Have You Scene? – August 2008

WALL*E and The Dark Knight

Hello Movie Fans! There are only two things I will discuss in this column this month. First, one of the best movies I’ve seen all year and the second, the most anticipated movie of the year. I have seen the first one only once but I plan on seeing it many more by the time I own it on DVD. I haven’t seen the second one yet and have avoided all reviews and internet postings about it for at least two months.

WALL-E (*****+) Wall-E is the story of a robot that was left on earth to clean up the planet after the humans had used all of it’s resources and moved onto outer space. His job is to crush garbage into cubes and stack them into neat piles. After being left alone for that long something happens and he develops a personality and yearns for something more and bigger than earth.

The depth in which a robot who doesn’t even speak for almost the first half is astounding. He can convey disappointment, excitement, anxiety, and love with nothing more than body language and a few clips from Hello Dolly.

Pixar has created a masterwork with this movie. You start to feel for a robot and his pet cockroach. The short before the movie is also most assuredly worth getting there early for. A magician and his Rabbit is the focus and I laughed the whole time it was on the screen. If I haven’t said enough good things about this movie to get you to go see it I don’t know what will. It appeals to all ages, and parents, you won’t be bored, in fact you will be engaged with the story as much as your kids.

The second movie I want to talk about it is. . . The Dark Knight. I haven’t even seen this movie and I know that I’m going to watch it more than once. I am lucky enough to live close to an IMAX screen and am going to see it for the first time there.

IMAX is a way of bringing you into the action by making it really huge and you sitting pretty close to it. The closest theatre equipped with the IMAX screen is the Bridgeport 18 in Tigard. If you get a chance to see it there I highly recommend it. Parts of it was shot with special IMAX cameras so it will look absolutely amazing on that size screen. It truly will be an experience.

The presentation is one thing but this being Heath Ledger’s final complete performance will be a totally different thing. From the rumors going around Hollywood there may be a posthumous nomination for an Oscar, so that bodes well for the movie. It is also anticipated to come close if not surpass the top grossing weekend movie in Spiderman 2 which opened to $132 Million in it’s first three days.

Count me in! If nothing else, it was put together by a fantastic director and a superb cast. I will be waiting in line to make sure my seat is as good as I can get it!

Until next month movie fans….. As always you can send me a note or talk about movies or pop culture or whatever crosses your mind at movieguy@valleybugler.com

Enjoy the show!!