The Hot Blog

It's nice to see a superhero movie that uses stuntman and practical effects instead of just seeing a CG suit of armor. I've read interviews where Chris Nolan says the influence for this movie was Heat. That's a bold statment. Hopefully they can pull it off.

Well you know Monoco... MONOCO... MONOCO: it's so damn easy to create fully functional 21st century IRON-MAN SUIT PLATFORMS that work like the BAT-SUIT. Of course -- like every putz who dissed the prequels for being too FX heavy. While ignoring that all of them were riddled with practical FX -- DOWNEY and SOME STUNTMEN did get in the freakin SUIT! They even had some practical scenes of IRON-MAN on that freeway doing stuff against IRON-MONGER. So please... stop hating on the FX... until you know what's a practical FX or not. It would be appreciated because ignorant shit like the above should stay in the past. Hold on: the past would EAT UP SOME MOTHERFUCKING ILM IRON-MAN! So... that shit... really does not belong anywhere.

i'll probably be tarred and feathered, drawn and quartered, and then decapitated for good measure with my head atop a sharp stake, but when i first heard heath l. was cast as the joker i thought he was all wrong for the part, and after seeing that my original hunch is validated; heath was a talented actor but he just doesn't physically suit the role of the joker to my eye. the joker was always long, lithe and angular, totally manic, whereas heath is the opposite: solid and stocky with wide features and an 'earthy', measured quality that doesn't say 'joker' to me in the slightest, and all the great acting in the world can't change that...

ok, let my public disembowelment commence!

Interesting thing about Swing Vote -- when was the last Hollywood political movie where BOTH candidates were played by real-life Republicans?

Of course, the main voter here is too.

However well the movie fares, I'm sure the results will be politically spun.

Leah, you're right that Ledger's Joker doesn't seem to fit the traditional stylization of the character. Neither did Jack Nicholson, for that matter. But I'd argue that, even if he doesn't fit the comic book mold, he looks appropriate for the world Nolan has created.

Swing Vote will probably be pleasant...but words cannot convey how much I am looking forward to The Dark Knight. Sweet merciful crap it looks amazing. I'm trying not to hype it out of proportion, but man, it's kinda hard to do. I'll probably have to stay away from Batman related material for the month of July so that I am not foaming at the mouth too much on July 18th.

*kinda hard not to do*

i should be in bed. not on blogs.

Yeah, Dark Knight looks great, blah blah blah. Of course it'll own. But I'm actually really looking forward to Swing Vote. Nobody does that lovable loser thing like Costner - he looks to be in top form here.

Leahnz, I was right with you about Heath not really seeming like a good choice for the Joker. Paul Bettany's name came up a lot during casting, and I thought he would have been perfect for the role. That said, what I've been seeing from the previews has got me thinking that Heath will probably make the role his own - exactly what a good actor should do.

Leah, I was going to write the exact same post that Me wrote above. I loved the idea of Paul Bettany in the role, and was especially disappointed when Martin pointed out in this forum that Heath was probably cast as an agency package deal of some sort. It seemed like Nolan's movie might have been compromised somewhat by commerce or studio politics.

But then that first picture of Heath was released and it was nothing like I had expected-- they've made him look like a pure nightmare.

I've never been a huge Ledger fan, but it's really clear at this point that Nolan knows what he's doing. That's quite enough for me.

Swing Vote has Man of the Year written all over it. Just doesn't look like a sleeper hit to me.

Watching the "Swing Vote" trailer I can't help but think that Billy Bob Thorton would've been a more interesting and much funnier choice for the role. Costner seems to be aping Thorton's mannerisms and speech anyway.

Swing Vote looks promising, even though the credits of the writer/director and his co-writer seem rather underwhelming.

I must have missed whatever trailer is making The Dark Knight look "amazing." In fact, the only thing that even looks mildly interesting to me is Ledger's take on the Joker.

A three hour depressive S&M shoot 'em up starring a dead man. In IMAX no less!

Some of my favorite movies star dead people.

Is it three hours? Awesome.

Most everyone has a favorite movie that stars dead people. Unless you're 8.

that was the least painful evisceration ever, i'm glad to hear at least a few others questioned the suitability of ledger for the joker.

that batman trailer is sorely lacking one thing for me: batman. i LOVE the bat, ever since i was a kid, so i'm interested in seeing what christian b. can do with the role, he got off to a good start in 'begins' and he's such a terrific talent (he's bloody fantastic in 'the machinist'), plus i have to admit i fancy him hugely, so that doesn't hurt...i have the 'reign of fire' dvd for the sole purpose of watching him and butler together looking all end-of-the-world dirty and scruffy, phwoar...anyway, i digress. the only thing that really stood out in that trailer for me was michael caine.

i've always loved the joker, he's deliciously manic, demented, funny and evil to the core; ledger doesn't do it for me, but i'm willing to reserve my final condemnation - oops, i mean judgement - until after i see the flick.

paul b. as the joker... now that i can see

Joker is really selling this one, and I am with leahnz in hoping that Batman is not once again outshined by the villains.

Wally Pfister has expanded the color palette a dozen fold. Much of the movie looks to take place during the day!

Joker is the sparkler distracting everyone from Dent. Dent apparently has a lot to do in this movie, and Heath did an amazing job with that character to obscure Eckhart's turn from hero to villian. We also have Bale just sitting there, doing what he does, and doing it well. I just hope the ending of this film sets up BLACK MASK. He's easily the one villian in all of the Batman ouevre, that fits Nolan's world of Bats.

I'm just glab the advertisers ditched the rusty brown of Batman Begins, because even though the blue filter thing has been done to death the posters and the look of The Dark Knight are fantastic. Blue > Brown.

Please don't hate me for saying this, but am I the only person in the world that doesn't like Aaron Eckhart? I liked him in In the Company of Men, but since then I don't think I've believed a moment of his performances... especially Thank You for Smoking. And I'm kind of dreading whatever hammy business he throws at the camera as Two-Face.

Okay, commence flames.

SWING VOTE looks like a complete rip-off of Garson Kanin's THE GREAT MAN VOTES. Costner's good, but John Barrymore he ain't!

I didn't know Paul Bettany did the voice of Jarvis, Iron Man's "computer butler" (or whatever you'd call it), until the end credits. It's not on his imdb page. I wondered what he'd been doing these days, besides Jennifer Connelly.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: