-
"I take no pleasure in taking a life if it's from a person who doesn't care about it."
Though we may never get to see Gary Oldman play Commissioner Gordon again now that Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has ended — that is, unless the recent rumor that Warner Bros. is planning to use the Justice League movie as "a vehicle for Christian Bale to reprise his role as Batman" is true, in which case a cameo by Gotham’s top cop wouldn’t be out of the question — we will get to see him play a former police commissioner in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Add his stint as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies and his recently completed work as Norton in MGM's Robocop remake and that makes four major tentpole franchises for Oldman.
Long before Oldman became a staple of summer popcorn movies, he had already developed a strong cult following for playing deliciously dark (Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula), terrifyingly sadistic (Warden Glenn in Murder in the First) and mesmerizingly maniacal (Norman Stansfield in Léon: The Professional) villains. The man once dubbed "psycho deluxe" for his over-the-top bad guy roles plays the hero more often than not these days, but when he funnels the same energy and intensity into quieter performances they simmer, as in his Oscar-winning role as disgraced spy George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Punk rocker, vampire, drug dealer, corrupt cop, good cop, shapeshifting wizard, spy — Oldman masterfully played each character with zeal, but which roles were his best?
Rate the Top 10 Best Gary Oldman Movies >>
Posted 03.12.13 by BrentJS -
Which Actors Slimmed Down, Bulked Up or Porked Out the Most?
Actors and actresses who are truly dedicated to their craft go to great lengths to subsume themselves into the characters they play so as to be as convincing and believable as possible. Some attempt to do this by creating complex backstories for their characters to help inform their performances during any given scene. Others go beyond writing subtext to making lifestyle changes that emulate their characters or by living their lives "in character" before and during production so that they will always no how to act and react. Then, there are those rare actors and actresses who are so committed to making their performances believable that they actually risk their lives by undergoing spectacular body transformations, whether shedding weight, packing on muscle, or simply letting themselves go. Help us choose the Top 10 movies containing the most impressive, the most extreme, the most severe body transformations.
Top 10 Most Impressive Body Transformations >>
Posted 01.17.13 by BrentJS -
Batman is no more.
Much to the chagrin of fanboys everywhere, The Dark Knight Rises closed out director Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy last year, leaving the Caped Crusader's cinematic future in limbo, even if the character's return is inevitable. Yet, as each engrossing chapter of Nolan's trilogy was released, the mania and fervor from fans wasn't the only thing to grow, as the director was also able to increase the movies' running time, with each installment being slightly longer than its predecessor. With that in mind, it seems impossible that the entire trilogy would be able to fit into a three minute running time, yet that's just what the guys at ScreenRant have been able to accomplish, taking Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and rolling them into a concise, three-minute video that summarizes the entire trilogy.
watch the video >> Posted 01.16.13 by Ryan -
Since his first appearance in 1939's Detective Comics #27, Batman has been an enduring figure in all forms of media, only occasionally stepping out of the pop culture zeitgeist. This summer, director Christopher Nolan finished his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises, which successfully re-established a Batman movie franchise after 1997's Batman & Robin had shut it down. While The Dark Knight Rises won't arrive on DVD and Blu-ray until next month, the animated Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 arrived on home video last week. Still, there's always an opportunity to catch up with the Caped Crusader in the seemingly endless stream of fan-made movies.
While not bankrolled by any studio, "fan films" are not made for profit but for the love of the characters. The results are popular, with a rapt audience often financially supporting their favorite fan-made projects online. While it would be impossible to reveal them all, we've compiled the latest in Batman fan movies for your convenience, which, as one might expect, span from impressively produced to laughably awful.
Check out the latest fan-made Batman movies >> Posted 11.12.12 by Ryan -
Everything old is new again
Reboot. To many self-styled movie aficionados, the word has come to represent everything they perceive to be wrong with Hollywood. They complain that the increasing number of reboots — six already this year, with many, many more on the way — is a sign that movie studios have simply run out of ideas. But, though the word describing them may be relatively new, Hollywood has been rebooting franchises for a very long time. Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Tarzan, James Bond, Batman — the longevity of these characters as cinematic icons has depended upon periodic reinventions to keep them fresh (we're still waiting for Tarzan's). Obviously, some reboots are better than others, which is why we want you to help us rate the Top 10 Best Movie Reboots.
