BOTTOM LINE: "The Dark Knight" is nothing short of brilliant. It elevates the comic book movie to a level that matches any serious Oscar-winning film, has deep thematic story and structure which will actually engage your brain, and has some of the most stellar performances you're likely to see, beginning with Heath Ledger's unforgettable and sinister turn as the Joker which manages to out-do even the great Jack Nicholson.

THE GOOD: I'm ready to say that this is without a doubt the best Hollywood film of the year. When they finally get it right, that's when you feel the magic of the cinema. This film delivers as an entertainment, as a spectacle, and most importantly, as a strong story with haunting, deeply dramatic themes and masterful, chilling performances. Batman Begins was already a fantastic film, but somehow, director Christopher Nolan has upped the ante and managed to deliver a film that is better in every department, and it's not all smiles and sunshine as most warm and fuzzy Hollywood blockbusters tend to be. This is a dark, brooding film where not everything turns out well, including Batman himself who discovers that by becoming a dark, symbolic vigilante to stomp out crime in Gotham City that he may in fact be making matters worse. This deterioration in law and order is personified in the rise of the Joker, played with such a chilling, gleeful menace by Heath Ledger that you'll feel your hairs stand up on end every time he appears. He's nasty, funny and mad; he doesn't want money or power. He's a total anarchist who wants to show the people of Gotham City how black they really are. He says to Batman, "when the chips are down, these so called civilised people will eat each other!" What makes the Joker work so well is that he's not afraid of Batman at all. In one powerful scene where Batman is interrogating the Joker and trying his best to intimidate him, the Joker responds by laughing in Batman's face the more he attacks him, and trying to push Batman to cross the line; there are moments where you can see hints of desperation in Batman when he realises that there's nothing he can do to break this mad clown. Therein lies the crux of what makes this film great; the Joker is powerful enough to stand up to Batman (getting the upper hand in some cases), and the Joker continually throws impossible moral and ethical choices at Batman for his own amusement. Each of these choices ends in a bad place for Batman, particularly in the case of Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent (played brilliantly arrogant by Aaron Eckhart) who transforms in to Two-Face after one of the Joker's pranks burns half of his face and kills the love of his life, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). This is a film I would recommend seeing more than once because there's so much going on that you'll appreciate more the second time around. Aside from Heath Ledger's spectacular performance as the Joker which has far more depth, range and chills than Nicholson's performance as the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (no small feat that!), Christian Bale is once again excellent as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, particularly in the latter with his dark, voice from hell interpretation of the character. Batman, as played by Bale, is darker and more sinister this time around, but he's still the central character despite the emergence of the Joker in the story. Aaron Eckhart is wonderful as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, and in many ways delivers a performance that is just as strong and chilling as Ledger's, although it may not get as much attention. Gary Oldman shines as the newly promoted Commissioner Gordon and is the only real 'good' guy in the film who along with Batman is trying to reign in Gotham's criminal hierarchy. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are great in their respective roles of Lucius Fox and Alfred Pennyworth in assisting Bruce Wayne to be Batman. There's also a delicious sub-plot where an employee of Wayne Enterprises discovers that Bruce Wayne is Batman and tries to blackmail him over it. Fox replies to him, "let me get this straight, you want to blackmail someone who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands? Good luck!". This is a film that delivers on all of its promise and more; go see it now!

THE BAD: I would have given this movie 10/10 but it does have a couple of minor problems. One of the issues with the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman films is that they killed off the villains in each film (for the most part). Given that this franchise will continue unspooling indefinitely, killing off villains is not a good idea given that they could appear in future films. In Batman Begins, Liam Neeson's Ras Al Ghul was killed off at the end, but there was something very dramatic and correct about that happening given his connection to Batman/Bruce Wayne. In this film, unfortunately Two-Face gets knocked off at the end. Although it makes sense in the story, his character's dramatic realisation on screen, both visually and as played by Aaron Eckhart, makes you want more from the character in future films. In fact, he's got more screen time in this film than I ever imagined given that the Joker was the central bad guy this time around. I felt it was a shame because with all the hoopla surrounding Heath Ledger's performance, Eckhart puts in an equally effective turn as Harvey Dent/Two-Face which you could theoretically see continue. Another problem with this film was the running time. The first hour of the film felt a little long, and it's not until the Joker starts appearing more often that the film gathers pace. The film does cover a lot of thematic territory but the almost two and a half hour running time could have been tightened up a little bit. The only other problem I felt was the treatment of The Scarecrow character from Batman Begins, which is executed more as an afterthought than anything else and probably didn't even need to be in the film at all other than to establish a sense of continuity with the villains to the previous film.

