Public Enemies Movie Rating – 8 out of 10 – Great Movie

One of the rare nights I’ve been able to get out to see a movie recently was last Friday w/ my wife.  With only a few hours to entertain ourselves (we had a babysitter), we had the option to see Public Enemies or Bruno.  Having not really gotten into Borat, I really wasn’t looking forward to seeing Bruno and convinced my wife to see Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

Public Enemies Movie Trailer

The movie is basically a re-telling of John Dillinger‘s rise to fame as a bank robber in the Midwestern area of the United States during the 1930′s.  Depp, who plays Dillinger, did a wonderful job portraying the infamous character – even to the point where you were almost rooting for him to succeed against the police/FBI.  As with most of Depp’s work, he has a certain likeability factor that gets you involved in his characters, regardless of their motives or bad nature.

Overall, I would give Public Enemies an 8/10 rating, Depp an 8/10 rating, and Bale a 9/10.  The movie didn’t move too slowly, but it was somewhat predictable so I can’t give it a 9 or 10.  The scripts could’ve also used some fine tuning, but overall was good as well.

The Dark Knight Owns Box Office – Greatest Superhero Movie Ever?

The latest rendition in the Batman movie series, The Dark Knight, had been garnering attention even before one of it’s stars died of a pill overdose and before critics had seen the moive. Starting with the previous Batman movie, the hero has been portrayed in a much darker, more self-introspective light than previous child-oriented Batman’s. Here is a High-Definition trailer of The Dark Knight if you’ve not yet seen it.

This version, starring Christian Bale as Batman, Heath Ledger as The Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face, more than lived up to the hype surrounding it’s release. I saw the movie on Friday night and it was amazing! The first full movie theater I’ve visited in quite some time; if standing room was available – I’m sure it would’ve been filled as well.

The movie was loud, it was dark, it was evil, but fun at the same time. Ledger’s performance as The Joker was above impressive – you almost couldn’t recognize that Heath was under the makeup – it was that good. The supporting cast was equally as impressive, w/ Eckhart playing Harvey Dent (aka Two-Face) and Maggie Gyllenhaal playing the love interest of both Bruce Wayne & Dent.

The storyline flowed well and there were literally no moments where you would want to leave the theater. In my case, 3 bathroom breaks interrupted my viewing, but that’s what happens when you party before a 2 1/2 hr movie I guess.

Some are predicting (or hoping) that Ledger will get an Oscar nod for his performance, but Jack Nicholson’s Joker was just as impressive in my opinion. Jack’s storyline and dialogue were a little weaker, but that’s the writer’s fault, not Nicholson’s.

Personally, I would like to see the movie nominated for Best Picture. Sure, it doesn’t follow the format of the typical sappy English historical movie, but it was a damn good movie – visually, emotionally and entertainment wise. The Dark Knight has already established itself as the top weekend grossing film (approaching $200 million) and will likely continue to impress as word gets around about just how good the movie is. This movie puts all other comic-based movies to shame.