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First half of this trailer is very reminiscent of Man of Steel. I kept waiting for Zod to appear. 

In all seriousness, Amy Adams is always great so I'll definitely be watching this one.

With the pending release of a new documentary on the unreleased film, I thought it would be appropriate to give the movie it's own thread.

This film has gotten a lot of hate over the years but I think it has a certain charm to it. And in many respects, it's more faithful to the comics than the movies that followed. 

Having viewed the trailer, it's clear that the cast and crew were really striving to create a faithful interpretation.

As much as I love Shreck, I have to give massive points to Zorin just based on the blimp alone:

I actually never noticed the similarities until I read this Cracked article:

http://www.cracked.com/article_15637_the-top-5-ripoffs-christopher-walken-roles-by-walken-himself.html

Those stills are amazing!

This one may just pass Red Hood as the best DC Animated film yet. Maybe one of these days Marvel will actually start competing with them...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/batman-year-one-first-look-180008

Wait for it...wait for it...

Anyone had a chance to watch this yet?

I've never been a big Darkseid fan so I wasn't really expecting this to make my top DC movies list. Indeed, the movie starts off rather slow with some very monotonous newscasters talking about Batman as if he was in the Adam West-universe. And once you finally meet the Supergirl character, she comes across as rather annoying. Also, much to my surprise, the witty banter between Batman and Superman that made Public Enemies so unique is all but absent from this movie.

Having said that, the pace really picks up about 1/3 into the movie and I found myself really digging the action. Hopefully Zach Snyder is taking notes on how to perfect an awesome Superman fight scene.

Also, I've always loved the late Michael Turner's rendition of Batman so it was nice to see him in action.

Overall, it's not a game-changer like Red Hood but I'd rank it alongside Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths as a solid release that's certainly worthy of a viewing or two.

Or at least Bale seems to think so. Link is below, although I'd rather we decipher what accent he's using.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2010/11/23/christian-bale-batman-dark-knight-rises/

I was just thinking today about how the plastic surgery scene was given homage in two other forms of media that I can think of:

-- A Simpsons episode in which Lisa demands the mirror from the dentist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Exit_to_Springfield

-- The Punisher War Zone Movie in which Jigsaw has a similar origin to Joker's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdsusAsA4ms&feature=related

The "I'm Batman" scene was given homage to in Batman Begins but other than that I can't think of any particular scene which was parodied/copied in any movie or show.

Strange that I've just now heard of this...

Myth: Batman and Robin was the first Batman movie to give Batman nipples and focus on his codpiece.

Reality: Batman Forever was the first Batman movie to have these, um...stylistic traits. Yet, to this day, people act as if B & R was the first.

Case in point:

JOEL SCHUMACHER knows how to endure. Best known for creating big-budget Hollywood entertainment like ?Batman Forever? and adapting John Grisham thrillers like ?The Client,?  he has floundered since the widely panned ?Batman & Robin? in 1997. (The nipples and enlarged codpieces of its superhero suits were just one aspect that came in for ribbing.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/movies/25twelve.html

Keep pumpin' that iron, Sly. You'll never be half as good an actor as Keaton.

"It was that first Batman movie," he said, referring to the 1989 film starring Michael Keaton, an actor never known for biceps. "The action movies changed radically when it became possible to Velcro your muscles on. It was the beginning of a new era. The visual took over. The special effects became more important than the single person. That was the beginning of the end."

...

"I wish I had thought of Velcro muscles myself," Stallone mused. "I didn't have to go to the gym for all those years, all the hours wedded to the iron game, as we call it," he said, a reference to weight training.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/07/comiccon-2010-expendables-stallone-willis-schwarzenegger.html

I read this rumor the other day but had hoped it wasn't true. Personally, my favorite Bruce Banner will always be Bill Bixby. But I liked Norton's portrayal and I hate unnecessary cast changes.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/exclusive-marvel-confirms-they-will-hire-new-hulk-for-avengers

This show really went downhill in its later seasons but the pilot movie and a few of the first season episodes were quite good.

In fact, I was just thinking the other day about how the pilot movie was everything a Superman relaunch should be:

-- Clark tries to learn his way around Metropolis without anyone figuring out his secret. Little to no time spent in Smallville since the Reeve movies already covered that territory. 

-- Lex Luthor, the evil (yet charming) CEO is introduced

-- Great chemistry between Lois & Clark

-- The investigative reporters actually do some...investigating and reporting.

-- Superman rescues Lois from an experimental shuttle. He then helps it land in a baseball field...oh wait--wrong Superman. But the shuttle part did happen.

So by now, practically every major actor has some connection to a super hero movie. I always find it interesting to see two actors from different superhero films appear in the same movie.

