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Every time I watch The Dark Knight it holds up. It is just as tense, thrilling and masterful as the first time.

What I have to compliment Nolan and crew on most of all is how well they stayed to the mythos behind Bruce Wayne & the Joker while making the story their own. They spent the time alluding to enough of the comic book cannon that fans feel vindicated and honored rather than ignored; it’s something that only Christopher Nolan and Jon Favreau have done with the characters they’ve been given. No one has ever done this with Superman, and only slightly so with Spiderman, and a whole slew of other characters.

I hope Gary Oldman was not guessing at Comic-Con when he said the third film would begin filming next year. I want them to make a movie as great as the first two but I am quite anxious to see Bruce Wayne on screen again.

Harvey Dent: The famous Bruce Wayne. Rachel's told me everything about you.
Bruce Wayne: I certainly hope not.

So once again, I saw The Dark Knight. My best friend loved Batman Begins, and just finished taking the BAR so she hadn’t had a chance to see it yet and we went.

This film still thrills me. Each time I watch it I appreciate Aaron Eckhart and Christian Bale more.

I don’t know how else to explain it, but Christian Bale understands Batman, and he understands that delicate balance between the public image of Bruce Wayne, and the reality of his life as Batman and how that touches every aspect of Bruce Wayne. I cannot watch the scene between Bale & Eckhart in the restaurant discussing Gotham’s need for Batman and not think how much fun it must be as an actor to get to play the defender and the one claiming the defender is unessential.

Eckhart is a similar joy for me to watch as I have been following him since I saw a little film called In the Company of Men when I was in high school. The most surprising thing about Eckhart is the sheer charisma he brings to every role he plays, and Harvey Dent is no exception. It takes very little build up for the audience to believe that Dent is on the level merely from seeing the way Eckhart carries himself and until his downfall he walks the very careful line between following the rules and creating his own. We see the first glimpse of this when Dent kidnaps one of Joker’s wounded men in an attempt to interrogate him. He’ll push through his rules, but he has barriers in place to keep them from breaking; these barriers would be his “own luck” (a.k.a. his coin) and reliance Batman. This perfectly sets Dent up as a hero, but one much more capable of breaking than Wayne.

The more I see of Christopher Nolan’s work the more I adore him. From lighting to set decoration there is no wasted visual element in The Dark Knight. This is a movie born from a man that enjoys the world he is creating and wants to draw you completely into it so that you enjoy it too.

Lt. James Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now...and so we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector...a dark knight.

Once again I saw The Dark Knight. I have to say that the more I see it the more it holds together as a perfect movie.

One of the things I loved most about the first film was the dialogue between all of the characters, but most importantly between Alfred and Bruce. The Dark Knight has the same banter that I love so much.

Seriously, go see this movie. I think you will all love it.

Alfred Pennyworth: I suppose they'll take me in as well, as your accomplice.
Bruce Wayne: Accomplice? I'm going to say the whole thing was your idea.

Superman is now and has always been my favorite super hero, he’s probably my favorite fictional character. Superman represents American ideals, the American dream, and everything that should be pure and good about humanity. He is the one pure and good super hero, he desperately wants to fit in but the more he tries the more he knows that the only way he can help the people that he loves is by separating himself from them. Superman is the selfless super hero who will never be shaken, and who can never really be who he wants to be – Clark Kent.

I lay out the above so that you will know where I come from when I critique a Superman movie. Since they begin committing Superman to film there have been good films about Superman, but no film has ever truly grasped the idealism, and pureness of the character. Superman the Movie and Superman II were pretty darn good, but not really the Superman from the comic books, and don’t even get me started on Lois Lane. However, compared to the way that Superman Returns bastardizes the man of steel the previous films are shining examples of Superman lore.

When I first heard that Bryan Singer was talking the helm of the Superman franchise I was excited. Singer is one of my favorite directors and made my favorite film of all time - The Usual Suspects. His visual style is phenomenal, he seems to be an actor’s director and he completely invented the visual style of the X-Men films so I thought he’d do no wrong…I’d do better, but he couldn’t do wrong. I was mistaken.

What I can say is that there are some things that Singer gets very, very right. There are visuals in the film that are perfect Superman visuals. When Superman rescues the plane at the beginning of the film and the entire stadium applauds him – perfect. When he flies over the streets and everyone stops and stares – perfect. When we flashback to Clark Kent as a kid playing with his powers – perfect. But the list ends about there. A few perfect visuals does not make up for the things that went wrong with the film.

