This Movie Ain't No Joke

At this point, what can be said about The Dark Knight that hasn't already been said in the countless articles and interviews about the blockbuster hit? It has broke multiple box office records, even overtaking the prestigious title of largest grossing opening weekend from last year's Spider-Man 3. It's redefined a new darker Batman for the big screen, forever breaking the batty Adam West cliché. Perhaps most importantly, it features Heath Ledger's haunting final performance that is so affecting it while quite possibly win him the first posthumous Oscar since 1976. All of the above make for great reasons to see the newest Bat installment, and still, the film is deserving of much more praise.

The Dark Knight is a terrific film through and through. Though Ledger's Joker obviously warrants the most attention, all the actors deliver performances above and beyond your average comic book movie. Christian Bale, who I thought played a better Bruce Wayne then Batman in Batman Begins, now owns the moniker the Dark Knight. He brings a new Frank Miller-esqe violence to his role, giving a real context to the fear the character induces as a vigilante. Supporting actors Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman all defined their characters so well they bring their Gotham heritage to life. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a real surprise, making you completely forget Katie Holmes take on Rachel Dawes (even though it was one of Holmes' better performances). However, the main kudos must go to Aaron Ekhart's under talked-about Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Ekhart is both the true hero and the duped villain in Dark Knight, which manifest brilliantly in Ekhart's performance of the character two conflicting sides. Subsequently, this is just as much Ekhart's film as it is Ledgers, and many reviewers have neglected to mention this, overshadowing it with talk of Ledger's untimely death.

The Dark Knight is also director Christopher Nolan's best film since Memento. Nolan excels in psychological thrillers, and this film gives him not one but three infinitely compelling psyches to explore. In fact, he does such a good job it leaves audiences physically exhausted from the rush. Imagine watching the intense last scene in Se7en for two and a half hours, only hosted by a schizophrenic clown with no agenda except for simply enjoying the chaos. Nolan makes every beautifully shot scene count and there is no reason for him not to be nominated for best director for this masterwork.

One could go on and on justifying the many other awesome reason to see Dark Knight, like the Joker's shocking magic trick or the amazingly choreographed chase scene. So, if you haven't seen it yet, believe the hype and get yourself some tickets!

-Jon

An Uncanny Achievement

The Uncanny X-Men hit a milestone 500 issues this month, a feat rarely met in comics. It is especially turn in that unlike many other comic series, the Uncanny X-Men have never renumbered nor relaunched with a new #1. The issue pays tribute to those five hundred issues of stories all while kicking off the next phase of X-comics running under the banner "Manifest Destiny."

While I am somewhat befuddled as to how I got from issue #499 to #500, I am overall pretty glad that I am there. The issue presents some truly new status quo changes for the X-Men all while injecting into the book a level of playfulness not see in its pages in a long time. The characters more relaxed and quippy attitudes are a product of Marvel's merry mutants moving to San Francisco, a city that seems to accept them. They get visits form the mayor, parties, and the ability to walk down the street without having to hide.

Even though the issue features all these new developments, a slew of old X-concepts are reworked and reimagined as well. Classic villains the Hellfire Club gets a face-lift while the Blob takes a turn that you would never dream. I have never been more excited about Dazzle than in the one panel mention she gets from teen X-Men Pixie.

While most of what is going on in this landmark issue takes the X-Men in an exciting new direction, the story telling gets a little muddy at times. Various X-Men characters seem to show up at random in the issue and the scene-to-scene transitions have the same lack of definition at times. Some of these storytelling problems are the culprit of the art teams desire to deliver highly rendered illustrations than clearly constructed panels.

Even with these storytelling issues, Uncanny X-Men #500 is a solid kickoff for the next phase of X-Men books. It has been a long time since X-Men stories have been filled with so many new possibilities. I'll have to keep an eye on the series to see if it delivers on its potential.

-Nick

The Joker's Asylum

Throughout July, DC welcomes you to the Joker's Asylum, a special month-long weekly series featuring the best of Batman's rouge gallery. Starting with the Joker, the series will continue with self-contained stories about the Penguin, Poison Ivy,
Scarecrow, and Two-Face, all narrated by Gotham's leading psychopath the Joker. Each issue will feature a new and different creative team.

The Penguin issue is actually written by one of my favorite new talents Jason Aaron, which is surprising because I could have sworn Aaron had an exclusive contract with Marvel. I guess writing the disturbing life of poor old Oswald Cobblepot supersedes silly legal-bidding agreements with the competition. Any who, back to the Joker's significance to the rest of the series, Joker's Asylum is clearly being put out right in time for The Dark Knight film to help promote Heath Ledger's tragic Joker roll. However, after his untimely death, anything with the Joker name on it is going to get an extra boost of sales anyway.

So regardless, Joker's Asylum looks to be a fun summer exploration into villainous lunacy. Here are some interesting interviews about the
Poison Ivy and Scarecrow installments.
Keep on rooting for the bad guys, you loonies!

