Theater Review: The Dark Knight Rises

I had heard a few times that Christopher Nolan was apprehensive about doing a third Batman film and I couldn't understand why. But, after seeing the film I can sort of see why he was - no matter what he put out it was always going to be compared to The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight Rises also had another superhero film to contend with this summer that I am sure it was expecting to contend with when it was first announced - The Avengers. It's sort of odd to compare them as they are on two totally different spectrums - but you sort of have to.

Although I feel The Dark Knight Rises is the superior film, I would have to say I will probably watch The Avengers far more. It is just a more fun film - sort of like how Saving Private Ryan is a hell of a film, but I cannot watch it all of the time.

What The Dark Knight Rises was also up against was the amazing performance given by Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. No matter how great a villain that Nolan could cook up for the third film - no way was it going to live up to Ledger's performance.

Anyway, the final film picks up about eight years after Batman (Christian Bale) took the blame for killing Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent. All of the years as Batman has also taken a bit of a toll on Bruce Wayne - and as he stays hidden in his mansion he limps around from room-to-room.

As the guilt begins to tear at Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), he is captured and brought to the new villain that has risen under the streets of Gotham, Bane (Tom Hardy). Gordon is shot, but manages to escape  despite losing a letter he had written with the truth about Dent.

Police officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds Gordon at the end of a tunnel and gets him to the hospital for treatment. Because of his detective work, Gordon promotes Blake and tells him to answer directly to him.

Blake was also once an orphan who looked up to Wayne because of all the donations the Wayne family gave to the orphanage - but he also somehow knows Wayne's true identity and tells him the city needs him to resurface.

Batman finds a local cat burglar, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), to help lead him to Bane. Kyle uses the opportunity to get a program that can help erase her identity from all databases on the planet - and free her from her thieving ways.

Kyle, however, turns on Batman and turns him over to Bane in order stay alive - and Bane breaks Batman's back and leaves him in a prison in the middle of nowhere - the only way out is to climb out.

As Bane holds the city hostage with a nuclear weapon, he promises to finish what Ra's al Ghul started and destroy Gotham. With Batman out of commission, Gordon and Blake are all that is left to help save the city.

First off, my description above doesn't give the film justice. There was so much going on and all of it was so interesting and fit the story so well - just amazing story telling.

The film returns Bale, Michael Cane, Morgan Freeman, Oldman and another special guest that have been in all three movies and they continue to shine here. Newcomers Hardy, Hathaway and Gordon-Levitt were the main stars in this film and they were amazing.

Hardy was a great villain, and won't get the acclaims that Ledger did, but he held up this movie just fine as the villain. Sure, he wasn't the Joker, but Bane was ruthless and a great equal to Batman. Hathaway was simply amazing as Catwoman - I was a bit skeptical when I first heard she had signed on, but she played both sides of the fence to perfection - and wow did she look good. Finally, Gordon-Levitt - I can't really say much else about him, he has really become one of the best actors working today and here it was no different. So talented and he really shined in this film - even if he was just a cop.

Go see this movie - I am sure you already have. It is a great finale to Nolan's trilogy. I look forward to seeing it again.

Grade:

19/50x2: (500) Days of Summer

As I sat down to write a little bit about this film I suddenly got this and 50/50 jumbled together, so this could have been one odd review - but still probably an excellent movie.

Well, as I have said before Joseph Gordon-Levitt is quite possibly one of the best working actors in Hollywood today. In (500) Days of Summer he stars as Tom Hansen, a college graduate with a degree in architecture, who is working at a greeting card company.

He works with his best friend McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) - who I really enjoy almost every time I see him and wish that he was in more things (oh and is married to Christina Hendricks, but I am of topic) - and one day notices a new hire as his boss' assistant, Summer (Zooey Deschanel).

Tom confesses to McKenzie that he is attracted to Summer, and one night over karaoke lets it slip to Summer. Despite not wanting a boyfriend, Summer and Tom grow rather close and eventually do become a couple.

The rest of the film, which is done rather well with a graphic to break things up, jumps to good and bad portions of their relationship. During the first part of their relationship everything is happy and chipper, the birds are singing - but as the relationship goes on things become much gloomier.

As things progress, Tom and Summer are out together and when another man flirts with her he jumps in and gets into a fight. Thinking it showed his feelings for her he was happy about it, but she was not and they get into their first real fight.

On day 290, after seeing The Graduate Summer announces to Tom that they should break up because she is no longer happy with their relationship, but that he is still her best friend.

He storms off and falls into a great depression, and his much younger sister, Rachel (Chloe Moretz) is called in to get him out of his doldrums. Rachel is in the film a few other times as Tom seems to always go to her for help.

I will not reveal anymore as to what happens, because this is a really good movie and if you haven't seen it you should.

