On Film: The Dark Knight Rises

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I'm not going to beat about the bush on this one, and I won't give away any of the plot-lines. I went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Friday and was astounded. Simply amazing.

The Dark Knight Rises is amazing - a perfectly fitting ending to Christopher Nolan's adaptations of the comic books. Now I haven't read any of the comic books, but I work with boys who have, and they say that, up until now, the films are pretty faithful to the comic books.

The previous films: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were both amazing. The Joker was possibly Heath Ledger's best role (my personal favourite was Ten Things I Hate About You but that's not the point). For me, the final installment was no disappointment.

The can never a villain as great as the Joker, however Tom Hardy's Bane was fantastic to watch. A villain whose face is completely disguised by a mask, which even muffled his voice in some parts, who can still come across as pure evil is not an easy feat. Hardy portrayed every single emotion and facial expression purely with his eyes and eyebrows and was completely 100 percent convincing. He stole the show.

The Batman/Bane scenes are brilliant as they are pretty evenly matched in terms of strength and intelligence; it would have been easy to portray Bane as a simple, mindless brute, but he is obviously intelligent and is a brilliant opponent for Batman. The Joker was obviously much more intelligent, and the Scarecrow was nowhere up to scratch as a villain when it came to tackling Batman. 

There are some darkly comedic moments throughout the entire film, along with some wonderful twists and turns which haven't appeared in the previous two films. For me, some aspects of The Dark Knight were predictable, you could foretell the deaths, however, in The Dark Knight Rises there were a few twists which I did not see coming at all.

The ending is slightly cheesy, however it was a completely suitable conclusion. I don't think the trilogy could have ended in any other way - the other alternative would have ruined the film completely.

The film, in my eyes, was perfectly cast; Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman all fulfilled their previous roles brilliantly, as to be expected. Anne Hathaway was stunning as Catwoman, showing a perfect amount of vulnerability, and I am ridiculously jealous that I don't look that awesome in a catsuit. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was brilliant too, although I could watch him eat and find it entertaining.

A truly spectacular conclusion to a truly spectacular trilogy. Tom Hardy, marry me.

On Film: Moonrise Kingdom

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Tonight I went to see Moonrise Kingdom. In short, I loved it. 

It is essentially a love story between two 12 year olds, who have be communicating via letter for a year before deciding to meet and then run away together. Sam is an orphaned Khaki Scout, often described as 'emotionally unstable', and Suzy is rebellious, the eldest sibling and only daughter in a highly dysfunctional family, where her lawyer parents barely communicate, and her mother is having an affair with the local police officer. It is comedic, but also dark and almost disturbing in some ways - Edward Norton's facial expressions are fantastic. The relationship between the protagonists is cute, the soundtrack is brilliant, as always. I thought the casting was brilliant - especially as it included Tilda Swinton, whom I adore a ridiculous amount. 

I'm no Wes Anderson expert, having only seen two of his other films (The Royal Tenenbaums, which I loved, and Rushmore, which I really need to rewatch), in fact I only really got interested in seeing Moonrise Kingdom after seeing Jade (follow her blog, she's fab) tweet about it. However, I'd say this is very distinctive as a Wes Anderson film. There are the same themes and techniques applied, such as the framing of the shots, Bill Murray and Jason Swartzman included in the casting, the absence of a parent and the yellow titles. The settings used in the film are beautiful, I really loved Suzy's house with it's reading nooks and numerous bookshelves. When we were watching the film my friend said to me 'Nic, she is YOU!' about Suzy (in a particular scene she unpacks numerous books, but no extra clothing or food).

Moonrise Kingdom is almost a 'coming of age' story, as the runaway children force the adults in the film to recognise their faults, which definitely isn't a bad thing. The children are mature and serious, although naive and innocent, constantly fighting to escape and go on adventures. It is simply a beautiful, adorable story and I definitely want to see it again. 

Three reviews I read and found interesting can be found here, here and here, the first two being particular interesting to a Wes Anderson novice!

Any recommendations for which Wes Anderson film to watch next would be fab!

Thanks for reading x