2081 replies to this topic

[[dark]]

So, it seems that THE DARK KNIGHT is definitely a strong contender in the awards race this year. (And, apparently, so is WALL-E. )

Deservedly so, too. There's been some real buzz that WALL•E could take the Best Picture gong. Both films would be worthy winners, in my view.

[Vauxhall]

Best Film? Well, it's a real shocker: WALL-E. For a group that has previously selected a lot of smaller, artier films for this category, this is a bold selection that nobody was anticipating. The runner-up? THE DARK KNIGHT.

Well, well, well... this has shocked me. I was greatly excited by WALL·E based on previews and trailers, and I was delighted that it didn't disappoint at the cinema. I consider it a remarkable achievement, bearing in mind that the first hour or so is basically without dialogue, but even I am surprised by the acclaim it has gathered. I would love if this almighty cat could be thrown in among the pigeons for the award season, but I fear that safer bets are more likely. Although, I do hope that this is the year that the more 'left-field' choices finally come to the fore.

[Matt_13]

I watched Wall-E for the first time this weekend with my girlfriend. I bought it for her as a birthday gift and was really surprised at how much I ended up liking it. The animation is terrific and it's simply an incredibly fun film. If it got best picture I wouldn't complain.

[JackWade]

Nice to see some more love for WALL-E.

I love WALL-E. I think if I had to choose, it edges out THE DARK KNIGHT as my #1 film of 2008. I really think now that the LAFCA have given it their Best Picture award that it has a chance to sneak in for a Best Picture nomination. It certainly deserves it, IMO.

[Tarl_Cabot]

My thoughts exactly although it's annoying they won't include the full bounty for $14.99. I mean, they did make $530M(d)!

Now I really wish I could watch the Special Features.

[mccartney007]

My thoughts exactly although it's annoying they won't include the full bounty for $14.99. I mean, they did make $530M(d)!

Now I really wish I could watch the Special Features.

Don't worry about them because they're pretty miserable. I was hoping for good 'making of' content and instead I get trailers, two docus on the music and the bat suit design and six "Gotham News" episodes that are merely fake news stories about the characters and events in the film? Ugh...

[DamnCoffee]

My mother bought me this tonight, she won't give me it until saturday, 'cause it's my birthday.

Unfortunately, she said she couldn't get the Joker slip case so I have to make do with the standard one.

[Quincy]

Movie's above great but Special Features are lacking. They don't make them like they used to.

[[dark]]

Could we expect a double-dip in the near future, then?

[Tarl_Cabot]

My thoughts exactly although it's annoying they won't include the full bounty for $14.99. I mean, they did make $530M(d)!

Now I really wish I could watch the Special Features.

Don't worry about them because they're pretty miserable. I was hoping for good 'making of' content and instead I get trailers, two docus on the music and the bat suit design and six "Gotham News" episodes that are merely fake news stories about the characters and events in the film? Ugh...

Thanks. I feel better.

[sharpshooter]

Could we expect a double-dip in the near future, then?

I think it's a given.

[CaptainPower]

My mother bought me this tonight, she won't give me it until saturday, 'cause it's my birthday.

Unfortunately, she said she couldn't get the Joker slip case so I have to make do with the standard one.

Isn't The Joker slipcase a blu-ray exclusive? Or are you talking about the blu-ray? It's definetly a lot cooler anyway

[Professor Dent]

I thought the TV ads in the States for the Blu-ray version were weak on the special features. They were pushing the BD Live thing where you could hook-up a webcam, record a commentary to the movie, & share it with your friends. This is exactly the kind of revolutionary feature I've been looking for. I'm not sure how I lived without it.

[sharpshooter]

Isn't The Joker slipcase a blu-ray exclusive?

No. The Joker cover is available on the 2 disc special edition DVD, too.

[bondrules]

Heath Ledger gets Golden Globe nod

BEVERLY HILLS — "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Frost/Nixon" led the Golden Globes today with five nominations each, among them best drama, while "Doubt" also has five, including four acting slots.

Other best-drama nominees: "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire."

Meryl Streep had two nominations, best dramatic actress for "Doubt" and musical or comedy actress for "Mamma Mia!" Kate Winslet also had two, best dramatic actress for "Revolutionary Road" and supporting actress for "The Reader."

Also chosen for dramatic actress were: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; and Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long."

Nominees for dramatic actor were Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Brad Pitt, "Benjamin Button"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; and Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

The year's biggest hit, the Batman blockbuster, "The Dark Knight," came in with strong awards buzz across the board but had only one nomination, supporting actor for Heath Ledger as the Joker.

