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mia_alexandria[mood| 
dorky]
[music| "Intermission" - Scissor Sisters]
So I guess this past weekend was Awesome Movie Extravaganza! since not only did I see Mamma Mia!, but I also saw the two movies mentioned in the title for this entry.
The Dark Knight:
So for those of you that didn't realize it, The Dark Knight picks up the very next day after Batman Begins. The first five minutes or so are shot exclusively in IMAX, hence why I decided to shell out the $15 to see Christian Bale and crew 60 feet high! But more about that later. Back to the first scene. OMG!!! CILLIAN MURPHY MAKES AN APPEARANCE AS THE SCARECROW!!! Yeah, I had a total fangirly moment during that scene. I love me some Irish men with blue eyes, black hair, and high cheekbones. haha. As to the rest of the movie, I thought each scene flowed rather well into the next and there were a bunch of bits that were completely unexpected. Example: WTF? Don't almost kill off Gary Oldman! He's the man! I nearly died when they had his faux death scene. Also, I liked how you catch a glimpse of the Joker sans make-up. It's right during Lieutenant Gordon's faux-death scene. He's dressed up as one of the police officers. He turns to the camera with a smirk and you can see the scars on his cheeks. He's right in the middle of the shot at the bottom of the screen. I thought that was nice to see. I might have been one of the few in the theater to have caught it, but oh well. And, my last WTF moment: THEY KILLED OFF MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL/RACHEL DAWES!! What the shit?!? And she just said yes to Harvey Dent/Two Face!! I was mightily displeased. If it weren't for Batman being such a damn believer in Harvey, who ends up under the Joker's manipulative influence, then Rachel would still be alive and we wouldn't have Two Face. Thanks, Batman. Thanks.
In terms of the cast's performances, I thought Christian Bale was charming as Bruce with just the slightest of a total ass hole. Because in my mind, and apparently in Chris Nolan and Christian Bale's minds, Bruce Wayne would have to be a bit of an ass hole to keep those around him safe. I thought Aaron Eckhart did a respectable job as Harvey Dent. The thing that bothered me, though, was that he had too many lines that foreshadowed his transformation. I knew who he was going to become simply because I'm a Batman nerd, but there were people in the theater who had figured it out halfway through the film. Not cool Nolan brothers. =( Anyways, I liked how you caught glimmers of Harvey's less-than-savory behavior, but it isn't until his transformation to Two Face (which, in the movie, he is the victim of a dirty-style burn, while in the comics and cartoon, he's the victim of a chemical burn. Meh. Pretty similar, I guess, since gasoline is a chemical. XD) that his rage and penchant for chance fully takes over his life.
Oh, and for those who were in doubt, Heath Ledger as the Joker (my fave supervillain EVAR) is a total BAMF. Period. End of story. It was scary how fantastic he was in that role. There were times when he sounded like Jack Nicholson and there were times when he sounded like Mark Hamill, who was the voice of the Joker in the animated series (that's Luke Skywalker for those who don't know). As disturbing some of the Joker's scenes were, they were funny as all hell, and a lot of people that gave me their opinion on the flick did not see the humor in those scenes. What they were failing to grasp was that he's the JOKER. His whole shtick is that he's the Clown Prince of Crime; he thinks everything is a joke and his job is just to spread anarchy throughout the world. Example: there's one scene where he's meeting with all of the mob bosses and one of the bosses gets pissed at him. The Joker then says, "Do you want to see a magic trick?" to the guy and proceeds to pull a pencil out of his pocket. He places the pencil on the table so the tip is jammed onto the table's surface. He beckons the particular boss over and announces, "Watch it disappear before your very eyes," then bangs the guy's head down, so the pencil stabs his right eye. He says, "And bam! It's gone!" waving his hands over the area where the pencil once stood as the guy writhes on the floor in pain. I guess you need to have a general grasp on dark British humor, or at least keep in mind that almost everything the Joker does is meant to be funny.
