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The OFFICIAL The Dark Knight thread


Beowulf

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well you might want to miss the soundtrack, especially track #21 The Noble Death of the Joker.

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sorry but I haven't a clue how, but I'll white it out instead

btw, has anyone ever watched "Intervention", you see all those meth addicts chewing their tongues or grinding their teeth, Ledger either imitated that or something. It creeped the heck out of me.

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Ledger was good, but I really think all of this Oscar talk is ridiculous and only happening because of his death. If he was still with us, this performance would have been appreciated but not to the extent that people are raving about it.

As we were leaving the theater, my friend brought up the Oscar nod talk for Ledger and I basically said what Neil here said. We made a wager on whether or not Heath will land a nom for this role, the loser treats the winner to a pair of movie tickets. I'm looking forward to my free movie tickets come January.

The Academy will nominate Ledger, if only for his untimely death (although I think his performance was definetly Oscar worthy).

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why, I often am, I have been even to you, and I rarely give out spoilers, I do make fake ones up, but rarely do I try on purpose to spoil anyone's first viewing.

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The Academy will nominate Ledger, if only for his untimely death (although I think his performance was definetly Oscar worthy).

I'm afraid that if and when Ledger is nominated people will think it's only out of sympathy, because I really do believe that he is deserving. On the other hand, it could also work against him getting nominated (or possibly winning).

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you may be right, but at some point, though not soon most people will forget if TDK came before or after Ledgers death, as he will fade from the spotlite

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Saw it this morning (wasn't crowded at all, thank God)... unfortunately, the man behind me had body odor. It worked well during the Joker scenes... sort of a Smell-O-Vision effect.... anyways, it's better than "Batman Begins," and Ledger did a great job of making the Joker seem unpredictable and dangerous.

The pacing is a bit uneven, but still a great movie.

And the Watchmen trailer to boot!

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I didn't have any new trailers on my screening, probably because it was the midnight showing. I saw Watchmen and Terminator online though, both look horrendous.

Well Terminator just started shooting in the end of May, so you really can't judge based on a month and change of shooting. As for Watchmen, either you've never read the book or just have bad taste, but it looks like Synder really understands the book.

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Terminator is a needless exercise and besides John Conner gets killed and is replaced by a terminator programmed to be good. How friggin lame. Terminator and Terminator 2, all the rest is waste.

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I wanted to stand up and boo the trailer to Terminator 4 because I had seen it that day online and recognized the Bale narration, but I showed up ten minutes before the showtime so I was stuck in the very front row in the corner of the theatre, and didn't feel like being a target for half eaten containers of Milk Duds and popcorn. So I bit my tongue. The continued Terminator movies completely undermines everything Arnold and friends fought for in T2. I realize that the future is vast, and so it could offer numerous starting points to make ventures into the past to kill John Connor, but give it a rest already.

I also saw the trailers to 007 QoS which looks good, and some Crowe/DiCaprio movie which I forget about already.

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Well you know Hollywood, they will milk a franchise to death as long as there's an audience.

Well, if there's an audience, then people are enjoying the films.

indy4 - who has never seen any Terminator films

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As for Watchmen, either you've never read the book or just have bad taste, but it looks like Synder really understands the book.

Did he understand 300 as well? It's f*cking Zach Snyder which means it's automatically sh*t. Expect 40 minutes of it to be in slow motion.

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His Watchmen looks very superficial, and that's the total opposite of what the comic is about.

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For the record, I do think he nailed 300. Was there too much slow-motion? Eh, I think the slow-down/speed-up style fit the film . . . although I can't tell if they just did it for the Watchmen trailer or if he's using that style as well.

As far as Watchmen goes, I think there's a fairly good article in Entertainment Weekly that sums up Snyder's feelings about why he's making the movie. As for looking superficial . . . I agree. Although I can't tell if that will hinder the movie or benefit it yet. The movie was going to get made regardless and I'm fine with Snyder at the helm. Hell, I'm even looking forward to it. From what I've read he's made some right decisions and according to him, the versions we almost saw were going to stray from the story too much.

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I think with 300, there's not really a lot to understand. As much as I love it, it's not Miller's deepest work by a long, long way. Watchmen, however... that's a different kettle of fish altogether.

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I watched The Dark Knight last night, and had probably only heard about 30 seconds or so of the music before-hand, and absolutely none of the Joker's theme. As far as the Jaws comparison, the Joker's theme on-screen does not compare to the Jaws theme on-album. I have never watched Jaws all the way through, pretty much only clips and previews, but there is absolutely no comparison.

What is interesting about the 'theme', though, is that Zimmer is better than I thought at sound-design. I think perhaps he should change his title from composer to sound-designer, and just have more of a musical sensibility in his sound design. Then hire a different composer to compose the actual score. I think that could have worked very well for this movie, with Zimmer doing the sound design (Joker's theme) and James Newton Howard doing the score. Because it is a stretch to call the Joker's theme music, Zimmer could have collaberated it tonally with the actual music, and it is possible other quirky thematic sound-design possibilities could have opened up.

Just some thoughts.

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Well I;m back from my Wednesday IMAX screening

I'm in line with Joe and Neil on this one for my overall impression.Yes ,Ledger is great,but I already forgot the rest of the movie ,or it seems very jumbled in my mind right now. The movie itself seemed to lack a structure ,maybe that's it.

The score hurt the movie more than just beeing merely functional .There is nothing in this music,it just blends in with the car noises and explosions ,and just adds to the cacophony.

do I really want to sit through it a second time? not sure.

oh ,and what was the deal with the Scarecrow?

and why wasn't there any blood and gore in this film? Isn't blood allowed in PG-13?It was annoying the way the camera cut off everytime someone got injured or killed.

