The Dark Knight (2008)

 

 

 

    In 2005, acclaimed director Christopher Nolan resurrected the long dead Batman movie franchise with his fresh and more grim/realistic approach.  BATMAN BEGINS revealed the origins of the legendary caped crusader of Gotham City by showing flashbacks of Thomas and Martha Wayne murdered in an alley in front of their only son Bruce.  Several years pass and Bruce Wayne decides to travel the world and learn how to fight against corruption and injustice. Bruce returns to Gotham seven years later and unleashes a masked avenger in the form of one of his childhood fears, a bat.  Batman uses his strength and a variety of high tech gadgets to fight the sinister forces that threaten Gotham such as Ra's Al Ghul and his League of Shadows, Dr. Jonathan Crane aka The Scarecrow, and crime boss Carmine Falconi.  At the time of release, not many people paid attention to BATMAN BEGINS due to the atrocity from 1997 known as BATMAN & ROBIN that pissed off many hardcore fans and destroyed the hope for a good quality Batman movie. BATMAN BEGINS did however receive good business on DVD and in rentals, which gave it a decent success.

    Since BATMAN BEGINS was doing good on the home video market, Warner Bros. knew that a sequel would be in the works. Many fans who saw the film were excited for not only a well told and very good quality Batman movie, but that BATMAN BEGINS ended with a reference to The Joker in the form of the Joker card.  When news broke that the next Batman movie would have Batman pitted against The Joker, fans cheered for joy. It had been about 19 years since the last time The Joker fought Batman on the big screen in the 1989 smash hit BATMAN that starred Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker.  The big question was, which actor would play Batman's arch nemesis this time around?  News finally broke in late 2007 that Heath Ledger would be starring as the clown prince of crime opposite Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne.  Fans immediately went into an uproar and bashed the hell out of this new Batman film. That is until the teaser trailer came out that featured Ledger's voice and laugh as The Joker. Then, pictures began to find themselves on the internet. Instead of a "permawhite" condition like the comics and the 1989 Tim Burton film, this Joker wore clown make-up and had his mouth cut, giving him a demented grin. Some fanboys hated it, but fans such as myself loved that Nolan was taking a villain right out of the comics and reworking him a bit to fit into our world.  Then, on January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger tragically died. It was and still is a major shock because nobody expected it and he was so young.  On July 18th that year, Batman fans and many other audiences around the world hurried to their nearest theater to see the new Batman movie titled THE DARK KNIGHT.  That day, the greatest Batman film of all time was unleashed after over 20 years of anticipation.  THE DARK KNIGHT is the ultimate Batman movie and has gone down in history as the greatest comic book film of all time.

 

PLOT

  Batman has been cleaning up the mean streets of Gotham City and the criminals are running scared. There's also some wannabe Batmen that try to shoot the criminals rather than fight them and hand them over to the cops.  Meanwhile, some guy dressed as a clown and his goons have robbed a bank that is ran by Salvatore Maroni's mob family.  The mob meets during the day so that Batman can't bust them.  Desperate that the Police will get to the rest of their money, Maroni and his boys gets an Asian accountant named Lau to have their cash transferred out of the bank and to a safe place in Hong Kong. This way, the new District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lt. James Gordon can't track it to bring them down. Gordon and Dent decide to join together to bring down Maroni's mob. The problem is though that they need evidence to lock up the mob. Since Dent and Gordon can't go to Hong Kong to get Lau back to rat out the mob, they call on Batman.  Meanwhile, the man who robbed the mob's bank known only as The Joker offers them a deal in which he will kill Batman.   Harvey Dent begins to lock up the city's criminals by the hundreds, which causes billionaire Bruce Wayne to realize that Dent is the hero that Gotham needs more than his alter ego Batman. Also, he believes that he can finally live a normal life with his first real love Rachel Dawes, who happens to be working with and dating Harvey.

 

     Things get ugly when The Joker starts killing various people in Gotham City and tells Gotham that he will kill people unless Batman takes off his mask and turns himself in.   The Joker's murder spree gets more intense as he begins to thrust Gotham City into a city of chaos and anarchy.  Lives are lost, dreams are shattered, and Gotham's D.A. becomes a tragic mixture of order and chaos. This leaves The Dark Knight of Gotham City to make a decision that will affect them all.