Overall, I thought the movie was a winner. =D And as I told one of my friends earlier, if it weren't for the fact that he was dead, I would totally have Heath Ledger's babies. XD
Hellboy II: The Golden Army:
First off, Hellboy II has to be one of the most visually stunning movies I've seen in a while. The others are Pan's Labyrinth (another Guillermo del Toro film) and almost every Pixar movie, but most especially WALL-E. There was one scene in particular that almost brought me to tears that's how beautiful it was -- Hellboy has to take down an Elemental Forest God in order to save some ungrateful New Yorkers. He does kill the poor creature, but everything this Elemental touches sprouts to life and suddenly the east side of the Brooklyn Bridge is covered with flora. Oh gosh. It was just an absolutely gorgeous moment that was probably a hint to the audience about the importance of conserving the planet, and the fact that Hellboy kills it mirrors what humanity is doing to the earth. But maybe I'm just reading too far into that part... XD
The movie was hysterical, too! My fave scene was when Abe Sapien and Hellboy get drunk off of several six-packs of beer and share a duet to Barry Manilow. And I must say, this movie made me fall in love with Abe's character. One of the new characters, Princess Nuala, falls for Abe and it's probably the cutest thing to see them interact because both of them are so socially awkward. hehe. It's really endearing how Abe stutters when he's around her because, really, Abe's character in the first movie is the cool, calm, and collected foil to Hellboy (fire and ice, I guess you could say). I also enjoyed seeing what Hellboy looked like as a kid and how he loved Howdy Doody and flat out refused to believe that Howdy Doody was a puppet. That was hella funny.
The special effects were AMAZING (!!!), as I expected, and there was a perfect balance of humor, snark, and seriousness that was constant over the course of the film. Oh, and I also liked the slightly artistically blurred final shot of Hellboy a là Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as he finds out that Liz is pregnant with twins.
All in all, Hellboy II was a fantastic sequel. I'm just curious now as to whether del Toro will decide to do a third Hellboy flick since we know that Liz is going to have kids. Speak of which, WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO LOOK LIKE!?!? 0_o But, I'm sure that movie's going to be a long ways off since del Toro is now busy working on The Hobbit (*squees!! ^^*), although if I had it my way, del Toro would be directing Deathly Hallows (him, or Alfonso Cuaron) while New Line would stop being jerk-faces and would let Peter Jackson do his thang with LotR. A girl can dream. =D
Daanng. Another long entry. I'm on a roll.
xoxox
dorky][music| "Intermission" - Scissor Sisters]
So I guess this past weekend was Awesome Movie Extravaganza! since not only did I see Mamma Mia!, but I also saw the two movies mentioned in the title for this entry.
The Dark Knight:
So for those of you that didn't realize it, The Dark Knight picks up the very next day after Batman Begins. The first five minutes or so are shot exclusively in IMAX, hence why I decided to shell out the $15 to see Christian Bale and crew 60 feet high! But more about that later. Back to the first scene. OMG!!! CILLIAN MURPHY MAKES AN APPEARANCE AS THE SCARECROW!!! Yeah, I had a total fangirly moment during that scene. I love me some Irish men with blue eyes, black hair, and high cheekbones. haha. As to the rest of the movie, I thought each scene flowed rather well into the next and there were a bunch of bits that were completely unexpected. Example: WTF? Don't almost kill off Gary Oldman! He's the man! I nearly died when they had his faux death scene. Also, I liked how you catch a glimpse of the Joker sans make-up. It's right during Lieutenant Gordon's faux-death scene. He's dressed up as one of the police officers. He turns to the camera with a smirk and you can see the scars on his cheeks. He's right in the middle of the shot at the bottom of the screen. I thought that was nice to see. I might have been one of the few in the theater to have caught it, but oh well. And, my last WTF moment: THEY KILLED OFF MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL/RACHEL DAWES!! What the shit?!? And she just said yes to Harvey Dent/Two Face!! I was mightily displeased. If it weren't for Batman being such a damn believer in Harvey, who ends up under the Joker's manipulative influence, then Rachel would still be alive and we wouldn't have Two Face. Thanks, Batman. Thanks.
In terms of the cast's performances, I thought Christian Bale was charming as Bruce with just the slightest of a total ass hole. Because in my mind, and apparently in Chris Nolan and Christian Bale's minds, Bruce Wayne would have to be a bit of an ass hole to keep those around him safe. I thought Aaron Eckhart did a respectable job as Harvey Dent. The thing that bothered me, though, was that he had too many lines that foreshadowed his transformation. I knew who he was going to become simply because I'm a Batman nerd, but there were people in the theater who had figured it out halfway through the film. Not cool Nolan brothers. =( Anyways, I liked how you caught glimmers of Harvey's less-than-savory behavior, but it isn't until his transformation to Two Face (which, in the movie, he is the victim of a dirty-style burn, while in the comics and cartoon, he's the victim of a chemical burn. Meh. Pretty similar, I guess, since gasoline is a chemical. XD) that his rage and penchant for chance fully takes over his life.
