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I am contrite for not writing so much but I have been working on a play which will be showing at Wellingtons BATS theater from Feb 20th 2009. This play has sucked a lot of my time writing of late and is about a guy who accidentally kills his girlfriend and enlist his best friends help to solve the problem, if you are in the area or visiting Wellington around then let me know. (If youre visiting I will line up free tickets if you read my blog!!!)
Also I have started a new job at Circa theater as the new head chef which is again has sucked a lot of my time.
Added to this my life has been turned upside down and shaken (great thing to happen once and a while) and it is only now that a little order is coming back into it.
So again I am sorry for the no writing, to whoever is leaving me gay comments youre a nobber!
D. David Ayer. W. James Ellroy, Kurt Wimmer. Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Huge Laurie, Chris Evens, Cedric the Entertainer, Jay Moyer, Common, The Game.
I like David Ayers writing. Dark Blue, Training Day, Harsh Times. His fascination with the gritty side of LA crime and cops who operate in this word is beginning to take on an almost aurtor appearance.
Street Kings is a movie I was surprised he didnt write as it felt like his work. However it was writer James Ellroy and Kurt Wimmer who scripted this. Ellroy no stranger to crime has a fascination with the criminal and it seems with the cops who track them. The moral issue cops face with either being a little dirty to do a lot of cleaning or to be all dirty or all clean. Cops that are gunfighters a subject of a speech from Dark Blue by Kurt Russell and also in Street Kings Reeves asking Evans (Diskant) if he feels hes up to the task of the gunfighter. One can easily infer that Ellroy never got over the murder of his mother and the fact that the crime went unsolved due to his penchant for cops that are at the core clean but have no problem using dirty tactic to achieve their results (maybe he feels that if the police bust a few more heads his mothers killer may not have slipped by). This is echoed with Reeves in the first shoot out scene of Street Kings when after the fighting has ceased Reeves (Ludlow) prowls the scene and fills in the blanks to make his account of the events. Due to the fact that dead men often find it hard to articulate their account of events the cops will always prevail.
On the whole the story is prosaic. Dirty cops clean cops and those in between. One man fighting the system that use to embrace him, and in doing so uncovering a morass of scandal that makes Monica Lewinskis kneeling act look like a girl scout tap dance in the oval office.
Though this par tale there are redeeming factors, Huge Laurie is one. I love Laurie always have. As a kid I watched A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Blackadder. I loved his one book The Gun Seller, and now as the limping solipsist Dr House he deserves his success. So good to see hes fully cracked America and moved on from baby oil adverts and Stuart Little.
Laurie plays an almost I.A cop, he is trying to track down corruption but plays his cards close to his chest on doing so. Believing Ludlow to being the key to his investigation he pops up just enough to press the point of his existence in this film.
Forest Whitaker is a good actor and plays his part well. There isnt much licence for anything amazing to come from him but he holds up his end of this film as you would expect him to.
Reeves is Reeves. Monotone, wooden, passable, I dont know what it is about him that allows him to get away with being so flat in pretty much everything Ive seen of his but he gets away with it, and films still headline him so I guess many others out there think him good.
Prior to watching Street Kings I had been watching the first season of The Shield, which I enjoyed. Street Kings felt like a cleaner, shot on film version of The Shield. References to the farm and the barn, the same type of dirty cops etc, paint the boarders of a theory I had which may have had or agree with. Shawn Ryan was inspired from Training Day and Dark Blue. This collection of films (Dark Blue, Training Day, Street Kings, and Harsh Times) seem to be part of the make up of the shield be it in sprit, but there is definitely a connection of some kind.
Entertaining crime flick.
6.5/10
What is it that makes Batman as good as everyone is saying? How is it that despite all the hype; all the this is the best movie of the year I still was very impressed with this film. (Usually when a film is hyped so much I am disappointed due to the hype, not the case this time). And will there be more Batmans? That last question is the easiest to answer, yes of course how could there not be.
Ok so I will just glaze over Ledger here because everything they are saying is true. He is magnetic, and delivers a truly amazing performance. Everything that anyone has said about how good he is true blah blah blah.
But surly one mans performance a incredible movie does not make, a good one yes but to achieve the success that this Batman has there must be other factors involved and there are. The story line to me is a stroke of genus if we consider the American audience. The story line could also be perceived as American flag waving and more fucking A we aint going to surrender to terrorism no matter what!
Ill start with the genus. The Joker is a terrorist. His actions and machinations are motivated by terrorist ideas (no one is safe, no one is untouchable) its a scary concept to wake everyday and be in fear for your life. This is what the Joker bestows upon Gotham (just as Big Al bestowed this notion on America). Now I cant fully elaborate on this point without being a spoiler, but I will say that when faced with a force that isnt in it for the money but for the satisfaction of delivering terror you face something rather, - terrifying, at least with the motivation of greed you do have a point where negotiations can take place and a price can be found. But with the Joker there isnt a price, there is only suffering under his psychotic will. Only two (yes two) men can stop the terror one wears pointy ears drives a missile and in his spear time appears in the guise of a ignorant sex addict. The other is the white light D.A who is destine to become what America has a tyrant under the guise of freedom and liberty.
This leads me to what could be faulted about the Dark Knight story. If we use The Batman and the Harvey Dent characters as metaphors for America we can see the this country is represented in two ways. One a crusader for all that is fair and just pursuing this crusade in a fair and just way until the time for words ends. The other realising that not all in this world is fair and just and with a fight fire with fire attitude tackles the problem accordingly. In the process being both immolated and demonised by its people, but delivering the results be it often in a cavalier way. We can understand why people of Gotham tire of the Batman (Just looks how much damage he does catching the criminals I mean Gothams insurance premiums must be through the roof) in the same vain America is demonised internationally but they are out there getting the world results, bring down terrorist and injecting fear into others pontificating on whether they will go down this slippery slope of pissing off the most powerful force in the world.
When faced with terrorism the time for words is short. The fire with fire attitude is the policy of choose and the Batman is given carte blanche, inferring what we should already know, America is just, America is the Batman in these times.
One thing that makes Nolans Batmans great (this one especially) is there real world tangibility. Nolan uses the architecture of Gothem in a Michael Mann way (as in it sets the tone in may scenes, a character in its own right). Gothem feels like modern day New York, and the plot taking an international turn multiplied this feeling (I think Nolan is the only film maker to take Batman out of Gothem). Also references to pop culture are included would the real Batman please stand up seems that the Joker is a Marshall Mathers fan, which does fit his profile.
I have recently watched Tim Burtons Batman which is great but when compared to The Dark Knight seems like the Batman with Adam West. Camp, unreal, gay. (And they just got worse after he stopped directing them) Nolans Dark Knight is dramatic, encapsulating, real. The Joker didnt dance around acting deranged, he was deranged, he was tangible. Batman faces moral conflicts the city faced moral conflicts. There were times where I had no choose but to empathise with characters in the film which is rare in Superhero films.
The Dark Knight to me fits most of the criteria for a Best Picture nomination. Ledger no doubt deserves a nomination (and I think for lead), but this was more than just a superhero film. This reminded me of Heat in the respects to bringing into light characters motivation, their moral chooses, actions from the chooses. Such complex questions like remaining true to oneself and at what cost. This is what is making this film popular, people are almost watching a superhero drama film not an action film. Nolan is satisfying a large audience by giving them all what they want. The action is brilliant, the gadgets are cool, but the relationships of the characters, the touches of the landscape, and the empathy of the characters positions and chooses are what makes this film outstanding.
8.5/10
I have never liked Colin Farrell. His Irish bad boy charm has done nothing other than annoy me, his smoking during interviews his cursing just made me go what a big gay Irishman. But
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Im hearing talk of Batman, talk centering around how good Ledger is and how people feel it is in bad taste for the film to marketed around this fact. As I write that I am incredulous to its reasoning, and suspicious of its motives. From what I have seen which is all the previews many times it seems that Ledgers portrayal of the Joker is amazing. The first trailer I saw I was blown away
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What is it that makes Phillip Seymour Hoffman so good? How does one man have so much talent? How can he become a character so entailed so deep that you can literally feel his pain and frustration. Well I have only one answer, Hoffman is a master actor, he is of the new school of master actors he is my generations De Niro he is, electrifying. In Before the Devil knows you're Dead Hoffman proves this in every scene, and every second of his screen time
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Occasionally I watch a movie and from the get go I know Im in for a treat. A soon as Venus begun I was in hysterics two old washed up thespians talking to one another like only friend whom have been so for a great many years. This type of conversation revolves around insults and when Peter OToole and Leslie Phillps firing them back and forward to one another magic on screen is created
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Talk to Me is a film that could slip under the radar. At the video store this could be just another film that you would browse past, maybe pick up and have a quick scan, and unless youre a fan of Don Cheadle and/or Chinwetel Ejiofor (The Inside Man) you would probably put the case back and move onto something else. Well let me just say maybe you should get this film out
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Comment by mr_tza
on Batman and America - analysis of The Dark Knight