DC Cinematic Universe lose both Superman and Batman

Reports are that the floundering, DC Cinematic Universe has lost both it's Superman and Batman with Henry Cavill confirmed as leaving the Superman role. This week, The Hollywood Reporter quoted sources saying that Cavill is done with the Man of Steel, and this was followed by the New York Post reporting that Ben Affleck is hanging up his Batman cape.

The DC cinematic universe seems to be in a right mess.


Warner Brother's released a statement that included the following:




"While no decisions have been made regarding any upcoming Superman films, we've always had great respect for and a great relationship with Henry Cavill, and that remains unchanged."

Although the Warner's statement doesn't come right out and say that Cavill is leaving the role, it doesn't deny it either. A similar situation exists with Batman at the moment with neither Warners nor Affleck confirming that he is finished with the role, however reports have surfaced that Warners have requested digital mock ups of Game of Thrones actor, Kit Harrington in the role.

Ben Affleck out of the Bat suit

It now looks certain that Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman  won’t star Ben Affleck. Such rumours have been frequent over the last year, but the latest official word is that the script Reeves handed in over Memorial Day weekend focuses on a younger Dark Knight, which would seemingly exclude Affleck from returning to the part. Whether he continues to wear the cowl in any future Justice League films is yet to be seen, but it would seem unlikely given that DC/Warners are desperate to restart the DC Universe.

The first production to go forward now looks to be the Joker origin film starring Joaquin Phoenix. With Todd Phillips (The Hangover franchise) directing from a script he wrote with 8 Mile scribe Scott Silver, the movie is set to go in front of cameras this fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Martin Scorsese serves as executive producer and the budget is reportedly $55 million, relatively low for a comic book blockbuster .

Affleck himself since he is keeping plenty busy lately. He’s currently filming Triple Frontier for writer-director J.C. Chandor alongside co-stars Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal at Netflix. He’s also on board to direct and star in Christopher Keyser‘s adaptation of Agatha Christie‘s crime/mystery novel Witness for the Prosecution, and will likely return for a sequel to the crime-drama The Accountant. Affleck was also just reported to be reteaming with The Accountant director Gavin O’Connor for the sports drama, The Has-Been

Who is the best Batman?

Over the years there have been many animated Batman adventures with scores of voice actors taking the part - HERE at 109 they have ranked the best Batman voice actors.

Ben Affleck Quits Batman

Although no official announcement has been made the persistent rumour doing the rounds is that Ben Affleck has quit the role of Batman - The actor's made it clear that he is not happy with the way his take on the character has gone.

Batman V Superman offered an older, more jaded take on the character, who had been operating as Batman for years. While Affleck received mostly positive reviews for his turn, the movie itself received a very mixed reaction. Affleck returned for Justice League and a cameo in Suicide Squad, and at one stage was set to write and direct The Batman solo movie. Since the actor had worked on various projects back to back he decided to step aside from directing, with Matt Reeves (War For The Planet Of The Apes) being brought on as a replacement. Following the failure of Justice League, it seems the project is currently in limbo. Affleck's made it clear that he is  eager to move on entirely from the DCEU and his involvement with Reeves’ movie officially remains a question mark.

This dismal movies that were Batman V Superman and Justice League hit Affleck hard, having previously been mocked for starring in an awful comic book film, Daredevil.

Birth Movies Death reported at the timeof Batman V Superman, “My sources have told me that Affleck was incredibly unhappy about the reception of BvS. He felt humiliated after spending so much of the press tour saying how much better this film would be than Daredevil.”

It's a shame the way it's gone - I'm no fan of  Batman V Superman , in fact I thought is was shit, but Affleck’s  angry, xenophobic Batman was one of the better elements of Batman v Superman. 

Matt Reeves’ take on the currently in pre-production Batman movie is said to be a neo-noir mystery. The director also scrapped the version of the script Affleck was working on and is said to favor casting a new actor in the role. Affleck’s unhappiness with how his Batman run has gone so far is something of an open secret, so the studio is likely giving him breathing room before making a decision on his future.

Affleck though has reportedly told close friends that he's finished with the Batman.

