Batman!

Like thousands of others, I went to see "The Dark Knight" last night at midnight. Simply put, it was absolutely amazing.

Heath Ledger performance is among the best I've seen this year. This isn't your Cesar Romero's Joker. It was a bizarre and disturbing mix of maniacal humor with homicidal tendencies. His story about how he got his facial scars is bonechilling.

Plus there was a nice cameo appearance by Hong Kong star Edison Chen (I wonder if this was before or after his sex scandal).

The only thing that sucked was that it was ridiculous hot in the theater. The air conditioning turned off just before the two-hour mark. With a full theater, it wasn't a pleasant experience. With a lesser movie, I would have walked out.

The trailers were pretty interesting. There were a few that stuck out in my mind:

• "Terminator Salvation": When the music hit, my first thoughts were, "really? Another Terminator?" Christian Bale takes over as John Connor. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean, it was kind of weird when Nick Stahl took over for Edward Furlong, but Bale? Too much of a pretty boy.

• "Watchmen": I was surprised that not too many people picked up on what this movie was. I was expecting more fanboy cheers from the audience, but everyone stayed quiet. Looks cool, though – I've been a fan ever since I read the graphic novel back in high school. I did like the irony of how The Smashing Pumpkins' "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" plays in the trailer – the song was featured in "Batman & Robin."
  
• "Body of Lies": New Ridley Scott movie featuring Leo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Looks interesting, but looks like another CIA operative politico-action flick.