-Jon

Batanime

This week saw the release of the DC Universe's direct to DVD feature
Batman: Gotham Knight. Made up of six shorts, the film serves as a transition from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight and shows us just what has been going on in Gotham City since the arrival of the Batman. Warner Bros. has put together an impressive group of Japan's leading production houses to give each short its own visual style. Batman Begins scribe, David Goyer, and Batman the Animated Series director, Bruce Timm, are on board as well as is Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman.


Each of the six parts gives us a look into an interweaving story that has Bats taking on the likes of Dead-Shot, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow. There is also an element of rival factions of the mafia fighting to rule the Gotham underworld now that Falconi is out of the picture. This mob rivalry will surely be delved into deeper when The Dark
Knight is released next week and the Joker is put into the fray.

I have to admit I may have set the bar too high for Gotham Knight. When I first saw who was involved, my excitement was through the roof. I absolutely loved the DC Universe's New Frontier film, which I feel is this year's best animated feature next to Wall-e. I just assumed that lightning would strike twice. It's not that the Gotham Knight is at all bad. It just doesn't feel like a part of the world that Christopher Nolan has created for the new crop of Bat-films. It may be due to Gotham Knight's over the top anime style. Nolan's take on the Batman story is based in reality. Gotham Knight, in all of its superbly animated glory, is just too overly stylized to be a part of Nolan's world. All is not lost. Batman, done good or bad, is still Batman, and that's okay with me.

-Erika

What is your Type?

Calling all vampires, or if your not a child of the night, just fans of good tv like Six Feet Under. It looks as though starting this
fall you have something new to get your blood boiling about, because HBO presents Alan Ball's new series "True Blood" starting in September.

"True Blood" is based on the series "Southern Vampire Mysteries" by Charlaine Harris. The premise follows the co-existence of vampires and humans in a Louisiana town after a Japanese-made synthetic blood or – "TruBlood" – becomes available for purchase. Main character Sookie Stackhouse, is a telepathic waitress who works at a small town diner who falls in love with one of the vampires, Bill Compton.

Since Six Feet Under, Alan Ball has dedicated almost all of his time to getting this project off the ground. Being a fan of both American Beauty and Six Feet Under I am pretty confident that the show will be a success.

"Ball says, "this whole series is that it's about vampires, and so we don't have to be that serious about it. I think because of the
cultural climate that we exist in today, it seems like, oh well, they are a metaphor for gays because of gay marriage and gay rights and that kind of thing. But I think it's a bigger metaphor and at the same time it's also not a metaphor at all. It's vampires. "

Catch "True Blood" this Fall on HBO.

-Erika

03.06.09

The trailer for the Watchmen movie is out and the countdown to release has finally started.

A couple of things about the trailer: the effects look fantastic, amazing...incredible. The character design looks terrific, especially Dr. Manhattan's. On the other hand, unless you have some idea what the Watchmen is about, the trailer doesn't make a lot of sense. Other than eye-candy (which is really amazing) you don't have any sense as to what the storyline is. In fact, there are several flashbacks from the story included in the trailer, and if I were seeing this without having read the book I would be totally and completely confused. But it's only the first trailer.

I'm expecting a lot from this movie, and they've made a website where you can download screenshots, etc.

We're going to make a really great display at Star Clipper and we'll be showing the trailer on our flatscreen in back. We've got about 150 copies of the trade coming in stock next week, so if you haven't read the Watchmen before, now's the time to check it out!

-Ben

Hellboy II: the Golden Comedy?

When I saw Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy back in 2004, I was shocked by how different the interpretation of Mike Mignola's world was from that I knew from the comic pages. With Mignola involved in the production of Hellboy, I expected one of the most faithful adaptations of comics to screen. In fact, Del Toro worked had previously worked with the Hellboy creator on Blade II in an attempt to bring a Mike Mignola style alive on film. When I saw Hellboy reimagined as an angsty hero, hiding from world that will fear him all while struggling to get the girl I was underwhelmed.

Even with an at best lukewarm opinion of the first film, I was till excited to see the new one Hellboy II: The Golden Army>at a preview screening the other night. Del Toro had made some of my favorite movies (Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth) and the monsters for Hellboy II looked fantastic. As a expected, the movie did deliver some greater looking monsters and a strong visual style. I, however, was completely caught off guard Hellboy II's true strength as a comedy.

From the opening scene to the very last shot, Hellboy II is filled with laughs. From quippy one-liners to slap-stick fight scenes, Hellboy almost feels like a comedy that happens to have monsters and action scenes. Maybe I carry that opinion because the humor was the element of the movie that played the best for me. I was definitely underwhelmed again by some of the other elements of the movie. I found the romantic subplots uninteresting and a couple of the fight scenes boring. The most awkward part of the movie for me is still seeing characters like Abe Sapien that look like their comic book counterparts, yet who are truly different characters than the ones I read about regularly. While it is no fault of the movie, I find watching Hellboy movies like seeing someone you know acting completely unlike themselves.

Personnel problems aside, I would still recommend catching this movie in the theater. The funny parts are funny, but I would maybe leave before the end because it is a little too boring.

-Nick