Reels N' Rockets: I have come to praise Heath Ledger, not to bury him

I'll be the first to admit that years in emergency medicine have made me a bit jaded and skepitcal. Shocking admission, ain't it?

So, I must admit that as I read the early reviews of THE DARK KNIGHT that raved about the late Heath Ledger's performance, I had to wonder how much of it was laced with sweetness to take some of the biterness off of his untimely demise.

With the 3:30 a.m. showing still very fresh in my mind, I can tell you that the reviewers have been doing the film and Ledger no undeserved favors with their praise. The film is one of the finest I've ever seen, even superior to the stellar first installment. I'll say nothing more than the film is practically flawless in every facet for fear of even giving away a tiny morsel of surprise.

And it being the ArcLight Hollywood, of course there was ample geek candy around the lobby to fuel this circus-like event.

And Heath Ledger truely is nothing short of amazing. His is a fearless turn that steals the film from a cache of powerfully talented actors, all of whom turn are phenomenal themselves. It's strange to consider his Joker performance a revelation considering he'd laid down a strong body of work prior to donning the purple suit, but this movie puts him on an entirely different level than even the Academy-Award level stuff he'd already done.

Equally amazing was the number of people scurrying around the ArcLight at 3:30 in the freakin' morning on a work night.

THE DARK KNIGHT was actually the second film of the night for me. Earlier, I was at the Silent Movie Theatre for SUCH HAWKS, SUCH HOUNDS, a documentary on the history of stoner rock.

The doc was very interesting as it highlighted several bands you've never heard of spanning thirty years. Most of them were struggling to get by as they support their music addictions, and aren't likely to find much commercial success with music that isn't accessible to most of the listening public. Can't imagine an Earthless CD sandwiched between Hannah Montana and Christina Aguilera at Best Buy.

But the bands stick to their guns, and find a little hope in the fact that the rules of the music game have changed in recent years, allowing them to bypass the labels and corporate control of media via the Internet. The highlight of the film was a segment on Sleep, a Bay-Area band who burned their bridges by using the label's money to lay down a 63-minute song (!) called "Dopesmoker" (Or "Jerusalem", depending on which mix you have) that set out to be the heaviest song ever recorded. Snippets are played during the film, and the track is overdubbed so many times that the base threatened to shake the paint off the walls of the Silent Theatre.

The film was followed by a performance by Earthless, who sort of have a free-form jazz sensibility. The three-piece band is loud and heavy without being angry; More Blue Oyster Cult than Slayer. They explained in the film that they just sort of go where the riffs take them, which made their tightness as a band even more impressive. It was phenomenal hearing them in such a small space as the Silent Theatre, even if my ears are still ringing from the insane volume.

Even cooler was the montage of freaky images Pimpadelic Wonderland, the house video-jockey for lack of a better title, laid down over the band as they played. I was able to recognize footage from THE BOXER'S OMEN and the epic ON ANY SUNDAY.