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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Dark Knight

Holy great Bat Balls Batman! That was one helluva movie... Reminds me why I want to do this stuff..

Heath Ledger, brilliant.
 
I'm surprised the film didn't go through a DI and was color timed when looking at the credits.

You shouldn't be. Both Chris Nolan and Wally Pfister are film purists, and every project they've done together has been finished photochemically - and looked great. That would include Memento, The Prestige, and both Batman pictures.
 
On IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/technical, it says the IMAX version went through a DI< which makes sense with the DMR process..which begs the question, what kinda film scanner can scan IMAX? You'd theoretically need what...10-16k??

Bigfoot scanner from Imagica. Fotokem in LA has two of them. If I remember correctly, it generates 14K files.

Lucas
-----
ASSIMILATE, inc.
LA, CA, USA
 
You shouldn't be. Both Chris Nolan and Wally Pfister are film purists, and every project they've done together has been finished photochemically - and looked great. That would include Memento, The Prestige, and both Batman pictures.

Interestingly, I sat with Wally at an ASC meeting a little while ago for about an hour or so and took him through the RED workflow.

He was blown away by the ease of the workflow. Loved the concept of seeing things that quickly. But his overall and overarching comment was that he didn't mind shooting digital, but was not going to "convert" until he saw something that truly matched or surpassed 35mm in range and response.

He wasn't being a "film bigot" at all. But he used as an example a few scenes from The Prestige - the most notable being the lightbulbs out in the field with Tesla - and wondered how he would capture that kind of detail and clarity and range in digital.

Dark Knight was in production and he talked for awhile about the IMAX shooting and what they did and how they did it.

Fascinating and just super down-to-earth nice guy. I have a feeling he'll be an Epic kinda-guy. ;)

Lucas
-----
ASSIMILATE, inc.
LA, CA, USA
 
But his overall and overarching comment was that he didn't mind shooting digital, but was not going to "convert" until he saw something that truly matched or surpassed 35mm in range and response.

I wasn't implying that there was any bigotry going on, just that they feel that at this point in time, a non-digital post approach is the best way to get the highest quality images out of the material they create on film. And they also clearly prefer getting shots in camera to going the CG route unless that's the only way to create a specific shot. That's what I meant by "film purist." Both Wally and Chris Nolan are all about great imagery, and will use whatever the best available methods are to get it. And, needless to say, cost is not an issue on most of their projects.

Fascinating and just super down-to-earth nice guy.

Yes, he is. I based my comment on a few conversations I've had with him, not on press.
 
DAMN that movie was long.

That felt like 3 movies in 1.
I enjoyed the entire evening.

I do hope DC starts to cross over as Marvel is doing with.
IronMan / Hulk / Nick Fury / Thor / Captian America / The Avengers or S.H.I.E.l.D.

Id love to see a cameo from Green Lantern for a second.
 
What was that scene with Joker blowing up the hospital?!
That was pure genious! Heath did a great job.

Wow, I almost had some brain attack with how fast the cuts were on fight scenes, that's bad.
 
I absolutely loved the film on all counts, but I can't believe that it got a PG-13 and not an R rating.
 
I was way excited to see this.... I kept hearing buzzwords like "visionary" "Godfather" "oscar" "best film in years".... so I was expecting some seriously powerful art cinema akin to There Will Be Blood or something...

and it was good but it just seemed like another Hollywood flick with a great performance by Ledger (who carried this movie)

I felt it was kinda cheesy, just another big budget action flick, it could have been way darker and more raw....

the score was heavy handed and distracting, it was gawwwdy

some of the CGI scenes looked goofy and cartoon-like....

two face was goofy and cartoony... batman's gruff voice was kinda laughable

Ledger carried this flick

C+/B- all around..... Ledger gets an A
 
some of that cell phone/sonar mumbo jumbo... and the bat goggles/sonar vision stuff.... felt like I was in da matrix

oh I'm just nitpicking now....

the movie was good, dont get me wrong.... def one of the best superhero movies.... but I dont think it was the visionary epic on the level of Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, There Will Be Blood, etc

it was an above average hollywood tent pole flick

here... this sounds better....

if you go in expecting a great summer action movie, you'll be happy as heck.... if you go in (like I did) expecting something on the level of The Godfather or There Will Be Blood etc, you'll be let down....
 
