Silver Screen

バットマンの新しい映画、The Dark Knight観てきました。
公開が金曜の午前０時で、さすがに公開日はもう売り切れだろうと
週末のIMAXのチケットとろうと思ったらすでに売り切れ。
・・・一ヶ月も前から。（IMAXは高画質のフィルム上映で、通常よりも綺麗に写るらしい）
仕方なく日曜午後の普通上映をやっとのことで予約したものの
いざ映画館に入ってみれば満席で、めちゃくちゃ混んでる！

何についてものんびりしてるアメリカでこんなになるなんて、これはまさに異常事態ですよ。
初日の興行収入はスパイダーマンを超えたとか、主役級の俳優が撮影中に急死したりとか、
何かと話題の多い映画ですが、クオリティのほうも異常事態。
ストーリーも役者も平均点以上で、ほぼ満点に近い印象。
唯一難をつけるとすれば話が長すぎて、後半若干テンポが悪くなる事くらいか。

ジョーカー役のHeath Ledgerが撮影中に亡くなったのは有名ですが
その話抜きでも迫力のある映画だと思います。
ジョーカーすごいよ・・・鬼気迫る演技ですね。
個人的にうまいなあと思ったのはジョーカーとバットマンの間にTwo Faceという
悪役を持ってきたとこ。このキャラクターはすごくいいです。
ありがちなコンセプト（二面性）をうまくみせるなあと感心しました。
あと、Two Faceの顔は微グロだなあ、トラウマものだなあとも思いました。
感想終わり。

So The Dark Knight is out, and everyone around me was so excited about this movie. Almost all of us went to see it on the weekend it came out, and everyone except one person absolutely loved the movie. This is pretty impressive because most of us are comic fans, as well as harsh film critics. The one person is not me, by the way…I liked the movie just like the rest of us. During the movie I noticed that all the actors have strong characteristics in their faces rather than just being good looking. I assume it’s intentional, so they would have more physical presence. By that I mean making the batman world more believable or realistic. This movie is full of little neat things to make a superhero story closer to life. I am impressed how they brought the classic American comic theme “good vs. evil” to higher level of reality, by introducing the dilemma of being a hero and the gray zone between light and dark. Maybe this has already been expressed in the comic, but I liked how they emphasized the idea in this movie without being cheesy. The Two Face character is really interesting, especially when he is placed between batman and the Joker. And the Joker is…just amazing. This movie is about a batman story, but the superhero is depicted only as the other side of this villain. Like the coin the Two Face tosses, those two are the two sides…so close to each other.

In other words, this is a very good movie to see in theater. Go now, if you haven’t yet. My only criticism is that the story was little too long. I felt like I was watching two movies in one. (and toward the end it loses good tempo a bit)

週末はキャンプでした。同僚と１０人くらいでニューハンプシャーまで。
生まれて初めて湖で泳ぎました。気持ちよかったよ！
二泊三日の日程だったので、二日目まるまる使えてよかったです。天気も最高だったし。
初日の夜に、へんなおっさんがこっちのキャンプファイアにフラフラ寄ってきて
「パーテーしようぜえーうへへ」みたいな誘いがあったらしいのですが
アウトドア慣れしているメンバーの機転で、とっさに明かりを消し
暗闇で何も見えないおっさんがT-Rexのようにうろたえている隙に
それぞれのテントに非難したので、無事でした。
ちなみに鳥っこ含む女性陣は寝てたので、この話は翌日聞いたんですけど。

A bunch of us went to NH last weekend for camping fun. We stayed by a lake in Conway, and I enjoyed swimming in a lake for the first time in my life. It was exciting–including a little wildness like seeing a leech for the first time also (it was gross). On the first night, after all of girls went to bed (ladies are sleepy creatures, you know) our guys had scary incident. When they were drinking surrounding the fire, a guy emerged from the dark and came up to them. He seemed to be trushed pretty bad, and creepy enough to make them think that he would be dangerous. The guy asked for them to “play a game” with him, and came closer slowly. It was getting too creepy, and one of them wisely turned all the lights off instantly. (He said they quickly moved back to own tents “while the guy was lost in dark like T-Rex”.) After all, no one was hurt, but that was quite spooky thing to happen at night–especially in forest. I was sleeping then, but I remember waking up because the guy was still walking around and searching for us after everyone evacuated to their own tents. He kept talking to himself in loud voice, saying something unclear to hear in angry voice.

Other than that, everything was beautiful and full of fun stuff.

なかなかインパクトのある事件だったので記念をキャンプファイア用の岩に記すデイビッド。
David aka “Peaches” decided to draw “the guy” on campfire rock…

火を見てるとぼーっとしてきますよね。みんなテンション低い・・・。
Staring at fire makes everyone quiet. mmm…fire…

Diana’s Bath という滝らしいです。昼寝にぴったりでした。よく寝たよ・・・。
We went to Diana’s Bath…I had great nap here.

近くの滝。自然が綺麗でした。
We went two local water falls during the camp.
Nature in NH is soooo beautiful!