Batman Begins courtesy Warner Bros.
Batman Begins, the 2005 movie from Christopher Nolan with Christian Bale as "Batman," successfully restarted the DC Comics franchise for the big screen. The movie explored the origins of the character, from the death of his parents as a young boy, to donning the batsuit for the first time. The movie was a huge hit, and grossed over $350 million worldwide. The sequel, The Dark Knight opens today, with critics and fans already raving over the performance by the late Heath Ledger. I wanted to refresh my memory by revisiting Batman Begins before heading to the theater, and, thankfully, Warner Bros recently released the movie on Blu-ray (it had previously been released on DVD and HD DVD).I regretted not seeing Batman Begins in the theater; my first viewing was on my 32" TV when the DVD was first released. My second viewing, this Blu-ray release, was an obvious upgrade from the DVD. Not only have I moved on to a larger screen (60"), but the 1080p transfer is leaps and bounds better than t...
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Christian Bale by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com
According to the Reporter, Batman frontman Christian Bale is in talks to join another boffo franchise, playing a grown-up John Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. (Hey, I think Phantom Menace just lost the honor of worst film title ever.)Bale is currently lensing the Batman Begins follow-up The Dark Knight; McG (Charlie's Angels) is in negotiations to direct this latest Terminator trip.
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Nov 28, 2007 06:45 PM ET
- by Ken Fox
Heath Ledger as the Joker on the January 2008 cover of Empire Magazine
Aside from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Sandman Mystery Theatre and Rex Mundi, I’m really not a very big comic-book fan. But I’ve got to admit I can’t wait for The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan’s sequel to the supremely excellent Batman Begins that’s scheduled to hit theaters in July 2008. The reason: The advent of the Joker, one of the greatest pop-culture villains since Richard III. I’m one of the few people who doesn’t really like Tim Burton’s Batman, mainly because I’ve always hated Jack Nicholson’s buffoonish turn (let the flaming begin). The Joker should inspire giddy fear, not goofy laughs (check out Allan Moore’s classic Joker story arc in The Killing Joke for what I think is the best – and scariest – take on this endlessly fascinating character). So I was thrilled to learn that Heath Ledger had been cast in the role, since he’s a good actor who, I suspect, has a dark side worth explori...
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Nicole Kidman by Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
Nicole Kidman is joining Ralph Fiennes in The Reader, based on Bernhard Schlink's best-seller about a female defendant in a Nazi war-crimes trial.... Also per the Reporter, American Pie shtupper Jason Biggs is the best (and betrayed) bud of Bachelor No. 2 (aka Dane Cook), while The Class' Lizzy Caplan is Kate Hudson's No. 1 gal pal.... Per Variety, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston are the married owners of an incorrigible Labrador retriever in Marley & Me.... Senator Patrick Leahy plays "a distinguished gentleman" in a scene with Batman, the Joker and Alfred in The Dark Knight, says the AP.
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Christian Bale in Batman Begins courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Christian Bale, whose war drama Rescue Dawn hits theaters July 4, proved evasive when asked by TVGuide.com about the rumored return of Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow in the Batman Begins follow-up Dark Knight. "I won't confirm it, 'cause I never know what I can and can't say," he hedged (in what our Raven describes as "his seriously hot native-Welsh accent"). "I usually wait for other people to say it, then I know it must be common knowledge."That unsaid, Bale notes that the sequel — hitting theaters in July 2008 — enjoyed a seamless transition, with the returning likes of Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine joined by newcomers Heath Ledger (as the Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two Face) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes). "It's been a nice progression," he said, "and we have the confidence now," based on Batman Begins' strong reception. — Additional reporting by Raven Snook
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Per Variety, Maggie Gyllenhaal is in final talks to play Rachel Dawes, the Katie Holmes role in Batman Begins, in the follow-up The Dark Knight.... Clint Eastwood is looking to direct and Angelina Jolie may star in The Changeling, about a woman whose son is abducted and then returned. Or is he?.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Walt Disney will introduce its first African-American animated heroine with The Frog Princess, pegged as "an American fairy tale" about a girl who lives in New Orleans' French Quarter.... DreamWorks and producer Steven Spielberg are bringing Belgian comic-strip hero Tintin to the big screen.
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Per Variety, Warner Bros. is looking to bring not one or two but a gaggle of superheroes to the big screen, with a feature film based on DC Comics' Justice League of America. Though the specially abled all-star team typically includes such top-shelf crime fighters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, the studio is not specifying exactly who is on its wish list, nor whether Christian Bale or Brandon Routh would be wooed to reprise their franchise roles.... Universal has re-upped Robert De Niro and hopes to also have back Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand for Little Fockers, a second sequel to Meet the Parents.
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Has there been a security breach in Sector 7 of the Cruise compound? Nine months after delivering unto thee baby Suri, Katie Holmes is in talks to star in her first movie since... well, that whole Tom/Kate/"glib"/It's Not Chris Klein's/Italian wedding thing. As reported by Variety, Mad Money, a comedy about three female Federal Reserve employees who plot a grand theft, would find Kate looking for laughs opposite Queen Latifah, for one, and directed by Thelma & Louise scribe Callie Khouri. Holmes, need you ask, will not be reprising her Batman Begins role in its follow-up, The Dark Knight, though it's up for debate who Bale'd on whom.
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TV's Blade, Batman Begins
In Part 1 of our Q&A with David S. Goyer, the producer/writer detailed the differences and similarities between Spike TV's Blade: The Series (Wednesdays at 10 pm/ET) and its big-screen begetter. Here he shares the scoop on which other Blade characters will surface on TV, status reports on The Flash, Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider and the Batman Begins follow-up, and the sad truth about why shows such as
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Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones is TV's Blade.
Producer/writer David S. Goyer is hotter than a solar flash on the big screen these days. While the veteran comic-book (Justice Society of America) and sci-fi/horror-film scribe (Batman Begins, Dark City) is currently working on, among other projects, big-screen takes on The Flash and Ghost Rider, it'
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