Ya know, after the 457th poster was released for The Dark Knight, I said to myself, "That's it! I'm done! They've convinced me to see it!" But then they go and give us another ridiculously cool poster (click image to enlarge) and I'm just speechless. Seriously, what more is there to say? Honestly, I think everyone at Warner Bros. drank a little of that crazy Joker juice because the marketing campaign for this film has taken on a life of its own. Is there really someone controlling it from behind the scenes, or has the marketing gone postal? Perhaps the other posters have come to life and are now creating more posters -- meanwhile some poor schmuck over at Warners is locked in a storage room with his hands tied, desperately trying to warn everyone that the Dark Knight viral campaign has gone mad. He's sweating, slowly inching toward the door doing one of those hands-tied-hobble-hops. And just as he gets there, this poster walks in, slaps him across the face with the butt of a gun and says, "Sit tight baldy ... it's all part of the plan.
I can't wait for Halloween, when I'm going to be dressing up as Batman, courtesy of Dominos. Among the pizza chain's many tie-ins with this summer's The Dark Knightarethese cool pizza boxes, which include separate parts to a cardboard-costume whole. Yes, you'll have to order a number of pizzas to complete your outfit, and there will likely be grease stains all over your utility belt, but your other option is to actually buy a costume ... and go hungry.
Actually, I just remembered that I'm going to be out of the country on Halloween. But when I return, I want to see lots of you Cinematical readers fashioned in Dominos-catered Batman costumes and taking part in our annual costume contest. In the meantime, be sure to check out the Dominos Dark Knight vault, which features details on everything from a special Gotham City meal deal to multiple sweepstakes. And apparently if you order a pizza through the website, you'll gain access to other goodies, like clips, wallpapers, artwork and an exclusive new trailer ... which you may or may not be able to watch after the jump.
Surfing the internets today, I came across a rant over at JoBlo on why the character Robin should stay real far away from Christopher Nolan's Batman films. Now, keep in mind I'm writing this as someone who has not seen The Dark Knightyet. In case you weren't aware, the film screened for press in Los Angeles over the weekend (including our own James Rocchi, who told me it was "awesome"), and since then I've been using every editor's trick in the book to steer clear of spoilers. It's rough, real rough, but I've been trying my best. So know that there won't be any Dark Knight spoilers in this post -- and understand that I'm coming at this from the vantage point of someone who does not know whether The Dark Knight opens the door for Robin to show up in a third flick.
That said, over at JoBlo, Sturdy makes the argument that Robin just isn't an interesting character, and that he's never "worked, whether it be on film, TV or in the comics." Of course, the whole homoerotic theme pops up, and how could it not when you have a young, lean, clean-cut gymnast who shacks up with an even prettier, wealthy industrialist who likes fast toys. Yeah. Kicking it up another notch, Sturdy goes so far as to say that "if you got together all of today's best writers and filmmakers and locked them in a room, they wouldn't be able to come up with a Robin storyline that worked."
Really? Is Robin a franchise killer or is Sturdy missing the importance of his character?
I'm sure everyone expected The Dark Knight to close with a Heath Ledger "in memoriam" after the fade to black. So it will. Warner Bros. has released the text of the dedication that will accompany the film, and it reads:
"In memory of our friends Heath Ledger & Conway Wickliffe"
Wickliffe (the IMDb has him as "Comway" but other sources, as well as the dedication, say "Conway") is the Maori special-effects technician who was killed in a stunt car accident last September. He was on a camera truck following the Batmobile around a racetrack when the truck spun out of control and crashed into a tree. It's very classy of Chris Nolan & Co., I think, to tribute Wickliffe in the same line as the far more famous and publicly-mourned Ledger. Their whole handling of Ledger's death has been on the money; they haven't shied away from showcasing his performance in the marketing, but nor have they given the slightest indication that they're attempting to exploit its profile. The result: going to see the movie doesn't feel the least bit skeevy or off, at least for me.
I am a bit concerned about the possible posthumous Oscar campaign though, especially after Peter Travers semi-officially got it off the ground last week. Since Ledger almost certainly wouldn't have had a shot at it for this role were he still alive, I'm afraid the notion of the "posthumous Oscar" would overwhelm his actual performance, which looks fantastic.
My morning was made when Erik posted about Peter Travers' glowing review of The Dark Knight, although that also makes it all the more painful that I will be nowhere near a movie theater on July 18. (Please let there be midnight screenings!) Anyhow, as the Batman buzz continues to increase, there's a good interview with Christian Bale in Parade Magazine. There are excerpts on the mag's website, plus some extras at Just Jared.
The biggest nuggets: First off, Bale is all about Batman -- to the point that he's said: "What Batman is all about is a double-sided edge; there's a duality to this character, which makes him still interesting to play in the sequel -- I hope in a third," and " I don't know if I will grow out of it one day. But I still have a love of just being perverse." The big, dark feature film wings have never made it to a fourth installment with the same actor, but it's excellent to hear how into the character he is.
