Thursday 24 July 2008

Brief Film Reviews


So, I saw "The Dark Knight." It was way better than I thought it would be. It was partly an action movie and partly an ambitious psychological thriller. Heath Ledger was great. I will be sad if he gets an Oscar for this role, though, because it will only remind me of how he didn't get one for "Brokeback Mountain" due to homophobia (Hollywood isn't full of liberals). Maggie Gyllenhaal was really good too, as were Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman as always. As for Christian Bale, I don't see his appeal, but he spent most of the movie in a rubber suit with his voice distorted, so it didn't matter. I recommend seeing this film in a theater; don't wait for it on DVD.

My most recent Netflix rental was "Charlie Wilson's War" which was also better than I thought it would be. The trailer made me think the film might have dumbed down the story but it didn't, which was probably the reason why it didn't do well at the box office. I also rented another bomb that I liked, "Reservation Road," a psychological suspense story about the aftermath of a fatal hit-and-run. Before that I rented a film I thought was crap, "3:10 to Yuma." I was quite surprised as I remembered it as a critical and commercial hit. I then took a look at Netflix members' reviews and to my further surprise, found that many members agreed with me that the movie was preposterous. How could the critics have liked it? I sometimes wonder if they are taking payola.