The Dark Knight

"Why so serious," Was a line used many times throughout the movie The Dark Knight by the Joker. Heath Ledger who I believe did a wonderful job of acting throughout the whole movie which contributed to the success that the movie had world wide. The Dark Knight used many different movie techniques that helped it to become so great. You had the special effects of what Batman could do from his outfit all the way to his bat mobile, you had amazing actors and you had an attention seeking plot line that all come together to grab my attention for the two and half our long film.

As states in our book, "The ultimate goal of any actor should be to make us believe completely in the reality of the character." Heath Ledger summed this statement up quite well. He did an amazing job of getting himself to play the Joker. Every scene that he was in from the way he talked to the way he walked stayed consistent throughout the whole film. Every time he was on the screen I was just shocked and all my attention was focused only on him. Also I think what made him such a good actor is all the other actors around him who where just as good playing their parts. I feel that it helped to contribute to why the Joker or Heath did so well, is because he had everyone around him playing their roles right which helped him to play his well. Another line quoted from the book, "An actor's goal is to obscure his or her own personality and to become another person on the screen, the actor must learn to behave reflexively and naturally as this new character." Heath did a wonderful job of acting natural when playing the role of the Joker throughout the movie. No matter what situation the Joker was in Heath personality and character really adapted to each situation and make his acting be really believable. I also want to taught a little bit on his make-up. I think for him being able to see what he looked like helped to grasp the whole concept of the Joker and helped him get in the Jokers shoes. Because it was not his face that he was seeing in the mirror it was the new character the Jokers face with all the paint and I think being in that costume and being someone totally different then who you truly are helps to make the acting come easier.

An article I read on the Internet that went along with Heath Ledger's acting that I thought really caught my attention to his death and the movie is, "And this misery loves company, harm for harm's sake Joker isn't joking when it comes to threatening that dramatic balance of power, while laying the blame on his devil make me do it bad childhood." Playing a role like Heath did and putting yourself in a situation like that and actually acting it out would take a toll on somebodies mind and the way they view the world. He's part as the joker I am not going to lie almost scared me just by his out word appearance the way he talked, the attitude of the character. If you play that role for long enough I can see it becoming a problem in your real lifestyle. Just have to have the Jokers mentality daily would be enough to screw me up.

Another article that I read on the Internet from Seacoast states this, " 'The Dark Knight' may refer to Christian Bale's Batman but it is wholly owned and operated by Heath Ledger's Joker." The article goes into further description but I would have to agree with this statement. I went into the movie as a first time viewer and I thought that the focus was going to be Batman from past experiences on watching Batman movies. But I was wrong like I said before every time the Joker came on the screen I was just totally hooked on that character and I could give a careless about Batman. In conclusion I really enjoyed watching this movie, the acting was amazing and it will definitely be a movie that I will watch again.

Sources:

The Dark Knight IMAX Movie Review: Heath Ledger Mesmerizes
By Prairie Miller
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080716055928mill.nb/topstory.html

‘Dark Knight’ review: Yep, Heath Ledger is that good
Best performance in years, if not decades, anchors long, dark, glorious film

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080717/ENTERTAIN/80717021

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire takes you through a wild journey into the heart and soul of a young man named Jamal Malik, who is a slum kind from Mubai, India who goes on the local T.V. show in hopes of finding his brother and a girl that he adores but in the end walks away a millionaire. The movie grabbed my attention from the very beginning and keep me interested all the way through to the end of the film. According to an article which states, "We learn the history of Jamal and other principal characters in flashbacks, as Jamal answers the questions on the TV show not from book knowledge, he has known, but his own life experiences." That stated right there is why I think that this movie won so many Oscars and why I enjoyed it so much. It was not like all the other films that you see which take you thorough a boys journey from birth and then leads you to where he is today. But in this case the movie director and writers used flashbacks, which are the key in helping toreveal to the viewers the real meanings behind why Jamal is such a genius. For every difficult question that he had to answer they would flashback to his childhood and go through the journey that brought him to getting that answer correct. Jamal did not have to have any sort of book knowledge the only knowledge that he needed was the experiences and hardships that he faced. That is another main reason why I enjoyed watching this movie is that it really takes you into a deeper meaning then just winning a million dollars it takes you through a boys journey and the hardships that he faced and the reward for all that was a million dollars. Even after he won that he was happy more to have found the girl that he admired then actually winning the money.



Some examples of the flashbacks into Jamal's life that help him to answer all the questions right are; his brothers having to watch their mother die in an anti-Muslim riot, gave him the answer that it was a bow and arrow. Or the the child camp that Jamal had to go to in hopes of making money they had to sing at the camp and that gave him the answer to the title of the song. Then the last example was the for the million dollar question who are the three musketeer's and he remembered form his childhood his brother talking to him in the pouring rain while they were hiding in a covered area and debating whether they should let the girl in and saying how she could be the third musketeer so he uses a life line to call him but Latika the girl that he adores answers the phone and he is so shocked to hear her voice because not only does he get the answer right but he finds the girl that he was looking for all along. The use of every flashback in this movie was like a new eye opening experience that explained every detail to why Jamal won the million dollars.



Another statement quoted from a article, " The whoosh of action and romance pulls you in, but it's the bruised characters who hold you there. Every step Jamal takes toward his final answer could get him killed." This statement right here is the focus of what the whole movie is wrapped around Jamal life is being threatened because they feel that he is cheating but in reality these were all real life experience that he went through that help to shape him into becoming so smart. I was reading an article somewhere and it said something rather interesting about what the whole movie was trying to answer. It was like the movie was one big question and each part helped to lead to the final answer. "How did he do it? A) He cheated B) He's lucky C) He's a genius D) It's written" At the end of the movie the screen goes black and all you see at the left hand corner is D)It's written." Which is what everyone was quesioning thorughout the movie and putting his life on the line for all to find out that everything was written in his mind through due to what he faced as a child. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this movie for it was one that made me think yet touched my heart. It was so hard for me to watch and witness and see all the horrible things that Jamal and his family and friends had to go through. The whole purpose for Jamal going on the show was to find his brother Salim and the girl he adores Latika and I am so happy that the movie ended with him finding her. It put a happy twist to a horrible past for Jamal.