The Dark Knight (2008)

                The Dark Knight                

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Batman (Christian Bale) teams with Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to continue dismantling Gotham City’s criminal organizations in this sequel to Batman Begins. But a psychotic new villain known as the Joker (Heath Ledger) threatens to undo all their good work. The star-studded cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Caine and Eric Roberts.

REVIEW:  You might not have heard about it, but a small art-house movie called `The Dark Knight’ opened this weekend and I got a chance to see it.  Well, okay, maybe you saw some of the $100 million that was spent on advertising for it. The critics love it and it seems to have had the biggest weekend of all-time (if WB didn’t fudge the numbers again).  IMDb currently has it ranked as the #1 rated movie of the week?, 2008?, no, of all-time, with an average 9.7 rating!  Is it better than the Godfather, Star Wars, and Casablanca combined?

No, it isn’t.  Although any teen-age boy (such as my son), might make a case for it.  It is very, very good, I would say the best super-hero movie ever made.  It’s better than Spiderman, better than the original Superman, and better than any previous Batman movie.  Full disclosure: I’ve watched most of the super-hero movies, but never considered myself a big fan.  I also never read any comic books. [Preview for the Watchmen before Batman: I have no idea what that's about!]

The good:  Christian Bale is solid as always.  He had more to work with in Batman Begins, but he is believable as a billionaire playboy, and as a guy who can beat up 10 guys at once.    The rest of the cast –   Michael Caine, Maggie Gylenhaal, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman — all do great work.  William Fichtner even gets a nice cameo as a bank manager at the start of the film. The reason the cast is so good is because of Christopher Nolan’s direction and writing.  The dialogue isn’t brilliant, but compared to other Hollywood action films, it shines.  Nolan’s action scenes are better than Batman Begins.  Still too much camera movement and quick cuts for my taste, but you always have a good sense of where you are and what’s happening.  Also, great use of Chicago! (for once, it isn’t New York or LA) No CGI trains and buildings this time, just straight helicopter shots without showing the landmarks.  (Yes, I am from Chicago.)

Oh, did I mention Heath Ledger?  He almost lives up to the hype.  The Joker steals every scene and will probably be remember as one of the great villains of cinema.  He only uses knives, and I realized how much scarier knives are than guns in movies.  [Do any of the great villains use guns?  I couldn't help but think of No Country for Old Men last year.]  I’m not sure if he will win an Oscar, but he deserves a nomination.

The bad:  Too much plot!  The movie is 2 ½ hours and it is rushed, especially the final hour.  A 2nd villain gets added and I never bought into it or fully understood his arc.  It works with the overall story and it is needed to reach the final conclusion, but there were just too many sub-plots going on.  They all worked, but I wish they could have spent more time on them.  Maybe it could have worked better as two 2 hour films.

This movie is dark, scary, and unconventional.  It isn’t a little kid’s movie.  I had a few small children in the audience and a crying baby;  I kept thinking they shouldn’t be here.  No swearing, no sex, not much blood, so I see why it is only PG-13, but it was as disturbing as any R rated film ever gets.  Then again, I saw Jaws (rated PG) in the theater when I was 6; scared the hell out of me, but it is still in my top 10 favorite films.

My final rating: 4 ½ stars.  Not the greatest movie of all time, but for me, it’s as good as a super-hero movie gets.

Phil

Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara (1978)

            Dr. Who: The Androids of Tara        

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  “The Androids of Tara” is part of the “Key to Time” series of episodes. The medieval society of Tara is the setting when the Doctor and Romana get caught in a power play between the good Prince Reynhart and the evil Count Grendel — contenders for the throne of Tara. Things become even more dicey when Romana is mistaken for an android. Gadzooks!

REVIEW:  One of the best episodes of the Key to Time sequence, which in turn is the best sequence of the Tom Baker years…and IMO Baker is the quintessential Dr Who, a true nonpareil. Anyway…this is a great episode with a deliciously nasty villain, gorgeous scenery, duplicitious plots, multiple Romanas, and K-9 saving the day. If you’re not a Whovian most of that probably doesn’t make sense, and the episode probably won’t either.  Oh – mustn’t forget the androids!  

