The Dark Knight

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. Written by Peteagassi (imdb.com)

I watched The Dark Knight this week. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. I got to watch it in IMAX, so it was even more incredible. The movie was beautifully complex and used every moment to deepen the layers. This new Batman series seems to pride itself on character development (remember how long it took the first movie to even introduce Bruce Wayne's "Batman"?), and so this time around the focus fell on Heath Ledger's "Joker." I hate to sound like a cliche of essentially everyone in the world, but he was brilliant. It's not easy to follow Jack Nicholson's Joker (who I never liked) since he defined the character for so long, but Ledger managed to craft a unique villain steeped in evil. There was no trace of Heath Ledger, he WAS the Joker. Every actor was very good. They were all intense. Christian Bale stood strong even when paired with the scene-stealing Joker. I wouldn't call Batman a superhero, but he is a hero in every sense of the word - strength, bravery and sacrifice. He is a solid symbol.

I love the new Batman series. There's a trueness to it that the old franchises lacked. No more cartoonish characters and cinematography; Batman is now dark and gritty and real. The whole movie is shrouded in the blackness of Gotham City, but characters like Gordon and Batman stand out as fully good. It's kinda like our world: there's so much evil and corruption, and so many people fail and fall, but there are those who don't. There are those who never will.

In a nutshell, this movie is perfect. It's dark and painful and victorious. It shows the deepest, darkest places in humanity, but also the brilliance. One of my favorite scenes takes place on two ferryboats. If you see it, you'll understand why.

*Note
Seeing it the second time, it was too long. Could've edited a few fight sequences.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pljIBkl56I

Mamma Mia!

20 year old Sophie (Seyfried) is preparing to marry her boyfriend Sky (Cooper) at her mother's hotel on an island in Greece. She seemingly has it all; a carefree life, loving boyfriend and happy friends but one thing has been missing all her life; a father.

Her only wish now is to be given away by her dad at her wedding. By reading her mother's diary she discovers that she has three possible fathers. Sophie then secretly invites all three men in a desperate bid to discover which of them is her father before the wedding bells start to chime!

But not all goes to plan, old loves are re-kindled, new loves are formed and Sophie risks everything to discover the true identity of her father.

Featuring the songs of ABBA and based on the worlds number one musical comedy which has people dancing in the aisles every night, this movie is sure to be the hit of Summer 2008! - from imdb.com

I saw Mamma Mia! this week. Apparently it got good reviews in a lot of papers. I think I just didn't buy into it.

The movie was painful to me. There was just too much glam and glitter. All the music is ABBA, so it's very disco, and I don't understand that music. I'm into modern rock, y'know, some emo and punk, I don't mind an occasional scream. ABBA really misses the boat for me.

It was just too sexy for my taste, too. There isn't any actual CONTENT as far as I remember, but references abound, eye winks and elbow nudges...'kay, I don't mind a little spice in my cinema, but this was just too much too consistently. Not appealing.

It's not all bad. The singing is good, the acting is good, the location is beautiful...Meryl Streep has a pretty impressive solo sequence where she really shows off her singing and acting skills...but then it's back to disco-land. I wasn't relaxed. The story seemed incomplete, I didn't really get to know the characters that well. The deepness of this movie really only extended to the lyrics in the songs, and I don't know if ABBA was known for its deepness.

In a nutshell, I think I'm too young to appreciate this movie. I'm not really into the hyper-happy musical song-and-dance deal anyway, and Mamma Mia! is built on that kind of energy. If those kinds of movies are your thing, go for it.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKx_14vJNZg