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No, seriously.  Really.   I don’t even know where you people get these rumors.

I’m faking that last bit of indignation, because frankly, I don’t know where it came from myself.  I hadn’t even heard Depp might possibly have been up for a role in the first place, and now I’ve got negative confirmation on it.  Well, I guess it could be worse…in fact, you know what?  Let’s  MAKE it worse.  Let’s take a run at our OWN outlandish Batman rumors.  How about:

The next Batman villain will be the Clock King, and he will be played by Wallace Shawn. That freaks me out just thinking about it, because a. Wallace Shawn would totally nail the part and b. no one cares about the Clock King in the first place.

Christian Bale out, Viggo Mortenson in. That one also gives me the creeps because it’s so very plausible.  But seriously, at this point, does anyone think they’re going to change horses midstream?

The next Batman installment will be a cartoon, and all the actors will be strictly voice actors.  Oh, come on–like that couldn’t happen?  They’d save vast quantities of money and still make huge bank opening weekend.  They could have Christian Bale stare at the walls for the first half of the movie and STILL make monster bank.  That’s the kind of force this franchise has now.

See?  This is just all kinds of fun!  Try making up your OWN outlandish Batman rumors and post them in the comments section.

You might be surprised–oh, who am I kidding?  Chances are you’re going to be REALLY surprised–by who’s rumored to be slated to play Catwoman in the next installment of The Dark Knight series.

None other than Transformer vixen Megan Fox, that’s who.

Both the movie buff in me and the cynic in me say that this is a really, REALLY good idea that deserves a note of praise.  Taking advantage of Megan Fox’s steadily climbing career from both the Transformers series and other stuff like her upcoming Jennifer’s Body is just a really good move.  But it’s shaky at best–Fox all but laughed off the idea of playing Wonder Woman.  Why would she go for a different DC property?

But then, I end up wondering why.  Considering how well the other two installments of the Dark Knight series have done–for crying out loud, The Dark Knight managed to win a guy a posthumous Oscar, and that’s almost never done!–does it really matter who plays what at this point?  Isn’t it a foregone conclusion that it’ll do well as long as any competent actor takes the available parts?  Does the Batman series really NEED star power?

But this is all just sort of whistling in the dark anyway–star power never hurt anything–and it’s likely to GET star power whether it needs it or not.

Ah, the Batman series.  Never has a series fallen so far so fast only to come back, seemingly from irredemptibility, to become the biggest thing since sliced bread.

We’re talking about a series that went from Arnold Schwartzenegger as the dumbest villain EVER (…well, maybe not counting Jim Carrey) to a series where the bad guy wins a Oscar…posthumously.  You have any idea how hard it is to win a posthumous Oscar? Especially for an actor?  Hollywood HATES giving these things to dead guys–there was only ONE beforehand, and that was Peter Finch in Network.

And now, Warner Brothers has done something amazing with their new offering Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology.  They’re going to show you how badly this whole concept went off the rails, and how far back they had to come in order to be the amazing conquering juggernaut it is now.

For reasons that leave me baffled, the Batman Motion Picture Anthology covers only the period from 1989, with the original Batman, and goes to 1997, with Batman and Robin.  Here are quick plot synopses of the four in the set:

Batman–Batman grapples with his legendary archnemesis, the Joker, who’s out to coat a bankrupt Gotham with Smilex gas, a chemical compound that’ll leave the city as deformed and insane as he is.

Batman Returns–Batman takes on the Penguin and Catwoman as they work together to put a corrupt local businessman into power as Mayor of Gotham.

Batman Forever–It’s the Riddler and Two-Face for Batman to contend with this time, as the duo engage a brain-draining device to render all of Gotham to drooling idiocy.  This is the point where Robin first joins after we discover, somewhat outside of canon, that Two-Face killed his circus acrobat family.

Batman and Robin–Batman and Robin together, along with, for some reason, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, go forth to tackle Poison Ivy, Bane and Mr. Freeze, each with their own goal in mind.  Interestingly, despite the fact that the goals are contradictory you don’t see a lot of infighting with the villains.  Mr. Freeze is out to ice over Gotham while stealing suffcient cash to research a cure for a disease his wife carries, while Bane and Poison Ivy are out to turn the planet into a greenhouse.

