The Dark Knight | the m0vie blog

Does Hype Ruin Good Films?

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Darren

So, how was Avatar Day for you?

The word so far has been a resounding ‘meh‘, but still a somewhat enthusiastic one. Still, it’s nothing compared to the hype that has built up around the movie. A ‘game changer’, Avatar was rumoured to redefine movies themselves – ushering in the golden era of three-dimensional filmmaking. How does a film live up to that hype? In fairness, most of the comments on the preview footage have been relatively positive, but most seem a little disappointed. So, has the Hollywood hype machine spoiled a perfectly good movie?

Is James Cameron still king of the world?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: advertising, avatar, avatar day, blockbusters, classics, district 9, fans, films, hype, marketing, masterpieces, Movies, peter jackson, pr, star wars, The Dark Knight, watchmen | Leave a comment »

Comic Con – It’s Like All My Geek Christmases Have Come at Once…

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Darren

I’ll do a retrospective of this year’s comic con when it’s finished, but today has been a big day for news at Comic Con. These are two of my favourite discoveries:

Not only does Flynn live, but he’s a bad ass. The famous test footage from last year has been remastered and turned into a pretty intense teaser. Looking at it, it might just buck the trend with long-delayed sequels.
Gary Oldman has confirmed Batman 3 is coming, despite Christopher Nolan’s rumoured reluctance. Wow. Even Warner Brothers seem surprised. Michael Caine loves jerking fans around, but Oldman is normally pretty dead-on. He says we’ll see it in 2011.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: Batman 3, Christopher Nolan, comic con, gary oldman, jeff bridges, movie gossip, Movies, The Dark Knight, the dark knight sequel, tron, tron: legacy | Leave a comment »

Rest in Peace, Batman…

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Darren

Batman – or at least Bruce Wayne – has been ‘dead’ for about a year now. He was famously killed off by Grant Morrison through some weird timey-wimey thing I don’t even want to get into. Anyway, it has been a year, and a year since the release of The Dark Knight and seventy years since the Caped Crusader first appeared. He’s come a long way since then and I thought it might be interesting to think about what his obituary might look like, if it were run in a news paper like The Guardian. Sure he’s coming back, but from what we saw last summer, The Gotham Times are all about publishing the premature obituaries. Anyway, here’s what I think it might look like…

Who says he never embraced the camp side of his life? And I bet he has all the accessories too...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman obituary, batman rip, caped crusader, comic books, dc comics, history, robin, The Dark Knight | Leave a comment »

What we loved about the Nolan Batman movies…

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Darren

Don’t get us wrong, we did enjoy the two Burton films (I have a soft spot for Batman Returns, despite fandom’s opinion of it). It’s just that the Nolan films – Batman Begins and The Dark Knight – managed to perfectly capture what it was about the Caped Crusader that we really loved. There was just something about them that really worked, and we thought we’d take a look at five of the reasons why we liked them so much.

Reason #243: excellent cinematography...

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Filed under: Movies, Opinion | Tagged: batman begins, Christopher Nolan, Comics, film, Movies, The Dark Knight | 2 Comments »

I’m a Grinner, I’m a Lover, I’m a Sinner…

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Darren

… I’m a Joker, I’m a Smoker, I’m a Midnight Toker

What is it about the Joker that makes him such a great villain. He’s appeared in just about every media form where Batman has appeared since Batman #1 way back in 1940. He is one of only two villains to appear in both of the more recent Batman film franchises and he seems to be the only character in the history of the Batman family who has survived every era of the character unblemished. Be it the light comic relief of the Dick Sprang era reflected in the Adam West show (where Ceasar Romero is clearly wearing a mustache under his makeup), the darker sense of humour of the animated Joker voiced by Mark Hamill in The Animated Series through to the anarchist/nihilist terrorist portrayed by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight – none of these incarnations are any less in character than any of the others. What is it about the Joker that makes him one of the great villains of our time?

The world's leading cause of coulrophobia...

