It was an unpredictable year of surprise box office hits and flops. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Mamma Mia. In a year when even Star Wars flopped, Mamma Mia destroyed box office records in the United Kingdom, surpassing even Titanic in box office receipts and DVD sales. As silly as it undoubtedly was and featuring a cast of non-singers, Mamma Mia nevertheless managed to garner a massive, mostly-female, audience through the magic of positive word-of-mouth and crowd-appeasing Abba songs.

It was also a year for big-screen reunions. Mulder and Scully graced our movie screens for the first time in ten years, the Sex and the City girls finally made their big screen debut, and we had the not-so-triumphant return of one of cinema's greatest heroes, Indiana Jones.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was for many, one of the biggest disappointments of the year. Lame CGI gophers and monkeys aside, it was an enjoyable pop-corn flick, but it was far from the lofty heights of the other films in the franchise.

Ironically, the Dark Night shone the brightest in 2008, becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time while simultaneously winning praise from most critics. The film managed to walk the line between comic book super-heroics and serious, multi-layered drama, tragedy, and thriller. Heath Ledger's chilling portrayal of The Joker not only entered pop-culture, but joined the pantheon of classic movie villains, alongside the likes of Hannibal Lector and Darth Vader.

It was a great year for children's films too, of course, with Wall E garnering huge critical applause. Madagascar 2, Hannah Montana, and Kung Fu Panda were popular with the kiddies, while the High School Musical phenomenon continued. Tween vampire romance Twilight also graced our screens in 2008, and is already being talked about as being the next Harry Potter franchise.

It was a great year for Robert Downey Jr. too, who perfectly embodied billionaire playboy Tony Stark in Iron Man, and despite the controversy, was the real star of Tropic Thunder, playing a black man. Another bad boy, Mickey Rourke, came back swinging in 2008 with The Wrestler, a movie he was born to star in.

Genre-wise, it was a good but not great year for comedy. We had more of the same from the likes of Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler, but Judd Apatow and his merry men (Seth Rogen, Jason Segel et al.) continued to deliver laughs and push the envelope somewhat. It was an average year for horror, and a particularly average year for science fiction, although with Star Trek coming out in 2009, this could be a great year for sc-fi fans.

The past has shown us that cinema is cyclic, and with an array of highly anticipated movies slated for release this year, 2009 will (hopefully) be a great year for movies.

1. Changeling

A movie from Clint Eastwood as director sounds always a sure candidate for the main prize. This time, the story (inspired in actual events occurred in 1928) about a mother looking for her missing child is not an exception. Eastwood has already won four Oscars for producing and directing Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.

Superstar Angelina Jolie, who played one of the leading roles, could go for her second Oscar (she won one for Girl, interrupted in 2000).

Watch the trailer in HD:

2. Australia

Baz Luhrmann’s epic and romantic movie has all the ingredients to be nominated for Best Picture: it’s a $ 130 million production with drama, adventure and the Oscar winner (for The Hours, in 2002) Nicole Kidman.

3. Revolutionary Road

The Titanic couple (Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet) came back with powerful performances in a big screen adaptation of a Richard Yates novel, with high chances of getting a couple of nominations. The direction of Sam Mendes winner with American Beauty in 2000 (and Winslet’s husband) is a plus.

4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The 1920’s Scott Fitzgerald’s story about a man “born under unusual circumstances” had a succesful adaptation to Hollywood made by David Fincher. Sex symbol Brad Pitt may get a nomination for Best Actor and Cate Blanchet is always a candidate (she won in 2005 for The Aviator and got three nominations in 2007 and 2008).

5. The Dark Knight

Best chances are for his director, Christopher Nolan or, mainly, for Heath Ledger, who could win a post mortem Oscar for his role as the Joker. Ledger had already received a nomination in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain.

6. W

Can a biopic movie about president George W. Bush be nominated for an Oscar in the Obama era? We’ll see. Director Oliver Stone can make it again after other works about prime minister’s lives such as J.F.K. and Nixon.