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and why wasn't there any blood and gore in this film? Isn't blood allowed in PG-13?It was annoying the way the camera cut off everytime someone got injured or killed.

I, for one, probably cringed quite a bit more without the gore, than if it had it. It has been a while since a movie has done such a good job of giving the same feeling, without artlessly showing gore. I much prefer the tastefullness of how it was handled. Any second rate film can show blood. But it takes skill to bring about the same cringes without blatantly showing it on-screen, and, if done right, is far more effective.

That said, I do not think this movie deserves to take the place of Wall-e as best movie of the year so far.

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Agreed. The "Why so serious?" scene particularly was more about the buildup than the kill I thought--it was a very tense scene.

And what do you mean what's the deal with Scarecrow, Mark?

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And what do you mean what's the deal with Scarecrow, Mark?

what was he doing there,why did Batman let him go? I got a bit distracted..

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What is interesting about the 'theme', though, is that Zimmer is better than I thought at sound-design. I think perhaps he should change his title from composer to sound-designer, and just have more of a musical sensibility in his sound design. Then hire a different composer to compose the actual score. I think that could have worked very well for this movie, with Zimmer doing the sound design (Joker's theme) and James Newton Howard doing the score. Because it is a stretch to call the Joker's theme music, Zimmer could have collaberated it tonally with the actual music, and it is possible other quirky thematic sound-design possibilities could have opened up.

Just some thoughts.

I really agree with this statement. Musically, Zimmer was very timid to really develop anything thematic in the film- perhaps out of valid reasons, I don't know. But yeah- All he really does to add to the picture is insert the 2-note horn swell about every three minutes, throw some aggressive short bow strings in, and mix it all together. The siren-like Joker idea was probably the best thing he contributed to the film. JNH could have done more thematically, I assume, even if pressed to rely upon Zimmer's sound.

That's where all of this is going, anyway. Zimmer created a very formulaic sound, along with a few other guys, and it's one that isn't difficult to pick up. And because it is currently desired, other composers will eventually emerge with their own spin on the sound, but will also create more, and perhaps, stronger themes. It's already happening, but on a smaller scale.

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I saw the movie a few hours ago and I'm still stunned. As a lifelong Batman and movie fan, I can say in all honesty this is a movie I was waiting all my life for. Absolutely fantastic and unrelenting, one of the ages.

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My inital feelings can be summed up by the fact that I was unable to speak when I walked out of the cinema.

It's way too early for the masterpiece tag to be thrown around, but this film is incredible. Time will tell how good it really is, but I was stunned.

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we came out stunned too, but we were underwhelmed. While both of us really like it, it failed to live up to the hype.

*** out of ****

the more I think about it the more I think Eckhart was the star, sad but Bale was overshadowed by Eckhart, Ledger, Caine, Freeman, and Oldman.

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I was overwhelmed, I think. Sensory overload (that's my pretentious way of saying "geekgasm"). My wife and I were just repeatedly saying "oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god" for about ten minutes after.

we came out stunned too, but we were underwhelmed. While both of us really like it, it failed to live up to the hype.

*** out of ****

the more I think about it the more I think Eckhart was the star, sad but Bale was overshadowed by Eckhart, Ledger, Caine, Freeman, and Oldman.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't see him as overshadowed. I think (like HEAT, which it clearly owes a debt to) it's a fine ensemble piece, and I never saw anyone as anything other than the character. There was no Bale, Ledger, Eckhart, etc. There was just Batman, Joker, Harvey. I agree that Eckhart was incredible, a real dark horse, and I love what they did with him.

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we came out stunned too, but we were underwhelmed. While both of us really like it, it failed to live up to the hype.

*** out of ****

the more I think about it the more I think Eckhart was the star, sad but Bale was overshadowed by Eckhart, Ledger, Caine, Freeman, and Oldman.

I think i was stunned that I was underwhelmed. It, by far, failed to live up to the hype. Heath deserves every ounce of credit he's getting for this film because he's just that good. In fact, he's the best thing about the movie by far. I kept waiting for him to show up because the movie came alive when he was on the screen.

I enjoyed Batman Begins because there was a story behind the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman. This movie had too much going on and takes itself far too seriously.

Unfortunately, ever since I came out of the theater a week ago with my Batman shirt on, I haven't been able to shake this feeling that all the fanboys should give this film 5 years and see how they feel about it. I can't help but think that it won't be as highly regarded as it is today. Good? yes. Very good? Maybe. The best comic book movie ever? Not a chance in hell. As I said in another thread, anyone who says that was born after 1978 or never saw Superman: The Movie. Hell, even Iron Man was more enjoyable.

I would agree that it's 3 stars...but I might say out of 5 instead of 4.

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yes,that's how I feel about it too.

I also didn't care whatsoever about the fate of certain characters ,a sure sign I was completely disconnected emotionally from the film.

The action scenes were also hard to follow and get a clear overall picture of what was going on.

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yes,that's how I feel about it too.

I also didn't care whatsoever about the fate of certain characters ,a sure sign I was completely disconnected emotionally from the film.

The action scenes were also hard to follow and get a clear overall picture of what was going on.

That was my problem. I was completely emotionally unconnected to the movie. I didn't care if anyone (aside from the Joker) lived or died.

It may be a well made film to some, but if you don't connect with the audience on some level other than simply an artistic one, the movie doesn't do its job.

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