Best Movie Ever?

I try my best to not get my hopes up when it comes to movies. I find it to be the best way to preserve my movie-watching experiences.

There are few things worse than paying 5-10 dollars for a movie ticket and then finding out that the movie is horrible, or even “less than expected”. I have a pretty good record on picking movies, so I don’t go through this often. The times I do get caught up seem to involve my people (Death At A Funeral, most of TP’s recent efforts, even Safe House to a certain extent), but that’s another matter.

I think it’s even more coincidence than comparative analysis that the movies I have lowered expectations for seem to be great.

Denzel fans can get as mad at me as they want to, but Man On A Ledge was better than Safe House. My expectations were lower for the former, but it was clearly more entertaining than the latter. The story was better and there was more action. Also had more plot twists and better characters. Safe House just “stopped” toward the end.

Safe House and Man On A Ledge had similar main characters (guy who everyone thinks is a criminal really is a good guy), but the latter was…just better. Another example: The Avengers and the Spider-Man reboot. Now, I’m not going to say Avengers was a bad movie. It was really good, but just below great. Spider-Man was great. Not only was it far better than I could have possibly expected - I only went to see it out of curiosity - but it, once again, told a better story.

I really have a few things to pick at about Avengers, but it was a very good movie and I will buy the DVD September 25. Spider-Man, though? As I said on Twitter after the movie, they got things right that the last series didn’t really even get wrong. They were more true to the comic books as well, but there were just small things that they got right which I appreciated (like the one-liners from Spidey).

Anyway, I’m 350+ words in and haven’t gotten to the crux of this. Let me change that. My two favorite movies are Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (reverse order, of course). They’re just awesome movies, and trying to convince me otherwise is an exercise in futility. I liked the previous Batman series - okay, I liked the first one and the second one was alright: the last two stunk - but this one has been simply amazing.

Before I saw Batman Begins, I thought it would be good (I liked the idea of a darker tone) but had my reservations. Oddly enough, they were similar to those I had with the Spider-Man reboot. I wasn’t sure at all about the bad guy from Shaft being Batman. Decided to give him a chance, though. The first real eye-opening moment came about 40 minutes into the film and from then on I was hooked.

Waited three long years until the sequel, and this time around my expectations were high. At least recently, I’d preferred sequels to originals so I had a feeling it would be good. It was so much better than good I can’t even describe it. I was transfixed on the movie, to the point of becoming seriously annoyed with my then-girlfriend for asking questions. It had everything and went so far beyond a normal movie experience for me. It was an intellectual exercise. It touched on everything from history to morality to game theory - and like its predecessor, it had a moment about 40 minutes in that was simply masterful.

Before you think I’m crazy, please remember what TDK did at the box office. It is one of only 12 movies to gross $1B. Seven of the movies above it came out after it did…and it was out before 3D reached its present popularity level. Critics loved it too, and it’s on many people’s short lists.

So now here I am, four years later. I liked Spider-Man 3 more than the first two. I liked X-Men: The Last Stand more than the first two. Anyone want to guess how much I’m looking forward to Friday? I’ve already had my ticket for over a month. I’ve heard that critics who’ve seen it applauded and cried at the end. Who cries at the end of a movie (because of how good it was)? The Avengers is #3 right now on the all-time box office list. I think The Dark Knight Rises will beat it. I won’t say it’ll beat Titanic or Avatar - especially since Titanic is having another run - but I’m of the mind that it’ll get the #3 slot.

Of course, high box-office numbers don’t mean a movie will be good. I like Titanic plenty. Avatar? Not so much. But this…this movie here…might be something truly special. I’ve already wondered about simply getting back in line and buying another ticket to see it again after I watch it the first time. I would say it’s definite that I’ll go see it again, but oddly enough I only saw TDK once (saw Batman Begins twice).

Part of me wants to call it the best movie ever, and I haven’t even seen it. Isn’t that crazy? I guess I could say it’s “the best movie I’ve never seen”, but that would sound odd. That said, putting things together and seeing the patterns of progression it just makes (a different kind of) sense that this movie will be something to behold. I halfway wish Katt Williams would show up and say “that Dark Knight, that was nothing: but this movie right here…”. I’ve waited four years for this, and the wait is almost over. I smile just thinking about it. This movie may live up to the hype and surpass all the lofty expectations. It could be truly special. Sigh.

I don’t know how one makes a movie better than The Dark Knight. Friday night, I plan to find out.