 

 

 

REVIEW

 It's really no surprise to those that know me that I'm one of the biggest Batman fans ever. Don't believe me? Just check out my review for BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD.  The character of Batman has been a huge part of my life ever since I was 3 years old after watching BATMAN starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.   Batman has gone through so many different variations from when he was first created by Bob Kane in 1939 and all of the way to where he is today.  The thing that attracts me to the character Batman is the fact that he is Human. Here's a guy with no super powers whatsoever and yet he is larger than life.  Now, everyone of course has their own preference of what Batman should be like. Some people love the more gothic and mythic take such as the Tim Burton films BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS.  Some prefer the more campy and comedic Batman such as the Adam West television series from the '60s or the 1995 Joel Schumacher film BATMAN FOREVER. And then there's the fans who prefer the more grim and realistic take such as some of the '70s/'80s comics and of course the modern Christopher Nolan films.  Regardless, there's many different ways to tell Batman as long as you stick to his origin and his mythology.  The Batman movies have gone through many changes from 1989-2008. BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS told the mythic portrayal of Batman and was more about how Gotham saw the character as well as his villains that was taken from the early '40s and the early '90s comics. Then, Batman became more campy and comedic with the Schumacher film BATMAN FOREVER that took bits from the '50s comics with its over the top foes. The 1997 atrocity known as BATMAN & ROBIN was obviously taking bits from the '60s camp fad that began with the Adam West series and killed the profitable Batman movie franchise. Chris Nolan and David Goyer decided to go in the opposite direction of the original four Batman films and start a clean slate with their 2005 franchise reboot BATMAN BEGINS.  Nolan was highly inspired by the comics of Jepth Loeb from the '70s and '80s era, especially THE LONG HALLOWEEN.

 

      And now we are at Nolan's follow up to BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT.   I remember being highly excited to see this film two years ago when it was released.  I knew from all of the posters and trailers that it was going to be great, but I didn't realize until after seeing it that it was much more than just a great movie. I've never in my whole life have had a Batman movie hit me like this film did.  THE DARK KNIGHT is a film about order going up against chaos. It's a film about real people and what it takes to be a hero in a city full of corruption.  It's about the consequences that come with being a hero.  There's no question that Chris Nolan and his brother Jonathan have written the best Batman film ever made. There's no question that THE DARK KNIGHT is the best Batman and comic book movie ever made. And there is sure as hell no question that the late Heath Ledger has brought DC Comics' most menacing and terrifying villain right out of the comics and onto film in a way that nobody has EVER seen The Joker before!

 

      The story and script for THE DARK KNIGHT is nothing short of brilliant.  While I still really like Tim Burton's two Batman films, I love that Nolan has Bruce Wayne/Batman as the main focus rather than the villains and those surrounding Batman or Bruce.  The way I look at Burton's two films is more of looking at Batman from Gotham's point of view. Nolan shows his movies from Bruce/Batman's point of view, especially in BATMAN BEGINS. With THE DARK KNIGHT, both Bruce/Batman and Harvey Dent are the main focus.  THE DARK KNIGHT really tests Batman and pushes all three men to their limits thanks to The Joker's reign of terrorism. 

 

 I was highly impressed with how well the characters were written here.  Bruce sees a great hero in Gotham's new D.A. Harvey Dent and wants Dent to take up his mantle and be the true hero that Gotham deserves. One who doesn't have to wear a cape and mask, a hero with a face.  Harvey Dent is determined to keep Gotham safe and believes in what Batman represents. Batman is a symbol of hope. Bruce Wayne took a symbol that used to represent a demon/monster and took ownership over it and turned it into the symbol of the Dark Knight. He became the crusader who used the night to inflict fear in the criminal underworld and stop crime. In comes a man who is just a D.A., yet putting away criminals by the hundreds that is actually by the law.  Bruce sees Harvey as the light that Gotham needs to get them out of the darkness.  And then there is Rachel Dawes, the love of Bruce's life. She has been his friend since childhood and he may actually be able to have a real relationship. The trouble is that she is currently dating Harvey. Truthfully, Rachel told Bruce that maybe they could be together once Gotham no longer needed Batman, but that was before she fell in love with Harvey. I think that she wants Bruce to believe that she will be there for him so that he will have the confidence to continue on as Batman.  I think she really does love Bruce, but more as a best friend. They're soul mates, yes, but a soul mate is not always the same person you end up in a relationship with. I truly believe that her love for Bruce goes beyond the romantic kind.  She loves Bruce, but wants to be with Harvey. Rachel and Harvey have more in common and the same goals. Plus, truthfully, I thought Harvey and Rachel made a better match romantically than Bruce and Rachel would.

 

       Lt. James Gordon is the only cop that Batman truly trusts. Truth be told, Batman is the only person in Gotham that Gordon trusts too until Harvey Dent comes into the picture.  I really think that Batman, Gordon, and Dent really worked well together as Gotham's true heroes.   Alfred of course helps Bruce by continuing to give him advice when he is down as well as helping him out with tracking down The Joker.

 

     The Joker is hands down Batman's most threatening and complicating villain yet. Here's a guy who has no desire for money and no rules whatsoever. The Joker is a character that is only after watching the world burn.  He's a character that has no morals, no conscious, and is the embodiment of chaos.  The Joker is disguised as a clown, but is a demon within. He is an anarchist, a terrorist, a narcissist, but most importantly, the complete opposite of Batman. That's why I believe Joker is the perfect villain for Batman. He's chaos. Batman is order. The character has been portrayed as a pranksterish villain with some murderous potential in past incarnations such as BATMAN (1989) and the infamous BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.  As former comic book editor/writer Denny O' Neil said, "The Joker is the best trickster character ever."

