Category Archives: Movies

It’s official! Henry Cavill is SUPERMAN!

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So, there’s a scene in The Count of Monte Cristo where James Caviezel’s Count delivers a birthday toast to young Albert Mondego, played by Henry Cavill, after witnessing the boy’s selfless courage against assailants in the dark catacombs below Rome.

“Life is a storm, my young friend,” the Count begins. “You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm, and shout as you did in Rome, ‘Do your worst. For I will do mine.’ Then the Fates will know you as we know you, as Albert Mondego, the man.”

As of today, the whole world is about to get to know Henry Cavill, the Man … of Steel.

The 27-year-old actor has signed on to play Kal-El, Clark Kent, and Superman in Warner Bros.’ December 2012 big-screen extravaganza to be directed by Zack Snyder and produced by Christopher Nolan.

From today’s official press release:

HENRY CAVILL WILL TAKE ON THE DUAL ROLE OF CLARK KENT / SUPERMAN IN THE NEW FILM FROM WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND LEGENDARY PICTURES

BURBANK, CA, January 30, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today that Henry Cavill has won the coveted role of Superman, the iconic superhero.

The film will be directed by Zack Snyder, who stated, “In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen. I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield.”

Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder are the producers of the film. The screenplay is being written by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

Cavill recently wrapped production on “The Cold Light of Day” and stars in the upcoming “Immortals,” opening this fall.

Targeted for release in December 2012, the new Superman movie will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

I am so, so, so happy about this. Ever since my own favorite actor for the role, Jon Hamm, confirmed he was out of the running due to his age, and because I know Tom Welling from Smallville was simply never going to make the leap from TV, I’d been hoping for Armie Hammer while worrying it might end up being Joe Manganiello, who’s been very vocal to the press about wanting the role and at the center of a fresh round of rumors last week naming him as a potential front-runner.

(As I wrote quite some time ago, if the werewolf from True Blood was cast as Superman, I’d have stuck my face in a bag of real werewolves. No offense to the towering Manganiello, who’s as manly as they come and in excellent physical shape, but I think Superman needs to exude a certain kind of goodness and charm that I see coming more from a guy like Cavill.)

(For that matter, I also wanted James Caviezel to get it for a long time, too, especially after he and his family sat near me at the gate in the Los Angeles airport in 2008. I couldn’t believe how much he looked like Superman in person. It was his role in The Count of Monte Cristo that had made me think it years before, so it’s only fitting that the young man who so capably played his son in that film is now stepping into Superman’s boots.)

Cavill’s look is equally regal and rugged, and his acting talents are beyond reproach. Better still, he’s long been a fan favorite for the role with a huge and loyal online following. Those folks are undoubtedly very, very happy today, and I’m as thrilled for them as I am for Cavill.

Congratulations, young man. This is a huge opportunity; you’ve already earned it, and I know you’ll put in the hard work to deserve it.

Up, up and away to December 2012! I hope to hear much more news about this movie soon.

And big thanks to my friend Kareem for delivering the news via text today!

(For those of you who love homework, here are Mr. Cavill’s previous credits.)

What are you talking about, Matt Damon? Volume 2

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Check out Volume 1 for all the background you’ll need.

Matt Damon is talking about Bourne yet again, this time to Empire:

“I read online that they’re doing another Jason Bourne movie with Tony Gilroy directing that I’m not in. No one told me, literally nobody called me. People think I have insider information, but you get a sense of where I am in the pecking order!”

But would he even do another one in the first place?

“I’d do it with Paul [Greengrass]. Universal don’t actually own the Bourne character — the estate [of Robert Ludlum] does — so technically I could go to Warner Bros … and Universal could read about it online.”

I’m of two minds about this. I think it’s silly to do another Bourne movie without Matt Damon. On the other hand, the first trilogy wrapped up so perfectly that I think I’d rather just see the story stay as it is.

On yet another hand, if Damon and Paul Greengrass did do another one, I’d see the hell out of it.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Anne Hathaway is Catwoman! Tom Hardy is Bane!

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WHAMMY!

I’m kind of hyperventilating a little bit and possibly a lot — Warner Bros. has dropped a HUGE bomb of awesome with the first official casting news for The Dark Knight Rises.

Here’s the press release:

BURBANK, CA, January 19, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” She will be starring alongside Christian Bale, who returns in the title role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Christopher Nolan stated, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.”

In addition, Tom Hardy has been set to play Bane. Nolan said, “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”

Nolan will direct the film from a screenplay he wrote with Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Nolan will also produce the film with his longtime producing partner, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is slated for release on July 20, 2012. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

I love it. I already can’t get enough of it.

Tell me she doesn’t look like a Tim Sale drawing from The Long Halloween in this picture:


I’m so excited. She’ll be amazing. Like I said in this article back in November, Hathaway has so much appeal and so much talent. I can’t wait to see her tap into her dark side.

And as for Hardy … BAM! BANE! Bane is like a dark mirror of what Bruce Wayne could have become had he gone down the wrong path. It will be fascinating to see how Nolan plays Bane against Batman, especially given that most of Gotham now thinks Batman is a murderer and a cop killer.

And what role will Selina Kyle play in Bruce Wayne’s redemption?

More news will undoubtedly follow soon! Keep your eyes on Batman on Film for all the best and brightest news and opinion you’ll ever need for this movie!

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE!

We asked Christian Bale what he had to say about this news:

Continue reading →

Christian Bale wins new role and Golden Globe

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Yes! Congratulations to Christian Bale, who just won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his hurricane-force performance in The Fighter.

He already won the Critics’ Choice Award. Next stop? Oscar.