Batman: The KIlling Joke animated movie

Warner Brothers have made some excellent superhero movies in animated form, and in terms of realising the source material most of these movies are vastly superior to last year’s Batman V Superman movie. Perhaps animation is far more suited to the medium, a far truer way than live action of bringing the comic books to life. There’s a lot of evidence for that stance – as good as Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was,  none of the films matched up to the 1993 animated movie, Mask of the Phantasm....FULL REVIEW

Too old for latex

Iron Man 3 hits DVD today and I snapped up a copy this morning. This was one of the  superhero films I missed at the cinema, and although I enjoyed both previous Iron Man movies and loved The Avengers I think I'm getting tired of superhero movies. Either that or I'm getting too old for them - Man of Steel failed to excite me and for the most part I found it boring and the third Dark Knight movie, Dark Knight Rises I felt was deeply flawed. Those tacked on endings, all that bollocks about the auto-pilot, left a sour taste on what was otherwise  a brilliant superhero trilogy. Though in truth I don't think the Nolan Batman movies were really superhero movies at all, but rather dark crime thrillers that just happened to feature a man in a cape. So maybe the Dark Knight movies don't really count when talking about superhero movies.

The big news at the moment is that Superman and Batman are to team up in a movie and then after that Warners will make the long promised Justice League film... I'm underwhelmed by that and don't really give a toss. Mind you I'm not that bothered by the prospect of new Star Wars films either, so maybe I am turning into a grumpy old man after all.

I actually bought two DVD's today - Iron Man 3 and then the new Blu-Ray edition of The Treasures of Sierra Madre. I've seen Sierra Madre perhaps a dozen times and can't wait to watch the new Blu-Ray edition. And at the same time I don't think I could sit through The Man of Steel again.

So what is it? Am I a grumpy old man or is it the fact that Hollywood doesn't really make movies for grown ups these days? Whatever the reason I do suspect I'm too old for latex but I'm going to give Iron Man 3 a spin....expect a review here later this week, as well as a look at the new Blu-Ray of Treasures of the Sierra Madre.

 I expect Fred Dobbs will kick Tony Stark's arse.

Catwoman's Pussy

The Tainted Archive is a place of highbrow reading, and so when paparazzi photographers  recently caught a snap of Catwoman herself, Ann Hathaway  getting out of a car with no underwear on we were not interested. At the NYC premiere of Les Miserables on Monday night, Anne Hathaway accidentally gave the paps a pubic hair show when she had a wardrobe malfunction while slipping out of her SUV. The pictures ended up everywhere. They even ended up in my  inbox, but that's mostly because I've a Google Alert set up for "Anne Hathaway coochie pictures."

"It was obviously an unfortunate incident. It kind of made me sad on two accounts. One was that I was very sad that we live in an age when someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment and rather than delete it, and do the decent thing, sells it. And I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies sexuality of unwilling participants, which brings us back to 'Les Mis,' that's what my character is, she is someone who is forced to sell sex to benefit her child because she has nothing and there's no social safety net. So lets get back to Les Mis." Anne Hatheway.

We agree fully - just because someone looked so hot in The Dark Knight Rises and is generally a hot babe all around there's  no reason to get excited by a shot of where Bruce Wayne parked his batmobile.

"It was devastating. They saw everything. I might as well have lifted up my skirt for them.”  Anne Hatheway


Anyway the Archive would never dream of posting the pic but then again it is Catwoman's pussy....

Saying goodbye to the Bat and Judge Dredd goes gay (maybe)

"It was like ending a relationship or something. Somewhere in the back of my head I can hear myself saying, Dude, it’s not you, it’s me. I just can’t hang out any more. Good luck with that whole fighting crime thing." writes Greg Hatcher in this entertaining post HERE on the end of his love affair with Batman.

And in other comic book related news the 2000AD fan community have gone into a spin of speculation after the comic posted a pic of Judge Dredd in a passionate embrace with a perp on its website. The pic ran with the following teaser - Has someone finally melted Judge Dredd’s stony heart? Find out in January 2013…

The teaser is doing its job since speculation is at fever pitch - some fans are OK with a gay Dredd while others are getting insanely angry - Judge Dredd doesn't do gay, one fan wrote on the 2000AD message board but then added - apart from the codpiece in the Stallone/Dredd movie.

Still the 2000AD powers that be are keeping tight lipped about the forthcoming storyline - though making Dredd gay would be absurd and perhaps a politically correct step too far.

