Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I went to Hollywood last night and rented "The Dark Knight", "Iron Man", "The Women" and "The Mummy 3". I picked up a pizza and headed home. I ate. I chatted on Facebook with my old friend Willie. I had some wine. I started burning discs for Mollie. I settled in and watched "The Dark Knight".

Now anyone who's heard me talk about "Batman Begins" knows that I don't like that film, and that I find it impossible to understand how others enjoy it. I saw it in the theater with my best friend Mollie, and we were both unimpressed. It's just bad. The direction is bad. The actions scenes are either a confusing mess (in the first part of the film), or so over the top (in the 2nd part of the film) that I almost felt I was rewatching "Batman & Robin". The 'love story' was horribly written. Katie Holms took a lot of flak for this as she played the love interest, but really she's hardly in the movie and her storyline just wasn't told or written very well. She could have fucked it up; she just wasn't given a chance too. And for the first time, seeing a Batman movie, I questioned why anyone would be afraid of someone dressed as a freaking Bat? Why aren't they laughing I asked myself.

Last year I re-rented "Batman Begins" because I wanted to give it another chance. I wanted to like it. Why? Because I worked in a video store, and the way people praised that film...and the friends that I made there that loved that movie...I just felt like the odd one out. I thought maybe I'd been too harsh or something; maybe the print of the movie I'd seen in the theater was bad or something. Well I did like the film more the 2nd time, but not by much. The thing about watching it a 2nd time was that I realized what bothered me about it. The first half of "Batman Begins" (horribly edited as it is) feels very real (for a Batman movie) and then in the 2nd half of the film he becomes this comic book character in what has been built up as a very real world before the film explodes with a comic book ending. Previous Batman films were based in a very fantasy like setting so having a guy dressed like Batman didn't really seem that odd, but when it's set up as reality...having a guy dressed like a bat just seems really silly. The acting in the film is fine; it's just the choices made in the film that I find hard to take seriously. Anyways - I enjoyed the film more the 2nd time, and though it didn't make me embrace the film as so many others have, it did help me understand why I didn't enjoy it.

And so "The Dark Knight" was never a priority for me. The people who made "Batman Begins" made this film. And since I knew that, I was not thrilled to see this movie. Even after hearing the heaps and heaps of praise thrown at the film, and hearing about awards and the boxoffice - that was all muted, when the people praising the film then mentioned how cool the first movie was. Ick. But I've wanted to see it for some time now, just so I could get that out of the way. And last night I did.

"The Dark Knight" is the best Batman movie I've ever seen. It was a HUGE improvement over the first film, in almost every way. I wouldn't call it a superhero movie, because it really doesn't feel like one; it feels more like James Bond...only with a much better story than James Bond has ever gotten. The movie has balls. The movie has GREAT performances; Heath Ledger's Golden Globe win for supporting actor wasn't a sympathy vote. This was the first Batman story that ever made me afraid of The Joker. Two-Face was also given the best treatment I've seen of the character. Though for my money, Christian Bale's Batman will always come in 2nd to Kevin Conroy's Animated Batman. Is the movie perfect? No. There are plot holes (The Joker's plans are far too on the money; how did Two-Face get out of the car crash unscathed), and some weak moments (the love story was better served here, but not by much; Gordon's speech at the end could have been better) that recall the first film's problems, but these moments are surrounded by brilliance. Is it worthy of Best Picture? I guess it depends on the competition. Is it worth seeing? Yes. It is.

After "The Dark Knight" I started watching "Prince Caspian" (which is due back today), but I was really tired, and kind of tipsy from the wine, so I went to bed. I had a series of strange dreams. The Joker made an appearance. And some of the scenes were quite nightmarish, but I was fine with them. In one of the earlier dreams I went over to Shawn Foreman's new apartment, and it turned out he was now living on Mooreville Road (the street I grew up on), and the apartment complex was next to the cemetary, in a spot with this cool house I've always wanted to see the inside of, and I actually said to Shawn that I've always wanted to see the inside of these apartments. lol.

I woke up from that series of dreams around 9am. Pissed. Told Mark that I probably wouldn't get to see 'Prince Caspian' as I was still tired. He said that he didn't have to leave for work until 1pm. I said I was still tired and went back to bed.

More strange dreams.

I dreamt mostly about Mark in this one. We were living in our old apartment, only it was now also located in Mooreville, where my Aunt Marg's house is. I had been thinking about her back yard the other day, and how I used to love playing over there...and how I never just walk over there when I visit my relatives; I should do that next time. Anyways - it showed up in my dreams. Also the other day, Mark asked me how Shawn & Jonathan are doing and if they're still together, which I did, giving him all the new info I had, which explains maybe why Shawn was in my previous dream, and why he showed up again here. In this dream, Mark was talking to Shawn on the phone, and I came over to listen in on their conversation, and it became the oddest vision. You know, how in movies or tv shows they will show 2 people on the phone in separate locations, but it will be split screen and you can see them both? When I listened in it was like we were all in split screen; we could all see each other (me & Mark, Shawn & Jonathan). It was so weird. And while I was seeing them in their apartment, which was still up the road in this dream, it was also FAR away in their new digs. It made perfect sense in my dream. Shawn was naked from the waste down, but was lying on his stomach on the floor. He was talking about something sexual to Mark, but I got sidetracked looking up at Jonathan, who was working on a video editing project (which I remember thinking that was a strange assignment for an RN to have to do), and he was naked from the waste down too (well his underwear was around his knees) but he wasn't facing me. I was gonna compliment his ass, which he'd obviously been working on, but I didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. In a way, the dream wasn't sexual at all; it was the height of casual. It was like me and Mark hanging out naked, which we do all the time, and it's not sexual. It just is what it is. I woke up about that time...which was 12 noon.

Then I wrote this, while taking breaks to answer e-mail; myspace and facebook comments.

2 Days Until BSG: 4.5! :0)

   posted by Bald Jason at 01:10 PM
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