As you may know, this weekend on Episode 209, we’ll be continuing our year-by-year retrospective series by diving into the films of 2008. As we noted last week on the show, our featured review for #209 will be Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, a film that would go on to mark that specific year in some major ways. It was the highest grossing film of 2008, nearly hitting the $1 billion mark, a milestone it probably would’ve hit by today’s standards. Nolan’s second Batman film was also critically praised in ways that few other comic-book adaptations had ever seen at the time. It currently sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and even more impressively at 82% on Metacritic. More than any of that, and what is perhaps the most surprising, the film was received very positively by The Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Genre films, especially superheros, haven’t been held historically in high regard by The Academy. There are exceptions of course. However, The Dark Knight changed things significantly. Famously, the film forced The Academy to expand their Best Picture nominees from five to a potential ten (which arguably has been more of a detriment than a positive), as a way of being more open-minded to genre films. Even though it didn’t get a Best Picture nod, The Dark Knight still received eight Oscar nominations, with two wins, including a Best Supporting Actor victory for the late-great Heath Ledger. No matter how you look at it, this Batman/Joker tug-of-war film was a massive success.

Now that we have all of that out of the way, I want to talk about The Dark Knight‘s opening night. The film opened up in theaters on July 18th, 2008 nationwide. For obvious reasons, it was one of the most hyped up films to come out that year, and I was just as excited as anyone else. For context, I was living in Bowling Green, OH at the time, just one month away from graduating with my BA in Communications. I was also poor, as many college students tend to be. I’ve always been a fan of film and art, but growing up it was rare if we ever made it to the actual theaters. College was no different. So, getting to see The Dark Knight in theaters on its debut was a big deal for me at the time. We arrived at the theater, to see a massive line that literally curved around to the back of the building. Per the aforementioned statement, I missed all of the prequel Star Wars openings, so I had never seen anything like it before. And what I found most interesting was how it drew in so many different people. Clearly, the nerd-verse was deeper than I knew it to be. We waited in line for what felt like two hours. To be honest, I’m not even sure how long it took, I was just excited to be there. And it was the summer, so it was nice outside.

Once inside, we found our way to the theater which was massively packed by the time we got there. I was with a group of four, so finding that many seats together was going to be impossible. However, we did find a grouping of three seats together, which we felt was going to be our best bet for most of the group to stay together. Guess who got the short straw? I was a bit disheartened at first, mostly because it was a rare treat to be in the theater at the time, and to not be with my friends wasn’t ideal. But I was determined to not let that ruin the experience for me. Instead, I sat up started to pay attention to all of the chatter around me before the film started. It was chaos, but I was compelled by everyone’s anticipation. Once the film started, in unison we all quieted down and enjoyed the movie.

Once the film was over, people in our crowd stood up and cheered in excitement. I immediately found my friends and the first thing out of my mouth was, “Heath Ledger is going to win an Oscar for his performance.” At the time it sounded crazy since comic-book movies didn’t win awards, but there was no doubt his performance was awards worthy. The film as a whole was awards worthy frankly. I loved the film then, I love it now and seeing it in theaters was an unforgettable experience for me.

I look forward to discussing it this weekend on the show. And I look forward to hearing from you all reading this. What do you think of The Dark Knight? Leave a comment in the comment section below or hit us up on twitter.

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Speaking of theater experiences, here’s what you can see this weekend in theaters:

A Cure for Wellness

Fist Fight
The Great Wall
A United Kingdom (expanding)
Everybody Loves Somebody (limited)
Land of Mine (limited)

So far 2017 has been off to a rather tough start, especially compared to early 2016. If you exclude late 2016 releases that have expanded early this year (such as Paterson, The Founder, 20th Century Women and Silence), we’ve mostly been exposed to bad franchise sequels or terrible horror films. The only good thing about 2017 at this point, is M. Nigh Shyamalan’s Split, a film I quite loved personally.

Well, all that changes this weekend as we get both John Wick: Chapter 2 and The Lego Batman Movie. These two films not only look great, but they are getting pretty good reviews as well. Some critics are even elevating John Wick to “icon” status based off his two films. I haven’t seen John Wick 2 but I’m not sure I can go that far, yet. That said, I really liked the first John Wick as well as the first Lego Movie. Both films came out in 2014 and were big highlights of that year for us. So, it’s pretty exciting that we are getting sequels to both of those aforementioned films this weekend.

