So Batman 3 is definitely full steam ahead. Today, in an interview with the LA Times’ Hero Complex Blog, Chris Nolan talked a little bit about the final installment in his Batman trilogy.

Although we had known for some time that Nolan would return to direct for the sequel to The Dark Knight, we now have confirmation that the film is moving forward. So, what do we know so far?

• The title is “The Dark Knight Rises.”
• July 20th, 2012 is the tentative release date.
• Christopher Nolan will direct a script written by his brother, Jonathan, based on a story by Chris and David S. Goyer.
• The villain is not The Riddler. And although Nolan previously pronounced Two-Face dead, that may have changed since then. Mr. Freeze is not up for consideration. One villain they haven’t ruled out is Superman, but I would be shocked if that was the case. He did hint at the possibility of the villain not being a comic-book character, which is not a bad proposal.
• Tom Hardy has been cast in a lead role, and the filmmakers are looking for a new female lead.
• Nolan said, “We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones.” Ok, I respect the lack of information he releases on his upcoming film projects, but that is verging on nonsense.
• The film will be the final in Nolan’s trilogy and will bring the story to a conclusion, something rare and great to see in this era of milking a franchise until it disintegrates. I kind-of hope Bruce Wayne sacrifices himself at the end of the film.

Thoughts? Do you like the name? I’m not a huge fan, but it’s a nice twist on The Dark Knight and “The Dark Knight Returns” by Frank Miller. Villain ideas? Black Mask, Hugo Strange, a non-comic-book character possibly.

Alright, so that’s it for Batman 3, and I know it is enough to get me in the theater come summer 2012. Let’s try to forget about it for a year-and-a-half and enjoy the movie when it comes.

#1, 2, and 3 biggest problem I have with Community (and Glee) is their distasteful meta-awareness. Specifically Community and Abed are standing on the wrong side of that line, not sure how much longer I can watch this. What’re your thoughts on this subject?

Season two of the third (yes, I’m calling Glee a comedy!) best new comedy on network television last year started out by putting everything in its right place. Jeff is not interested in Annie (I don’t know why I thought their kiss at the end of last season meant anything! Was anyone else fooled??) and Britta is still a sad, sad girl. Other than the fact that Troy moved in with Pierce, nothing else has changed since the end of season one. Unless you consider student Chang a big change. I kinda do. Especially if the teaser at the end of “Anthropology 101″ means anything, Chang as an equal part of the group… seems like we dealt with the threat idea of a new member last season and resolved that the group loves the group just the way it is. False drama! False drama! Chang ain’t no thang! What is happening with Jeph/Britta/Annie?!? Can someone please shed some light on this situation? In the past I was fine with the loveless loser (Ed, Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother) but Jeff is not a loveless loser and I shutter at the thought that Jeff being in a real relationship would reunion this program. Would it? Is Community just a place for unhappy people?

I want Jeff, Annie and Britta to convert to the Church of Latter Day Saints so they can all marry each other. This would actually make me happy. I can’t imagine Jeff without either of these girls! Please share you Community thoughts and observations!

A few quotes for the road (no, I’m not quoting Pierce. I’ve got principles.)-

“Men are monsters who crave young flesh” Jeff so perfectly (did the writers steal this line?) encapsulated the entire Twilight series. or saga. whatevs

“Anyone object to us being referred to as donuts? No one?”

“Have you ever seen a cat penis?”

“I’m on the clock for another hour if you want me to do some Batman lines.”

“what the Maku-Maku call dirt roaded.” Which reminds me- I’m expecting to see Betty White as a guest performer at my six year old niece’s talent show. Please, please leave me be with my Golden Girls. Don’t ruin the memories.

Finally I do have to say that the writers got something perfect, epiphany perfect, when they gave Jeff those lines about respect. Respect is not natural, much like love, and we need it (both) if we’re going to make surviving worthwhile.

Okay, this is starting to get confusing. Reports began swirling about a month ago that Batman Begins an d The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan was being brought in as a producer to oversee the next Superman film, and both movie and comic fans alike rejoiced. Shortly after, DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson outright rejected the rumors, leaving those fans feeling slightly cheated. It seemed like such a great idea that the man who wrangled the Batman franchise into one of the most lucrative and acclaimed series in history would step in to aid with the “Big Blue boyscout.”

Luckily, Nelson’s statements were apparently just meant as misdirection, as Nolan himself opened up to the LA Times about his involvement and the high hopes and plans he, his screenwriter brother Jonathan, and his producer wife Emma Thomas have for Superman.

“It’s very exciting, we have a fantastic story. And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right…[it] is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way. We’re approaching it in a not dissimilar way [to the Batman films] in terms of trying to find an incredible story in a way that audiences can engage with it the way they engage with contemporary action films.”

