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21 Comments

  • Andrew Dominik is a director without a critically lauded filmography to prop up The Assassination of Jesse James. Casting Brad Pitt as Jesse James seems like a really dumb idea. BUT! But... somehow this film came together in a linguistically and visually poetic way that haunts the screen with constant threats of beauty and violence in equal measure.

    Both Assassination and Dark Knight lean on Shakespearean convention, but one has the light touch of an expert repertory ensemble, while the other feels like the work of an especially skilled football team in that regard.

  • Mike H. - 5 years ago

    Yes, yes.........Nolan made a superhero movie that could finally be "taken seriously". I'm glad to see I'm not the only person so far in the comments to be exasperated by just how seriously people want it to be taken. Then and now.

    I'm all for having fun at the movies, trust me, but some genres just have inherent limitations that are so set in stone that if a filmmaker ever did truly overcome them, the film they made would no longer fit in said genre. Not a single "BING PANG ZOW" superhero movie deserves to be on a list like this next to films like Children of Men, There Will Be Blood, Before Sunset and The Assassination of Jesse James.

  • Dione - 5 years ago

    A look at the comments would make one think that Jesse James is actually going to take this...but I know that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I know it will be annihilated by the dark knight...never mind that in my mind the assassination of Jesse James ties with the unforgiven as the greatest westerns since the seekers

  • Dione - 5 years ago

    A look at the comments would make one think that Jesse James is actually going to take this...but I know that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I know it will be annihilated by the dark knight...never mind that in my mind the assassination of Jesse James ties with the unforgiven as the greatest westerns since the searchers.

  • Jeff, Arizona - 5 years ago

    One of the greatest westerns of all time, accompanied by one of the greatest scores of all time by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, featuring the greatest Affleck performance of all time and the most underrated and understated Brad Pitt performance of all time vs. the third best Nolan film...in the tournament? The seeding here is a mistake and in a sane world Jesse James would be the favorite to win it all. But this is madness, and some people just want to watch the world burn.

  • Eric, Baltimore, MD - 5 years ago

    One of the few times I dozed off in a movie theater was during one of these two movies. I imagine most voters would be bemused to learn that the nap time came during the bloated Dark Knight. TAOJJBTCRF, while also quite long, never bored me.

  • Joe from London UK - 5 years ago

    TDK is the only Nolan film that I enjoyed after the first time. Its immense.

  • Adam H. - 5 years ago

    GAH! You're pitting two of my top 5 of all time against each other in the first round! The Dark Knight is great and still the greatest superhero film of all time, but The Assassination of Jesse James is the one that opened up my eyes to the beauty of film. Before viewing, I was a completely average mainstream viewer. By the time that the credits started rolling and Nick Cave & Warren Ellis's hauntingly beautiful score was playing, I realized that film can not only be entertainment, but an art. And that realization completely changed the course of my life over the last 12 years. Though I imagine TDK will win this handily, I'm sticking with TAOJJ as long as it's in the tournament. Sorry Batman, but I have to dance with the one whom brought me.

  • Jesse Rivers - 5 years ago

    Twice in my life, I've walked out of a theater with tears streaming down my face for no other reason than the beauty of the film I had just watched. One of them is Assassination of Jesse James. I've been a huge fan of westerns since my dad had me watch Clint Eastwood movies as a kid. Assassination is the most elegant, cerebral western I've ever seen. Which is why it pains me that two films I wish could be in the final four are Brad Pitted against one another in the first round. I've loved Batman since birth, my favorite fictional character. And Nolan was able to show everyone that comic book movies can be taken seriously (maybe a little too seriously?). I agonized over this choice, but since Batman is the only one of the two that I have permanently tattooed on my skin (something I doubt I'd ever say about Jesse James), I had to go with Dark Knight.

    Jesse Rivers
    Mobile, AL

  • Corey Craft - Birmingham, AL - 5 years ago

    The Assassination of The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford By the Coward Bruce Wayne

  • Travis Kyker - 5 years ago

    Not only is Jesse James the best Western film of all time, it’s one of the best films of all time. Period. The Dark Knight isn’t even the best superhero film of the decade. Very easy vote, but I’m anticipating an equally tragic result.

  • Travis Kyker - 5 years ago

    Not only is Jesse James the best Western film of all time, it’s one of the best films of all time. Period. The Dark Knight isn’t even the best superhero film of the decade. Very easy vote, but I’m anticipating an equally tragic result.

  • Nick - 5 years ago

    I’m just gonna turn my back, adjust this crooked picture frame, and vote for Jesse James...

  • Jon Kissel - 5 years ago

    Outside of the action, which flows naturally from a giant budget, there's nothing Dark Knight does better than the masterful Jesse James. It will, of course, lose unjustly, as fans are snowed by Heath Ledger's admittedly great performance into overlooking the much, much better film.

  • Levi - 5 years ago

    The greatest superhero film of all time versus the greatest film of all time. Looks like Batman just got assassinated by the cowardly Filmspotting Madness bracket.

  • Joe - 5 years ago

    This is actually an extremely interesting matchup, I think. We have the most overrated movie of the decade (TDK) vs possibly the most underrated.

  • Patrick Najjar - 5 years ago

    You know, they say Batman doesn't kill but he and his sidekick, Christopher Nolan, are surely going to murder poor Jesse James this round. Holy massacre, Batman!

  • Mike Merrigan - 5 years ago

    Dark Knight certainly didn’t need a “Filmspotting bump” and yet here we are. It was going to be almost impossible for anything to beat DK in round one. This baby has legs! Looking at the larger bracket, DK has the easiest pathway to the Final Four out all the other top seeds. A There Will Be Blood upset is many likely, but it isn’t crazy either.

  • Adam Grossman, Vancouver, B.C. - 5 years ago

    P.S. Just to make it clear, I'm probably voting for 'The Dark Knight' in all of the following rounds after it inevitably (and probably rightly) wins this one.

    P.P.S. Can you make up to me by giving 'Jesse James' the Sacred Cow treatment sometime this year? Maybe to pair with an episode on James Gray's 'Ad Astra' to recognize Brad Pitt's return to the big screen?

  • Adam Grossman, Vancouver, B.C. - 5 years ago

    After my successful campaign to have ‘Jesse James’ included in the Filmspotting Madness pool, you repay me by pairing it with ‘The Dark Knight’? Oh c’mon, guys, really?! Not even I can really make a case for it over Christopher Nolan’s superhero masterpiece and Heath Ledger’s performance for the ages. How could you do this to me… how? Dammit, I’m voting for ‘Jesse James’ just to make myself feel a little better about this.

  • David Hoffman, Queens - 5 years ago

    I think I might end up being the only one who votes for "Jesse James"... does that make me a notorious outlaw?

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