The Dark Knight Trilogy


It's not easy being Christopher Nolan. You have the art-snob critics -or so I call them that- who practically hate the guy for his puzzle-like action films that really are, well, too puzzling and complicated for them and then of course you have Nolan's fanboy fanbase, an online community of wannabe film critics that think the guy is God, yet dissect his every frame with enough criticism to make any normal moviegoer just roll his eyes in laughter. Listen, there are just as many haters of Inception as there are admirers. Don't remember? That movie starring Leonardo Dicaprio as a dream invader in a screenplay that had more than its fair share of flaws -a Nolan trademark- yet had enough ambition and ideas to fill an entire thesis paper.

In 2008, Nolan put a landmark stamp on the superhero movie with The Dark Knight. It was the followup to 2005's Batman Begins and had an incredible, Oscar winning performance from Heath Ledger as The Joker. The Dark Knight not only ended up making close to 600 million dollars in the domestic box office but it also made critics go gaga all over its substance-filled frames. You see The Dark Knight was a kind of metaphor to 9/11 evil and condemned both sides in the war on terror. To defeat Ledger's Joker, Batman had to use in-heroic acts of violence, how much evil must one commit to defeat evil? Talk about deep stuff for an superhero action movie.

This all leads to The Dark Knight Rises. A film that comes with the highest expectations I've ever seen for a Hollywood movie. Expectations that were so high they were bound not to be met. I can safely tell you they are not met, which is not to say The Dark Knight Rises is a bad movie -it's actually a pretty damn good one. The problem is that there is no flashy performance here such as what the late Ledger did in 2008 nor is there the same relevance to our contemporary world, although Nolan does attempt to bring in an Occupy Wall Street themed rebellion to the forefront (it works at times). Bane is the villain and he is played with brutal elegance by Tom Hardy, an actor that has always taken pride in investing everything in his roles. For this movie Hardy packed on 30 pounds to play the bulking monster that is known in comic book lore as the one who broke Batman's back - I found Bane to be just as scary, if not scarier than the Joker.

Even though its flaws might be highly apparent -a useless twist at movie's end, a climax with ticking time bomb cliches, the complete uselessness of Marion Cotillard's character, uneven pacing-  The Dark Knight Rises more than makes up for these mishaps in ambition. Clocking in at 165 minutes, Nolan's movie goes well beyond anything you will see in The Avengers or Spiderman. For the sake of its sheer scope and ideas, Nolan's movie is the blockbuster to beat this summer in terms of artful ambition. That is why we are ever so attentively paying attention to it and have been highly anticipating its release ever since we laid eyes on its pre-production notes. Nolan's comic book world is served black with a touch of realism that is not easily found anywhere else in the Marvel world.

No need to spoil any of its dark, twisted surprises in this review but watch out for Joseph Gordon Levitt's superb performance as a cop turned detective who investigates Gotham's criminal undergrounds, he is sensational and IS the movie's true heart. The unlikely bond he shares with Wayne is more than meets the eye. Also beware of the dark, sexy vibe Anne Hataway brings as Catwoman, a burglar of the rich that turns into the unlikeliest anti-hero of the franchise. Even though the film is anticlimactic, the final 10 minutes more than make up for it in terms of sheer, hypnotic suspense. As Hanz Zimmer's great score is playing, we are treated to a conclusion that more than justifies the impeccable trilogy Nolan has created for us in these quickly passed 7 years. He's raised the stakes for the superhero movie and I highly doubt it will get topped.

Best Movies of 2008

I might have called it the worst year in movie history or claimed the Oscars should get cancelled. Of course they didn't. And I -with hard work- found ten movies that tried to break the rules and that didn't suck. It was harder than you think. Never in my 10 years of reviewing movies on a weekly basis have I had a harder time to find diamonds in the ruff.



(1) The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky)

Director Aronofsky's pitch perfect masterpiece is about the limits an artist can push himself in order to achieve his artistic goal. A breathtakingly intense drama that features Mickey Rourke's best performance in years -or of his career?- and another great turn by Marissa Tomei (looking good naked as usual). Rourke's wrestler is a man that has hit he lowest of lows in life, a man that has shunned off family for drugs and a sickening work habit in the ring. We feel for him and wish him the best comeback possible, even though in the back of our heads we know there's no chance. One of the great endings of the last 10 years in cinema.