Are 2000 AD  following in the wake of Marvel and DC’s activities ? Already we've seen Marvel’s Northstar getting hitched to his long term boyfriend, and DC’s  Alan Scott came out as gay in the 52 reshuffle. Even Archie Comics had its first gay character, Kevin Keller, marry the love of his life, Clay Walker several months ago.

One thread on the 2000AD message board suggested that it will be Dredd's evil clone, Rico who turns out to be gay, but this would a problematic if 2000AD had this storyline in mind. If the gay Judge was indeed the evil Rico then the subtext of the story could be misunderstood - what for instance would it be saying about homosexuality?

Does it matter if Dredd does come out as gay?It is after all just a comic book but go tell that to the fans. One wrote -  "It would make sense if Dredd was a violent, repressed homosexual who vented his frustrations with his fists. Having said that....a gay Dredd still goes against that whole celibate "I'm only married to the LAW"-thing that all of the Judges have. I'm calling BULLSH!T on this one."

Another added - "..Spikes Harvey Rotten! Come back! All is forgiven!!!

A very gay Dredd

And sticking with Dredd it looks as if the movie franchise is dead after the failure of the latest Judge Dredd movie which although receiving rave reviews didn't find an audience - The film took a total of $6.3 million in its opening weekend, below the $9 to $10 million the studio estimated.

I kept help thinking that maybe this was something to do with the fact that the film was only out in a 3D cut, which is the reason I haven't yet seen the movie and will wait for the DVD. I don't really like 3D and find it gives me a headache and from what I've heard I'm not alone is this. Also and again this is personal preference but whenever I see a movie with 3D tagged onto the title, it feels gimmicky and turns me off.

HAS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE ALREADY STARTED

The climax of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES has provoked a great deal of controversy and debate - since Batman had to have died at the end of the movie fans are asking if  Christopher  Nolan cheated them.

Batman must have died -  After all, even if Bruce Wayne had leapt from The Bat the atomic blast would have killed him.

And yet we saw two odd seemingly tacked on endings after the explosion - one saying that the auto pilot was working and secondly we saw Bruce Wayne sitting in a cafe enjoying a drink with Catwoman. Now the auto pilot plot line is shit since we saw Batman in the cockpit only seconds before the explosion so that can be discounted - the autopilot couldn't have saved Batman. And the cafe scene in which Alfred spots Bruce could have been a dream since Alfred makes reference to such a recurring dream early in the movie.

Whatever happened it seems strange that a filmmaker like Nolan, whose scripts are thoughtful and wound tightly, would leave such a huge issue of plausibility lingering over his epic Batman trilogy. Well now there is a theory doing the rounds that at first seems ridiculous but is gaining enough credibility to make the national press. It is no secret that Christopher Nolan had a lot of input in the forthcoming Man of Steel movie and is in fact producing the movie - fans are speculating that during the new Supes movie it will be revealed that Superman actually saved Batman at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, and that this will lead onto a Justice League movie.

If that does turn out to be the case then it makes perfect sense of one of the more troubling aspects of The Dark Knight Rises - it would also pave the way for the Justice League movie that DC are so keen to see on the big screens, and if this does turn out to be the case then it is a stroke of genius. And it would also be a typical twist for Nolan to have thrown into the mix.

Superman saved Batman? - The more I consider it the more likely it becomes.

Batman supported Obama, the Fatman strikes and the Dark Knight Returns again

Some of the stuff you come across while browsing the Internet is just plain weird, but entertaining nonetheless and a recent search to check out the date that The Dark Knight Rises will be out on DVD took me to Policymic and an article that offered a convincing case on why Batman would have voted for Obama in the recent US election.

You can find the article HERE - "In memory of his father, Bruce Wayne created the Thomas Wayne foundation for medicine and medical help. This foundation gives money for medical breakthroughs, as well as funds and runs many free clinics in Gotham City. Batman wants equal access to healthcare for every citizen."

  And another interesting, not to mention wildly entertaining Batman site is Fatman on Batman which is the home page of the Fatman on Batman Podcast which is hosted by none other than notable stoner and film director, Kevin Smith. Each week Smith sits down with a luminary from the Batman world - past episodes have featured Adam West, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Walt Flanagan. The show, which comes from the Smodcast house of podcasting which also produces the awesome,Hollywood Babbleon, is must for both fans of the Bat and serious students of pop culture alike.

