Because there is a solid story to work from, Batman Begins isn’t so much a superhero story as it is just a good story. It could have easily been filmed as a Western (eg. Clint Eastwood) or set in contemporary times, or even in space.

In addition to the lost man (lost mentally, if not physically), the movie pulls in the classic idea of a good man turned “bad” in order to be good — just look to The Count of Monte Cristo or The Shawsank Redemption (which is just a retelling of Monte Cristo); perhaps even Papillion.

The end result is a very watchable and enjoyable movie. There are very few movies that I own, and this is one that I would add to my list. In fact, I would actually love to see the movie turned into a TV series. I can see the whole first season taking place before Batman ever shows up. It could focus on Bruce’s angst youth, flight to China and his exploits there. Season one would then end with him coming back to Gotham and talking with Alfred about how to clean up the city.

In the end, if you haven’t seen the movie, do so. I think it would probably rank in my top 10 movie list.

And give Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller tons of money and free reign to write and direct everything. Heck, give them the keys to the city and get out. [no spoilers]

In case you can’t tell, I liked the movie. In fact, I think it should win every relevant Academy Award, but it won’t. Heck, it probably won’t even be nominated.

So what’s so good? Everything.

Frank Miller’s writing is simple, tight and brilliant. Rodriguez’s camera work is stunning – great angles, wonderful use of color, lighting and special effects. The actors all deliver great gritty noir performances. Mickey Rourke as Marv is probably the standout.

And how great is it to have Bruce Willis, Rutger Hauer and Powers Booth in the same movie? Not to mention all of the dames.

If you like detective stories, go. If you like noir fiction, go. If you simply like well-written movies, go.

That’s not to say it’s for everyone; it is adult — violent and messy. It’s not messy in the Tarantino-style blood-and-guts messy — something about the stylized nature of the film and Rodriguez’s direction reduces the impact. Plus, Rodriguez understands that you don’t have to show everything, and sometimes not showing it has a greater impact.

Hollywood, please, more of this, less remakes.

My main complaint is that the story lacked any real emotion. They managed to completly flatten the emotions of the stories.

I remember reading A Wizard of Earthsea for the first time and how I couldn’t put it down. The scene of Ged first uses his power to hid the villagers of Ten Alders from the Kargs, for example, had me wondering what would happen. In the movie, however, I could have wandered off for a snack. “Oh look, some guys in helmets are attacking. Oh good, it’s all better now.” There was no increase in pace; no increase in tension; no increase in emotion. Just scene after scene, all the same.

As for the special effects, I didn’t really have high hopes for those. And they didn’t dissapoint. (To be fair, the effects were better than I expected. Though most of the landscapes looked like video games.)

It certainly could have been worse, and I wasn’t really expecting better. It’s just too bad they didn’t involve Ms. Le Guin.

It’s big problem is slow pacing. Not that there is anything wrong with a slowly paced movie, Hero just doesn’t have enough steam. It failed to really engage me at any point. Even the score, by Tan Dun (he who did CT, HD) sounded too familiar.

I did enjoy the cinematography and the costume color changing, and the basic story line. However, the execution just didn’t quiet work for me.

Overall, 3.5 our of 5.

Lost in Translation was good, but different from what I was expecting. It was much slower paced and turned out to be less plot driven and more of a character study (well, two characters). Bill Murray does a terrific job as the lonely, tired actor who is trying to keep working. And Scarlett Johansson does an equally good job in her parallel role of lonely wife stranded in Japan. If you find yourself alone and in a quiet mood, this is a fitting movie.

Hellboy was just plain old fun. Movie execs pay attention — this is how you turn a comic book into a movie. They didn’t waste time trying to explain everything and all of the characters to you, they just got on with the plot. Ron Perlman is perfect in the title role. And the effects are just great. I love that they used models, sets and good make-up augmented by CGI. This is how it should be done. For a rollicking good time, go see this.

Lost in La Mancha is the movie about a movie that doesn’t exist. It is a documentary about Terry Gilliam’s attempt to film a version of Don Quixote. What began as a documentary on the pre-production process of a film turned into a chronicle of a film disaster. Everything that could go wrong did — from jets to flash floods to sick actors. In the end, Gilliam and crew only got 6 days of filming before everything fell apart. I found it very engaging. The bonus disk is just as entertaining as the main movie, mostly because all of it is really interviews and deleted scenes — after all, there isn’t a complete movie to talk about. If you like Gilliam and are interested in the film business, this is a must see.

It’s filmed in actual Skeletorama and involves Atmospearium — the rarest element — scientists, mutants, aliens, and, of course, a skeleton. Oh, and happy woodland creatures.

