Joseph Gordon-Levitt | pinartarhan.com

The Dark Knight Rises: A GREAT MOVIE!

Posted on November 18, 2012 Written by ripitup

The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy & Anne Hathaway

The Dark Knight Rises movie poster via iceposter.com.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), physically and emotionally damaged after what happened with Joker and Harvey Two Face, has stayed away from the public eye- both as Bruce the billionaire businessman and Batman.

Not that Gotham seems to miss Batman much. Organized crime has come to an halt, or so it seems, and the police can handle the petty criminals. And everyone remembers Harvey as a hero, blaming his death on Batman. Of course Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) knows the truth, but is not quite ready to reveal it yet. Another person who intuitively knows the true nature of Batman is Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

And while Bruce is being more reclusive than ever, Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) won’t let his “retirement” get in the away of her acquiring what her dangerous clients demand from her, and she is more interested saving her own butt than protecting the Gotham citizens.

But when it becomes obvious that a very dangerous ex-convict, Bane (Tom Hardy), is putting a very dangerous plan into motion, Bruce decides that it is time to put on the costume. Unfortunately his company is in financial trouble, and he needs help to protect their biggest invention yet.

His biggest allies are Fox (Morgan Freeman), board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Blake. Unfortunately, Selina keeps sabotaging his efforts and Bane is a lot smarter, more patient and more well-connected than any other villain he has encountered. And his plans…well, even Selina’s “the storm is coming” warning” doesn’t quite cover it…

The Dark Knight Rises is not just the best Batman movie I saw (and I have seen them all, apart from the George Clooney one, but you can hardly blame me for it), but it is one of the best movies I have watched. It’s just the perfect action/drama.

Now, diehard Batman (comic book) fans might prefer the first or the second movie. But as much as I love the idea of Batman, I had never been able to find the perfect Batman movie, up until The Dark Knight Rises. They were either too absurd (whether it was Burton or Schumacher – Schumacher exaggerating even further) or too dark and depressing. Nolan’s first two films didn’t make me like, respect or root for Batman. I didn’t understand him either. Bruce seemed one-dimensional, and so did the villains.

The female characters were there to complicate things for Bruce and to look pretty, but they didn’t add anything interesting to the flow. Not for me. And both movies left many questions unanswered, and I was extremely disappointed in the second movie when it came to character development and motives. We were given a second villain like 20 minutes into the movie and supposed to accept the transition. Please don’t say it is silly to expect character development from a comic book movie. It’s directed by Christopher Nolan!

But The Dark Knight Rises is different. It does add the other dimensions to all of its characters. We understand Bruce better. He is not just depressed/rich/reclusive or dark – he is human, with many other adjectives to describe his personality. There are two women, who are way more important to the plot than to being just eye candy or be part of a love triangle. Hell, it even makes me see why the first two were made.

Commissioner Gordon is more significant than ever, and the Blake character also challenges and motivates Bruce a lot more than any other ally or friend he has ever had.

And the villain…We understand him, and we are intimidated by him. He is just worthy.

The Dark Knight Rises has it all for the comic book adaptation lover that doesn’t necessarily read the comics. But in addition to being fun and engaging, it is really intense, emotional and full of good twists. I have never seen 165 minutes run faster. And it has one of the best casts ever: Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Matthew Modine, Tom Hardy, Brett Cullen, Gary Oldman…And hell, we even have Liam Neeson for about 10 seconds!

Other Posts on the Cast:

Christian Bale:

Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature

Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseoh Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cottilard, Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy

10 Things I Hate About You starring Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julia Stiles & Larisa Oleynik

500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

Latter Days starring Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Joseph Gordon- Levitt

Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseoh Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cottilard, Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy

Posted on July 29, 2010 Written by ripitup

Inception poster — Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard and Tom Hardy. Written and directed by Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Memento director Christopher Nolan. Image via: filmofilia.com

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a highly unusual career: he extracts information (secrets) from people’s dreams when they are asleep, by joining in on the dream. He works with a team and his most frequent member is Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

Though his assignments are exciting, Cobb is far from being happy because his job isn’t exactly legal, and he is declared a criminal in the States, where his two little children live. He is also starting to lose his unique ability or at least getting a huge blow with the constant interruptions from Mal (Marion Cottilard), with who he seems to have a very complicated past with.

