Movie Review | 'The Dark Knight': Showdown in Gotham Town

Links (7)

Times ' Dark Knight Review [The Cinema]
Published 7/18/2008 by Ryan Tate at Gawker
... "Mr. Ledger's death might have cast a paralyzing pall over the film if the performance were not so alive... He’s just a clown painted on black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece." [Times] ...

Spotlight on the Bat-Pod
Published 7/18/2008 by Whitney Matheson at USATODAY.com - Pop Candy
... , Popular Mechanics gets the lowdown on how the Bat-Pod was created. Director Christopher Nolan and production designer Nathan Crowley assembled the vehicle "after picking through junkyards, a local Home Depot and (a) surprisingly hands-on garage." Meanwhile, Dark Knight continues to rack up the positive reviews, and I hope you've already secured your tickets for the weekend. (Is anyone going to those 6 a.m. screenings?) The New York Times calls it "darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind." So far the most negative criticism I've seen has ...

The Dark Knight : The Movie's Out, The Reviews Are In, And Heath Ledger Is Amazing [Critical Mass]
Published 7/18/2008 by Maria at Jezebel
... : The Joker is more than wild. It's a tribute to the power of Heath Ledger's transcendent performance in The Dark Knight (* * * * out of four) that we can watch him, transfixed and deeply unsettled by the character's creepiness, laugh at his comic menace, and still manage to block out thoughts of the actor's tragic and untimely death. This is a career-making performance if ever there was one. Too bad it was a career-ending one as well. The New York Times : The new Batman movie isn’t a radical overhaul like its predecessor, which is to be expected of a film with a large price ...

‘Space Chimps’: the ‘Times’ Takes a Courageous Stand
Published 7/18/2008 at Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog
... Hidden away in today's Times arts coverage, deep in the section behind Manohla Dargis's review of The Dark Knight ("Goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind") and ...

Weekend Movie Forecast: The Dark Knight or Space Chimps?
Published 7/18/2008 by John Del Signore at Gothamist
... , but Manohla Dargis at the Times got it right: “No matter how cynical you feel about Hollywood, it is hard not to fall for a film that makes room for a shot of the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car and laughing into the wind, the city’s colored lights gleaming behind him like jewels. He’s just a clown in black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece.” ( ...

Some light for the current dark tidings. Some Reygadas.
Published 7/19/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (Ryland Walker Knight) at Vinyl Is Heavy
How about a bit of counter programming? After yesterday's noon:forty-five viewing of everybody's favorite thing to talk about right now, I needed some stillness, some light, some reserve, some duration, some real matter, some water. You know, some good old timey long take mise-en-scene. Phew! However: I'll be seeing big fussy over there in the multiplexes again, probably (I ...

The Dark Knight: and The Ladies (Room)
Published 7/22/2008 by Graham (noreply@blogger.com) at Movies et al.
... And those very gals, after silently praying that the Joker will die or Batman will retire or everyone will just perish en masse and the movie will end, tend to be seated in the centers of theater rows." I have a had time even taking this argument to pieces. It's so stupid, and has already been so savaged, that it seems pointless. I'll do it anyway, but my heart's not in it. 1. Women can't handle The Dark Knight? I'm sorry, I didn't realize that. I must have been mistaken ...