The Dark Knight Megathread (USE THIS! Love, the mods)

[Lapis Exilis]

Here's a little real Hollywood moment.

So, five minutes ago I'm eating lunch on Wilshire Blvd, quietly reading my copy of The Enchantress of Florence (Salman Rusdie - brilliant, I can't recommend it enough). Two guys sit down next to me and one begins to pitch to the other one a project based on 5 pilots Gene Roddenberry wrote that were filmed in the 1970s. My ears perk up of course (bear with me, this is TDK related). I'm amused to be listening to this guy going on about how this is the next hot thing and he says, "The Star Trek franchise is about to be reinvigorated just like the Batman franchise. Oh, saw Dark Knight last night."

"The hype does not begin to do it justice. This is the best adaptation of a comic book property ever to hit the screen, and I'm including Dick Donner's Superman in that." He was reviewing the film in detail and after a minute or two I left because I knew he was going to drop a spoiler any second.

So that's the word from the LA streets, my friends.

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
Well crap what was the Gene Roddenberry rejected pilots idea he had. I'm curious about that now!

 

[TheBrew]

Here's a little real Hollywood moment.

So, five minutes ago I'm eating lunch on Wilshire Blvd, quietly reading my copy of The Enchantress of Florence (Salman Rusdie - brilliant, I can't recommend it enough). Two guys sit down next to me and one begins to pitch to the other one a project based on 5 pilots Gene Roddenberry wrote that were filmed in the 1970s. My ears perk up of course (bear with me, this is TDK related). I'm amused to be listening to this guy going on about how this is the next hot thing and he says, "The Star Trek franchise is about to be reinvigorated just like the Batman franchise. Oh, saw Dark Knight last night."

"The hype does not begin to do it justice. This is the best adaptation of a comic book property ever to hit the screen, and I'm including Dick Donner's Superman in that." He was reviewing the film in detail and after a minute or two I left because I knew he was going to drop a spoiler any second.

So that's the word from the LA streets, my friends.

That's good news for both Batman and Star Trek. What do we call STII then? "The Grey Lady?"

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Eh, I'm not sure the guy actually knew anything about Trek 11 - he was trying to sell the other man on getting involved in these Roddenberrry projects after all. so he was bound to sound like he was sure Trek was on the edge of a Renaissance. But I was a little stunned to hear him say that the hype didn't do TDK justice. I mean, it's a lot of hype - and this was from a guy who obviously was looking at things from a movie perspective, not a fan's perspective.

 

[Captain Craig]

Yet another TDK piece from EW.

But in The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's ominously labyrinthine and exciting sequel to Batman Begins, good and evil aren't just separate forces — at times, they're a whisper away from each other — and the movie exudes a predatory glamour that makes the comic-book films that have come before it look all the more like kid stuff. The Dark Knight is jammed with thorny underworld conspiracies, obscenely oversize tank-cars, and action scenes that teeter madly out of control, all blanketed by the psycho-anarchic musings of a villain so warped he turns crime into a contest of Can you top this?

 

[Emher]

Am I the only one NOT dying to see this in IMAX? I think the format is great for nature documentaries and such. But any time I try to watch a traditional movie in IMAX (like AOTC or SR) I've found it almost impossible to follow all the frenetic action happening on screen.

Hell, Nolan's action scenes are probably going to be hard to follow on a standard size screen, let alone on a gigantic IMAX screen.

I haven't seen a feature film in IMAX since we only have one IMAX theater in Sweden, and it's run a by a museum who only shows documentaries...that are ALL dubbed into Swedish. Yes, they're idiots.

Anyways I don't really think I'd make a habit out of seeing films in IMAX even if I could. I'm a very traditonal guy when it comes to cinema. Just give me a big ol screen, prefferable in 2.35:1, a nice seat and some popcorn and I'm ready to go! Oh and some DTS sound with that

But yeah Nolan is pretty bad at shooting action...I'm hoping he's improved with this movie.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Here are a some interviews...

Gary Oldman on The View (July 14, 2008)
Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman on The View, Part 1 (July 15, 2008)
Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman on The View, Part 2 (July 15, 2008)

 

[mr.peany]

I see this in all its wonderful IMAX glory in less than 2 hours. Better live up to stupidly high expectations...

 

[Frontier]

*Nearing point of implosion from excitement!!!!!*

54 hours to go for me!!!

