The Dark Knight

First things first: Scott, if you're reading this stop now and go buy your movie tickets.

Second: Marcus Theatres is probably the worst theatre chain in history. I went to a midnight release; I'd never been to a midnight release and thought it would be fun. The management at the Coral Ridge Mall Theatres decided to hold the start of the showing until everyone had been through the concession line (lame). The reasoning? Midnight showings always start late. Excuse me (Cedar Rapids theatres don't have this problem)? I paid $9.50 for my ticket and people know when the movie starts, which is midnight , so if theatre-goers are brain-damaged and think they need to pay $12.00 for a small soda and nasty popcorn then that's on them. Not me. I paid to see a movie that started on-time. Soooo....the previews didn't start until about 12:20am and the actual opening credits for The Dark Knight didn't roll until after 12:35am; I didn't get home until about 3:30am and I only live ten minutes from the mall. Janice swiped a pile of comment cards so guess who's getting really bad feedback.

Previews, and there were at least six:
1. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - not sure if I want to see this since Evie was re-cast with Maria Bello but Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh are in this (and I like Jet Li).
2. The Spirit - another Frank Miller film, looks visually gorgeous
3. Watchmen - the long-awaited Zach Snyder-helmed adaptation of the graphic novel; I've not read the novel but I might have to now (expected release March 2009)
4. Some movie with Leonardo di Caprio and Russell Crowe (which is how I remembered it - I had to make use of IMDB to determine that it was Body of Lies)
5. The Day The Earth Stood Still - Keanu Reeves as an alien in the remake of the 1951 classic so I'm too sure about this one, Jennifer Connelly also stars
6. Terminator Salvation - teaser trailer, since this is a summer 2009 release, starring Christian Bale, directed by McG (who has yet to direct anything I appreciate)

The movie:
Fucking awesome. Heath Ledger gave the performance of his career; even if Christopher Nolan has decided not to use "Joker" make-up, Ledger would still have been The Joker. He was unrecognizable with wonderful use of facial tics (the lip-licking was a nice touch) and it was a truly memorable performance. He deserves an Oscar. RIP. Great performances also from Gary Oldman, a long-time favorite of mine, Aaron Eckhart (props also to the SFX make-up people) and even Christian Bale, who sometimes drives me nuts. I thought the movie did drag a bit through the last 20 minutes in trying to get all the storylines tied together but not too terribly slow. I can't wait for the Filmspotting review (which should be on iTunes by this evening, they've already got the blog updated but I'm not reading it, yet).

Current book-in-progress: need to start Rebecca since that's the August book
Current knitted item: Tan linen evening bag (I will not have this done before the Kuebler Banquet, darn)
Current movie obsession: I finished In Bruges, which was great and has a funny extra on the DVD where they cut all the swear words together into a 1:50 track, but I also thought very sad in the end; I've got Secretary, Hard Candy, and Brazil lined up for the weekend
Current iTunes loop: Filmspotting and the Guardian Books podcast

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