What is most notable bothersome about Superman Returns is the casting. What Singer got so right in X-Men he got so wrong in this film; Brandon Routh is perfect as Supes, there is no denying that. However, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane is not so perfect, she is fragile, annoying, and looks like she could snap in two under the slightest pressure. Where Margo Kidder was overbearing and slightly grating, Bosworth is too transparent and frail to be the stubborn, tough as nails reporter that doesn’t listen to anyone and makes her own rules. Let’s also note that in this film we assume the characters should be in their mid-thirties, and yet Bosworth and Routh don’t look a day over 24.

We then move on to James Marsden who plays Lois Lane’s fiancée Richard; I have no problems with Marsden, I adore him in every part and that is the problem. Marsden is far too likable for the character he was cast to paly. As an audience member we should want Lois to dump Richard and gun it for Supes/Clark. Instead, we want Richard to dump Lois because he is wonderful and she is horrible to him. Not exactly the kind of reaction you want to the character that should be the third wheel in the scenario.

Now we can discuss Lex Luthor, played by Kevin Spacey. I actually have no problems with this casting. I genuinely think it could have been perfect – if Singer had actually made him the Luthor from the comic books and not the Luthor from the first two Superman films. Instead of being the menacing villain the two time Oscar winner is capable of playing, we have a cheesy, poorly written performance of a villain who smacks of clichés.

Normally I try not to post too big of spoiler in my reviews, but I will break that rule here. Superman Returns does the one heinous thing that it cannot recover from, ever. They give Superman and Lois Lane a love child.

There is no way in Superman lore that he would EVER have an illegitimate child. EVER. I understand that children are the byproduct of sex, but this is still fiction and there is no way that with the pureness that Superman represents that he would ever have an illegitimate child. I’m sorry; it took about 40 years for Clark Kent and Lois Lane to tie the knot in the comic book, you cannot make the decision to give him a six year old son in the course of a two hour movie.

I still adore Bryan Singer. However, I remember him saying once that he doesn’t read comic books or know much about them. With X-Men that didn’t seem to make a difference, he understood what the characters where about and how to make them work in that world. He shared no such empathy for the man of steel; and I don’t know if Superman can recover.

Here and now is the first time that I say this publically for all to see. Warner Brothers, DC – someday if you give me the reins to the Superman franchise I can do to it what Christopher Nolan did to Batman. I can make the movie that satisfies the geeks because it is the Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane they know and love; I can make the movie that satisfies the audiences worldwide because it is a damn good story; I can make the Superman movie that makes Superman relevant again; I can make the Superman movie that breaks box office records.

All you have to do is give it to me in a few years.

Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris
Clark Kent/Superman: Brandon Routh
Lois Lane: Kate Bosworth
Lex Luthor: Kevin Spacey
Richard White: James Marsden
Kitty: Parker Posey
Perry White: Frank Langella
Martha Kent: Eva Marie Saint
Jor-El: Marlin Brando
Jason: Tristan Lake Leabu

Superman: You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one.

When the hype about The Dark Knight began I was skeptical. I knew after Batman Begins that everyone in the production was capable of making astoundingly good films, but I thought people were probably over-hyping Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker a bit as it was not a posthumous role, and that there was little chance that you could surpass a perfect film like Batman Begins.

I was wrong.

The Dark Knight deserves every bit of praise it has received and more. This is not a comic book movie, this is a crime epic that tells a tale of a hero who has to make impossible choices in the name of doing what is right and defeating villains that are so evil they cannot completely be defeated no matter what he does. It is the most real crime film in that sense since Godfather and it pits a clown and a bat against each other.

We pick up with Batman approximately a year after he has begun to reform Gotham. The right things are starting to fall in place: the police are slightly less corrupt, Gordon has been promoted and is working with the Batman, Harvey Dent has been voted the new DA and is cleaning up the city, the mob is running scared, etc. Batman is creating inroads to change that are now taking root on the social level – the people of Gotham are trying to change their city.

The problem is that as Gordon predicted at the end of the first film escalation has occurred. Batman has begun to clean the streets, but created a criminal so devious that no one can predict his actions – the Joker. He has hits the scene hard and is at first regarded as a crazy know-nothing by the entire criminal world and Batman but soon has the entire city running even more petrified than before; he’s trying to create chaos and sees no one he should side with even amongst the criminals. He just wants to see the anarchy he creates play out. Singlehandedly he has made Batman question his position as Gotham’s protector, and made the underworld terrified of not just Batman, but him as well.

