The Rum Diary

Based on Hunter S Thompson's book of the same name, The Rum Diary is the story of Kemp (Johnny Depp), a journalist who travels to Puerto Rico to take a job at a small newspaper that seems to be on the brink of shutting down. He meets a cast of unusual characters, and is hired by a mogul, Sanderson (played by Aaron Eckhart) to help spin a slightly illegal and somewhat immoral land and development deal into something positive. When he falls in love with Sanderson's girlfriend, Chenault (Amber Heard), everything starts to go down hill...

The Rum Diary has its moments, but, as a complete film, is uninteresting. There never, really, seems to be too much at stake in the film. Kemp needs the job, but he seems to always get by when things happen. The deal that Sanderson involves him in seems to be going somewhere, but fizzles as a plot element, and Chenault feels like a red herring, but with nothing to cling to when she's gone. I haven't seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, another adaptation of a Thompson work with Depp in the lead, but I can only imagine, considering its rabid fan base, it has to be more interesting than this was.

A few thoughts on The Dark Knight

I'm not going to write a review about The Dark Knight. There's no point. It would just be a really long gush fest, with words like magnificent, amazing, and transcendent. It would include phrases like "easily one of, if not THE best of the year", "pitch perfect", and "everything that is amazing about filmmaking". But you can read all of that elsewhere. There's no point in me repeating it. I also don't want to go into the plot, because I am so afraid I might give out a spoiler (though I'm thoroughly convinced that I was, probably, one of the last people to actually see it). So, just a few thoughts, and we'll leave it at that.

- Easily the best Batman ever.

- I'm not actually sure they have a word to describe how amazing the film was. I'm still on the high of seeing it.

- I thought it was interesting that I liked the portrayal of Two-Face by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever when I was a kid, but as I grew up, enjoyed its cartoonishness less and less. Now, as an adult, Aaron Eckhart's Two-Face is perfect - Bitter, Insane with rage and jealousy, and completely broken.

- Although Maggie Gyllenhaal is a better actress than Katie Holmes, I'm not sure she made a better Rachel Dawes. Gyllenhaal's  natural personal attributes bleed heavily into the character, and, while Katie Holmes is not the best actress, I will say that I think she was able to fill the role better. I wasn't able to see Rachel Dawes as well as I did with Holmes. I kept seeing Maggie Gyllenhaal AS Rachel Dawes.

- I'm glad the filmmakers followed the path they did. Yes, it was much darker than people expected, but the darkness serves the character of Batman a lot better. Nolan pushed the limits of all of these characters, made you fall in love with them (even the psychotic Joker), and when you fall in love with a character, the film suddenly becomes something bigger than everyone. That's what film is supposed to do - invite you into its world, stir up emotions and passions, and make you FEEL something. The Dark Knight accomplishes every bit of that.

- Heath Ledger, hands down, may be the best Joker there will ever be. I feel sorry for whoever else may have to step into his shoes in the future.

- Nolan had already proved his worth with films like Memento and Insomnia, but, with The Dark Knight, he shows that he is a master.

So, all in all, in the words of my friend Wes - It rocked my BALLS off!