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Filed under: Movies, Opinion, Television | Tagged: batman, Christopher Nolan, Comics, grant morrison, heath ledger, jack nicholson, joker, The Dark Knight | 5 Comments »

Looking Back at This Year’s Best Picture Race

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Darren

I’ve finally gotten to see all the five Best Picture nominees for the 81st Academy Awards. I’m honestly disappointed it took me so long, but that’s what happens when a flood of prestige movies hit the cinemas over three weeks in January and the Academy doesn’t even pick the good ones. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the contenders, in retrospect. The previous year’s awards featured a fantastic line-up – Juno, No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood – that hit just about every demographic and represented the awards at their best. This year, we got a closed shop.

The statuettes are actually quite creepy when you get to looking at them...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2009 oscars, 81st academy awards, academy awards, AMPAS, best picture, films, frost/nixon, milk, Movies, Oscars, slumdog millionaire, the curious case of benjamin button, The Dark Knight, the reader | Leave a comment »

Launching The Dark Week – A Week of Batman Features…

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Darren

It’s a year since The Dark Knight arrived on cinema screens, smashing various records and earning a massively positive critical and commercial reaction. The Bat himself turned seventy earlier this year and his influence over popular culture shows no sign of fading – even if Bruce Wayne is ‘dead’. Over the next week, to celebrate these two facts, we’ll be running a series of articles looking both at the film and the character – from a review of the film to a look at the iconic status of the Joker and why we love the Nolan franchise so much, as well as thoughts on where it might go next and an obituary for a character who has enjoyed an incredibly varied seventy-year existence in countless mediums.

All this stuff is pre-prepared, so it won’t interrupt our coverage of other pop culture happenings. In the meantime, what better way to kick off proceedings than with a review of The Dark Knight?

Not bad for an OAP...

Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: batman, bruce wayne, comic books, dark knight, dc comics, features, The Dark Knight | Leave a comment »

What Happens if Nolan Doesn’t Direct Batman 3?

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Darren

Rumours are already circulating that Christopher Nolan may be calling it a day when it comes to his Batman franchise. Anonymous insiders – don’t you love ’em – are claiming the director has reached breaking point with the studio. Rumour has it that they want to recast The Joker and include him in the sequel, whereas Nolan is against the idea. It’s far too early to really start worrying about it – Nolan was initially reluctant to do a sequel to Batman Begins, for example. But, still, it’s a slow news day, so we’ll ponder it: What happens if Nolan doesn’t return?

There's no man like Nolan

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman, Batman 3, Christopher Nolan, dark knight returns, david s. goyer, heath ledger, joker, The Dark Knight, the dark knight sequel, Warner Brothers, zach snyder | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Batman Begins

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Darren

Batman Begins has been somewhat overshadowed by the success of The Dark Knight, but Christopher Nolan’s original reimagining of the Batman mythos is a compelling and clever examination of one of pop culture’s most enduring icons. I think there’s a case to be made that Batman Begins represents the best superhero origin story ever told in film – and quite possibly the definitive introduction to Batman and his world. The key isn’t collecting bits of trivia to explain the finer details, although the script from the Nolan brothers and David Goyer certainly does that. Instead, Nolan dares to examine the psychology of Batman. Richard Donner’s Superman famously boasted that you’d believe a man could fly. Nolan makes you believe that a man would dress up as a giant bat to fight crime.

Swooping ahead of the competition…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: batman, batman begins, Bruce, bruce wayne, christian bale, Christopher Nolan, gotham, Henri Ducard, Movies, nolan, non-review review, ra's al ghul, review, richard donner, scarecrow, The Dark Knight, tim burton, Wayne Enterprises | 1 Comment »

Green Lantern… The Other, Other Hot DC Comics Property

Posted on June 13, 2009 by Darren

Everyone knows Batman and Superman. Those dudes – and their supporting casts – are the nearly the only ambassadors for DC Comics to the world of mainstream cinema. With the exception of the odd stand-alone project, such as Watchmen or Road to Perdition, DC seems to be having a hardtime transitioning its properties to film. Marvel has managed to secure franchises for many of their lights, both greater and lesser – ask the X-Men, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Blade, Iron Man, The Hulk and even The Punisher – leading me to wonder why DC has taken so long to get out there. Sure, perhaps Superman and Batman (and Wonder Woman) are the most iconic of their stable, but I’d also suggest that the Flash and Green Lantern also carry name recognition (though not to the same degree). I’m greatly anticipating Green Lantern as the second-biggest superhero event of next year (because Iron Man II has one of the best casts… ever), but I’m left to wonder: what the hell took you so long?