This is an artfully layered story crafted by people that obviously know that the Joker is the embodiment of everything that Batman strives to quell. The Joker wants to create chaos for the sake of chaos and Batman wants to create order for the sake of peace. They are polar opposites and will forever remain in struggle as Batman will not kill the Joker as that would change what he stands for, and the Joker will not kill Batman because he’d lose the best thrill of his life.

The Dark Knight is the best film about that struggle between being the needed hero and the wanted ideal that has ever been made. Bruce Wayne struck out to be an incorruptible ideal, only to find that striving to be incorruptible, to have rules, has made him vulnerable to the people he is trying to fight against.

I am the first to admit that when Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker I doubted Christopher Nolan’s skills at casting. I could see so many other actors working better as the Joker than Heath – and I was wrong. When you watch The Dark Knight Heath disappears and the only person present is Joker and he is everything that ever terrified you about the Joker. He has no rules, he is brilliant and scheming, he would do anything, and his greatest joy is watching the anarchy he creates. The Joker is such a perfect character that I want to see him in another Batman film, but I don’t know how you can recast a perfect performance. While watching Heath, no one even thinks of comparing him to Jack Nicholson – there is simply no comparison.

Just as phenomenal is Aaron Eckhart as Gotham’s new, tough DA Harvey Dent. Eckhart steps perfectly into the shoes of the man who dances around the line he upholds until he tragically takes the path of Icarus and flies too close to the sun…and plummets into the darkness he was fighting against by becoming Two Face. No one can blame him for his turn –he has lost everything, but by letting his pain take over he further destroys everything he stood for as Harvey Dent. It’s not an easy role, to go from being lauded as the white knight of Gotham to the criminal that decides the fate of his victims on the flip of a coin, but Eckhart makes it natural and just dark enough that we know that Dent is not coming back.

However, Christian Bale cannot be ignored in this film. His performance as Batman/Bruce Wayne is still why the movie remains so believable. He is able to take the character from brash playboy to lurking superhero in only a few minutes of screen time. The audience can see Bruce Wayne’s conscious lay heavier on him with every act that the Joker perpetrates.

The only detractor to this film for me is that it was shot in Chicago and you can tell. Gone is my beautiful yet-unlike-the-real-world Gotham and inserted is Chicago. I don’t know why they made this artistic choice and it is forgivable as most of Gotham is destroyed in Batman Begins but I miss it.

To wrap up my review I have only one thing to say. If I were on the Oscar committee Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr., Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger would all be nominated for various Oscars – yes, for “comic book” films.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan
Bruce Wayne/Batman: Christian Bale
Rachel: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Joker: Heath Ledger
Harvey Dent/Two Face: Aaron Eckhart
Jim Gordon: Gary Oldman
Alfred: Michael Caine
Lucious Fox: Morgan Freeman

Bruce Wayne: People are dying. What would you have me do?
Alfred Pennyworth: Endure. You can be the outcast. You can make the choice that no one else will face - the right choice. Gotham needs you.

Again I watched Batman Begins last night in preparation for The Dark Knight.

I don’t need to tell you all that I adore this film. One of my favorite things about it is that Gotham is so obviously a city on its own; it is styled after Chicago, but is touched and rebuilt in a soundstage in a way that is completely different than any city I have ever seen. Gotham is a character on its own.

The feat of doing this must have been astronomical.

I could go on more about this movie, but I think that my other reviews have sufficiently covered this in detail...and you really want to hear about The Dark Knight.

Alfred Pennyworth: Why bats, Master Wayne?
Bruce Wayne: Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.

Yes, I saw it again.

Yes, I enjoyed it just as much.

Yes, I need to buy the special edition of the DVD the day it comes out.

I swear I saw it for acedemic reasons this time. Really. I wanted to see a Spielberg movie to see how they did somthing but was not going to sit through Indy 4 again so I saw a Spielberg-esque movie.

Just wait till Dark Knight.

I’ve been anticipating The Dark Knight for months and finally couldn’t take it anymore; since I don’t get The Dark Knight for two more weeks I watched Batman Begins. It is a testament to the skills of everyone involved in that film that it is just as enjoyable on the first viewing as it is the tenth viewing (though I am probably far past the 10th viewing as I saw it four times in the theatre alone).