7. Milk

Another biopic film, in this case about the gay activist Harvey Milk, that could fight for the main prize and other categories such as Best Direction (Gus Van Sant) and Best Actor (Sean Penn).

8. Wall-E

An animated film never won as best picture before, but this year there’s a rumour about a possible nomination for this Pixar work.

9. Frost/Nixon

The last Ron Howard’s film (which recreates an historic television interview to the ex president Richard Nixon) is one of the big favorites for the Golden Globe Awards (it got 5 nominations) so it’s expected to have a good performance with the Oscars too.

10. Slumdog Millonaire

It’s the only film in the list without a cast of celebrities but it has been acclaimed by the critics as a brilliant portrait of the modern India.

 

I am writing a short review on the film ‘The Dark Knight!’ I hope you enjoy this!

The film is a superhero film done in America! It is based the DC Comics character Batman!

A sad loss!

Heath Ledger, who played the Joker character in ‘The Dark Knight’, had died on January 22^nd 2008 for having too much sleeping pills. The death occurred when he had finished filming ‘The Dark Night’.

The cast members of the film are:

• Bob Kane
• Bill Finger
• Michael Caine
• Heath Ledger
• Gary Oldman
• Aaron Eckhart
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
• Morgan Freeman
• James Newton Howard

What do the critiques say about the movie?

The movie had received a lot of positive reviews and it rated as high as 90% out of 100!

The characters in the movie had also received good feedback such as Ledger was mesmerizing in every scene!

Dean Richard of WGN-TV had said that the film isn’t only the best film this year, but the best film in many years!

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight has got to be one of the best movies of 2008. Although Heath Ledger did die this movie is still amazing to watch. It's very dark as the title suggests and it is also the first Batman movie that does not include the word Batman in the title. Don't take young children to this as it is dark and gruesome in some parts.

Iron Man

Iron Man is a story about Tony Stark who is hit by one of his own weapons and is taken hostage by a terrorist group. This movie is a must see if you like other marvel comic movies such as Spiderman. This movie is so good because it differs from other movies like it because of the plot and how much action is in it.

Horton Hears a Who

This is a movie for all ages. It is a remake for a Dr Suess book that has been a short movie before. The graphics are amazing and it is a funny story. It has extra parts from the original that make it easier to understand and funnier to watch.

Get Smart

Get Smart was a classic series that has been turned into an extraordinary funny movie. The reviews on this movie have been good although I think that it should've got better but that's critics for you. Anne Hathaway who you might recognise from the Princess Diaries movies plays agent 99 and does and excellent job in her acting. This is also an excellent movie that is worth seeing.

WALL-E

WALL-E is the last robot on earth that has found a new meaning for life when he meets a robot named EVE. The detail the artists put into the film is spectacular. They even put dirt on WALL-E's threads on his tracks and perfect rust stains on his body. Like most Pixar movies there is a message hidden in this movie and you will have to watch it to find out!

Before The Dark Knight came out, I remember reading something about how Jack Nicholson was angry about all the positive buzz Heath Ledger's performance was getting.  Because Jack wanted to be remembered as the best Joker ever for his performance in the Tim Burton version.  Well, sorry Jack.  We all love you, but your Joker seems so tame now.  Heath Ledger's version feels like the real one, the only one.  Good luck to the next guy playing The Joker!

Its going to be a tough year for predictors at the moment. With no clear cut favourite, any of five of ten or eleven films could make the cut. Usually at this stage there is at least one film which everyone knows will make it for one reason or another – but this year, as we’ll see there are pros and cons to each of the potential winners.

Of course this should make the build up a hell of a lot more fun. Since the Crash/Brokeback Mountain shocker a few years ago, it seems now everyone is back on a knife-edge when the ceremony rolls around. Nothing feels like a safe bet anymore. Not even the biggest film of the year.