And staying with Batman - it seems that the eagerly awaited second part of The Dark Knight Returns, the animated feature of Frank Miller's classic  game changing Batman story, will be released on both blu-ray and standard DVD is Jan 19th 2013. This is good news as fans have been eager to see a conclusion to the story. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 picks up where the first left off with Batman having returned to Gotham with an all new Robin, however not everyone is welcoming him back to the streets. Gotham City's police are on a manhunt for the Batman as is the newly released Joker. As Batman attempts to stop the Joker one last time, the United States goverment teams up with Superman to bring the Dark Knight down for good. Peter Weller returns as the voice of the aged Dark Knight along with Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelly, the new Robin. "Lost's" Michael Emerson provides the voice of the 'cured' Joker and Mark Valley will play Superman.


Check out the trailer below:

Batman Revived

Batman dead?

The next big bat event will take place when:

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 will be released on Blu-ray and DVD and download on 25 September 2012.

 

 

Holy everything you need to know about Batman in one post

He was originally to be called Birdman but thankfully during development Bob Kane and Bill Finger switched this to Batman Initially Finger received no credit for his part in the character with Batman, for a great many years, being credited as a Bob Kane creation. It was only in later years that Kane acknowledged Finger's contribution to the early development of the character.

"I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of ... reddish tights, I believe, with boots ... no gloves, no gauntlets ... with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign ... BATMAN."  Finger talking about his initial look at Kane's creation.


Indeed it was Finger who suggested giving the character a cowl instead of the domino mask, a cape instead of wings, adding gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume But Bob Kane's dad was a lawyer which assured that Kane got his byline on each and every Batman story, which was something unheard of during the period.

Batman first saw light in 1939 with issue 27 of Detective Comics. Many of the aspects of the modern day character were in place for this first story - Batman's secret identity as Bruce Wayne, Commissioner Gordon and of course the costume style which although developed over the years is still essentially the same thing.

Over the years we have learned that Batman's cowl contains a transmitter, that the thickest layer of body armour is around the bat symbol on Batman's chest, that the outer layer of the batsuit can be electrified and that the suit is fireproof. The biggest element of the suit is that it scares bad guys. And Batman was initially a vampiric character and this symbolism has been used effectively by many of the writers over the years. The Batman of Tim Burton's Batman the Movie was very much Dracula with morals.

Batman also has a utility belt which over the years has carried grappling hooks, cameras, lights, weapons and communicators.

The trauma of Batman witnessing the murder of his parents as a child left him with an hatred of guns and he vows to never use them in his fight against crime. Though that doesn't stop him using explosive pellets or lethal batarangs.

Batman uses various gadgets from kick ass cars to shark repellent bat spray. The batglider is bloody cool too and Batman keeps all these at the Batcave which exists beneath Wayne Manor.

The origin - Bruce sees his parents killed, vows that he will fight crime, trains , becomes Batman.


"I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today however isn't that day."

Gotham City is a city where town planning never existed and where a lot of lowlife scum tend to operate. The city houses the Arkham Asylum which is a gothic nightmare.

Robin is Batman's sometimes sidekick. There have been various Robins over the years but personally I prefer my Batman to operate solo. Damien Wayne, Bruce's son, is the current Robin.

Alfred Pennyworth was once a cockney womaniser who fought the Zulus but is now the stereotypical English butler. One of the few anachronisms in popular culture that actually work.

Commissioner Gordon - Batman's buddy in the police.

Batman sometimes works with his super buddies such as Wonder Woman, Green Arrow or Superman. And of course Bats is also a member of the Justice League of America. The caped crusader is often a part of other teams too.

Batman sometimes get his leg over and his birds have included Vicky Vale, Julie Madison, Vesper Fairchild and Catwoman.

Batman fights many enemies but the most iconic are:

The Joker - the most iconic of them all. Joker is to Batman what Lex Luthor is to Superman.

Penguin - next to the Joker he's the tops.

The Riddler - takes third place.

Bane - overrated

Two Face - excellent character

Mr Freeze - Silly

Catwoman - Sexy

Poison Ivy - also sexy

Scarecrow - often a very effective character.

Alongside Superman, Batman defined the superhero age - they were characters for our times. Indeed during the second world war Batman was drafted in for many advertising campaigns.

