Movie day...
Today was a day to watch movies. I was ensconced on maaseru's sofa from an early hour, watching movies with josanpq, maaboroshi and lunacy_gal.
We watched:
- Ice Blues, the fourth Donald Strachey movie, which I'd seen before;
- Big Eden, which I'd also seen before, but which I think I enjoyed more the second time round, knowing what to expect. I certainly enjoy watching Eric Schweig!
- Shakespeare Retold: The Taming of the Shew, with Rufus Sewell and Shirley Henderson. Rufus Sewell is one of those actors I adore and would watch in anything - and Petrucchio just might be his best role yet. Shirley Henderson was Ursula in the remarkable Doctor Who episode "Love and Monsters" and Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter. This adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew was magnificent, in my opinion: it is in so many ways one of Shakespeare's more problematic plays for our time, and yet, done right, is exceptionally clever and funny.
Actually, the more remarkable thing about Henderson's performance here is that she reminded me of the first woman I ever fell in love with. I imagine that gave me an extra bit of identification with Petrucchio.
- Theatre of Blood, with Vincent Price and Diana Rigg, from 1973. A wildly lurid and somewhat silly story about an actor who, driven mad by critics' opinions of his play, become a serial killer enacting revenge upon the critics by killing them in the manner of murders in Shakepeare's plays. It was a real treat to see the young Diana Rigg again. In one scene, a man's beloved poodles are brutally murdered; I couldn't help thinking of Captain John Hart.
Then maaseru and I actually ventured out into the world to see The Dark Knight at a movie theatre. I had many thoughts on the movie. As always, I'm fussy about movies based on comics, especially comic and characters I love, and I certainly love Batman. The movie Batman is not the comic book Batman, and I generally prefer the one in the comic - with the caveat that there is no one comic book version of the character. None of the Batman movies capture what I most love about Batman1, but I do like Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne.
- Heath Ledger as the Joker was as good as they say. It wasn't just his doing: the direction and writing on the Joker was superb. Loved it that he was a 'mad dog', an agent of chaos; loved it that he had a different version of his origin every time he told it. Loved it that he really wore make-up, and didn't have his skin stained in a chemical factory accident. Loved his Nurse Jane scene with Harvey Dent. The Joker was the best thing about the movie.
- The second best thing about the movie was Garry Oldman as Jim Gordon . Convincing, interesting, a good friend and foil to Batman. He has a son in the movie: this surprised me, as I've only ever known him to have a daughter (Barbara); but I see from the Wikipedia entry that in pre-Crisis continuity he had a son named Tony.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Daws was infinitely better than Katie Holmes, or at least, much more convincing as an Assistant D.A. She still was not the equal of Bruce Wayne or Harvey Dent, and a prime example of a Refrigerator Woman - something movies do much more blatantly than comics, in my opinion.
She did have a role in the plot that I loved, though: the whole theme of her choosing between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent, and writing the letter to Bruce, which Alfred burned after the fact. I loved that with a passion.
- In terms of weakness, I thought the movie was very badly paced, repetitious, a little too long, and sometimes difficult to follow. I'd have edited it so differently. And I'd have added gargoyles and narrow dark alleyways.
- They didn't identify Detective Ramirez by name for a long time, and for a long time I was all excited because I thought the movie was featuring Renée Montoya, one of my favourite DC characters. It wasn't. Damn.
- Michael Caine remains delightful as Alfred.
- I spent the whole movie, of course, waiting for the accident that would turn Harvey Dent into Two-Face.
One further Batman-related comment: a week ago a bunch of my friends were discussing the movie, which I hadn't then seen. The were commenting on Christian Bale in the Batman role, and several of them said how much they'd loved the old show with Adam West. I had to bite my tongue not to rant about how much I hated that show in general, and Adam West in particular. Even at the very worst, I look at versions of Batman and thing, "At least it isn't Adam West."
1 Which I'd love to go into but not now. Later sometime.