ChrisThilk Blog

French beauty Julie Delpy wrote and directed 2 Days in Paris, so it’s not that big a surprise that it winds up playing a lot like Before/After Sunrise. That’s not to say it mimics the formula from those films entirely, just that it carries the same sort of attitude.

In 2DIP, Delpy plays one half of a couple who, after vacationing in Venice and other parts of Europe, stop by her parent’s home in Paris. This of course leads to all sorts of problems between her and her boyfriend (played by Adam Goldberg) as they run into some of her exes and otherwise find their relationship tested by being on ground that’s at once familiar and not so much.

It’s a loose, natural film with good performances from both the leads that gets you involved in their characters and their well-being. Well worth checking out if you’re a fan of walking-and-talking type movies about relationships.

Step Brothers is probably the out-and-out raunchiest of the movies made by Will Ferrell and director/co-writer Adam McKay. Where their previous collaborations like Anchorman and Talledega Nights had their moments, they were more about gleaning the comedy from a collection of characters more than trying to get a laugh from, say, Ferrell rubbing his testicles on John C. Reilly’s drumset (and no, that’s not a metaphor - it’s a set of drums).

But Step Brothers is extremely funny if you go along for the ride. All of the sequences seen in the trailers play out even better when surrounded by the supporting material. Watching Ferrell hit Reilly in the face with a shovel and then try to bury him alive, for instance, was all over the marketing but actually works better in the film itself.

The thing that makes it funnier than it probably should be is that the actors are so committed to their characters. That’s the same secret ingredient that makes Anchorman and the other films work so well and it’s in good supply here.

When I originally saw The Dark Knight in theaters I more or less punted on actualy trying to review the movie, saying it was too dense to really talk about after just one viewing.

Now, thanks to Warner Bros., I’ve seen the movie again on DVD and can more fully contemplate the film.

Many critics are putting The Dark Knight on the year-end best-of lists and it’s completely warranted. The film is filled with stylistic story-telling of the highest caliber. Director Christopher Nolan and his screenwriters have created a super-hero tale that, like the best such stories, serves as a morality play. The characters, all brought to life by actors that do much more than what the script gives them (which is saying something), are all caught up in their own conflicts that come crashing together in the end.

Bruce Wayne is conflicted as to his effectiveness as Batman and sees the election of Harvey Dent as a seemingly uncorrupt District Attorney as a way he might be able to rest and lead a more normal life with the woman of his dreams, Rachel Dawes. Dent, though, faces problems at every turn as he tries to put Gotham’s criminal element behind bars. Dawes is dating Dent, which brings her into conflict between her emotions for Wayne and Dent.

The only two characters who are sure of their paths are Lt. Jim Gordon, head of the Major Crimes Unit and later in the film promoted to Commissioner, and The Joker, the unpredictable force of villiany in the movie, a character that weaves in and out of the story causing mayhem seemingly for the fun of it, without any goals of making money or anything predictable like that. He, as Wayne’s butler Alfred says, is just one of those people who want to see the world burn. His actions effect everything in the movie, even when he’s not directly involved.

While all the performances are top-notch - this really is Shakesperean-theater-level acting going on from everyone involved - it’s the latter two that realy stand out for me the second time around. The praise for the late Heath Ledger’s performance is nearly ubiquitous and so I’ll cop out slightly and say I agree with what’s been said by others. It’s a fearless performance straight out of the best radical theater (Ledger would have been right at home at Steppenwolf) and keeps you engrossed the entire time.

Receiving less notice, though, is Gary Oldman’s turn as Jim Gordon. While everyone is so dramatic around him - everyone else swings from one emotion to the other constantly - Gordon is the rock of the movie. He’s a public servant who is willing to put cops with questionable pasts on his payroll because that’s what needs to be done. He publicly says The Batman is to be arrested on sight but clears out the police from a crime scene so Batman can do his own investigation. He knows Dent is on the side of the angels but can’t get past the bad feelings from when he was in Internal Affairs. Finally, he helps make a decision that will salvage Dent’s legacy but turn Batman into a truly hunted villain.

Oldman goes about his job with an incredible efficiency of motion - his eyebrows often contain the entirety of his performance in some scenes - but also makes Gordon the most easily accissible of the characters in the movie because he’s just a guy doing his job.

The single-disc edition of The Dark Knight DVD contains just the movie. Other editions are available but if you aren’t all that interested in bonus features and just want the movie to enjoy time and time again this is completely suitable for purchase.