"Heath was a friend of mine," said actor Terrence Howard, a presenter at the nominations ceremony. "He gave his all in that film. I think he will win in that category. He'll also get an Oscar."

"Doubt" also scored supporting nominations for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis, plus a screenplay slot for director John Patrick Shanley, who adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. were nominated as supporting actor for "Tropic Thunder." Each played odd roles: Cruise hidden behind a bald cap, beard and fat suit, Downey playing a white actor who undergoes a skin-tinting procedure to play a black man.

The Harvey Milk film biography "Milk" also had been at the top of awards watchers' lists but only grabbed an acting nomination for Penn.

One of the year's biggest comedy hits, "Sex and the City," was shut out completely.

While the hit "Mamma Mia!" was among best musical or comedy nominees, the category was dominated by smaller movies. The other contenders are "Burn After Reading," "Happy-Go-Lucky," "In Bruges" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

Clint Eastwood had two music nominations for his "Changeling" score and for co-writing the title song for "Gran Torino." But he missed out on directing nominations for both films and for an acting slot in "Gran Torino," in which he starred.

The animated hits "WALL-E" and "Bolt" had two nominations apiece, for best animated picture and best song, the "WALL-E" tune co-written by Peter Gabriel and the "Bolt" song co-written by Miley Cyrus, who also lent her voice to one of the film's lead characters.

The song category was loaded with big names, including Bruce Springsteen for the title tune of "The Wrestler" and Beyonce Knowles for co-writing a song in "Cadillac Records."

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" earned a supporting-actress nomination for Penelope Cruz, and her co-stars Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall each grabbed lead-acting slots in the musical or comedy categories.

Joining Hall and Streep in the musical or comedy actress lineup were Sally Hawkins for "Happy-Go-Lucky," Frances McDormand for "Burn After Reading" and Emma Thompson for "Last Chance Harvey."

Along with Bardem, "In Bruges" stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson both were nominated for best musical or comedy actor. Also chosen were James Franco for "Pineapple Express" and Dustin Hoffman for "Last Chance Harvey."

http://www.news-pres...1015/1013/RSS03

Also here

http://www.people.co...ss-topheadlines

[bondrules]

Now, there is no doubt in my mind that Ledger will get that Oscar.

[[dark]]

Wow, disappointing.

Ledger's worthy of a nom (and I think he'll win), but Nolan should have got a nod for "Best director", while the film itself should have got a look-in somewhere (the Globes categories are pretty preclusive to films like this - I suppose it's a drama, but it doesn't fit alongside the films nominated in that category).

It should show well at the Oscars for technical awards.

[Harmsway]

After it's relative lack of showing at the Golden Globes, I'm not expecting much for THE DARK KNIGHT at Oscar time, unless the theatrical re-release really changes things. I actually assumed that it would be much more prevalent at the Golden Globes, since the Globes are much more populist in their selections at the Oscars.

[Qwerty]

My thoughts exactly although it's annoying they won't include the full bounty for $14.99. I mean, they did make $530M(d)!

Now I really wish I could watch the Special Features.

Don't worry about them because they're pretty miserable. I was hoping for good 'making of' content and instead I get trailers, two docus on the music and the bat suit design and six "Gotham News" episodes that are merely fake news stories about the characters and events in the film? Ugh...

Well that's a bit disappointing. I seem to recall the Batman Begins special edition having a fairly solid collection of extras accompanying it. Wonder why that's not the case for this arguably even bigger release.

[[dark]]

After it's relative lack of showing at the Golden Globes, I'm not expecting much for THE DARK KNIGHT at Oscar time, unless the theatrical re-release really changes things. I actually assumed that it would be much more prevalent at the Golden Globes, since the Globes are much more populist in their selections at the Oscars.

Me too. Very surprising. Perhaps it was just released at the wrong time of year to gain serious awards consideration.

[DamnCoffee]

They're probably holding out for a double dip release. Since it's turned out the way it has.... they'll want to make more money.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Tom Cruise was funny in TT but better than Aaron Eckhart in TDK?

No nomination for best pic and direction? TDK was easily the most ambitious film of the year....lame.

[sharpshooter]

There is a deleted scene featuring The Joker that runs for roughly 25 seconds that is seen on TDK special features. That’s right.

