Music from all directions

This past week had sort of an odd feel to it musically, anyway. Right now, I find myself listening to a Smashing Pumpkins song ("The Beginning is the End is the Beginning") thanks to the Watchmen trailer and then a Vashti Bunyan track ("Train Song") thanks to a Reebok NFL commercial with players crossing a desert wilderness of all things. Weird to find music new to me in those ways, but I'm enjoying both.

The Dark Knight

The giant fun pile of this week continues to be The Dark Knight as it has been since its release. I saw it for the third time in theaters today, and I enjoy the film more and more. The financial success has been amazing considering how dark the film is with a PG-13 toeing the line up to the edge of being an R. It's been encouraging that a franchise and character have been allowed to take a different direction than the standard lighter, all-audiences fare while also mixing genres. Seeing a superhero crime thriller combine the best of the comics with the best Christopher Nolan and his fellow writers can create has been one of my favorite all time movie experiences.

The Dark Knight doesn't nail every little thing I'd have liked, but any gripe I can come up with isn't major in light of everything the movie does well. I miss the scenes from Begins of Batman with the cape wrapped around him, but I love the improved costume design overall. Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart continue the perfect casting of the Nolan/Bale reboot. The Batpod, unlike the Tumbler which I warmed to slowly after seeing Begins, had me excited before seeing the movie and delivered with a terrific sense of speed and that beautiful confrontation versus the semi. It's impossible to pick a favorite scene with Batman in Hong Kong, so many Joker moments, Batman mourning as he finds the burnt coin, the human terminator look of Two-Face, Gordon's closing narration, and a list that goes on till you realize the whole movie is a ride that must be repeated to take everything in.

A couple moments that always got a great crowd reaction every time I saw the film:

1. "How about a magic trick?"
2. Batpod vs. Joker's semi - First everybody is wowed by the truck flip then they love when Batman puts his front tire up a building exterior to spin the pod back around. Makes me smile every time.

Such a memorable way to finish off the best summer of movies I can remember. Here's hoping the fall and winter have offerings to make the year as a whole something special.