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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 0:40:42 GMT -5
Post by doo doo on Nov 7, 2008 0:40:42 GMT -5
I feel the same way. Ledger's take on Joker was a notch above ok, a notch above what is considered acceptable in my book. but at the same time far from fucking all that. they still would have made a shit ton of cash with him alive but his death definitely clinched it. just like Cohaagen said, it was ultra pretentious but at the same time just so fucking cheesy. what about when the Bat Bike was going so fast that when he tried to stop it he flipped off the wall! LIKE OMGZ! and this shit was hilarious. The Dark Knight as a whole was mega-pretentious I thought, especially all that shit Big Mo Slater's poor brother had to read out (without laughing) at the end whilst we got an over-the-shoulder shot of Christian Bale swishing off into the night with his arse cheek implants, possibly to punch his mother before she leaves the hotel room. he only hits her because he loves her, duh!
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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 7:08:52 GMT -5
Post by Cohaagen on Nov 7, 2008 7:08:52 GMT -5
Doodoo's right. And here's something else I want to add.
Predator is a far more intelligent action film than Dark Knight. I am not joking.
The point Predator makes, which is a good and serious one, is that it opens with a squad of cocky, heavily armed mercenaries who annihilate all these poor bandana'd mountain guerillas. We get lots of shots fetishising weaponry, even to the point of an ex-wrestler lugging about a handheld minigun and the scene where they unload into the forest after Blaine's death which is really just gun-porn. Gradually they are stripped of their arms (literally in the case of Apollo Creed) until the Oak is seen leaping alone about the jungle semi-naked, covered in mud, trying to kill the alien with homemade spears. The final scene underlines it completely, with Schwarzenegger finally reduced to trying to bash the Predators head in with a big rock. It's really, really, well done.
At no point does it call attention to this, which is the big difference between contemporary movies and those made 10+ years ago. Predator was happy to masquerade as a shitheaded action film and let those ready to "get it" do it in their own time. TDK flails around in its attempt to make sure no one in the world is equivocal about its suuuupreme artistic worth. That's why we get the self-serious hokey pretentious voiceover at the end.
I don't think I'm being a sophist about this. I'm not one to rush around trying to find subtext in mundane things, and I am very much against interpretation of art in most cases. With Predator though, McTiernan was really underlining it in red ink with the minigun>stalking terror>bashing-your-head-in-with-a-rock progression.
Of course, Predator will never get the same recognition as Robocop or even The Dark Knight because critics are totally incapable of holding at the same time the only slightly disparate views that you can have a movie where Strudel cracks one liners and which makes a serious point also.
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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 8:26:49 GMT -5
Post by Colonel John Matrix on Nov 7, 2008 8:26:49 GMT -5
To be honest with you Cohaagen, any action movie subtext that is more complicated than "America good, Commies bad" (e.g. Rocky IV) just goes right over my head.
Predator doesn't have any Commies in it, but at least The Dark Knight had one Commie...the wee Chinese guy that Batman kidnapped. Obviously TDK is trying to say that Batman > Communism. Or something. Pretty deep, man...pretty fucking deep.
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Wildey
David Bradley
53% New Footage
Posts: 375
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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 8:43:18 GMT -5
Post by Wildey on Nov 7, 2008 8:43:18 GMT -5
Dargo > Batman Danko > Batman Flawed theory at best. Can't say I was too impressed with Brokeback to be honest. Not a big fan of the "meaningful" silences/pauses school of acting. To me that's not great acting, that's being "the other one" is a synthpop duo. Where's Chris Lowe's Oscar?
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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 9:08:35 GMT -5
Post by Cohaagen on Nov 7, 2008 9:08:35 GMT -5
Robbed at the Oscars. By the way, I would definitely have a crack at that black bird up there. Nice swan-like neck.
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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 13:29:29 GMT -5
Post by Colonel John Matrix on Nov 7, 2008 13:29:29 GMT -5
Can't say I was too impressed with Brokeback to be honest. Not a big fan of the "meaningful" silences/pauses school of acting. To me that's not great acting You obviously like your actors to play loud, extroverted homosexuals then?
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Wildey
David Bradley
53% New Footage
Posts: 375
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Batman
Nov 7, 2008 14:08:40 GMT -5
Post by Wildey on Nov 7, 2008 14:08:40 GMT -5
Yes. Rock stars too.
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Batman
Nov 11, 2008 22:17:44 GMT -5
Post by Jeff Goldblum on Nov 11, 2008 22:17:44 GMT -5
Regarding The Dark Knight... I'm just glad I grew up in the 1980's and 1990's. If I had had to grow up with the cinema of this current decade, I probably wouldn't be much of a movie buff.
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Batman
Nov 26, 2008 1:41:56 GMT -5
Post by doo doo on Nov 26, 2008 1:41:56 GMT -5
is it just me or does The Dark Knight seem like a Michael Mann film? the tunnel chase made me think of James Cameron. but it's still a decent movie.
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Batman
Dec 13, 2008 14:14:50 GMT -5
Post by MacReady on Dec 13, 2008 14:14:50 GMT -5
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Batman
Dec 14, 2008 19:42:03 GMT -5
Post by Kimble on Dec 14, 2008 19:42:03 GMT -5
I just finished watching this & thought it was great.
Christian Bale gave us another great performance as Batman but the way he changed his voice made me laugh. I know he was doing so to hide his true voice so people wouldn't match his voice up with Bruce Wayne's but he really sounded like what Clint Eastwood sounded like in the trailer for Gran Torino.
I actually really thought Ledger was good as The Joker. He really surprised me. The way he talked & his laugh were pretty well-done. I still didn't like his make-up but I thought his suits were pretty sweet.
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face was my favourite thing in the entire movie though. I just wish we would've gotten more of him. Loved the Two-Face design.
I definitely enjoyed the hell out of this.
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shaun
Jeff Speakman
Posts: 195
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Batman
Jan 18, 2009 15:29:06 GMT -5
Post by shaun on Jan 18, 2009 15:29:06 GMT -5
Agreed, he was excellent.
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Batman
Feb 24, 2009 18:00:00 GMT -5
Post by commandorulez on Feb 24, 2009 18:00:00 GMT -5
I have to agree with Cohaagen on this one. I never really thought about Predator like that before. What's interesting is the End of Days is the same way. Here you have Arnold Schwarzenegger loaded up on all kinds of firepower and guns and none of it does any good in the end. In the end only after he's been stripped of his arsenal does he use his faith to try and destroy Satan. Good call on that one.
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Tattoos
Randall "Tex" Cobb
"Someday your wise mouth is going to get your body in a lot of trouble."
Posts: 281
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Batman
Jan 17, 2012 17:18:33 GMT -5
Post by Tattoos on Jan 17, 2012 17:18:33 GMT -5
Recently stumbled across this video. I don't know if it is because I haven't seen this movie in awhile but I think this might be Arnold's entire script.
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Batman
Feb 5, 2012 17:05:42 GMT -5
Post by CaptainFreedom on Feb 5, 2012 17:05:42 GMT -5
Michael Keaton and Adam West all the way! Returns may not be as good as Batman (1989) but I have always liked the dark humor and atmosphere it has. Penguin scared the shit out of me as a kid and yet he was hilarious. "Let's make a Mayor!" Its a real shame that Keaton didn't get more screen time as Bruce Wayne, cause I think he did a great job portraying him as a loner who just sat in the dark awaiting for the next crime to happen, instead of enjoying being a wealthy playboy.
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