KEY GRAPHIC NOVELS

Batman Year One

The Dark Knight Returns

The Killing Joke

Death in the Family

Arkham Asylum

Knightfall parts 1 and 2

The Long Halloween

There you have it - that's everything really, because Batman can be picked up and enjoyed at any point in his long continuity. I've only recently started reading the comics, after many years away, thanks to the Titan collectors editions, and I'm enjoying them as much as ever. For there is more than one Batman and the character can, depending on how he is presented, be for the young kiddies as well as the more mature and demanding readers.

Maybe more so than Superman, Batman is the no 1 superhero ever created and this is perhaps because he is not really a superhero, but more an everyman. A symbol of the hero we like to think resides within us all.

Now Explore this:

Fatman on Batman podcast

 The Bat Blog

Batman News

The Dark Knight Splutters

OK - The Dark Knight Rises is a good movie, but it is nowhere near as good as its immediate predecessor and at two hours and forty five minutes it is way too long and seems to grind to a standstill several times. Still when taken as a whole, Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is probably the best superhero series ever made.

The bad points first -

1 - Bane is just too bland as the villain and his speech pattern is oddly comical -  He sounds like a West Country Darth Vader on times and at other times like something out of Spongebob Squarepants. He looks powerful in several scenes but just doesn't come across as a formidable enemy for the man who defeated Heath Ledger's Joker in the previous movie.

2 - There also seems to be no sense in Batman simply appearing in the right place at the right time for the admittedly stunning climax.

3 - The film is just too long and all that messing about with Wayne Enterprises doesn't really add anything to the story but merely serves to slow everything down.

4- It also seems odd that Bane is initially able to beat Batman. breaking his back, with no real effort and yet when Bats returns later in the film the tables are so easily turned and Bane is no longer any kind of match for the Batman. I suspect that the voyage of discovery Bruce Wayne goes on in the middle section of the movie, as he lays in his prison with a broken back, is meant to have made him a stronger character but that doesn't some across as obvious. This section of the movie could have done with some extending while other sections could have been trimmed considerably.


The rest is good,-

The storyline  manages to include both terrorism and the fall of capitalism which gives the film a topical edge. Christian Bale also offers his best ever Batman/Bruce Wayne performance in this movie, perhaps because he gets to spend so much time out of the mask and the new Catwoman is, in my opinion, the best version we've ever seen of the character.

The action set pieces are incredible and the ending is arguably the best ever city-getting-trashed sequences ever filmed. There are some great iconic images of Batman fighting side by side with Gotham's citizens. This Batman seems very real  and the movie depicts Batman as an everyman, as something inside of us all. Indeed Batman tells young cop, John Blake that it can be anyone in the bat suit and that it is the symbolism that truly matters. It's very complex in that respect and on times uses Batman almost as a metaphor.

Gary Olman also gets his best shot as Commissioner Gordon and this time it is he and the John Blake character who carry the movie. And there are some truly stunning visuals and overall Nolan manages to remain on the dark and gritty road he started down with Batman Begins.

And that ending! WOW!
Did Batman die?
Well...yes and no.
It's the symbolism that matters you know...it could be anyone in that suit.

It's been a great year for Superhero movies and although The Dark Knight Rises doesn't disappoint on a major scale, I think the Avengers was better.And it is only when taken as a whole  that the movie really shines and offers a satisfying climax to a movie series that will be talked about for years.

The Road to Batman Rises

After the camp mess that was Batman and Robin, Warners didn't know what to do with the Batman franchise - director Joel Schumacher absolutely ruined it and very nearly brought George Clooney's career to an end.

"On Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. The second time, I felt like I was making a kid's toy commercial." Chris O'Donnell,  Robin in both of Schumacher's Batman movies.

In my opinion neither of  the Schumacher Batman movies are any good- the director didn't seem to understand the character and as a result both of his movies are loud, brash and childish and both are overly heavy on homo-erotic symbolism.

"You might also be interested to know that Wil Wheaton is sixth in my list of enemies, right between Joel Schumacher for nearly ruining the Batman franchise, and Billy Sparks, who lived down the street from me and put dog poo on the handles of my bicycle." Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory.

Warners were stung by Batman and Robin, which was considered both a financial and critical failure and it wasn't until Brit director Christopher Nolan came on board that the franchise started to show promise. Nolan wanted to take the character back to basics and using a mix of storylines from Batman: Year One and The Man Who Falls, he gave us a realistic Batman, a character who could actually exist.