Some of my favorites:

Michael Keaton and Morgan Freeman in "Clean and Sober": You've got Lucius Fox helping Bruce Wayne kick the habit. Can't get any better than that.

Christopher Reeve and Morgan Freeman in "Street Smart": Reeve plays an investigative reporter. Freeman plays a pimp.  One of these is giving me deja vu.

Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr. in "Game 6": Well, actually I didn't care for this film but come on, you can't beat that pair.

Reeve and Keaton in "Speechless": Reeve plays a reporter (again) and Keaton plays a...oh who cares? It's Bats and Supes in the same movie!!

And I'm going to give an honorable mention to Christian Bale who finds himself before a Judge played by none other than Pat Hingle in the "Shaft" remake.

And I came to the conclusion that Kilmer makes for a better Bruce Wayne/Batman in this movie than he did in Batman Forever. I don't think he really knew what to do with BF. He was just mimicking Keaton as best he could.

But in "The Saint" he creates an intriguing character, one that can charm a woman's pants off (literally), jump from rooftops, and defeat the forces of evil.

Even though he's a bad guy himself.

The chemistry between Shue and Kilmer is great and Val truly emotes as Simon Templar.

FYI, this is the film that prevented Kilmer from doing another Batman movie. It's a shame, because if that travesty had to happen (and it did) I'd rather it be with Kilmer than Clooney.  

[Batman...vs. Daredevil]

I remember back in the 90's when there was the DC Vs. Marvel mini-series. It was partly supposed to address those questions fans had been asking for decades (e.g., Hulk vs. Superman, Aquaman vs. Sub-Mariner, etc.).

Some of the battles were clearly easy to set up, others not so much. For example, Spider-Man vs. Superboy wasn't exactly something anyone was dying to see. Particularly since Superboy's popularity was nothing compared to Spider-Man.

Batman ended up fighting Captain America. It was a reasonable match-up: Both are examples of humans operating at peak performance. Bruce Wayne spent years studying martial arts and other combat techniques. Steve Rogers...took a special serum.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't the ideal match.

So it got me thinking:

Batman...vs. Daredevil: DD is a pretty popular character so it would certainly be a fight people would be interested in. They're both dark characters, prone to swinging from the roof-tops. And, yes, they both have pointy ears.

...vs. Iron Man: Billionaire Playboy Industrialist uses his tremendous resources to fight crime.  'nuff said.

...vs. Spider-Man: Along with Batman and Superman, he's one of the big three, in terms of global recognition. He's a superhero that identifies with a creature and swings throughout the city. He does have super strength, but not so much that it would be an uneven fight.

...vs. Moon Knight: Who?

In all seriousness, this character is often seen as Marvel's Batman. I don't know much about him though.  The wikipedia has a section on the likeness:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Knight

In the Amalgam spin-offs, a character by the name of Dark Claw was created as a combination of Batman and Wolverine. However, I never saw Wolverine as a counterpart to Batman.

Usually, TMZ is garbage but every now and then they get something truly newsworthy:

http://www.tmz.com/2010/06/03/mysterious-batmobile-sighting/

I've always wanted to see detectives Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock appear in a Batman movie. So while I'm watching the Dark Knight, I keep thinking to myself, "Why isn't Det. Ramirez called Montoya? I mean she even looks like the character."

Ditto for the surly detective played by Keith Szarabajka. Why not just call him Bullock (instead of Stephens) since that's who he reminded me of, even though he wasn't particularly heavyset.

And then it struck me: Nolan didn't want an honorable character like Montoya to end up being a crooked cop. So he gave her a different name.

As for Detective Stephens, perhaps he's not Bullock because Nolan didn't want two Harveys in the same movie. Or perhaps it was just too small a role to waste on such a cool character.

So a little while back I read an interview with Kevin Conroy in which he mentioned that he thought the Nolanverse was more similar to BTAS. It got me thinking...


Burton:

Obviously, BTAS was inspired by his films. So clearly there are a lot of similarities including:

-- Danny Elfman/Shirley Walker music
-- Dark, gothic-looking city
-- Joker is more "colorful" and big on gags (as opposed to Ledger's take)
-- Both the Batmobile and Batwing are very similar-looking to their movie counterparts

Nolan:

While stylistically Nolan's films are nothing like BTAS, there are a number of story elements which match more than Burton's films:

-- Batman works closely with Gordon
-- Bruce is a playboy, as opposed to a brooding loner
-- Wayne Enterprises plays a large role in his movies, as it did in many of the BTAS episodes

And. Here. We. Go.

Warner Bros has set Batman 3 for release on July 20, 2012, according to an internal email just sent by distribution chief Dan Fellman. There is no official start of production date at this point because Chris Nolan just completed Inception, the film that opens July 16. The film is expected to be done in 3D.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/wb-sets-batdate/