Best Films of 2008 - Page 3

It was very good... for a superhero summer movie. Some parts did not make sense, and I say this as someone who follows comics/graphic novels. Like the scene in the hospital between the Joker and Harvey Dent. No matter what the Joker had to say, Dent would've killed him then and there. The TwoFace psychosis just doesn't work quite that way. Also, the over-the-top 'Batman' voice that Christian Bale was using? Ridiculous. DK is one of those movies where you leave the theater going "Wow", and then a few hours later you think about it, and it doesn't seem quite as good. I will say that the endgame with the ships was very clever, and that Heath Ledger did a far better job as the Joker than Jack Nicholson ever thought of doing. R.I.P., Mr. Ledger.

I'd seriously question the intelligence and cultural upbringing of anyone who leaves Dark Knight and says "Wow" in a positive way.

It's not that hard, actually. You just have to have an appreciation for comic book heroes (and Batman is probably in the top three of all-time most popular comic book heroes), buy into the 'event movie' hype a bit, and be impressed by the fact that it was better than most superhero movies. It's not the best superhero movie ever- that distinction probably goes to Spider-Man 2, which really captured the spirit of that character, successfully humanized him, and is a movie you can enjoy even if you DON'T like superheroes- but it was very competent for what it was. I do agree that DK had no business pulling down $530 million in the US alone. That's crazy. There really isn't enough in there of such quality or resonance to cause that. But it happened. Thing is, there's better source material to mine out there in hero- and graphic novel-land. The Watchmen is coming out in March, if that's done well it should be 10x better than DK. But it may a bit too cerebral and 'weird' for some, so it probably won't do near as well at the box office. Btw, before anyone tries to pigeonhole me as some sort of cultural cretin, I have an English degree from a good university, and read 'serious' literature all the time. What a lot of cultured, well-read ppl fail to understand is that some very good authors have been using the comic book and graphic novel genres to tell very interesting and complex stories for some time now, stories that can even stand up to good lit on occasion. But the old school snob factor prevents some from recognizing that.

Another vote for "Man on Wire."

I'd add "Tell No One" to the list. Really a fantastic movie. Highly recommended.

We get it, you didn't like the movie, but do you really have to be an ass about it?

Is Spiderman 2 the one where he dances in a jazz club? I saw the first one and whichever one has him dancing in a Jazz club. I am quite confident in saying that that is probably the worst scene in all of cinema. All time, all genres.

Nope. That was Spidey 3, which was not good. The Spider-Man series has been odd. First one was ok at best, second was very good, third was not good.

Spider Man 2 is in no way better than the Dark Knight. The Dark Knight (and hopefully Watchmen) are good because they show the negative consequences of a superhero; ie: that villians are actually drawn to Gotham becuase of Batman. It's a very mature and sophisticated take on the genre instead of 'batman good, penguin EVILLLL'

Edit: Also, the Twoface psychosis is born not becuase he's burned, but becuase the odds were 50/50 that he would be saved or that the girl would be..

I liked Dark Knight. I loved Spider Man 2. Again, DK is just one of those movies that sort of overwhelms you by sheer force of spectacle (and some very good acting by Heath Ledger). But once you leave the theater, you realize it isn't quite as good as it seemed. In fact, if you're cynical or don't like the superhero genre, you think that while you're watching it. Watchmen, if it's true to the graphic novel, will be nothing like Dark Knight. DK was sort of a terrorism/post-9/11 parable in many ways. Watchmen is really hard to describe, but is basically an alternate history of the world... Nixon's still president in the '80s, for example, and the Cold War is about to go nuclear and destroy the world. I guess you could say that they're both political statements, but they are very, very different political statements. DK is a movie whose underlying message conservatives might tend to like, while Watchmen might be a movie that liberals/progressives will like. Though the ending is totally twisted.

the brevity of two-face was the worst thing about dark knight. needed more harvey.

I agree. I think the biggest mistake TDK made was falling into the sequel trap of assuming you need more villains than the movie that came before . Hopefully they will remedy this when they make the third one. One well-done villain is better than two mediocre villains, or in TDK's case, one really good villain, and then trying to tack another potentially great villain onto the end and never actually allowing the audience to see or revel in Dent's psychosis. I wouldn't mind if they made Bruce Wayne fight someone as formidable and evil in the business world while simultaneously trying to fight some "super" villain. That might be an interesting dichotomy that's never really been explored - but if Batman 3 has three damn supervillains in it I'll probably tear my hair out. Formula = broken!

+1


I'm looking forward to Gran Torino.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons was pretty good.

Absolutely terribly wrong. Heath Ledger was too human. The only thing that made him better was the script -- Nicholson played the classic Joker from Batman before the characters all changed when the comic took on a dark, more mature feel and was changed to The Dark Knight. In terms of acting, Nicholson was still beyond Ledger. Ledger was fortunate enough to play the better Joker character.

well, that and the implausibility of two men willing to give it all up for maggie gylenhaal

Although she is quite plain, she is a much better actrice than that one before, who talks out the side of her mouth.