"Dark Knight" Running Commentary/Thoughts

Why does the Gotham license plate look like Illinois'? Does it have to do with rampant corruption endemic in both Gotham City and in Illinois?

I really do think that Christopher Nolan is one of the few cinematic geniuses of today. One of the top 10 or 15. It may not sound like much, but considering how many filmmakers there are today, how many good and even great ones, it's a huge compliment. From Memento, to Insomnia (a good remake of the a 1997 Norwegian film, thought the original was much better), to Batman Begins (a good, though NOT great, film for which I do have serious reservations), to The Prestige, Christopher Nolan has continuously honed his craft and surprised us with his originality. The only possible exception is for Insomnia, but as I said, it was a remake; even still, he manged to get great performances from Robin Williams, Al Pacino, and even Hilary Swank (which is not easy in a non-Oscar-winning performance).

Nolan is also great at casting. Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Joe Pantoliano in Memento; the aforementioned cast in Insomnia; Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson (along with David Bowie and Christian Bale (who he had previously worked with in Batman Begins)) in The Prestige; and in the Batman series: the previously underrated (and possibly still underrated in his non-Batman roles) Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine (inspired!), Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal...in fact the only real bad casting move he's made was Katie Holmes, and she's a good actress; the timing just wasn't right it seems.

Nolan may be one of the best filmmakers today, but as much as I want to extol his virtues, he's not conquered everything he should before I feel he ranks amongst the top. Although I don't think there's an historical equivalent to the modern action-thriller, certainly the war films of the past, especially movies like The Great Escape or The French Connection would come close. But those examples are only several decades old, not the 70, 80 year old examples we have for most other genres. My point is that the truly great directors have excelled in or at least made great films in several genres. That is, unless they so totally excel in one genre that it revolutionizes that genre and other genres (such as Hitchcock and Scorcese). Nolan hasn't done that yet. He could either revolutionize the action-thriller, excel in other genres, but he hasn't yet.

I have already talked a little about casting, and I would like to say some more about that; about Maggie Gyllenhaal in particular. Katie Holmes has talent, and is a decent actress, but M. Gyllenhaal is much better. I don't know if she auditioned or campaigned for the role in the original reboot, but she should have been cast to begin with. She's done some films that are a little trite (Mona Lisa Smile), but overall she's been great in her films (Donnie Darko, Cecil B. Demented, Secretary, Stranger Than Fiction.

I'm raving about Maggie Gyllenhaal, and everyone else is raving about Chistian Bale and Heath Ledger (and they are worthy of all the raves they are getting), but Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart both are very capable actors. Both are great performers. Gary Oldman going back to Luc Besson's Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element, even further back to Sid & Nancy; he's always been a great actor, and now is no exception. Aaron Eckhart is remembered most recently for his star-making turn in Thank You for Smoking, but was previously well-known for playing Erin Brokovich's boyfriend in the Julia Roberts' Oscar-winning movie.

When serious attempts at making live-action Batman films have been made, casting has not been an issue. Michael Keaton defined the role for a decade, the equivalent to Pierce Brosnan's James Bond; they were able to get Jack Nicholson (Jack Nicholson!!) as the Joker, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, Danny DeVito as the Penguin, and included Christopher Walken. The 1989 film also had Kim Basinge, Billy Dee Williams, and Jack Palance in the cast. Heck, even the cartoonish films Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin managed to get A- and B-list actors like Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman, Michael Gough, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not to mention future Oscar-winner George Clooney as Batman in B&R. My point is, Batman films have never has trouble finding qualified actors to take on the roles. So obviously it comes down to the script and the director.

Obviously Christopher Nolan is a great director, and his brother Jonathon Nolan is a great screenwriter. That's all there is to say. They tap into what today's audiences want to see in their heroes. Batman, Jason Bourne, James Bond, they are all getting grittier and getting away from glam and glitz that invaded movie heroes, particularly James Bond, of the '80s and '90s.

They not only are able to tap into it, but they are able elicit top-shelf performances from geat material. This is what makes a truly great film. It's a marriage between direction, material, and performance.

The film is over now. Hope my running commentary and thoughts were helpful in some ways.

POV: Inheritance

One of the most touching and sad things I've ever seen is the PBS documentary "POV: Inheritance."

It is about the daughter of Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth, Monica, who meets the woman who as a child was forced to worth in his villa.

Amon Goeth was played Ralph Feinnes in Schindler's List. The American Film Institute ranked him #15 on their list of 50 villians. He killed thousands of Jews personally while he was commandant of the death camp at Płaszów.

Watching this woman, Helena, who worked in Goeth's house, recount her memories is utterly heartbreaking.

It's a great piece of filmmaking, and a stern reminder of why we must not let the memory of the Holocaust die. A must see for students everywhere.

