Comments on: Life, Batman, and a Paddle http://thebetsygspot.com/life-batman-and-a-paddle Love, life, and sex in the suburbs Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:56:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Betsy http://thebetsygspot.com/life-batman-and-a-paddle#comment-123 Betsy Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:25:30 +0000 http://thebetsygspot.com/?p=105#comment-123 Thanks for the great comment, Ron. I wonder if the reason why I wasn't blown away by Heath Ledger's performance, as much as I admired it, is because he made it look so easy. There's not a point I disagree with you on, but the performance didn't move me as did, say, Don Cheadle's in <em>Talk To Me</em>, which I saw last night. Don Cheadle likewise made it look easy, but I found characterization more effective. Maybe it's just the nature of playing a comic-book character that I didn't feel I was watching a real person with real human depth. Der. So embarrassed about the Tom Skerritt thing. It did look like Tom Skerritt, did it not? That would have been better casting, I think, because it was overkill to use someone with Gary Oldman's abilities for that role. It was a good performance for Tom Skerritt...not much of anything for Gary Oldman. Thanks for the great comment, Ron. I wonder if the reason why I wasn’t blown away by Heath Ledger’s performance, as much as I admired it, is because he made it look so easy. There’s not a point I disagree with you on, but the performance didn’t move me as did, say, Don Cheadle’s in Talk To Me, which I saw last night. Don Cheadle likewise made it look easy, but I found characterization more effective. Maybe it’s just the nature of playing a comic-book character that I didn’t feel I was watching a real person with real human depth. Der.

So embarrassed about the Tom Skerritt thing. It did look like Tom Skerritt, did it not? That would have been better casting, I think, because it was overkill to use someone with Gary Oldman’s abilities for that role. It was a good performance for Tom Skerritt…not much of anything for Gary Oldman.

]]> By: Ron B. http://thebetsygspot.com/life-batman-and-a-paddle#comment-122 Ron B. Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:15:18 +0000 http://thebetsygspot.com/?p=105#comment-122 I liked "The Dark Knight" more than you did, though I saw it opening weekend, before the hype had built to quite the pitch it eventually reached. And much as I liked it, even I would never claim it was the best movie I've ever seen. I'll grant you the plot-density (though I had no trouble following it), but I do disagree with your assessment of Heath Ledger's performance. I think the whole point was that you couldn't ever fully understand this character. As the Joker states himself, he is an "agent of chaos." The scene where Batman is beating the crap out of him in the interrogation room and the Joker is just laughing, saying at one point, "You have nothing to threaten me with," was both chilling and emblematic of the character, as far as I was concerned. I think it takes a skilled actor to make a character simultaneously over-the-top wacko and utterly creepy, and with such convincing consistency. But, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Incidentally, I thought it was a nice touch to have the Joker offer two conflicting accounts of what drove him to his present state. Just when you think you have some psychological insight into his character, he reveals that he's really much more interested in messing with people's heads than in revealing his true motivations. (BTW, I hate to break it to you, but Tom Skerritt was not in this movie. I imagine you meant Gary Oldman, who played Jim Gordon.) I liked “The Dark Knight” more than you did, though I saw it opening weekend, before the hype had built to quite the pitch it eventually reached. And much as I liked it, even I would never claim it was the best movie I’ve ever seen. I’ll grant you the plot-density (though I had no trouble following it), but I do disagree with your assessment of Heath Ledger’s performance. I think the whole point was that you couldn’t ever fully understand this character. As the Joker states himself, he is an “agent of chaos.” The scene where Batman is beating the crap out of him in the interrogation room and the Joker is just laughing, saying at one point, “You have nothing to threaten me with,” was both chilling and emblematic of the character, as far as I was concerned. I think it takes a skilled actor to make a character simultaneously over-the-top wacko and utterly creepy, and with such convincing consistency. But, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Incidentally, I thought it was a nice touch to have the Joker offer two conflicting accounts of what drove him to his present state. Just when you think you have some psychological insight into his character, he reveals that he’s really much more interested in messing with people’s heads than in revealing his true motivations.

(BTW, I hate to break it to you, but Tom Skerritt was not in this movie. I imagine you meant Gary Oldman, who played Jim Gordon.)

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