Oh, and for those who were in doubt, Heath Ledger as the Joker (my fave supervillain EVAR) is a total BAMF. Period. End of story. It was scary how fantastic he was in that role. There were times when he sounded like Jack Nicholson and there were times when he sounded like Mark Hamill, who was the voice of the Joker in the animated series (that's Luke Skywalker for those who don't know). As disturbing some of the Joker's scenes were, they were funny as all hell, and a lot of people that gave me their opinion on the flick did not see the humor in those scenes. What they were failing to grasp was that he's the JOKER. His whole shtick is that he's the Clown Prince of Crime; he thinks everything is a joke and his job is just to spread anarchy throughout the world. Example: there's one scene where he's meeting with all of the mob bosses and one of the bosses gets pissed at him. The Joker then says, "Do you want to see a magic trick?" to the guy and proceeds to pull a pencil out of his pocket. He places the pencil on the table so the tip is jammed onto the table's surface. He beckons the particular boss over and announces, "Watch it disappear before your very eyes," then bangs the guy's head down, so the pencil stabs his right eye. He says, "And bam! It's gone!" waving his hands over the area where the pencil once stood as the guy writhes on the floor in pain. I guess you need to have a general grasp on dark British humor, or at least keep in mind that almost everything the Joker does is meant to be funny.
Overall, I thought the movie was a winner. =D And as I told one of my friends earlier, if it weren't for the fact that he was dead, I would totally have Heath Ledger's babies. XD
Hellboy II: The Golden Army:
First off, Hellboy II has to be one of the most visually stunning movies I've seen in a while. The others are Pan's Labyrinth (another Guillermo del Toro film) and almost every Pixar movie, but most especially WALL-E. There was one scene in particular that almost brought me to tears that's how beautiful it was -- Hellboy has to take down an Elemental Forest God in order to save some ungrateful New Yorkers. He does kill the poor creature, but everything this Elemental touches sprouts to life and suddenly the east side of the Brooklyn Bridge is covered with flora. Oh gosh. It was just an absolutely gorgeous moment that was probably a hint to the audience about the importance of conserving the planet, and the fact that Hellboy kills it mirrors what humanity is doing to the earth. But maybe I'm just reading too far into that part... XD
The movie was hysterical, too! My fave scene was when Abe Sapien and Hellboy get drunk off of several six-packs of beer and share a duet to Barry Manilow. And I must say, this movie made me fall in love with Abe's character. One of the new characters, Princess Nuala, falls for Abe and it's probably the cutest thing to see them interact because both of them are so socially awkward. hehe. It's really endearing how Abe stutters when he's around her because, really, Abe's character in the first movie is the cool, calm, and collected foil to Hellboy (fire and ice, I guess you could say). I also enjoyed seeing what Hellboy looked like as a kid and how he loved Howdy Doody and flat out refused to believe that Howdy Doody was a puppet. That was hella funny.
The special effects were AMAZING (!!!), as I expected, and there was a perfect balance of humor, snark, and seriousness that was constant over the course of the film. Oh, and I also liked the slightly artistically blurred final shot of Hellboy a là Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as he finds out that Liz is pregnant with twins.
All in all, Hellboy II was a fantastic sequel. I'm just curious now as to whether del Toro will decide to do a third Hellboy flick since we know that Liz is going to have kids. Speak of which, WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO LOOK LIKE!?!? 0_o But, I'm sure that movie's going to be a long ways off since del Toro is now busy working on The Hobbit (*squees!! ^^*), although if I had it my way, del Toro would be directing Deathly Hallows (him, or Alfonso Cuaron) while New Line would stop being jerk-faces and would let Peter Jackson do his thang with LotR. A girl can dream. =D
Daanng. Another long entry. I'm on a roll.
xoxox
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Date: 2008-07-22 09:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-24 02:21 pm (UTC)