Concerts are great. You get to see the act that you’ve listened to on your ghettoblaster or have seen on television and you get to see them share their craft live on stage. With plenty of silver smoke and white fog, pyrotechnics, exhilarating music and costume changes for beautification, what else could you ask for accept for gift wrapped performances? It’s like they are holding a show just for you in your backyard… with several hundred other people in the audience. And these are some of the people; you’re more likely to see:

1.

Women who bring newborns in their strollers

What is the point you ask? No one wanted to watch the hell spawn, so she brought the child to see one of her favorite artists of all-time. She figures, the child will rest and be good-natured. Then, disaster! No doubt, she starts to plow people over with the baby stroller in order to leave the grounds of the concert. All the while, we’re hoping she doesn’t try to mow over an obese mongoloid that may keel over on to the baby if she does.

2.

People who say the titles of the songs before they play

iPods are great, aren’t they? They give you a track listing of you favorite songs and sometimes, they even show you the album cover. So, when you are at a concert. Why does one feel it is okay to shout out the name of the song? Granted, one may not be familiar with the title of the song that the artist is playing, but isn’t there a better way to express your joy?

3.

The Obnoxious Drunk

“For the umpteenth time, we get it! You’re drunk, and quite honestly, its not adorable.” Ever hear these thoughts ring out of your skull? Well, it’s more likely to happen again at the concert. These dingbats, whose cups runneth over, are noted for spilling beer and other spirits on music lovers, groping anyone in their sights and loudly shouting at the performers and set crew. Why? Who knows? But the party in their heads does.

4.

The Push and Shove Reject

More than likely, the cause for most fights in a stand-up event is the supposed rock’em sock’em push-and-shove bad-ass who feels that a little “light touch” will move the crowd of people to opposite sides and make a clear way to the first row. The problem is—quoting Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight—what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object?

5.

The Social Butterfly

It’s not so bad when you are in a seated area, but if you are a stand-up concert hall or a mosh pit in an outdoor musical affair, this can be rather jarring. Imagine if you will, a person standing in front of you, and a long-lost friend spots them. Now, imagine if that friend had five other long-lost friends. It’s noisy and there are too many people around to really concentrate on the concert, and one may consider leaving. Now, imagine if the social butterfly and their one friend knew an additional ten friends between them…

6.

The Super-fan

Maybe it’s acceptable if you’re one of Lady Gaga’s “little monsters,” or Beyoncé’s rambunctious “[insert name] Fierce” friends, but anywhere else its probably just as annoying as watching a bunch of tween girls get a makeover at Claire’s. The Super-fan brings bigger, brighter and better cardboard signs than a paranoid post-apocalyptic paparazzo. They dress up like the star they have paid their lifesavings to see live in concert and are louder than the entertainer on stage. Have you seen them before? Like Highlander, there’s always one.

7.

The Talker

Seriously, this annoying stand alone chatterbox confessional ranks among Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, Howard Stern, Tyra Banks and any other talk show ham. They will talk, talk, talk the entire time… and often, not in relation to the concert. When they do, it’s all critique or all data, factoids and statistics. Who wants that? Maybe their friend, the Richard Roeper wannabe.

8.

The Gadget Whore

It’s never nice to call a person, regardless of gender, a whore. But quite honestly, what do you call a person who uses more technology than a streetwalker uses come-ons in a red light district? Like The Talker, these people are notorious for intense conversation, however, it’s usually communication on a hyper-advanced, future-xenophobic sci-fi technological device. If you think talking on your BlueTooth is annoying, imagine loaded conversations on blue screen soapbox pocket computers or obnoxious talking on the newest hand-held cellular device! You start to wonder, “with all the devices, why don’t you buy the concert DVD?”

9.

The Choreographer

You know what we’re talking about. This classically-trained dancer is not your average Alvin Ailey or Wade Robson wannabe. Oh, no… they transcend them. They know all the moves, all the grooves, all the snaps and all the twists, and they can outdo any backup dancer or backup singer on stage or music video. How do they get your attention, they are all elbows. Watch your solar plexus!

10.

The Luv Couple

Isn’t love grand? Not when you’re watching one of favorite acts and the Siamese star-crossed shotgun wedding bells couple is making out in front of you, smacking to the back beat of your favorite jam. Why are they there? Are they there to make you jealous? Probably not. Are they there for the concert? Intentionally yes, but practically no. Are they there to conceive their first born? Now, that’s more probable.

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Judging from the heaps of Joker memorabilia that festooned the booths at New York comic con, Heath Ledger’s depiction of the criminal mastermind is undeniably a beloved one. So much so that the web site, The Ultimate Joker is calling for the removal of the character from the movie franchise. They’ve created a petition which you can sign here which (if Hollywood listens) would make Heath Ledger the last Joker ever.