Batman Begins was never intended to be a trilogy and Warners weren't expecting great things. There was much controversy, most notably over the casting of Christian Bale - it seemed the fans couldn't get their heads around the fact that they were expected to swallow a Brit in the role.

Pretty soon those selfsame fans were eating their words and Batman Begins was universally acclaimed.

There were several reasons for the success of the movie - the cast were excellent. Gary Oldman is the definitive Jim Gordon, as is Michael Cane as Bruce Wayne's loyal manservant, Alfred. The Gotham City of Batman Begins was less comic book and more noir movie and Christian Bale struck all the right notes as the tortured Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Nolan tweeked Batman's origins for his movie - it was a stroke of genius to have the young Bruce scared of the bat-like character in the opera and forcing his parents to leave the theater which resulted in the murder of his parents.The character's fear of Bats had been established earlier when Bruce fell into a well which was filled with bats and this scene came directly from the Batman comic story, The Man who Falls. This meant that the director was able to explore the character of Batman in a much more satisfying way than even Tim Burton had managed.

The film was a huge success and initially Nolan resisted the requests from Warners to helm a sequel, saying that he would only do it if he had a good idea. That idea became The Dark Knight which pitted Bale's Batman against the Joker - Heath Ledger gave a performance that was even more manic than Jack Nicholson's in Tim Burton's Batman. Until this movie it was unthinkable that anyone could even top Nicholson's Joker but not only did Heath Ledger do this but he did it in spades.

Again Nolan went back to the original Batman comics for his storyline and this time he used elements from the story, The Long Halloween which told the origin story of Two Face. The film was an even greater success than Batman Begins and to date has taken well over $1 billion in revenue worldwide.

The Dark Knight continued the grim realistic approach of the previous movie, and it is because of the success of this film that the Nolan Batman trilogy - as I write there is less than twenty four hours to go before The Dark Knight Rises is released - is talked about with such reverence. These are not silly comic book movies, these are true epics in every sense of the word.


Tonight I'll be going along to the cinema to see the final movie in the trilogy and advance word is that it's going to prove a worthy close on what may be the best series of comic book movies ever made.

Holy Over'reaction!!!

Don't fuck with the bat fans!

It’s a lesson some critics are learning thanks to furious online commentary — including death threats — in response to less-than-kind reviews of The Dark Knight Rises, the highly-anticipated finale to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

Reviewer Marshall Fine of the website Hollywood & Fine was the first to declare his dislike for the movie, calling it “tedious” and “lumpish” and comparing it to Michael Bay’s Transformers films. His review on Tuesday prompted the film’s score on review-aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes to fall below 100 per cent.


That’s when commenters struck. One person fantasized about beating Fine “with a thick rubber hose into a coma.” Another urged him to “die in a fire.” Others posted wittier criticism, quoting the movie’s villain Bane and saying Fine’s “punishment must be more severe.”

There were even some nuts threatening to rape and kill the family of the critic, and from there it went completely insane.

It all resulted in Rotten Tomatoes the unprecedented step of turning off comments on the review.

Gotham Knight-animated movie

This was originally released straight to DVD a few weeks before Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight hit cinema screens. It's an anthology movie with six stories of the Dark Knight weaved together. It's set in the time between Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, though in truth it could fit anywhere into Batman's long continuity.

It did come from the producers of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies and it certainly feels like it belongs in the Nolanverse.

It's grim, it's gritty, it's dark and contains buckets of animated blood.


The animation is done anime style which provides for some truly artistic vision of the Batman legend. The first story, Have I got a story for you was my favourite and it was clever in which the Dark Knight was drawn the way differing characters perceived him, thus one one section he's little more than a shadow, in another he's a vampire like creature and in another he's an all powerful robot.

I'm a big fan of anime and the Batman universe lends itself well to such representation.

Dark Knight Rises tipped for Oscar - seriously!

You wouldn't think it possible but there are some critics, who have been lucky enough to see The Dark Knight Rises, are saying that this could be the first superhero movie to get a best picture nomination.

There is a press embargo on reviews but there have been some snippets posted to Twitter -

auren Heistand @nickcarterroxs – “The Dark Knight Rises has just finished screening for the press and critics, receiving a STANDING OVATION!!!”

Brian Limond ‏@DaftLimmy – “Just back from a special preview screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Very good. It’s everything and more. You’re gonnae LOVE IT!”

