The Dark Knight (Contains Spoilers)

I took the afternoon off to pamper myself, and one of the things I did was take in an early showing of The Dark Knight. Wow, that movie is incredible!

Seriously, I think that's one of the best and best made movies I've seen in a long, long time. Both the writing and the visuals are great, and that is really rare. The writing is tight. Great plot development (well, I did think turning every cell phone in Gotham into a sonar-emitting microphone was BS, but I can forgive one.) Characterizations were wonderfully human. (I have no idea how a comic fan would view them, but I thought they all came across as believable people, while still keeping Batman and the Joker Larger Than Life.) Pacing is excellent; no wasted time but it's not rushed either.
I have to take an aside for the Batman voice, though. Every time Batman, as Batman, talked, I had to squelch giggles. As I saw someone somewhere say, it's because nothing normal could ever be said in that voice. He would talk, and I'd imagine that voice ordering a pizza with pepperoni and extra cheese and a side of crazy bread, and I'd want to lose it. Come on, admit it. Imagine that voice saying "crazy bread", and tell me you don't want to laugh your ass off.
The effects were amazing. From the trailer, I was afraid that the computer effects would pop out badly. They only did in a few spots, and no more than is inevitable with this level of use. The Two-Face effect was absolutely incredible. Before I looked it up, I would have laid money that the effect was done with animatronics instead of CGI, which I have to admit means the eye in particular is far too inorganic and hard looking, and the teeth also have a bit of that. But the blend with the real half of his face is amazing.
I feel I should also address the idiot who thought that it was all pro-Bush and basically a propoganda film (except he thought that was a positive). Yeah, I can see where you might get that... if you only watch half of it. It's also helps if you completely disengage your brain for that whole last hour. Did we miss the "no killing" part, Batman's all important rule that leads to major plot points? 'Cause last I checked, Bush was directly responsible for the deaths of, oh, over 100,000 people. Or Batman declaring at the end that he's not a hero? 'Cause you'll never hear Bush do that. How about the convicts turning out to be decent people, or the real life hardship leading Ramirez (one of the bad cops) to become a 'terrorist'? (Ha! If we had Universal Single Payer Health Care, this movie would have been totally different. Well, not really, but it's fun to say.)
There's both liberal and conservative points in here. It might lean a little conservatively, but I wouldn't call it a propoganda film. (300, THAT was a propoganda film.)
That does remind me, though; I also did love the Joker calling his ferry scenario a "social experiment". I bet just about everyone's seen that recent New York Times article on trolling, but if you haven't (or if you're just wondering where I'm going with this), it's common for sociopaths to use that as an excuse when they screw with people just because they can. From trolling scenarios so extreme that they literally destroy families, to real life crimes, that excuse has been used.
And one last thing I really appreciated: the movie was PG-13. That could have been as much of a bloodbath as they wanted it to be, so I really appreciate that there wasn't gore. (Or gratuitous sex, for that matter, but it's the violence I'm concerned about today.) It also proves that you don't have to be gross to be dark, serious, even "gritty" for those who find that a positive descriptor.
I've totally got to buy this when it comes out on DVD.
That "The Day The Earth Stood Still" remake also looks like it might have something going ... although with that many differences, can you really call it a remake?
I've seen the original, and one thing that pisses me off is people saying "Oh, that's such a great passivist movie." That is not a passivist movie! It's blatantly in support of the Cold War arms race. The message of the film is that the only way to ensure peace is to make sure that everyone can be blown off the face of the universe. And remember that when it was made, people were iffy about that astronomical miltary spending thing that was starting up. (See, that's what a propoganda film looks like.)
I'm thinking "if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives" is more to build a movie on.
One last thing that occurred to me, though. Movie theater corporate chains are always wondering why movie attendance is going down. They don't like to admit the obvious: high costs, crappy movies. But here's another thing. It is now completely possible to get better quality viewing in the home than in the theater. I personally can't do it (yet), but with a large screen HDTV and a good quality home theater system, a person could. I'm sitting there in the theater watching, and some of the scenes were we're walking across big white rooms make all the scratches and dust on the film strip really obvious.
I'm thinking its time for theaters to upgrade to some sort of digital projection system. I bet some have, but it'd be nice if the local ones joined in.