The best guess as far as who will helm the project seems to be that Begins writer and Dark Knight co-plotter David Goyer will handle the script, with his sights set on also directing. This will leave brothers Chris and Jonathan free to tackle the third Batman picture, on which Chris claims Jonah is now “doing the hand work.”

Christopher spoke a little about the approach they are taking for the next installment:

“The key thing that makes the third film an great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story…I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters. My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these thing don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling.”

So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth. Nolan will be overseeing Superman while working on Batman. Pretty exciting stuff for fans. So we want to hear your thoughts. How do you feel about Nolan taking the reins as DC’s golden boy?

Good morning all. Welcome back to the Atomic DVD Shelf.

Last week we kicked off the column with a look at Halo:Legends, Black Dynamite and more. If you missed it, check it out. This week, there’s an even greater number of new films, and overall the quality is better.

There are some definite disappointments here and a few that never stood the chance of being good, but amidst that, there’s more than a few gems hiding out in this week’s lot. Let’s begin shall we?

The Box

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

When I reviewed this one for AP back in the fall, I was accused of giving away the film’s secret; whether or not Cameron Diaz and James Marsden pushed the button. Well, it’s no secret to tell you that this concept, which drove the short story it was based off, isn’t the big revelation The Box has in store. We know from the beginning what will happen and in the first 30 minutes that question is answered. Unfortunately, all of the  best bits are in that first hour and tied to the very basic premise. Once the button is pushed (gasp!) Kelly’s story spirals out into insanity. This one feels like a real missed opportunity, and it’s going to infuriate some and intrigue a few who will pursue it begrudgingly. I gave it a passing grade back then because I liked more  than I disliked. However, now that its hit dvd, I’ve got no real desire to revisit it.  For those that refuse to give up on Richard Kelly and think Donnie Darko was more than a fluke, there a few good special features provided for your diligence.

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★½☆☆☆ 

I’m a pretty forgiving guy when it comes to fantasy adventure films. Especially ones aimed for the family audience; for my taste, there simply aren’t enough good ones. So it  takes a lot for me to admit when one falls flat. However, that’s exactly what happens with Cirque Du Freak. The story is tragically thin and relatively lame and John C. Reilly, usually so good, is horribly miscast. There are a ton of cameos in the film, which is apparently based off a reasonably popular children’s book series. All of them are wasted and fail to generate any interest. There’s not a single character to root for, and not one supernatural ability that makes sense or causes us to consider what we ourselves would do if we had it. The plot details are also suspect; there’s an ancient clan of bloodsucking beings called Vampinese? Really, Vampinese? Yes, really. The best I can muster for this is that it isn’t as bad as Twilight.

Check out Marco’s AP review of the movie over here.

Crude

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Joe Berlinger’s Crude is a captivating, frustrating and sometimes legitimately sad documentary. I bow to Berlinger’s ability to be both even handed and indicting while evoking imagery that is haunting and sickening. The sequences that show the Amazon forests of Ecuador reduced to sludgy waste by corporate drilling will stick with you even you don’t happen to be an environmentalist. The rest of the picture follows a court battle between the Ecuadorians who have filed a lawsuit against Chevron for the hazardous by-product of their oil drilling. It isn’t the destruction of nature alone they are arguing against; it’s the fact that the water they drank and bathed in was contaminated by oil spillage. This legal stand-off is still going on today and Berlinger’s camera is privy to both sides. Get ready for a pensive but provocative look at a people trying to make their voice heard in the shadow of a giant.

Sorority Row

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Sorority Row is exactly 10 years too late to be worth regarding. Back in 1999, it still would have come off as late to the party, following up Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and even Urban Legends. This movie, whose best feature is a haggard Carrie Fisher as an axe toting sorority mother, is a hodgepodge concoction of all those other flicks. It throws in a few 80′s sensibilities, but mostly any signs of intelligence or individuality have been drained from it. It could have been much worse than it is, though. The proof of that is in last week’s Cabin Fever 2 which featured flesh eating viruses at the Prom and was far more indigestible than this. Here, the directors are at least sensible enough to keep it to a college campus with the tried and true slasher. There’s something to be said for tradition sometimes. Watchable, especially if you are a horror fan with a free Red Box rental.

The Informant!