As I said, anything Gordon-Levitt is in is appointment watching for me lately. Plus, I have always enjoyed Deschanel's work - and Moretz, though not in a ton of things, has done well in her outings as well.

I loved the way the story was told, including the small graphic breaks that they had in place. I liked that there were two different tones to the movie - the light and fluffy and the dark and dreary. Just like life.

Grade:

Trailer: 50/50

OK, this looks amazing - if they do it right.

A comedy (or dramedy) about cancer. But, they have all the right participants - especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the title role. And, quite possibly one of the best young actresses in Hollywood today - Anna Kendrick.

Anyway, the movie also stars Seth Rogen (who is friends with writer Will Reiser, whom the movie is based on). I really loved Rogen at the start of his career as a bit player in films like 40-year-old Virgin and Superbad - and I enjoyed him in his first starring role in Knocked Up, but I sort of feel like I can take or leave him as of late. But, here he is the sidekick to Levitt, so hopefully we get Rogen in small doses - the way we like him.

Another possible good thing about the film is Bryce Dallas Howard - who I haven't seen in too many things, but I really enjoyed her in The Village.

So - here is the trailer. Looks pretty amazing - and I hope they can pull it off.

4/50: Inception

There is nothing like a good mind f@#k in the morning. And that is exactly what Inception was able to do for me.

I had heard the praise. I had read the reviews, but I did my best to stay away from any possible spoilers. I still didn't think it would be as good as it was. It may have even surpassed The Dark Knight as Christopher Nolan's best film.

So, let me try and explain a little bit about what story Nolan is portraying. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are both able to move around inside other people's dreams. They are so good, in fact, that they are even - technically - thieves inside these dreams.

Cobb is a fugitive of the United States and really wants to return home to his two children. He is approached by a business man, Saito (Ken Watanabe), that promises him a safe return home if he can pull off something that is thought to be impossible - inception.

Saito wants his business rivals' son, Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) to break apart the company once his father has passed away. The only way to do that is to go deep into Fischer's dreams and plant this idea so that he believes he has thought of it himself.

The way this is done is so crazy and imaginative that I won't even type about it - just go see the movie. I will only mention that the rest of Cobb and Arthur's team consists of Ariadne (Ellen Page), Eames (Tom Hardy) and Yusuf (Dileep Rao). Ariadne is the 'architect' who puts together the world inside the dreams - which again you need to see.

DiCaprio was incredible in his role as Cobb and once again I was blown away by Joseph Gordon-Levitt - he just continues to be one of the best young actors in Hollywood. It is sort of funny how in this film you end up truly rooting for the bad guys - it takes a great story and casting for that to work as well as it did.

Grade:

LWITM: Angels in the Outfield

Every so often when I am strapped for something to write about, I like to dive deep into an older movie, perhaps one someone has seen in awhile, and see just how many talented actors were in that movie.

Perhaps some of these actors just had a bit part in this movie, it was before they hit it big. So, I have come up with the LWITM (Look Who's In That Movie) Series.

This is my fifth entry, and this time I have chosen the Disney film Angels in the Outfield.

The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt of Third Rock From the Sun fame. Gordon-Levitt has become a pretty large star as of late, and been in some pretty high-praised films. In this movie, he is known as Roger, a foster child who was told by his father that they will be together again when the lowly Angels win the baseball pennant.

So, Roger prays for the Angels to win so he and his father can be reunited.

Along comes 'AL' (played by Christopher Lloyd) to help things along. And all heck breaks loose, as the Angels begin to play well thanks to a little help from a handful of angels.

Also starring in the film is Danny Glover as the Angels' manager George Knox and Brenda Fricker is Roger's foster mother Maggie.

The team, however, is where a lot of now-famous actors are hidden. The most notable at the time was Tony Danza, who starred as a washed-up pitcher named Mel Clark, who gets rejuvenated and helps lead the Angels to the title.

But, if you look deeper you'll also see Ben Williams in center field being played by Matthew McConaughey. Utility infielder Danny Hemmerling, just so happens to be future Oscar winner Adrien Brody. William Bass, another pitcher on the team, is talented actor Neal McDonough. Not as well known, but seen in a lot of movies/television shows is catcher Triscuitt Messmer, played by Tony Longo.

In a very brief part is Dermot Mulroney, who plays Roger's father. Another actor who is seen in a lot of different parts through movies and television is Taylor Negron, who plays David Montagne, Knox's assistant. Finally, Ranch Wilder, the voice of the Angels, is played by Jay O. Johnson.

It's pretty amazing to see now, especially the McConaughey, Brody and McDonough parts. Neither of the parts in the movie was really a large part, in fact out of the three, McDonough probably had the larger roll - and it is so different then the parts he is playing now.

Well, there you have it the fifth installment of LWITM. Hope you enjoyed it.