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I think I'm with possibly the most incompetent Equifax agent in the world on the phone. Seriously. I gave her the address, the date of birth, and the SIN of the two people for whom we need credit reports. All she has to do is put it into her computer and presto! Instant credit report. Or so you'd think.
Thus far I've been put on hold three times, have had to repeat my information four or five times, and am generally getting impatient with the process. *grr*
In less unpleasant news, I went to see Batman Begins yesterday in my ongoing quest to see fun movies by myself that I'm reasonably sure no one would want to go see with me. It was a toss-up between that and Howl's Moving Castle which at the time lost only because it started at 7:00 and Batman started at 6:30. I'll go see it another time.
The result? I practically bounced home from the theatre. The movie kicks ass and takes names. Okay, the Christian Bale factor probably influenced me a lot. I've been following his career with some interest ever since Swing Kids, even if I haven't seen as many of his films as I'd like. The boy has incredible range, and while this subject matter isn't exactly designed to give the actor playing Batman too many opportunities to impress, he stepped up to the plate very nicely.
What helped again, for me, was the fact that this movie had many of my favourite actors in it. Michael Caine has always rocked my world, since my father first played The Ipcress File for me when I was seven years old. Michael Caine made me want to be a spy. I obsessed about his movies for years. Michael Caine is also the first Alfred that I was willing to believe was a badass in his youth. An Alfred with an edge. Unsurprisingly, he has some of the best lines in the movie. But then, he's Michael Caine. Even when his lines are ordinary he can usually turn them into the best ones in any film. /end gushing
Do I even need to point out how awesome Liam Neeson is? I thought not. I'm not as familiar with Gary Oldman, nor do I know the character of Jim Gordon well enough to have an opinion about whether he got the interpretation of the comic book character right. On the other hand, his script was good and his acting was, in my humble opinion, bang on for what the script demanded of him.
The weak link, again not surprisingly, was Katie Holmes. But for a weak link, she was still pretty good. Her main problem is that she lacks the HUGE screen presence of all the big actors around her, and she got overshadowed as a result. However, this is probably not a bad thing, because the movie isn't meant to be about her character, and having a very dominant personality as the romantic lead might well have taken away from the rest of the movie. Or maybe not. I can't think of anyone off-hand whom I would have cast in her role. I'll have to think about it. Possibly what tested my patience was the idea that such a little girl could be a supposedly ruthless D.A.
I am attempting to stay spoiler-free, here, so bear with me while I continue raving about just how freaking cool this movie was.
So, that's my raving about the actors/acting. I could go on for longer, but I think that might be exaggerating just a tad. ;)
It wasn't just the acting, though. Revenge of the Sith proved that, no matter how good the actors, if you give them nothing to work with, it won't happen. Everything else about the movie was very, very tight. There was a man behind this movie with a vision, and the vision didn't involve video games and merchandising.
The script was pretty tight, with few glaring plot holes, which is really difficult to accomplish, it would seem, in a Batman film. Usually there are holes in the plot you could drive the Chunnel train through. This time around, it worked, and it worked quite well.
Mostly what impressed me, apart from the acting, was the look of the movie. It's visually astounding, with a fair attention paid to detail and continuity. People have complained about not being able to "see" the fights, because the filming all happens so fast and from different angles. It's the whole school of thought that dictates that you should feel like you're "in" the fight rather than watching it. I'm not always a fan of this particular kind of action shot, but I have to say that it really, really works for Batman. It always vaguely irked me that, in other movies, you could always see where he was coming from and what he was doing. He's supposed to be a shadow in the night, and the fast-paced visuals do a lot to reinforce the fear and uncertainty that are the driving forces in this movie. Batman isn't about fighting crime, or at least not only about fighting crime. Batman is a symbol, an idea, and the man himself is only perceived out of the corner of your eye. There's a flash of darkness, a swirl of the cape, and suddenly the bad guys are incapacitated and there's no sign of the caped crusader.
( No spoilers, but I discuss themes, so that might be construed as spoilers by some who don't wish to know anything about the film at all before going to see it )
So, yes. It's all about the unity of the vision behind the movie. This isn't someone piecing together a whole bunch of comic books and trying to make it work somehow. This is a damned good story being told in a compelling way. I was hooked from the start of the movie (kudos to the child actors and to the director who made them able to act, thank you very much), and was riveted all the way to the end of the credits.