Zach Pincus ‏@ZachPincus – “The Dark Knight Rises is not only easily the best Batman movie yet, but now one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen. It was unbelievable!”


There's now something like four days to go before we in the UK are able to get along to the multiplex and see the movie. It's been a good year for superhero movies, and after enjoying both The Avengers and Spiderman I am especially looking forward to this one.

Batman: MASK OF THE PHANTASM

Animated or not this one belongs up there with Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. It's a great movie which was based on the '90s Emmy winning animated television series, which in turn was based on  Tim Burton's live action "Batman" films.

According to the IMDB the movie took $5,617,391 in the US alone which are not bad figures for an animated movie. 

When done well animation is far more truthful to the comic book source material than live action, even with modern CGI techniques, can ever hope to be. 

 We are after all talking about adapting a comic book  - so animation should prove the perfect medium. If there is a problem with animation it is that the films are often thought of as cartoons and made far too child friendly - not this movie which follows the more mature direction taken by both the Tim Burton movies and the comic books of the period.

Although it must be said that the animation is a little shaky in places, but then Warner were originally intending this to go straight to video and only decided on a theatrical release when they saw how good it turned out. With a better budget this could have easily rivalled any of the Batman movies, live action or otherwise.

Batman discovers that there's another vigilante in town knocking off prominent mob figures. The  police and outraged officials mistake the homicidal crusader for Batman himself and demand that the city's long-time hero be brought to justice. Meanwhile, Andrea Beaumont returns to town. She is the lost love of Bruce Wayne and was an integral part of Wayne's decision ten years earlier to don the cape and cowl. Now, she is back in his life and is no less a disruption than the return of his old archenemy, The Joker, who has a stake in seeing the annihilation of this new vigilante, whoever it proves to be.

Luke Skywalker himself provides the voice of The Joker and he is excellent in the role, seeming to owe little to Jack Nicholson's Joker and instead pre-empting Heath Ledger's version. Batman's tones are provided by Kevin Conroy while Stacey Keach voices the Phantasm.

The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray but by far the best value option is to pick up the animated Batman box set which contains five Batman Animated movies, including Year One which was featured in the previous post, and is on sale at the moment for around £10-£15 in most major supermarkets. Amazon UK have it listed for £11 and although I've yet to see all of the films, they do all seem to be fan favorites.

The Dark Knight dies?

Advance screenings of Batman Rises have met with rave reviews and standing ovations, but no one is confirming or denying the rumors that Batman is to die at the end of the movie. More certain is that director Christopher Nolan will never again helm a Batman movie, nor will he direct the rumored Justice league movie.

One lucky critic who has seen the film tweeted - "The Dark Knight Rises has just finished screening for the press and critics, receiving a STANDING OVATION!!"

"The final scene of 'The Dark Knight Rises' is exactly the scene we talked about. It remained completely unchanged. We both knew in our hearts that we were onto something special. I have to tell you, having finally seen everything strung together a little while ago and seeing that scene, I got a complete lump in my throat." Christopher Nolan


So does Batman die? Does Robin appear towards the end of this movie?


There's not long to go and now and the anticipation is growing.

The Dark Knight Crashes

Whoever said physics was a waste of time with no relevance to the real world will have to eat their hats, after a group of British physics students, spent hordes of tax payers money, to prove that Batman could fly but that he'd probably crash and die - 

Dashing the dreams of comic fans across the world, four students from the University of Leicester said that while Batman could glide using his cape as he does in the 2005 film "Batman Begins", his landing would almost certainly prove fatal.

The superhero is back in cinemas later this month in "The Dark Knight Rises" and they suggested Batman should go shopping before trying a similar attempt to become airborne over Gotham City.
"If Batman wanted to survive the flight, he would definitely need a bigger cape," said David Marshall, 22, one of the students in the final year of their four-year Master of Physics degree.
"Or if he preferred to keep his style intact he could opt for using active propulsion, such as jets to keep himself aloft."

In a paper titled "Trajectory of a falling Batman", the group argued that if he jumped from a 150-metre (492-foot) high building, the 4.7 meter (15-foot) wingspan of Batman's cape would allow him to glide 350 meters (1148 feet).

However, he would reach a speed of 68 miles per hour (109 km per hour) before hitting the ground at a life-threatening speed of 50 mph.