Nate’s review:

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

AP rating:

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

I love this movie and it’s mostly thanks to a really versatile and nuanced performance by Matt Damon. It isn’t just that Damon disappears completely into the role of Mark Whitacre, a hapless biochemist who wants to help the FBI blow the lid on the shady company he works for.  No, it’s as much what Damon does with Whitacre once he’s nailed all the character quirks and banal personality traits. He subtly and perfectly calibrates the change this man goes through over the course of the film. And if you think this is a stuffy affair concerned only with attacking big business, you’d be wrong. It’s really funny, with a nice dose of honest-to-goodness sarcasm floating right there on top. The supporting cast is also off-kilter but really effective. I enjoyed Scott Bakula’s agent the best of the second tier players. This is Soderbergh in a lighter tone, but not so light that we’re talking Ocean’s Eleven. If you ask me, it’s his best work since Traffic. Well worth seeing.

Read Marco’s take right here and John’s here.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

I’ve given myself over to the fact we will probably never see a live action Justice League film in my lifetime. I had hope when George Miller was linked to the project, but these days it’s probably better off that the idea is languishing in development hell somewhere. Until then, the comic-collecting 8 yr old inside will have to make due with DC’s direct-to-dvd animated features. That, as it turns out, isn’t such a bad thing. The last Justice League movie was actually a lot of fun, with clear, crisp animation that brought back fond memories of Fleischer’s Superman shorts and the 1990′s Batman animated series. Crisis on Two Earths is just about as good as the first one, this time focusing on the crime fighters tussle with warriors from an alternate dimension.The villains there are Batman and Superman, and their greatest weapon against their counterparts is the fact they will do what the originals cannot; kill. Perfectly fun, with a less violent story than the previous outing. If you’re a DC fan, a comic fan, or even a passing fan of any of the heroes featured, give this one a whirl. Among the really good special features is an absolute gem; a short animated film about The Spectre! Easily the best bit on the disc.

Nate’s Pick of the Week: The Damned United

Nate’s rating:

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

This isn’t strictly speaking, just a sports/soccer/football movie. Granted, the football scenes are realized in a wonderfully kinetic and gritty style, but they are not the lifeblood of this picture or it’s focus. That’s for the best, because without the centerpiece being the sport or the team or the formula, Damned United is freed up to just be a damned good movie. Michael Sheen goes ahead and gives another really strong performance as Brian Clough and Timothy Spall as his assistant and Colm Meany as his rival ground and support him. There’s a ton of ego flying around on the field and when Clough and Taylor start to turn on one another, United is nothing less than riveting.

Thanks again for joining us as we pick through the cinema jungle of home entertainment. Next week, we get to go Where the Wild Things Are, and visit Ponyo, Cold Souls, and Alice.

He’s battled the Joker, the Penguin, and The Riddler, but there’s lately been one elusive villain Bruce Wayne hasn’t been able to fight; piracy.

Shortly afterThe Dark Knight, WB’s last installment of the Batman franchise, was released in 2008, the internet was swarming with hand-held cam versions of the movie. Now it looks like the long shadow of the Bat has fallen on one of those perpetrators.

Robert Harrison of Grandview, Missouri, has been sentenced to two years of prison for illegally coping the film while it was playing in theaters. In addition to the jailtime, there are close to $25,000 of related fines heading Mr. Harrison’s way. He will be serving the sentence in a Federal prison.

The ruling that resulted in his conviction states the following:

The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act enacted in 2005 made camcording in a theater a federal felony (camcording in theaters is also prohibited by many state statutes) and established new penalties for pirating works that have not yet been released commercially. First-time violators can be sentenced to three and five years, respectively, for these crimes and fined up to $250,000.”

Once again, a reminder to the criminal underbelly, you can’t escape the Batman. And to all you would-be pirates out there, it’s a steep penalty for sailing these theiving seas.

Recently I asked you who your favorite big screen werewolf was and that got me thinkin’ about some other popular characters portrayed by multiple leading men in the movies. This discussion must always start with the character of agent 007 James Bond, best played by Sean Connery. Other popular Bonds were Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore while Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby aren’t

remembered so fondly for their portrayal of the famous secret agent. Currently carrying the torch and ordering shaken martinis is Daniel Craig who seems to make a lot of people happy; I prefer him on the other side of the law as he was in Layer Cake and Road to Perdition.

Then there’s Dracula, or vampires in general. The list of actors who have played a vampire on film is a long one. So here are a few that come to mind, please remind me of any as I’ll most definitely leave some out – Leslie Nielsen (Dracula: Dead and Loving It), Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise (Interview with the Vampire), Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire),  Robert Pattinson (Twilight), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Gary Oldman (1992′s Dracula), Frank Langella (1979′s Dracula), Christopher Lee (1970′s Count Dracula), and Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys). Needless to say, all of these guys suck, but who is your favorite?