Watch TV on your computer now that satellite television has brought about the rise of the new innovation called "cyber television". Put quite simply, satellite television is the new means of transmitting televisions shows from various networks to the internet base, as opposed to the conventional means of airing television to the tube, which is called cable television.

It is a known fact that most people work using computers nowadays, and most of these jobs do not have a fixed schedule so it is difficult for workers to make a fixed time to watch television and relax. But with the new feature on the internet, you can now watch TV on your computer in between break periods for their convenience.

The overall availability of television shows to watch is also good, since there are already so many hit television series that are available for the regular viewer. Among those in the long list are those CSI, MAD TV, Cartoon Network, and HBO. Satellite television also allows the access of certain types of movies. Movies like Shrek, Mission Impossible III and Resident Evil: Extinction are already available in the roster of hit movies.

In any case, satellite television is definitely worth trying in between break periods, especially if you are just working right in front of your computer, whether at home or at work. This kind of technology is still new and is still under study so you can definitely expects improvements and new features to be added to the already wide range of benefits in the future.

In a word, catharsis.

Many of the great movements in trash cinema have come about as the result of social upheaval and economic uncertainty.

HONG KONG'S GOLDEN AGE

For example, the Hong Kong's Golden Age from 1985 to 1995 was largely prompted by paranoia over the impending hand over of Hong Kong from Britain to China. People were worried about their continued economic prosperity and political freedom and that translated into a cinema of unbridled energy and transgression. People felt trapped and they needed catharsis.

ITALIAN DESPAIR

Another example is Italy in the early seventies. Just like America, a blossoming of humanism in the late 1960s had soured by the 1970s and society was in upheaval. There was a great deal of economic uncertainty and lawlessness and that was reflected in trash films of the period, such as the police, horror, and nunsploitation genres.

THE HEALING POWER OF TRASH CINEMA

What trash cinema gives us is a funhouse mirror of society, either our own or those of other cultures. Prestige pictures, while they purport to tell significant stories that claim to illuminate the human condition, often distort reality and bend the truth to flatter their audience (although this can be revealing in its own way). They also tend to blunt any sharp edges to avoid offending factions of the mass audience. The makers of trash cinema are so hell bent on entertaining, they forget to censor themselves, which paradoxically makes them a better reflection of the zeitgeist.

We live in a world of constant change, where we are constantly being asked to adjust our expectations downward. That is very uncomfortable, and there's nowhere to run or hide. In America, the average person used to own a home. Most young people will never achieve that dream. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the middle class is disappearing and most people have to basically just sit there and take it. There's no one or nothing to fight. It's a feeling of profound powerlessness.

In trash cinema, everything is clear, and even if it isn't, the ambiguity is spelled out. People routinely take the law into their own hands or behave in the most antisocial ways. Our worst fears are played out, and we get to walk out of the theater or turn off the TV after the credits roll. We get to indulge in our most debauched fantasies, which we will hopefully never act on in real life.

Let's face it. Real life can be a real drag. Trash cinema allows us to laugh, to rage, to get kinky, to be prurient, with no bill to pay at the end. Because in life, when we make decisions based on our immediate and most pressing desires, there's almost always a price to pay. Sometimes we pay for the rest of our lives.

Life is often a prison of society's restrictions, our own self restraint, and on the rare occasions when we actually do what we want, the consequences or our rash actions and mistakes. Trash cinema is a get out of jail free card. For 90 minutes or so, we are free from the burden of being ourselves. What a precious gift!