Part of me is really into the concept. Heath Ledger was flawless. He was riveting and scary. And it was thrilling to watch such a freakishly preternatural talent from our generation. Another freakishly preternatural talent, Daniel Day Lewis, explains it better during his SAG acceptance speech last year:

And while you’re at it, watch Heath Ledger talk about how after reading the script he knew in “five seconds” exactly how he wanted to play the clownish criminal mastermind:

Sigh. The part when he says, “The joker was the most fun I’ve ever had or ever will have playing a character” is deeply upsetting (sorry for the somewhat depressing skew that this post is taking).

OK. I love how dark and brooding and macabre the franchise is circa Christopher Nolan because it’s exactly how it should be. Batman’s an asshole. People familiar with the comic books and the DC Universe knows that he’s a moody damaged fuck. This Joker was the perfect archnemesis in that he has no end game, he wasn’t bad to Batman’s good. And Heath’s depiction was so canny because he made it entertaining to watch The Cowled One lose. Who’s going to be able to duplicate that magical chemistry? Who the hell knows. Part of me wants to sign the petition but I can’t. I think the franchise needs him. I can’t get the image of Jim Carrey looking like an American Apparel ad out of my mind so I don’t think I’m ready for the Riddler. Harley Quinn is just annoying. The Penguin was never sufficiently threatening for me. I’m not sure, but I think they killed off Two-Face in the last one and I am not ready for the bullshit romantic bent that the narrative might take if we mix Catwoman back into the fold.

I’m torn. What do you think?

Penelope Cruz will be going home with a little golden man on Oscar night.

The Academy Awards are a little over two weeks away, so it’s time to start getting those office pools organized, people!  To help you out, I’ll be revealing my predictions for some of the major awards before the February 22nd telecast, starting today with Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees:
Josh Brolin: Milk
Robert Downey Jr: Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman: Doubt
Heath Ledger: The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon: Revolutionary Road

Who Will Win: They might as just re-title this the “Heath Ledger Memorial Award.”

Who Should Win: Ledger was a terrific Joker, no question, but I’d love to see Robert Downey Jr. triumph.  The dude took on a seemingly impossible role and pulled it off without breaking a sweat.

Who Should Have Been Nominated: I can’t tell you who shouldn’t have been nominated–Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Not because he isn’t great mind you, but because he’s a freaking lead actor in Doubt.  I would have preferred to see Eddie Marsan from Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky take Hoffman’s spot.

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees:
Amy Adams: Doubt
Penelope Cruz: Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis: Doubt
Taraji P. Henson: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei: The Wrestler

Who Will Win: Penelope Cruz will finally get the statue she arguably should have won for Volver.  Although there’s a 10% chance that Viola Davis could still pull off an upset victory.

Who Should Win: Cruz again.  She really is terrific in Woody Allen’s best movie in years.

Who Should Have Been Nominated: It was a tough year for female supporting performances, but Rosemarie DeWitt from Rachel Getting Married delivered a standout turn.  In fact, she deserves a nomination more than that film’s leading lady, Anne Hathaway, who is up for Best Actress.

Ladies and gentlemen–your Best Picture winner, Slumdog Millionaire.

That’s right folks, it’s all over.  No point in pretending that there’s any suspense left to this Oscar race.  Danny Boyle’s rags-to-riches tale of a Mumbai slum kid who scores the million-rupee jackpot on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is this year’s Best Picture winner, signed, sealed and delivered.  At this point, the only other film that could possibly take this seemingly unstoppable movie down is Gus Van Sant’s moving biopic Milk (my personal favorite of the five nominees), but expect that movie to go home empty-handed except for a possible Best Actor win for Sean Penn (though my money’s on comeback kid Mickey Rourke at this point).  A full list of nominations can be found here.  I’ll be back with another post of my Oscar predictions closer to the February 22 telecast, but in the meantime, here’s my early reaction to this morning’s news.

Biggest Surprises

-Taraji P. Henson nabbing a Best Supporting actress nod for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  I knew the film would clean up in the technical categories as well as the Big Two (Director and Picture).  But I figured the actors would fall by the wayside as Button is much more a technical achievement than an acting showcase.  Instead both Henson and the movie’s star Brad Pitt are up for acting statues, although I’m not convinced Pitt’s nomination was deserved.  I’m fine with Henson making the cut, though–it’s probably the film’s most fully realized performance.

-No Dark Knight nomination for either Picture or Director.  Despite everyone in the press assuming that those nods were inevitable because of the film’s astronomical box office, the Academy kept the film confined to the technical categories with the exception of Heath Ledger’s posthumous nomination (and likely win) for Best Supporting Actor.  Expect the Internet to be flooded with angry rants from fanboys.

-No Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song.  Frankly, I’m not that broken up about this as his song wasn’t all that memorable.  Still, the Academy usually tosses veteran rockers a bone so they can get a ratings boost by advertising a performance by Bruce Springsteen.  Not this year though.

