1755 - The Dark Knight

I'm in the midst of putting together the final pieces of my geek-office and so I thought I'd throw this on in the background while I worked.  This is not a background kind of film.  It's the kind of film that just absolutely consumes you and draws you in, in no small part to the man in the photo above.  There isn't much here that I can say about Heath's performance in this film that hasn't been said already.  It's truly magnificent and it's the large reason why this film is the strongest of the Nolan-Batman trilogy. 
The plotting of the story in this one is quite masterful.  The theme of chaos and order, what's fair and what just happens because the world can be a shitty place.  It doesn't feel like the stuff of comic books so much as it feels like the stuff of real life.
I can't wait till one day down the line when I can sit down and marathon this entire trilogy.  Probably won't be until my kid(s) are old enough to watch. 
If you haven't seen it, it's your loss.  Not only is it one of the best comic book films of all time - it's just a great goddamn movie as well.

1168 - The Brothers Grimm

This is a film that's as ridiculous as it is fun. The cast is just stellar, and despite the problems that always seem to plague Gilliam's films you'd never know that they weren't having the time of their lives. Apparently Ledger and Damon were originally cast in each other's roles and they petitioned Gilliam to swap, would have been interesting to see it the other way. As it is it turned out wonderfully for both of them. There's a lot of fun to be had with messing with these old tales. I actually re-watched this as reference for a project I'm working on. The production design is gorgeous and well thought out. The film itself is okay, not Gilliam's best, but still worth watching, especially if you like fairy tales.

1095 - The Dark Knight

It's been a long time since I saw a film twice in the theaters, but this one is worth it. It really is a great film, and is even better on the second viewing, even when you know all the turns it's going to take, it's still a great ride. There are a lot of elements working for this film, but the key is the Joker, and he's perfect. From how he almost appears out of thin air to 'cause chaos, and does he ever. The beauty of this film is how as each side tries to keep a step ahead they each keep under or over estimating the other. Scene by scene, beat by beat, this film is a near masterpiece. Give it a couple of years and we'll see how it stands up. But as far as I'm concerned this is probably one of, if not the movie of the year.

1083 - The Dark Knight

The hype machine for this film was absolutely incredible. Over the whole thing is the air of melancholy with Heath's death, but it almost works for it, which I'm sure the Warner Bros brass are happy with. And just as a warning THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS POST. READ AHEAD AT YOUR OWN FREEWILL!!!

I like Nolan's world for Batman. I think it's great and real and gritty, and I do worry that you can only take it so far before you run out of villains that you can realistically bring into this world. Was Heath great? He sure was. But no better than Aaron Eckhardt, who I'm sure won't get the praise that Ledger does, and understandably so. The most ironic part is that the character that survives won't be available for the sequel unless they recast, in which case, all the best luck to the fanboy hates to whatever unlucky soles steps into those big feet. There's this beautiful moment at the end of this film where Joker pontificates on why neither he or Batman can or will kill the other. He blames Batman's moral code for the reason he can't kill the Joker, and the Joker simply just tells him that he's too much fun, and that "We'll probably do this for forever." A sad sad moment that pulls you back to reality.

There was a great improvement in this film on dialogue and some wonderfully surprising story beats. Love that they killed the damsel in distress, but honestly, I never had a problem with the Katie Holmes casting, and I'll admit that the moment would have been that much more emotional if it was a character I'd seen over two films. The re-casting kills it a bit, and no fault to Maggie - I love her dearly, perhaps she's just a better actress than they needed.

Was it fun? Yeah! Did it give me everything I wanted. Sure! Perhaps more. It was a long film, feeling probably longer than it did. Can't complain that there wasn't enough Joker, just a bit sad that his counter-part can't make it around for the next installment.

Great ending, can't wait to see where they take it.