The Dark Knight

[pete]

I've said that since day one.  even burton's batman was really boring to me, but I still didn't understand why people dug it.  it was as dark as spiderman 3, just with slicker photography.  nothing in it really stood out.  batman was boring, bruce wayne was boring, the action was boring, the score was boring...etc.  the movie had no depth nor fun.  that's the problem with the batman series since day one.  it was never as thriling as the other superheroes, but it was still a DC franchise.  I guess batman: year one was a good comicbook.

[Kal]

movies are just brand names now.

welcome to planet earth (brought to you by t-mobile)

[cron]

 

Burton, in good ignorance, showed little regard for comic book legacy.

he did that deliberately. "Anybody who knows me knows I would never read a comic book. And I certainly would never read anything written by Kevin Smith."

so you and tim burton share an unfair disregard for comic books.

the fact is that batman begins was one of the rare occations where a  comic book was taken with a bit of seriousness, and the worlds of cinema and comic books converged, and fans of both mediums like myself felt very pleased. nolan's achievement in batman begins, to me, resides in the fact that, as dumb as it sounds, he took simple elements of the batman myth  and turned them into a batman movie, like when a translator translates a poem. before batman begins, all the superhero movies i'd seen where flashy and colorful and had fake special effects that killed the whole concept of hiring real people to play the hero himself. like what they did in spider-man. there's just like 4 shots in those movies where you can kind of believe you're watching a  superhero in action. batman begins had a pulse. what they did with gotham city should be enough to appreciate it.  it wasn't just a bunch of gray cardboard meets art deco bullshit, it looked like a really unhealthy city. i still think it's a triumph that batman begins exists in the hollywood universe. it's such an anomaly.
i have hopes for this movie because even if they've said that the killing joke is serving as an inspiration for the story, they're just going to take what they need from that book ,which is not a very good story anyways, look for other resources, and create an updated, better Joker.

[MacGuffin]

Do You Believe in Harvey Dent?
And Carbonell elected mayor of Gotham City.

The official film site for The Dark Knight has been updated with a special new feature. If you click on the Bat-logo on the site's main page, it takes you to a political campaign ad for Harvey Dent, the Gotham City district attorney played in the film by Aaron Eckhart.

The ad declares Dent's candidacy for the office of District Attorney with the slogan, "I Believe in Harvey Dent." It also features the first official image of Eckhart as Dent.

With filming now under way on The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan has been filling the supporting roles in his sequel to Batman Begins. Nestor Carbonell (Lost, Smokin' Aces) will play the mayor of Gotham City in the film. Ironically, Carbonell is also known to fanboys as "Batmanuel" from his days on The Tick.

Variety announced Carbonell's casting as they also belatedly confirmed the casting of Heroes' Eric Roberts as a Mafia crime boss. The New York Post says Roberts plays Sal Maroni, the hood responsible for scarring D.A. Harvey Dent and turning him into Two-Face.

In related casting news, MTV.com reports that "rapper/actor David Banner auditioned this week for a role in The Dark Knight. ... According to the beefy Black Snake Moan supporting actor, he would play a villain named 'Gamble,' another criminal to help fill out the rogue ranks alongside Heath Ledger's Joker."

Finally, Batman-on-Film.com claims that the character of Gotham police commissioner Loeb (played by Colin McFarlane in Batman Begins) will be back for The Dark Knight.

[Gold Trumpet]

Burton, in good ignorance, showed little regard for comic book legacy.

he did that deliberately. "Anybody who knows me knows I would never read a comic book. And I certainly would never read anything written by Kevin Smith."

so you and tim burton share an unfair disregard for comic books.

the fact is that batman begins was one of the rare occations where a  comic book was taken with a bit of seriousness, and the worlds of cinema and comic books converged, and fans of both mediums like myself felt very pleased. nolan's achievement in batman begins, to me, resides in the fact that, as dumb as it sounds, he took simple elements of the batman myth  and turned them into a batman movie, like when a translator translates a poem. before batman begins, all the superhero movies i'd seen where flashy and colorful and had fake special effects that killed the whole concept of hiring real people to play the hero himself. like what they did in spider-man. there's just like 4 shots in those movies where you can kind of believe you're watching a  superhero in action. batman begins had a pulse. what they did with gotham city should be enough to appreciate it.  it wasn't just a bunch of gray cardboard meets art deco bullshit, it looked like a really unhealthy city. i still think it's a triumph that batman begins exists in the hollywood universe. it's such an anomaly.
i have hopes for this movie because even if they've said that the killing joke is serving as an inspiration for the story, they're just going to take what they need from that book ,which is not a very good story anyways, look for other resources, and create an updated, better Joker.

It is true, I don't very much care for comic books or graphic novels. I read a book for Sin City and couldnt have been more bored, but that's just me.

I don't think Batman Begins was any great merging either. The film was more realistic than either Spiderman or the original Batman, yes, but it had all of the problems that many super hero movies have (regardless of whether they are faithful or not to comic books), it tried to fit too many characters into the confines of one story. I wasn't sure if it was trying to act like a comic book or a novel. The hope for Dark Knight is that the story will be more intimate and focused, but all these cast signings are making me think otherwise. But I still hope for the best.

The one film I'd say that did great by bringing the feeling of comic books to film is Dark City.