 

  The thing that I've always loved about The Joker as a character and as a comic book villain is that he is totally unpredictable.  I can remember in THE BATMAN/SUPERMAN MOVIE when Batman tells Superman that with Joker to expect the unexpected and then Joker throws some marbles down that turn out to be grenades. Joker has a fascination with dynamite, guns, bombs, knives, and anything that will take lives. He is the man who will kill you with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.  Joker will gladly burn to death as long as he gets the last laugh and takes a bunch of innocent people to their graves.  He is the Devil in the form of a figure that is supposed to be happy and safe. While Bruce Wayne disguises himself as a bat, a demon, a symbol of darkness, he is really a symbol of hope, order, and good. The Joker does the total opposite. He takes the symbol of a warm and loving clown and turns it into a symbol of chaos, tragedy, and pure evil.  This is where that whole saying of them being the flip side of the coin comes into play. And that my friends is why the Bat and the Joker have always been the perfect hero and villain rivals. They represent the complete opposite from each other. You can't have Batman without The Joker and you sure as hell can't have The Joker without Batman.

 

I love all of Joker's sick and evil schemes in THE DARK KNIGHT.  The whole pencil magic trick was probably my all time favorite. I also love it where he cuts smiles into his victims' mouths and paints their faces to look like his own. He also loves to tell Gordon and Batman exactly who he is targeting by supplying clues much like one of Batman's other villains known as The Riddler.  From forcing mob members to kill each other with a broken pool stick, blowing up a hospital, manipulating our heroes and fellow Gotham citizens, killing the judge and Police Commissioner Loeb, killing an important female character, and being the cause of Harvey Dent's fall and transformation into Two-Face. Joker is a force to be reckoned with and the only person who has what it takes to truly stop him and match him is Batman.  I personally love the interrogation scene between Batman and The Joker. It was like right out of the comics. I also love it when no matter how hard Batman punches The Joker that Joker laughs in his face and is not scared of him like all of the other criminals have been.  Batman has finally met a villain that he can't intimidate with his aggressive use of violence or really deep monstrous voice.

 

    This is also the first time in any of the Batman movies that the potential love interest of Bruce Wayne gets murdered by his villain.  One of the most intense scenes for me as a movie goer was when Joker's goons kidnapped both Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes.   Both Harvey and Rachel are tied up in separate warehouses that are rigged with lots of explosives. Batman can only chose to save one of them. Anyway, Joker switches the addresses where Batman will end up saving Dent thinking he is saving Rachel and Gordon will show up where Rachel is at, but that certain warehouse is timed to go off a few seconds before Dent's. The two buildings explode, killing Rachel and blowing off half of Harvey Dent's face.   It's truly sad when Harvey finds out that Rachel died by seeing that the other half of his two sided coin is burnt after he gave it to Rachel for good luck.

 

 

  Harvey warned Gordon that he had some untrustworthy cops on his force, but Gordon didn't acknowledge it at the time. Now, Harvey blames Gordon, Maroni, Batman, and Gordon's cops for Rachel's death. The Joker pays Dent a visit and shows him that in a world of chaos,  everything can be fair. It is then that Dent decides to throw morality and being a good guy out the window and get cold blooded revenge for Rachel being taken away from him.  Dent now determines his actions by chance with the flip of a coin, giving him the nick name Two-Face.   Now, Two-Face begins to kill those he claims are responsible and ends up holding Gordon's wife and kids hostage.

 

         After Batman stops The Joker from blowing up two boats full of people, he arrives to stop Harvey from killing Gordon and his family. Batman ends up having to charge Harvey over the edge of the stairway in order to save Gordon's son, leaving Gotham's White Knight dead.   I love the ending where Batman decides to take the blame for Two-Face's murder spree to save Harvey Dent's good reputation since nobody except for himself, Gordon, and Gordon's family knew what he did. If Batman hadn't became a criminal in Gotham's eyes, then all of the hundreds of criminals that Dent helped put away would have been released, The Joker would have won, and the good citizens of Gotham would lose hope.   Gordon's speech at the very end where he explains to his son what he sees in Batman, why he has to chase him, and then crowns him The Dark Knight is both great and very heart warming. 

 

I love the music by Hans Zimmer for both THE DARK KNIGHT and BATMAN BEGINS.  I think both Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman (BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS) have made some amazing Batman scores that work extremely well.

 The direction by Christopher Nolan is absolutely stunning and leaves me speechless.  Nolan is great at showing atmosphere, tension, character development, and always amazes me with great stories.  The guy is definitely the kinda filmmaker you want to make a Batman movie.

