Nolan's Batman is an Allegory of our Times

The Dark Knight (2008) - dir. Christopher Nolan - 5 stars

Christopher Nolan's understanding of the Batman universe proves to be gripping as the second installment, the Dark Knight, is even better than the first, Batman Begins. Its success stems from the fact that Nolan's creation ties the psychological and innate issues in the Batman universe with our times, thus rendering the film more familiar, realistic and thus downright creepy. This is a very good film rather than just a very good comic book hero film.

The ties between our world and the Batman world really surface with the philosophy behind the Joker's attacks. The Joker, played superbly by Heath Ledger, questions our sense of security and order versus chaos with each attack he devises. His conversation with Aaron Eckhart's character, Harvey Dent, proves to be the turning point for the film, as the audience can then fully connect the dots to reveal a picture of our world where the Joker's ideas had already been exploited by even governments. In this post 9/11 world where the threat level is a constant red, people have gotten used to wars, deaths and bombs. The news doesn't scare or surprise us anymore; we still go about our business like nothing happened. As long as it's all according to plan... This deep understanding of the Joker elevates the film from the stale superhero genre to where it really belongs.

Before I end my review of the film, I have to spend a few words on the excellent performances of all the actors involved with Heath Ledger leading the pack. Ledger's Joker is a very realistic villain with a motive that plays on human nature. His first scene in the film establishes him so quickly and successfully as a violent, remorseless and psychotic being that there is no need for another gruesome scene. The first appearance proves Ledger's character is to be scared of and it carries throughout the whole film with no loss of power. Ledger has truly depicted the character as Nolan understood him. It's too sad that we will not be able to see Ledger's Joker once again.

All in all, the Dark Knight is an action, crime thriller with something to say about the world we live in. This is not something that even regular films can accomplish so the fact that Nolan has achieved this with superhero material is even more impressive. I just hope we get to see a third iteration of this Batman universe from Nolan because it looks like he still has a lot to say about our world through the lense of Batman.

Wall-E charms its way to become one of Pixar's best

Wall-E (2008) - dir. Andrew Stanton - 5 stars

The story of a garbage compactor robot left alone on Earth to clean up humanity's mess proves once again that Pixar is the best at what it does. With minimal dialogue due to its main characters, the film must have definitely been a challange over its many stages, especially for the animators as almost all story-telling needs to be done by the visuals. Knowing the reliance on the visuals, Pixar has spent a lot time and development on making the visuals as realistic as possible even including focus levels and depth of field into the visuals. The result is a beautiful film with a solid sci-fi story and adorable characters that grow on the audience. Frankly, I didn't expect anything less from Pixar.