What I’ve been watching
Ok…so I let the Haiku-a-day project slip…I’ve been working on a project for work and reading a book for Ohioana Quarterly. Besides that, though, the otter was out of town this weekend, so I spent time watching movies! Here’s what I saw:
The Dark Knight
To tell you the truth, I was getting tired of hearing about how great of a job Heath Ledger did as the Joker. This happens whenever an actor, especially one who’s popular with the kids, dies before a movie comes out. After seeing this, however, I’m now preaching the gospel of Ledger. He’s completely unrecognisable, becoming the Joker completey.
This was not just the best Batman movie or the best super-hero movie I’ve ever seen…it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen. And for a super-hero movie, it’s bleak and nihilistic–the darkest movie in the genre ever made. I won’t give too much a way, except that the movie is basically one big, unwinable clusterfuck for Batman the whole way through.
Speed Racer
I knew this was going to be bad (and it was), but I wanted to see it on the big screen becaues, love it or hate it, it is visually impressive. Potentially seizure-enducing, sure, but impressive.
This movie looks like a live-action anime. All the colors are oversaturated, speed lines abound, and the laws of physics are more like guidelines. If you’re a fan of the original anime (I’m not), you’ll be happy that all the original characters are there (Including Racer X), and that the Mach 5 looks like the Mach 5.
Emile Hirsch bugs me. He looks like a thin Jack Black and acts like a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Still, he’s alright in this part. I’m glad I saw this in the theatre, but I probably won’t see it again.
28 Weeks Later
NEWS FLASH: 28 Days Later did not need a sequel. This movie was OK at best. Still, I liked it enough not to want my time back. Of course, I had drank 4 Sapporos before I watched it, so that may have cushioned the suckage.
The best I can say is that the movie frequently zigged whan I thought it was going to zag. that would have been great if the characters had any sort of charisma, or if it didn’t have the whole “You are the one who can save the world” thing going on.
28 Days Later is one of my favorite movies. This one…not so much.
The Most High and Holy Church of jaynova 
20 July 2008 at 4:40 pm
I really want to see the new Batman. It should be in DVD stores by now. 28 Week later was disappointing. I expected more from Robert Carlyle. After seeing it I view a possible Zombie Apocalypse in less favorable light.
20 July 2008 at 5:12 pm
Get to your local video store and get your black market, quasi-legal copy today, then, because it rocks! (I say quasi-legal because, while it breaks international copyright laws, I imagine that the bootleg is pretty normal in China.)
21 July 2008 at 11:40 pm
ARA ! Sapporo mo suki deshoo!
( I wish I could say I understood why you would go watch Speed Racer, man, but . .. I don’t. I saw the traier, and I conceed that they set out with a certain “Wink wink, we are all in on this joke, aye?” attitude to it that was commendable, but it looked inexpressably painful to me, so earnest, stylised, I don’t think I could sit through it. )
Sapporo is the Prince of beers ( Its Royal father is from Belgium )
24 July 2008 at 6:07 pm
Personally I really liked 28 Weeks Later, a refreshing change of tone from what is a rather over-rated film in 28 Days Later. I still think 28 Days Later is a rather cool film, but it kinda lost me in the second half after the rather effective opening. I think 28 Weeks Later starts strong and gets better as it goes along, even if the characters are rather more two dimensional fodder.
The Dark Knight just opened over here, can’t wait to see it!