I've...SEEN things you people wouldn't believe
The Dark Knight
I wrote a review of it for the paper today, so my thoughts here will be somewhat truncated. Suffice to say that the film is fantastic, and it's all down to Heath Ledger's Joker. Scenes with him in it are just better. That wonderful shot from the trailer takes on more weight: the one with the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car, the flashing lights reflecting on his white makeup, his head thrown back, eyes closed, drinking in the mayhem. In another scene, he dangles upside-down from Batman's grappling hook and lectures him: "Madness is like gravity - all it takes is one little push." Meanwhile the camera revolves, making his hair and coat dangle at weird angles, twisting gravity into madness. It's a relentlessly compelling portrayal. William had, when we spoke on Saturday night, already seen it three times in as many days. I myself will need to see it again.
Avatar
It seemed weird that I'd begun watching Avatar less than a year ago, and here it was finishing. I was lucky in my timing; I avoided the immense waits that fans had to endure between the first and second seasons. The third and final season had a disrupted schedule, possibly because of the writers' strike - they'd release four and once, then it would often be weeks and weeks until the next episode. This had the curious effect of amplifying the significance of each episode as we received it; each one became an event in and of itself.
Last Monday night I sat down with
megapope,
mecha_nun, and
_mallen to watch the four-part finale. At the end, the four of us staggered away, completely gobsmacked. We tried to talk about what we'd seen, but we just didn't have the words. It was an epic the like of which we had never seen, and likely never will. A whole season's worth of ideas must have been used up in just a single (admittedly episode-long) fight; the awesome just kept piling up in layers, until it overflowed from our ears - and then there was even more. The writers must have exhausted themselves coming up with new and innovative applications of elemental power. There was plenty of ass-kickery for the non-bender characters too.
It wasn't just the final battles that were superlative. I had been afraid that the end would leave me feeling empty. Instead the writers tied it all up so well that the next day I was possessed of this insane energy, still riveted by the ending. They captured that great "the war is over now" feeling: kids playing football around a stack of wrecked tanks in a liberated city, within sight of the the ruined walls; a reflective melody played on the sungi horn while the characters relax in a tea house. I've always been drawn to the theme of what people do after taking part in great events (Frodo: "how do you pick up the threads of an old life?").
It's a rare thing, such a satisfying ending. It'll be with me for a while.
I wrote a review of it for the paper today, so my thoughts here will be somewhat truncated. Suffice to say that the film is fantastic, and it's all down to Heath Ledger's Joker. Scenes with him in it are just better. That wonderful shot from the trailer takes on more weight: the one with the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car, the flashing lights reflecting on his white makeup, his head thrown back, eyes closed, drinking in the mayhem. In another scene, he dangles upside-down from Batman's grappling hook and lectures him: "Madness is like gravity - all it takes is one little push." Meanwhile the camera revolves, making his hair and coat dangle at weird angles, twisting gravity into madness. It's a relentlessly compelling portrayal. William had, when we spoke on Saturday night, already seen it three times in as many days. I myself will need to see it again.
Avatar
It seemed weird that I'd begun watching Avatar less than a year ago, and here it was finishing. I was lucky in my timing; I avoided the immense waits that fans had to endure between the first and second seasons. The third and final season had a disrupted schedule, possibly because of the writers' strike - they'd release four and once, then it would often be weeks and weeks until the next episode. This had the curious effect of amplifying the significance of each episode as we received it; each one became an event in and of itself.
Last Monday night I sat down with
megapope,
mecha_nun, and
_mallen to watch the four-part finale. At the end, the four of us staggered away, completely gobsmacked. We tried to talk about what we'd seen, but we just didn't have the words. It was an epic the like of which we had never seen, and likely never will. A whole season's worth of ideas must have been used up in just a single (admittedly episode-long) fight; the awesome just kept piling up in layers, until it overflowed from our ears - and then there was even more. The writers must have exhausted themselves coming up with new and innovative applications of elemental power. There was plenty of ass-kickery for the non-bender characters too.
It wasn't just the final battles that were superlative. I had been afraid that the end would leave me feeling empty. Instead the writers tied it all up so well that the next day I was possessed of this insane energy, still riveted by the ending. They captured that great "the war is over now" feeling: kids playing football around a stack of wrecked tanks in a liberated city, within sight of the the ruined walls; a reflective melody played on the sungi horn while the characters relax in a tea house. I've always been drawn to the theme of what people do after taking part in great events (Frodo: "how do you pick up the threads of an old life?").
It's a rare thing, such a satisfying ending. It'll be with me for a while.