Please watch this movie I am talking about so that you will have seen and enjoyed this enjoyable movie.

I sleep now.

(Go see the movie so that makes sense, OK?)

Currently I’m at a crossroad. Movie prices have just gone up again (now at the $9 mark here; nothing new for New Yorkers I realize). I’m sorry, but there just aren’t that many movies worth my nine bucks. And, for movies that are worth it, I don’t want to sit through 20-30 minutes of pre-movie stuff.

Before Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Mona Lisa Smile we sat through 10-15 minutes of commercials and 15-20 minutes of previews. (On top of the never-ending Screen Trivia/adversities slides.) I hate the commercialism of our world. We are inundated way too much with advertising and corporate sponsorship. The world is more than buying more stuff people.

But I digress.

I use to enjoy watching the movie trailers, but they are simply showing way too many of them now. I think my biggest problem is the sheer amount of time this all takes. I was prepared to sit through 3 1/2 hours of Lord of the Rings, but I didn’t know that it would actually be 4+ hours.

I was talking about this with Jack and he isn’t bothered by it all. That actually set me back. He’s rather nonchalant about the whole thing. It is simple the way it is. Very zen of him. So I wondered if it’s just me? If everyone really hated it, it wouldn’t happen. Or has everyone accepted it, not realizing that you can change it? Remember, it’s your money. If you all stop going to movies and telling studios and theatres that the price is too high, the commercials too annoying, they will (eventually) listen.

But you don’t say anything. Or are you all OK with it and it’s just me with the problem? Probably just me.

One thing I did discover, at our local theatre (i.e. not a major chain) we saw The Last of the Samurai and they didn’t show commercials. Perhaps there lies my answer.

Saturday Sarah and I met Kristen and Patrick for a matinée of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. That is a fabulous movie. For me it was certainly the most emotionally invested movie and I needed all of the endings. I needed to see the hobbits return to the Shire; I needed to see Aragorn crowned; I needed to see the elves, Gandalf and Frodo set off into the sunset. It completed everything for me in a way that Hollywood just doesn’t do. (Nowadays, they always leave movies somehow incomplete, just in case they decide to make a sequel.)

I’m actually looking forward to when the full, complete, uber-box edition with all three movies with extras and more extras and etc. is released so we can have a complete movie marathon. It won’t be as good as the marathons some theatres showed, but it’ll have to do.

My only complaint isn’t with the movie, but the industry. We had 10 full minutes of commercials before 20 minutes of previews. Movies, the last commercial free place, are gone. It is a sad day.

Starting back on Friday, my parents came out for the night. On Saturday Sarah and my mom went shopping while dad and I headed over to the Gateway store. Mom wants a computer and dad has finally relented. And when he decides to buy something he doesn’t skimp. We ended up picking out a nice Gateway Media Center unit – 2.6 GHz, 512 Mb DDR ram, 160 Gb hard drive, 18″ flat screen monitor. It’s a snazzy little set up.

After they left on Saturday, Sarah and I decided to head to Detroit for dinner at Xochimico. We can never quite remember how to get there, but we managed.

Last night the clouds rolled in so we decided to go out again. Sarah received a gift certificate to Rosebud’s Ristorante in Sterling Heights (a gift from some students) so we decided to dress up and go out. And I must say, Rosebuds is a very nice restaraunt. The atmosphere was very pleasant – nice decor, live music – the food was incredible (and huge portions), and the service outstanding. If you like Italian food and live in the area (or are willing to drive) I would highly recommend them. The neat thing about their menu is that, for pasta dishes, you get to design what you’d like. Start by picking out the sauce, decide on a pasta, then add extras. Mine turned out very tasty.

After dinner, we headed over to the AMC to catch The League of Extraodinary Gentlemen. It was what I expected, just OK. I didn’t hate it; I wasn’t bored; I was entertained. The problem with the movie was that the storyline didn’t seem finished. I felt more like I was moving through a storyboard than a finished product.

Nonetheless, the price was right: Free! We paid full price, saw the movie. During the entire ~2 hrs. we had to suffer through horrible scratches on the film. They weren’t completely distracting, but they did get annoying. After the movie we complained and got a full refund. Not that we had to fight them, AMC knows about the scratches and warns people at the ticket counter. We, however, use the handy ticket kiosks that have no such warning. They were refunding a lot of tickets after the show (and ever showing it sounds like). In their defence, the guys running the customer service counter were very nice and understanding and don’t want the movie being played because of the quality of the film. However, it sounds like the head hancho just doesn’t care and forces them to keep playing it.

And that has been that.