The Dark Knight Official Trailer : My Thoughts

With the release of the new trailer for The Dark Knight, my fears have been laid to rest. No other trailer have i been more excited about, shit, no FILM have i been more excited about. So i will attempt now to go through point by point some of my views on the trailer. I will be doing a youtube specific review in the new year. Remember to watch it above to help with the understanding of this "Review" / "thoughts"

POINTS

1. Narration by The Joker. - very good move, an usual choice but i love the way it opens with joker's perspective not batman, very nice movie.

2. The batbike intro - nice, coupled with the images of bruce on his own in his house, then on the rooftop really help quickly establish the idea of Gothem against batman and batman being a loner and not much different from joker.

3. Joker in cell "knives and lint" - Awesome. I like the sense of fear and menace that is built just by this short clip, joker seems very indifferent, just sitting there. The knives and lint line is chilling as is "evening commissionor" with ledger's chilling delivery

4. "Why so Serious!" - Fantastic moment that shows the agression and the darker tone they are taking the joker. Also followed by an awesome moment with him hanging his head out of the car window adding to the insanity and carefree nature of this character. Rocket launcher moment also good and brings the character back to the weedy / fumbling aspects brought up in the cartoons.

5. Bat signal smash - I'm not sure about this storyline, having heard about the fake batmans and possible framing of batman, it seems a little cliched, but i'm willing to wait and see.

6. General action scenes - all the aaction seems to notch stuff


7. Street showdown - the moments of joker and batman in the street "c'mon HIT ME!" reminded me very much of the 1989 burton film with joker and the batwing.
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All in all, lets face it the main reason people wanted to see the trailer was for Heath Ledger's version of The Joker, and from my humble opinion, i can't fucking wait.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)

In many ways this is Wes Anderson's most commercial and mainstream outing. Though still maintaining common themes of his previous films (family, and more to the point the definition of family) With The Life Aquatic what you get is Wes doing, maybe for the first time, an all out comedy.

Yes it stilll has the quirky moments you come to expect but it also has far out whacky "slapstick" moments. Including Bill Murray's steve zissou running into a room of pirates firing a gun, fight scenes, and other aspects that take it away from the more subtle aspect of say Rushmore. That's what i like about Wes Anderson as a director, he is known for his quirky style but he's not afraid to take it to the extreme too. The final job in bottle rocket, the wedding reception in royal tenenbaums and many scenes in life aquatic prove this.

Bill Murray steals the show here and it's a nice change of pace for him. After his more downbeat / subtle performance in the brilliant, Rushmore, he seemed to take roles that suited that style (Lost in Translation , Broken Flowers) but here we see a great mix of the subtle qaulities of Translation and the more out there style seen in ghostbusters or groundhog day. I could pick out so many comedy gems from murray in this film. Jeff Goldblum also pulls in a solid performance here and he and murray bounce comedically of eachother quite well. Owen is as always great and further proves he is at his pure best when working with Wes, no other of his performances come close (see bottle rocket for Owen's shining moment - and first film)

Life Aquatic mixes surreal with ...well not even real.. i guess hyper reality. Everything is slightly off kilter, which adds to the charm. One of the most interesting points of the film is that of the fish. Being a film about an oceanographer, sea life is present. However the marine life is animated using stop motion animation. A form of animation i love, however here, it never quite mixed well. It seemed too odd, the characters themselves were odd enough to sustain the zaney-ness of the film. However it does help to further seperate it from his other work.

Further seperating it is the choice of music. Seu Jorge provides the majority of the music with covers of Bowie songs, with the odd original bowie song thrown in there at key moments. The addition of Seu Jorge, who also played a character, who would sit and play songs, seemed a little odd, and a very commercial move.

All in all, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is a brave move for Wes Anderson. I remember seeing this in the cinema and comming out having never laughed so much in a cinema, i was a keen Andersonite at that point already. However on 3rd and 4th watches i can see how this film may dissapoint some Wes Anderson fans. It is more mainstream, it is more commercial, but please, look past that. it still holds values from all his films previous, but with a stronger attempt at broad comedy. Bill Murray is fantastic here and steals every scene, What Wes has done here is create something that will appeal to none fans of Wes, and one of Murray's finesy performances.

2007 Movie Releases I'm Still Catching Up With

Want Too See

(Bold - REALLY REALLY Wanna See.)

