Love Letters

Think you know your movie posters? Well, so did I, until I took this humbling quiz offered up by Empire Online. The idea is to identify the movie based on 1 letter of the title from the movie’s poster. To give you an idea of how hard it is, I’d consider myself to have a better-than-average knowledge of movies and fonts, and I got 16 of 46. Frustrating, but it also made me want a second quiz. Soon.

"Just as modern as any city in the Federated States of Amerigo"

For anybody looking for a insider’s tour of the city before the DNC hits, welcome to Denver, y’all.

Fantastic.

Link from The Denver Egotist.

Dark Shadows

I went back to see The Dark Knight again yesterday, this time on the IMAX screen, and I also watched Batman Begins, mostly just for comparison’s sake. What’s amazing is, for all the hype and critical praise that was heaped on Begins for its dark and gritty take on the Caped Crusader, that movie has nothing on Dark Knight when it comes to (pardon the pun) darkness. Aside from Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy’s villains in the first movie being completely outshined by Heath Ledger’s electric take on the Joker, Dark Knight is a literally darker movie. One of the first things that jumped out at me was the difference in the color palette of the two movies. Batman Begins, which seemed so raw and ominous when it was released, now looks comparatively bright, shiny, and colorful when held up against its sequel. Until the final battle scene, much of Begins takes place in the light, whereas Dark Knight is just the reverse, with the majority of the movie taking place in dark offices, back rooms, alleyways and underground streets. Even the outdoor daylight scenes all seem to take place on gloomy, cloudy days. Knowing how much thought Christopher Nolan puts into his movies, I’m going with the assumption that this is intentional — that the darkness is meant to show just how bad things are in Gotham, lending weight to Harvey Dent’s statement that things are always darkest before the dawn, but also mirroring Bruce Wayne’s acceptance of Batman’s place as an anti-hero who must remain a shadowy figure to achieve his true purpose.

Intentional or not, the visual tone of the film is just one more reason why The Dark Knight is now one of my favorite movies of all time. It lost absolutely nothing on a second viewing, and I’d go see it a third time in the theater given half an excuse. Usually, the second time I see a movie is when I catch lines I may not have caught the first time and notice more flaws, but I was just as absorbed in the story as the first time I saw it. A couple things I did notice: the soundtrack is pretty incredible, mainly because it fits the action so well that I barely noticed it except to think, “That’s cool”, and Heath Ledger was even more impressive and creepy the second time around. He was mesmerizing in every scene, and if he doesn’t at least get nominated for an Oscar, it will be a crime.

And finally, this was my first IMAX experience with a Hollywood movie, and for me, it didn’t add much except to make the screen a lot bigger. Maybe it was the angle at which we were sitting (off to the right), but it was tough to see what was happening in a lot of the darker scenes... of which, as I said, there were plenty. On the other hand, it was worth the extra $5 per ticket not to have to watch commercials before the movie. Until the show started, all we got was a blank screen and the Dark Knight soundtrack playing quietly over the speakers. It actually allowed people in the audience to talk to each other, which was nice since the theater started filling up 40-45 minutes before the show (yes, a 12:20 pm screening was still sold out a full two weeks after the movie’s release). Once the lights went down, it was two previews and then straight into the movie. That in itself is enough to get me back to an IMAX show in the future.

Fall Music Preview

Lots of potentially great new music coming out this fall. Here’s a list of what I’m looking forward to (I’ll continue to update as I find more info):

8.19
The Verve, Forth
The reunited Manchester outfit’s first album since 1997’s Urban Hymns. They’ve been playing new songs on tour this summer, and early buzz is good. Even if Forth is only half the record Hymns is, that would still make it a quality reunion album.

8.26
Matthew Sweet, Sunshine Lies
I’ve heard a couple tracks on his MySpace page, and I can’t tell if they're rough mixes, or if his production is that raw. His last few albums have been hit or miss for me, so I’m hoping this one will be more along the lines of In Reverse or Kimi Ga Suki, and not another Living Things.

9.12
[UPDATE] Metallica, Death Magnetic
I can’t decide about this one. It’s hard for me to get excited about a new Metallica album since their last few have sucked so hard, but the word is that they’ve returned to their roots for this one, tapping into some ...And Justice For All-type riffs. That sounds good... after all, Justice is the album that made me love these guys in the first place, but then again, it’s hard to forget how bad St. Anger was. I think I’ll give this one a listen before I drop any cash on it.

9.23
Kings of Leon, Only By the Night
Their last one, Because of the Times, was such an amazing leap forward, I’m interested to see if this is more of the same, or if these four Southern boys keep pushing their sound.
[UPDATE] If the first single (now playing on their MySpace page) is indicative of the whole album, I’d say they haven’t strayed too far from Because of the Times. I’m good with that.

Mogwai, The Hawk is Howling
Same here. I liked Mr. Beast a lot, and Mogwai’s the type of band that sticks with what works. Fine by me.

9.30
Ben Folds, Way to Normal
On the other hand, we have Ben Folds, coming off the underwhelming Songs For Silverman. I’m hoping he can get back to the fun of Rockin’ the Suburbs on this one.

