DARK Knight UPDATE ETC

Okay, its been A few days since THE DARK KNIGHT has released and many people have gotten the chance to see it, I feel like doing some reflecting just for the heck of it. Please comment with opinions/disagreements/agreements/arguments etc.

THE DARK KNIGHT is now the “#1 Best movie of all time” according to the user polls on IMDB.com with over 47,000 votes. How absurd.

I have noticed that it has essentially become the most massively popular movie of recent memory, if not of all time. This blows my mind. Perhaps it is due to Heath Ledger’s death and his super hyped, extraordinarily good performance as the Joker, perhaps because it’s a superhero movie and it’s summer, perhaps it’s a mix of the two. Which it probably is. Perhaps the common movie going audience wants less from a movie than I do, or has lower standards of quality. This is probably all true. Okay, THE DARK KNIGHT did indeed have a lot of quality, but some key elements were just handled incorrectly, such as the screenwriting, which was so oppressively sadistic, convoluted, and hole-y that any thorough scrutiny would cause it to fall apart. Whatever.

One thing I have noticed, is that I am in the extreme minority when it comes to this opinion on the caper (Ha. Ha.). Okay that was really bad. But whatever. I saw the movie with about six friends, who either liked it or thought it was the best Batman movie. Only one of them disliked it as I did. That would be Martin.

Martin

Now some people I have spoke to about the movie call it “Okay” or “Decent,” not to mention the vast majority that say it is “AWESOME!!!!1!1!11one!!!1″ So far Only Martin, in addition to myself, has actually truly disliked it. I was curious what other critical outlets shared this opinion, so I ventured over to metacritic…
I discovered that at metacritic it has a meta-rating of 8.3 aka “universal acclaim.” The site lists 17 media outlets that have given DARK KNIGHT a perfect rating, and 16 that have given it highly positive or positive reviews. Only 6 gave the movie average, mediocre, or poor reviews. The ones that essentially held the same opinion about it as myself and Martin were
The Wall Street Journal (… why they review movies I don’t know)
The Baltimore Sun
New York Magazine
The New Yorker
The Austin Chronicle
and Salon.com (lol.)

Each of these outlets cite similar reasons for not liking the movie, mainly for its sadistic and overly oppressive tone, convoluted plot, and lack of real creative life or vitality.

I also was pleasantly surprised that my personal movie critic idol, Leonard Maltin, disliked the movie as well. Maltin has long been my favorite critic for the similarities between his taste in movies and my own, as well as his strict refusal to reserve 4/4 perfect ratings to the true best of the best. But that’s not important. I guess it was just some sort of comfort to know that some people, whether I admire them or not share my opinion in these hard times of unwaivering DARK KNIGHT fanboy love. It’s almost like it’s socially expected to like THE DARK KNIGHT right now… It’s like a movie’s hype and pretentiousness can cause people to just overlook simple, distracting flaws. Don’t get me wrong, THE DARK KNIGHT was not the worst movie ever, or even “BAD;” it was just not enjoyable, not worthy of any of the hype (except that for Ledger), and not a very good movie.

Hello, I am Leonard Maltin. Yes, I have a beard.

Maltin’s mini review is well written and speaks to many points I agreed with about the movie, you can read it at http://www.leonardmaltin.com if you want.

Anyway I just felt like ranting about this, as I am finding the mass love fest to be a bit irritating, especially since it’s the “greatest movie of all time” now… ah imdb.

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Might as well do some short reviews just to make this post more substantial.

Horton hears a "booo!"

- HORTON HEARS A WHO! – (2008 – G)
Unnecessary Dr. Seuss adaptation that really has no excuse for being a full length feature film. The animation is inferior and the voice acting is only passable. Nothing compelling or overly heart warming. Improves if seen in a foreign language, as it then allows one to use their brains to decipher the dialog, resulting in mental stimulation and a better experience.
Keywords:
Animated, Bland, Uncreative, Pointless

- RUSHMORE – (1998 – R)
Wes Anderson’s best film to date deals creatively and quirkily with the turmoils of growing up in a certain environment that seems contrary to a youthful mind. A hugely influential movie that newer films like Juno or Charlie Bartlett owe everything to yet still cannot top. A coming of age that is brilliantly conceived and executed.
Keywords:
Creative, Satirical, Youthful, Dry, Inspirational, Funny, Independent

- NO END IN SIGHT – (2007 – PG13)

Dir:Charles Ferguson
Oscar nominated documentary about the US occupation of Iraq after Sadam Hussein’s capture, revealing in captivating detail the lack of any removal plan and other organizational blunders by the occupying powers. A very effective endeavor that indeed does incite some major questioning of the current regime. The way it tells a narrative of events is excellent and it works equally well as an informative piece. In the end, it’s an enlightening experience for those who don’t watch the news every day or those who simply have not had the chance to read up on current events. It succeeds greatly at what it sets out to do, but fades slightly from memory since by now it all has grown tiresome… And we still have men and women over there…

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Tags: Batman, Dark Knight

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