Favorite Nominations

-The Academy did right by three wonderful character actors this year, with Richard Jenkins picking up a Best Actor nod for The Visitor, Melissa Leo scoring an out-of-nowhere Best Actress nomination for the little indie that could Frozen River and the wonderful Viola Davis getting recognized for her single-scene tour-de-force supporting performance in Doubt.  I don’t know that any of these performers stand a chance at winning (although Leo could suprise in a major upset), but it’s wonderful to see them have the chance to stand in the spotlight at last.

-Thank you, thank you, thank you Oscar voters for seeing through the farce of Kate Winslet’s “supporting” performance in The Reader and putting her in the Best Actress race where she belongs.  This isn’t among my favorite performances of her career so I can’t say I’m rooting for her to win (sorry Kate!), but I am glad that if this does end up being her year, at least she’ll win for the right category.

-Robert Downey Jr.’s Best Supporting Actor nomination for Tropic Thunder. While it’s unfortunate that the only black dude nominated for an Oscar this year is actually a white dude playing a black dude, Downey Jr.’s performance is a marvel of comic timing and absolute fearlessness in the face of a daunting, if not impossible task.  If I’m being 100% honest, I’d rather see Downey win than Ledger, though the chances of that happening are slim to none.

-Trouble the Water earning a spot in the Documentary Feature category.  Hopefully the recognition will encourage more viewers to check out this important and gripping account of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on the lives of one extraordinary New Orleans couple.

Least Favorite Nominations

-Slumdog Millionaire.  Just because it’s gonna win doesn’t mean that I have to like it.

-Anne Hathaway stealing Sally Hawkins’ spot in the Best Actress category. Hathaway was good, but Hawkins was brilliant.

-The Reader getting ill-deserved Director and Picture honors.  At least I can take heart in knowing it has absolutely no chance at winning.

Here are the guys that kept us laughing, gasping and applauding all year long.

8. James Franco, Pineapple Express
If you had told me two years ago that pretty boy James Franco would deliver one of the best performances I saw in 2008, I would have called you a pot-smoking fool.  Turns out, the joke’s on me, because the star of such wretched drek as Annapolis and Flyboys stepped up to the plate and smashed his role as excessively laid back pot dealer Saul Silver in David Gordon Green’s marijuana-laced comedy out of the park.  Put this together with his strong supporting performance in Milk and an actor I was ready to write off seems to be back in a big way.

7. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Redbelt
Hard to believe that it’s only been six years since British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor burst onto Hollywood’s radar with his star turn in Dirty Pretty Things. Since then, the actor has been on a hot streak, landing memorably roles in such high-profile movies as American Gangster, Talk to Me and Children of Men.  Despite the steady employment, Ejiofor didn’t get another chance at a leading man role until David Mamet tapped him to play the martial arts instructor at the center of his latest thriller.  The movie itself disappoints, but Ejiofor dominates the proceedings with his usual quiet authority.  Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another six years for his next name-above-the-title part.

6. The Cast of In Bruges
I’m cheating a bit here, but all of these actors are in such fine form in Martin McDonagh’s offbeat crime comedy that I just can’t choose between them.  On the one hand, you’ve got a post-rehab Colin Farrell giving what may be the best performance of his career as a novice hitman plagued by guilt over a mission gone wrong.  But you’ve also got ace character actor Brendan Gleeson stealing scenes as a veteran assassin and the usually restrained Ralph Fiennes going positively ape-shit as Farrell and Gleeson’s foul-mouthed boss.  Individually these performances would still be great, but together they are positively brilliant.

5. Javier Bardem, Vicky Christina Barcelona
Playing the lead male character in a Woody Allen film is never an easy task because his actors often feel the need to try and perform the part like Woody would.  Not so Javier Bardem, who brings his own distinct rhythm and charisma to the role of a Spanish artist in the middle of a love quadrangle with three gorgeous women (Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson and his real-live squeeze, Penelope Cruz).  Freed from the stupid haircut and lumbering gait of his No Country for Old Men character, Bardem smolders like an old-fashioned movie star.  Move over George and Brad–I think we’ve got a new candidate for Sexiest Man Alive.

4. Bill Milner and Will Poulter, Son of Rambow
In this post-Dakota Fanning age, it’s increasingly rare to find child actors who can convincingly play actual children, instead of adults in short pants.  That’s why it was a smart decision on writer/director Garth Jennings’ part to cast real kids–and not kid actors–in his hugely enjoyable ode to childhood and filmmaking.  Neither Bill Milner nor Will Poulter had any film credits to their names before landing the starring roles in Son of Rambow and their unforced naturalism is one of the keys to this underappreciated movie’s success.

3. Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man and Tropic Thunder
Few actors have enjoyed as many career second-acts as one-time bad boy Robert Downey Jr. and here’s hoping that his 2008 comeback is the one that finally sticks.  After kicking off the summer movie season in style with his high-flying lead performance as supposedly second-tier superhero Iron Man, he delivered an even stronger turn in Ben Stiller’s Hollywood satire as a method actor so devoted to his work, he actually dyes his skin black to play an African American character.  The latter role could have ruined a lesser actor, but Downey had audiences of all colors laughing.

2. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
No doubt about it, Heath Ledger’s interpretation of Batman’s longtime nemesis was 2008′s most iconic performance.  In fact, the Aussie actor–who, as everyone knows, died in January–is so mesmerizing, the movie suffers whenever the Joker is offscreen.  It’s the kind of outsized performance that walks the edge of self-parody without ever careening over the side.  Whoever follows in his footsteps as the Dark Knight’s next villain has his some giant-sized clown shoes to fill.

1. Benicio Del Toro, Che
In direct contrast to Ledger’s larger-than-life turn as The Joker, Benicio Del Toro’s star turn in Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour film about Che Guevara provides a master class in the art of understatement.  Offered zero tear-inducing monologues or other showy Oscar-reel moments, the actor nevertheless delivers a career-best performance.  The highest compliment I can pay Del Toro is that you never see him acting as Guevara…he simply becomes him.

The world loss several luminaries in 2008. Some had full lives and others lives were cut short. Either way, we will miss these shining stars. A salute to fallen GIANTs.

With extraordinary compassion for their craft, some astounding men stood above and beyond the rest this year. And we at GIANT would like to salute them with this list!

Becoming great leaders of a new school, we’ve watched them in admiration and can only associate their gifts and talents with adjectives that describe excellence.

With that said, here are our Top 8 Men of ’08 plus 1!

The Dark Knight
Anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s Bat-sequel had been building ever since the first images of Heath Ledger’s Joker hit the Interwebs in late ’07, but it was this initial two-minute trailer that kicked the enthusiasm into overdrive.  From the sweeping shots of the Caped Crusader standing atop a Hong Kong skyscraper, to the buildup to the first glimpse of Ledger’s painted face, the teaser showed that The Dark Knight was going to be unlike any big-screen Batman we had seen yet.  There are a lot of reasons why the film grossed more than $500 million at the box office and you can bet that this trailer is responsible for a good chunk of those profits.

Forget the Golden Globes–the New York Film Critics Online hands out its prizes for the year in film, with Slumdog Millionaire coming out the big winner.

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Film Critics Online–a New York-based group of online film critics whose numbers include yours truly–met to hand out our end-of-the-year awards for 2008.  A full list of winners, as well as our Top Ten Films of 2008, are listed below.  Stay tuned to Giantmag.com all this week as I start unrolling my personal Best Movies of ’08 round-up, along with lots of other movie-themed lists.

Picture
Slumdog Millionaire

Director
Danny Boyle (w/Loveleen Tanden) – Slumdog Millionaire

Actor
Sean Penn – Milk

Actress
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky

Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Christina Barcelona

Cinematography
Anthony Dod Mantle – Slumdog Millionaire

Screenplay
Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign Film
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Documentary
Man on Wire

Animated Feature
Wall-E

Score
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire

Breakout Performance
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky

Debut Director
Martin McDonagh – In Bruges

Ensemble
The cast of Milk

NYFCO Best Films of 2008 (in alphabetical order)
Che
A Christmas Tale
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler

2008′s biggest blockbuster explodes onto DVD just in time for the holidays.  Ask yourself again: Why so serious?
The Dark Knight
Warner Bros.
Single Disc: $28.98
Two Disc Special Edition: $34.98
Blu-ray: $35.99
Limited Edition with Batpod: $64.98

Plot: Batman versus The Joker.  ‘Nuff said.

Opinion: With more than $500 in the bank and an almost-certain Oscar nod for Best Picture on the horizon, there’s no question that The Dark Knight is the movie of 2008.   For me though, it’s a very good film that falls short of greatness.  More than anything, The Dark Knight distinguishes itself from other comic-book movies by its sheer scale, redefining what a comic-book movie should look like and the kinds of stories it should tell.  Nolan is painting on a giant canvas here and, to be honest, I think he lost control of the story at a certain point.

