Best Movie Saturday

Saturday night I saw that movie called The Artist that people really love.  It's a black and white silent film about black and white silent films.  It was pretty good, definitely charming, in different circumstances I may have really liked it, problem was . . .



. . . I had seen Mission: Impossible 4 that morning and could not stop thinking about it.  "Terrific" is kind of a cheeseball word but I can't think of another thing to call this movie.  Mission: Impossible 4 is just terrific, definitely the best action movie of the year.  Probably the best action movie of the last couple of years.  It was thrilling (one unexpected twist to an action sequence had me hop up in my seat, slap something [or someone] and holler out in surprise) and it made just enough sense.  I believe the majority of the credit goes to Brad Bird who has successfully transitioned from directing excellent animated films (The Iron Giant, the Incredibles) to excellent action movies.  Seriously, you absolutely gotta see this movie and, if you can, see it in real IMAX.  That's how I saw it and it was so big and cool.  From now on I only want to see movies in IMAX or on my iPod, nothing in between.


BUT I almost couldn't think about Mission Impossible Four while I was watching because before it they played the first 7 minutes of the next Batman movie and that put me in a fit.  What they showed us introduced the movie's main villain, Bane, and in some ways his introduction was surprisingly similar to the Joker's (and in other ways completely not anything like it at all, of course) but the scene establishes very well that this villain is bad news.  The scene was full of menace and also full of kind of weird stuff that I guess I'm just going to have to wonder about until the movie comes out.  But it seems certain that the Nolan crew is not wresting on its Dark Knight laurels and that this is going to be a tremendous film.  As awesome as the Avengers will probably be, it seems a sure thing that the Dark Knight Rises will easily own 2012.

I've discovered that there's a bootleg of prologue is on YouTube, that's no way to watch it, but it's a good way to rewatch it.  Still creeps me out.  This Bane is bad news.