The Dark Knight

First of all, I'm a huge Batman fan. No, not the campy Adam West version. I missed out on that whole era, sad but true. But, reading the graphic novels is a big reason why I like my movies, books and tv shows dark dark dark. During the 80s/90s, many comic books took a dark turn and weren't all that happy go lucky, cheery fluff reading that many non-readers automatically associate with comics. It is that environment that created things like Spawn and Preacher.....and countless others. Anyway, so I'm an addict. And, I'll pretty much see any comic related movie out there (with a few exceptions. I'm still an Iron Man holdout.)

So, the Batman movies have been up and down. The Dark Knight was way, way up. Christian Bale is so incredibly good as Bruce Wayne. Lots of people were okay as Batman, but you need both halves, or it doesn't work. Bale does Bruce and that is the hardest part. And, for as much as the Batman villains are mostly the dominant force, this movie seemed to achieve a real balance. I think Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent/Two-Face is getting a raw deal in the recognition department. He was also fantastic. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman rarely miss in anything, and certainly don't in this. I also appreciated Maggie Gyllenhaal tremendously, although my actress of the year award (for the things I've seen.....which hasn't been much) still goes to Jennifer Ehle in Pride and Glory. It has been months, she had a small part, and I'm STILL thinking about it. Yes, she really was that good.

Anyway, so if you're late (like me) and you haven't seen it yet, check out The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger was also fantastic, but you've heard all of that before, I'm sure.

And, this movie completely blew me away in Blu Ray. I was a skeptic, seeing only marginal improvement in some films, before this. Now I am a true blu believer.....at least for now. We'll see if I can find something else that looks as jaw droppingly stunning as this did.