(2) WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)

It isn't far off to call Andrew Stanton's WALL-E -along with Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away- the best animated movie of the past 10 years. This rule breaking cinematic dreamscape starts off with its first half hour without dialogue, evoking a mix of prime Chaplin and hell, even Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey. It's the riskiest thing I've seen animation do since probably Fantasia's trippiness close to 60 years ago. Which isn't to say the other hour of the film isn't as good, it's actually quite spectacular and moving in its portrayal of a harmless robot that is earth's only chance at survival. A masterpiece.



3) Hunger (Steve Mcqueen)

Now this is one of hell of a feature directing debut and rightfully won the New York Film Critics Best First Film award in 2009. Recounting the events that led to IRA prisoners going on a Hunger Strike during the 70' and 80's- it is an immensely powerful experience of the limits one can do to its body just to prove a point or political purpose. Watch out for Mcqueen's next movie, especially if it's half as good as this one. Reviewed right here & featured in a double review with -of all films- Antichrist.



(4) The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)

If you haven't heard of Christopher Nolan's superhero classic then you don't live in this planet. Nolan along with an A list cast headed by Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as a Joker to haunt your dreams triumph in this blockbuster. Many have evoked the film as a post 9/11 depiction of a world going to hell, they might not be far off as a caped crusader does bad in order for good to triumph. Ledger's joker is so real and so intense but it's Nolan's eye for detail that puts this film over the mountain. This is his dark, twisted take on a misunderstood superhero.



(5) Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood)

As conventional as Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino might be, it evokes classic shades of a cinematic genre long gone dead in the woods. Here Eastwood is the racist neighbour next door who can't help but assist a Vietnamese kid in his neighbourhood who has problems with local gangs. It's a sentimental film but one with such big heart and flair that it had me at hello from it's very first frame. It's sense of humor is also dead on and a sort of relief to the dark corners Eastwood has built her. You think you know where Gran Torino is going but you really don't and it's with this unpredictability that Eastwood triumphs with his sleeper hit.



(6) Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)

Like almost every Danny Boyle movie, a mess .. but one that is so damn entertaining and visually appealing. Slumdog Mllionaire is the epitome of a crowd pleaser and the pure and exhilarating nature of cinema. Its haters refuse to admit to its entertainment value and instead keep focusing on the film's plot holes and flaws. Easy to do guys but try to look closer and let yourself be transported into a rural India full of darkness but shot with real light and colors and maybe just maybe you will understand the true value of this movie. It is no Best Picture deserving film but what it is instead might knock you for a loop.



(7) Changeling (Clint Eastwood)

Clint Eastwood keeps churning out one great movie after another that people keep shunning off some of the smaller, more intimate fare he seems to be an expert at delivering. Gran Torino was one, Changeling is the other. One was male driven, this one is female driven as Angelina Jolie plays a woman unfairly institutionalized after her son disappears by a corrupt LAPD in the 1930's. Intense doesn't even begin to describe what Eastwood has in store for us in this picture. Jolie, looking ever so frightful behind the beauty, gives the kind of performance that is so good it doesn't even get nominated for an Oscar.



(8) Funny Games (Michael Haneke)

I was such a big fan of Michael Haneke's last movie -Cache/Hidden- that I was somewhat disappointed he decided that his followup would be a remake of his own 1998 film ! No worries, Funny Games is as resonant and provocative as ever. If the first film revealed gruesome, almost unwatchable violence this one is no exception as a family gets taken hostage in their own home by masochistic, young, preppy murderers. It's not an easy ride to take but if taken results in one of the most memorable experiences of 2008. Not to be missed and highly underrated. Michael Pitt scares as one of the psychopaths.



(9) Christmas Tale (Arnaud Deplechin)

Family dysfunction done the French way. Arnaud Deplechin's sprawling family dramedy is a focused effort that has so many characters and so many storylines in its hands that it threatens to derail. It doesn't. Instead what we get is a memorable family sketch that makes us think about our own life and sets the pace for a long but highly entertaining gem which features quite possibly the best cast of the entire year. Did I already mention it's French?




(10) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)

Excellent, engrossing movie. Shot, as far as I could tell, with one skillfully deployed camera, every composition had to have that camera perfectly placed. It's no mean achievement to have risen to this challenge so well. There's one scene in particular, set at a birthday dinner, which is breathtakingly well done with the camera static and the actors brilliantly positioned around it managing in spite of this limitation to not only give all the necessary information, but also to do so with the maximum emotional intensity.

11) Doubt, John Patrick Shanley

12) Tell No One, Guillaume Canet

13) JCVD, Mabrouk El Mechri

14) Iron Man, Jon Favreau

15) Ip Man, Wilson Yip

16) Wendy And Lucy, Kelly Reichardt

17) The Flight Of The Red Balloon, Hsiao-Hsien Hou

18) Lakeview Terrace, Neil Labute

Best Of 2010 ...

