Dark Knight (2008)

MY RATING: A

RUN TIME: 152 min

MPAA RATING: PG-13

MY REVIEW:  Dark Knight is the unforgettable, frightening thriller of the year.  Dark, complex and unnerving, this latest Batman movie will make you realize that all those that came before it were just attempts to capture the real essence of darkness that Dark Knight nailed.  

The late Heath Ledger gave a chillingly creepy and brilliant performance.  Ledger gave us that truly demented Joker that Nicholson failed to give us in the 1989 Batman.  Ledger's Joker took over the movie and almost overshadowed Bale's Batman.  I found the suggestion of a bond between the evil criminal and the outcasted hero very complex and thought provoking. I smell Academy Award.  Dark Knight is an unstoppable crime thrilling masterpiece that is sure to become the best of its genre.

I am a big fan of Heath Ledger.  Although this was one of his greatest preformances, its heartbreaking that he's not here to give us more.  

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Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

MY RATING: B

RUN TIME: 110 min

MPAA RATING: PG-13

MY REVIEW:  If you liked Hellboy you'll enjoy Hellboy II.  For me, Ron Perlman's sarcasm is what makes this movie stand out.  His ability to pull off those sarcastic remarks while also giving us his enthusiastic fight scenes makes him the perfect Hellboy. 

Director Guillermo Del Toro is able to bring his audience into his own world.  The graphics are amazingly detailed making every scene stunningly vivid.  Del Toro pulled off a visual masterpiece with Hellboy II.  Well rounded characters are well developed and a variety of bizarre creatures keep popping up throughout the film.  Hellboy II is action packed yet still full of endearing moments.

This only problem I had was the overly simplistic "Golden Army" which was a little distracting.  

It's not everyday that a movie has you rooting for the red, horned, "goat-footed," beast from hell.  As long as Del Toro is onboard, bring on Hellboy III.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

MY RATING: F

RUN TIME: 89 min

MPAA RATING: PG

MY REVIEW:  I told you so!  All of you who saw the trailer for this movie and thought this looks pretty silly, and not silly in a good way, you were absolutely right.  A story line worthy of a 30 second commercial was stretched into this flop of a feature film.  Silly antics and blah-ish dialouge left me dumbfounded.  

There were was some very artistic graphics and clearly there was some great creativity in their graphics department.  Brendan Fraser is always a goof and its usually fun to watch, however not in this film. 

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" would do much better as a little kids amusment ride at Disney Land.

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Wall-E (2008)

MY RATING: A+

RUN TIME: 97 min

MPAA RATING: G

MY REVIEW:  I had to pee throughout this movie, but I still enjoyed it.  That's saying a lot.  Wall-E was one of the cutest movies EVER!  It's funny how this love story was more moving to me than almost any other, including non-animated films.  Great graphics and I would argue even better sound affects made Wall-E one of my new favorite animated films.  

For me the ending was a little more drawn out than it needed to be.  The interaction with the friggin' humans was a bit distracting from the real story of the movie and, in my opinion, should have been downplayed.  That's being really picky.

Overall, Wall-E was a touching movie and the best film of 2008 so far.  I hope everyone gets a chance to experience this wonderful story about the transformational power of love.

Hancock (2008)

MY RATING: C+

RUN TIME: 92 min

MPAA RATING: PG-13

MY REVIEW:  Will Smith is such a badass!  He was about the only thing that saved Hancock from going down into my list of "shitty-ass" movies.  The whole cast of Hancock gave stellar performances.  Its a shame the poorly written story poopooed what could have been an awesome film.

I will say the first half of the movie was quite well done.  Smith added real depth to Hancock and made the interaction between him and the world around very thought provoking.  I thought the superhero theme would be a bit corny, but this movie took it to a whole new level; a superhero with a drinking problem, that's good stuff.  Superb specials effects made it possible for Hancock's humor to be very effective.

The second half is a completely different story.  It was as if someone completely different wrote the second half and wasn't really sure how it was supposed to end.  I'm not even sure how it was supposed to end.  I'm unsure if they were trying to us up for a sequel (BTW, I HATE when movies are just setups for the next installment!), but the ending was really messy and ruined the whole experience.  Yuck!

All in all, good acting, back writing and I wish I was a superhero!

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Wanted (2008)

MY RATING: B+

RUN TIME: 110 min

MPAA RATING: R

MY REVIEW:  I'll start with the good.  It's every nerdy boys dream come true.  Wesley (James McAvoy) goes from obscure looser to ultra-cool assassin.  Compilations of action packed sequences made this movie a blast.  If it's an action movie you're looking for, Wanted delivers that and more.  Fans of profanity will be delighted at the 45,000th use of the word "fuck."  Excellent use of humor turned predictable scenes into something original.  It was refreshing for an action movie to acknowledge the actual silliness of its story and be able to use that to add some comedy to a blood-filled killing fest.

Now the not so good.  Although there were some great action sequences, the camera angles switches so quickly and so abruptly in some area that I lost my place and was left disoriented for a few minutes.  Personally, the blood was a little much, however, if you're one of those video gaming freaks that love to take your anger our by blowing someone's head off and watching their brains splatter all over, then this movie will tickle your pickle indeed.

Overall an action packed film with lots of blood, and oh! Morgan Freeman.