 

The acting is absolutely amazing. Christian Bale is a great actor and has become a favorite of mine in both roles of Bruce Wayne and the caped crusader of Gotham City, Batman.  I know that many people hate his raspy Batman voice and I used to hate it myself. I guess after watching BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT about a billion times, the performance just grew on me and I adapted to his rough beastly voice. I do admit that it is too rough in spots, but it no longer bothers me like it used to.  Michael Caine is fantastic as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler and quite frankly his only bit of family. Alfred has raised Bruce as if he were his own son and has guided him through his childhood and on through his adulthood. Alfred is the guy that Bruce always turns to for advice, help, and guidance. I think that Bale and Caine definitely represent the Bruce and Alfred relationship extremely well on screen in both films.   Michael Caine is the best actor in my opinion to play Alfred. In the first four films, Alfred was portrayed more as the sweet and nice butler. Here, he has acted more like a father to Bruce more than I've ever seen him. 

 

  Gary Oldman IS Police Commissioner James Gordon in my eyes. He is perfect as the character and actually looks exactly like Gordon from the comics and the animated series. I thought Pat Hingle was decent in Burton's two Batman films as Gordon, but he never really truly captured Gordon like Oldman does in BATMAN BEGINS and here in THE DARK KNIGHT.  Plus, Gordon has that great friendship with Batman and the two guys work well together. He's the only honest cop that Batman really trusts.

 

Maggie Gyllenhaal was decent as Rachel Dawes.  I thought she played the character a lot better than Katie Holmes did in BATMAN BEGINS. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the Rachel character. It's not that she is a bad character, but I just prefer the characters of Vicki Vale or Selina Kyle aka Catwoman as potential love interests for Bruce/Batman.  But, the character did serve a big purpose in this film. I do like that Nolan created a character that knew Bruce before his parents were murdered and he became Batman.

 

Aaron Eckhart was amazing as Harvey Dent in this movie.  I like that Dent is such a great guy for most of this movie, so that when he does in fact turn into Two-Face that you almost don't want him to.  That just shows how great Eckhart played Dent and how well the character was developed in the script thanks to the Nolan brothers.  I love Aaron Eckhart's take on Two-Face and that he just played him as a fallen hero who wants to get revenge for the wrongs that were done to him rather than the split personality ordeal from the comics and the animated series. Two-Face also looked fucking gruesome and totally awesome. That's one hell of a damn make-up job and the whole eyeball thing freaks me out. Plus, it was nice to see Two-Face justified so that we could forget that goofy Tommy Lee Jones version from BATMAN FOREVER. 

 

 

Morgan Freeman returns from BATMAN BEGINS as CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox.  Fox basically builds the bat suits and makes Batman's nifty gadgets.  I also loved it when Fox told Bruce that the new suit can hold up against cats. At first, I figured this was a Catwoman reference and now I'm sure it definitely was since it has been announced that Selina Kyle aka Catwoman will be in Nolan's next Batman movie titled THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.

 

  And then there was Heath Ledger who played Batman's arch nemesis and most vicious villain yet, The Joker. Hands down, this is Heath Ledger's best performance of them all. It's a real shame that Ledger died because this was the performance of a life time and he nailed The Joker in every way possible.  He's one of a few actors that I can think of that totally disappeared into the role. There's a few moments where you almost forget that it's Ledger behind the make-up and smile.  He's THAT great!  From his body movements to his facial expressions and all the way up to his voice and laugh, he IS The Joker. I actually think him wearing make-up is creepier than having his skin bleached.   He was both scary and unintentionally humorous as The Joker.  That whole hospital scene and interrogation scene was nothing short of brilliant. He also had the best lines of dialogue in the movie. My personal  favorite Joker scene was when he's in the interrogation room and trying to get a rise out of the cop who's guarding him.

" Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all of the little emotions. You see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So, in a way, I knew your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them are cowards?"

 

 Heath Ledger deserved that Oscar and I'm more than happy that he got it. It wasn't because he's dead now, but because he gave one of the best fucking performances that I've ever seen in my life.  He is the definitive Joker. I still love Jack Nicholson and Mark Hamill as the character, but Ledger is the true definition of what The Joker is all about. He is the clown prince of crime.

 

   I also enjoyed the performance of Eric Roberts as mob boss Salvatore Maroni. The cameo appearance by the great Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow was great. I truly wish that Scarecrow was a bigger character in this franchise and hopefully the character and actor possibly return for the next chapter, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.  Everybody else was great too.

 

Overall, THE DARK KNIGHT is hands down the greatest Batman film ever made. It's a film that went beyond the hype for it in 2008 and has become a classic in many Batman fans' opinion.  With a great epic story of what a true hero is and one of the greatest villains of all time, THE DARK KNIGHT truly reveals that you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. 

 

RIP HEATH " THE JOKER" LEDGER

 

RATING

4/4 SMILES! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

     

 

 

Clerks (1994)

 

 

 

Adulthood can be very tough.  We all are forced with many challenges and decisions that can largely affect the rest of our lives.  Having a job is one of the most important priorities in adult life that usually begins during the teen years.  Jobs, they can have their ups and their downs. For every good paycheck at the end of the week, there's always that occasional annoying as fuck customer or a jackass of a boss that really makes you want to speak your mind. But, if you did that then you would be fired.  Nobody wants to deal with assholes or go in to work on their day off, but sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to do.  Most of us wish that we could get away from it all. In Kevin Smith's hit comedy CLERKS,  we learn that even the little things in life can be just as important as the big things and may even surpass it. Because let's face it, when you got your best friend, your girlfriend, your ex girlfriend, some annoying customers that you can fuck with, and a decent paying job that you're good at,  then you're much luckier than you give yourself credit for.