Once Joker jumps into the school bus after pressing the detonator for the hospital, there is an angle that Nolan didn’t use. He mounted a camera in close up on Heath in the bus once he’s inside and sitting down. Joker never looks back at the hospital that’s collapsing to his left. He also has this proud, sinister smile on his face. It's a small scene, but for me it further cements for me how brilliant he was in this role.

Nolan said he wanted to keep the sequence simple in the edit to show the fact they did it for real – so they just used two shots. I would have loved to see this deleted Joker scene in the film (the more Joker footage the better), but well done to Nolan for not sacrificing his vision.

[Harmsway]

That's not the only deleted scene from THE DARK KNIGHT. The other one is a brief moment where the Joker drives away from Wayne's penthouse (after Rachel and Batman were dropped from the roof). A thug asks Joker, "What about Dent?" and Joker replies, "I'm a man of my word."

I don't know if that's on the DVD, though.

[Loomis]

I'm becoming oddly addicted to THE DARK KNIGHT. I'm itching to see it again, even though I last watched it on Monday and my DVD copy is rather pants (that said, I did see some of the movie the other day on Blu-ray and a Sony Bravia TV and the image quality was quite simply mindblowing).

Apart from anything else, repeated viewings are necessary to deal with all the plot holes. From a blog I came across:

Dark Knight Plot Hole Repository

So, really, I don't mean to seem like someone who hated this movie. It had lots of cool moments, and the three major performances-- Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhardt-- were great. And my major beef isn't even with the plot holes, it's with the bloat, the competing Two Face and Joker plotlines that should have been two movies, and the resulting damage to both as the result of refusing to choose one.

But the more I think about the movie more plot holes spring up, so I'm just gonna post a bunch here as I think them up. Not as a mean-spirited campaign against the (wildly successful) movie but as a public service.

Many of the most vexing danglers and mixed-up concepts come from the Joker's trip to jail-- a trip, we learn, which the Joker intended to take. It's revealed that the Joker intentionally let himself be captured by the police in order to get into the Major Crimes Unit's lockup so he could kill Lao, the crooked Hong Kong businessman. He wants to kill Lao because Lao is the chief witness for the prosecution against the mobsters Harvey Dent and the Gotham PD indicted.
As the movie constantly tells us, Harvey Dent's credibility is essential to the prosecution of these mobsters. Batman himself tells Dent that if people found out Dent was pulling his Russian roulette routine with the Joker's henchman, the prosecution would fall apart.

But the elaborate, dangerous chase scene that the Joker set up to attack Harvey Dent in the police truck-- an event, remember, that the Joker took part in so he could get arrested and get to Lao-- happens after Harvey Dent "admits" to being the Batman.
So wouldn't Dent's credibility already be null? Wouldn't the prosecution fall apart anyway? If Dent's integrity is so vital to the prosecution of these mobsters, as the movie insists on telling us again and again, why would the Joker go to so much trouble to attack Lao? What sense does that make? And how could Dent have prosecuted the mobsters if he was in jail for being Batman, anyway?
Of course, it's hard to imagine why the Joker would go through such an elaborate, incredibly dangerous attack on the police convoy if he only intended to do it in order to get arrested. I mean he does seem to make a real effort to kill Dent, but again, if Dent is dead, why the pretense of going to jail? Lao becomes useless without Dent, and anyway at that point both the crusading DA and Batman would be Dent. (Joker tells us, after all, that he really thought Dent was Batman.)

Why would Gordon house not only the Joker, but also the Jokers cronies (including the one with the cell phone bomb implanted inside of him) in the same MCU holding facility that houses Lao? I thought the whole point was that nobody else would be in MCU to kill Lao.
Now with the Joker in custody, Gordon and Batman grill him to find out where Dent and Rachel are, who have suddenly disappeared. (Why Gordon didn't immediately think "Hey I wonder if the cops who took Dent and Rachel home might be involved, I don't know.) Eventually the Joker talks (kind of invalidating the whole "you can't get me to talk cause you won't kill me" speech, but whatever). Gordon and Batman race off to try and save Rachel and Dent. (The Joker having played a flip flop regarding Dent and Rachel, for reasons that weren't 100% clear to me other than, you know, he's one bad dude).
Here comes what to me was the just laugh out loud, are-you-kidding-me part. The Joker, who has killed dozens and terrorized Gotham, fought the Batman hand-to-hand to a standstill and pretty much revealed himself to be the A-number one badass on the planet, is left in an interrogation room (not a cell, mind you)...unshackled...alone... with a single, middle aged cop in a suit. Now, the holding cell that has the Joker's crony with the cell phone-bomb inside him appears to have an entire precinct full of cops in it. But the Joker? One old dude. Who either has a key, or just has the door unlocked, because the Joker quickly takes him hostage and walks into the other room.
He takes the cop hostage, by the way, so he can make his one phone call, and thereby trigger the bomb in his buddy, creating confusion and allowing him to get to Lao, so he can kill Lao (preventing the prosecution of the mobsters) and find out where the money is. Of course, this plot could have been foiled if, instead of leaving this one, conveniently old cop to stand alone in the cell with the Joker, the cops had just locked the door of the interrogation room, or, call me crazy, put him in a cell.

