Although I agree with you about wall-e and the plotholes in TDK, I don't think slumdog was as good a movie as to have won the oscars. I guess the only reason it won was because it gave people a peep into a world they wouldnt even imagine. as far as acting was concerned-it was only mediocre. the movie was also repetitive-by the fourth question, we got the point that every question was related to his past. i was bored before we reached half way through the movie. the accent of 'slum' kids from India was a total put off. agreed-had they spoken in an indian accent, it wouldve made it harder to understand but thats what takes away the authenticity. Dunno about TDK but slumdog, in my opinion, did not deserve to win.

Slumdog Millionaire was a British film. Good going.

It was a co-production.

Um... slumdog wasn't an american film.

I too will not be watching the Oscars, I honestly have no interest in watching them pick from a list of undeserving films and filmmakers. It's not even just about The Dark Knight, it's the whole process now, and like Shadow says above, they are no longer recognizing the real best, industry expanding films of the year anymore.

I'm watching The Dark Knight while the Oscars are on.

I for feel that The Dark Knight was snubbed at the oscars and they missed out on a huge opportunity. TDK had more admissions than the oscars has had viewers in recent years. I looked around for the definition of best picture and there didnt seem to be one true answer. So I decided that this definition
fit best with my personal interpretation:

David Carr, NY Times, The Carpetbagger, author of The Night of the Gun
Best picture should embody the magic of the craft, with everyone involved, most especially the director at the height of his or her powers. It should be the kind of movie that is so good that it brings both civilians and the critical vanguard together.

If you take a look a the other movies in the category, they are indeed very good(slumdog millionaire) but there are others which simply don't belong.(The Reader) If you were to put all these movies in a time capsule and view them years from now, which ones will be talked about in say ten years time? 25 years? What if you took into account not just how "good" the movie was but also what it did for the industry? A movie like TDK transcended all other superhero movies before it. Chris Nolan took what was simply popcorn entertainment and crafted it into something memorable, intriguing and relevent in today's society. He used Imax in a way not previous explored by other filmmakers, as well as a genre not respected by critics and gave it a legitimate shot at best picture. Somewhat like the cardinals franchise in football(Sorry I couldnt resist)did bringing outsiders attention to great players like larry fitzgerald and adrian wilson. Nolan did the same for batman, and we are already feeling the effects of this with currently superhero releases. "Dark" movies are becoming mainstream, and it's thanks to christopher nolans incredible vision and execution as a filmaker. On top of this you add in the excellent acting, especially for a superhero movie and heath ledgers incredible portrayal of the worlds most infamous comicbook villain. now you account for the popularity and praise that this film accquired from fans and critics alike. Factor in the idea that it is the 2nd highest grossing film in american history(lets not deal with "inflation") and the oscars is looking for ways to boost its viewership one would think TDK would be an obvious choice for the #5 slot. Who cares if it wins, people will tune in to findout regardless. It made more money domestically than the other 4 movies will make internationally in their entire theatrical runs.

I for one will not be watching the oscars, as I feel they are no longer recognizing the real best, industry expanding films of the year. I mean seriously has anyone here seen the reader? I cannot even come up with an argument as to why it was nominated.

Cheers,

I have seen this years nominees just to compare. Good movies, yes, but not even close in terms of the whole that the Dark Knight is.

It's unfortunate that the artsy fartsy crowd runs the Oscar show. What a total disconnect.

* untouchable.

The Joker fuckin pwn3s you snobby jackals. Though the sonar was ridiculous, Heaths performance was touchable. Cut and print you film school egomaniacs.

Oh what a terrible movie The Dark Knight is. You are correct on the plotholes and some bad writing and the sonar! Ug, simply terrible. I was seriously bored with the lack of intelligence of this movie. At least acting like some laws of physics applied would have made the movie slightly better.

Great article Dan, well done. Now I will respectfully disagree that The Dark Knight shouldn't win Best Picture, but I will concede the points you made. This movie has its share of plot holes, as does almost every other movie (both good and bad). TDK was at even more risk of this happening because of its complex and long storyline. There were basically three main plotlines, all tying into each other. Not easy to write, and for a film that runs 2.5 hours, I knew going in there were bound to be some inconsistencies or stretches. Of course there are ways of explaining any questions one may have about the plot, IMDb has details about this. But for now let's say that there were a few parts that may stretch the imagination or question believability.

