Movie #347 - A Knight's Tale

A Knight's Tale
2001 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 12 min
Director: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell, Alan Tudyk, Shannyn Sossamon, Paul Bettany, Laura Fraser, James Purefoy

Heath! I miss Heath Ledger!

Once I got over my initial grief, I remembered how mixed my feelings were about this movie. It has all the right things to make it a fun story with a great cast. But the random rock music and the "beautiful" chick who really isn't that pretty... ugh. It's got it's weak points. And I think a lot of people discredit it completely for these shortcomings.  In truth, Ledger's great and the story is a heartwarming one.  It's no worse than any other adventure/comedy/light period movie.

Except for the damn rock music.  It almost seems like they tried to hard to make it unique, when they didn't need to at all.  For what it's worth, I actually don't despise this movie. It's not a favorite, but it was fun to revist and see Heath's effortless acting at play once again.

Movie #298 - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
2009 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 3 min
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Heath Ledger, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell

Admittedly, this movie's plot is kinda complicated and the style is fairly artsy and pretty fantastical.  But it's Terry Gilliam. And Christopher Plummer. And Heath Ledger's last movie.  And although the plot seems complicated, the theme is the simplest there is: good versus evil. 

The movie centers on a traveling stage act where immortal Christoper Plummer allows spectators to enter his Imaginarium.  Inside, they must face a temptation found in their own imagination and choose between the good and the evil choice.  A wager between Dr. Parnassus (Plummer) and Nick (aka the Devil) becomes the central plot, as Parnassus' daughter and friends face their own battles. 

If you hadn't heard about this one yet, Heath Ledger died before filming was complete.  Depp, Law, and Farrell stepped in to help finish the movie, free of charge, as friends of the late actor.  How does that work? Pretty ingeniusly, actually.  Ledger completed all the "real world" shots but not the scenes inside the imaginarium.  The three fill-in actors take turns playing his character inside the fantasy world, where your appearance can be changed by your imagination.  This minor obstacle is worked seamlessly into the fill and not overexplained or hidden.  Each fill-in actor is meant to look as close to Ledger as possible, but it's not a big deal that they're not exact.  Surprisingly, it's not as jarring as you might think.

For all its artisticness and its subbing in of other actors, I really do enjoy this movie a lot.  Although set in modern times, The Imaginarium transports you into another world where all these fantasy elements seem quite commonplace.  Really well done, all around.

Movie #215 - The Four Feathers

The Four Feathers
2002 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 11 min
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson, Djimon Hounsou

Here's another movie I want to love.  Everything about it says, "Steph will love this movie!" The cast, the setting, the epic tale... but everytime I watch it, I fall asleep.  I stayed awake this time (finally) and it was not easy at all.

Why do I struggle with this one?

Heath Ledger plays a British officer who resigns instead of going into battle and then gets shunned by his friends and fiancee.  They send him white feathers as a sign of his cowardice.  After that, his life slowly falls apart and he takes extreme measures to try to redeem himself.  His ending isn't a happy one, after all of that, and it's kinda sad really. 

Other people love this movie, but I find it kind of "Meh" and I don't have a good reason for that at all.

Movie #146 - The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight
Warner Bros Pictures
2008 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 32 min
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy

If you haven't seen this movie yet.... oh man. Do you live in a cave? How are you reading this post? Honestly, I'm concerned about you. This is a MUST see. MUST. So get out of your cave and go find a rental store... oh wait a minute. You have the internet. Get a Netflix account and download the movie already, for crying out loud.  Watch it in your cave, I don't care. 

There. Much better now.  Now you understand. This movie, from beginning to end and all the way through the middle, is awesome.  Sure, Christian Bale's Batman voice is a little weird. And yeah, the Two-Face plot at the end feels like an afterthought.  But, my God, is Heath Ledger brilliant or what?  Some have said that we only love this movie so much because it was his *last* film (technically, that's not true... ahem, Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, but we're not on I yet.) But if he were still alive (oh....now I'm sad), I'd still think this movie and his performance were frickin' fabulous.

If you're not an action or comic-book-based movie fan, that's fine. You don't have to be to appreciate the artistry of this movie. The tone is perfect, the plotline engaging, and the performances top-notch.  I'm gushing, I know. But I give credit where it's due and - after watching all those 90's Batman movies last month - I'm really glad they decided to give this franchise a re-boot.  And while Heath Ledger will be sorely missed for a long, long time, I'm glad we got this parting gift from him.

Movie #98 - The Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm
Miramax
2005 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 53 min
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Monica Bellucci

I just learned that Terry Gilliam directed this, but I can't say that I'm surprised.  This is just the kind of warped, dark fairytale that he would love.  Luckily, I love it too.

I also love Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.  This movie actually makes me miss Heath Ledger, a lot.  Sigh.  Anyway, they are perfect together, although I'm always surprised that Damon is the bully brother and Ledger is the nerdy one.  It's like Gilliam swapped their usual roles, just for kicks.  But they do so well, you forget after about five minutes that it wasn't what you expected.

The Monica Bellucci character is a bit over the top, but the whole movie is 'fantastical' in nature so you go along with it.  And it is fun to see where this movie claims their stories have originated.  This one's just fun to watch.