There is little doubt of the shadow that The Dark Knight has cast over 2008. The biggest box-office film of the year (except for in the UK, where it was outsold by Mamma Mia! of all things) would have been huge even were it not for the passing of its co-star Heath Ledger, but after his tragic death, the whole world seemed to go a little bit crazy (The Dark Knight held the #1 spot on imdb.com briefly after release) and there was little doubt what would gross the most this year.

Not that Oscar is primarily worried by such things as Box-Office gross. But as with Titanic, there might be a feeling in the Academy that if The Dark Knight is nominated then viewing figures of the ceremony would skyrocket (after last years dull show, it’d at least shake things up). The trouble the Academy is going to have is that however it is dressed up (a lot of people talking about it as a crime thriller), it is still a comic-book movie. Not the sort of thing they would want to touch usually. They bowed to public pressure eventually by honouring the third Lord of the Rings though, so maybe they will here.

Elsewhere, most of the names in the awards tombola are yet to arrive. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle (Sunshine, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later among others) has arrived a little early stateside to incredibly positive reviews, meaning its an early frontrunner for a nomination. The story of a street urchin who enters Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to attract a girl he knows watches the show, Slumdog should prove to be a crowd favourite that seems to tick the Academy’s boxes.

Changeling is another one already in cinemas, but it has received disappointingly mixed reviews stateside. The Academy loves Clint, but they might feel its time to honour him for his acting (his “last role” in Gran Torino is also in the mix). Angelina Jolie should pick up a nomination here for her revelatory performance.

Ron Howard’s new one Frost/Nixon should garner a few nominations. An adaptation of a wildly popular stage play, it tells the story of the meeting of the fallen British journalist and the even further fallen post-Watergate president. It’s kept the same cast as the play, so assuming it doesn’t look too stagey, should be in with a good chance. Frank Langella is looking a strong bet for Best Actor too.

Australia by auteur Baz Luhrmann was my pick for Oscar gold this year, with its epic look and feel, a director the Academy does like, and a starry cast with the chance for some revelatory turns it looked a shoe-in. The film has been hampered with bad press in the last week or so though after Fox spoiled the film for everyone by announcing they were changing the ending. No spoilers here, but if you look it up you can find it easily enough. Will the Academy be put off by the studio interference?

Revolutionary Road could be a good bet for a nomination too. Billed as a reteaming of Titanic duo Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio, the adaptation of Richard Yates classic novel takes apart the myth of Suburbia – much like American Beauty, which won Oscars for Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes.

The Wrestler is an odd one. Darren Aronofsky’s latest is being billed as a comeback for Mickey Rourke, which should be enough to see him nominated in the actor stakes. Whether it gets a Best Picture nomination or not will depend on how seriously the Academy takes a film about wrestling. I think they might need convincing.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a popular choice, seeing a reteam of Brad Pitt and David Fincher. The story of a man who ages backwards, it might just come down to whether the Academy thinks its too cutesy or weird. It has been getting mixed press from the festivals, suggesting it isn’t as good as it sounds on paper. The Academy might feel it’s a good chance to give Fincher a nod though, as all his previous work wasn’t really Academy material.

Milk is another front runner, by cult director Gus Van Saant. There is no getting away from the reason this might not get nominated, gayness. With Brokeback Mountain they proved they would nominate a film about homosexuality, but that was about coming to terms with something that was difficult – and even that divided the Academy. Milk has the theme of gay pride. One fears that unfortunately, this might be too much for the conservative Academy. Let us hope not.

Lastly, Valkyrie. Its an interesting one, on paper it looks like Oscar gold, Bryan Singer, Tom Cruise, and a heroic film about taking down Hitler. The press snipes towards the film however have been nasty. Mostly of course this is aimed at The Cruiser, who has committed the sin of believing in something that most of us don’t. I actually think the film looks really good. But whether the negativity will put of the Academy, I don’t know. Perhaps what The Cruiser needs to do is take a couple of years doing nothing and then star in a film like this and present it as his “comeback”, the Academy love that shit.