Yet I still believe that TDK deserves the Best Picture of the Year award, for a number of reasons. First, Christopher Nolan revolutionized the use of IMAX in feature films, implementing it in ways that no other director ever has, and if you saw it in IMAX theaters, you know what I mean when I say the six scenes shot with IMAX cameras truly blow you away. Nolan was able to create the feeling that this movie, its setting, its story, and its action was massive. Second, Heath Ledger's performance is, as you said Dan, legendary. He really does make this movie as terrifying, memorable, and captivating as it is, and as surely as he deserves Best Supporting Actor, his contribution to the film makes the film itself that much more deserving of Best Picture. Third, I have never seen a film make this big an impact in the world of films. From its viral marketing that started in February, to its sold out midnight showings at regular and IMAX theaters all around the country, to its record-breaking box office numbers, to its thousands of fans dressing up as the Joker before and after the film came out. There's just this sense that this film was everywhere, and it was successful on a level that hadn't been seen since Titanic. It's even more impressive since superhero movies have a limited audience by nature, yet everyone I know wanted to see this movie, and all of them came back after seeing it and said it was like nothing they'd ever seen before.
Putting aside Warner Brothers' well-executed marketing and Ledger's brilliant performance, The Dark Knight has become one of my favorite films of all time, and I truly believe that it is well-deserving of Best Picture. It did what you said it did Dan, it reinvented the superhero genre. If it doesn't win I won't be terribly disappointed (or surprised), I'll still enjoy the movie just as much.

For the record, by comparison, The Dark Knight is (in my opinion) a much better film than Slumdog Millionaire, which I know has been getting a lot of publicity. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, I'm just saying it wasn't as enjoyable, interesting, or impressive as The Dark Knight was. Again, just my own opinion.

Well, it's not like only American films can get nominated. Though Hunger is awful and shouldn't get a second look outside of acting. No, Dark Knight shouldn't win best picture, but the Academy never even nominates films that should win for any given year. TDK is a 5/10. Wrestler a 6 (should win out of the potential nominees), Button a 5 (but I still like it), Slumdog a 4.

I'm gonna agree with Dan, ShortnUgly, watch more films. None of those are among the best films ever made.

All I hope is that people accept TDK as a great popcorn flick and don't try to play it up as a masterpiece so that it gets undeserved hate from idiots.

You should watch more movies ShortnUgly. I feel like you won't be as disappointed as you think. If you loved The Dark Knight so much, films like Slumdog Millionaire and Wall-E should blow your mind. And I agree with you about The Dark Knight, if it did not win any Oscars it would still be a masterpiece, I just feel like these flaws are worth pointing out.

Problem is ShortnUgly, while The Dark Knight was a fantastic movie, it wasn't in a league of its own this year. There were good movies (in some cases, better) that were out.

Ledger wins hands down, the movie itself, not so much.

Chris,
1. It's called a map. Also, you have to remember he used Maroney's informants in the police force to gather information on his political hits: The judge, the commissioner, where Harvey Dent was on the night of the fundraiser. Those same informants gave him the route to be used to take Dent to county. As far as his toys, Joker used standard stuff, nothing fancy, machine guns, rifles, bazookas, easily created trigger devices.
2. Again, he knew the route beforehand and had his men there in case of air cavalry, and it turned out he did need them.
3. Gotham news was announcing all day that Reese was going to spill the beans, come one man. He gets on the air by saying, "hi, its me the joker, the biggest story of the century, do you think i could deliver a message on the air?" Of course they put him on. The bombs were planted right after his escape from central, all preplanned and executed. He didn't get the results he wanted but even then he had the backup plan of his own triggering device for the ships (the hospital plan went pretty well but I would guess he was disappointed that no innocents were killed).

There are ZERO plot holes in this movie, you are simply not allowing your mind to connect what should be obvious threads. I repeat ZERO plot holes!

Dan,
You are aware that sonar is technology that is decades old arent you?

