1. The Dark Knight A dark masterpiece. Epic in scope and thought. The bar which all future superhero movies must measure themselves against. This is the Batman movie we all deserved, even if we didn't know we needed it. Heath Ledger's performance is one for the ages.
"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight."
2. Spider-Man 2 The quintessential superhero tale. Just the right amount of humor, tragedy, and superheroism for a Spider-Man story. Doc Ock secures his place as one of the all time great supervillains. Spidey is bent, bruised, and pushed to his limits, but never broken. Just like any great story, the triumph in the final act rewards the audience with a renewal of faith and optimism.
"I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams."
3. Superman The granddaddy of them all. Without this 1978 classic, there wouldn't have been any Batman, Spider-Man, or Iron Man. Richard Donner's keyword was "verisimilitude", and its influence is evident in almost every scene. Christopher Reeve is Superman to me, as surely as the sky is blue. Probably the greatest credit intro sequence in the history of superhero movies, thanks to John Williams.
"You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you, even in the face of our death. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel, all this and more, I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you, all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father the son."
4. Iron Man A truly engaging origin story told with enthusiasm and creativity. Robert Downey Jr completely embodies Tony Stark and allows us to believe his transformation from brilliant arms dealer to armored protector of the masses. Coupled with superb special effects and a great supporting cast, this movie lifts off and never comes close to touching down.
"They say that the best weapon is the one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it and it's worked out pretty well so far."
5. Batman Begins Rescued Batman from the previous entry "Batman and Robin." Nuff said.
"No, this is your mask. Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved, the man who vanished, he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again."
I was completely blown away. It's probably the best superhero movie I've ever seen. The movie did have a lot of hype and expectations and to be honest, I think it exceeded them.
Heath Ledger was pitch perfect as the Joker. His magic pencil trick was um, quite effective, let's just say. Cackling and twitching, odd mannerisms ahoy, Ledger completely becomes the Killer Clown from Hell. No one's going to remember Jack Nicholson after this one. The one recurring thought I had walking out of the theater was how unfortunate it was that we wouldn't see his incredible talent again in the inevitable third feature.
Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent was also excellent. As other reviews have already said, he is the White Knight to Batman's Dark Knight. The entire central plot is pretty much designed to channel this man's fall from grace. When you first see the full reveal of Two Face's face, it's hard not to gasp. The CGI/make-up for Two Face is how he should always look, it's iconic and grotesque and realistic all at the same time.
At a running time of 2 and a half hours, this is ostensibly a rather long movie, yet it never felt that way to me. Probably the fastest 2 and a half hours I've spent in the theaters. From the opening bank robbery to the sobering finale, I was completely captivated by this epic crime tale from Chris Nolan. Yes, this is not simply a feel good superhero movie like Iron Man (which I enjoyed a lot), but an honest to God HEAT-esque crime drama. For some people, this may not be a good thing. They may complain that it wasn't light hearted enough, that it was disturbing to peer into the heart of darkness in a city without hope. For those people, yes... please go elsewhere. Maybe go watch Mamma Mia. For the rest of us, The Dark Knight is a night to remember.
So we all know that Clan Wolf was the most successful of the 4 Invasion Clans in 3049-52. Yes yes, they were the only ones to capture their two objective cities on Tukayyid. This is all because of writer fiat IMO, but let's just go with the facts here. What was the secret to their phenomenal success? Some might say it was their Warden leanings, but Ghost Bear also had strong Wardens in their ranks, which didn't seem to help their initial invasion performance.
One thing I believe is clear: the reliance on the Gargoyle OmniMech was surely not the source of their success. Seriously, look at the specs on this piece of shit:
Assault Class: 80 tons Cruising Speed: 54 kph Maximum Speed: 86 kph Pod space: 21.75 tons
Primary Configuration: 2 SRM-6s 2 LBX-5s ER Small Laser
How in God's name does this work out to being a good Assault Mech? I mean yes, the speed is nice, but speed alone will not win battles. "Oh god yes, this amazing speed for my Assault Mech is gonna allow me to flank the enemy and hit his rear with... LBX-5s? What the fuck is a pair of LBX-5s even doing on an assault mech? Coupled with the SRM-6s, the Gargoyle seems like it'd be awesome for dealing criticals once armor is exposed, but the problem is there aren't any armaments to expose that armor in the first place. A large lumbering mech with peashooters... sounds like a Clan version of the infamous Banshee. While the A variant is at least somewhat competent with a pair of ER PPCs to deal heavy dmg, one would assume it was not as common as the Primary. And the other variants besides the A are similarly underwhelming. Simply put, Clan Wolf should not have had anywhere near the level of success they had if they were truly using the Gargoyle in large numbers. In fact, one finds it hard to believe that a Gargoyle in 3049 could even stand toe to toe with a 3025-tech Awesome or Atlas. In those situations, with zellbrigen in place, the Gargoyle should be ripped apart quite easily, as it does not seem to have much armor either. Ironically, the Smoke Jaguars that used mostly Dire Wolves were depicted as being less successful, even though the Dire Wolf is 20 tons heavier and packs about twice as much firepower in its chassis.
Because of the obvious incompetence of the Gargoyle design and weapons loadout, it seems the only reasonable theory would be that Clan Wolf instead relied mostly on its excellent Timber Wolves for assault-based actions, only using Gargoyles as backup support. With the good armor allocation and weapons configurations of the Timber Wolf design, there was hardly a reason to use Assault Mechs against the 3025 armies of the Inner Sphere. The Timber Wolf was unquestionably the best Heavy OmniMech design the Clans had and would not be challenged for that status until the arrival of the Nova Cat in 3059.
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Seriously, I can't stand buffets these days. Yes, in my youth I devoured their contents with great ease and vigor, but now that my metabolism has slowed down it just seems like an exercise in torture, stuffing your gut with all this low quality food. Make no mistake, buffets have shit for cuisine. That shark fin soup? One or two strands of shark fin in every spoonful. That sushi? Too much rice, not enough fish. It's how they make a profit, obviously.
Well, no more. I've learned my ways. Plus, my stomach doesn't seem capable of stretching as much as it used to. Sure, I can cram more food down if I want to, but I'll just end up feeling sick and shitty. Is that really worth it for some sense of "stickin it" to the buffet's bottom line? Sorry, I surrender. Nowadays, the sensible option is to go to a nice hearty restaurant like... ohhhh Red Lobster. I admit, Red Lobster is the bomb. Even some ppl I know who don't like sea food as a general rule will be won over by the elegant seafaring charms of your local Red Lobster establishment. Who can ignore the scrumptious complementary buttered bread thingies? Or the large ocean liner-sized Ultimate Feast? Even their steak is pretty damn good, which one might not expect from a seafood-oriented restaurant.
My typical outing at a RL (Red Lobster for those of the lower IQ brackets) consists of a caesar salad, then a dozen raw oysters with dashes of cocktail sauce, followed by an exquisite lobster pizza, and finally an ultimate feast. Though recently, I have experimented with the lobster shrimp and steak as a replacement for the ultimate feast, which is an old faithful standby. Oh, and of course a Sunset Passion Colada to quench my mighty thirst. Yes my friends, nothing but a pleasant and enjoyable outing while stuffing one's face with high quality seafood. Sure, the bill will probably end up being higher then that of a buffet's if you follow my menu selections, but as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.
And yes, I do quite realize that the above passages sound like I'm getting paid to be some sort of blogging shill for the Red Lobster corporation. Unfortunately, I am actually kind of a slacker who plays WoW all day. When the need for nutrients arises, I simply like tasty seafood as opposed to hot pockets delivered to my basement.
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