The heart of the movie should be the battle between the Joker and Batman over their ultimate prize, the mind of Harvey Dent. Those fanboys who have read such graphic novels as Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb’s The Long Halloween will recognize some of the elements Nolan has worked into The Dark Knight, from the Joker’s mysterious, ever-changing past to Dent’s internal struggle between his love of the legal process and fierce desire to see justice done, even if it has to happen outside of the courtroom. As long as Nolan keeps this conflict at the center of the film, The Dark Knight is involving, sophisticated stuff.  It’s when he tries to work in additional subplots-the mobsters that are protecting their interests, the amateur Bat-men fighting crime, Rachel and Harvey’s romance, a detour to Hong Kong-that the film’s narrative goes haywire.  Considering where the story heads in the second and third acts, the first half is absurdly overplotted-certain relationships and characters that are established early on all but cease to matter once the Joker starts his reign of terror.  Even with all of these problems, The Dark Knight is a wholly enveloping viewing experience. Nolan’s sweeping camerawork and the stellar production values keep your attention riveted on the screen at all times and the performances across the board are excellent.  And then there’s Ledger; watching his live-wire performance here made me feel his loss all over again. I’m not about to say that he’s the best Joker ever, as each actor that’s played the role-from Cesar Romero to Jack Nicholson to Mark Hamill-has brought something unique to the part. But I do think that Ledger’s Joker is the scariest of the lot, mainly because he lacks any semblance of human emotion. In a summer filled with lackluster movie villains, here’s a bad guy that’s more than just a punching bag. Batman may be the star of The Dark Knight, but Ledger makes The Joker into its pitch-black soul.

Extras: Compared to the geek-friendly bonus features that peppered the recent Iron Man 2-disc set, it has to be said that The Dark Knight is something of a letdown in the extras department.  This means two things: 1) Warner Brothers rushed this disc onto the market in time for the holidays or 2) They’ve got a super-deluxe special edition the works for next year, after the film receives its Best Picture nod.  For now, features vary depending on which version you buy.  The single-disc edition only offers the movie, while the two-disc edition has two behind-the-scenes featurettes, six unedited clips of “Gotham Tonight” broadcasts (the TV news show that appears frequently in the movie) and a gallery of poster art and production stills.  The Blu-ray version offers the most extensive batch of extras, from a pair of History Channel specials to eighteen short making-of featurettes that can be viewed alongside the movie or as a standalone documentary.  Hardcore Knight fans will probably be adding the limited edition Blu-ray gift set to their wish lists, as it comes with a small-scale replica of the Caped Crusader’s sweet Batpod ride.  Considering that The Dark Knight is 2008′s biggest movie, I’m not going to tell you not to buy this DVD, but be prepared to shell out again for an upgraded version sometime in ’09.

Verdict: Buy It

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Lost: The Complete Fourth Season
ABC
$59.99

Plot: Where to start?  Well, this is the season when the castaways (well, some of them anyway) finally get off the island.  But they’re troubles don’t end there-the memories of the people they left behind still follow them and island mastermind Ben is roaming the world with his own agenda.

Opinion: After a wildly uneven third season, Lost found its footing again in Year Four, as the writers took the daring step of flashing forward to the characters’ off-island life, a creative choice that answered a number of long-standing questions while also raising many more.  The risk paid off though-this is the best the series has been since its stellar debut year.  The writing is better, the cast is stronger and there’s a sense that the show is finally building to something instead of killing time.  Best of all, this is the year that Michael Emerson’s twisted mastermind Ben Linus supplanted Matthew Fox’s Jack as Lost‘s real star.  Although it’s a little hard to swallow that Ben has done all the things he’s supposedly responsible for, Emerson sells every improbable plot twist.  Whenever people tell me that they’ve given up on Lost in favor of NBC’s rapidly flatlining Heroes, I’ll just hand them a copy of this set as evidence that they’re wrong.

Extras: A handy eight-minute recap of Lost modeled after that awesome Sopranos YouTube clip; five making of featurettes, covering such topics as the new characters on the freighter and a mockumentary questioning the veracity of the story behind the so-called Oceanic Six; bloopers, deleted scenes and commentaries round out the set.

Verdict: Buy It

—————————————————————————–

Man on Wire
Magnolia
$26.98

Plot: A documentary about French tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who made headlines in 1974 when he skywalked between the World Trade Center towers on a razor-thin wire.

Opinion: James Marsh lucked onto a great story when he decided to make a movie about Petit’s World Trade Center stunt.  A piece of recent history that many New Yorkers know little about, Man on Wire recounts how this operation came in heist movie fashion, showing us how Petit’s oddball group of accomplices came together in the first place and then put their fearless leader’s crazy plan into action.  Although little footage exists of Petit’s WTC walk, the archival photographs (including the one that graces the DVD’s box cover) tell a thousand words.  I wish that Marsh had pushed his subject a little bit hard for details of his personal life: just how could he afford to devote his life to tightrope walking anyway?  But Man on Wire remains a genuine crowd-pleaser and if your heart doesn’t jump just a little at the sight of those towers being built, you clearly haven’t lived in New York for very long.

Extras: An additional interview with Petit, archival footage of his 1973 Sydney Harbor Bridge stunt and an animated short based on his exploits.

Verdict: Rent It

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Also on DVD

It’s a light week for DVDs, but I do want to highlight two new box sets from HBO, The Wire: The Complete Series (HBO, $249.99) and Deadwood: The Complete Series (HBO, $179.97).  Neither set is as extras-laden as the recent Sopranos box, but at least they offer every episode of these groundbreaking shows in one handy place.  Buy one of these and you’ll have your TV plans set during the early winter months when all the other shows are in repeats.

