Never Mind Pop Film

Interstellar opens today, and already moviegoers are noticing a shift from the acclaimed auteur that brought a gritty Batman back to the screen. Trailers for the upcoming film starring Matthew McConaughey have been less brooding, and more inspiring. Akin to something Steven Spielberg might have made in the '80s. A marked change from the films that Nolan started out making.

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2012 saw the world's collective obsession with the apocalypse take place on the silver screen on numerous occasions. Whether it was a downbeat comedy, team-up comic franchise, or exploration of our origins, most protagonists saw themselves battling a cataclysmic event. The planet has nearly been blown up, invaded by aliens, lorded over by evil geniuses and the like.

Batman, the Avengers, 007, Django, and even Abraham Lincoln fulfilled the collective wishes of moviegoers to have someone stand up for others in a time when seemingly there are no heroes left. Perhaps it is for this reason that so many of the year's best films were centered around good guys.

If it wasn't the end of the world, it was the end of line for the characters. Bernie desperately trying to avoid prison, Ottway fending off a pack of wolves systematically eliminating his crew, Bond facing a betrayal from one of MI6's own. The end days have been on the mind of many.

This year was also strangely reminis…

Warner Bros. and PartnersHub is hosting one last giveaway before the end of the year. You could win a Blu-ray Combo Pack of Magic Mike or The Dark Knight Rises (prize will be chosen randomly from the above titles!)
All you need to do is leave a comment below and one winner will be chosen at random. Contest ends December 19th, U.S residents only, please. Good luck!

Until recently, capes and cowls were a less respected director's game. Flops like The Shadow and Batman and Robin had made it almost impossible for an A-list auteur to get withing a hundred feet of the genre. Then Sam Raimi and Bryan Singer took Spider-man and X-Men to unparalleled heights. Perhaps it was just the matter of getting the right person behind the lens.

After Warner Bros. chose him to take over the rebooting of their biggest icon, Christopher Nolan rewarded them by turning in two of the greatest comic book films of all-time. The problem that faced him afterward: ending the series on a high-note.

Nolan took all of life's anxieties and placed them in front of our eyes. A terrorist attack on a football stadium, financial market takeover, plane hijackings, nuclear weapons. The escapism of one of pop culture's biggest icons was thrown out the window. Every moral and social ill reflected on an eighty foot screen.

Similar to Peter Jackson's careful crafting in br…

The AFI came out with their top ten list of American films this year. It was quite a pleasant surprise to see The Dark Knight Rises make an appearance, although it may have come at the expense of a film like The Master. Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty at this point have become must-haves for any top ten list for the year. If AFI's selections hold true, December shall bring a great deal of excellent pictures.
ARGO BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD THE DARK KNIGHT RISES DJANGO UNCHAINED LES MISÉRABLES LIFE OF PI LINCOLN MOONRISE KINGDOM SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK ZERO DARK THIRTY

Video: The Dark Knight Rises: Bane’s football explosion
The DVD/Blu-Ray for The Dark Knight Rises doesn't come out until December 4th, but you can catch a glimpse of how they filmed Bane (Tom Hardy) blowing up Gotham Rogues stadium here. Ravens fans will be disappointed to find out it was special effects, I'm sure most hoping that they actually destroyed it.

For all of the hardware Heath Ledger took home and all of the guild's nominations the film received, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight got a goose egg for Best Picture four years ago. Will this time around be any different? Peter Jackson's film took best picture when the trilogy concluded, but that was against weaker competition and the reviews for Rises are not as strong as its predecessor. We shall see have to wait to see what happens.

For those of you who are extra-special Batman fans the design for The Dark Knight Rises blu-ray combo pack will be exciting. Special features include adocumentary about the history of the batmobile, a featurette called The Journey of Bruce Wayne, trailers, and art galleries. The main event, though, is a 17-featurette in-depth look at the making of The Dark Knight Rises called Ending the Knight that documents how Christopher Nolan brought the caped crusader back to credibility.

If that weren't enough to sate your appetite, here is a look at the UK art for The Dark Knight Trilogy.

The Dark Knight Rises hits Blu-ray and DVD on December 3rd.

"Because he's not the hero we need right now, but he's the one we deserve."

Eight years have passed since Gotham last needed Batman. Without the ornaments and implements of Batman, Bruce Wayne rings hollow. When we last left the Dark Knight he was on the run from the police and held in contempt by virtually all of Gotham. Shouldering the weight of Harvey Dent's crimes and suffering the loss of Rachel, he is in his own personal hell. Any semblance of a normal life ended with a sick joke and a cleansing burn.