10.07
Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos, Animal! & Not Animal! (2 separate releases)
No idea what to expect here, although I do know the excellent “Broad Ripple is Burning” will be on one of these.

Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul
It might suck, but I’ll still play the shit out of it. Easily worth it for the two or three Noel-sung songs that are sure to appear, like [UPDATE] the newly-released “Falling Down”. I'll buy it on the strength of that song alone.

11.18
U2, No Line on the Horizon
Early word is that U2 are “very, very pleased” with this one. Bono is happy, and just in time for the holidays. Looks like we’re in for 7 years of peace and prosperity the world over.

(Most of these dates come from Metacritic.com)

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." —George W. Bush, May 12, 2008

The first trailer for Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic, W, has surfaced on YouTube. It’s like a horrific car wreck. I don’t want to see it, but I can’t look away.

Putting the "Street" back in Sesame

I love people with too much time on their hands.

Monthly Fees

The Soup sums up why I didn't buy a new iPhone. I mean, I love Apple and all, but I also like money. Until AT&T’s iPhone monopoly is over, I’m all good with Verizon and one of these.

Thanks to The Original Winger for the link.

Stay Positive

Despite the title, this post has nothing to do with The Hold Steady’s excellent new album. It’s about a little movie you may have heard of called The Dark Knight that’s been breaking every possible box office record recently. I saw it two nights ago, and after a couple days to reflect, I’ve decided it’s in my top three all-time (alongside The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark). There’s a lot of reasons why, but the easiest explanation is that director Christopher Nolan took everything that was good about Batman Begins (gritty realism, almost total avoidance of CGI) and maintained or expanded on it, while also managing to improve everything that needed to be (Katie Holmes, camerawork during the fight scenes), all while getting fantastic performances from his actors.

Since I saw the movie, I’ve read several reviews which included a variety of complaints. I loved this movie, and I’m having trouble understanding all the negativity (hence, the title of this post). So, here’s my response to the most common gripes. [WARNING: SPOILERS]

At 2.5 hours, it was too long.
About two hours in, I thought, I wonder how long this movie is? Then I went right back to enjoying it. It didn’t feel long to me, it felt complete.

Heather Ledger’s death is the only reason so many people are seeing the movie.
OK, so the morbid curiosity aspect is legit, but those people are getting to see an incredible final performance from Ledger, and an incredibly high quality movie. Who cares why people come to the theater if they enjoy the movie? The Dark Knight certainly deserves this success much more than that piece of crap Spider-Man 3.

Ledger’s performance is way overhyped. I mean, Oscar buzz? Really?
Really. Almost all the actors gave incredibly high quality performances, but Ledger brought it on a whole new level. I really believed he just wanted to see the city explode simply because it amused him.

Batman was barely in this. Why didn’t they just call this movie The Joker?
I don’t get this one. Between Bruce Wayne and Batman, Christian Bale easily had more screen time than the Joker. I can see it being an issue in some of the older, campy Batman movies where guys like Ah-nuld and Jim Carrey stole the show, but I don’t see it here. I thought it was pretty well-balanced.

We didn’t get any back story about the Joker. Why didn’t they explain his origin?
OK, make up your minds, folks. Too much Joker, not enough Joker... Besides, aren’t villains more interesting and creepy when you don’t know their motives? Especially when you’re dealing with someone like the Joker, who’s only interested in panic and chaos. I agree with Stephen King: the scariest horror movies are always the ones where the killers just stalk their victims, and no reason is ever given why they’re doing it. Explaining the back story makes them more human, but also, less scary. The Dark Knight isn’t horror, but the Joker is a homicidal maniac, and if you’re doing a gritty take on him, he should have the ability to make your skin crawl. Plus, no definite back story gave the Joker the opportunity to keep changing his explanation about his scars, which I thought made him seem even more insane.

Two-Face’s story arc was too rushed. They should have kept him around for a third movie.
I really liked the fact that The Dark Knight felt complete in and of itself. If they never make another one (highly unlikely, given the way this film is raking in the cash), no one will feel like they were left hanging. I can’t stand it when a movie feels like it has no purpose other than setting up the sequel. Besides, I don’t know how much more they could have done with Two-Face. Aaron Eckhart’s performance was actually the biggest surprise in the movie for me—I thought he nailed Harvey Dent. But his purpose in the film was to be established as Gotham’s true hope—in a way, the anti-Batman, a normal citizen committed to cleaning up the city without needing a mask and fancy gadgets to do it. His arc ended once he was no longer the shining White Knight Gotham needed, and Dent’s fall forced Bruce Wayne to come to terms with the kind of sacrifices he would have to make to continue as Batman.

Of course, Two-Face is a comic book villain, and anyone who’s ever read comics knows that nobody stays dead forever.

Aside from the fact that they can’t ever bring the Joker back now (even if they wanted to re-cast, what actor would be crazy enough to take that role?), I don’t have any major complaints about The Dark Knight. A couple of casting quibbles, maybe (I’ve never been an Eric Roberts fan, and it’s hard for me to take Nestor Carbonell seriously since he played Bat-Manuel—unknowns in either of those roles would have been an improvement), but those were made up for by the dramatic upgrade of Maggie Gyllenhall over Katie Holmes. I’ll definitely see this one again in the theater, and apparently, I’m not the only one.

