1. The Dark Knight (2008) (Daniel Cohen)

Why I Love It: It’s always a challenge to find new ways to talk about how great The Dark Knight is, but I’m going to try.  Is it the greatest superhero movie ever made?  Obviously.  That’s not even close.  Is it one of the greatest films ever made?  Absolutely.  This is one of my “benchmark movies.”  What do I mean by that?  It’s a movie that changed significantly how I view film.  The last film to do that previously was The Royal Tenenbaums back in 2001.  I’ve said this on numerous occasions, but The Dark Knight not only changed superhero movies, it made the movie blogging culture what it is today.  It created a rapid genre fan base that craves podcasts and articles about everything and anything involving superhero movie franchises, and the reason is because all people wanted to do for months was talk about how damn good this movie was.

Let’s actually get into the movie itself, just in case you haven’t seen it yet.  It’s the ultimate Batman story.  Period.  Batman Vs. The Joker.  It doesn’t get much better than that, but it actually does.  Not only is The Joker constantly pushing Batman to the breaking point, but their battle creates collateral damage all across Gotham City.  Harvey Dent.  Commissioner Gordon.  Rachel Dawes.  The Mob.  Countless cops and city officials get slaughtered because of their war.  There are so many ins and outs, but it flows together beautifully.  The dialogue is gorgeous.  The acting pitch perfect.  Heath Ledger gives one of the greatest cinematic performances ever in a motion picture.

There are endless amounts of iconic moments born from this film.  The bank robbery.  The pencil trick.  The interrogation scene.  The hospital.  The ending.  Wow, what an ending.  Batman demonstrates why he’s the ultimate hero, as Gordon’s gut-wrenching monologue plays us out.

The movie speaks for itself.  I don’t need to tell you this.  If you haven’t seen it in a while though, give it a watch.  We’ve seen so many superhero movies over the years, you sometimes forget how badly this one puts all others to shame.

Best Line: “Madness, as you know, is like gravity.  All it takes is a little push!  Hahahahaha!” -The Joker

Best Scene: The interrogation scene
Was it really going to be anything else?  Tense.  Brilliant.  Unnerving.  Ledger deserves all the credit in the world, but let’s not forget Christian Bale, who is equally as compelling, screaming and punching Joker like a wild animal.  We’ve never seen him this unhinged.  It’s a scene that definitively defines the Batman/Joker conflict.

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