4 stars
Kym

Rumpole of the Bailey: The Lost Episode (1975)

           Rumpole: The Lost Episode        

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Witness the debut of British barrister Horace Rumpole, who emerges in all his claret-quaffing, cheroot-smoking glory in this original BBC television play created three years before the launch of the long-running Rumpole TV series. In this “lost episode,” Rumpole (Leo McKern) faces an open-and-shut case that he plans to wrap up by noon. But once he discerns the telling secret of his teenage client, he smells victory and mounts a full-on defense.

REVIEW:  This was a 1975 episode, written by John Mortimer,  of the BBC series Play for Today.  It more or less served as the “pilot” for the highly successful Rumpole of the Bailey series, which started in 1978. Titled “Rumpole and the Confession of Guilt,” the lost episode is obviously a theatrical play staged for the screen, and much less overtly comedic than the series it inspired. The foundations of Rumpole’s character, career and home life are clearly laid, however, as is his relationship with “She Who Must Be Obeyed.” A solid effort and must-see for Rumpole fans.

3.5 stars
Kym

In Bruges (2008)

               In Bruges              

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:   After accidentally killing an innocent boy in London, Irish hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are sent by their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), to lay low in Bruges. But, uncomfortable in this foreign city, the two professional killers soon get into trouble. Complicating matters further, when the guilt-ridden Ray falls for a girl working on a film shoot, he finds himself confronting the girl’s jealous ex-boyfriend.

REVIEW:  This is a most disarming movie, one that starts off as a sweet, funny buddy picture (even if the buddies are hitmen) that gets progressively darker (and funnier), until the brutal, ultra-violent, ironic black comedy of the third act. In some ways it feels like a stage play in the way it’s structured, all the little incidents and coincidences that occur as the story goes along come back into play in the plot later on, but it never feels contrived, everything seems to fit just perfectly.

There are many scenes of absurdist comic irony, such as the one where the older hitman, Ken, is about to make a hit on his young partner, Ray, but instead ends up saving Ray’s life as he is about to kill himself. In another scene the hitmen’s boss, Harry, who has been portrayed as savage and cold, has come to Bruges to kill Ken as payback for not killing Ray, then reveals himself to be a sentimental man who has his own code of honor as he cannot bring himself to do the deed. This scene is quickly followed-up by another twist as these two then turn on each other in an instant due to another surprising turn of events. The whole last act is full of these kinds of ironic twists and turns, all arising out of the behavior of believable characters and cleverly plotted circumstances. The climax of the film is sublime black comedy and again, deeply ironic, as Harry, believing he has killed a child (who is actually an adult dwarf) kills himself due to his uncompromising sense of “sticking to your principles”.

The dialogue is brilliant, witty and sharp, and at times the conversations between Ken and Ray, one older and heavy, the other younger and thin, goes round and round; it has the feel of the classic absurdist patter of an Abbot and Costello routine but w/an modernist spin, such as this exchange after Ken has saved Ray from shooting himself:

Ken: What the f— are you doing, Ray? Ray: What the f— are _you_ doing? Ken: Nothing. Ray: Oh, my God . . . you were gonna kill me. Ken: No, I wa– You were gonna kill yourself! Ray: Well . . . I’m allowed. Ken: No, you’re not! Ray: What? I’m not allowed, and you are? How’s that fair?

“In Bruges” is that rarest of breeds, a modern tragi-comedy that really works. The city of Bruges is presented as a kind of purgatory, where 3 very bad men are given a last chance to redeem themselves and where, despite themselves, in a perverse way, they all actually do.

5 stars
Harold

The Shaft (2001)

                  The Shaft                 

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  A dangerous, secret presence that seems to mysteriously inhabit an elevator in New York City’s Millennium building is killing off passengers — and the death toll keeps rising. When a mechanic (James Marshall) and a reporter (Naomi Watts) go to investigate, they must battle a vicious enemy and discover a secret that could add them to the casualty list. Dan Hedaya, Michael Ironside, Ron Perlman and Eric Thal co-star.

REVIEW:  This was on the SciFi channel this evening and I’d never heard of it so I tuned it in.  I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It was pretty creepy at points, and had a few funny situations here and there.  But then it went off into some weird territory, trying to explain why the elevators are now killing machines, which I felt it never recovered from.