Rate the Top 10 Best Movie Reboots >>
Posted 10.02.12 by BrentJS -
Though the cameras stopped rolling on The Dark Knight Rises months ago, Christopher Nolan is still "working" on the movie to some extent, as he continues to travel the world to promote it. He recently said in an Empire podcast interview that he's "relieved" that the movie is done and in theaters, but he won't get the feeling that it's truly "finished" until it "has been out for a couple months" and moviegoers "have really had a chance to tell me what it is."
As far as saying his good-byes to Batman and the franchise he helped to revitalize for Warner Bros., Nolan has already done that. Nolan wrote the foreward to The Art and Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy book that serves as an eloquent, heartfelt and even somewhat humorous farewell letter to the characters that populated his trilogy and the actors who played them. Nolan writes, "I will miss the Batman. I like to think that he’ll miss me, but he’s never been particularly sentimental."
read Nolan's farewell letter >> Posted 07.27.12 by BrentJS -
We've been getting a taste of the violence and mayhem that director Christopher Nolan has in store for us in his third and final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, thanks to "spy" pics and videos captured by the scores of amateur photographers and paparazzi who have swarmed the Pittsburgh sets of the movie in recent weeks. Don't get us wrong, we like our Batman grim and gritty and we love what we see of The Dark Knight Rises so far, but we also feel it's all getting a little too, well, dark already. Which is why we get a kick out of this video trailer edited by ScreenRant's Mike Eisenberg, which takes footage from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and remixes it to make Nolan's movies look like a romantic comedy where Bruce Wayne's (Christian Bale) enemies are not criminals, but the men who stand between him and his two Rachels (Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal).
read the synopsis & watch the rom-com Batman trailer >> Posted 08.05.11 by BrentJS -
With The Dark Knight Rises not opening until December 2012, there's an upcoming movie to help fill the void: the direct-to-DVD Batman: Year One. MTV just debuted the movie's first trailer.
Based on the 1987 Batman comic book story arc written by Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, Batman: Year One is considered by many to be the origin story for Batman, and is regarded as one of the best Batman storylines ever. Elements of the seminal work were used in director Christopher Nolan's first Batman movie, Batman Begins, including the characters of mobster Carmine Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson), Gotham Police Commissioner Loeb (played by Colin McFarlane in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), and the corrupt Detective Flass (played by Mark Boone Jr.). The comic book arc also included the character of Catwoman, who will finally be featured in Nolan's Batman universe in The Dark Knight Rises.
watch the trailer >> Posted 07.08.11 by Ryan -
One of the subjects that has been debated by die-hard comic book fans ever since the credits first rolled on director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins was whether or not Liam Neeson's character in the movie, the villainous Ra's al Ghul, was really dead or whether he would return in later movies. For those unfamiliar with the character, there's no question that Ra's is gone for good because the train that he had rigged to blow up Gotham City explodes with him inside of it at the end of the movie, but comic book fans know that Ra's is between 400- and 700-years-old—depending upon which comic book you read—and that he can heal himself from any injury by bathing in his mystical Lazarus Pit.
It seemed pretty evident that we had seen the last of Neeson and Ra's by Nolan's second Batman movie, The Dark Knight, with the Joker (Heath Ledger), Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart), and even the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) taking turns harrying Batman, and no mention being made of Ra's ninjafied criminal organization, The League of Shadows. However, speculation that Ra's might return has been rampant in recent months because of comments made by Nolan and, more recently, by Gary Oldman that The Dark Knight Rises would wrap up Nolan's trilogy by taking the story back to Batman Begins. Unfortunately, Neeson recently told Empire (via MTV) that Ra's won't be back.
what did neeson say about ra's return? >> Posted 03.09.11 by BrentJS -
Online rumors have surrounded The Dark Knight Rises well before the sequel to The Dark Knight had a title, a release date, and even before Christopher Nolan announced his return to the director's chair. perhaps its Nolan's penchant for secrecy or the mania derived from the success of the two previous installments, but online speculation refuses to cease.
With production starting in May, Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway have already been announced as joining the cast as Bane and Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in the sequel, which should have helped put an end to the endless speculation. Instead, it only spurred it on. To help, we've again tried to uncover the truth and rumors about The Dark Knight Rises.
More "Batman 3" Truth vs. Fiction >>
Posted 02.10.11 by Ryan