I was way excited to see this.... I kept hearing buzzwords like "visionary" "Godfather" "oscar" "best film in years".... so I was expecting some seriously powerful art cinema akin to There Will Be Blood or something...

and it was good but it just seemed like another Hollywood flick with a great performance by Ledger (who carried this movie)

I felt it was kinda cheesy, just another big budget action flick, it could have been way darker and more raw....

the score was heavy handed and distracting, it was gawwwdy

some of the CGI scenes looked goofy and cartoon-like....

two face was goofy and cartoony... batman's gruff voice was kinda laughable

Ledger carried this flick

C- all around..... Ledger gets an A


Wow -- this shows how subjective this industry is! I think the Dark Knight is a new landmark in the comic book genre. The human element, the themes behind it, were about as raw and visceral as it gets.
 
i'm one of those people who has trouble sitting through big budget hollywood action flicks, i just get bored.

i absolutely out and out loved the dark knight. sure there were plenty of flaws, and no it wasn't as good as the godfather or apocalypse now, but i don't think that's the point. for a big budget action flick it was extremely mature and, most importantly, was built on a solid foundation of ideas. i like films with ideas, i find part of the pleasure is engaging not just emotionally and viscerally but also intellectually. personally i think if there were more stuff like this in the multiplexes it would benefit popular culture immensely.

i admire nolan for having the vision and the balls to try and create something that transcends the multiplex/arthouse divide.
 
I was way excited to see this.... I kept hearing buzzwords like "visionary" "Godfather" "oscar" "best film in years".... so I was expecting some seriously powerful art cinema akin to There Will Be Blood or something...

and it was good but it just seemed like another Hollywood flick with a great performance by Ledger (who carried this movie)

I felt it was kinda cheesy, just another big budget action flick, it could have been way darker and more raw....

the score was heavy handed and distracting, it was gawwwdy

some of the CGI scenes looked goofy and cartoon-like....

two face was goofy and cartoony... batman's gruff voice was kinda laughable

Ledger carried this flick

C+/B- all around..... Ledger gets an A


I wouldn't say Ledger carried this movie. Theres no doubt that he gave an Oscar worthy performance and one which would have launched his career in so many ways. But, it was really an amazing ensemble cast; considering how well known many of the actors are, none of them were made a spectacle. I mean how often do you just see A list actors playing themselves nowadays..or at least have some kind of "wink wink" moment? You had none of that here. You could say that in the story, the Joker definitely TIED the whole film together, and was the most interesting character; that would be more accurate. But saying Ledger carried the film really discredits the performances of others like Christian Bale, who technically played 3 characters. Not to mention Aaron Eckhart's transformation. Thinking back on it, there was never a time where I was taken out of the story, and that is rare when movies have such a well known cast.

As far the score goes...I'm too much of a Zimmer/Newton Howard fan to really acknowledge that. They did an amazing score for this epic movie. Epic score for an epic movie. I really don't see how you could do it any other way.

I can't really say if this movie is EQUAL to something like The Godfather or Apocalypse Now. But that is a whole can of worms really. This comparing movies thing...it's really just a subjective argument ridden path to nowhere. We can just simply all agree that The Dark Knight is a landmark film, and Heath Ledger's performance was stellar.
 
Also let's not forget that the decision to shoot IMAX was not just a gag for amazing action stunts/sequences..it was also used in some of the most tender dramatic moments in the film. One in particular was when Alfred reads the letter. There's so much substance to this movie that I think a lot of people are forgetting, or simply aren't bothering to notice due to the fact that its...Batman. There are real humanistic elements here and real philosophical questions dealt with that separates TDK from any other summer Blockbuster by far.
 
I wouldn't say Ledger carried this movie. Theres no doubt that he gave an Oscar worthy performance and one which would have launched his career in so many ways. But, it was really an amazing ensemble cast; considering how well known many of the actors are, none of them were made a spectacle. I mean how often do you just see A list actors playing themselves nowadays..or at least have some kind of "wink wink" moment? You had none of that here. You could say that in the story, the Joker definitely TIED the whole film together, and was the most interesting character; that would be more accurate. But saying Ledger carried the film really discredits the performances of others like Christian Bale, who technically played 3 characters. Not to mention Aaron Eckhart's transformation. Thinking back on it, there was never a time where I was taken out of the story, and that is rare when movies have such a well known cast.

As far the score goes...I'm too much of a Zimmer/Newton Howard fan to really acknowledge that. They did an amazing score for this epic movie. Epic score for an epic movie. I really don't see how you could do it any other way.

I can't really say if this movie is EQUAL to something like The Godfather or Apocalypse Now. But that is a whole can of worms really. This comparing movies thing...it's really just a subjective argument ridden path to nowhere. We can just simply all agree that The Dark Knight is a landmark film, and Heath Ledger's performance was stellar.


You can also say Daniel Day Lewis carried There Will Be Blood, or Deniro carried Taxi Driver, good movies have good actors, but seriously, going into Batman thinking your going to get a movie like There Will Be Blood is pretty much saying your expecting to see the most boring superhero movie ever made.....which the Dark Knight was the polar opposite of. So far this whacky action movie has made a bigger impact and lasting impression on me than some of those movies....but again, subjective


and also, dissapearing pencil magic trick?!!? never heard so many people in a theatre shout "HOLY SH*T!" at once! haha
 
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