Bale also talks about the future and Terminator: "We have an opportunity with it for a continuation, but also a reinvention, and I have to say, much the same way in my mind as we have with Batman." This isn't as cool. Batman's life was set up well before the films, and the world of John Connor wasn't, so I'm not sure how well a whole reinvention can work when we haven't even gotten one full version. Thoughts?
Well, the day has finally come. No, you can't go see The Dark Knight in theaters yet ... but you can start reading what the critics had to say about it. First one in the batting cage is Peter Travers from Rolling Stone, who opens his review with: "Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies." Yeah! Where's your exclamation point at the end of that sentence, Travers? Get those troops fired up, dammit! (Bored? Try saying "Peter Travers Travels to Transylvania" ten times fast. Bet ya can't do it ...) Anyway ...
He continues to say nothing but great things about the movie, calling Heath Ledger -- and this is my favorite quote of the year so far -- "mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker." Of course, if someone is "mad-crazy-blazing brilliant," only one word can follow something like that up: Oscar. Travers says, "If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up." He gave the film itself three and a half stars out of four, and summed it all up by saying, "It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams."
All kidding aside, I'm stoked to see a very, very positive review right out of the gate -- and I, for one, seriously hope The Dark Knight goes down as one of the best summer movies ever. But I do try not to hype it up too much, because that's always a bad thing. So forget we ever said anything. Dark Knight? What's that?
Amidst our somewhat crazed anticipation for The Dark Knight, I bet most of you forgot we were getting a direct-to-DVD anthology of six animated Batman stories called Batman: Gotham Knight. Much like the Animatrix, Gotham Knight takes place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, while utilizing several different well-known animators and writers (with Begins' David Goyer being among the bunch). That said, we've seen images, trailers and behind-the-scenes featurettes, but now MTV has debuted a pretty slick five-minute clip that feels dark as all hell. In the scene above, mobster Sal Maroni squares off against a badass figure known as The Russian in a fairly spectacular gunfight which ends with a visit from that Bat-dude. The animation looks fantastic, and I imagine Bat-fans will definitely want to pick this sucker up when it hits shelves on July 8th, 10 days before The Dark Knight arrives in theaters.
What do you think? Are you hip to this new Batman adventure, or what?
A brand new clip from The Dark Knight has landed over at WhySoSerious.com (see it above or over on that site), and in it we get to watch Two Face make what I imagine will be his first appearance in the film. Don't worry spoiler-nerds, they don't actually show you his face (like they'd ruin that one on a random Monday night in June) -- but we see him from a side angle and briefly hear his voice. I truly hope this isn't some sort of very very short tease over to the third film and that Two Face is an actual character in the movie for a little while. Then again, perhaps it'd be better if he wasn't in it; cut down on the number of villains and all that. However, Christopher Nolan has said that this is Harvey Dent's story and not the Joker's. The latter maniac just happens to be wreaking havoc on Gotham while the real plot develops around Dent (Aaron Eckhart).
Look, all I know is that I really want to see this sucker, like, yesterday. 32 days till July 18th. Sweet!
Those with Comcast OnDemand were treated to two brand new Dark Knight videos, with one coming in the form of an alternate trailer and the other as a Gotham City news program hosted by Mike Engel, as played by Anthony Michael Hall. Both videos have hit YouTube, though keep in mind they were recorded by people with cameras held out at their television sets -- so, yeah, you'll get a little breathing and a chuckle from time to time. Hopefully Warners will make these available to all of us on one of the thousands of Dark Knight viral sites at some point in the near future. Until then you can watch the videos after the jump ... and we've also included a fourth Dark Knight TV spot (which I don't believe we've posted yet).
If all this isn't enough to get you jazzed up for Batman's return a month from now, I don't know what will. (And, by the way, I like the release date choice for the new trailer and news program -- the day a certain Marvel property is set to hit the big screen. Wink, nudge.)
With only a month to go until The Dark Knight, all the viral fun seems to have disappeared, taking anything newsworthy along with it. I'm actually very glad they haven't bombarded us (yet) with clips and television spots, as I want to see this film as unspoiled as possible. I know I'm not alone in that.
But the temptation is still there to see just a little bit more, and two new videos have satisfied that quite nicely. One is on the making of the clown masks sported by the Joker's gang. It is quite short, but it is a fun little insight into the character and his gang of creeps. The second is all about shooting for IMAX, much of which has been repeated from the featurette that has been up on IMAX's site for months. However, the much of the footage in between the techno-speak is new, awesome, and spoiler free. It's just enough Dark Knight to keep you going another month ...
