batman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

While tooling around online I came across a post over at Brobible on the 15 Best Man Caves on the Internet. A Man Cave, for those who do not know, is usually an area somewhere in the house (normally the garage or a spare room) designated for the guys to hang out in and do "guy things" like watch tons of sports or, in the case of one Australian homeowner, tons of The Dark Knight. I'm not exactly sure how much this cost, though Gizmag tells us the screening room won the highly commended prize in the 'above $100,000' category at CEDIA Asia Pacific annual awards, so more than likely this sucker cost a pretty penny to produce.

The room took about 20 days to piece together, while the installation of equipment and acoustic took another 8 days. Apart from very cool-looking and comfortable seats, as well as a big screen, the room also features a full wet bar and a bathroom that can be accessed via a remote-controlled sliding door.

From Gizmag: "Entry to the 'secret location' is via a remote-controlled pneumatic sliding door (unfortunately, not bat poles). A touch of the panel outside and the door opens, the lights turn on to a predetermined level, the projector and scaler come to life, and the processor goes into action. So, by the time you've chosen your movie and had your first mouthful of popcorn, everything is humming along, just like a well-oiled Batmobile."

Check out some images below and more stats on the equipment over at Gizmag. If you had the dough, would you put something like this in your home?

We love it when our heroes fall for the suspicious types: the wolves in sheep's clothing, the dangerous femme fatales. It happens often in film noir and a heckuva lot in comics, and provides some of the best last-act twists and turns as our hearts palpitate along with those of our protagonists... up until the bitter end. Can't that evil love interest turn out to have a heart of gold, so we can all have a happily ever after? Sometimes, yes. Most of the time, no.

What is it about these doomed romances that we love so much? Perhaps it's the futility of it all; you can't have your cake and eat it when you're a superhero or a (wo)man on a mission to right wrongs, even if you'd rather be kissing that beguiling bad guy than fighting them, arresting them, or foiling their evil plans. Turning down a chance at love is the ultimate sacrifice for a hero or heroine to make -- it proves their commitment to the side of good. Hence, loving a villain makes a hero even more heroic. How tragic!

In what will surely spur controversy, I've whittled my favorite villain-hero romances down to the seven best pairings in cinema. No, Phantom of the Opera didn't make it. That would have been too easy. Instead, find odd couples, would-be perfect pairs, star-crossed lovers, and yes, the world's most legendary bromance after the jump.

I'll admit that when it comes to Batman, I'm a bit of a novice (I'll just take a moment to let you finish yelling at your monitor). Granted, I've been taking steps to remedy that situation over the past couple of years, but I'm still a long way from an expert. The reason I mention this is because I'm not steeped in Batman lore and I never really found The Joker to be all that scary. But because of Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger, I now understand what was so creepy about that clown thanks to the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight.

It's one thing to hear someone say they have nothing to lose, but it's a hell of a lot more frightening to watch that philosophy in action. What makes this scene so memorable is that in under five minutes the Joker sums up everything about the Batman/Joker relationship that makes it one of the most fascinating in comic book history -- it's an interesting idea that the person who is supposed to save you might not be able to because of his moral code. Batman's adherence to the law is his Achilles' heel, and no matter how many times I have seen this movie, I can't help but crack a smile at Ledger's gleeful maniac turning the knife on our Caped Crusader with "You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength." And the scary thing is ... he's right.

After the jump: "I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve..."

Let's be real here: every 11-year-old boy lives to one-up the kids he's friends with. When I was a young lad, the kid next door to me was always buying the newest toys and then conveniently playing with them out in front of his house constantly so that everyone in the neighborhood would know who the cool kid was. Well boys (and girls), here's something that will forever make you the most popular kid at your school: the Batman Tumbler Go-Kart.

A dude by the name of T-Man created this go-kart (which he calls the T-kart) from scratch and filmed his every step so that you, too, can build a Batman Tumbler in your very own garage. The only downside is that it doesn't go in reverse or come with a host of different weapons, but one of those is an easy fix. You can follow T-Man's entire journey over on YouTube, but we posted video of the final product after the jump. Check it out.

Has there ever been a summer that proved to be as important – not just personally, but historically - to comic book fans as 1989? Surely the last decade or so has produced its share of must-see superhero adventures, but before Tim Burton's Batman was release on June 23, 1989, the idea of wall-to-wall wallcrawlers was little more than a cobweb stuck to the bottom of discarded studio call sheets. Burton's aggressive, dark reimagining of Bob Kane's iconic character quite literally changed the face of comic book adaptations, and ushered in the era of superhero movies, even if it would take another ten or fifteen years to find the right balance between real-world grit, splash-page heroism, and tongue-in-cheek self-awareness.

