Atomic Popcorn brings you an instant classic, The Fighter. Staring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg, you cannot lose on this. I am calling awards season already!!

Don’t miss out on this one, it will be the one to see.

Synopsis:

The Fighter tells the story of Boston fighter “Irish” Micky Ward and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund. Eklund once decked Sugar Ray Leonard and went the distance against the boxing legend before forfeiting his career to drugs and crime. He redeemed himself by training Ward through his Rocky-like run to the title.

Trailer:

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Make sure you check out our other free screenings in the Baltimore Area.

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.

Check out these wonderful minimalistic movie posters designed by Grischa Stanjek (Atomic Popcorn reader) who so graciously shared this personal project with us and now we’re sharing it with all of you! The goal Grischa set for this project was to “reduce each movie to one single object” and I’d say Grischa achieved that goal with flying colors! Thank you Grischa for sharing these with us! Keep up the good work!

If I had to choose a favorite out of this series it might be a Clockwork Orange, captures the movies sense of humor perfectly!

Remember if you’ve got any movie related artwork whether still images or videos send them to us and we’ll share them with the extended Atomic Popcorn family! Go movies!

Stephen King’s The Shining is not only a classic film directed by one of the best of all time, Mr. Stanley Kubrick, but also an endless source of artistic inspiration and expression as evidenced by this poster designed by Nick Tassone.

Chris Thornley designed this homage to Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets which had a fantastic official poster when the film was released in 1973 starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel.

If you’ll remember the line, “Make yours like mine.” from Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums then you know exactly what Ibrahim Youssef has illustrated in his poster for The Royal Tenenbaums.

Another Chris Thornley design this time perfectly capturing the dark humor and playfulness of Christian Bale’s American Psycho. This is as perfect a time as any to point out that recently Bale was quoted as saying he used Tom Cruise as a model for his Psycho role. I don’t know whether or not Cruise should take that as a compliment.

Matt Needle designed this Michael Caine Get Carter poster, unlike Sylvester Stallone’s remake the original was as cool as Caine and Matt Needle’s poster has harnessed that coolness.

What do you think of these posters? Do any of them make you want to revisit these films? Have you seen any good lookin’ posters or reinvisioned posters lately, please share them with us!

The as-yet-untitled Batman 3 was included in the 20-film deal announced between Warner Bros. and IMAX last week, but no other information was given. Warner Bros. has now announced that they are releasing Batman 3 on July 20, 2012.

Director Christopher Nolan does not want to film in 3D, but sources believe that the movie will come out in both IMAX and conventional theaters. Nolan is working on the storyline for his next Batman installment, co-writing with David Goyer and brother Jonathan Nolan.

Christian Bale is set to return as the titular crime-fighter. Also rumored to return for Batman 3 are Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman.

Batman Begins earned $352 million worldwide, while The Dark Night topped out around $1 billion. As the movie is set to premiere in 2012, to keep on schedule they should go into production this fall, with filming into swing by winter.

Nolan is currently in post-production of his highly anticipated sci-fi thriller Inception, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Inception will be released in theaters on July 16, 2010.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting that acclaimed writer/director Terrence Malick has begun casting his still untitled upcoming project. Word on the street is that resident Batman Christian Bale will be starring alongside No Country For Old Men Oscar-winner, Javier Bardem. The Notebook’s Rachael McAdams and the most recent Bond Girl, Quantum Of Solace’s Olga Kurylenko will reportedly also be appearing.

In classic Malick fashion, very little is actually known about the project. The title, plot, and premise have all been kept under wraps, though rumor has it that the film will be a romance.

Malick has made a name for himself over nearly four decades for making deeply subtle and existential films, often taking great lengths of time off in between projects, releasing only five films in the past 37 years. His World War II movie The Thin Red Line earned seven Oscar nominations in 1999, including nods to Malick himself for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Malick’s most recent film, the Brad Pitt/Sean Penn-starring The Tree Of Life is currently in post-production and is aiming for release later this year.

I will not be spending a whole lot of time on the film itself in this review as we have already done that here at Atomic Popcorn. What I want to focus on is the extras on this disc. Or should I say discs. This is a 3-disc set, including the ever-popular Digital Copy of the Movie. Below I want to outline what you can expect if you have yet to to see Terminator Salvation or are on the fence about purchasing it.

The Blu-ray:

Audio: The sound quality on this film is something that stands out in the transfer. The quality is above par and, thanks to the enormous special effects, we hear some outstanding things along the way. The explosions, the guns, the aircraft and their sounds all amaze in DTS-HD 5.1 sound.

While my TV is hooked up to a Bose sound system, the sound will come out just fine through regular TV speakers. This is because the film has a really great sound design, something one can easily overlook when seated in the theater; something that I think is often lacking in the design of the theaters themselves.

Commentaries: McG dives with us into the overly-immersive world of Terminator Salvation on this disc. You have several options such as Picture-In-Picture, Storyboard Comparisons and the all-too-cool Terminator Mythology Timeline. I honestly can say this is the first time I have actually watched all the extras on a disc, and these extras stand way out from the movie for me.