While I was watching the movie I was wondering where is Batman, where is the fighting scene where he stops the Joker's madness. It never came so I continued thinking and it continued into the next day, where was the big scene, then I realized this movie was not an average action, superhero movie like "Ironman", this wasn't about Batman saving the City and killing and ending the Joker. Think about it, all superhero movies' titles are the name of the superhero in the movie. Ironman, Superman, and Spider-Man to name the big ones. In a sense it was named after the Batman, but it wasn't straight up, just like the plot. The plot of this movie was about the Joker and his reasons for being evil and him trying to prove that no one was better then him even though he was evil because he knew if anyone else was in his shoes they would be the same way as him.

Batman even had doubts in the movie about continuing to be Batman and almost gave it up. This movie still has my mind a little boggled about the plot and i need to watch it again when it comes out on DVD. So remember as your walking out of your house to go to the theater to leave your boxing gloves at home and bring your thinking cap because if you bring your boxing gloves instead you might go home a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, this was an amazing movie, just more of a thinking movie then a fighting, superhero movie. Overall I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe even 4.5 after I watch it again and understand it better.

In his article, “I Married Rambo: Spectacle and Melodrama in the Hollywood Action Film,” Mark Gallagher attributes the success of the action film to the way they act in response to social problems. “The Contemporary action film, the most profitable of post modern film genres, uses various formal and narrative strategies to respond to cultural crises about masculinity and male social roles.” Because the male role has been blurred (and some may say rightly so) by the acceptance of feminism, culture has undergone crisis in what it means to be a man. Action films are the response to this insecurity. The action hero is muscular beyond all reason. He totes large phallic weapons to defeat anyone who opposes him. The action hero is adored by unnaturally beautiful women. He is able to drive amazing cars and fly jets and helicopters. See almost any Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Vin Diesel movie for examples. The spectacle of these films is to be viewed, not only in the large, smooth, muscular form of the action hero, but also in the special effects and stunt work. “[W]hile most viewers observe real physical violence at some point in their lives, action films both locate viewers at a safe remove from conflict and choreograph action in a lyrical or spectacular style.” The action film's answer to our crisis then is a spectacle of manhood. Susan Jeffords, in the article, “Can Masculinity Be Terminated?” suggests the external spectacle of the male body in action films points not only to action film's answer to what a man is, but an answer for the culture.

“The male body - principally the white body - became increasingly a vehicle of display - of musculature, of beauty, of physical feats, and of a gritty toughness. External spectacle - weaponry, explosions, infernos, crashes, high-speed chases, ostentation luxuries - offered companion evidence of both the sufficiency and the volatility of this display. That externality itself confirmed that the outer parameters of the male body were to be the focus of the audience attention, desire, and politics.”

The bigger and harder the male bodies, the more of a man they are. The bigger the gun, the more of a man. The more you can kill, the more of a man. This is our answer?
Like me, most men feel discouraged by this. I do not want to believe that this is what makes a man. I, of course, am not alone in my assumptions about a stereotype I cannot live up to. My comic book brethren, the nerds, the dorks, the geeks, the superhero fans, have indeed created a new answer.

To define the superhero genre, we will look at several films that have firmly placed themselves in the realm of film icons. They do this by shattering box office records and creating some of the most memorable characters and scenes in all of cinema. Superman (Donnor 1978), Spiderman (Raimi 2002), and Batman (the original, Burton, 1989 and The Dark Knight, Nolan, 2008) These films are similar to action films. They begin in action, are set in an urban setting, are violent, and, most importantly, give an answer to the crisis of masculinity. If one doubts the validity of whether or not they are purposefully giving us a look at this cultural fear, simply look at the names. SpiderMAN, SuperMAN, BatMAN!

