No Business Naming Things

We went to see The Dark Knight last evening in an effort to keep distracted.  I was expecting a solid film but even I was impressed with it - there is finally a live action Batman film to displace Mask of the Phantasm as the best Batman film.  Anything worth saying has been said elsewhere but I really have to acknowledge Heath Ledger - he is the definitive Joker.  His performance puts to shame every Joker performance before it and I can’t fathom it ever being bettered in the future.  Just wow.

If you’re at all on the fence about seeing this movie (as I was - I still haven’t gotten over Cars) you need to go see it ASAP.  Not only is it the best Pixar film, it’s the best film period I’ve seen in a very long time.  The first half of the movie with its 5-6 words of dialog were absolutely fantastic and while it swapped out a bit of charm in favour of message once the humans arrived it still ended very strong.

Some random comments about Iron Man, both the film and the movie experience.  First, the experience.

We started with a preview for the new Mark Walhburg film “The Happening.”  The preview was going fine until they a credit appears attributing it to M. Night Shyamalan at which point the entire theater groans.  I am not exaggerating, the noise was audible over the trailer!  After we all did it we all started to laugh as well.  That man really needs to stop making films.  I’ve read spoilers for this one and boy does he take “weak” to a whole new level.

Anyhoo, Iron Man in point form:

• the origin story was pretty  dumb.  Suspending disbelief so that a man can build an iron exoskeleton in three months?  Okay.  Suspending disbelief that his captors don’t notice him doing it?  I have my limits!
• it was surprisingly funny at points
• Robert Downey Jr. was an excellent choice for Stark
• Robert Downey Jr. was incredibly attractive (for a boy)
• Lebowski as a villain
• sticking around for the end credits was WELL worth it

Paramount is the last studio to adopt Blu-ray… so all I need to ask is, where the hell is my Transformers Blu-ray?

The cast of Spongebob Squarepants doing hilarious voiceover of famous movies.

Last night we went to see Juno with some friends.  I wasn’t expecting too much despite the hype but I was completely surprised - I LOVED the film.  In fact,  I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a film that much.  I’m not sure how to talk about why I enjoyed the film so much without spoiling it but let me just say that a film regarding adoption has the potential to leave me a train wreck emotionally.  As the film progressed I feared the ending would have this result but by the time the credits rolled I was smiling.  Ellen Page was fresh and charming as Juno and I hope this film is only the first of many for her.  Surprisingly enough I also found Jennifer Garner, an actress I don’t have any love for, extremely convincing as a woman desperate for a child.  There were points where I found looking at her eyes on screen incredibly uncomfortable - I could actually feel the desperation coming off of her.

I was excited by the prospect of Cloverfield from the moment I saw the teaser at Transformers.  I have this thing for the apocalypse you see - I am convinced it’s just around the corner and if it should happen via a large monster all the better.

So, my review in an nutshell is that it’s awesome.  I can’t remember the last time left a theatre more excited than I was when I left Cloverfield.  Except for some minor plot quibbles I thought it was excellent.  The monster was excellent, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the characters (if not likeable) were largely believable.

I can’t wait for the DVD.