Maggie's portrayal was much better than Tom Cruise's wife. Tom Cruise's wife can't act, she's just like, well, Tom Cruise. They are forever stuck playing the same character over and over just using different wardrobe. Maggie actually lent the role much more gravity, I could actually see the struggle in her eyes when she was torn between Wayne and Dent. She is far better than Tom's wife.

Now to my main point and why I used up some of my valuable time to respond to this post. (Got it on a Google alert if you wondering)

If the Dark Knight is not a cinematic masterpiece then there is no such thing as a cinematic masterpiece. If tripe like the Titanic can win Best Picture, a movie that was as shallow a story as I have ever seen (please God forgive me for wasting those 2 hours), then the Dark Knight should be a lock.

I want to make something perfectly clear, I was NEVER a Batman fan until I saw the Dark Knight. I didn't know that the Dark Knight was even out (I hate pop culture). I caught it only during the last month of its run and proceeded to watch it eight, count it, eight times in a month. I only found out about it because I downloaded some movies out of sheer boredom, some of the movies were the Keaton/Kilmer/that other guy Batman flicks. I attempted to watch one (I hadn't sat through a movie in over 3 years, and hadn't gone to a movie theater since The Passion of The Christ, prior to that one I hadn't been to a movie theater in about 4 years) but was of course disappointed by them just like I am with almost all movies and thats why I dont waste time watching them(I had watched the Keaton movies when I was a kid and kind of liked them, but I never saw them again and NEVER owned a Batman comic). Thankfully one of the movies that was in the bundle I downloaded was Batman Begins, out of disappointment with the 80's and 90's Batflicks and out of simple curiosity, I decided to watch it, figuring it couldn't be as bad as that ER dudes Batflick.

The first thing I said after watching Batman Begins was, who directed this movie, and who was that actor that played Bats? I was totally unprepared to watch a quality movie, but that's exactly what I got, a quality movie. I almost couldn't believe it, they actually made Batman plausible. I then of course did some research on who the director was and who Batman was, the only actors I recognized were Caine and Freeman (I first thought that these guys must have fallen on hard times to be a part of a stupid Batman flick, that was before I watched the movie). Upon researching I realized that there was a new Batman movie out called The Dark Knight made by the same guys that did Batman Begins. I figured, hey, they did a really good job with Batman Begins so I'm going to do something I rarely do, I'm going to the movies!

Here my favorite movies: The Godfather 1 & 2, Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Conan The Barbarian, and The Thing (with Kurt Russel). You can nitpick the last few but overall my taste is for epic, emotionally sweeping masterpieces. I never thought I would ever see a movie again that I could elevate up there with the best ever made, I was wrong.

When the credits rolled I sat in awe of what I just saw. I can say with all honestly and with a bared soul that I was speechless, I was just full of adrenaline and tumultuous emotions, much like a crashing sea upon an unsuspecting shore. My eyes literally teared up because of the rarity of the moment; I had just witnessed something very special.

The biggest problem this movie has is the audience. I know that most of the people who have watched the movie don't really understand the dialogue, or the complexity of the plots and how they came about, or the underlying psychology of Bruce Wayne, clearly an emotionally disturbed man, very much like the Joker, but he chose good instead of evil. (I have since read a bunch of Batman comics to better understand where Nolan was coming from when he wrote up Bruce Wayne)

Christoper Nolan is a master storyteller, the script is fantastic and the deepest of any movie I've ever watched. I'm amazed that there is criticism there. It is a deeply moral tale, it is a greek tragedy, a movie of one individuals great sacrifice for the benefit of others (Gotham's soul and all the lives Batman saved while at the same time being blamed as responsible for the death and chaos). It is not a visual movie, though that is part of its overall greatness, it is an emotional movie with deeper story than most are willing to acknowledge because its based in a comic book world. I don't care what criticism I take for this because I understand what vision Nolan had in mind, and he pulled it off.

As for those who say that Christian Bale's performance was wooden, you need to read the comics. Bruce Wayne is a humorless, compulsive, focused, extreme character that becomes an animal when he puts on that Dracula suit. Bale plays the 3 Wayne roles (playboy billionaire, Batman, and the real Bruce Wayne) to a tee. Best Batman ever.

This may not win the best picture of the year award but this is definitely the best picture I've seen in years.