The Dark Knight

Considering the level of talent and money involved, there was no way The Dark Knight—the latest film adventure starring DC Comics’ iconic superhero Batman—wasn’t going to be a good movie. Director Christopher Nolan already proved his chops with 2005′s Batman Begins, which expertly rebooted a franchise that was virtually destroyed by Joel Schumacher’s misbegotten Batman & Robin. In addition, all of the talent he had assembled for that film, from new Batdude Christian Bale, to Michael Caine’s Alfred to Gary Oldman’s James Gordon, were onboard for the sequel, along with a few new faces, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger among them. And if that wasn’t enough, Warner Bros. willingly bankrolled Nolan’s epic vision to the tune of almost $200 million. So again, the chances of The Dark Knight not being good were slim to none. Only one question remained: how good was it going to be? Based on the initial wave of reviews, it sounded like Nolan had made the comic-book equivalent of Citizen Kane. Comparisons to The Godfather Part II were tossed around with careless abandon (thanks Peter Travers!) and the director himself further fanned the flames by yammering on about how his influences ranged from The Empire Strikes Back to Michael Mann’s Heat. It’s fair to say that massive audience that will flock to the The Dark Knight this weekend are expecting to see something that’s more than just a movie—they’re preparing themselves for a full-fledged happening.

So will this rabid mass of moviegoers be satisfied? You’ll have to ask each of them whether or not The Dark Knight lives up to the movie they imagined in their heads. For me personally, it’s a very good movie that falls short of greatness. More than anything, The Dark Knight distinguishes itself from other comic-book movies by its sheer scale. A few weeks back, I praised Hancock for attempting to broaden the scope of the superhero genre by establishing a (spoiler alert!) centuries-long romance between Will Smith and Charlize Theron and shooting most of the big battles with a handheld camera. Knight goes even further in redefining how a comic-book movie should look and the kinds of stories it should tell. The script that Nolan and his brother Jonathan have come up with involves much more than a simple cat-and-mouse game between Batman and his greatest nemesis The Joker (played, as everyone knows, by Ledger in his final completed screen performance). Instead, The Dark Knight strives to be, with apologies to Charles Dickens, the tale of one city and what happens to said metropolis when its confronted by an anarchist with nothing on his mind but destruction.

Without giving too much of the film’s plot away, Knight picks up some time after the events of Begins. Batman’s one-man war on crime has had a profound impact on Gotham City, making the streets safer, the criminals more fearful and, in a particularly interesting development, spurring ordinary citizens to don capes and cowls themselves as amateur vigilantes. More importantly, his activities have empowered Gotham’s idealistic new district attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) to go after the various mobsters that still plague the streets. Realizing that their way of life is in danger, the mob strikes an uneasy deal with a new player in town, The Joker, who promises to bring the Bat down. His plan is at once both simple and intricately complex: launch a violent campaign of chaos and disorder that leaves the public fearing for their lives and Batman unable to fight according to his usual rules. Among the innocents hurt by the Joker’s attacks are Gordon, Dent and Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhaal, stepping in for Katie Holmes), the only woman who still holds power over the heart of Batman’s alter ego, millionaire Bruce Wayne.

As you can probably tell, Nolan is working on a giant canvas here and, to be honest, I think he lost control of the story at a certain point. The heart of the movie should be the battle between the Joker and Batman over their ultimate prize, the mind of Harvey Dent. Those fanboys who have read such graphic novels as Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb’s The Long Halloween will recognize some of the elements the Nolan brothers have worked into The Dark Knight, from the Joker’s mysterious, ever-changing past to Dent’s internal struggle between his love of the legal process and fierce desire to see justice done, even if it has to happen outside of the courtroom. As long as Nolan keeps this conflict at the center of the film, The Dark Knight is involving, sophisticated stuff. It’s when he tries to work in additional subplots—the mobsters that are protecting their interests, the amateur Bat-men fighting crime, Rachel and Harvey’s romance, a detour to Hong Kong—that the film’s narrative goes haywire. Considering where the story heads in the second and third acts, the first half is absurdly overplotted—certain relationships and characters that are established early on all but cease to matter once the Joker starts his reign of terror. Nolan also rushes through scenes that cry out for more detail; in one early sequence, for example, the Joker corners Dent and Rachel at a fundraiser thrown by Wayne. Bruce does a quick change into Batman just in time to save his former flame, but then never returns to the party to make sure that his nemesis hasn’t claimed more casualties.