One of the best benefits that one can enjoy with the internet is that it enables individuals to watch television series online for free. There are many television series to be watched in here, which may be as many as thousands of different TV shows. But remember, like all other shows on the standard TV sets, this too has commercials for promotional aspects. So if ever you missed any of your favorite series then here is the safest place to watch. All you need is just one click in order to activate the free services and choose all of your favorite TV series that you have missed so much.

This feature has so many advantages but the main benefit is obviously because most are given for free. It is definitely something that can place a smile on your face. Most are very flexible because of a very manageable user interface. Hit TV series like Mr. Bean are available along with this service and you really know how much laughter that shows like this one can become.

There is really nothing better, more enjoyable, simpler, more economical, and more fulfilling than just sit and be prepared for the tons of amazing surprises that you can get in watching TV series for free on the internet. Why then do we have to scream because of too much expenses incurred on other similar services when there is already a better service given for free online? Go ahead and get your internet connection for you to enjoy these kinds of services.

Many sites on the internet are dedicated to revive TV shows that were once trendsetters and iconic of their generation; hence retro TV online was created to become a cyber hub for everything old, classical or retro. Ranging from old animations, early films and classic TV series, these types of domains usher in to meet the needs of some web users for them to relive the good old days.

It really does not matter how old you are right now or what decade you grew up in because surely everyone will understand the common themes of these old media, which are continually being used up to this time. Love, poverty, politics, power, lust and desire are just some of the TV themes that were commonly used back then and are still utilized in today's popular TV shows.

Some groups of dedicated individuals already scoured the web to search for old desired TV shows that people will be eager enough to watch again for free! The result is the creation of a unique retro TV online. Most of the domains on the internet that declared to have a wide archive of classic shows simply link people to the videos hosted on unofficial streaming sites that get removed as fast as they were uploaded. However, the more authentic retro domains link the public to the official sites that are licensed to stream the old shows. They may be doing a lot of good in preserving the viewing rights to some shows but it also gives the impression that there is only a little collection of classic shows available in this manner. This is a little sad but true.

Due to the fact that more and more TV programming is already made available as internet video streams, people are quickly informed of the opportunity to record online TV. Recording online content is mostly a legal service that allows you to record almost all available TV show or movie on the internet absolutely free. It is peculiar to know that there are other programs that seem to be specific to certain regional shows.

For example, there is an existing program today that records TV shows specifically broadcasted from European soil. Hence, you can only manage recording shows coming from countries like Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom amongst others. All you need to do is to complete a registration form at the web site where the program will be downloaded from. After you had created a free account you can easily record the shows that are streamed online.

The only drawback with some other programs is that they have a certain limit to the amount of recordings you can have in a single day, for the month or even for the whole year. For example, some have limits set to 1 or 2 gigabytes of recording daily. However, there is a way to counter this limitation and that will require the web user to shed some "donation" to increase his or her recording limits.

Another rather obvious and quick measure to handle this problem is simply to register for a second free account, with this you can already record online TV, a gigabyte more than what a single user can usually enjoy.

Other features that are helpful for someone who plans to record online TV are the variations in recording. First, if the automatic recording option is switched on, the streams will automatically be recorded as soon as the videos are being played online. You no longer have to exert an extra effort on setting some system configurations or clicking other buttons. It really records the streams directly. On the contrary, some programs offer the real time recording mode, which allows URL recording. If one knows the URL of the domain with the video streams to be recorded then the URLs can immediately be captured and saved when this mode is turned on.

There is also a scheduled recording that can be set beforehand, hence you can do all your other activities in your home or at work while leaving behind your personal computer to finish recording dozens of shows at different preset time intervals. The good thing about this recording option is that it can actually reconnect to the domain immediately if ever the connection will be lost.

In addition, you can also have the advantage of recording some content that require password authentication if you manage to select the correct software to record online TV. For some erroneous recordings you can also fix, edit and organize the recorded media way better if your program or software has a file reprocessing option. The best addition of some programs is the availability of both radio and TV web links embedded within the software. This can help the user to search for media files a lot easier and faster without browsing tons of web pages online.