James McAvoy

Yes I am watching Wanted at the moment, starring one James McAvoy as American Wesley Gibson. I love Mr. McAvoy...he was perfect in The Last King of Scotland, and great in Atonement, but maybe that why I don't like him as an American. I think he needs his natural accent. I can't imagine him without one. His American accent just seems too bland, too vanilla. But maybe that's what works for his character, after all this movie is about someone who is a sap, someone who lives a tedious existence, and then is thrown into a world he doesn't understand. Hopefully he gets better...although I don't blame him if it doesn't.

PS: I'm about at the 17:00 mark, and McAvoy and Angelina are running away from that super-assassin.

TV Show Trailers on DVDs

Sorry for the disappearance, but here's a quick hit for you...I just saw a trailer for the show "My Own Worst Enemy" on the DVD for Wanted.

I just have to laugh at this seeing as how "MOWE" was cancelled weeks before this DVD was released. Just more proof, along with the rise in DVRs and TV-on-DVD that TV shows need more than two, three, or even four weeks to gain an audience.

Black Book (Zwartboeck)

WWII thrillers aren’t necessarily rare, but Black Book certainly is one of a kind. This film, the most expensive Dutch film ever made, is full of spies--double and even triple agents--and twists and turns. It is based on true events, all put together for one exciting movie. Coming in at 2 hours and 25 minutes, Paul Verhoeven’s latest could have stood to have been about 10 or 15 minutes shorter, but beyond that, this is a suspenseful movie with action, sex, and intrigue.

Carice van Houten (no relation to Milhouse) plays Rachel Stein, a Jewish woman and former cabaret singer hiding from the Nazis in a country farm outside of The Hague. The time is September 1944; Operation Market Garden is coming to a close and was successful in liberating only the southern part of Holland. Rachel is content to wait for the Allies to get there and to be liberated. However, when her hiding place is destroyed she must decide to try and escape to the south or to find another hiding place. After some unexpected events, she ends up in the bed of the local Gestapo commander in order to glean secrets from him to help the Resistance.

This is a world where not all Gestapo are evil, and where even the evil ones sing, play the piano, and laugh, just as we all do. Likewise, not all Resistance fighters are saints, with some even being anti-Semitic. In America we tend to think of the campaign to liberate Europe and the campaign to end the Holocaust as very closely related, if not the same thing. But we mustn’t forget that in 1944 the campaigns were separated, particularly to those partisans trying to liberate their homelands. Yet, because it offends our modern sensibilities, we see that no one is perfect. We are humans. We all have mixed emotions and mixed motives.

Overall, this is a thrilling, suspenseful, and at times an offbeat film. But I think that what I like most of all, is the authenticity of it. Verhoeven comes from a school of filmmaking that eschews CGI when possible. When a scene calls for airplanes to be flying in the sky he shoots a real B-17 bomber. When he shoots the liberation scenes he uses close to 1200 extras to line the streets, all wearing orange (the color of the Holland’s ruling family, the House of Orange). Women really get their heads shaved to imitate the punishment given to women who slept with or worked for the Germans. Additionally, van Houten sung the songs that her character sings, giving the film even added authenticity.

Also check out Sebastian Koch as the Gestapo officer. Last year he played a dissident in a totalitarian state in The Lives of Others, but in this film he plays the agent of a totalitarian state. If you are, like me, tired of the latest American clichéd and meaningless action flick, then you should definitely check this movie out. It has action, suspense, and best of all, meaning.

Final Rating: 8/10

Away From Her

The only thing we can say about Sarah Polley’s screenwriting and directorial debut is: wow! Basing her script on the short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain” by Alice Munro, Polley had created a masterpiece.

Julie Christie plays Fiona, a woman suffering from the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. She and her husband, Grant (Gordon Pinsent), have not been apart from each other for nearly four and a half decades, so understandably he takes it quite hard when she decides it would be best for her to enter into a nursing hope for people suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Over the course of time, Grant becomes somewhat alarmed, and even a little jealous, over the strength of friendship that she develops with a fellow patient named Aubrey. As can be expected, Grant has to struggle to come to terms with this new relationship and with Fiona’s fading memory.

Although Julie Christie has been widely recognized for her performance (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, winner of the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and National Board of Review, Screen Actors Guild for the same, as well as numerous film critics societies), and not to take anything away from that, the story is driven by Gordon Pinsent’s performance (he won the award for Outstanding Male Performance from the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists…they’re version of the SAG Awards). Also of note is Olympia Dukakis playing Marian, Aubrey’s wife, as she also needs to adjust to life with her husband, whom she has brought home from the nursing home. And speaking of her husband, Michael Murphy plays a daring role, not speaking a word as Aubrey. It is a real shame that there is no Oscar category for ensemble cast.

Somewhat reminiscent of the closing scenes of The Notebook, this film is much deeper, much more emotional. It shows the true effects that any debilitating disease can have on a family. This touching story is truly one of the best of the year, and features not only one of the best casts of the year, but perhaps the best directorial debut of an actor that I have seen.

Final Rating: 9/10