Zodiac
Stardust
Shoot Em' Up

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
No Country for Old Men (2008 in UK)
Eastern Promises
Severance
Vacancy
The Lives of Others

30 Days of Night
Dead Silence

Sicko (2007)

Bowling For Columbine was an amazing piece of work that was engaging, funny, heartwarming, sad and beautifully told. One of the finest Documentary films i have seen. Fahrenheit 9/11 was for sure a step down for Michael Moore. Less engaging, too overally political and overall didn't have the impact of Columbine


With Sicko, Moore is looking into the currupt medical system within the united states. It's an improvement on Fahrenheit but didn't reach the heights of Columbine. From a directing standpoint it's more towards columbine. Because unlike Fahrenheit which seemed just a tool in which moore could express his political views, Sicko uses human stories to make his point, which gives it an extra level of it being a problem that effects people. Some of the stories were truely sad, and they worked in the context of the documentary, becausei felt like throwing stuff at the screen because of the terrible situations the US health system had left these people in. Moore does have a likeability factor, and a certain charisma that shines through on the screen.


However, and it's a pretty big "however", there is one simple, and i mean simple, point where sicko loses a lot of its credit. The moment Moore steps out of the states and tries to make a point about other countries health systems, the weakness and one sided mind of moore is exposed. He goes to the UK, and of course, health care is free here but we still have our issues, issues that Moore seems to have overlooked. Instead he hails all other countries Health systems as heaven and faultless. He also not only dumbs down his general arguement by skipping over facts opting for a faultless utopia of health but his attitude makes him seem really...stupid. He wonders around asking "so how much did that cost?" about 50 times "i was beginning to wonder where the cashier guy was" "This can't be true..[montage of him asking the same question]...maybei should check another country"...Que france....Same stupid questions. It just came off as dumbed down. I totally agree that the currupt way the US works their health is wrong, based on profit and such. He's right to point out these issues, but point out the issues in other health systems, don't pratonise your audience and the people of those countries who (though have free health care) have to deal with plenty of other health issues, its not near perfect.

Even though this was a HUGE gripe for me, and i don't want to set it aside. I can though realise that he does expose some huge flaws in the US system, theres some great footage here too. Including 1950s public service videos, the true life stories are very interesting.

All in all, i can't fault Michael Moore's directorial talent. He's great with setting up the sequences to provide gripping documentary film making. He is also exposing subjects that need to be exposed and there is a huge fault in the US health system. This is deffinatly a step up from Fahrenheit 9/11. However his ability to dumb down his approach, plainly skip over issues in other countries to service his own point takes this film down quite a few pegs for me.

Favuorite Directors

Tim Burton
Seen: Vincent, Beetle Juice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride
Want too see: Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Wes Anderson
Seen: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Hotel Chevalier, The Darjeeling Limited
Want too see: The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - this is gonna be interesting to say the least

Quentin Tarantino
Seen: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Kill Bill Vol.2, Death Proof
Want too see: Inglorious Bastards (2008)

Martin Scorsese
Seen: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs Of New York, The Aviator, The Departed
Want too see: Mean Streets

David Fincher
Seen: Alien 3, Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room
Want too see: Zodiac

Farrelly Bros.
Seen: Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, There's Something About Mary, Me Myself & Irene, Shallow Hal
Want too see Stuck On You, Fever Pitch, Heartbreak Kid

Coen Bros.
Seen: Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Ladykillers
Want To See: Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country For Old Men

Favourite Actors / Actresses

Actors

Paul Giamatti
Seen: Sideways, Cinderella Man, Man On The Moon
Want too see: Lady in the Water, The Illusionist, American Splendor.

Jim Carrey
Seen: Truman Show, Ace Ventura 1&2, Dumb Dumber, Cable Guy, Liar Liar, Eternal Sunshine, Man On The Moon, Me Myself & Irene, Fun With Dick & Jane, Bruce Almighty, The Majestic
Want Too See: The Number 23

John Cusack
Seen:Grosse Pointe Blank, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity Identity
Want Too See: The Thin Red Line

Steve Bucemi
Seen Reservoir Dogs, Airheads, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Con Ai, Ghost World, Monsters Inc.
Want Too See: Trees Lounge

Alec Baldwin
Seen Beetle Juice, The Cooler, The Aviator,Fun with Dick and Jane, Royal Tenenbaums (Narrator), The Departed
Want Too See: The Good Sheperd

James Gandolfini
Seen: True Romance, Get Shorty, The Last Castle, "The Sopranos"
Want Too See The Man Who Wasn't There, The Mexican

Will Smith
Seen "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", Made in America, Independence Day, Men in Black 1&2, I Robot, Shark Tale, The Pursuit of Happyness
Want Too See: Ali, I Am Legend

Jack Nicholson
Seen: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Batman, Mars Attacks! As Good as It Gets, Anger Management, About Schmidt, The Departed
Want Too See

