Batman Returns (1992) – It has a great cast doing great jobs
all around and another great Elfman score, but the real highlights are the
style and atmosphere – visually, the film is close to perfect; okay, the rocket
penguins are pretty stupid, but all things considered, this might still be my
favorite Batman movie. 7
Monday, July 30, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Batman (1989)
Batman (1989) – The story is average, the action adequate, the
score fantastic, and the style exceptional; for my money, Michael Keaton is the
best Bruce Wayne (even if it’s an unusual take on the character) and quite a fine Batman (even if he does kill a few guys 1940-style); the movie is eighties in a way that
hasn’t held up well (e.g., Prince), but with its excellent amalgamation of
expressionist, art deco, noir, and pulp style elements, it also feels timeless;
I’d forgotten just how much this film influenced the animated series. 7
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – The film is just too big to get everything right (it also cuts some corners and the bad guys’ plans don’t always make a whole lot of sense), but it does a mostly effective job of combining elements from several notable comic arcs into a fitting and satisfying (if somewhat obvious) conclusion to the trilogy; the cast is excellent, and Hardy impresses; the social and political commentary here is shamelessly overt, more so even than in the last one; I hope now we can all agree that using “realistic” to describe this trilogy is off the table for good. 7
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (2008) – Heath Ledger is great, obviously,
and the film is vastly entertaining (and often feels high-stakes), even if it is a bit too long, the last act is a little weak, the post-9/11 commentary is heavy-handed (including the entire Hong Kong subplot),
the Joker’s plans are ludicrously and implausibly contrived,
and Bale uses an angry pirate voice. 7
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Batman Begins
Batman Begins (2005) – I’ve never found any of Nolan’s
Batman films to be as important or grounded in realism as they purport to be; nonetheless,
this is an extremely engaging and satisfying film with only relatively minor
flaws; Oldman is a perfect Year One Gordon; Caine is always good, but Alfred’s accent is a questionable choice. 7
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Winning Team
The Winning Team (1952) – Alexander seems like he was a
pretty interesting and complex character, and that comes through even in this
watered-down, inaccurate biography that often feels like little more than one
big feel-good cliché; the POTUS does a solid job (he may not be right for the character, but he’s right for this treatment), and while maybe he’s not all that convincing
as a pitcher, we’ve seen far worse. 6
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Safe House (1998)
Safe House (1998) – It has some rough spots, but it also has a pretty good sense of humor and, with its impressive confluence of story elements and strong character focus (Patrick Stewart is just fantastic), it’s a compelling and satisfying film. 7
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Safe House (2012)
Safe House (2012) – Denzel is the highlight (of course) of this disappointingly unoriginal, implausible, weak-scripted, predictable action thriller; Ryan Reynolds also does an impressive job, but the same cannot be said of the director. 5
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