 

PLOT? I'M NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY!

Dante Hicks works at a little convenience store in New Jersey called Quick Stop Groceries. He's called into work on his day off since his boss is out of town.  Dante's best friend Randal Graves stops in everyday to talk pop culture trivia and whatever the fuck is going on in their lives.  Randal works at the shitty video store around the corner and occasionally works at the Quick Stop with his buddy.   While Dante just wants to do his job and get out of there, Randal likes to talk shit and piss off the customers.  Meanwhile, Dante's current girlfriend Veronica wants him to go to her college and complete his education so that he can get a better paying career. It turns out that Dante may still have feelings for his old high school girlfriend Caitlin, who ironically comes back to town to "see" him. And then there's those two stoner dudes hanging outside the store named Jay and Silentbob selling pot. Yup, it's your typical day at the Quick Stop.  Okay, enough with this plot shit, on to the fucking review!

 

REVIEW THIS BITCH!

 

I will say it now, CLERKS is a great comedy.  Not only is it a great comedy, but it's also a great character piece and very easy to relate to. The fact that I can usually relate to most of Kevin Smith's movies is the biggest reason why I love them.  Name any of the man's movies and I'm sure that I can pull something out of it that is part of myself and I'm sure many who watch Smith's films can do the same.  Kevin Smith is truly a great screenwriter, especially in his early days such as CLERKS and the beginning of the View Askew series.  I just love how Smith brings his love of movies and comic books into his work. Being a MAJOR movie and comic book fan myself, I laugh hysterically when one of Smith's characters brings up a reference to Batman, STAR WARS, SPIDER-MAN, and so on. 

 

   The dialogue in a Kevin Smith film is known to be movie/comic book trivia, sexually perverted, sarcastic, and very darkly humorous. I usually am not a fan of the dick and fart kinda humor, but Smith really knows how to make that shit work, even in his less acclaimed films.   CLERKS works so well I believe because it deals with something that every young adult has to go through sometime, the work life.  Lots of us have dealt with rude customers and wish that we could act like Randal and tell them to fuck off.  If you have a hard day at work whether your boss is being a dick or the customers you unfortunately have to face are pushing you to the limit then CLERKS is a nice way to deal with your anguish of the day. Just get home, light up a cigarette, pop open a beer, and watch Dante and Randal show you how to deal with these fuckers in the View Askew Universe.  As far as characters go, Dante and Randal are definitely Smith's best characters aside from obviously Jay and Silentbob.  These are two guys that I could listen to all day. All of their conversations are entertaining and enjoyable to listen to.  Usually when characters are too chatty in movies, it can get a little boring, but Smith could have an entire film with these two guys talking away and I would be just as entertained as watching Batman interrogate The Joker.  Needless to say, I loved Kevin Smith's screenplay for CLERKS.

 

    The characters are just fantastic. We have Dante who's  the careful character. He's always polite to people, let's people push him around, is whipped by his girlfriend, and complains about having to come into work on his day off. And then there is Randal who speaks his mind, gets Dante into crazy situations, is lazy, and loves to piss off the customers.  This guy is just fucking awesome. Life would never be boring as long as Randal Graves is your best buddy. I actually had a friend like Randal growing up who would always get me into some kind of adventure.  I can definitely relate to Dante though. I have known to be a little too careful and have held myself back because I didn't have a lot of confidence. That's why these two are so perfect, because they balance each other out.  We've seen friendships like this tons of times in both movies and television. It seems that the more careful guy/girl matches up with the more wild guy/girl. Cory Matthews and Shawn Hunter. DJ Tanner and Kimmy Gibbler. Zack Morris and Screech Powers. Mark Ratner and Mike Damone. These match ups always seem to work with best friends. Sure, they may have their ups and downs, but what friendship hasn't?

 

The situations that Dante and Randal get themselves into are pretty hilarious. Dante and his girlfriend Veronica have a heated argument over her sucking 37 dicks, including his. The boys go to a funeral for an old high school friend and Randal knocks the casket over, causing the body to fall out and lots of angry attendees chasing them. Randal accidentally sells a four year old girl cigarettes while he reads his porno magazine and Dante is left with the fine.  Some old guy masterbates himself to death in the bathroom, leaving Dante's old girlfriend Caitlin in catatonia.  Randal spits water in some customer's face. And my personal favorite, Randal offends a customer by talking dirty and then shows him a picture of a chick's vagina, causing the guy to run screaming.  There's some more too, but you'll just have to watch to see.

 

   Jay and Silentbob just hang out in front of the store, listen to music, talk with the customers, smoke some weed, and sell shit. The many customers range all the way from cool to fucking sheep fuckers. Sorry, wrong movie. I meant, they range from cool to douche bags. There's also some who are just fucking WEIRD like milk lady or egg dude.

