Saw Barlow Girl, they’re great in concert.

Saw these at the art building here on campus today. I especially like the skull girl.

I saw a critic recently on G4’s Attack of the Show make several claims about this movie. To paraphrase he said it was good, not great. That Heath Ledger was ok and considered great only because he’s dead. That he found it too long, large chunks of it boring.

I would love to know what elitist filth could possibly make this sad person happy because Dark Knight is the best movie of the year. The best Batman movie ever (RIP Heath Ledger). Possibly the best movie of all time. Perhaps in time, after a couple more viewings I may change that last statement but do yourself a favor and see this movie now.

Their take on Batman is interesting. Hopefully without giving too much away I will say that they attempt to paint him as an anti-hero in a way, at least on the surface that the public in Gotham gets to see. I would say they largely succeed at this but that is not what I love about it. What I love is the sheer genius of Joker’s character. What I love is how neatly his chaotic evil fits in the maneuverings and machinations of the powers that be in Gotham. I love his conflict with Batman, summed up best by his own words. What I love is for ONCE there is a truly evil character, a true conflict of good and evil, and not some trumped up lovey-dovey tripe that pretends at controversy or at cleverness merely because they blur the lines. [This next part is a partial spoiler] Lastly what I love is that good doesn’t truly win in the end. There are some compelling plot reasons why this is so, which stand well all on their own; but primarily it is simply because Batman’s fight will never be over. Sometimes the best he can hope for is a stalemate and all he can look forward to tomorrow is more of the same — fighting a seemingly endless battle against the depravity of man, striving for unacknowledged victory to save people who cannot truly appreciate it. That doesn’t mean that the job isn’t without its perks for as he himself says, those who truly believe should and will find their faith rewarded. Perhaps in the end, the point becomes that very thing and I dare say that is something more meaningful than simple recognition. In that sense perhaps good truly does win. However as you can tell the answer isn’t as cut and dried as it usually is in some movies. It requires enjoyable pondering, and at some level one can probably never be truly sure of the answer.

I find it hard to put into words everything I liked about this movie, the things it sparked in my mind. Even now, not 20 minutes after seeing it I’ve already lost many of the concepts I mulled on the drive home. I’m tired, possibly due to the intense movie I just watched or simply the fact that it is 2:30 am right now. So watch it and consider it for yourself.

From a technical standpoint the movie does extremely well. From the editing to the sound, startlingly loud in some parts to convey the seriousness of the situation or the maniacism of the characters; everything is top-notch. This is definitely a movie where the makers brought their best game. Compared to Batman media in the past it is a warm nod to Tim Burton’s Batman that featured the Joker, taking the concept into a gritty realism and expounding upon it in all the right ways. Also as I understand it the relationship between Joker and Batman is more akin to their early comic days, I haven’t read them myself but do appreciate the concept. Also, despite it’s rating I wouldn’t recommend it for those under 17, 15 maybe.

From an even more personal standpoint, I liked how the movie addresses doing good no matter what and doing good for the sake of doing good. The idea is still based on frail human will (perhaps Batman’s superpower is the ability to always do good, even if he strays once in a while), this is not really a criticism but as a Christian I would like to see what happens when similar characters in similar situations have morals based on a higher power than their own. I suppose Batman fits that bill really, not to imply that Batman is a Christian or believes in God even, but he does believe in the greater good.

In any case, watch this movie.

Edit: After having slept on it for a few short hours, there is one part of Batman that bugged me, but I think it is supposed to bug.  Perhaps also it’s supposed to show the flaw of his character, his desperation, and have him redeem himself later.  Maybe I’m just trying to justify it.  It will be interesting to see what other people feel about this particular scene.

Update: Upon further consideration and discussion I think I agree with the sentiment that Two Face should have been hinted at and saved for later.  However, what all gripes and flaws we may point out amongst ourselves I still think Joker totally made this movie.  Heath Ledger was amazing and it’s definitely not just because he’s dead.

Body and mind by Nintendo(TM).

Soul by Jesus Christ — yeah I said it!

I remember joke t-shirts back in the day that said ‘Body by Nintendo’ or somesuch, a fat joke of course.  Not so funny now, is it!

Great movie. Great scifi wrapped up in robots (who behave a lot like humans, but eh).

Let’s just get one thing straight. EVE does look like she was engineered by Apple, so you could say she’s like Mac or whatever. But WALL-E sure as hell ain’t Windows. He’s Linux straight up.

Of course, WALL-E’s startup sound is the mac startup sound…