Well, I'll start with the most recent, and I'll get this out of my system while people are still actually discussing it: Batman.

I finally went and saw it last night. Well, it was actually this morning: I went to a midnight showing at the IMAX, because it was either that or 2:30am and I do still have a few cells left functioning in the reason realm of my brain.

I really only have three words: It. Was. Cool.

There was nothing absolutely, unbelievably groundbreaking about it, neither was it at all disappointing, despite the incessantly promising reviews (which do tend to lead me to inevitable anticlimaxes). The characters were all portrayed well (except by perhaps Maggie Gyllenhaal, who wasn't bad, she just didn't... jump... like the rest, which really is to be expected in light of the script), the action was phenomonal and the script was sufficiently enthralling. I know that sounds really poncy, but I don't care.

Firstly, Batman/Bruce Wayne. Nothing really massive to say here. He was great, played the role well, and lived up to the character from the first movie. To be honest, despite Christian Bale being name-above-title, I think this movie was far more about the secondary characters than Batman or BW. It was about Joker and Dent and Gordon, all struggling in their individual ways to take control of Gotham's morality, with Batman just stepping in every so often to lend an extra punch or save an extra DA. I really quite liked that dynamic, particularly because it's exactly how Batman/BW sees himself - he's not a superhero, he's not a main player - he's there to clean up the rubbish, do the dirty work nobody else wants to. Yeah, sure, he wanted to inspire people (originally, at least), but he knew that he wasn't the one who could bend the codes and morals of the people - that was up to Joker, Dent and Gordon to sort out.

Heath Ledger really was brilliant as the Joker. You hear all the hoohah about his performance, and to be honest, I expected to be majorly let-down. But, for once, there was method to fandom's madness. He really did jump off the screen (and by jump I mean pole-vaulted, violently), particularly seeing as he probably had a billion people whispering "Jack Nicholson" just out of earshot. Personally, I thought his performance couldn't have been further from that of Nicholson's, which is exactly what this film needed. Nicholson was part of the comically block-stenciled Batman; Ledger's part of the darkly charcoal-rubbed franchise. He was horrifying, and hilarious and completely demoralising, which is exactly what he had to be - completely in line with the comic too. I actually couldn't believe how many times I laughed because of him, and it's this really awkward laugh, because you're not laughing with him, and you're not laughing at him. You don't quite know what you're laughing at - it's this grey area, where you're kind of laughing at how morally sick this guy is, which just depresses you that little bit further.

Harvey Dent, and his casting, was a small stroke of genius. Perfectly likeable as the charming White Knight DA, and although I still couldn't quite take him as seriously as a malicious baddie as I wanted to (although I think that was probably deliberate of the Nolan's), I couldn't think of any better ways to take his character. I think the Two-Face arc was well seeded, but it could've been drawn out and concluded in the next movie. He was a far more interesting and involving character than I think the script gave him credit for. Then again, that's exactly why and where good actors come in. It's just a shame when their fate is sealed before they can really prove themselves to be that good. I really do think with a whole feature's length to draw out his burgeoning evilness, Eckhart would've made an excellent, excellent vilian for #3.

I pretty well cried when I thought Gordon was dead. I think that's all I have to say about him.

VISUAL EFFECTS. Holy fuck, did anyone else notice how brilliant they were? For starters, at an IMAX, you can see everything. And I mean, everything. There were bits of fluff and hair that had obviously been caught on the stock at points which you'd never see in a cinema, but which get blown up to the size of a football on that screen. They were distracting, so you can imagine how shoddy bad VFX would look. But they didn't. For starters, I wasn't thinking about most of them, which is always a good sign, and was just completely sold that yes, Christian Bale just totally jumped off that building and flew threw a CBD somewhere in China, and yes, it's totally reasonable to ask Aaron Eckhart to cut off half his face (for the good of the film) - it's obviously livable isn't it? It wasn't really until the completely non-existent, ten-story airfield-sized Gotham General Hospital completely blew up that I actually went, "Okay, shit. That's not fair. How the fuck did they do that?"

One major point that I do have to add is that if you do get the chance to see it at the IMAX - DO IT. NOW. BOOK. TICKETS. NOW. Quite a few of the sequences were shot on IMAX cameras (most notably the opening action and a lot of the exterior building/cityscape/establishing shots) and you can definitely tell. The first shot where the camera pushes in toward the building made people in our audience go, "Whoa, my God," out loud. In fact, very loudly. The guy beside me accidentally grabbed my hand to "hold on" during one of the sweeping shots, instead of the armrest. He bruised a knuckle, bastard. One woman actually had to leave the theatre due to motion sickness in the scene where he jumps off the huge skyscraper in China. Those shots were absolutely stunning, and so perfectly designed for an IMAX screen that anyone who gets the chance to experience it, should do so immediately. (Like, now.)

It kind of sums it up when you leave the theatre and the only complaint you hear is, "I hated it because there wasn't enough of it." I think I'm going to go see it again tonight, at a normal theatre, so I don't constantly feel like I'm gonna fall out of my chair any time Batman decides to jump out of a window to catch someone. Plus, if there's any film out there right now that could inspire people to pay to see stuff at the cinema and not download a shitty videotaped copy to watch on their 12-inch laptop, it's this one. You really, really need to see it on an abhorrently large screen to get all of the awesomeness that it is.

NEXT: I know you all probably heard this... what, forever ago, or something, but I've been slightly out of the loop and I cannot believe that I missed THIS of all things:

WTF?