Thus far I've been put on hold three times, have had to repeat my information four or five times, and am generally getting impatient with the process. *grr*
In less unpleasant news, I went to see Batman Begins yesterday in my ongoing quest to see fun movies by myself that I'm reasonably sure no one would want to go see with me. It was a toss-up between that and Howl's Moving Castle which at the time lost only because it started at 7:00 and Batman started at 6:30. I'll go see it another time.
The result? I practically bounced home from the theatre. The movie kicks ass and takes names. Okay, the Christian Bale factor probably influenced me a lot. I've been following his career with some interest ever since Swing Kids, even if I haven't seen as many of his films as I'd like. The boy has incredible range, and while this subject matter isn't exactly designed to give the actor playing Batman too many opportunities to impress, he stepped up to the plate very nicely.
What helped again, for me, was the fact that this movie had many of my favourite actors in it. Michael Caine has always rocked my world, since my father first played The Ipcress File for me when I was seven years old. Michael Caine made me want to be a spy. I obsessed about his movies for years. Michael Caine is also the first Alfred that I was willing to believe was a badass in his youth. An Alfred with an edge. Unsurprisingly, he has some of the best lines in the movie. But then, he's Michael Caine. Even when his lines are ordinary he can usually turn them into the best ones in any film. /end gushing
Do I even need to point out how awesome Liam Neeson is? I thought not. I'm not as familiar with Gary Oldman, nor do I know the character of Jim Gordon well enough to have an opinion about whether he got the interpretation of the comic book character right. On the other hand, his script was good and his acting was, in my humble opinion, bang on for what the script demanded of him.
The weak link, again not surprisingly, was Katie Holmes. But for a weak link, she was still pretty good. Her main problem is that she lacks the HUGE screen presence of all the big actors around her, and she got overshadowed as a result. However, this is probably not a bad thing, because the movie isn't meant to be about her character, and having a very dominant personality as the romantic lead might well have taken away from the rest of the movie. Or maybe not. I can't think of anyone off-hand whom I would have cast in her role. I'll have to think about it. Possibly what tested my patience was the idea that such a little girl could be a supposedly ruthless D.A.
I am attempting to stay spoiler-free, here, so bear with me while I continue raving about just how freaking cool this movie was.
So, that's my raving about the actors/acting. I could go on for longer, but I think that might be exaggerating just a tad. ;)
It wasn't just the acting, though. Revenge of the Sith proved that, no matter how good the actors, if you give them nothing to work with, it won't happen. Everything else about the movie was very, very tight. There was a man behind this movie with a vision, and the vision didn't involve video games and merchandising.
The script was pretty tight, with few glaring plot holes, which is really difficult to accomplish, it would seem, in a Batman film. Usually there are holes in the plot you could drive the Chunnel train through. This time around, it worked, and it worked quite well.
Mostly what impressed me, apart from the acting, was the look of the movie. It's visually astounding, with a fair attention paid to detail and continuity. People have complained about not being able to "see" the fights, because the filming all happens so fast and from different angles. It's the whole school of thought that dictates that you should feel like you're "in" the fight rather than watching it. I'm not always a fan of this particular kind of action shot, but I have to say that it really, really works for Batman. It always vaguely irked me that, in other movies, you could always see where he was coming from and what he was doing. He's supposed to be a shadow in the night, and the fast-paced visuals do a lot to reinforce the fear and uncertainty that are the driving forces in this movie. Batman isn't about fighting crime, or at least not only about fighting crime. Batman is a symbol, an idea, and the man himself is only perceived out of the corner of your eye. There's a flash of darkness, a swirl of the cape, and suddenly the bad guys are incapacitated and there's no sign of the caped crusader.
( No spoilers, but I discuss themes, so that might be construed as spoilers by some who don't wish to know anything about the film at all before going to see it )
So, yes. It's all about the unity of the vision behind the movie. This isn't someone piecing together a whole bunch of comic books and trying to make it work somehow. This is a damned good story being told in a compelling way. I was hooked from the start of the movie (kudos to the child actors and to the director who made them able to act, thank you very much), and was riveted all the way to the end of the credits.