So I was waiting long enough to make a Best Of 2010 yet I just had a really hard time finding some worthy candidates. Last year I had more than 20 great films in my list but alas this year I wouldn't even call 10 of these great. This was probably the worst movie year I've experienced since I started doing these annual lists back in 1999. There are a few more movies to watch or re-watch but the list won't change drastically in the months to come. I have added small comments cause I guess I was too lazy to do more than that and the movies speak for themselves really, I will -at some point- post my review for each of these films. So without further ado here's the good stuff of 2010.


(1) Black Swan

Taking a cue from Kanye West's latest record, this is Director Darren Aronofksy's Beautiful, Dark, twisted fantasy. Natalie Portman gives the performance of the year in a film that's more than just about ballet but about the boundaries an artist has in order to push his or herself to the limit. A campy, visionary, extraordinary mess that turns into the movie experience of the year.


(2) Shutter Island

A detective investigates a missing patient at a mental asylum for the criminally insane but ends up getting lost in the darkness that looms between the cracked corners. Leonardo Dicaprio's performance in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is astounding, ditto the film. Scorsese with the help of cinematographer Robert Richardson, conjures up dream-like images that stayed with you for weeks.


(3) Enter The Void

Gaspar Noe's follow-up to the controversial Irreversible did not disappoint. Its trippiness far exceeded any other film in 2010 in terms of originality, guts and madness. Here Noe is concerned with the co-existence between body, life and the after-life by giving us the story of a dead man who's presence roams around the crowded, mob ruled streets of Tokyo. You have never seen the crowed Oriental city shot like this before.


(4) The Ghost Writer

 Roman Polanski's best thriller in years had the taut, tense, irresistibly grim mood we have come to expect from the director of Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby. The atmosphere is that of dread and the dark, unknown mysteries that lie around every corner. Nothing that happens is expected, which makes this one hell of a political thriller (loosely based on Tony Blair's stay as British prime minister).


(5) Un Prophete

This French import is the best gangster movie since Scorsese's The Departed. An angry, muscled look at the French prison system and the imprisoned Mobster that controls every move and word uttered in the cells, up until an Arabic inmate shows up and changes things around. An overlong but madly fascinating movie.


(6) Inception

A madly ambitious story, director Christopher Nolan's follow-up to The Dark Knight was concerned with the metaphysics of dreams. For close to two and a half hours, we got ideas spun at us faster than a spinning totem and were forced to re-watch it to better understand Nolan's creative world. the final image will surely become one of the great ones in movie history.

 
(7) Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich) 

 Toy Story 3's brilliance lies in its dreamy images of a darkened toy world and our main protagonist having the choice of growing up or staying young. Its themes are adult and its images match those very themes. A special gift wrapped on the outside with vibrant colors that pop out and stun your eyes but layered in the deep inside with a darkness that cannot be shaken.



(8) Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos) 

 Director Lanthimos is an absurdist and he has made an absurdly brilliant film. You have to see it to believe it here. This is way too hard to explain but suffice to say that this is as truthful a depiction of dictatorship as we'll ever get in modern cinema. Except the dictatorship here is happening at a family home. Lots of divisive, opinionated debate surrounding this one but as you can see I dug it quite a bit.


(9) Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)

Arnold spotted Katie Jarvis at a train station after drawing a blank with casting agencies. "She was on one platform arguing with her boyfriend on another platform, giving him grief." However the performance is achieved, Jarvis is electrifying. If Arnold wanted a 'real' person for the role, this seventeen-year-old takes over the screen with raw adolescent power. Fish Tank will lift you out of your seat and on an unstoppable flight, ricocheting against confines of circumstance and imploding a dysfunctional family with its head of hormonal steam.


(10) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik) 

Debra Granik's second feature film Winter's Bone is the kind of movie that gets progressively better & better as you delve deeper and deeper on it. It is filled with humane, real characterizations of a society that is rooted in evil and people that have lost all hope in life and succumbed to shadiness & drug dealing. There are memorable scenes that linger.


11. You Don't Know Jack, Barry Levinson

12. 127 Hours, Danny Boyle

13. I'm Still Here, Casey Affleck

14. Le Illusioniste, Sylvain Chomet

15.  The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko

16. Cyrus, Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass

17. How To Train Your Dragon, Dean Deblois, Chris Sanders

18. Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn

19. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Niels Arden Oplev
19. The Girl Who Played With Fire, Daniel Alfredson

20. Salt, Phillip Noyce