guerillagorilla
Joined Nov 2003
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guerillagorilla's rating
I used to leave a theatre after seeing a highly anticipated movie, specifically a sequel, and be so revved up about what I saw that I would declare that movie to be the best of a series. After each of the prequel "Star Wars" films, I rated that one the best, as good as any of the originals...for a time, until my opinion balanced out and I had a more well-rounded take. For that reason, I steer away from that mindset, and did for "Dark Knight".
Though my opinion is solidifying already after having seen a Warner Bros. screening last night, "Dark Knight" ably stands on its own with or without "Batman Begins". At a two and a half hour runtime, it's definitely an epic of a movie, but one that never runs out of gas. A delightful addition to this experience was a healthy amount of IMAX footage, which significantly adds to the feel of being on a personal, and gruesome, tour of Gotham City.
Christian Bale plays such a well rounded Batman and Bruce Wayne, qualities that none of those who have donned the cowl before him have pulled off. I still have to remember that Bale is British since he speaks with such a spot on American accent. Bale has a particular slurring lisp that serves him quite well, charmingly for Bruce Wayne and threateningly for Batman.
Countering him is the late Heath Ledger, who plays such a scary and creepy Joker that I found it impossible to NOT have chills half the time I saw him on screen. What really separates this brand of Joker from Jack Nicholson's portrayal is true unpredictability. It's obvious that, to be a good guy and think like the Joker, it really takes a toll, and it sure isn't easy. How exactly does one take him down when he's woven his harebrained plot around multiple hostages, explosives, or disappearing parlor tricks?
Initially, I was uneasy about how the character of Harvey Dent would be handled. In my mind, there was really only one faithful portrayal of him, and that could be found in the "Batman" animated series of the early 90s. As well as Tommy Lee Jones COULD have handled him in "Batman Forever", he certainly did not, though it still was a highlight of that movie. Aaron Eckhart ably assumes the mantle here, delivering a performance out of this world, easily on par with the Batman animated series.
Be it known, this caped avenger stands for the good of Gotham City that the police force and its counterparts can't represent, the good that has no jurisdiction, no procedures...and no rules, save for one. I can only hope that we've seen just the prelude to the Dark Knight's upcoming legendary battles with the worst of Gotham City's dark underside.
"The Dark Knight" gets a solid 10 of 10 stars.
Though my opinion is solidifying already after having seen a Warner Bros. screening last night, "Dark Knight" ably stands on its own with or without "Batman Begins". At a two and a half hour runtime, it's definitely an epic of a movie, but one that never runs out of gas. A delightful addition to this experience was a healthy amount of IMAX footage, which significantly adds to the feel of being on a personal, and gruesome, tour of Gotham City.
Christian Bale plays such a well rounded Batman and Bruce Wayne, qualities that none of those who have donned the cowl before him have pulled off. I still have to remember that Bale is British since he speaks with such a spot on American accent. Bale has a particular slurring lisp that serves him quite well, charmingly for Bruce Wayne and threateningly for Batman.
Countering him is the late Heath Ledger, who plays such a scary and creepy Joker that I found it impossible to NOT have chills half the time I saw him on screen. What really separates this brand of Joker from Jack Nicholson's portrayal is true unpredictability. It's obvious that, to be a good guy and think like the Joker, it really takes a toll, and it sure isn't easy. How exactly does one take him down when he's woven his harebrained plot around multiple hostages, explosives, or disappearing parlor tricks?
Initially, I was uneasy about how the character of Harvey Dent would be handled. In my mind, there was really only one faithful portrayal of him, and that could be found in the "Batman" animated series of the early 90s. As well as Tommy Lee Jones COULD have handled him in "Batman Forever", he certainly did not, though it still was a highlight of that movie. Aaron Eckhart ably assumes the mantle here, delivering a performance out of this world, easily on par with the Batman animated series.