Actually, at the start of the film, I thought they had a great premise that they could have gone with, along the lines of “Village of the Damned.”  The opening scene has a number of near-birth pregnant women taking the elevator down from their exercise class and getting stuck on the express elevator.  The final shot when they are rescued never really shows us what happened to them — cutting to another scene — so we assume they are all OK.  But, I was thinking, WHAT IF when the elevator doors opened:

– None of the pregnant women are pregnant any longer, and there are no signs of the newborns? — Only a bunch of babies are found on the floor of the elevator, but no mommies?

Now either of those would have been REALLY out there — especially after the “Twilight Zone” marathon they ran over the weekend. 

2.5 stars
Randy the Ogre

Semi-Pro (2008)

                  Semi-Pro                

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Will Ferrell stars as Jackie Moon, owner and coach of the Flint Michigan Tropics — the team with the worst record in the renegade American Basketball Association. With the franchise on the brink of collapse, can Jackie’s squad rebound to salvation in the National Basketball Association? Director Kent Alterman’s entertaining comedy (set in 1976) also stars Woody Harrelson, Maura Tierney, André Benjamin and Andy Richter.

REVIEW:  Another year, another dim-witted, half-baked comedy from Will Ferrell.  2008 finds us watching Will’s send-up of the ABA, a basketball league that encountered minor success in the late 1970s before being gobbled up by the NBA.  Will plays, uh, himself, as usual, this time as an owner/coach/player of an ABA franchise in Flint Michigan, who will find his team contracted as the ABA shuts down for good.  Unfortunately, unlike last year’s surprisingly amusing Blades of Glory, this is one of those “unfunny” Ferrell flicks where you can safely predict every punch line before it flies out of his piehole.  My favorite part was a brief early cameo by old ABA players George “Iceman” Gervin and Artis “A-Train” Gilmore.  If only the rest of the film had such spirit.

2.5 stars
HAWK

Werewolf of London (1935)

               Werewolf of London            

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is in Tibet searching for a rare flower that only blooms by moonlight when he’s attacked by a strange howling creature. After surviving the attack, Glendon travels back to London. But when the city is besieged by a series of werewolf attacks, Glendon learns the awful truth: He’s the werewolf! The only thing that can cure his affliction is the rare Tibetan flower in this horror classic from Stuart Walker.

REVIEW:  This is actually the first mainstream werewolf movie, preceding the classic The Wolf-Man by 6 years.  The plot is somewhat similar to the Universal Mummy movies, with a scientist who becomes afflicted with the “curse” abroad and returns home to share it with family and friends.  There are plenty of Freudian interpretations that may be applied to the relationship between Glendon — before and after his metamorphosis — and his gal, if that’s your bag, especially once her old beau comes poking around.  The makeup and special effects are quite good for the day, but the plot drags almost unforgivably, especially considering the short length of the feature.

3 stars
HAWK

Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

               Cyrano de Bergerac            

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Cyrano de Bergerac (Gerard Depardieu) pines for his cousin Roxanne, but won’t reveal his affections for fear that she’ll find his ugly features off-putting. So, Cyrano instructs the studly but stupid Christian how to woo her. Roxanne is entranced by Christian’s beautiful poetry and letters — all ghosted by Cyrano. But Christian dies in battle before he can tell Roxanne the truth. Depardieu won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his performance.

REVIEW:  Snipping a couple inches off the tip of the nose in a nod to realism (I suppose), Depardieu and company have a run at this noble French tale.  I can’t tell if it was my own expectations, the questionable translation in the subtitles (by Anthony Burgess, believe it or not!), or some other factor, but the movie failed to engage me during the first 30 minutes or so.  Once Christian appeared, the gears began to mesh and the rest of the movie was greatly improved, including an ending that probably surpasses the otherwise-better 1950 version.

4 stars
HAWK

WALL-E (2008)

                  WALL-E                 

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  In a futuristic world, human beings have destroyed Earth and evacuated the planet, leaving the cleanup to an army of robots they’ve programmed to do their dirty work. Due to a mishap, the dutiful WALL-E is the only one left. But with the arrival of a female probe named EVE, the monotony of WALL-E’s existence is broken — and he experiences love for the first time. Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) directs this Pixar tale with a sci-fi twist.

REVIEW:  I watched Wall-E this afternoon with some very high expectations.  I’ve really liked all the Pixar films and this movie has gotten the best reviews of the year.