 

The direction by Kevin Smith was actually really good for a first time movie director at the time.  Smith has come a very long way since CLERKS.  The entire movie is shot in black and white, which actually gives the movie some major class. I'm not really sure what made Smith decide to film CLERKS that way, but it certainly works.  Kevin Smith  actually used to work at Quick Stop, which is where he shot this movie in his hometown of New Jersey.  Smith would expand this new Askew world in a series of films now known as the Askewiniverse. The films which followed are MALLRATS, CHASING AMY, DOGMA, JAY & SILENTBOB STRIKE BACK, and the long awaited sequel CLERKS II. 

 

The acting is pretty damn fucking awesome. Brian O' Halloran is great as Dante Hicks, giving us a character that we can truly relate to on some level or another. Jeff Anderson is even more awesome and hilarious as the slacker and sarcastic Randal Graves. Here's a guy that I would totally want to hang out with.  Jason Mewes IS Jay. The guy is just a delight to watch in all of these movies. Kevin Smith stars in the Askew world as Silentbob. He usually doesn't talk until he has something very meaningful to say.  Marilyn Ghiqliotti is decent as Veronica. She definitely wore the pants in the relationship and has a major chip on her shoulder. And she sucked 37 DICKS and likes to snowball!  Lisa Spoonhaur was good as Caitlin. All in all, great cast!

 

Overall, CLERKS is a great comedy. It's funny, it's highly entertaining, it's a stress reliever, and it was the stardom of Kevin Smith and his motion picture comic world of View Askew.  Definitely check it out. Clerks. They may serve you, but that don't mean they like you. 

 

RATING

YOU SUCKED 4/4 DICKS!

 

 

 

     

Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

 

 

 

 

     THE LEGACY OF BATMAN ON THE SCREEN

 

 

  To start off with, I am one of the biggest Batman fans ever.  The character has been a favorite of mine since I first watched the 1989 Tim Burton Batman when it was released on VHS at the age of two.  From that point on, I caught every live action Batman movie in the theater and constantly watched the '90s animated series, which has gone on to become a classic show among us Bat fans.  Batman has gone through many different incarnations throughout my lifetime.  He was dark, mythic, and a loner in Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Then, WB wanted to lighten up the character to make him more kid friendly, so they hired a new crew and released Batman Forever in 1995. The live action franchise finally died in 1997 after the atrocious Batman & Robin.  While the live action movies ran their course, there were animated movies that were made in the animated series  world or as us Batman fans call the Timm universe of Batman, named after the animated series' producer Bruce W. Timm.

 

    Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was the first of these Timm universe animated movies, which was released in theaters back in December of 1993, a year after Tim Burton's Batman Returns.  In 1998, Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero was released on both DVD and VHS that wrapped up Mr. Freeze's story from the animated series.  The late '90s brought on a revamped look of the animated series' characters, which was also named The New Batman Adventures.  That series is still considered part of the original animated series, but can also be called a sequel of sorts to it. The New Adventures of Batman had Batman working with Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, a new Robin (Tim Drake), and sometimes Nightwing (the adult Dick Grayson who was the original Robin).   Warner Bros. Animation also came out with a Superman animated series and released The Batman/ Superman Movie, which teamed up the two iconic DC Comics heroes to battle The Joker and Lex Luthor.  In 1999, Batman: The Animated Series was cancelled and the producers were asked to make a series with a teenage Batman. Batman Beyond was made, which took place about 50 years into the future where an old and retired Bruce Wayne is a mentor to a teenager named Terry McGinnis who becomes Gotham's new Batman.  The show ran for three seasons with a direct to DVD/VHS movie called Batman Beyond:  Return of the Joker and was cancelled in 2001.

 

        The producers behind the Timm universe of DC Comics decided to then make a Justice League animated series, which ended back in 2006.   Since then, we have seen two different other takes on Batman as an animated show with The Batman and the modern Batman: The Brave And The Bold, which are more campy takes on the characters and more of kid shows.    In 2005, acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan reinvented the long dead Batman franchise with a fresh and even darker take with Batman Begins. The film told the origin story of Bruce Wayne's journey to become the iconic Batman and pitted him against both Ra's Al Ghul and The Scarecrow.  Two years later, Nolan returned with his 2008 sequel The Dark Knight. Meanwhile,  acclaimed DC Comics animation producer Bruce Timm put together a team to begin a series of animated movies based on various graphic novels from the DC universe, which were titled DC Universe Original Animated Movies.  Beginning in 2007, DCUAM released Superman/Doomsday on DVD/Blue Ray.  From that point on, we got about three DC Universe films a year. There was Justice League: A New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight,  Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths,  Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and finally the movie in which I am about to review Batman: Under The Red Hood.  