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On a different note, I’m going to try to get back to blogging more regularly. I’ve been pretty overwhelmed this summer with work and my brother’s wedding, but I’d like to get back to writing about my leisure-time experiences on a more frequent basis. In a way, this post is a chance to shake off the rust. So aside from going all fanboy-gaga over The Dark Knight, here’s a few things I’ve been doing lately:

Hellboy 2. A bit of a disappointment, since I loved the first one so much. This one seemed less focused and more choppy, and intent on setting up a third movie. On the other hand, the creatures made me really excited to see what Guillermo del Toro is gonna do with The Hobbit.

Watchmen. I just finished re-reading Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ amazing graphic novel after seeing the trailer for next March’s movie adaptation. It really is an incredible story, and hard to imagine that comics weren’t always like this. I just hope the movie can do it justice, since that will be the majority of America’s first introduction to the tale.

Concerts #99 and 100. I’ve been keeping track of every show I’ve seen since I was old enough to go without my parents. My first concert of my independent era was The Stones and Living Colour back in 1988 at RFK Stadium, and last Friday, I saw my 99th (Lyle Lovett and Leo Kottke at Red Rocks), followed by #100 on Sunday (day two of The Mile High Music Festival, where I saw some or all of the sets by Rodrigo y Gabriela, Flobots, The Roots, John Mayer, The Black Crowes, and Dave Matthews Band). Even though I don’t know a lot of his music, Lyle Lovett was a great show on a fantastic night at Red Rocks. As for Sunday, I wasn’t blown away by anybody, but the Roots and Rodrigo were both enjoyable, and I’d see either of them again. I’d also probably go see DMB again, but only if I could get good seats. Standing 400 yards away and staring over the heads of 60,000 other people kind of sucks. I think I’m also suffering from a bit of concert fatigue. In looking back at my list of shows, 52 of them have been since 2000, and 21 of those were in the past two years. I think it’s time to take a break, unless there’s somebody I really want to see.

Batman vs. Batman vs... Batman?

I think I’ve mentioned it enough times now that you know I love well-done movie trailers. Well, even more than that, I love well-done fake movie trailers. And ahead of next month’s release of the Dark Knight, the folks over at Black 20 have got a freaking cool trailer that will settle once and for all who’s the best Batman. Who needs villains? The only disappointing part is, they didn't give Adam West his crack at the title. Nobody can overcome tilted cameras and animated sound effects the way he could.

Summertime

This past week, Entertainment Weekly ran a small piece trying to predict what the “summer jams” of 2008 will be. A lot of mainstream music mags and websites generally do something along these lines around this time of year, and most lists are fairly predictable themselves. They will almost always include: 1 rap song with mail-order beats, tired references to how much money, cars and women the rapper has, and an incredibly annoying and repetitive hook; either a crappy Top 40 band masquerading as “punk” or “emo,” or some marginally “alternative” band slipped in by the editors in a desperate effort to hang on to whatever shreds of cred they might have once had; and inevitably, the list will be topped off by the current overproduced mess from the R&B or pop starlet of the moment, who 90% of the time can’t hit the high notes without the aid of pitch bending software. In recent summers, we’ve been treated to Rihanna, Beyonce, Avril, and Britney. This year, EW gives us three options: Mariah Carey (OK, she’s got a real voice), Fergie (absolutely hopeless without Pro Tools), and the coup de grace, Maroon 5 (kings of pitch shifting themselves) featuring Rihanna. Double the Pro Tools action, double the summer jam potential, apparently. Well, screw all that. If you can’t sing without a computer to help you, there’s no way you should be making money as a singer. But good luck trying to convince whoever is buying the iTunes Top 20 every week of that fact (I’m looking at you, High School Musical fans). Luckily for me, I haven’t crossed into that territory in many many years, and in that spirit, here’s my anti-summer jam mix. Perfect for rocking your Memorial Day picnic.

I Will Possess Your Heart… Death Cab for Cutie
Orange Crush… Editors
Grounds For Divorce… Elbow
Violet Hill… Coldplay*
Living Well Is The Best Revenge… R.E.M.
The Righteous Path… Drive-By Truckers
Rich Kid Blues… The Raconteurs
Just Like Heaven… The Watson Twins
Outfit [Live]… Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
I Like What You Say… Nada Surf
I Thought I Saw Your Face Today… She & Him
M79… Vampire Weekend
Lights Out For Darker Skies… British Sea Power
The Light… Sun Kil Moon
Shooting Star… Air Traffic
One Day Like This… Elbow

*Full disclosure: Coldplay is treading dangerously close to falling into one or two of the categories I listed above (for that matter, Death Cab’s not far behind), and I’m not 100% sold on the quality of this, their new single. But I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt until I hear the new album. Plus, c’mon, it’s Coldplay. They’ll be impossible to avoid in a few weeks anyway. Might as well start assimilating now.