This gives you a good idea of what’s going on here.  You’ll notice that, after the first one, it’s always multiple villains for the Batman series.  Batman Returns had two–well, more like one and a half; no one was ever too sure what the deal was with Catwoman.  Batman Forever had two, and Batman and Robin packed in three.  Also, the number of heroes grew from the lone Batman to Batman and Robin, then finally Batman and Robin and Batgirl. You’ll further notice that each progressive movie only got more outlandish and steadily worse with each passing iteration.  It’s downright amazing to have this one single box to show us, with crystalline clarity in Blu-ray, just how far down the rabbit hole a movie series can go.

The only real problem I have with the box set–which is positively LADEN with bonus features–is that it stops at 1997.  Why no Blu-ray love for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight?  I KNOW The Dark Knight is already on Blu-ray; surely they could’ve thrown IT in the box.  Unless, of course, they’re planning a big Batman Omnibus edition later on, and they’re getting us all enthused with this version in advance.

So I’m left to reserve judgment on this one–by itself, the Batman Motion Picture Anthology is a pretty good buy.  Four movies in one box?  Never a bad thing.  But considering the likelihood that a later version may include the two best Batman movies?  I’m inclined to wait for THAT one to make a solid buy recommendation.  You may, however, want to hedge your bets if you’re a sufficiently big Batman fan–you’re not likely to find all these on Blu-ray anywhere else.

This one’s for you, Heath.  Rest in peace.

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Heath Ledger did take home the posthumous Oscar for Best Actor for his handling of his last role, The Joker in The Dark Knight.

Thus, I’m going to tackle that movie today, just so you all know how good this one was.

Seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t know what’s stopping you. It’s entirely too good to pass up on.  Basically, we’re still in Gotham City, with Harvey Dent on his meteoric rise to power, The Joker out to take his place as Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime, and the Batman out to settle everybody’s hash who even so much as considers returning a library book late.  Indeed, the Joker’s convinced that Gotham deserves a better class of criminal, and he’s out to provide it, starting from the very beginning in an extremely well-orchestrated bank robbery scene.  The rest of the movie is the Joker’s mad attempt to do…well…something (if Alfred is to be believed he’s just one of those guys who wants to watch the world burn) and the Batman’s almost equally mad attempt to stop him.

I have to hand it to The Dark Knight almost immediately.  This movie is unbelievable.  It is, easily, the best Batman installment I’ve ever seen.  Yes, after Batman Returns the whole franchise started a slow collapse into sludgy campdom, but Batman Begins gave it a whole new life.  It elevated the series from bad comic book to true action movie.  And The Dark Knight is the result of that new life.  It’s produced the best Batman (Christian Bale) and a whole lot of other bests, too…including the best Joker.

Say what you will about Jack Nicholson.  I’m not going to fault Jack.  But the plain and simple is, Jack WAS the best Joker.  WAS…until Ledger just destroyed it.  The first time I saw Ledger’s Joker do the Pencil Trick I just LOST IT.  My jaw actually dropped.  I mean literally and actually FELL OPEN.  I’m glad I wasn’t drinking a Coke at the time or it would’ve wound up all down the front of my shirt.  It was crazy.

When you’ve got the best Batman, the best Joker, the best script–a script so tautly plotted and packed with clever twists that it’s ALMOST difficult to follow, but only almost–you’ve got no choice but to call it the best in the series.  It brings together so many quality, powerful, disparate elements that make it sheer lunacy on a whole-wheat bun.  And it’s not just the choice performances turned in by the leads, either.  It’s amazing, the kinds of great acting jobs were brought to this.  The set design, the prop design, the music…it’s amazing.  Watching the Batman hangglide around in the middle of Singapore was just eye-popping.

At this point I must sound like a fanboy raving ceaselessly, but in all honesty, I have no choice but to.  I enjoyed this movie too much to say anything less.  I’m even having difficulty trying to pick out downsides, because I just outright enjoyed this.  Were there problems?  I can’t mention any, really.  If there were they were so small they just coasted on by while I stared goggle-eyed at the impressive proceedings going on in front of me.