 

 

PLOT

   Batman: Under The Red Hood starts off with Batman on a race against time to find Robin who is being held captive by The Joker.   Right as Batman is about to enter the warehouse where Robin is, the place blows up, killing the boy wonder. Five years later, a vigilante has arrived in Gotham going by the name Red Hood who wears a red hooded mask. Hood begins by taking over most of criminal  kingpin Black Mask's goons and disposing of many in the criminal underworld by killing them.   Pissed that Red Hood is taking over his turf, Black Mask breaks The Joker out of Arkham Asylum and hires him to kill Red Hood. Meanwhile, Batman and his oldest friend Nightwing team up to stop Red Hood. Could this be the original Red Hood who turned into The Joker after falling into a thing of chemicals ?   This leads to painful memories resurfacing and old wounds reopening as Batman discovers that this new criminal kingpin may just be his old side kick back from the dead with a very vicious score to settle with both him and The Joker.

 

 

REVIEW

   I will begin this review by saying that Batman: Under The Red Hood is the best animated Batman movie since Mask of the Phantasm from 1993 and may even surpass it a little bit.  This DC Universe movie just blew me away and is definitely my favorite film in this series of animated direct to video comic book adaptations.   It's also a rare occasion where the movie surpasses the source material that it is based on.  The story and screenplay are smartly written. Under The Red Hood ain't no kid friendly animated superhero flick.  This movie is a straight up adult incarnation of Batman that will appeal probably more towards the older audiences than the kids.  Judd Winick who also wrote the graphic novel, does an amazing job with the screenplay. These sound like real people with real emotion and it doesn't even feel like a cartoon, but a motion comic book with audio treatment. 

 

        It seems to me that Winick was heavily inspired by both the '90s animated series and Nolan's more grim and character driven Batman movies.   The characters in this movie are just awesome.   Batman goes through things that the animated series and the other animated movies didn't really touch on. First off, I have to explain a few things to help out those people who are reading this and don't have much knowledge of the Batman comics. I'm sure many of you are freaking out at my plot synopsis that Robin is actually murdered by The Joker.  There has been quite a few Robins throughout the Batman comic book world. I'm sure all of you know who Dick Grayson is. He's the kid who was a part of the circus and his parents fell to their deaths because a criminal cut the rope, which they were holding onto without the safety of a net. Bruce took in young Dick Grayson and he became Batman's side kick Robin. Most people know him as Robin since they have seen the original live action movie franchise and even the popular animated series. 

 

     Later in the comics, Dick Grayson decided to stop being Robin around the time that he graduated from college and becomes his own identity Nightwing.  One night while Batman was on patrol, he catches a young boy trying to steal the tires off the bat mobile in an alley. It turns out that the kid is an orphan and that his father was murdered by Two-Face.  Bruce takes this kid in who's name is Jason Todd and trains him to be the new Robin.  Jason was very different from Dick because of the fact that he came from a really rough family. He basically talked back to Batman and most of the time would always get into trouble.  In I think the '70s or '80s, there was an issue of comics where Jason was caught in an explosion after being viciously beaten to a pulp with a crow bar by The Joker. The story ended with a cliff hanger of the building blowing up with Jason trapped inside and Batman basically right at the front door. Did he live or did he die? DC Comics decided to do something new by having the fans decide on Jason's fate. If they called one number, he would survive the explosion. If they called another number, he would die. Since most fans hated Jason as the second Robin, he was killed off.  That series of comics was put together into a graphic novel called A Death In The Family.

 

  Batman: Under The Red Hood opens with the ending to A Death In The Family where the building explodes just as Batman is approaching it and he is holding Jason's dead body before the opening credits scroll.  This has got to be the most intense opening to a Batman film that I've ever seen.   The movie really touches base on the psychology of these characters. This is Batman ultimate failure and we can see how torn up he is over it.  Ra's Al Ghul plays a small part in this movie. Apparently, he had hired The Joker to cause a distraction for Batman and Robin, so they wouldn't ruin one of his plans to "save" the world from criminality. Ra's actually feels bad for Batman, which is major change for the character. Most of the time, he is out to wipe out those he thinks are criminals or enemies no matter what the cost or even if the innocent suffer too.   Nightwing comes to Batman's side again and is still the fun guy that he's always been.  Dick has always kept Bruce from falling totally into the darkness, so I thought it was great having him in this specific story.  The Joker is dark as hell in this movie. He's like if you took The Joker that Mark Hamill played in the animated series and mixed him with Ledger's iconic portrayal of sinisterness. The guy is an absolute maniac, which he should be. I really love what he does with a glass of water.  I think it was Denny O' Neil who said that The Joker is the best trickster character ever and that is exactly the kinda character he has always been. Joker is a combination of a comedian and a vicious killer.   Plus, he gets the best lines of dialogue in the movie such as:

 

"  I'm going to need something to wear and a very big truck. I'm also going to need some guys. Not these guys though because well, they're kinda dead."

 

" Oh, a sleepover. I've packed my tooth brush."

 

"  Oh, how about a picture! First, one of you and me. Then, one of the kid. And let's get one of the crow bar."