Steve Zahn
Seen: Reality Bites, You've Got Mail, Chain Of Fools, Saving Silverman, Joy Ride, Riding In Cars With Boys, Shattered Glass
Want Too See : Rescue Dawn

Owen Wilson
Seen Bottle Rocket, The Cable Guy, Shanghai Noon, Meet the Parents, Zoolander, The Royal Tenenbaums, Starsky & Hutch, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Meet The Fockers, Wedding Crashers, Cars, Night at the Museum, The Darjeeling Limited
Want Too See The Wendell Baker Story,

Jack Black
Seen: The Cable Guy, Mars Attacks!, "Tenacious D" (Tv Show), High Fidelity, Saving Silverman, Shallow Hal, Ice Age, Orange County , The School of Rock , Shark Tale, Envy, Anchorman, King Kong, Tenacious D: Pick Of Destiny.
Want Too See Be Kind, Rewind

Samuel L Jackson
Seen: Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Jurassic Park, One Eight Seven, Jackie Brown, Star Wars: Episode I, Unbreakable, Changing Lanes, Star Wars Episode 2, Star Wars Episode 3, Kill Bill Vol.2, The Incredibles, Snakes On A Plane.
Want Too See: Sydney, The Great White Hype, Trees Lounge, Coach Carter

Zach Braff
Seen: "Scrubs", Garden State
Want Too See: The Last Kiss

Al Pacino
Seen The Panic in Needle Park, The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface, Carlito's Way, Heat, Donnie Brasco, S1m0ne.
Want Too See: Godfather Part III, Glengarry Glen Ross, Scent of a Woman.

Michael Keaton
Seen: BeetleJuice, Batman, Batman Returns, Jackie Brown, Cars
Want Too See: White Noise

Robert De Niro
Seen: The Godfather: Part II , Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, The Untouchables, Goodfellas, This Boy's Life, Heat, Jackie Brown, Ronin, Analyze This, Meet The Parents, Godsend, Shark Tale, Hide & Seek, Meet The Fockers
Want Too See: Mean Streets, The King of Comedy , Once Upon a Time in America .

Ray Romano
Seen "Everybody Loves Raymond", Eulogy, Ice Age 1&2, Wellcome To Moosport
Want Too See Grilled

Jean Reno
Seen: Nikita ,Subway, Léon, MI, Godzilla, Ronin
Want Too See

Alan Rickman
Seen: Die Hard, Dogma, Galaxy Quest, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Want Too See: Something the Lord Made

Bill Murray
Seen: Caddyshack, Ghost Busters 1&2, Little Shop of Horrors, Scrooged, Groundhog Day, Ed Wood, Kingpin, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Lost in Translation, Coffee & Cigarettes, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Broken Flowers, Darjeeling Limited (Cameo)
Want Too See: Stripes, Tootsie, The Man Who Knew Too Little

Hank Azaria
Seen "The Simpsons", Mystery Men, Eulogy, Appearances in "Friends", Shattered Glass, The Simpsons Movie
Want Too See

Johnny Depp
Seen: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, Sleepy Hollow, Blow, Pirates of the Caribbean 1,2 & 3, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride
Want Too See: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, What's Eating Gilbert Grape

John Candy
Seen Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Cool Runnings, Rookie Of The Year, Home Alone
Want Too See Stripes, Splash, JFK, Who's Harry Crumb?

Christopher Walken
Seen Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, A View to a Kill, Batman Returns, True Romance, Wayne's World 2, Pulp Fiction, Blast from the Past, Antz, Joe Dirt, Catch Me If You Can, Envy, Wedding Crashers, Click
Want Too See King of New York, Romance & Cigarettes

Bruce Willis
Seen: Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Twelve Monkeys, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense, The Whole Nine Yards, Unbreakable, Hostage, Sin City, Lucky Number Slevin, 16 Blocks, Over the Hedge, Live Free or Die Hard
Want Too See: The Jackal, Mercury Rising, Armageddon

Actresses

Zooey Deschanel
Seen Almost Famous, Big Trouble, Elf, Eulogy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Want Too See Live Free or Die

Drew Barrymore
Seen ET, Wayne's World 2, Donnie Darko, Riding in Cars with Boys
Want Too See The Wedding Singer

Natalie Portman
Seen Léon, Heat, Mars Attacks!, Star Wars: Episode 1 2 & 3, Garden State, V for Vendetta, Hotel Chavelia
Want Too See

Winona Ryder
Seen Beetle Juice, Edward Scissorhands, Reality Bites, Alien: Resurrection, Mr. Deeds, S1m0ne Want Too See Girl, Interrupted

Helena Bonham Carter

Instant Memories....Merry Christmas

Saw Traps Music Video

I made it, enjoy !