AlphaDesigner Blogue

Ever since Joel Schumacher pissed on the gorgeous Dark Knight myth, I have always been skeptical about new Batman movies, and Nolan’s first attempt wasn’t an exception, although it wasn’t that bad at all. Now it seems I just needed some time to get used to the scenes featuring Gotham city in bright daylight. It almost felt like a blasphemy because I thought no decent evil deed should be accompanied by photons galore.

However, The Dark Knight (the movie) persuaded me Nolan was really serious about having his own treatment and I think I should respect that and finally quit mourning the Tim Burton era.

The story here is the ultimate winner. It is clever, nuanced, tight and absolutely inspiring. It’s the first Batman story that would really work even if you take it out of the comics context.

Of course this approach has its negative side - in some moments I felt like I was watching a pure action movie. The subtle, childish magic of the Burton treatments is absent, so you end up thinking that all those masks and make up are totally out of place. In terms of mythology, this is like an evangelical chant in the Sistine Chapel where nobody pays attention to the frescoes.

Take the Joker. Some people want to give an Oscar to the late Heath Ledger for that role but I found his version pretty bleak compared to Jack Nicholson’s iconic impersonation. Not to mention the frivolous madness in Mark Hamil’s voice from Batman The Animated Series. Ledger replaces it with a trembling, nervous hum and greasy hairstyle. Beneath all that effort, there is a clear feel of over-acting. In the movie, he repeats several times the line “Why so serious?”. I would like to ask him the same question. It seems The Dark Knight’s Joker is not entertaining himself as much as I expect him to. Evil is evil because it’s fun to be evil, not because it’s a burden you have to bear.

Write that down, Nolan! :)

Good news this week. I’m drowned in with what seems to be a never ending pile of projects, my friends constantly try to distract me and take me out for a beer or two, the weather is horribly hot as if someone ripped this whole country and threw it in the middle of the Sahara desert, WordPress 2.6 came out and… oh, I have relaunched AlphaDesigner, my seven years old personal site which spent the last 3 years in a coma. it’s now nicely (or not so nicely) integrated with this blog and accessible from the menu on the top.

I realize this is enough stuff for a whole season of a middle budget soap opera. but I don’t have anything else to add right now because I am literary spent! It’s summertime and the living is busy.

I haven’t read many books in my life. First, because I can’t find the time and second - because I’m busy re-reading the ones that I’ve already read.

I think this is the third time I read Buñuel’s biography. First time I did it was for my exam in cinema history class and that was a long time ago but I still remember how impressed I was by it. Mostly because I expected to meet a guy who’s simply crazy and provocative but discovered a true human being (my apologies to all the crazy ones).

At the time it seemed like a paradox.

Now when I’m a bit older and hopefully a bit wiser I decided to read it again. Actually there was a choice - I wanted to read a director’s biography and I was able to choose between Milos Forman, Bergman and Buñuel. Forman is too boring for me, I don’t like his movies, and Bergman is too depressive. In a very bad way. Personally, I’ve always found genuine negativity repelling and Bergman’s lack of sense of humour is a huge turn off.

Buñuel is different. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, even in his suffering. That makes him bigger than life and far superior than the other two.