But the Joker does take the hostage, he does call the cell phone bomb, it does blow up, which does create the conditions that allow him to get to Lao, who he does get the location of the money from, and then kills. So here's the real question: why does he bother to kill Lao at all, if he's only going to kill the mobsters? Why prevent a prosecution if your intention is only to kill the people being prosecuted? Was it so he could find out where the money is? (The money, by the way, is apparently sitting in a boat in Gotham harbor, instead of on its way to Hong Kong). He just burns the money! And if his intention was just to kill the mobsters and set their dogs on them, again... why kill Lao? It's not like he needs to get the head mobsters out of jail; the head mobsters have made bail. They're there for the Joker to kill anyways, and he does. He just wants to free all the of their lieutenants and goons so they can be in his gang? Again, Dent is about to blow up, as far as he knows. And his credibility is already shot, or at least it was as far as the Joker knew when he intentionally got arrested. So doesn't that mean, by the movie's own assertion, that the prosecution is screwed anyway? Why go through all the rigmarole?

I mean... I find this all a tad unconvincing.

You and me both, dude. You and me both. Still, a lovely little film, all things considered.

[[dark]]

Interesting little article guardian.co.uk about Nolan's possessive credit being blanked out on screener DVDs being sent to the Academy.

[Harmsway]

I mean... I find this all a tad unconvincing.

You and me both, dude. You and me both.

I'll call into a question many of his specific complaints (I think he's got the Lao thing all wrong, and there are other points that I don't think pan out), but I have to admit that on the whole the section doesn't quite mesh. The Joker's just too omniscient.

[JackWade]

That's not the only deleted scene from THE DARK KNIGHT. The other one is a brief moment where the Joker drives away from Wayne's penthouse (after Rachel and Batman were dropped from the roof). A thug asks Joker, "What about Dent?" and Joker replies, "I'm a man of my word."

I don't know if that's on the DVD, though.

Not that I've seen but I do remember reading something like this in the script.

[Harmsway]

That's not the only deleted scene from THE DARK KNIGHT. The other one is a brief moment where the Joker drives away from Wayne's penthouse (after Rachel and Batman were dropped from the roof). A thug asks Joker, "What about Dent?" and Joker replies, "I'm a man of my word."

I don't know if that's on the DVD, though.

Not that I've seen but I do remember reading something like this in the script.

There are also photographs of the scene (released during the viral campaign), and I've seen footage of it being filmed.

[Tarl_Cabot]

I'm becoming oddly addicted to THE DARK KNIGHT. I'm itching to see it again, even though I last watched it on Monday and my DVD copy is rather pants (that said, I did see some of the movie the other day on Blu-ray and a Sony Bravia TV and the image quality was quite simply mindblowing).

Apart from anything else, repeated viewings are necessary to deal with all the plot holes. From a blog I came across:

Dark Knight Plot Hole Repository

So, really, I don't mean to seem like someone who hated this movie. It had lots of cool moments, and the three major performances-- Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhardt-- were great. And my major beef isn't even with the plot holes, it's with the bloat, the competing Two Face and Joker plotlines that should have been two movies, and the resulting damage to both as the result of refusing to choose one.

But the more I think about the movie more plot holes spring up, so I'm just gonna post a bunch here as I think them up. Not as a mean-spirited campaign against the (wildly successful) movie but as a public service.

Many of the most vexing danglers and mixed-up concepts come from the Joker's trip to jail-- a trip, we learn, which the Joker intended to take. It's revealed that the Joker intentionally let himself be captured by the police in order to get into the Major Crimes Unit's lockup so he could kill Lao, the crooked Hong Kong businessman. He wants to kill Lao because Lao is the chief witness for the prosecution against the mobsters Harvey Dent and the Gotham PD indicted.
As the movie constantly tells us, Harvey Dent's credibility is essential to the prosecution of these mobsters. Batman himself tells Dent that if people found out Dent was pulling his Russian roulette routine with the Joker's henchman, the prosecution would fall apart.