While we’re listing the film’s flaws, here are a few more:
-Bale’s Batman voice is, I’m sorry to say, absolutely ridiculous. All too often, it sounds like the actor needs to clear his throat of some loose phlegm. Whenever he opens his mouth to speak, one feels the urge to shake with laughter rather than shiver in fear.
-While Gyllenhaal is a big step up from Holmes, Rachel is still an entirely superfluous character, who exists more as a plot device than a fully fleshed out human being.
-Is Eric Roberts seriously the best they could do for the role of mob boss Maroni? His Italian accent is almost as laughable as Bale’s batspeak.
-Clearly The Incredibles doesn’t exist in this universe because otherwise Batman and the Joker would have learned Syndrome’s lesson about the dangers of monologuing. I never like to take a film to task for prizing words over action, but man, these guys talk way too much at times.
-Speaking of action, Nolan displays a firmer hand over the big set-pieces this time around, but he still can’t shoot hand-to-hand combat particularly well. At least in Begins, he could explain away the choppy cutting because Batman himself was a novice fighter. He doesn’t have the same excuse here.

Even with all of these problems, The Dark Knight is a wholly enveloping viewing experience. Nolan’s sweeping camerawork and the stellar production values keep your attention riveted on the screen at all times and the performances across the board are excellent. Bale may not have a strong handle on Batman’s voice, but he nails the character’s inner life. Eckhart is perfectly cast as the crusading D.A. who can never quite control his darker impulses. And then there’s Ledger; watching his live-wire performance here made me feel his loss all over again. I’m not about to say that he’s the best Joker ever, as each actor that’s played the role—from Cesar Romero to Jack Nicholson to Mark Hamill—has brought something unique to the part. But I do think that Ledger’s Joker is the scariest of the lot, mainly because he lacks any semblance of human emotion. In a summer filled with lackluster movie villains, here’s a bad guy that’s more than just a punching bag. Batman may be the star of The Dark Knight, but Ledger makes The Joker into its pitch-black soul.

Steel City (Peace Arch Entertainment, $26.99)
You gotta give America Ferrera credit—she may be a major TV-star thanks to Ugly Betty, but she hasn’t forgotten her roots in the independent film community. In addition to appearing in the recent art-house hit La Misma Luna, the Real Women Have Curves star also has roles in the thriller Towards Darkness (due on DVD shortly) and the small-scale drama Steel City, which premiered to critical acclaim at Sundance in 2006 and is turning up on DVD today.

Ferrera has a small, but significant role as Amy, a waitress at a greasy-spoon diner in a rundown Rust Belt town. Amy’s sort-of boyfriend is PJ (Tom Guiry), whose estranged father (John Heard) is currently behind bars after causing a fatal traffic accident. PJ still visits his dad every week and is doing his best to keep from backsliding into a life of booze and unemployment, but the temptation to abandon the straight and narrow path constantly weighs on his mind. Not much happens in Steel City to be honest, but writer/director Brian Jun’s objective depiction of small-town, working-class America is welcome, particularly in a season when so many movies take place in a more fantastical universe. The single-disc DVD comes with one of Jun’s short films, two commentary tracks (one from the crew and a second from the cast) and a few deleted scenes.

The Hottie & The Nottie (Liberation Entertainment, $24.95)
Casting Paris Hilton in your independent movie is a double-edged sword. On the on hand, you’re able to fool financiers into funding the picture because they mistakenly believe Paris is an actual movie star people would pay money to see in a film. At the same time though, you’re forever going to be known as that “Paris Hilton movie” and therefore ridiculed by every respectable journalist and critic out there. Then again, The Hottie & The Nottie would probably have been ridiculed whether Hilton was part of the movie or not. Although the film endeavors to teach impressionable viewers that looks shouldn’t matter when it comes to true love, the way the story plays out, looks definitely do matter. The basic plot revolves around a mouth-breathing loser named Nate (Joel David Moore), who decides to move to L.A. to hunt down the love of his life, Cristabelle, a blonde-haired goddess he met in the first grade and hasn’t been able to forget. While Cristabelle has grown up to look a lot like Paris Hilton, her grade-school girlfriend June (Christine Lakin) still resembles a furry troll creature. Ever the kind-hearted saint, Cristabelle has vowed never to have a boyfriend until June finds someone to love, which means that Nate has to find some poor sap willing to date this hideous being before he can win his true love’s heart. Complications arise when a studly dentist gives June a major makeover, transforming this nottie into a hottie, which causes Nate to wonder whether Cristabelle or June is the right girl for him. You can probably guess which girl he picks in the end and it ain’t the one who films amateur porn in her spare time. Indifferently directed and shakily acted (although Larkin is a good sport), The Hottie & The Nottie is the very definition of not hot. Extras on the DVD include a commentary track with the filmmakers, another with the cast (minus Hilton), and a short video of Hilton giving her male co-star a makeover Paris-style