John Wick came out near the end of 2014 and it wasn’t anything I was holding in high regard before seeing the film. All of a sudden though, it started getting rave reviews and film Twitter especially went crazy over it. After watching the film, I could sympathize with why people went for it. As an action film, it’s rather tropey, but the film excels in execution of those tropes while presenting a very unique world. Additionally, the fact that Wick went off because his dog was killed made me very happy. It feels weird to say this since John Wick is an action film at its core, but the film did have some emotional tug that felt genuine. I mean, it’s no Warrior, but still it was effective.

As for The Lego Movie, it was by far one of the biggest surprises of 2014. The premise seemed odd at the time. How were they going to make a film based off of Lego’s? Well not only did they make an entertaining animated film, but it was one of the best movies of the year, period. The fact it wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award is absurd. Now, I would argue that there were three better animated films that year (don’t hate me please!), but the film deserved a nomination still. Either way, it’s a great film and I love it. And no question that Batman was one of the best parts about that experience.

I’m usually dubious about spin-off films, but this one feels appropriate. The Lego movie world, if you will, is vast and doesn’t have to be restricted to continuity. There are so many great things you could do with a Batman Lego movie that you probably couldn’t with a live-action Batman film. So this should be fun. As for John Wick 2, just give me more kick-ass action and I’ll be happy.

What about you? Are you excited for these two films?

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Here’s what else you can expect at the box office this weekend:

Fifty Shades Darker

A United Kingdom (limited)
Running Wild (limited)

This weekend on Episode 207, we’ll finally be discussing Jim Jarmusch’s latest film, Paterson, starring Adam Driver. During our tenure, we’ve unfortunately only covered one Jarmusch film so far, and that’s Only Lovers Left Alive from 2014. I haven’t taken time to rank all the vampire films I’ve seen, but Only Lovers is pretty high for me. I loved how unique it was for that genre and everything came together for me in that film. It *just* missed my Top 20 that year, but either way, I adore every second of that film. I’m also a fan of Broken Flowers and Ghost Dog, the only other two Jarmusch films I’ve seen so far. However, I’ve also heard really good things about Stranger Than Paradise, Dead Man, Mystery Train, Down By Law and Night on Earth as well. Jarmusch is somewhat of a polarizing director, and I can understand his films aren’t for everyone, but I do think his craft is distinctive and fun to watch.

I’m also interested in Paterson for the fact that it stars Adam Driver. Speaking of polarizing, Driver is another one that some audiences have needed to warm up to, but I love his work. From his bizarre quirks in Inside Llewyn Davis to his hipster work in While We’re Young to being a Sith apprentice in Star Wars, he’s always a fascinating presence to me. Driver had a great 2016 too, if you ask me, with his roles in Midnight Special and Silence, alongside his work in Paterson (which many critics praised heavily). I’m fully confident that he is as advertised in Paterson, and I’m especially curious to see how he handles poetry in the film. On paper, the role seems tailor-made for someone like Driver, so this should be exciting.

Another reason I’m highly anticipating Paterson is for the score. Similarly to Only Lovers, the music of Paterson is coming from Jarmusch’s band, Sqürl. I *loved* the music in Only Lovers and to this day it brings a smile to my face when it pops up on my Movie Music Spotify playlist (which you can listen to here). And given the material that Paterson is tackling, in terms of poetry, there ample opportunity for the music to amplify that notion very well. At least I’m hoping that is the case.

Have you seen Paterson? What do you think of the film?

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Here’s what else is opening this week at the box office:

The Space Between us

The Comedian
Rings
I Am Not Your Negro (limited)
War on Everyone (limited)

For those that listened to our Top 10 of 2016 show, you’ll know that J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls made my #10 slot. It’s a film that spoke heavily to my heart, as it depicts a young boy trying to cope with devastating tragedy. I can’t say that I’ve experienced verbatim what Conor (played wonderfully by Louis MacDougall) goes through in this film, but I’ve dealt with tragedy – as a lot of us have – and could relate with his struggle.

