Spoilerish discussion ensues after the jump.

The Dark Knight is the best Batman movie so far. It kicks your ass right from the beginning. Plot summary from IMDB:

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

The Dark Knight is a film that works on so many levels. It’s filled with action and stunts, obviously, but the action never overshadows the story. That’s a fine line that director Christopher Nolan walks well. The casting is just perfect. Bringing on Maggie Gyllenhaal to replace Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes was a good move. She has the saddest eyes, not to mention the fact that she is a much better screamer. Heh. She had great chemistry with Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart.

I think the biggest fuss will be made over Heath Ledger, and it’s well earned. His Joker was much more intense, dark and humorous than the campiness of Jack Nicholson. Ledger completely inhabited the Joker — totally committed to the character. They might as well award the Oscar® to him posthumously now.

Speaking of de-camping - Aaron Eckhart was excellent as Harvey Dent. I read a review that criticized him for underplaying his role, but honestly, with an over-the-top character like the Joker in the film, it would have looked ridiculous if Eckhart has approched his role with the same over-the-top campiness that Tommy Lee Jones did. It worked (I guess.) in his film, but it just wouldn’t work in this film. One of the best scenes in the movie is between Joker and Two-Face. It’s menacing, sad and very, very funny. That is not an easy tone to pull off, but they did it.

I think what I was most impressed with is how well the special effects are incorporated into the film. In a big, big, BIG action movie like this, it would be very easy to rely on huge effects. I hate that, and it takes me right out of the movie. There are plenty of things that go sploidy, and lots of fighting, but it doesn’t overshadow the story.

Great movie, great cast, lots of fun action. I give this movie an “A.”

For extra fun, check out this Harvey Dent campaign website. I guess it got hacked.

The Dark Knight was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Go see it. I thought that it would make me feel melancholy about Heath Ledger, and that would pull me out of the movie, but that was not the case at all. It’s a fitting legacy for a very talented actor who left us too soon. I’ll have a fuller spoiler filled review up soon.

Netroots Nation is happening this weekend in Austin, TX. You can follow the happenings on their RSS feed. They have links to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and even Second Life on their home page (in the footer section). [link]

Have a great weekend!

I have been trying to convince my guys to go to the midnight showing of Dark Knight for weeks, but the hubby was having none of it — damn him and his sense being a responsible adult. I wanna see the Batman! Ant wasn’t any help — he wasn’t going without hubby (because he’s cool like that) so I thought I had failed.

Until… this afternoon. I get a call from the hubby and he casually mentioned how much fun it would be to go see the midnight showing of Dark Kni…. he didn’t have the whole title out of his mouth, before Ant and I secured tickets online.

So yay! I might be spoiled, but I’m goin’ to the first showing of Batman! W00t!

Yes, please! (NY TIMES)

Since 2004, I have been watching more MSNBC — mostly for Olbermann, who love him or hate him (I happen to love him) has been out front with his criticism of Bush and his cronies while other mainstream media outlets continue to shine his shoes. I love Countdown, and a big reason why I enjoy it so much is when they have Rachel Maddow on.

It’s just so refreshing to see a fiercely intelligent woman on cable news. Rachel is the perfect analyst. She knows politics and policy like nobody’s business, and she has a very direct, honest way of communicating her opinions that is respectful, and always right on point without having to resort to the usual cut downs, and negativity that many talking heads on both sides of the political spectrum resort to. I always learn something when she is on Olbermann, and she did a fantastic job of filling in for him during his vacation. It seems fitting that she gets her own show.

Be sure to read the NY Times piece. You get a real sense of how adorkable and nerdy Rachel is. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Way to go Dr. Maddow!

As previously mentioned, I went to a networking meeting Tuesday for the Rhode Island Film Collaborative with my friend Moxie. (Hi, Moxie!) Those RIFC are a busy bunch of people! I really didn’t know what to expect, but they were a very welcoming, friendly bunch of folks who seem very passionate about filmmaking. Moxie just got a gig as a script supervisor on a RIFC project that will film thoughout August called, “Vampire Nation” and we’re going to check out the RIFC writer’s group next week.

Wednesday was Moxie’s birthday. I love birthdays because it gives me a chance to make gifts with the art techniques I’ve been working on. This was a mixed media collage project. I painted the background canvas with a plastic dish sponge and paper towels. I know it sounds weird, but this is me we’re talking about, so maybe not so weird. Heh. Anyway, the other items used for the project include, acrylic paint, metal tape, brads, magazine print, vintage photograph and a book plate. This is one of those projects that turned out entirely different than what I had going on in my head. It was too busy, so I took stuff off until it told me it was done.

Yeah. I know that’s weird too. Here it is:

Thursday, Ant and I took a road trip into Boston to hang out and go to Blick’s Art Materials near Fenway Park. Wow. I could have spent all day in that store! I’m not sure who had more fun, me or Ant. We’ll have to go back to one of their demo days. This weekend they are doing DIY book binding, and I’d love to learn more about that.

So we were having a great time, until managed to fall down and go boom again. *sigh* I didn’t break anything this time, but I did rough up my knee and hands pretty badly. I’m all scabby and bruised. It just proves once and for all that I can’t do anything AND walk. I’m okay, just sore and annoyed. As you can imagine, since I broke my ankle last year, I have been trying to pay closer attention to where I’m walking. I think I took my eyes off the ground for a second as we were walking over a bridge by the T, and the next thing I knew, I was falling. Landed on my face again too.

Accident pics under the fold.

The knee took the worst of it, I guess.

The bruise goes from my palm down past my wrist. I had the same bruise in the same place when I broke my ankle.

So no break dancing for me, for the time being.