10 Things I Hate About You

I was pleasantly surprised.

Outside of the 80s John Hughes movies, and especially in the late 90s and a good chunk of the 2000s I just don't watch high school teen films. Mostly because it always seems like the same damn movie, high school romance with stereotyped characters, and no real substance. And I held this movie right up there in that category, but I was incredibly shocked to find the movie was made in 1999 when such a concept as high school was as vague and alien a concept as you could get since I was 4 years old, and yet I always heard about this movie from the ages of 9 and up. 10 Things I Hate About You, what a great movie, it's a teen romance movie done so well, oh Heath Ledger is a dream in that movie, the praise was astronomical. And I just never watched it, I had no interest in it, even when we covered Shakespeare in school specifically The Taming Of The Shrew we watched the Elizabeth Taylor version and this movie. I was way more interested in the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton version than this one, cause the last time I saw Shakespeare modernized a few years before that....ugh. So this was really and truly my first real viewing of it. I, I kinda loved it guys. It's so much a teen high school romance movie and yet it totally isn't, it really is a film all of it's own with such a unique sense of humor and quirks that really took me off my guard in the opening scenes. The fact that this high school not only has the most wise ass and hilarious staff I've ever seen in my life, but also has and I kid you not, various clicks of students that include coffee addicts, cowboys, and white kids heavy into the reggae and love Bob Marley. Whaaaat?? This is the most fascinating school I've ever seen in film! It was really damn funny too, and it doesn't feel dated at all I mean I was wondering if this came out before or after A Knight's Tale, I thought it was that recent! And the characters I like to, I must really give the film some praise that there are the usual roles of your standard high school movie, you got the geeks, the popular girls, the jocks, and the rebels however each main character in those categories aside from the jocks who are still massive braying jackasses all have time devoted to them and we learn more about them. It's not a Mean Girls situation where every popular chick is the spawn of Beelzebub himself, and the geeks aren't just technically spoken awkward guys who need some sex, and the rebels aren't just people trying to throw it on the ground and proclaim they're not part of this system but the movie shows them as people both good and horrible. And I'm not gonna lie, Heath Ledger is pretty spectacular in this movie, he has such charisma and charm, I mean no wonder people loved him so much, I was practically man crushing hard on him. It shows he could do pretty much any role and is further testament as to why people still talk about his performances to this day. Julia Stiles is wonderful and actually has some great material to work with and she nails it! My boy Joseph Gordon Levitt being a big smoothie in this movie too, so that's two Gotham boys in search of romance. I think I especially like Larisa Oleynik as the uppity popular sister probably because she's way more than that, yes she's a royal pain, yes she's kinda spoiled and waaaay too self-centered, but it shows a lot more of her actual character that further drives my point of the characters being like real people, maybe not my favorite character but I was very pleased the way they handled her. I also really loved, what I personally think is the meaning of the movie, this one scene where our main girl and guy basically say that you should live the life that you want, and to not let anyone try to tell you who you are supposed to be. There's great wisdom in that scene for every age group out there and really should be seen at least once. The soundtrack was also not half bad, in fact I really digged the soundtrack for the most part, with a pretty grand singing scene with Heath thrown in. And that's why I loved it so much, this movie can take some pretty out there steps and creates this bizarre, funny, and very no frills world and yet have people act like real people. I really enjoyed this movie, it was highly entertaining, great fun to reminisce, and very funny. You should absolutely check this one out. I totally had friends like our main girl and guy Kat and Patrick, which is funny because I was the most vanilla good kid you could possibly ever see and yet I had friends who smoked pot, and sometimes drank, and were completely doing their own thing but still were like the punk group of the school and I really wouldn't want anything different. I couldn't even count how many times me and my friends would utterly bitch each other out and hate each other but 5 minutes later we get over and hang out again, very much like our main couple. It's still very identifiable to this day, and while high school wasn't even close to what you see in the movies for me, I still like to think it was a very good experience. Even if I didn't go to prom or get a girlfriend. And before I go have an emotional episode that's all for today. Until tomorrow!

The Dark Knight Rises

It's time for Knightfall.