Gotham itself is also in a transitional phase. The dark, transient city from BatmanBegins was melded into a shiny metropolis for The Dark Knight and now is waiting to be torn apart in Rises. The have-nots have dragged on for far too long and now the socialites are ticking down the seconds before the doors burst open.

What Christopher Nolan does with this Batman trilogy is take a mirror and—under the guise of being only a comic book movie—holds it up to society an…

According to the folks over at Visible Measures, The Dark Knight Rises could be even bigger than The Dark Knight. I'm going to let that wash over you for a moment... bigger than one billion dollars worldwide. When comparing internet views of the respective trailers for each film, Rises quadruples the 2008 release.

Perhaps even more interesting is how it compares to The Dark Knight when it released back on July 14, 2008. As of its release date, The Dark Knight had scored 48+ million views, with no views coming from the movie studio. Of course 2008 was a different time for online video – there was less content and less people watched less frequently – but a discrepancy of over 150 million views between the two films is titanic.

How that translates into ticket sales is anyone's guess, but it can only mean good things for Christopher Nolan as he prepares to send Batman to take a bow.

Did I mention that he isn't very good at asking? No? Well I'm sure he won't mind if you don't go... it's not like he is a terrorist or anything. As a reward, if you go to the midnight showings on July 19th, you well receive one of these posters. Presumably to scare visitors in your home. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Christopher Nolan  confirmed his involvement regarding a potential Batman reboot and a Justice League film.
Batman will outlive us all, and our interpretation was ours. Obviously, we consider it definitive and kind of finished. The great thing about Batman is he lives on for future generations to reinterpret, and obviously, Warners will have to decide in the future what they’re going to do with him. We’ve had our say on the character. I’ve got no plans to do anything more, and certainly, no involvement with any Justice League project. Obviously this comes as a disappointment to Warner Bros., but letting Christopher Nolan pursue his own creative interests is in the best interest of all involved. Keeping him around in a producer's role for a project he isn't interested in helps no one.

Will Batman live to see the end of Christopher Nolan's epic trilogy? Perhaps. Yet, with every new tagline, every line of dialogue introduced in the trailers, and each poster like the one above, the possibility exists. Killing off the face of a franchise is almost unheard of, but Christopher Nolan has made the better part of nearly $2.5 billion worldwide for Warner Bros., so we may very well be saying goodbye to Dark Knight on July 20th.

Most would look at the new banner for The Dark Knight Rises and appreciate how good it looks. I, however, cannot help but wonder what Bane is thinking. My first guess is "job well done," either that, or "I hope I didn't leave the tank on the bridge."

If any moviegoers were curious what the Mayor passed during the eight year period between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, they know now. Also, Batman bad, very very bad.

(Courtesy: CBM)

Christopher Nolan has decided that fans aren't excited enough for The Dark Knight Rises—despite the fact that some IMAX showings are sold out through August—and another full-length trailer has been released.

It is almost the release of the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, do you know where your Imax theatre is?There's sixty-plus theatres in the county so be sure that you're not getting a false experience. Check out The Geek Twins for the difference between real and fake IMAX.

Getting closer and closer to the release for The Dark Knight Rises and now there is a sample of Hans Zimmer's music for the film to tide us over. Quite a few tracks harken back to Batman Begins, perhaps not a coincidence given that the Dark Knight will come full-circle.

Summer 2012 is shaping up to be a prolific one for action movies. Whether you're a kid on school break, a die-hard action movie buff, or looking to score some AC, there are a variety of action flicks coming out this summer that will get your adrenaline flowing. 

The Avengers
Loaded with a plethora of prominent Hollywood actors (Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, and Chris Evans) and a superhero team of all-star proportions (Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America) The Avengers is sure to be a treat for every movie geek. Under the threat of intergalactic invasion, these heroes must assemble to fight a planetary threat.

The Amazing Spider-Man
Another lucrative comic book movie franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man follows the story of Peter Parker and his newfound alter ego. While finding clues and investigating the death of his parents, Peter Parker comes face to face with his father's former partner, Dr. Curt Connors, and his hideous transformation, the Lizard. B…

As pathetic as this sounds, I can't bring myself to watch the trailer before seeing it on the big screen along with The Avengers on Friday. Enjoy!