Focal Points:

Digital Destruction: This outlines the “guys in suits” and how the terminators are digitally transferred onto the actor in a stretchy suit. Pretty cool stuff.

Enlisting the Air Force: This little piece goes into how McG is a believer in building as much “real” into a movie as possible, using real helicopters, satellites etc. It makes for better explosions and action sequences.

Molten Metal and the Science of Simulation: This featurette dives into the scene of when the molten lava dumps on top of the Terminator: what went into it and how it became what we saw on the big screen.

Building the Gas Station: McG, as said above, believes in making as many things real as possible. The team behind the movie actually built a gas station and then took it apart structurally to make it blow up the way it needed to be. This was one of the cooler additions to this DVD.

Creating the VLA Attack: This is what it sounds like. How it’s done and how it looks in the raw form.

Exploding Serena’s Lab in Miniature: This was one of my favorites. This piece showed us how Skynet came down. The tale of all the intricacies of its structure is awesome. Glass — and lots of it — brings to life the explosion of the lab along with the blast that eliminates most of the city surrounding Skynet.

Hydrobots: This was my favorite extra. The details, the actual working models, these things are real! Knowing some of this stuff now makes me respect McG and the movie that much more.

An Icon Returns: I’d rather just skip this altogether because this detracted from the film in many ways. This goes into how they brought a 1980′s Arnold back to the screen. It’s terrible but they show it.

Terminator Factory: At this point things are starting to overlap from segments we watched earlier. The same interviews with Stan Winston’s guys and even some of the on-set props we saw. It was cool to see how they actually made the factory and so forth but it was something we saw earlier in bits and pieces.

Stan Winston Shop: This outlines who made what and how they went about making it. More of a name-dropping piece than anything else.

Napalm Blast: Now this was impressive, all of the gallons of gas, the triggers, the blast radius, the one-time shot. This was a great scene and ever better knowing it was real.

Reforging the Future: This was a montage of everything from above plus a few extras. Watch this first if you want to get an overall look at the above.

The Moto-Terminator: From a real Ducati to an digital enhanced driver, this bike was a real bike that they molded from a Ducati frame. Awesome stuff these guys did.

Overall Conclusion: The Blu-ray’s transfer/audio are top-notch, and the extras are something to watch. In my opinion they bring the movie up a notch from what it was. Still not so much a movie that will stand the test of time on its own, but these extras will will give it a lot more mileage!

It’s no secret that I think Michael Mann is the greatest director of all-time, dead or otherwise. One can throw all the Scorsese, Kurosawa, Ford, or Spielberg they want and I’ll still conclude that Mann is better than all of them. His style is unparalleled and has influenced my own approach to the way I make films. Maybe it’s how cool he makes everyone appear in his movies, or maybe it’s how no one does action better than him. Mr. Mann just has a touch to his films that really speaks to me. I’m awed by how well and how different he’ll shoot his material and how he builds his characters for the actors.  While not every one his films has been masterworks (Ali and The Keep come to mind) he rarely misses. Public Enemies, I’m proud to say, falls into the latter category.

Let’s address the look first which many have whined over since the first trailer has been released. Mann re-teamed with Dante Spinotti, the genius who helped him shoot Heat, for this picture and they used the new Sony F23 to film a good chunk of scenes. It looks nothing short of gorgeous and immerses the viewer in the 1933 era Mann so perfectly recreates. Had the picture been shot on film, the era would have been given a “glory days” type feel to it and that was never the intent of this story. Spinotti and Mann want to put the audience in the era, and shoot certain scenes as if one is next to Dillinger and company as they joyfully escape a prison or just had a successful score. Even better is a scene where Dillinger and Billie Frechette make love. Billie’s explanation of herself is inter-cut with the two engaged in intercourse to create cinematic beauty. The love-making is aggressively shot, in contrast to the stoic way Mann films the quieter moments of the scene. Perhaps though the best directed scene is Dillinger’s demise (which if you cry fowl over, do some research) and is nothing short of brilliant. Mann builds the scene by showing Dillinger watching Manhattan Melodrama and gives one the feeling Johnny thinks that’s him up on screen while Melvin Purvis and company wait patiently outside for him. It’s all subtle, yet pure magic as it unfolds to leave the viewer breathless.

Then of course, there’s the action and oh my, how amazing all of it is. By comparison, Michael Mann makes Michael Bay repeat every grade since pre-school. In fact, this is the most action packed of any of Mann’s films and he doesn’t fail. Where most directors blow their wad thirty, sometimes ten minutes into the film, the auteur that is Mann patiently builds up to an explosive shootout in Wisconsin that is arguably the best shootout since Mann’s own Heat. The action is placed wisely, moving the plot forward rather than slowing it down or happening just because it can. The opening prison break, as well as the other action pieces, all have a beginning, middle, and an end. But again, all the ones prior to the Wisconsin shootout don’t overshadow it and let it take center stage. Here is when Mann decides to go all out and deliver nothing but balls to the wall blitz and gunfire. What results is an edge of your seat sequence that blows the pants off of 99% of the summer blockbusters that claim to feature “dazzling action” or “superb effects”. Likely one will wish their theater handed out complimentary Tommy guns so they can fire back at the screen. The action in this film is just that terrific and is incredible and immersing the viewer into feeling like they’re there.