Cobb finally seems to have a shot at seeing his children, however, when he makes a very risky agreement with the powerful businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe). This time, the mission is not to extract information but to plant a thought in someone’s head, and make him think that this was his idea all along. Their “subject” is Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy), the son of Saito’s biggest competitor. Now that Robert Sr. is dying, Jr. will be left to rule the business and it is best for Saito if he lets his father’s business fall apart.

Cobb puts another team together for the mission. Along with Arthur, he recruits Ariadne (Ellen Page) –a young and very successful architect who can design the dream world they need, Eames (Tom Hardy) –a great thief and forger and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who will provide them with the most powerful drugs to help intensify the dream stage.

But the mission is very dangerous and complex and Dom just might not have been honest with everyone. And Robert Fischer Jr. just might not be as an easy target as they initially thought…

Now, obviously this is not a movie where any plot summary can do justice. It is a brilliant movie with an awesome script, stunning visuals and a great cast. And the best part is, you don’t really need to be a science fiction fan to enjoy this film. I am not, for instance. You just need to have an interest in mind-benders and well, a little fantasy. Sure, there are people who didn’t like the film but I have a feeling they are not in the majority since the movie just got to number 3 on IMDB’s top 250 movies list, voted by over 88.000 people. And it is currently number 1 at the box office. Now, don’t let the 9.2 rating scare you. I know it scared me. I thought I would find a vastly overrated movie.

And while I’d not quite say it is the best third film ever made, it is certainly much more impressive, original and clever than most films that made it to that list, which is formed by movie-goers themselves. I also didn’t know what to expect as I didn’t exactly have a great time at Batman The Dark Knight (Batman movie co- written and directed by Christopher Nolan) and I do find it a bit too long and indeed overrated (don’t hate me, my idea of a good comic book character is Iron Man as he is not that “dark” and “serious”) and I definitely believe writer/director Christopher Nolan comes up with much better stuff when it is coming from his own imagination. While I am not a Dark Knight fan, I really love Memento, another Christopher Nolan film that is also on the top 250 list and I am pretty sure by this time you have either heard about or seen Memento.

I am not sure if I like Inception as much as Memento, but I definitely enjoyed the ride. I wasn’t all that engaged in the first 10 minutes of the movie but then the movie picked up pace and never really slowed down. But it is not all action and it is not all fantasy. And Nolan has made marvelous observations about the dream state and what we remember afterwards or how our dreams are structured. There is a chance you will end up having different interpretation of the movie, even with your friends. The emotions Cobb goes through are very humane and you can’t help but empathize with his pain. But I found all the actors to be perfect for their roles. And among with all the mind-bending, paradoxes and complexities that seem to threaten even sanity, the movie does have some really good one-liners to put a smile on your face. But of course they light the mood up for about a split second.

As with the different interpretations, this writer seems to have collected the most popular ones and presented them with their strengths and weaknesses. If you have seen the movie, I suggest you take a look at that review and compare notes. But while that writer has his interpretation, and I have mine. My initial reaction to the film was in line with interpretation number 5 and I do want to believe in 6. But I mostly enjoyed reading number 3.

And obviously I’d love any comments here too. While I didn’t include spoilers in the summary, I do welcome them in the comments.

8.8 on IMDB. I think anywhere between 8-9 suits this movie fine. Brilliant. A little dark for my taste, but I just can’t resist it.

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Note: Michael Caine has a small role as Miles, Cobb’s father. And both Michael Caine and Cillian Muprhy appear in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Favorite Scenes:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s fighting scene at the hotel, without the gravity.

The fall of the van to the water, synchronized with the dream levels.

Pretty much any chasing scene, as they are glorious.

The dreams falling apart.

Anything we find about Mal…

OK, I have a lot more. Please share yours.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3XzUYd6nrU&feature=PlayList&p=7FD12EDD62CA1846&index=0&playnext=1[/pro-player]

10 Things I Hate About You starring Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julia Stiles & Larisa Oleynik

Posted on January 15, 2010 Written by ripitup

10 things I hate about you, starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. Yep, they look soooo into each other.

This probably has to the best, teen movie ever- because it is just not exactly a teen movie. Sure it takes place in a high school and between high school students, but it is based on Shakespeare comedy “Taming of The Shrew” –which I fully intend to read.

