"the movie is good" yet another critic exclaims

Last night we finally went to see the Dark Knight, and like everybody else, I really liked it. To be truthful, I never watched the entire "Batman Begins" movie. Everyone loved that one, too, but when I tried it recently I almost died of boredom. And a certain actress's side-mouth talking drove me to distraction. I had to stop about an hour in, so I never saw Scarecrow or any of the action stuff. I just couldn't hang in there that long.

But I agreed to see DK because Ryan was dying to see it and I had heard from numerous (and trustworthy) people that it didn't feel as long as it was. And you know what? It didn't feel as long as it was. The movie goes by pretty quickly, and considering I am not an "action movie" person, it was really entertaining. Maggie Gyllenhaal did an excellent job as did Aaron Eckhart. I had heard ALL of the talk about the Gotham world being very "real" and being obviously set in Chicago so that it would resonate and it really held true. All of the dialog, the situations, all of it really was 'ripped straight from the headlines' so that you - as a viewer - were actually IN the movie and making judgments on what should happen. And it all played very well, I must say.

I can't say a single thing more than everyone else already has about Heath Ledger's turn as The Joker. He really did a phenomenal job in being creepy in an unsettling recognizable way. His tics, his quirks, the things he says - it's all things that you think in the dark recesses of your mind. And maybe not-so-dark recesses. He's only evil in that he's completely child-like and uninhibited... what comes to mind, comes out of his mouth and too often you're left agreeing or at the very least recognizing a logical conclusion. Which, again, brings the story back to the real world -- how would YOU react? -- and leaves your mind busy, even as you're watching car chases and explosions and high-tech gadgets.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Watchmen trailer before the movie. I've heard from everyone else that they saw it before DK. I guess we just lost. But we did see an extended trailer for Bolt (new Disney/Pixar movie) and I have to admit that it looks pretty dang funny.