Bat News

Word is finally out (via Total Film) on the role that Christopher Nolan has given to the talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Dark Knight Rises. It seems that former "3rd Rock from the Sun" and Inception star will be playing Alberto Falcone (AKA Holiday), son of Carmine Falcone, who was played by Tom Wilkinson in Batman Begins.

No word yet on how large a part Holiday will play in the film, though it makes sense to bring the character into play to tie the trilogy up. Still, many folks are up in arms over how many villains Nolan is loading into his final entry in the franchise. We already know that hottie Tom Hardy will be playing Bane and Ann Hathaway is Catwoman. And there are rumors that Marion Cotillard has been cast as the daughter of Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neesom). And let's not forget that Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow is still on the loose. So that leaves five potential villains for the Dark Knight to contend with... 

And we all know how well multiple villains played out in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. Not that I'm comparing... as much as I love all of Raimi's films, Nolan is by far the better director. Still... 

I imagine all of this will lead to a three+ hour Batman movie. Will movie-goers flock to a LOTR-sized comic book hero movie? Probably. I know I'll be in line for The Dark Knight Rises on opening weekend in July of 2012. Nolan always seems to manage to give me a wonderful birthday gift every two years.

And speaking of movies I can't wait to see, D and I will be seeing Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch next weekend. You can be sure I'll be reviewing it as soon as I get home.

Snyder has proven he can deliver when it comes to amazing visuals with his previous films Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen. But all of them those were adaptations of material that already existed. I can't wait to see what he has in store with his first completely original film...

More, anon.
Prospero

I Hate My Head

Uncle P had plans for a wonderful weekend of revelry and fun with friends he loves dearly. Last night I was planning on attending a combination Halloween/Birthday party for one of my Top Girls cast members and tonight I was supposed to see a ridiculous Horror movie with Matty.

Needless to say, none of those plans met with fruition, thanks to my fickle sinuses, which decided to inflame themselves to the point of no return. Along with the nasal congestion and explosive pain, my left eye swelled almost shut and felt as though it wanted nothing less than total escape from its socket. And I tried everything from warm compresses to saline eye washes. I even improvised a neti pot using an old watering can. Nothing helped.

As I write this, the infection seems to have switched sides, inflaming the right side of my skull with its insidious horrors. And while it is far from my intention to gross you out, those of you who don't suffer from the genetic curse of bad sinuses should count yourselves among the lucky. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy (though I'm not above wishing them a bad case of diarrhea). Of course, all this is just making you ask yourselves why I am sharing such disgusting details, but I am so consumed by them I can't write about anything else right now I hope you'll both forgive and sympathize (or maybe even empathize) with me.

And since I really have nothing pithy or political or remotely related to my usual topics to say tonight, I'll leave you with the trailers to two upcoming movies I really want to see:



Skyline opens this coming Friday.



Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch opens next March.

More, when I'm feeling better.
Prospero

Wow!

I have been a fan of Zach Snyder's work, ever since his exciting and well-made take on Dawn of the Dead in 2004. Less successful (artistically, at least), his CGI landscape for his 2006 adaptation of Frank Miller's 300 was lovely to look at (in more ways than one), but rather thin on substance. His last big release was the mostly excellent Watchmen, which I really loved. And no matter what some overly-sensitive people have to say, I have never found his work to be overtly homophobic, and anything which might have been misconstrued as such is there because of the source material.

Snyder has an all-CGI family movie about owls coming out later this year, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

But it's his next film I'm most interested in: Sucker Punch, Synder's first film that is not adapted from or based on other material. The script by Snyder and first-time screenwriter Steve Shibuya is based on an original story by Snyder and concerns young women imprisoned in a 1950's insane asylum and their plans for escape. Here's the official synopsis:

"Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Baby Doll (pouty-lipped Emily Browning), who is trying to hide from the pain caused by her evil stepfather and lobotomy. She ends up in mental institution in Brattleboro, Vermont and while there she starts to imagine an alternate reality. She plans to escape from that imaginary world but to do that she needs to steal five objects before she is captured by an unknown adversary. She has 5 days to escape before being lobotomized. In order to cope with the situation, she enters the hyper-real world of her imagination, and the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. She is joined with friends who are inmates from the institution. Lessons learned in the said fantasy world could help the girls escape their real-world fate." (via)

It sounds like Heavenly Creatures meets Girl Interrupted meets Lord of the Rings as a live-action manga. And that's exactly what it looks like in the trailer below (the first to get me this excited since the trailer for Watchmen - make sure I hire that trailer company for my first movie). Watch this in full screen and turn up the volume; this trailer is friggin' awesome:



No matter what you may think of Snyder's films, you must admit that they always look amazing, as evidenced by that trailer. And what a cast! The highly underrated Jena Malone (Donnie Darko; The Ruins); Abbie Cornish; Scott Glen; the smokin' Carla Gugino and the very hot John Hamm. When I can buy a ticket? Sucker Punch is scheduled for release in March of next year.

So? What do you think? Excited to see Sucker Punch? Or completely bewildered by it? I'm going to have to install a poll app, someday... You could always just leave me a comment. I love it when we dialog!

More, anon.
Prospero