As I know that her character has been recast, I inadvertently paid the most attention to the performance of Katie Holmes as Rachel. While I do like Katie Holmes, and don’t mind her performance in the film, I am genuinely excited that Maggie Gyllenhaal has stepped in to take on Rachel Dawes. Perhaps it is only that Katie Holmes “private” life has overshadowed the character, but in the whole film the only thing that seems to pull me out is Katie Holmes. I look at her and I see Tom Cruise jumping on a couch, or the happy couple toting baby Suri around, or Katie on Jay Leno saying she hopes War of the Worlds beats Batman Begins opening weekend. Katie Holmes just seems a little too light in such a dark world.

What also stood out to me was Gary Oldman. For years in the film franchise starting with the Tim Burton Batman, Jim Gordon was never right. They portrayed him as fat, sloppy and the cheesiest/stereotypical police officer ever who managed to become chief of police. The Commissioner Gordon that I knew in the comic books was lean, mean and would kick the ass of anyone who put a toe out of line; he was constantly thankful for what Batman could do and afraid of what Batman might be capable of. Gary Oldman embodies this in every way. He is how Gordon should be.

I could go on boring you all with my thoughts on the geek perfect storm that is Batman Begins for quite awhile; however, as The Dark Knight is just around the corner, I’ll wait for that one.

Bruce Wayne: Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.

Feel free to make fun of me, I saw Iron Man yet again. No matter how much I see this film it entertains me.

However, this was the first time I’ve seen Iron Man knowing that Stan Winston is gone from filmmaking forever and that made me pay even more attention to the effects in the film.

I am still amazed that most of the Iron Man suit was practical (meaning a piece on set that actually worked, not CGI). Winston and his team found a way to make Iron Man mobile and present, and still look completely real and blend with CGI when necessary. It’s true that money solves most problems in movies, but that being said very few people in the effects industry would have even opted for making a working Iron Man suit as well as using CGI.

What grows on me more as well is Robert Downey Jr.’s performance. This is a flawed character that grows a conscience and it never once feels forced or fake. Downey makes a fantastic character feel believable and real, and I would rank his performance as Tony Stark up with Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne – both actors bring a much needed sense of depth and reality to what most people would write-off as “comic book characters”.

This may be the last time I see Iron Man on the big screen, but you can rest assured there will be another review or two once the film is out on DVD.

Agent Phil Coulson: I'm Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: That's quite a mouthful.
Agent Phil Coulson: I know. We're working on it.

When Ang Lee’s version of The Incredible Hulk came out a few years ago I didn’t really have a problem with it, but I also didn’t think it was a phenomenal film. Quite honestly, the Hulk is just not a character that floats my boat. I enjoy it, but as stated before I’m more of a DC girl than a Marvel girl. However, I was quite intrigued when I found out that Marvel so quickly wanted to restart the hulk – there was longer between Batman & Robin and Batman Begins than Eric Bana’s & Ed Norton’s incarnations of the Hulk.

This incarnation of the Hulk story picks up roughly where the Ang Lee version left off, but it is not a direct sequel. The beginning credits speed through the Hulk back story, laying out the origin of his powers, and relationship with girlfriend Betty and her father who commissioned the experiment that went awry to give him his abilities. Where the film actually begins is in South America where Banner has been hiding out, attempting to research a cure for himself and trying anything he can to avoid a Hulk “incident”. As usual, this fails and Banner must flee to a new location avoiding being caught by General Ross.

What this movie has that the Ang Lee version lacked, is a genuine interest in Banner as the man and as the Hulk. Nothing against Eric Bana, but Norton latches onto the turmoil of the character in a way that Bana never did.

As is rumored to become more and more common in the Marvel film universe this film also ties into the rest of the Marvel world, alluding to Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. and even contains a cameo by Tony Stark who is met with perhaps my favorite line “you do wear the most interesting suits” by a defeated General Ross.

The only thing that really hurts The Incredible Hulk is merely the fact that it was released right after Iron Man. Iron Man was a near perfect film, and it is almost impossible for any comic book movie to be as good. That’s not an insult to The Incredible Hulk, it’s just an unfortunate release schedule as they are released by two different studios.

Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Zak Penn
Bruce Banner: Edward Norton
Betty Ross: Liv Tyler
Emil Blonsky: Tim Roth
General Ross: William Hurt

Betty Ross: The subway is probably quickest.
Bruce Banner: Me in a metal tube with hundreds of people in the most aggressive city in the world?
Betty Ross: Right. Let's get a cab.