If you have even a vague enjoyment for action movies, if you love a dramatic touch, if you like an occasional comic book, then you must–MUST–see this movie.  It’s just too much fun to pass up.

With the 81st Academy Award Ceremony on tonight, it’s time to put our movie knowledge to the test, and guess who will win what this year.

But the one prediction that everyone agrees on is not who will win, but that the ceremony will lose. Despite the organisers attempting to liven up the ceremony by getting Hugh Jackman, a song-and-dance man, to host, the choice of films up for Best Picture only highlight the growing chasm between the choices of the Academy and the choices of the public. Out of the Best Picture nominees, only The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has broken 100mil domestic. Slumdog Millionaire is on its way there, but lagging behind are the remaining three nominees, none of which even made it beyond 30 mil in the US.

And if that isn’t reason enough, there’s the even curiouser case of the absence of The Dark Knight. It’s rare to see a film that is so popular (it just broke a billion dollars worldwide) and so critically acclaimed that isn’t acknowledged by an award ceremony (besides technical awards and Heath Ledger’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which can be argued is only there due to the actor’s tragic death). Even Titanic swept the Oscars and won Best Picture. While many dismiss comic book films as fluff, The Dark Knight displayed the capability of a blockbuster dealing with serious issues (indeed, it shares many themes with No Country for Old Men). And this lack of understanding of the masses will result in only further public disillusionment towards the ceremony.

On to the awards themselves… Read the rest of this entry »

Buzz has been circulating ever since The Dark Knight hit theaters that Heath Ledger had a pretty damn good chance at winning an Oscar for best supporting actor. But due to his tragic death last year due to an accidental prescription drug overdose, who would recieve the award?

Well, his family will be on hand to actually recieve the award, if he wins it, but the Oscar would then be passed on to 3-year old Matilda Ledger, Heath’s daughter. 

I don’t know about you guys but I think Heath Ledger definitly deserves this Oscar, his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight was absolutely amazing and I think it’s a damn shame such a good actor had to die a premature death.

Read (Yahoo!)

Even though a lot of hype is coming from the media on SAG’s ensemble award to Slumdog Millionaire on Sunday night, we mustn’t let it go unnoticed that they also handed out awards to Sean Penn for playing activist Harvey Milk in Milk and Meryl Streep for her performance as a fiercely certain nun in Doubt.

The late and multi-talented actor Heath Ledger won supporting role as the joker in The Dark Knight and the ever so vibrant, talented Kate Winslet for her appearance as a German woman harboring secrets in The Reader.

As for television it appears to be cookie cutter wins from the Golden Globe with NBC’s “30 Rock” and HBO’s “John Adams” in the comedy series and longform categories, and a top drama series honor for AMC’s “Mad Men.”

For a complete list of SAG winners, click here.

The Dark Knight is well on its way to becoming a legend, but that hasn’t stopped everyone from asking when/what the sequel will be. Superhero Hype caught up with the TDK producer Charles Roven on the red carpet of the 14th Annual Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California, to ask some questions about the third film.

“Right now even though I’m the producer of ‘The Dark Knight’ I’m kind of like everybody,” he said. “I’m waiting to see what Chris [Nolan] and David Goyer come up with and if they come up and decide if there is something worthy of making another iteration of Batman and ‘The Dark Knight’.”

He continued, adding that the “most important thing” right now is to decide whether there is a reason to make a third film. However, the answer was positive when asked if he would like to see one get made.

The Dark Knight is an amazing film and has been a global success, save for one country: China. AFP is reporting that despite the film’s tremendous popularity, Warner Brothers has opted not to release it in China.

In an official statement, the company has stated that “based on a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to ‘The Dark Knight’ as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forego a theatrical release of the film in China.”

China is notorious for its stingy censors through which a handful of movies pass every year. The Dark Knight has a couple of factors that denies its access to China: its plot involves Batman illegally kidnapping a Chinese fugitive from a Hong Kong skyscraper, and there’s a rather non-flattering remark about Chinese gun manufacturing.