By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

In theaters

“The Dark Knight” (Warner Brothers)—Aside from being 30 minutes too long and featuring an actor whose Batman “voice” is cartoonish, annoying and a distraction, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is the summer blockbuster you have been waiting for.

Consider the return of “Indiana Jones” and the debut of “Iron Man” to be appetizers for this filling and satisfying main course. As you might have expected, Heath Ledger gave the performance of a lifetime in his final movie role as the most malicious and ruthless Joker on feature-length record. With Gotham City (a Chicago that has rarely looked better on screen) in the midst of an ugly crime wave, including a series of bank robberies in which mob money is taken, D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is intent on cleaning up the streets. Romantically linked to Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the ex of billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), Dent’s determination seems unstoppable. But he has no idea what he’s up against when it comes to the Joker, and even with the help of Batman (Bale), things go from bad to much worse and tragedy strikes very close to home.

Comic book readers familiar with the Batman saga know that Dent becomes the disfigured, revenge-driven Two-Face, who makes an appearance onscreen here. Ultimately, “The Dark Knight” is about the showdowns between Batman and The Joker (as in the interrogation scene and the high rise construction site) that give the movie its “darkness,” making it the most terrifying thrill ride of the summer movie season.

“Chris & Don: A Love Story” (Zeitgeist)—Directors Guido Santi and Tina Mascara have crafted a loving cinematic portrait of legendary artistic gay couple Christopher Isherwood (the acclaimed writer on whose story the musical “Cabaret” is based) and visual artist Don Bachardy.

Despite a 30-year difference in their ages, the couple had a 34-year relationship that began in 1952 and ended with Isherwood’s passing in 1986. Bachardy, spry and still painting in his mid-70s, regales the viewer with stories of their meeting and subsequent association. Incorporating material from Isherwood’s diaries, never-before-seen 1950s footage shot by Isherwood and Bachardy, dramatic re-enactments, current interviews with Bachardy, Liza Minnelli, Leslie Caron, John Boorman and others and much more, this documentary has as much to say about same-sex relationships as it does about the lives led by creative people. Not only did the pair lead productive and inspired lives, they also never apologized for being a couple in Hollywood at a time when that was all but unthinkable. They also had remarkable friendships with W.H. Auden (with whom Isherwood emigrated to the U.S. from England), Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Igor Stravinsky, Somerset Maugham, E.M. Forster, Evelyn Hooker and others.

“Mamma Mia!” (Universal)—In a year of massive cinematic train wrecks (hello, “Hancock,” “Meet Dave”), “Mamma Mia!” is a new and fresh low, setting the movie musical back at least 30 years. It is eerily and sadly reminiscent of bloated, cocaine-fueled flops such as “Can’t Stop The Music” and “Xanadu.” Even diehard fans of the inexplicably popular stage musical—a cheap excuse to string a series of Abba songs together with a pitiful script about a fatherless daughter’s last-ditch effort to find her papa days before her wedding—are bound to find themselves declaring, “Mamma, mia! What the f*ck is this?”

The musical is set on the little Greek island of Kalokairi, where single mom Donna (Meryl Streep, what were you thinking?) runs a hotel. Donna is busily making arrangements for the wedding of her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried, who is becoming the Rebecca Gayheart of her generation) to hot Sky (Dominic Cooper, from “The History Boys”). Donna’s guests at the nuptials include her best pals, the oft-married Tanya (an unfortunate Christine Baranski) and “lone wolf” and cookbook writer Rosie (a miserably miscast Julie Walters), with whom she once performed in the singing trio Donna and the Dynamos.

Unbeknownst to Donna, Sophie found an old diary of hers and learned of the three men Donna was intimately involved with during the romantic summer that Sophie was conceived. Mailing invitations, “written” in her mother’s hand, to all three—Sam (Pierce Brosnan, whose presence raises the question of how many actors they had to go through before they landed on him), Harry (the equally out of place Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård, ditto)—Sophie is shocked when they all appear for the festivities.

If the ridiculous premise isn’t enough—disbelief isn’t just suspended here, it’s strung up and gutted—throw in the lame lyrics of some of Abba’s well-worn tunes, all under the guise of telling and moving the limp story along, and there you have it.

Not even scantily clad beach gods, who are also reduced to a Kenny Ortega-style dance number in flippers on a dock, the sun-drenched scenery, the pleasant music (if you can block out the often meaningless words) or the gay surprise (one of the dads likes dudes) can redeem this fiasco. Lesbian theater director Phyllida Lloyd is not only guilty of slow-motion abuse, but of actually thinking that this mess of a “musical” deserved to be her feature film directorial debut.

Limited runs

At dusk on July 17, Cricket Hill Cinema in Lincoln Park (enter at Montrose or Wilson) presents a screening of the summer 2007 blockbuster “Transformers.”

“A Jihad For Love” (First Run Features)—A Muslim “Trembling Before God,” if you will, Parvez Sharma’s “A Jihad For Love” (co-produced by “Trembling” director Sandi DuBowski) takes an intimate and risky look at the lives of gays and lesbians struggling to reconcile their sexuality with their Islamic faith. Each of the subjects is on their own “love Jihad,” which they know could result in their deaths or exile from their homelands at the very least. Some, like Mazen from Egyot, have even endured prison sentences, or in the case of Amir from Iran, received 100 lashes in an hour. The film also offers a slim ray of hope with lesbian couple Ferda and Kiymet, both observant Muslims, living in secular Tureky, as well as the asylum sought and won by Iranian gay men Arsham and Payam, who head for the safety of Canada. The Chicago premiere, which includes live appearances by Sharma and DuBowski, runs July 25-31, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State. Call (312) 846-2600.

The films “My Father My Lord” and “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” open July 25 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Call (773) 871-6604.

As part of the “Marilyn Monroe: Live as a Legend,” series, a screening of “How To Marry a Millionaire” is held July 26 at 2 p.m. at the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph. Call (312) 744-6630.

As part of the Puerto Rican Film Series 2008, “Mambo to Hip Hop,” described as a panoramic view of the music that blossomed in the Latin community of the South Bronx from the late 1940s when mambo burst onto the New York cultural scene through the 1970s birth of hip hop, is shown at dusk at the Humboldt Park Boat House, 1359 N. Sacramento/Humboldt July 26.

“The Blues Brothers” is screened outdoors July 29 at 8:44 p.m. in Grant Park, Lake Shore Drive at Monroe.

Block Cinema at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus, presents a screening of the animated feature “The Simpsons Movie” at 8:30 p.m. July 30.

The free international summer screening series at the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph, continues with “Suite Dreams (Uchōten hoteru),” directed by Koki Mitani, July 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, led by guest conductor Stephen Hussey, presents the U.S. Premiere of the 1929 Indian silent film, “A Throw of Dice,” with original musical arrangement by Asian DJ/multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney, July 30 at 8 p.m. in Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Call (312)-742-7638.

Listings or comments? E-mail Gregg at shapiro@chicagofreepress.com.