The movie is overflowing with so many different visuals and references that I’m sure I missed a lot.  I know a lot of you like old sci-fi films (and so do I) - and you will appreciate Wall-E on another level.  I noticed obvious nods to Omega Man, Silent Running, Star Wars, and especially 2001.  [My Netflix avatar is the HAL 9000 eye which gets duplicated exactly for the ship's computer.]

The main part of the film is actually an homage to Charlie Chaplin movies. Wall-E is a low-class trash compacting robot (like Chaplin’s tramp) and he falls in love with a new model probe robot who is obviously out of his class.  Did I mention that most of the movie has no dialogue other than the two robots mechanically pronouncing each other’s name?

The second half of the film turns into an anti-consumer comedy full of idiot humans who are now too fat to walk and they only do whatever their computer screen says.  Isn’t that Disney’s core audience?

I like movies that are different and original and this falls into that category.  I’m curious to see how much small children will like it.  The crowd in my theater seemed restless - lots of “Mommy!  Where’s Wall- E???” The middle of the film does have lots of robots being chased which made the kids happy - to me it was the most boring part.

I liked it a lot, 4 out of 5 stars.  It didn’t quite meet my 5 star expectations, but I think almost anyone will like it and it’s worth seeing in the theater.

4 stars
Phil

*************************************************************************************************

I wonder if PIXAR ever gets tired of hitting home runs? I was skeptical that they’d be able to pull this one off; a story about a robot cleaning up Earth’s trash hundreds of years in the future after mankind has abandoned the planet?  But I should have remembered that this is the same studio that made a large fortune off a rat who cooks in Paris, talking toys, bedroom closet monsters who are scared of children and a small clown fish with a “lucky” fin.  Director Stanton clearly borrowed from his own Finding Nemo; there is no antagonist and many of the flying scenes are extremely reminiscent of the underwater reef scenes in Nemo.  The plot lays on the environmental anti-corporate shtick a bit thick at times, and a lot of kids were getting antsy near the end, but it didn’t make much difference.  The end result?  PIXAR touches all the bags again.

4.5 stars
HAWK

10,000 B.C. (2008)

              10,000 B.C.              

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Fierce mammoth hunter D’Leh (Steven Strait) sets out on an impossible journey to rescue the woman he loves (Camilla Belle) from a vicious warlord and save the people of his village. While venturing into unknown territories, D’Leh and his fellow warriors battle dangerous beasts and discover an amazing new civilization. Roland Emmerich directs this prehistoric epic full of thrilling action and adventure.

REVIEW:  My God, one can only sit back and marvel in awe at the sheer, spectacular badosity of it all. A movie made for people who have never seen any other movies before, since it rips off just about every good movie ever made. Let’s see, off the top of my head, “Apocalypto,” “Jurassic Park,” “Last of the Mohicans,” “2001,” “The Road Warrior,” any number of classic Westerns, as well as the Bible and quite a few fairytales. It’s a hodge-podge, taking various of the best elements from better films, dumbing everything down and jumbling them all together into something they think is a story. The movie as a whole feels like one of those sculptures created out of bits of trash from a junk-pile, except that whole is not greater than the sum of its parts, it’s less.

This is lazy filmmaking; there’s a scene where the various tribes have banded together and are going to cross the harsh desert to find their adversaries. Of course we know they’re going to get lost and be at death’s door, then finally find their way out just as they’re all about to perish. But we don’t get that journey, instead we get a brief scene that lasts about 10 seconds of some of them dying, then bang! - they miraculously find their way outta there the next minute. It’s like the filmmakers are saying “Yeah, we all know what’s going to happen, blah-blah, why bother showing it? Let’s move on to the next cliche. This one doesn’t have enough action to hold your interest.”

The dialog, oh my. Oh my my my. Again, just banal pieces of other films thrown together for effect. At one point the (terribly hackneyed) narrator actually uses the term “…many moons passed…” The tribes have all kinds of cutesy substitute names that are supposed to make them sound authentic - a winding river is “The Snake”, a Mammoth is called a “Mamut” or something like that, and so on. The writers just arbitrarily pick certain phrases and names and insert some like-sounding expression or trite metaphor and expect it to come across as a convincing language of these ancient people. This is most unfortunate since at other times their speech sounds quite modern; I really wouldn’t have been that surprised to hear one of the tribal brothers call another “dude.”

NF Rating: 1/10 of Star, for the hot ingenue.
Harold