 

[Aragorn]

I don't know what you guys are wetting yourself over. I've already seen The Caped Crusader, the 2011 third installment of the Nolan trilogy starring Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face, Johnny Depp as Riddler and James Woods as Rupert Thorne.

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
I hear Depp's performance is brilliant. It makes his Jack Sparrow look like Dora the Explorer by comparison.

 

[nx1701g]

Hmm.

Quint's review at AICN states that TDK is not really The Batman's movie, and says it belongs to more to Dent and the Joker.

That's disappointing to hear. I had enough villain-centric films in the last Batman franchise.

I will remain open-minded, of course...

\S/

Then again though I don't think that people would want a movie where Batman is around too much. We had those - they became Batman Forever and Batman & Robin...

 

[mr.peany]

Hmm.

Quint's review at AICN states that TDK is not really The Batman's movie, and says it belongs to more to Dent and the Joker.

That's disappointing to hear. I had enough villain-centric films in the last Batman franchise.

I will remain open-minded, of course...

\S/

Then again though I don't think that people would want a movie where Batman is around too much. We had those - they became Batman Forever and Batman & Robin...

You say that as if its a bad thing...

 

[nx1701g]

Hmm.

Quint's review at AICN states that TDK is not really The Batman's movie, and says it belongs to more to Dent and the Joker.

That's disappointing to hear. I had enough villain-centric films in the last Batman franchise.

I will remain open-minded, of course...

\S/

Then again though I don't think that people would want a movie where Batman is around too much. We had those - they became Batman Forever and Batman & Robin...

You say that as if its a bad thing...

More like the Four Horsemen coming... I for one am glad Batman isn't all over The Dark Knight. It adds to his mythic quality.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Hmm.

Quint's review at AICN states that TDK is not really The Batman's movie, and says it belongs to more to Dent and the Joker.

That's disappointing to hear. I had enough villain-centric films in the last Batman franchise.

I will remain open-minded, of course...

\S/

What I heard (I think in the Roeper/ Phillips review on At the Movies) is that it is a real ensemble piece. That's somewhat different from villain-centric. They said everyone gets their moment, and made mention in particular of Oldman's Jim Gordon. Well, Jim Gordon has been criminally underutilized until now in Batman films, so that's a good thing in my book. One of the great strengths of Batman is the marvelous characters that populate his world. The best Batman comic ever written (in my humble opinion), Year One, focuses as much, if not more, on Gordon as on Batman. Harvey Dent is a fantastic character both before and after his transformation - which is going to have a lot more impact if we've spent some time with him. The problem with the earlier Batman films has often been summed up as too much attention on the villains, but it really has to do with a shallow treatment of all the characters, and Batman being the least realized of any of them. I'm gathering this film does not have that problem at all.

 

[Captain Craig]

Provided I get there in time, cause I know the line will be long for this one, I will be seeing this very shortly.

Can't...Focus...on...Work!

And its the IMAX version!!! OMG!

 

[Emher]

Well I got my tickets for next friday for me, my bro and sis and my cousin. This is going to be awesome.

 

[Defiant-A]

I saw the movie last night in IMAX. No spoilers here. The place was packed and the anticipation was huge. A guy dressed up as Joker did a little wrestling in the front with a guy who was wearing a Batman cowl while waiting for the movie to start. This was not rehearsed and these guys didn't come with each other, so that was pretty funny. I have to say that the Imax screen was probably only too big for the action and actors maybe... three times. As in you were like, that's huge. And I think all of the times was when it was the actual Imax sized footage, not the standard aspect ratio. Also, there was maybe only one or two times where the changing of the ratio even noticablly drew you out of the movie and made you go, whoa, that just changed a lot.

Needless to say, I am of the opinion that it should be viewed in IMAX because all of the city scapes were filmed in it and they look gorgeous. And no, even if you are super-hyped for this movie, you will not be let down at all. A truly wonderful film.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Ebert's review is, well, unsurprisingly, 4 out of 4 stars
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/REVIEWS/55996637

Which is what he gave the original film

 

[davejames]

Ebert's review is, well, unsurprisingly, 4 out of 4 stars
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/REVIEWS/55996637

Which is what he gave the original film

And, unsurprisingly, he put in a few spoilers I'd rather not know about. Arrg.