Second in big-screen adaptation popularity to Dracula is  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes who, along with Dracula, has been in the movies since the very beginning. Personally I’ve got a John Barrymore’s Sherlock Holmes (1922) waiting for me on my DVR, which I recorded after seeing Robert Downey Jr. play the part this past Christmas. I also watched a slew of Sherlock films from the late 1930s into the 40s starring Basil Rathbone, the man most of us think of when we imagine Holmes. Robert Stephens played the part of Holmes in what I consider to be one of the worst Holmes films The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Probably the most popular Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles has seen many leading men including Peter Cushing (1959) and Peter Cook (1978) in the role of Holmes. My favorite Holmes adaptation is Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986) starring Barrie Ingham’s Basil of Baker Street as a Holmes-like mouse.

Another Hollywood mainstay that’s been around almost as long as Sherlock and Dracula is Robin Hood. Russell Crowe will be slinging arrows this May in theaters as Robin Hood. My favorite Hood is a tie between Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Disney’s foxy 1973 adaptation voiced by Brian Bedford. Douglas Fairbanks first wore the tights and feathered cap in 1922′s Robin Hood followed by Errol Flynn in 1938′s Robin Hood. Mel Brooks didn’t play the part but he did direct Cary Elwes as he had fun with the part in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. One Hood adaptation that I’ve not seen and as a native Texan am dying to see is Gene Autry’s 1947 Robin Hood of Texas! I can only imagine…

Honorable mention goes to Batman and Superman, both qualify for this discussion but I really don’t think either are very interesting as the best/worst in each case are pretty black and white. Don’t agree with me? Say so!

A few weeks ago DC Comics and Warner Brothers got together and realized that they need to fix their broken comic book to movie formula. Except for 5 movies in 30 years, they have had tons of problems with the rest. Superman: The Movie (1978), Superman II (1983)Batman (1989), Batman Begins (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008) are the only movies to really make money in the box office and do well. Superman III and IV were garbage. Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin were not nearly as well received as the first. Add to the fact that the last two featuring Robin didn’t have any chemistry between Batman and Robin. Catwoman bombed during the trailer process of the movie. And Steele had a decent plot but with the likes of Big Daddy Shaquile O’Neil as the leading man, you knew this wasn’t going to be a big box office draw.

So over the Summer Marvel Comics made this movie called Iron Man and followed that up with a new take on the Incredible Hulk. Both were leading down the path toward an Avengers movie in the not to distant future.  DC Comics and Warner both realized that this was the coures they wanted to take and the first thing they did was scrap the poorly received Justice League of America film that George Miller was working on.

Why is it that today it comes out that unknown actor Armie Hammer is still saying that he is going to be Batman in the JLA movie?  Dude, get a clue…the movie is dead, done, finished before it started. I know you’re upset that you won’t get to be Batman but move on already. The project is FINISHED! Is that so hard for you to understand?

Here is a quote from Armie to E! Online regarding his future as the next Caped Crusaider.

I would spend hours training with actual guns to prepare me for this stuff. It was very intense. Our workout regimens were so rigorous that most of us would vomit. We weren’t trying to get ourselves aesthetically good looking. We were trying to get ready for the demands of shooting.

The story even goes on to mention that the Batman suit was a workable costume ready for him to step into.

He’s already been fitted for the superhero costume, which he says features functioning equipment, including trademark Batman weapons like spring-loaded titanium Bat-erangs. “I was looking down, and I was thinking, This is the best,” Hammer said of the first time he put on the entire ensemble. “Then I stood up, and they turned me around, and I faced a mirror—there was Batman. But then it hit me like a ton of bricks—it’s not just Batman, it’s me!”

The bottom line is this…the project is dead. Stop trying to drag up a role that won’t get filled till after the Christian Bale movies are finished. The first things fan said when the project was announced last year is the same thing being said now…you can’t make a movie starring a Superman and a Batman while other Superman and Batman movies are in production. Having two actors playing different takes on the same character will make it harder for the average fans to connect to AND will confuse a lot of people as to which version of said character is the one they should follow on the big screen.

Let’s focus on getting a Green Lantern, Flash, and Green Arrow movie out there before we start to build a team movie. Let the audience get to see how the characters came to be before you group them into one big “blockbuster” battle.

Why cook the goose that is laying the golden eggs?

The Dark Knight train is running after Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and will surely catch it. The Dark Knight topped the box office for a fourth straight weekend, adding an estimated $25 million to its massive total of $441.5 million. If the estimates are correct, then Christopher Nolan’s sequel has surpassed Shrek 2′s ($441.226 million) to climb to the third spot on the all-time top selling list, trailing just Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope ($460.998 million) and Titanic ($600.788 million). Warner Bros. Pictures said it expects “Dark Knight” to end up with about $520 million domestically, which I think it won’t stop there. The movie cost $185 million to make, and I am sure some suits in Hollywood are taking long vacations after this one!

Do you think the train will stop anytime soon or what?