The Thoroughbred of Sin

It was a superhero weekend followed by a super hangover on Sunday. Allison and I saw The Dark Knight Saturday (after which we proceeded to drink wine, beer, and bourbon over the next few hours... ouch!). The movie was fantastic and all the hype about Heath Ledger's Joker performance is earned. He knocks it waaaaaaaay out of the park and is very deserving of an Academy Award nomination, if not the win. The other actors we're spot on, too, especially Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart. Chris Nolan shot an amazing movie that remained intense for two and a half hours.

Between The Dark Knight and Iron Man, the superhero movie genre has undergone a rebirth. These two films prove that these kinds of movies can be more than just action set pieces. If the story is tightly written and the acting is top notch, they go from being superhero/comic book movies to just really excellent movies. These two are coming at the right time and work to train the audience for something as deep as next year's Watchmen.

Speaking of Watchmen, the trailer was before The Dark Knight. While I've been wary of Zack Snyder's direction after seeing the machofest that is 300, I was impressed by the trailer. Visually it looks very much like the mini-series brought to life and many of the shots are exactly like the drawn images. I'm actually pretty optimistic about this film now.

If you didn't catch Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog while it was free, it's really worth a purchase at the iTunes. It's hilarious, goofy, strikingly poignant, and works as a metaphor for the writer's strike from earlier this year. Neil Patrick Harris (NPH!) is really great in the title role and Nathan Fillon is hilarious as Captain Hammer. Forget Dollhouse, I want Whedon to make more Dr. Horrible or similar ventures.

The Dark Knight: 10 out of 10
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: 8 out of 10