Let’s talk about the movie.

When Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) starts at his new school, he immediately develops a friendship with one of the outcasts named Michael (David Krumholtz)and falls for Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) at first sight. Michael immediately warns Cameron that Bianca is way out of his league and he is not exaggerating. She is more into Joey (Andrew Keegan), a self-centered popular guy who gets modeling gigs. Joey is only into Bianca because she is a virgin. What really challenges him though is that Bianca’s father (Larry Miller) is not letting her date.

As Cameron tries to get closer to Bianca while he tutors her French (a language he is trying to master only to be able to spend time with her), Bianca informs him that his father has made a new rule: she can date when her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) dates. The problem is her sister (also at her high school) is against every thing Bianca ever believes in. She loves punk and rock, she is anti-fashion, is all for individuality and she’d rather die than date an idiot at her school.

This is when Cameron and his friend come up with a great plan. Michael makes a deal with Joey- they’ll find a guy to date Kat- Joey will pay the guy. Then he will be able to date Bianca. Of course the real plan is for Cameron to be able to B himself. Then they make a deal with Patrick (Heath Ledger) whose reputation is bad as Kat’s. Cameron and Michael help Patrick to get to Kat. Of course things get complicated as Bianca only seems to be using Cam and Patrick starts falling for Kat….

It is really funny and romantic. Heath Ledger is awesome as usual and the casting just seems right. I love how Michael uses this opportunity to get back at his old best friends who excluded him and Kat’s father (Larry Miller) is just a riot. He cracks me up every time. Then there is the headmaster who is writing an erotic novel and the English teacher who seems to hate all of his students. And any soundtrack that involves Joan Jett is fine by me. Do watch it. After all how many other “teen” movies did you see that was rated 6.9 on imdb, voted by 56.799 people? Exactly!!!

Enjoy the trailer

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWmjzCZr0Jw[/pro-player]

Also featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt:

500 Days of Summer

3 TV Series About Aliens: Roswell, 3rd Rock From The Sun and V (2009)

Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

Posted on December 3, 2009 Written by ripitup

500 Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

This is one real, sincere and a little gem of a movie. It is quite lovely, actually bordering on brilliant. I have seen better movies and I’m sure you have too. I am just not sure I have seen any better in the whole romance/comedy genre though. I think most people have been in the places of both of the leading characters- Tom and Summer.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsD0NpFSADM[/pro-player]
Tom (Joseph Gordon- Levitt) is a young man working at a greeting cards company. When Summer (Zooey Deschanel) starts to work at the same office, he can’t believe his luck. She is beautiful, fun and seems to share his taste in music. There is one problem: Summer is a cynic who doesn’t believe in love and doesn’t want a serious relationship. So Tom only has one choice really. As much as he’s falling for Summer, he pretends he is OK with the casual relationship they are having. The movie adds a half-serious/half-amusing documentary approach to the background as the story takes a look at Tom’s 500 days spent either with Summer or thinking about her. The days are not shown in order and we just join the emotional rollercoaster Tom has got on.

The movie provides all the bittersweet reality of falling in love, the great days when we think the other person feels the same and the other days when we simply feel all alone in the relationship. This is of course Tom’s point of view. I once fell for a boy who didn’t love me back yet I was certain we were such a good match. As Tom’s terribly smart and mature younger sister points out, just because the other person likes the same stuff with us, it doesn’t mean they are your soul mates. Attraction and love may not be mutual or even if there is chemistry, it doesn’t mean the other person fells the same way about you. But then again, I understand Summer too. I have been Summer, meaning where I was the one who didn’t want a relationship, where I wanted to keep things casual. That is what makes this movie so good to watch. The characters are us. We have been them or met them at some point in our lives. But the story is never slow or boring because the familiarity is always presented with a lovely sense of humor.

But as the tag line says, this is not a love story. It is a story about love. And as far as emotional and funny movies go, this is pretty well-done.

The soundtrack is lovely. The actors are totally believable and very likable. And do not consider as just a love a story. It is a great look on life,relationships and dreams. It takes a girl like Summer for Tom to start thinking about his goals again. All people that enter our lives leave some sort of mark, whether they stay on or not. This film is the perfect combination of escapism and reality.