Wall-E wins best picture. At least I hope.

Isn't 'the night is darkest before the dawn' a well-known saying?
So you can't really knock their screenplay for using a saying where it works well.

I wonder if the title refers to this a bit too.
But I guess the next movie will still be 'dark'.

Love the movie, but a couple things (plot holes and such) that always bug me, specifically about the Joker:

1. They knew the exact route the police were going to take when they were taking Dent across town and exactly how to drive them onto the lower roads without any problems. Forget Batman, where does the Joker get all of these wonderful toys?

2. During that sequence, they guys on the fire escapes who take down the helicopter. A little too perfect.

3. How did the Joker know that accountant was going to reveal Batman's identity? And then, without watching TV, he calls the stuido, gets on right away and makes his threat. And when did the Joker have time to plant all those bombs?

The Joker, while he is supposed to be just chaos personified, moves too fast with all of these plans. Yes it's a comic book movie, but for a film that tries to pride itself on being based in the real world, little things like that take away from the luster of it all.

Yea, you're right. It IS nick-picking. The film doesn't need ANY Oscars. Because it is a masterpiece. I just like to hear what other people, like yourself, have to say. But for the most part, I hear what you're saying and will always love The Dark Knight. But what about Maggie Gyllenhaal's acting? Any opinion on that?

Does the Joker's chaos theory apply to himself? Not really. It would just be contradictory. He wants to show the flaws in everyone's lives, exploit them. It's not about him. He simply wants to pull back the curtain on everything these people thought they knew/were capable of, with his own superior intellect. He doesn't do it for pride or money, just the sport of it. It's just what he does. It only makes sense to him. If it didn't, I think it would've been easier to stop him, no?

As for stuff like racking up the helicopter, it just seems like nit picking. Even still, perhaps there's police procedures for helicopter travel in cities. perhaps they two guys aren't close as it's implied by the two shots of them. I dunno. Perhaps there is no real explanation at all. It's a small thing. Ultimately, I chalk it up to "being a movie".

Yea anonymous, it's by a British director, but produced by an American film company (Fox Searchlight) so it's a little ambiguous. But good catch nonetheless.

As for SpeedingUptoStop, I actually think Nolan might deserve the Best Director Oscar more than Boyle (after all Dark Knight was incredibly directed, no question, but then so was Slumdog. I guess I'm conflicted too haha). I hear your arguments and you're right, the sonar is implemented throughout and the Joker COULD have anticipated all different angles; I just feel like the sonar belongs in another Batman movie that's not so grounded in realism (for the most part) and, as for the Joker, wouldn't planning EVERYTHING out go against his chaos theory?

Not to like down play any of your arguements which I find interesting but isn't Slumdog Millionaire a British not American film?

The Joker clearly develops plans as he goes along. There are back up plans, alternate routes. His goal is chaos and he achieves it no matter what capacity he is in. The final hour is far from planned to a T, in it's entirety. Think of it as time-traveling film, where, no matter what happens, everything is auto corrected to fit the permanent future. The primary example of this is when Joker is arrested; did he really plan on getting arrested during that chase? No. But he always had a plan in case he were arrested. Stitch up a psycopath with a bomb activated by a cell phone, get one of your goons to frame him for killing a cop so he's automatically in the same cell as you, and bam, get out of jail free card. It was Dent's fault Lau was even there for the Joker to take. It was a win-win coincidence for him. Not planned, but seemingly meticulous all the same.

As for the sonar technology, well, it was very much implemented throughout the film, it fits the Bat-theme perfectly, and it makes an incredibly complex action sequence possible. I can't knock it.



Does The Dark Knight really need Oscars? No. It's place in history is cemented already with it's incredible box office success...and the fact that it's already well recognized as a damn fine film. Do I think the competition is strong enough to defeat it? Questionable. Wall-E got closed out of a lot of awards, so I don't really see it making the top 5, which will feature films with much worse problems than TDK (Salim's inconsistent character should automatically disbar Slumdog from any screenplay category - although I think Boyle probably deserves the Director nod more than Nolan...then I think of that final action scene and I get conflicted again!). It's an intriguing race, but ultimately I'll be pleased with just nominations for TDK. It's history is already set.