There have been a number of exciting rumors in the film industry that have been announced over the past week or so that I for one would be more than happy to see come alive on the big screen. Let’s take look at some of the rumors that have popped up and assess on which have either been confirmed, are likely to be true or perhaps rumors that have occurred out of hope.
More Matrix Movies?
It would seem that at a recent event in London Keanu Reeves stated that he had been out to lunch with the Wachowski brothers and that talks of two more Matrix movies were held. According to the insider at the event the brothers have the script to split into two not three movies and that Reeves has the potential to once again take on the Neo character. Whilst the first Matrix movie was an awesome film it is safe to say that the two sequels were more about the cash cow than anything else. It wasn’t so much that they were bad films they were just not as enjoyable as the first and they went way too overboard on the special effects.
The other rumor that has come of this is that the brothers have also met up with James Cameron to discuss pros and cons of 3D and are once again looking to push the boundaries of 3 dimensional film making (much as Cameron did with Avatar).
In terms of this being true it has only come from one person that has stated that Reeves has said this and there has been no confirmation either way as of yet.
Kick-Ass 2 In The Works?
Another big rumour to hit the world over the past couple of weeks (thanks to British newspaper the Daily Mail) is that the Kick-Ass 2 screenplay is being worked on by Jane Goldman. Kick-Ass was easily my top movie from 2010 and when I spotted this I simply had to dive in to do a bit more research. Sadly what I found was nothing more than false promises from a newspaper (surprise, surprise). [Read more…]
Nolan talks Bats and Supes
Talks of a new Superman movie have been rife for the last couple of years. After the fairly lackluster showing of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, talk of rebooting Superman is gaining more traction in Hollywood.
And since a successful reboot is very important at this stage, it was mentioned that Christopher Nolan, who helmed and reinvigorated the Batman franchise with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, will be spearheading the Supes reboot because of his experience.
Nolan, in an interview, said that his involvement in the Superman reboot came about because of an “impasse” that has happened while talking about the third Batman film. Writer David Goyer brought out an idea (which he didn’t mention) for Superman that Nolan immediately loved.
There is speculation that the new Superman movie, will be like that of the new Batman movie, in that Superman will be the only superhero in his world, so any speculations about a crossover between the two is already out of the question.
Speaking of Batman, Nolan also said that the impasse he mentioned has already been fixed. He and Goyer are now moving forward with the third film, though he is still mum about who the next villain will be. He did say that they want to finish their story as opposed to blowing it up infinitely and expanding the story they’ve created.
I’m betting on Catwoman.
Batman “Oscar” site goes up
Warner Bros. has begun its push for The Dark Knight to get an Oscar nod.
The studio has launched a “for your consideration” website for the smash hit and the content of the site includes the full script of the movie itself.
But in related but amusing news, a city in Turkey named Batman is suing the studio and director Christopher Nolan for royalties from the movie. Batman’s mayor is definitely bonkers if he thinks his lawsuit would even be considered seriously.
Huseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of Batman, has accused the film’s producers of using the city’s name without permission.
“There is only one Batman in the world,” Kalkan said. “The American producers used the name of our city without informing us.”
We wish him the best of luck. More details here.
Also, The Dark Knight has reached a worldwide total of $997.6 million ($528.6 million domestically, $469 million internationally) and should be able to cross the $1 billion mark with the re-release in January.
Movie Review: The Dark Knight
The world of Batman is one that I love to revisit time and time again. To say that I am a fan is an understatement. Obsessive is more like it. I have a modest toy collection that is solely based on Batman figures. I have started collecting collectible statues of Batman and I have been reading Batman comics since I’ve learned to, well, read.
Like many Batman fans, I was eagerly anticipating the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Forget about Heath Ledger (and I respectfully say that), I was looking forward to another live action excursion to Batman’s world. Anyone who has read my reviews know that I can be extremely critical but the child in me was quite excited about the buzz the film was getting. I kept reading accounts of how great it was—that it is the best Batman movie ever made, the best crime drama ever. The superlatives were just so much that I was beginning to buy into the hype. So I fixed my schedule last week in order to catch the movie in a theater near my home. And I left… deflated.
Don’t get me wrong. I liked the movie, it was quite entertaining and I can safely say it was one of the better Batman movies I’ve seen. But the greatest? I’ll have to disagree.
First, the good things. Christopher Nolan has grown as a filmmaker. The maturity is evident in how he conveyed atmosphere and emotion in well placed shots and camera angles. The first few minutes of the movie can be considered as one of the best first 15 minutes that I can think of in recent years. There was a kinetic fluidity there that reminds me of Michael Mann in Heat. And it was really great start. The acting was superlative across the board. Yes, Heath Ledger managed to turn in a very disturbing, psychopathic performance of the Joker that really went near the edge but never fell into the world of parody. I think that was the ultimate power of Ledger’s performance, the level of abandon that he brought to the role but with still a conscious restraint that prevented his portrayal from getting too cheesy. I have to say though that Aaron Eckhart may have stolen the show from all of the other actors. His Harvey Dent was a driven character who sees everything in black and white, much like Batman. But his strength, and unfortunately also his weakness, is his love for Rachel and his determination to rid Gotham of crime no matter what.
Technically, I have to give props to the cinematography, the whole thing is amazing to look at. It was a great interpretation of how Gotham would’ve have looked like in an actual real-world city.
Christian Bale is a consistently good actor but in this movie, he has acquired for exaggerating his mouth movements that is, frankly, too distracting. Another complain is Nolan’s ability to direct an action sequence. For the life of him, he still cannot direct a proper fight scene. It’s too bad because the film would have been elevated to a higher plane with properly shot fight sequences. The script was also quite cliché-ridden. There were just too many lines that you’ve heard before and the psycho-babble is just not written with any kind of credibility.
So is The Dark Knight a good movie? Yes it is, unequivocally. Is it a great movie? Definitely not.
Rating: B
The Dark Knight sets new record
The newest Batman movie is out to prove that it could also be the best.
The Dark Knight has reportedly earned $155.34 million on its opening weekend, making it the biggest opening weekend at the box office, beating Spider-Man 3’s performance a year ago. In fact, it bested Spider-man 3’s record by $4 million. The movie also broke another record set by the Spidey flick–the best debut in IMAX theaters with a gross of $6.2 million spread over 94 locations.
Couple this news with a growing buzz for a posthumous nomination for Heath Ledger for his critic-wowing performance as The Joker and it is getting more and more certain that we’ll see another outing for Bats in the movies in the future.