Teeth (Dimension Extreme, $24.95)
A creepy premise is wasted by uneven execution in Teeth, the only low-budget horror film I know that involves the myth of vagina dentata. What is vagina dentata, I hear you ask? Well, it’s the idea that women have razor-sharp teeth…down there. The vagina in question in Teeth belongs to Dawn (Jess Weixler), a strict virgin who believes strongly in waiting until marriage to do the horizontal mambo. But when she’s almost raped by a boy she believes to be her friend, her vajayjay leaps to her defense, biting into his member like a juicy hot dog. And he’s just the first victim in a series of penis-related injuries Dawn finds herself involved with, some on purpose and some not. Had Sam Raimi made this movie back in his Evil Dead days, the result probably would have been a wild and crazy freak-out of a movie. Unfortunately, writer/director Michael Lichtenstein is no Sam Raimi. The film’s tone careens wildly all over the place and its never as scary—or as funny—as it should be. I do give Lichtenstein credit for not stinting on the penis gore; it may make it tough for guys to watch, but at least he doesn’t chicken out and cut away at the last minute. Teeth‘s novelty value makes it worth a rental, but overall it ranks as a major missed opportunity.

Also on DVD
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the ancestry of another group of prominent African-American celebrities in African American Lives 2 (Paramount, $24.99), the follow-up to his acclaimed 2006 PBS series. The new batch of famous faces to get a crash course in their personal histories includes actor Morgan Freeman, comedian Chris Rock, poet Maya Angelou and radio personality Tom Joyner. Maybe the third installment of African American Lives will feature one of the three leads in the faith-themed comedy First Sunday (Sony, $28.95), which stars Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan as a pair of down-on-their-luck ex-cons, who plan to solve their money troubles (and keep Cube’s baby mama from taking his son to Atlanta) by robbing the neighborhood church. Unfortunately, the supposedly foolproof smash-and-grab operation turns into a hostage situation. Cube and Morgan score several laughs, but the real star of the show is comedian Katt Williams, who plays the flamboyant choral leader. Expect to see plenty of his antics in the deleted scenes and outtakes reel that are included amongst the bonus features. Widely ignored when it debuted on Fox in 2002, the cult puppet TV series Greg the Bunny found a second life years later on the Independent Film Channel, where the show was reconceived as a series of spoofs of well-known movies. Those spoofs—which include Sockville (a parody of Lars von Trier’s Dogville) and Blue Velveteen (which spoofs David Lynch’s Blue Velvet) are collected on Shout! Factory’s new disc The Passion of Greg the Bunny (Shout! Factory, $19.99), along with a host of extras, from deleted scenes and webisodes, to a reunion special packed with cameos from such folks as Seth “Robot Chicken” Green, Jon “Iron Man” Favreau and Sarah “I’m Fucking Matt Damon” Silverman. This week, the good folks at Shout! are also putting out Red Sox Memories (Shout! Factory, $19.99) a highlights reel culled from the lengthy history of one of the best—and most divisive—teams in baseball right now. Speaking of highlights reels, it’s safe to say Eva Longoria Parker and Paul Rudd won’t be trumpeting their involvement in the listless romantic comedy Over Her Dead Body (New Line, $27.98). The Desperate Housewives star plays a Bridezilla who is killed by a falling ice statue on her wedding day, only to return to Earth as a ghost to help protect her former fiancé (Rudd) from the advances of an amorous fake-psychic (Lake Bell). I’m usually of the opinion that Rudd can elevate any movie he appears in, but the poor guy literally looks as if he’s in pain everytime he shows up onscreen here. At least he can take comfort in knowing that absolutely nobody showed up to see Over Her Dead Body—the movie grossed an embarrassing $7 million during its ultra-brief theatrical run. Also joining the ranks of the dearly departed is the USA Network’s sci-fi series The 4400, which abruptly came to an end following its fourth year, even though the finale seemed to promise plenty of story ahead. The network isn’t talking about why they chose to shut the show down, but you can be the ill-timed writers strike probably had something to do with it. Until plans for a wrap-up TV are announced, fans can console themselves with The 4400: The Final Season (Paramount, $42.99), which collects the last batch of episodes along with featurettes and commentary tracks. Another late, great TV-series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or, MST3K) to its fans returns to DVD with the release of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Rogue, $19.98), which found the eternally sarcastic crew of the Satellite of Love ridiculing the 1955 sci-fi campfest This Island Earth. Fans of camp cinema are probably also fans of the movies of Baltimore rebel John Waters, whose 1995 suburban satire Serial Mom (Focus, $19.98) arrives in a special edition DVD that includes new featurettes and a newly recorded commentary track with Waters and his dishy star Kathleen Turner. Finally, two little-seen indie films arrive on DVD this week: Delirious (The Weinstein Company, $19.95) casts Steve Buscemi as a pushy paparazzi who takes a newbie (Michael Pitt) under his wing, while I Really Hate My Job (Magnolia, $26.98) takes place on a single night in a greasy-spoon London café where five female employees (including Neve Campbell and Shirley Henderson) wrestle with various personal and professional concerns.