Meanwhile, the rest of the summer of '89 was no less exciting, featuring sequels, comedies, dramas and plenty of fare that defied categorization – which, in all likelihood is why it defied the box office gods en route to home-video glory. And while we could no doubt devote countless column inches to recounting every film from that fateful summer, here's a decidedly more svelte list of the entries that most aroused our imaginations and inspired us to suckle at 1989's summer-movie teat.

Back in December when new Batman rumors were swirling faster than the wind between buildings in Gotham City, the Brits from across the pond were having a blast chucking out one false casting rumor after the next. The truth at the time (and it still is to a degree) was that Christopher Nolan hadn't even started work on a script for the next Batman movie, and casting the thing was still a ways out.

One rumor that popped up had to do with Eddie Murphy becoming The Riddler in the new film. We all knew it was bullsh*t at the time, but it was finally confirmed by the man himself, Eddie Murphy, during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien last night. The clip isn't online yet (I'm sure it'll hit Hulu in the next day or so), but Conan actually brought up the Riddler rumor to Eddie and the actor laughed it off as such after acknowledging that he heard it too and thought it was hilarious. After that, though, he did say that he'd actually like to star in (and I'm paraphrasing) "one of those Batman type films," which means we could see Murphy donning a tight superhero suit one day soon. Will he be The Riddler? Probably not. But I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie gets in on this superhero craze in some way, shape or form in the near future.

Update: Thanks to commenter John for reminding me that Murphy said he'd love to play Egghead instead of Riddler, and proceeded to do the Egghead voice as Vincent Price. Funny stuff.

Update 2: Video of this interview is now available at NBC's site. And I'm not reminded that they also discussed James Brown, and Eddie said he'd love to see Wesley Snipes take on the role.

And don't forget to vote for your favorite all-time Eddie Murphy character over at Moviefone.

Not long ago we brought you two great photography projects: The Secret Life of Stormtroopers and The Real Lives of Superheroes -- and now Toronto based photographer Ian Pool has arrived with another fantastic superhero-related photo spread that shows what some of our favorite heroes and villains are up to on their days off. I chose to feature the Darth Vader image (see above), only because it cracked me up to see a little flowery decorative sign hanging outside his bathroom that reads, "May the dark side of the force be with you."

But to tell you the truth, I really love both the Batman and Spider-Man images most (though the Wonder Woman one is kinda hot), because they both give off this deep, depressing loneliness vibe. I imagine the Batman photo being taken at 3am on a random Wednesday while the streets of Gotham City are silent and asleep next to their loved ones. The Spider-Man image, which shows the superhero urinating on a wall late at night, is funny and sad at the same time -- after all, where else is the guy supposed to go to the bathroom while he's out keeping the streets safe? Meanwhile, the Doc Oc one is just ... well, see for yourself.

Check out a few of the images below, and head on over to Ian Pool's site for more.



[via io9]

Here's what we currently know about Christopher Nolan's between-Batmans project, Inception:

• It is not, as initially asserted by a commenter, concerning "a war for the colonization of Venus."


• It is more likely along the lines of a sci-fi action film "set within the architecture of the mind" (which, coming from the brains behind The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Memento, is a scary-thrilling thought).


• Currently on board are Leonardo DiCaprio (as some sort of CEO), Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine...

...and, according to THR, rounding out the ensemble (for now) are Ken "Batman Begins" Watanabe as a blackmailing villain and Tom "apparently awesome in Bronson" Hardy as a colleague of DiCaprio's.

Sorry to be Avatar-level vague, but with a cast like this and a crew like that, there's little left to do but twiddle our thumbs and hope for the best between now and next summer. Either that, or Nolan just recast most of the third Batman film and doesn't want Christian Bale to know...

The latest trailer is out for the new Batman video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and it's a pretty rad Harley Quinn character preview. Quinn (voiced, of course, by Arleen Sorkin) is just one of several Batman villains featured in the game, which has already received rave remarks from fans and gamers alike (with some going so far as to call it the game of the year). Though she'll be joined by the likes of the Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc and Mr. Freeze (all of whom will most likely get their own trailers too), Quinn is no doubt a fan favorite and a villain folks (including myself) would love to see show up in a live-action film.

Of course with the Joker situation the way it is right now, chances are that won't happen for a good while -- but after watching this all-too-brief trailer (and scoping out the screengrabs below), I can't help but be seduced by this gal's sexy wickedness -- she almost reminds me of a nurse-turned-stripper-turned-serial killer ... and, on paper, that's a pretty awesome villain. Check out the gallery of screengrabs below and the trailer after the jump.

What do you think -- is there a way to work Harley Quinn into the next film? Please ...