The brilliance of A Monster Calls is how Bayona manages to bring purpose to The Monster (voiced perfectly by Liam Neeson), as it relates to this specific narrative, while also providing enough symbolic ambiguity that you could read it any way you wanted to for your own story. Grief is a big monster in all of our lives, and A Monster Calls reminds us that there are many ways to interpret that emotion. For Conor, his grief was rooted (ahem) in frustration, fear, anger and desperation as he was trying to deal with his reality. This is emulated in several scenes. His first couple of interactions with The Monster are irritating, as he’s looking for an easy fix for his mom, but that’s not what happens. Instead, The Monster tells Conor a story, something he didn’t want to hear, only compounding his frustration. The second story he hears from The Monster further supplants Conor into his anger, which leads to a major catharsis and broken property in his grandmothers house. We also see how Conor’s grief, and desperation for answers, has effected his relationship with his father (Toby Kebell).

For a story that could have easily have fallen into meandering schmaltz, A Monster Calls is carefully crafted to show us how grief comes in many forms and how The Monster can change depending on how we view it. At various points in the film, The Monster is one of belief, he’s one of catharsis, he’s one of protection, he’s of accepting truth and for reasons I’ll get too here shortly, he’s arguably one of a higher power. The Monster obviously functions as a coping mechanism for Conor, but what’s interesting is how that mechanism operates in a way that renders the human condition during tragedy. There is a progression in Conor’s grief that is beautifully, and breathtakingly, indicative of how that emotion unravels during these arduous times in our lives. It’s for that reason why the pathos of A Monster Calls is genuine and earned.

Additionally, that emotion is felt when we see how Conor’s grief interacts with other family members. I already mentioned that it brings some strain between him and his dad. But it’s heavily on display between him and his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) as well. It’s no secret that when people are hurting, they are vulnerable. And it doesn’t help matters when you have conflicting personalities, which we see between Conor and grandma. Yet, it’s interesting to see how a specific event – and unfortunately, a painful one – brings them together. A Monster Calls is from Conor’s perspective, and rightfully we spend time on his turmoil, but there is something to be said about how this film depicts this idea of togetherness through tragedy. In that regard, this film is timely as it relates to our current societal landscape. At any rate, the idea of family and grief couldn’t be more potent than what we see between Conor and his mom (Felicity Jones deserves an Oscar nomination if you ask me). The scene where she tells Conor to break things, as a way to cope, is devastating. That moment perfectly crystallizes this notion of grief, and how Conor’s anger and desperation became self-identifiable, allowing for that interaction to sting in ways Conor will probably never forget. It not only gave Conor permission to break things, but it gives more weight to The Monster in how he helped Conor in the first place.

This brings me to my final thought about A Monster Calls. Again, I love how the film allows for interpretation, and for me there are spiritual undertones that resonated heavily. Forgive me in advance – I will probably lose some of here – but there are parallels to my own personal beliefs that I found striking. For one, the fact that The Monster is a tree is interesting to me as it relates to God, commonly known as “The Tree of Life.” On top of that, The Monster uses narratives to teach Conor about his grief and how it’s okay to not be okay. In essence, he uses parables to provide comfort, hope and ultimately healing, in a way that is uncanny through the lens of faith. And the way Conor reacts to those stories, again reflecting frustration and confusion, is very reminiscent of my own spiritual journey. It’s also what makes the final sequences of A Monster Calls blisteringly poignant for me. Conor has called upon something that is beyond him – The Monster, of course – in order to bring healing to his mom. The Monster may not have provided the kind of healing he initially sought out for, but in the end, there is healing that takes place. There is an acceptance that Conor must submit to in order to break free of his nightmare. The way Bayona depicts this visually is stunning and emulates spirituality in a way that I found provocative in terms of truth and faith in times of healing.

The great thing about A Monster Calls though, is that you can read it differently than what I just laid out, and the film still works. The Monster can literally be anything you want it to be. For me, however, those notions of faith are symbolized impeccably in The Monster – especially in the inspired casting of Liam Neeson – and how he interacts with Conor is powerful. The way Conor deals with grief and family is almost too close to home. I’ve never read the book, but this film depicts my story in a lot of ways, at least in terms of the emotions themselves. It hurts my heart that young boys and girls have to go through things like this in real life, but A Monster Calls is a great tool to help them in that process. I cannot recommend this film highly enough.

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Hear our podcast review on Episode 203: