the dark knight.

wow.

batman has really evolved in this one. he was confronted with really big choices compared to the first movie. i was always wondering how they would introduce his batpod, this was the coolest way to do it.

joker was the star of the movie. heath managed to make joker scary and sick as hell. his whole body language changed for the role. and he uses all knives. no guns. " i use a knife because guns are too quick. otherwise, you can't savor all the emotions. you know who people are in their last moments. " joker was trying to prove that everyone eventually falls and does terrible things. and he's also indestructible cos he's got nothing to lose. so gotham's 3 knights, batman, harvey dent and lt. james gordon plan a perfect trap for the joker but he's just too smart and manages to escape.

aaron eckhart plays harvey dent/twoface. he's really righteous and would go all out to clear the city of the criminal scum. batman chooses him to take over. so, batman wants to quit. harvey turn to the dark side when a tragedy occurs and makes him two face. the joker throughout the movie wanted to bring harvey, the district attorney down. i think they would probably focus on two face more the next time since jokers/heath's gone. scarecrow came back for a small part in the beginning. but no character development.

michael caine plays alfred, batman's butler. he's always giving advice to bruce. and is too good to be a butler.

i would confidently say this movie is the best so far this year. and definitely beats the crap out of bullshit like spiderman.

really nothing much to say but great script, great acting. lets hope the 3rd installment gets better.

scores and soundtracks.

the dark knight is coming out next week. luckily i managed to get the score from some dude's website. here are the covers. they are releasing the first one as a special edition poster signed by hans zimmer and james newton howard. i would love to get my hands on it. what i love about this album is how they managed to take little bit from the first one but created something entirely new. track 2 has also a touch of danny elfman's batman returns but elevates to something of higher power. this score was mostly written together but james wrote the 'elegant' stuff and hans wrote the 'dark' stuff.

the entire album is a must have for any decent/hans/james/score fan. the joker's theme, i'm not a hero, harvey two - face and a dark knight are high points on the album. for the joker theme, hans wrote the material separately because joker's character was a singular philosophy and had to come from one guy. james also felt he was 'too nice' to work on the joker.


the thing is, there has not been a bigger collaboration in movie score history other than recently with 2005's batman begins. the last time two greats worked together before 2005 was in 1950 for 'the egyptian' by bernard herrmann and alfred newman.



hans and james have been friends for a very long time and have always wanted to work together on a movie. unfortunately, before batman begins they had no time because of scheduling conflicts. thank god when christopher nolan picked hans for batman begins, hans called james aboard.



hans has planned to take a break for a year from film scoring and decided to do concerts. next from him is ron howard's frost/nixon and later, madagascar 2 : escape to africa.


james is doing the score for the new movie by edward zwick, defiance. he previously worked with the director on blood diamond. also coming out by james is confessions of a shopaholic, a novel by sophie kinsella.




the greats.
Hans Florian Zimmer and James Newton Howard.











since we're on the subject of scores and such, i'm going to show you some of my favourites.







first of all, a good year is a great movie. and marc didn't overdo the pieces. the entire soundtrack is amazing and includes makali, a french pop group, and greats like charles trenet, harry nillson, jean sablon and tino rossi. if you love french, laid back kinda music, this is for you. this cover's a good enough reason to watch the movie.












this is my fav score by harry gregson williams to date. his best work includes spy game, man on fire, antz, phonebooth and deja vu. hans zimmer was supposed to score this, but that remains a mystery to us all.

everybody compares this to gladiator but i think harry did a very differrent score in a way that he focused less on the action and the pieces were very subtle. crusaders, ibelin, rise a knight are very thematic and very medieval religious sounding. the last three tracks, saladin, path to heaven and light of life is very well presented could have possibly raised him to oscar status.

natacha atlas sings the last track in arabic. This cue is a combination of choral hymn ideas that enhance and glorify the rest of the score. damn i love this score.




next is 2004's garden state written and directed by zach braff. the guy who plays the newbie in scrubs.

i absolutely love this movie and natalie portman. yes i do. she just played her part very well and is so human in the movie. and zach of course is amazing. he is also the guy responsible for the amazing soundtrack. he handpicked all the artists. indie band the shins is definitely a highlight in this album. in the movie 'natalie' tells 'zach' that the song will change his life. it's true. new slang, thats the song. then there's frou frou, electronic kinda music, also very good. iron and wine is a one man band lead by samuel beam. very folk like and meaningful music. cary brothers, simon and garfunkle, and colin hay are also featured on the album with amazing songs. the two bands, thievery corporation and the zero 7 are brilliant and add great feel to the movie. this soundtrack is a must have for all music lovers. and you definitely have to watch this movie.




constantine. john constantine. this score is written by brian tyler and klaus badelt. brian mostly scores the album with some cues from klaus. klaus used to work under hans before.
this score is great from start to finish. track 3, meet john constantine, is his gempak theme of course. with the crossover, they show how the devil has entered 'our plane'. confession has light piano work to it and introduces rachel weisz's character. lucifer, rooftop and the end titles are also highlights in the movie. a perfect circle has a song in the movie, passive. during the club scene. unfortunately its not on the album. great song. great band.






that's it for now.