Be it known, this caped avenger stands for the good of Gotham City that the police force and its counterparts can't represent, the good that has no jurisdiction, no procedures...and no rules, save for one. I can only hope that we've seen just the prelude to the Dark Knight's upcoming legendary battles with the worst of Gotham City's dark underside.
"The Dark Knight" gets a solid 10 of 10 stars.
Hybrid live-action + computer animated flicks have a quite spotty box office record. Tim Hill, the director of 2006's "Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties", knows this very well. That movie tanked domestically, just like the first "Garfield" did. The main culprit, of course, isn't the realistic looking blending of computer created characters in a live action world. It's downfall was a tepid, one-dimensional storyline pandering to only the pre-K audience.
Hopefully, Hill has learned his lesson going forth from "Alvin and the Chipmunks". What we have here is definitely no savior of the retro-saturated market of anthropomorphized rodentia movies ("Ratatouille" takes the gold for the most creative, fresh and cute rodent flick), but it's better than much of its competition.
The trio of symphonic singing chipmunks, having been displaced from their natural home in a tree in a far-away forest, find themselves in the big city, having been transported in their downed tree to the lobby of a megalomaniacal music company. Seems their home is now a fresh Christmas tree. Knowing their new digs aren't friendly to little forest creatures a fraction the size of the next largest life form, they find refuge in the muffin basket of one Dave Seville, having been rebuked by his friend-turned-multimillionaire music exec, Ian. The pairing of these octave-gifted munks with this lonely, bumbling musician provides the backbone of the movie's plot.
It's a relief to have been able to laugh along with the rest of the patronage, comprised mostly of pre-teens to freshly post-teens. Granted, I wasn't rolling in the aisles with them, a sign that I must be more critical (and yes, older) than they are. The innocent, brain-resting humor was impeded by a couple factors. Exactly how many potty & poop jokes do we need in a movie these days? By all accounts, we've been shown enough potty pranks to last us well beyond the current Writers Strike (and maybe until the 3d animation folks give the render farms a rest).
The cast of actors seems a bit wooden, too. True, it's hard to be especially convincing when they are putting on a show in front of a bunch of void space, but I couldn't help but wonder during the first 10 minutes if a giant pin-up of Jason Lee would have been more dimensional than Jason Lee himself. Due credit goes to him though, for putting in a decent performance this side of Jon (Vacant) Arbuckle. David Cross stole the show, though, for his delightfully weaselly turn as the music exec seeing too many $'s in the Chipmunks.
Overall, I'm surprised by how pleased I was when the end credits rolled. If Hollywood has taught me anything with this genre of movies, it's best to go in with very low expectations and be surprised by the lack of suckage put before me.
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" gets 6 of 10 stars.
Hopefully, Hill has learned his lesson going forth from "Alvin and the Chipmunks". What we have here is definitely no savior of the retro-saturated market of anthropomorphized rodentia movies ("Ratatouille" takes the gold for the most creative, fresh and cute rodent flick), but it's better than much of its competition.
The trio of symphonic singing chipmunks, having been displaced from their natural home in a tree in a far-away forest, find themselves in the big city, having been transported in their downed tree to the lobby of a megalomaniacal music company. Seems their home is now a fresh Christmas tree. Knowing their new digs aren't friendly to little forest creatures a fraction the size of the next largest life form, they find refuge in the muffin basket of one Dave Seville, having been rebuked by his friend-turned-multimillionaire music exec, Ian. The pairing of these octave-gifted munks with this lonely, bumbling musician provides the backbone of the movie's plot.
It's a relief to have been able to laugh along with the rest of the patronage, comprised mostly of pre-teens to freshly post-teens. Granted, I wasn't rolling in the aisles with them, a sign that I must be more critical (and yes, older) than they are. The innocent, brain-resting humor was impeded by a couple factors. Exactly how many potty & poop jokes do we need in a movie these days? By all accounts, we've been shown enough potty pranks to last us well beyond the current Writers Strike (and maybe until the 3d animation folks give the render farms a rest).