The film is dense with edits, but every shot is perfectly framed. Unlike film, there are barely any shots that go on for an extended period of time. The camera does not pan or signifcantly follow a character. If it does so, it is interrupted with numerous cuts, like a comic book would. It tells the story and action in the motion of shots.

Also, the world is as much a character as the character themeselves. Like comic books, it explains the identity and nature of a world with its different rules and regulations like a comic book would that had make a super hero believable. Some comic books deal with real situations, but the story of Dark City very much follows the traditional science fiction story in older comic books.

See, Batman Begins has numerous filmmaking techniques that couldn't be replicated to perciseness in a comic book. It takes on many intangibles that are unique to filmmaking, but you say it merges both worlds together so that means it doesn't have to be a thorough dedication. The only complaint about Dark City is that its editing is so complicated that no comic book could be so percise with the action. But the film does shame lackluster attempts like 300 and Sin City to replicate the barebone imagery of graphic novels.

[martinthewarrior]

While not the biggest fan of 300 or Sin City, I wouldn't call them 'lackluster attempts'. Personally, those two films were the first times I even entertained the idea of comics working well in cinema. I don't think they are the end of a line, but I think they were glimpses of something that could end up being rather interesting.

[Gold Trumpet]

While not the biggest fan of 300 or Sin City, I wouldn't call them 'lackluster attempts'. Personally, those two films were the first times I even entertained the idea of comics working well in cinema. I don't think they are the end of a line, but I think they were glimpses of something that could end up being rather interesting.

They mimic the captions of the graphic novel to near duplication. They do not try to find an equivalent cinematically that forces them to use their imagination. The only thought that was used was which scenes to take, music to put in and what over-the-top camera shots can be forced in (referring to 300).

I'm betting money that these movies take us nowhere. More films will replicate the visuals in this movie and get the financial rewards and sooner or later audiences will be sick of them. Why? Because these movies will not branch out. They will continue to be representations of the surface of graphic novels and get lodged into a small niche. The niche will continue to entertain some, but since the productions are major expenses, when the general audience starts to flee so will the financing.

[MacGuffin]

The Joker Believes in Harvey Dent Too!

Warner Bros. is really kicking-off the viral campaign for The Dark Knight early! In addition to the official website launching with a link to IBelieveinHarveyDent.com, the studio has also brought online a site made by the Joker. At IBelieveinHarveyDentToo.com, fans get a look at a defaced Harvey Dent image. But the cool thing is that you can enter your e-mail and a code. You'll receive an e-mail with a link and X and Y coordinates that will reveal one pixel from an image underneath!

http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/

[picolas]

smaller version of mod's post

[modage]

[Pozer]

 !

[martinthewarrior]

Wow.

[MacGuffin]

Hall stays dead quiet about role in Batman saga
Source: Los Angeles Daily News

"Dead Zone" star Anthony Michael Hall reports the plot of the latest Batman saga, "The Dark Knight," is so secret he's forbidden to even say what character he's portraying.

"I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can't say which part I'm playing because it affects the story," says Hall. "I can't give away the suspense — it's a $200 million surprise, and I don't want to be the guy to ruin it."

He adds, "I'm excited about it — Christian Bale back as Batman. Heath Ledger is joining the cast as the Joker. Of course, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine return, and they're great."

Hall, who's in the midst of shooting the sixth season of "The Dead Zone," which returns to the USA Network June 17, says his TV series cast and crew bent over backward for him to be in London for the first day of "Dark Knight" production the weekend before last.

"My crew agreed to take a three-day weekend so I could fly Friday to go to London," says the actor, who's also one of the series' producers. "It was just a thrill. I felt like a rock star leaving the set, flying to London, going to shoot on a Saturday, you know?" He adds, "My crew really gave me a gift because they had to all vote union-wise to agree to not take a day's pay to help me out. I felt very honored that they did that for me."

He says he's not scheduled to rejoin "The Dark Knight" shooting till August, after "The Dead Zone" is wrapped. "They're shooting in London, Chicago and Hong Kong. My next dates are in Chicago, the third week of August with Morgan, then I get to go back to London." He adds he's never been a comic-book fan, but "I loved the 'Batman' series, so Batman has truly always meant something to me. It's really been one of my dreams as an actor to become Batman."

For now, he's just happy flying in the same airspace. "It's really a great role. I'm in throughout the whole movie, and I'm really looking forward to working with Christian and Morgan and all these real Hollywood heavy hitters."

[I Love a Magician]

i bet he's playing two-face's other face

[MacGuffin]

The Joker Will See You in December!
Source: ComingSoon

The new image of Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight has now been removed from IBelieveinHarveyDentToo.com. It's been replaced with red text that gives the error, "Page not found." If you highlight the entire page, however, you'll see a ton of Ha Ha Ha's with some letters here and there that don't belong. String those letters together and what do you get? - "See you in December."

We assume you'll get a first look at The Joker in a trailer for the sequel at that time. Warner Bros. has both Nicole Kidman's The Golden Compass and Will Smith's I Am Legend opening in December, to which the teaser could be attached to.

So who is behind all this? It looks to be 42 Entertainment, the company which previously created the "I Love Bees" promotion for "Halo 2" and "Year Zero" for the Nine Inch Nails album "Year Zero." The company just registered SeeYouinDecember.com yesterday, so stay tuned.