I just got home from the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

I am still processing it but can say it is damn good. It is the way Batman should be. Slightly off center and really pissed.

Heath Ledger did an amazing job.

And for those of you who have not seen it yet, I don't really think it is appropriate for kids under 13, so the PG-13 rating is correct. There are some really violent scenes.

I'll write more later.

It was PG-13? Wow.

Yeah saw it in IMAX last night, and it was one of those films they should have put a couple of swears or gratuitous skin in just to make sure it was seen by near-adults. Not really for the violence, but to ensure for a more mature audience, more able to process the deeper implications. Kubrick used to do that for his films.

I don't think it's the violence that really hit me in the face, it was more the psychological despair. The explosions and all that stuff is just popcorn, but the grim reality, the helplessness, the heavy moral choices, that was the part that really stirred me.

I'm really glad they made it that way. It's about time.

Am going to see it with my 13 year old daughter this week. Can't wait. However, we saw IronMan two weeks ago, and I have to tell you, I couldn't let go of my chair! Like watching 24 in a movie theater. Can't wait for the sequels. Was one of the best films I have seen in recent years, and I have a film background from college (mostly foreign cinema).

"I don't think it's the violence that really hit me in the face, it was more the psychological despair. The explosions and all that stuff is just popcorn, but the grim reality, the helplessness, the heavy moral choices, that was the part that really stirred me."
Exactly!!!

Was it worse for language and violence than Platoon?

I wish we had an IMAX in Nanaimo! Seeing a non-documentary film which was shot on 65mm, and projected in 70mm would be nothing short of astounding considering the caliber of actors. The problem with being a photo geek is that through the whole movie I'll be watching composition, shadow/highlight detail, depth of field, wondering what the camera neg and print stocks are, and watching for the reel change markings.

Silber...Really? For all films? I find that I analyize the composition in films that have engaged me less, but in a movie like A Clockwork Orange, or Amélie, or The Dark Night, or Ocean's 13...I just get lost in the movie (like one does in a good, descriptive book). I don't see the lighting or composition or camera movement in a truly good film, I just see the story, character interaction and development, and so on.

The entire film revolves around Heath Ledger. When he was on screen, he was the only thing I watched. When he was not on screen the only reason I continued watching was the expectation that I would see more of this astonishing performance.

It's been suggested that he get a posthumous Oscar nomination. He certainly deserves it.

I can hardly wait. I mean they're finally doin it right. The first batch was campy, almost as bad as Adam West.

I can hardly wait. I mean they're finally doin it right. The first batch was campy, almost as bad as Adam West.

Oh please,---this was more like the TV show, or worse yet bad spoof of other genres, than many of the early movies; let's see the usual thousand shooter guns, lots of shooting for no reason other than Hollywood likes to go bang, bang.
The Joker kills a bunch of people but THE CODE, bada-boom of JUSTICE, can you say--Justice League,--does not allow Batman to do as they did in past movies and simply remove the bads guys from the face of the earth, EVEN THOUGH failure to do this means more children and wives without fathers or husbands, (I mean all those policemen the Joker kills, hell they are cannon fodder to Hollywood)
SO what we have is a cartoon Batman with a JUSTICE LEAGUE moral guide, or is it the PRIME DERECTIVE, that allows bad guys who are out of some gangster movie or spaghetti western to run wild.

Oh yes then Gordon, and other law enforcement officials lie and cheat (back to the ganster movies) because morally they are no better than the bad guys--yada, yada, yada.

As many speaking heads on radio said, IF Ledger had not killed himself, bring all whoopla of "Ledgers last movie" etc., etc., this would have been considered an average movie at best.

Heath Ledger did an amazing job. (http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/crsbe/2008/crsbe080722.gif)


He certainly did (http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/crsbe/2008/crsbe080722.gif).

It was excellent. The best comic strip to movie interpretation I've seen yet -- sin city being close. As others have said here and in real life if the joker wasn't on the screen you were left wondering what he was doing and when he'd return -- a mark of a great performance I'd say.