So, what is the answer that suoperhero films give us and how is it different than action films? Though the answer is obscured by lack of phallic weaponry and a covering of the male body (costumes), it can be found. A real man is moral and responsible.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Ben Parker (Spiderman)

Superheroes rarely ever kill. They subdue. They play by the rules. They don't besmirch their goodness with killings. Though Peter Parker confronts the man who killed his uncle, he does not kill him. Though Batman only needs to let go of the Joker, he does not (in both films). Though Superman confronts criminals all the time, he always returns them to the proper authorities. Superheroes are the “good” guys in almost every sense of the word.

They are also the reluctant heroes, the “weeping prophets.” They each have a choice. Continue on fighting crime and doing good at a high price or leave it to someone else. The very fact that they are in possession of such power forces them to do it. If one has the ability to stop an atrocity, one cannot deny this. . According to these films, a real man is courageous and comes to the aid of those in trouble. He does not resist the authorities put in place, but works with them. He values human life. He is intelligent and hardworking, able to hold a job and be a superhero. He longs for love in his life and a connection to other humans.

Superman relates to the audience at the end of his film displacing any critique that was to say the male viewer cannot relate to such a fictional character. He brings Lex Luthor and his stooge, Otis, to justice and then looks into the camera saying, “we are all part of the same team.” This invites the viewer to participate in being a man like Superman, one that is responsible and does what is right despite personal risk.
In The Dark Knight, Batman realizes his role is not the poster child for hope and what is right. He understands his exact niche and succumbs to that by the end of the film. He gives up the possibility for parades and flowers and adoring fans. He plays the role of the “Dark” knight, contrasted to the “white” knight, Harvey Dent, the law.

These films protest that what makes a person a man is not the numbers of killed bad guys, the size of the gun, the damage created, or the woman that is won. What makes a man a man is his ability to take responsibility, to do what is right. This, finally, is a portrait of manhood that is, not only realistic in theme but, moral. I want to be that kind of man.

This is a summary of an article I have written, detailing the super hero genre as a sub-genre of film. The entire article dives into each of these films in greater depth and lists six attributes that will set apart this genre from others. It includes a guide on how to spot the role-model characters by contrasting them with the emasculated characters of these films, the ones who have been feminized (to a spectacular degree in some cases). If you care to view the entire article please contact me at gilbertfilm@gmail.com. I cannot conclude this entry though without praising the superb acting of Heath Ledger. The film community has lost a very dear friend and artist. It is indeed a tragedy.

Director, Christopher Nolan, also introduces another well known Batman villain, Harvey Two-Face. The motivation he used to move Harvey from good to evil is certainly questionable. On top of this, Harvey seems to be too attached to his girlfriend to catch on to what's happening around him fast enough. However, Nolan's portrayal of human frailty is so strong I will say it's almost believable. I thoroughly enjoyed Christopher Nolan's examples of relationships gone bad, crazy clown's who play mind games, and a heroes conflict with who he is and who he wants to be.

Christian Bale brings a lot of new humanity to Batman, but with it also came a new sound to come out of Batman's mouth. In Batman Begins, Bale dropped his voice and added more breathe when in the Batman costume and took it to the extreme for the Dark Knight. I can understand the need to disguise his voice so that the blind can't identify him, but the voice disguise is pushed a little too far. Thus an attempt to intimidate the enemy becomes comical. Voice problem's aside, I do like the way Bale brought back the Micheal Keaton Batman, and made him seem just a pinch more vulnerable.

I'm giving the cinematographer two thumbs up on his beautiful camera work. You feel as though you're there with the cast. You follow the Bruce Wayne out windows and down buildings; it's as close to being Batman yourself as you're going to get. The director who brought you “Memento”, “Insomnia” and most recently “The Prestige,” continues his refreshing, more serious Batman, giving us all a break from the silly, wannabe-comedy Batman as brought to us by Joel Schumacher. The Dark Knight's week Two-Face motive and comical Batman voice are countered by a strong and engaging story line, wonderful camera work and new perspectives; wich is why I'm giving The Dark Knight a B+.

So, I guess what I'm saying is neither did a better job than the other but in this last Batman movie. It wasn't Heath Ledger playing The Joker. Heath Ledger WAS The Joker...