After a long, hard-fought battle, the second official trailer for The Dark Knight took home top honors at this year's Golden Trailer Awards (with a margin of victory of 44%). The contest, held over at USA Today, tallied votes on films from several different categories -- all of which were chosen as this year's Golden Trailer winners earlier in the month. Among the top trailers users had a chance to vote on were Enchanted (Best Animation/Family), Tropic Thunder (Best Comedy), Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (Best Documentary), No Country for Old Men (Best Drama), I am Legend (Best Horror) and Iron Man (Summer 2008 Blockbuster), among others. While there are certainly other trailers I would've picked to win their respective category (Pineapple Express, for one), I think we can probably all agree that The Dark Knight trailer is definitely tops.
Check out the trailer one more time above, then head on over to USA Today to see what else was nominated (as well as the official site for The Golden Trailer Awards). In your opinion, does anything beat The Dark Knight?
This week I'm feeling kind of fond of the fauna. Here are five trailers for films related to the animal kingdom. The Dark Knight Bats: nocturnal flying mammals who occasionally star in hotly anticipated summer blockbusters. I know I'm not the only one who's been waiting for this one ever since the end credits rolled on Batman Begins. Once again Christian Bale dons the cape and cowl of the tortured Batman, this time to do battle with Heath Ledger's sublimely psychotic Joker. This newest trailer gives us plenty of both hero and villain, as well as what appears to be the start of District Attorney Harvey Dent's (Aaron Eckhart) career as Two-Face. Michael Caine is also back as Alfred, and as much as I liked Michael Gough in the role, now I can't imagine anyone else polishing the silver at Wayne Manor. July 18 can't come fast enough. Here's Elisabeth's take. Eagle Eye You know that scene in The Matrix where Morpheus calls Neo on the cell phone and tries to instruct him on how to get out of the office before The Agents find him? That's exactly what this trailer plays like. Shia Labeouf plays a character who suddenly finds an extra three-quarters of a million dollars in his bank account and he comes home to find his apartment filled with a couple metric tons of terrorist accoutrement's like explosives and automatic weapons. A mysterious voice calls him and tells him that the FBI will be there in moments. Arrested and framed, he must go undercover with a terrorist organization to clear his name. I was intrigued until I found out this was from D.J. Caruso, the man behind the stunningly mediocre Disturbia. Still, the trailer is kind of cool and the cast also includes Rosario Dawson and Billy Bob Thornton. Eagle Eye starts playing U.S. theaters on September 26. Here's what Erik thought of the trailer.
Oh, sure, there's plenty of high art at Cannes, and all of that -- but there's also big, bold, Hollywood mega-marketing going on, too. Mid-way through the festival, the Get Smart posters in front of the Carlton hotel were suddenly replaced by a series of ads for this summer's upcoming The Dark Knight. More pictures in the gallery below ...
Remember serials? I don't, because I'm too young, and by the time I began going to the movies, it was already the practice for cinemas to stick to single, self-contained, feature-length fare. With the way screenings are arranged today, scheduled so that both theater owners and studios can get as much money from as many showings as possible, there's just no room for any accompanying shorts, especially the kind that don't end in a conclusive manner.
I'd probably be okay with being left out of that experience from the moviegoing past, but each time another Indiana Jones movie is released, I can't help but think I'm at least a little less appreciative of George Lucas' intent than some of the older folk in the audience. When Lucas thought up the original Raiders of the Lost Ark, he partly meant the film as homage to the serials he remembered from his childhood.
Yet Raiders didn't end with a cliffhanger, as most serials had on a weekly basis. And with the third sequel to that film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, arriving in theaters this week, I still wonder why at least two installments couldn't have been connected with the serializing device. Lucas had already somewhat shown us, through the uncertain ending of The Empire Stikes Back and continuation/resolution beginning of Return of the Jedi, that it could be done.
Man, I am absolutely loving the posters they're creating for The Dark Knight. Sure, there's been like 9, 10, 357 of them, but each one packs a solid punch. Batman On Film have debuted the latest of the batch, which, obviously, showcases the film's big villain: The Joker. Only thing I don't get about this poster is why they would put the words 'Coming Soon' underneath? Why not show off the film's July 18th release date?
For those who haven't stopped in to hang out here for awhile, The Dark Knight has been a subject of debate lately. First, Elisabeth wrote a Fan Rant on the selling of that Joker toy, and how some folks are cleaning out the supply, jacking up the prices and selling it on eBay -- profiting off Ledger's death and the increased demand for a collectible. Meanwhile, I pondered whether Ledger may get himself an Oscar nod out of this role; how it's about damn time we start recognizing the wonderful performances in these fanboy flicks, instead of focusing solely on special effects and sound editing. So feel free to chime in here or on those other posts. Unlike the poster, we'll tell you The Dark Knight arrives in theaters on July 18.
I can't wait for Halloween, when I'm going to be dressing up as Batman, courtesy of Dominos. Among the pizza chain's many tie-ins with this summer's 
I'm sure everyone expected The Dark Knight to close with a Heath Ledger "in memoriam" after the fade to black. So it will. Warner Bros. has released the text of the dedication that will accompany the film, and it reads: 
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