Every male’s dream was made a reality when Mann casted Christian Bale and Johnny Depp as the two leads and neither man disappoints. Let’s start with Johnny Depp who plays John Dillinger as reserved. True, Depp is known for being outlandish of his other roles but here he fits like a sequined glove. Like Vincent in Collateral, Depp’s Dillinger is cold and calculating but the epitome of slick and cool. The film obviously characterizes him as our protagonist, our hero, so you want to root for him. Mann has always excelled at making the villains the hero and here it’s no different. He shows Dillinger as an individual goes for the gold damning the consequences. Once faced with the consequences he finds a way out of it and it’s easy for Depp. Nothing comes off forced and not once does one wish for another actor to embody Dillinger. Much like Johnny himself, Depp has a presence that’s unparalleled. He commands the screen like few other actors have the ability to do and really feels at home here.

Complaints likely will be made about his relationship with Billie Frechette played by Oscar winner Marion Cotillard in that they lack chemistry. These people are wrong in every sense of the word. Their relationship isn’t in your face and much like everything else in the film is handled very subtly. Marion portrays Billie as someone who didn’t think much of herself and wasn’t headed anywhere until Dillinger came into her life. While it would have been nice to have another scene with them (and that’s one of the very few strikes against this film,) what we’re given is enough for one to form their own opinion on what their relationship was. Cotillard is fine as Billie, hitting the right notes and clicking just dandy with Depp’s Dillinger. They seem natural and not “in your face” or sappy.

The best performance though comes from Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis. He’s ten times better here than he was in Terminator Salvation and The Dark Knight. Purvis here, is the young hotshot who’s just making his way up the ladder. Instead of making jokes left and right, this iteration is unsure of himself and of the FBI. One of the best shots in the film comes during Purvis’ confrontation with Dillinger. “Do you think this’ll hold me?” Dillinger retorts or something to that effect and Purvis stops to give a very soft-spoken look of doubt. It’s a great counter to Depp’s confident Dillinger while making one sympathize for Purvis. He’s quite possibly the antagonist, but one that’s hard to root against. He wants Dillinger, like a kid wants a new toy on Christmas but he’s unsure if he’s going to get that shiny new bike. Bale is virtually flawless while never succumbing to what hindered his performances in his last few outings.

The supporters all lend a wonderful hand in making the film as great as it is, the standout being Stephen Lang who’s worked with Mann before. Also wonderful is Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover, playing him as a tough yet subdued boss. The real star here though is Mann’s direction. Likely, it’s the best directed film of the year so far and should (hopefully) earn a golden boy come February. No shot is unwelcome and Mann proves once again why he’s one of the best at placing music in his pictures. He conducts his actors in his own way, and the result is sheer genius. One might complain about his shots being “too shaky” but it’s not overdone and is meant to feel like the audience is looking at it. Mann has always achieved that in each of his movies and here it’s no different. Where Miami Vice was watching a maestro at work, Public Enemies is watching said maestro paint another masterpiece.

Mann always sticks some themes into his pictures and personally, different people are going to take something different from all films, not just his. Public Enemies gives the sense that Dillinger lived the American Dream in his own way. He was a celebrity (again, something else the film should have touched on a little bit more) due to his Robin Hood nature and even he had a kick out of it. With Frechette and Dillinger’s relationship, it feels as if Billie is filling a void in her life. For Dillinger it’s just going through the motions yet the film leans more toward Dillinger having feelings for Frechette. Did he? Mann ultimately leaves it up the audience to decide.

Melvin Purvis is the embodiment of a traditional hero. He knows the old way isn’t working and wants to shake up things. He represents the law our world is used to, and not the one that would let gangsters and such get away. In some respects the hero’s journey could be applied to him as he doubts himself, then is told by his superiors Dillinger is going to be a tough act to catch. He perseveres through it all, much like Luke does during the original Star Wars films. One of the final shots of Purvis walking down a Chicago street as chaos errupts around him, dressed in white. It’s this imagery that speaks good will prevail no matter how cool or chic bad might be at the time.

In case the previous 1503 words weren’t enough, I loved Public Enemies and feel it’s one of the years best. It comes with a warning though as Michael Mann’s style of filmmaking doesn’t cater to the masses. Through and through, this is a Michael Mann film that’s unapologetic in it’s approach and execution. Public Enemies demands one think on it and even watch it a second or third (or likey to be in my case six-hundredth) time to fully appreciate it. It’s not a film that one can easily come out of and proclaim “IT’S SO AWERESOME!” and needs time to chew on. Public Enemies isn’t for everyone, but for those it’s catered to, they’ll have witnessed a master who’s added another masterpiece to his repertoire.

Rating: ★★★★★