The cast of actors seems a bit wooden, too. True, it's hard to be especially convincing when they are putting on a show in front of a bunch of void space, but I couldn't help but wonder during the first 10 minutes if a giant pin-up of Jason Lee would have been more dimensional than Jason Lee himself. Due credit goes to him though, for putting in a decent performance this side of Jon (Vacant) Arbuckle. David Cross stole the show, though, for his delightfully weaselly turn as the music exec seeing too many $'s in the Chipmunks.
Overall, I'm surprised by how pleased I was when the end credits rolled. If Hollywood has taught me anything with this genre of movies, it's best to go in with very low expectations and be surprised by the lack of suckage put before me.
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" gets 6 of 10 stars.
Somewhere, someone in the upper echelons of some toy factory is finally having their day. They had to have thought that toys that could transform from diesel trucks and sports cars to giant robots would make a good impact beyond the TV screen. They had a go at it in 1986 with the animated "Transformers: The Movie", but now, CG technology has caught up with the toys and has given to us a live-action "Transformers".
What we have here is an action-packed, non-stop wall-to-wall thriller. A movie so aptly named has a whole lot of transforming going on, and some of it happens so fast that the viewer is still piecing it all together through the following scenes.
With all due respect to other 2007 big summer hits that have been released so far, like "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", "Oceans Thirteen", and "Spiderman 3", "Transformers" is the one that packs in as much of the action and comedy that's possible in a 130 minute stuff-goes-boom movie. Whenever the action would slow up enough to relax the audience and allow some funny stuff to happen, some scenes induced such hearty laughter that my sides would ache until the action revved back up.
This was the first PR screening I had attended in quite some time, and it reminded me of why I believe it's a better experience than the general release. It's free, obviously. More importantly, it's guaranteed that most in attendance are at least casual fans of the subject matter and most importantly...the atmosphere is electric because there is crowd reaction. Accompanied with raucous applause is the beginning, key scenes, and end of the show. Big reveals are met with theatre-wide gasps and groans of anticipation. And every time the signature sound of a transformation occurred, there were nuts in the crowd (such as me) that would gleefully cackle. With that...
I have to admit. I was childishly hoping to find some Solstice in the parking lot transform into an Autobot. Laugh it up, Hasbro and Michael Bay..."Transformers" will bring out the die hard fan or inner child in just about everyone. There is much more here than meets the eye!
"Transformers" gets a perfect 10 of 10 stars.
What we have here is an action-packed, non-stop wall-to-wall thriller. A movie so aptly named has a whole lot of transforming going on, and some of it happens so fast that the viewer is still piecing it all together through the following scenes.
With all due respect to other 2007 big summer hits that have been released so far, like "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", "Oceans Thirteen", and "Spiderman 3", "Transformers" is the one that packs in as much of the action and comedy that's possible in a 130 minute stuff-goes-boom movie. Whenever the action would slow up enough to relax the audience and allow some funny stuff to happen, some scenes induced such hearty laughter that my sides would ache until the action revved back up.
This was the first PR screening I had attended in quite some time, and it reminded me of why I believe it's a better experience than the general release. It's free, obviously. More importantly, it's guaranteed that most in attendance are at least casual fans of the subject matter and most importantly...the atmosphere is electric because there is crowd reaction. Accompanied with raucous applause is the beginning, key scenes, and end of the show. Big reveals are met with theatre-wide gasps and groans of anticipation. And every time the signature sound of a transformation occurred, there were nuts in the crowd (such as me) that would gleefully cackle. With that...
I have to admit. I was childishly hoping to find some Solstice in the parking lot transform into an Autobot. Laugh it up, Hasbro and Michael Bay..."Transformers" will bring out the die hard fan or inner child in just about everyone. There is much more here than meets the eye!
"Transformers" gets a perfect 10 of 10 stars.