Movie Reviews

First up - The Dark Knight. We saw this on a Monday night at the IMAX and there were not that many people in the theater, which is how I like it. So, optimal experience for the film, in my opinion. Also, if you haven't heard all the hype, you must be pretty focused on the election and I'd advise you to re-prioritize your life. (Work in a little escape time.) That being said, maybe the Dark Knight isn't the best choice.

The central point of the movie is that good needs evil and evil needs good to validate each other. One step further, the Joker basically represents "terrorists" and Batman allegorically represents a government, let's say. Are all the choices the government makes to take down the terrorists good choices? Probably not. I suppose the biggest difference with the allegorical government (Batman) and the real government (The Decider) is that Batman seems to have a nagging conscience.

Anyhow, the movie itself is visually gorgeous. I take a little issue with the bat bike (wide tires are a poor choice if you know anything about bikes) and I do not find Maggie Gyllenhal attractive, so that whole connection is lost. Also, and I have no reasonable explanation for this, but I have never liked Gary Oldman in any of his roles. This is no exception. He seems like a mechanical actor - not natural. On the flip side, Aaron Eckhart was great as Harvey Dent. One more thing, should the Dark Knight have a lisp?

Ledger's performance was good, but I don't know about "Oscar-worthy". Also, the face paint ended at his chin. They did such a careful job of making his face messed up, then he has smooth clear skin under his collar - that was a major oversight. Probably not the biggest deal on DVD, but at the IMAX...

Bottom line - it was good, but I really would have liked to see Iron Man at the IMAX to compare. I liked both movies, not sure which I liked better.
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Second - Pineapple Express. Yikes. Here's my impression of the discussion between James Franco, Seth Rogan, and Judd Apatow:

SR: Judd, how much can we get for a movie?
JA: What kind of movie is it?
SR: Well, it's not written yet, but it's a buddy pic.
JF: Yeah, best friends who smoke pot and witness a murder.
SR: Yeah, yeah - and the murderer comes after them and there's an epic shootout at the end!
JA: $30 million based on your collective celebrity status.
SR: Nice. We can make it 90% dialog until the end, then spend all the money on special effects for the epic shootout.
JF: ...and tons of weed.
SR: Oh yeah, definitely weed. Lots of weed.
JA: Sounds good. Just make sure you save me some of that weed. Oh, and make at least three funny scenes that we can cut into a trailer.
SR: Got it.

Chris: wait for the rental, if that.