WHY SO SERIOUS?

There is already buzz about Heath Ledger getting an Oscar nomination for The Dark Knight, which will almost certainly happen. But I genuinely believe that it would have, even if he had not tragically died. It's a phenomenal performance.

The movie is far better than the good (but not astounding) Batman Begins, which was mostly notable for taking a darker and more serious approach to a comic book superhero than for actually being that great of a movie.

I have a beef, though, with the critics and their ilk who seem so blown away that Batman can be so dark and serious. Has Joel Schumacher completely erased everyone's memory of the Tim Burton movies? Any critic reviewing The Dark Knight in this light should be required to rewatch Batman and Batman Returns again. Bruce Wayne as dark, disturbed, and brooding? Check. Morally complex situations involving good and evil? Check. Yeah, okay, the soundtrack by Prince doesn't score any gloom points, but nothing the Joker does in The Dark Knight qquite approaches the fearsomeness of his Smilex gas attack on Gotham City while throwing money around. Nicholson's Joker was scary in his nutty, over-the-top way. He did things just as gruesome as The Dark Knight's Joker, perhaps even moreso. Christopher Nolan's films are no darker than Tim Burton's. They are just missing a certain lightness and focus that Burton's also possess that makes Burton's films ultimately more entertaining and successful.

But that's only if the films are to be compared, which really, they shouldn't be. There's no point. They're very different approaches to the material, and since both are very good, why quibble? The Dark Knight fixes most of what wasn't quite right with Batman Begins. It has a much better story and, of course, a superb villain (which Nolan's first film didn't). It furthers what Batman Begins started by grounding it all a little more in reality; The Dark Knight has a tone similar to something like Goodfellas, whereas Burton's films had the tone of, well, a Tim Burton film.

The greatest drawback to both of Nolan's films, though, is a certain lack of specificity about the villains. We never quite feel like we know them. Nicholson's Joker, Danny DeVito's Penguin, and especially Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman were psychologically complex characters, particularly in a comic book movie (compare them to anyone from Spider-Man, for example). We get a full sense of who they are, what they want, where they came from. Nolan's films leave the details a little fuzzy - and so, as great as Heath Ledger's performance is, I can't help wanting a little more from the character. (Which might have happened - or might still, if a different actor assumes the role - in the third film, had Ledger not died.) It's clear that Nolan wants his Joker's origins to be mysterious, and his motives murkier, and that's fine...but still, I felt a little something missing from the script.

Nolan's Batman films (and perhaps his other films as well) are dark, brooding, morally complex, and psychologically interesting - but they're more cerebral than they are moving. You understand what's happening more than you feel it. As committed as he is to these stories taking place in as close a facsimile to the real world as possible, I don't think he ever quite lets his characters feel real or complete. They always seem to be functioning according to the plot than on their own terms. Ledger comes much closer than anyone in transcending that here in a performance that truly is one of the best villains in recent memory. The Dark Knight is a strong film, a very good film, especially for a major studio's summer blockbuster. I can't help but wish it was only a little bit better, good enough to be truly excellent, without my one caveat about the film's characters. If only the script had given him just a little more to do, just a few more moments to let us enjoy his wonderful interpretation of the character. Though much has been improved since Batman Begins and The Dark Knight truly is an exceptional summer film, there is still a small something missing from the screenplays that stops them from making a heavier impact.

But why quibble? The Dark Knight is pretty awesome. Heath Ledger even moreso, and fully worthy of the kudos he's getting. It's easy to forget that he's gone while watching the movie, because he's riveting. But even when he's not on screen in The Dark Knight, he's missed. It's shocking and sad all over again to realize that we will not experience any more of Ledger's talent. I feel the same about Ledger's performance as I do about the film itself....as good as it is, I am left wanting more.

GRANDMA, TAKE ME HOME.

*

You know how you can hear a certain song a hundred times, perhaps enjoy it, perhaps be totally indifferent to it, and it doesn't make that much of an impression on you? And then all of a sudden it kind of hits you how great it is?

In part, I think it has something to do with maturing. But I certainly feel like kind of a doltfor suddenly realizing, Hey! Nirvana was a really great band!

I mean, I always enjoyed Nirvana's music. I still remember the day Kurt Cobain committed suicide, because it was a big deal on the news. However, I had no idea who he was at the time. I discovered alternative music several years after the rest of the world, in 8th grade, when I felt peer pressure to listen to music beyond the soundtrack to the most recent Disney animated picture. (Hey, The Lion King soundtrack was kinda cool when I was 5th grade! It wasn't until I purchased the Hercules CD that something felt off.) Seattle has a pretty awesome - dare I say the definitive? - alternative radio station, 107.7 The End. You can bet I heard a lot of Nirvana as I listened primarily to that station throughout the rest of my teenage years.

In fact, you could say that on The End I heard exactly as much Nirvana as I desired, no more and no less. Nirvana was a band whose music I always enjoyed hearing when it came on and never desired to hear when it didn't. I could comfortably sing or hum along with their biggest hits and I'm sure at times I kind of rocked out to them and seriously enjoyed it. But I never felt an urge to buy a Nirvana album, not even just to look cool. They were never quite that kind of band for me.

'Til now! I don't know what happened. I still hear plenty of Nirvana on KROQ, so it's not like I rediscovered them after a long absence. It may have been the prominent role "Come As You Are" plays in my recent Netflix rental Definitely Maybe. But all of a sudden, when Nirvana does come on KROQ now, I am like, "Yeeeeah Nirvana!" Like, I always knew they were good, but now it's more of a feeling than pure and simple knowledge. It just hit me. It's just about the dorkiest revelation an alternative music fan who grew up in Seattle in the 90's could possibly have. For some reason, that both strikes me as really strange and also highly amusing. Kind of like I just figured out something that I have secretly known for the last 14 years. Has this ever happened to you? I know it's happened to me on a smaller and less entertaining scale, with individual songs if not entire bands, especially bands that were so prolific and influential during my formative years (and ever since). Maybe next I'll actually start liking the Beatles (yeah, I know, but I'm mostly indifferent to them with the exception of a few songs).

So I'm 14 years late, but the urge to hear Nirvana's music collectively in album format finally hit me. I didn't plan it this way, but I ordered my very first Nirvana CD and it arrived today, on the very day I flew into Seattle. I am now enjoying it immensely, like listening to an old favorite that was never quite my favorite. It's the perfect soundtrack for right now. It was a great time to get out of LA for me - I love the place, but at times, certain aspects of it just become poison. The only remedy is to escape.

Tiffany, my PNW partner-in-crime, is in Chile this year, which diminishes all my usual plans. As of right now, I have almost nothing planned. (Fitting. The same is true of my life in general.) I've been looking forward to the break to get back to my roots, so to speak. My essence. I'm kinda fine being on my own here without much to do for the time being. I've lost my perspective lately. I haven't quite been myself, or anyone in particular. I've been alright, but I don't love where I've been lately. So it's nice to be elsewhere.

Sometimes I see things really crystal clear here.

I'm looking forward to clarity.


Grandma, take me home
I want to be alone.