hard to take any of it seriously. Christopher Nolan comes along and his take on it was brilliant. Christian Bale was the correct choice, as were the other cast members. 'Batman Begins' was finally the Batman movie I had been waiting for. But I was curious how Burton's film would hold up.

Oh man, not so well. It was boring, hokey and I never got the sense of any danger for Batman. Nicholson was easily the best thing about the film, but it's fascinating comparing his take on the character with Ledger's. At one point in 'The Dark Knight', I giggled, because I couldn't believe they were the same character, so different are the takes on them.

But I'm not writing this to blast Burton's film, I'm writing to praise Nolan's. He has always been a favorite director of mine since I saw the brilliant 'Memento', and man, does he deliver the goods with this one. This film is complex, bold, disturbing and ultimately uplifting, and I loved it.

Earlier in the review, I mentioned that I'm not sure this qualifies as a superhero movie (you could argue that anyway since Batman doesn't have any real superpowers). When I think of the other comic book films that have been made, with the exception of 'Superman I, II and Returns', 'X-Men 1 and 2' and 'Batman Begins', there's just no comparison. Yes, some of them are enjoyable, perhaps the first 'Fantastic Four', but they're pretty empty. What Nolan and company are doing are trying to make an entertaining "comic-book" film and actually trying to say something in the process. It feels epic and grand and as a result, so much more powerful.

In short, as if you couldn't tell, I loved this movie and I can't wait to see it again to catch some of the things I'm sure I missed. The cast is uniformly excellent across the board. Morgan Freeman always puts a smile on my face when he's onscreen. He's so wise and gentle, as is Michael Caine, who does an even better job as Alfred in this movie, I think. I wasn't the world's biggest fan of Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes (she wasn't horrible, but seemed out of her league), and Maggie Gyllenhaal fit right into the role very smoothly, I practically forgot about Katie. Aaron Eckhart was terrific as Harvey Dent, as was Gary Oldman. The two leads: Bale and Ledger were so good. The scene where they're in the same room together was phenomenal and really paid off--worth the wait, definitely.

So, do yourself a favor and go see this movie. Yes, it's that good. I hope that it breaks all kinds of records, because it really does deserve it. If you get a chance to see it on the IMAX, you should. They formatted some of the scenes for the monstrous screen and it just looks amazing. But do use the restroom before you go, it's a really long film and you really don't want to miss anything.

My one big resounding BOO does go to Warner Bros. I had read that they were going to show a 15 second teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Well, they did, but all it consisted of was one line of dialogue from Dumbledore and the title set against a dark, cloudy screen. That's it. Period. Now, I realize 15 seconds is barely any time at all, but they could've at least flashed a few photos or fleeting glimpses--just something! But that was ridiculous; almost insulting, really. Boo.

But that's a small blip on an otherwise great trip to the movies. I really hope there's a third one (which I'm almost positive there will be) with this same team. I can't wait to see what they do with the characters and story next.

Bravo.

Oh, and I totally and completely want a BatPod. So, wicked. cool.


"Yep, I'm worth the wait."

Bat to the Max

Howdy folks. I'm back from my sojourn to Rochester, NY. It was great seeing my old city, and old friends again. The recital went pretty well and before I knew it, we're back in Idaho again!

Dr. Mrs. DL and I have been exploring Boise a little bit more. We just discovered that we can connect to the greenbelt (hiking/biking trail that runs riverside for 30 miles) not even a block from our house. Sweet!

Oh, and I think Boise is going to be *very* good to me. I discovered a movie complex--yes, you read me correctly--movie complex. It has 21 theaters, plus an IMAX, with several restaurants and coffee shops. It's like a mini-city.

And the best part is that I got tickets to see Batman: the Dark Knight on the IMAX screen! Unfortunately, they were sold out for the midnight show (I could've seen it on the regular screen, but opted to see it on the IMAX instead). Dr. Mrs. DL and I decided that we didn't feel like going to the 3am or 6am showing either, so we're going to the 9:30am showing. I can't wait!

My review will come tomorrow afternoon so be on the lookout!

Until then...

New Dark Knight Poster and New Harry Photos

Other than Quantum of Solace, there are two other movies that I'm getting super geeked out to see: Batman: The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Unfortunately, I have to wait all the way until November to see Harry Potter, but two weeks until Batman!

What makes seeing Batman in Boise particularly exciting is that I can see it in IMAX! Yes, that's right, Boise has an IMAX theatre about ten minutes from me. Holy Awesome Movie Experience, Batman! I can't wait. I think I'll reserve my midnight showing tickets soon...

In the meantime, here's a new poster from the film, which I think might be my favorite so far:




They've done an amazing job marketing the film. I never thought the Joker could be this "cool" or menacing. This is more proof that Chris Nolan is one of my favorite directors.

Keeping on the awesome track, Warner Bros. has posted new photos from HPATHBP. I know a lot of people didn't care for the 5th film, due to all they had to cut out, but I loved it. It had a great sense of style and I thought worked really well. I'm anxious to see what David Yates does with this next one.


Draco up to no good...


Harry showing Ron and Hermione his new potions book


Ron Weasley playing Quidditch!

Enjoy!