But the elaborate, dangerous chase scene that the Joker set up to attack Harvey Dent in the police truck-- an event, remember, that the Joker took part in so he could get arrested and get to Lao-- happens after Harvey Dent "admits" to being the Batman.
So wouldn't Dent's credibility already be null? Wouldn't the prosecution fall apart anyway? If Dent's integrity is so vital to the prosecution of these mobsters, as the movie insists on telling us again and again, why would the Joker go to so much trouble to attack Lao? What sense does that make? And how could Dent have prosecuted the mobsters if he was in jail for being Batman, anyway?
Of course, it's hard to imagine why the Joker would go through such an elaborate, incredibly dangerous attack on the police convoy if he only intended to do it in order to get arrested. I mean he does seem to make a real effort to kill Dent, but again, if Dent is dead, why the pretense of going to jail? Lao becomes useless without Dent, and anyway at that point both the crusading DA and Batman would be Dent. (Joker tells us, after all, that he really thought Dent was Batman.)

Why would Gordon house not only the Joker, but also the Jokers cronies (including the one with the cell phone bomb implanted inside of him) in the same MCU holding facility that houses Lao? I thought the whole point was that nobody else would be in MCU to kill Lao.
Now with the Joker in custody, Gordon and Batman grill him to find out where Dent and Rachel are, who have suddenly disappeared. (Why Gordon didn't immediately think "Hey I wonder if the cops who took Dent and Rachel home might be involved, I don't know.) Eventually the Joker talks (kind of invalidating the whole "you can't get me to talk cause you won't kill me" speech, but whatever). Gordon and Batman race off to try and save Rachel and Dent. (The Joker having played a flip flop regarding Dent and Rachel, for reasons that weren't 100% clear to me other than, you know, he's one bad dude).
Here comes what to me was the just laugh out loud, are-you-kidding-me part. The Joker, who has killed dozens and terrorized Gotham, fought the Batman hand-to-hand to a standstill and pretty much revealed himself to be the A-number one badass on the planet, is left in an interrogation room (not a cell, mind you)...unshackled...alone... with a single, middle aged cop in a suit. Now, the holding cell that has the Joker's crony with the cell phone-bomb inside him appears to have an entire precinct full of cops in it. But the Joker? One old dude. Who either has a key, or just has the door unlocked, because the Joker quickly takes him hostage and walks into the other room.
He takes the cop hostage, by the way, so he can make his one phone call, and thereby trigger the bomb in his buddy, creating confusion and allowing him to get to Lao, so he can kill Lao (preventing the prosecution of the mobsters) and find out where the money is. Of course, this plot could have been foiled if, instead of leaving this one, conveniently old cop to stand alone in the cell with the Joker, the cops had just locked the door of the interrogation room, or, call me crazy, put him in a cell.

But the Joker does take the hostage, he does call the cell phone bomb, it does blow up, which does create the conditions that allow him to get to Lao, who he does get the location of the money from, and then kills. So here's the real question: why does he bother to kill Lao at all, if he's only going to kill the mobsters? Why prevent a prosecution if your intention is only to kill the people being prosecuted? Was it so he could find out where the money is? (The money, by the way, is apparently sitting in a boat in Gotham harbor, instead of on its way to Hong Kong). He just burns the money! And if his intention was just to kill the mobsters and set their dogs on them, again... why kill Lao? It's not like he needs to get the head mobsters out of jail; the head mobsters have made bail. They're there for the Joker to kill anyways, and he does. He just wants to free all the of their lieutenants and goons so they can be in his gang? Again, Dent is about to blow up, as far as he knows. And his credibility is already shot, or at least it was as far as the Joker knew when he intentionally got arrested. So doesn't that mean, by the movie's own assertion, that the prosecution is screwed anyway? Why go through all the rigmarole?

I mean... I find this all a tad unconvincing.

You and me both, dude. You and me both. Still, a lovely little film, all things considered.

This series is guilty of one truly bad plothole and that's the first film's intro of young Rachel, should be 19ish(before Bruce Wayne leaves town), as a prosecutor.

Otherwise, I have no trouble with TDK: The Joker is a thrill seeker and has little logic to what he does, He doesn't care about money or saving mobsters.I think he wants to toy the cops by getting caught and escaping...I don't think he was 100% sold on Dent as BB anyway.

Anyway, I'm addicted to TDK too! It's gets better each viewing.