Brooklyn Beat sent this report about the new Batman flick, The Dark Knight. You can read more and see pictures at his blog, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn, which he has redesigned. It is now bright yellow. I plan to see the film tonight at the adorable movie theater on the island where I am.

Dark indeed. The Dark Knight explores psychology, abnormal and
otherwise, and resonates with the mysteries of post-9/11 urban life.
Wiretapping. Terror. Chaos. Anarchy. This is not the Batman of Adam
West and the comic book, zap-pow-bang, of the late 20th century. In
this era, filmmaking-as-entertainment has morphed into something
completely new and different, since virtually everyone on the planet
(at least who was within sight of some form of communications media)
has been exposed to the darkness of 9/11 and the other assorted forms
of violence and terror that erupt from dark corners, inhabit our
dreams, and form our nightmares of a future un-perfect. There is a lot
to chew over here. It is a 2-1/2 hour film that never drags.

My
kids saw it at a midnight screening in a crowded theater; we stragglers
caught it at a local, more outlying theater, comparably empty at 6 PM
on a Monday. Great cast, great script, great action. Christian Bale was
fantastic. Aaron Eckert, Maggie Gyllenhall, Gary Oldman: the cast
members are, in major and supporting roles, uniformly stunning. And, of
course there is not much else to be said about Health Ledger. I could
only juggle in my memories the much more understated performance Ledger
gave as the Counterculture figure of the 70s with a crashing marriage
in "I’m Not There" with this over-the-top, shattering, transporting
performance of a character who is as frightening and repellant as he is
irrestistable. You cannot take your eyes off of Ledger while he is on
the screen. This is the movie of the summer with some of the
performances of the year. And the creation of a strange sort of legend
for the late Heath Ledger.