The end is here. All those years, all his enemies, and the Bat was broken. But he came back, 8 years of nothing before Bane comes to Gotham and took the city, making it a no man's land. And the Dark Knight came out of retirement to take control of his city. Was it worthwhile? Was it a brilliant end to an iconic trilogy? Well here's the thing, answers don't give you a sense of satisfaction, sometimes you have to brace yourself for disappointment. I mean, think about it! You've seen this series since it began, the birth of the Batman, the crazy and chaotic Joker pushing him to his limits, and then bang! The ultimate fight for Gotham ensues and ends. Would you be happy? Does it make sense? How come the true villain sucked ass? Well, let's start at the beginning. 8 years since the Batman has been seen, and not all is well. True, Gotham seems to be in a time of peace but Bane has different plans, severing all ties to the outside world and keeping Gotham in his pocket thanks to a four megaton nuclear bomb. He broke the bat, threw him in a pit, and is about to do what Ra's Al Ghul was always planning: destroy Gotham. And hell, that's just the brief basic synopsis. Good gravy is there a lot going on in this movie! What with Bane controlling the city, Bats coming out of retirement, Catwoman doing her own thing, and poor Jimbo scrambling to restore order, it's a miracle you remember what happened in the first movie! But specifics are key here, and really there isn't much to talk about casting and production wise, except for Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. Great job guys! I thought she was awesome! Now I think the problem many people did not get was this is NOT a Batman story. At all. It's a Bruce Wayne story. It deals with him coming out of retirement, defending a city that hates and fears him, and just him trying to do one last good deed in his lifetime. This is important to know if you choose to see it again. Now onto the villains! Bane is damn near pitch perfect, I mean Tom Hardy friggin' nailed it. This is the comic book Bane, and for those of you who read the comics know what I am talking about, he's brilliant, super genius intellect almost, incredible strength, military backing in some cases, this guy is a true force to be reckoned with. He broke Batman's back, no one has ever hurt him like that before. This shows a capable villain who is a great character in and of himself. But then they done screwed it up! I have no qualms spoiling this, because it's absurdly obvious to the comic book fans, and means precisely nothing to those who want to just watch the movie. The whole mastermind behind all this is Talia Al Ghul, Ra's daughter. Thanks for taking away such excellent menace from Bane and just pissing me off! Seriously?? What the shit is she doing here??? There's no reason!! None! Whatsoever! The character is meaningless, she doesn't even reveal her name until about 15 minutes before the end! Are you fraking kidding me?! This movie is 2 HOURS AND 45 MINUTES LONG!!! God I hate her in this movie, now you might be saying "But Dude that's the point! You're not supposed to like her! She's the bad guy!" but that is not the point! You built up an incredible villain, faithful to the comics, with a damn fine performance, and just chucked it all in to the fraking trash! I knew her whole schtick once she babbled on about having balance or order or some bullshit in the world for the 8 millionth godforsaken time! Also, worst death ever! Oh yeah, she dies. Not in a even slightly satisfactory way! It is literally, the worst on screen death I have ever seen! I mean for Christ's sake, that was the best take you could get?? It's horrible! Oh my God! How do you do this man? Besides that....disgustingly horrible aspect, the rest of the movie is fine. When I first saw it I found it very underwhelming because I didn't want it to end, but you know, it's been 5 years, and the movie has grown on me. I like the scale of the movie, the tone of the movie, (most) of the characters in the movie, the action is very good, the drama hits hard and by the way, shame on you Bruce! You made Alfred cry! That ain't right man! It's a perfectly fine ending to The Dark Knight Trilogy, they just done fraked it up in terms of villains. In fact, just watch the How It Should Have Ended video of this movie, if you don't feel like sitting down for almost 3 HOURS! There are movies that warrant that run time, this one....not so much. I can totally get why someone would not want to sit through a movie like this for that long. But honestly when I sat down, it took about 20 minutes for me to get interested and then the rest of the movie pretty much flew right by. But then again, I am used to such run times. 3 hours is a powerful repellent to the uninitiated, but we are initiated aren't we? The ending pissed people off too, I frankly didn't mind. I mean damn, it's all gone now, we got Batfflec and all these new kickass superhero movies coming out, so get over it! Oh, and The Joker totally called it. He was right about everything. That's why we love you Heath! But anyway, I'm done. New reviews next month, you know the drill, thank you so much for reading and I need some ice cream cake now. Happy Birthday to me, The Dude reminding you that the movie reviews will never die.