 

     Black Mask was awesome as well. I love how angry this dude gets when things don't go his way. There's a very funny scene where he gets so angry that he literally punches out all of his goons. Very fun mob boss.  For those who don't know who Black Mask is, he was a crime lord who was caught in a fire while wearing a skull mask and the mask got melted to his head and is now his permanent face. Red Hood is all sorts of awesome. It's actually pretty obvious as to who Red Hood turns out to be, which is why I'm not going to really worry about spoiling his true identity since it is pretty much given away right from the beginning of the film. The mystery is not who it is under the hood, but how it was possible for that person to be alive.  The truth is that an adult Jason Todd is Red Hood.  Call it obvious all you want, but I like the fact that it's him.  I love the fact that he is using all of the fighting skills that Batman taught him as Robin and is actually using them against Batman. Now, he's not actually out to kill Batman, but to clean up the streets by doing what Batman would never do, dispose of the criminals PERMANENTLY instead of handing them over to the Police or Arkham for treatment.   The story of how Jason came back from beyond the grave is A LOT better in this movie than in the graphic novel. All I will say is Ra's Al Ghul plays a part in Jason's resurrection.

 

        I like that Batman is basically battling himself a lot in this movie. He taught Jason all of his knowing and now that is coming back to haunt him. The truth is though that Batman has always been haunted by death. He is haunted by his parents, he is haunted by himself, he is haunted by his worst enemies, and he is haunted by crime in general.  The final act of this movie is both sad and jolting at the same time.  It kinda reminded me of the end of The Dark Knight where Two-Face is holding Gordon's kid hostage at gun point because he lost everything to The Joker. Well, Jason has lost everything he loved because of The Joker and wants to kill him for taking his life.   There's a great moment where Batman explains to Jason why it is so important that he not cross the line between hero and vigilante.

" All this time, I've wanted to kill him. I wanted to subject him to the same horrendous torture that he has put onto others. And then, end him."

         The animation is simply amazing to look at. It is like a combination of the animated series and a little bit of Nolan's Batman movies. Gotham is grim, dark, mythic, and filled the crime.  I'm truly digging the design of all of the characters with The Joker being my favorite design. He really looks menacing as ever!

 

     I think one of the best parts about this movie aside from great animation and a fantastic screenplay is the great selection of voice actors. Bruce Greenwood is amazingly awesome as Batman/Bruce Wayne. I've always loved the man's acting and he truly shines here. Greenwood makes the character dark and has a great intimidating Batman voice. He basically reminded me a lot of how Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) played the character except lowered his voice even darker without over smoking it like Christian Bale kinda did in The Dark Knight.   Bruce Greenwood is most welcome to play the voice of Batman anytime in my book.  John DiMaggio was a lot of fun as The Joker, giving the character the most sinister portrayal in animation.  While I will always love Mark Hamill's looney Joker voice, DiMaggio is definitely in the same boat. The guy knew how to be creepy and then make you laugh at all of the wrong times.  Reminded me a lot of Ledger's take on the character in The Dark Knight, but DiMaggio made Joker his own.  Jensen Ackles from tv's Supernatural and My Bloody Valentine 3D fame was marvelous as Red Hood/Jason Todd. I've always enjoyed watching this guy act and he truly has talent. He made Jason into the messed up and broken character that he truly is and was such a delight.   Neil Patrick Harris is always awesome and delivered a fun portrayal of the old boy wonder Nightwing. He reminded me a lot of Loren Lester's portrayal of Dick Grayson in Batman: The Animated Series in how he could have funny dialogue in extreme situations to lighten the tension a bit. Jason Issacs was awesome as Ra's Al Ghul and made the guy almost a sorta good guy in this movie. I've always enjoyed Issacs too as an actor.  The man definitely has range and played Ra's as having some sort of a heart instead of the determined vigilante/terrorist that he is portrayed as in the comics or like David Warner played him in the animated series and how Liam Neeson played Ra's in Batman Begins.  Wade Williams was absolutely awesome and funny as the very grumpy Black Mask. I also enjoyed Jim Piddock as Alfred, Batman's trusted friend and butler.  Very solid cast of great actors thanks to casting director Andrea Romano who has casted all of these DC Universe animated films. I know there will be fanboys crying out that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill weren't casted in this movie as Batman and Joker, but personally I thought that these actors were great on a different level. I don't compare or contrast actors and welcome new interpretations if I like them.

 

   The direction by Brandon Vietti was also fantastic. Enough said.   The very ending to the movie is sad in my opinion. I know some won't like that it basically ends on a flashback, but it worked for me.

 

  Overall, Batman: Under The Red Hood is an amazing and visually stunning animated comic book adaptation.  If you are a huge Batman fan, I couldn't recommend a movie more.  I see where there will be a DC Universe animated movie for Batman: Year One in 2011.   After seeing what they have done here, I'm very excited to see what happens with that project.  I would like to see more Greenwood Batman and DiMaggio Joker. I guess we'll see. In the meantime, go buy or rent this movie now!

 

RATING

4/4

 

    

 

    

 

           

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