The Dark Knight - Blu Ray!
Let nobody say that I'm highly opinionated without giving things a second chance.
So we had family film night last night, and Dark Knight on Blu Ray.
I tried to hate the film from the start, but couldn't. It's a good film and it was good to see it again to be honest. I like Nolan's direction and the film starts with a lot of promise. It's pretty solid throughout.
Same problem though. Far, far, far too long. Same as when I was in the cinema, it needed to be over very soon after chase to get the Joker. I don't care where the cuts needed to happen or how the story needed changing, but to have built a finale on at that point would have made the film superb. Leave the Harvey Dent side of things until the next film and finish the film when it's on a high.
It's much easier to watch at home, because you can wander off and do things to relieve the need for the film to finish. It's much more relaxed - and easier because I could go and miss chunks of the film knowing I'm not missing any storyline or plot line.
So, brilliant film if you've seen it before so can miss out huge chunks of it to make it flow better - pity Nolan didn't do the same in the editing suite (or with the script in the first place).
I think the most frustrating thing is the fact that film never actually is particularly poor. It's a super hero film and you can forgive it heaps for that. It's all enjoyable, it's just that not enjoyable enough for you to want to keep on sitting through it. It's a film and a half in one place. It's just wrong.
So, my original verdict stands. Brilliantly made film, far too long which ruined the flow.
Now to a classic!
National Lampoon's Animal House
Chaotic comedy from the people behind Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters. It was the film that launched Landis, Ramis, John Belushi and others into the spotlight.
The film is just puerile, chaotic and superb fun. It's full of so many great scenes and is often mimicked (To-ga! To-Ga! To-GA!)
Just an hour and a half of pointless fun. They don't make them like this any more