Here’s hoping. Let’s just say that the wait for The Dark Knight Rises just got a lot more unbearable.

But before Bale suits up as Bruce Wayne and Batman one last time (unless Christopher Nolan comes up with an idea for a fourth Batman outing, which Bale says he’d be a part of in a heartbeat), he’ll be making a film in China that you can read about here.

Bale will play an American priest who attempts to help innocent Chinese citizens escape the horrors of the Nanjing Massacre committed by the Japanese army in 1937.

What are you talking about, Matt Damon?

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Now I’m all confused.

Maybe Matt Damon is confused, too. I don’t know. Nobody knows what they’re saying about anything anymore.

Remember this post I wrote, about Universal maybe making another Bourne movie without Matt Damon?

Now Damon has told The Hollywood Reporter that he’d like to do another Bourne movie with Paul Greengrass (who directed the second and third films, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum).

Here’s the story:

With Universal moving forward with The Bourne Legacy — the fourth installment of the Jason Bourne franchise — without Matt Damon or director Paul Greengrass, the stage is set for a potential cinematic showdown between a sequel by the original duo and the rethought version by the studio and Tony Gilroy.

At the Critics’ Choice Awards on Friday, night following his acceptance of the Joel Siegel Award for Service to the Community, Damon spoke candidly backstage about his hopes to make another film and the reasons for the delay in production.“I really hope it’s going to happen,” he said, adding that the decision didn’t fall entirely on his shoulders.

“It’s really up to Paul Greengrass, the director. I’ve always said I won’t do it without him and I think it would be a bad idea to do it without Paul.”

In October, it was announced that Universal was going ahead with another film helmed by Michael Clayton and Duplicity director Gilroy. Damon was not consulted.

“I think Paul’s probably going to do one or two other films that he’s got kind of cooking but after that [maybe they would start working on a Bourne film],” he continued. “I think it’s kind of the thing where enough time has passed that I think it won’t matter if we wait five more years to do it.”

Despite the scrutiny on him and Greengrass, Damon was adamant they sidestep the pitfalls of making the film for the wrong reasons.

“We just want to make sure if we do it, that we do it right. There’s been a lot of pressure for us to do it obviously but that’s that moment I think where you got to step back and make sure you’re not making a mistake. So when it feels like the right time, I think Paul would be open to doing it.”

So … what does that even mean? Dueling Bourne movies? I doubt it. Will Damon’s intentions get Tony Gilroy’s Damon-less movie killed? Or has Universal already decided to move forward on that one, meaning that Damon and Greengrass have already fallen out of contention?

I don’t know. Do you?

And … Chris Evans as Captain America!

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Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive …

… and I would have posted this yesterday, but I wanted to wait until EW released it officially. Everyone else was posting a poor quality bootlegged scan, which I felt to be a disservice both to EW and the photo itself.

I think it looks like an awesome blend of old-school WWII aesthetic with high-tech modern flourishes.

The only thing that baffles me about this movie is that they’re not releasing it on July 4; Cap’s star-spangled shield will knock out any Nazi infiltrators at the theater near you on July 22!

First official photo of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man!

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I think this looks appropriately amazing:

The first official photo of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in (most of) his Spider-Man costume! Click it to open a massive 4.4 MB version that has tons of detail.

This was all over the Internet today, but I grabbed it from Badass Digest because they went the extra mile with some fancy detective work. In this follow-up post, they zoom in on what appear to be metallic nodes on the insides of the costume’s wrists.

I like this for lots of reasons.

As you know, Spider-Man used mechanical web-shooters in the comics (and in the 1970s TV series, where he only wore one on the outside of his right glove). The Sam Raimi movies gave Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker “organic” web-shooters that became part of his anatomy after he was bitten by the radioactive spider. While this change went a long way toward making Peter feel even more like a freak, it also robbed us of an opportunity to see Peter Parker the Science Whiz in action.

And that’s one of the things I hope to see in the new series of films with Garfield as Peter. So I’m really excited about this.

(When I was little, I ran around the yard in my Spider-Man T-shirt with cloth wrist bands for web-shooters.)

One thing that’s a bit confusing is the belt (or lack of one). There’s red spot on his left hip that looks like the edge of the belt, and you can see the outline of the belt extending between the red spot and the end of the red line on his abdomen. Is that part of the belt just covered in grime, or has it been airbrushed out of this early photo?

I love the look of the suit — it looks modern while still retaining all the classic elements, and it’s different enough from Tobey Maguire’s suit (which was also awesome) to invite comparison and avoid confusion.

Better yet are Garfield’s posture, expression, and pose — you can see the weight of the world on Peter’s shoulders. And that’s what always made me relate so well to Spider-Man, because we all know how it feels when our best intentions go wrong or our best efforts are still never enough.

I could not have cared less (and didn’t) when a new Spider-Man was first announced because I was still so bitter about Spider-Man 3, but everything about this movie so far (which you can read here) has really warmed my heart and gotten me really, really excited.

July 3, 2012!

Batman and Spider-Man get Golden Globe nods

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Congratulations to my favorite Batman ever, Christian Bale, and upcoming Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker) and my girlfriend Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) for scoring Golden Globe nominations, which were announced this morning.

(And thanks to Field Agent Mallory for the tip!)

Bale got his nod for his universally critically acclaimed supporting role in The Fighter (which I’m going to try to see this weekend, come hell or high water). Garfield will be up against him for his supporting work in The Social Network, while Stone was recognized for being an A+ comedic leading lady in Easy A.

I love it that Batman and Spider-Man are both being played these days by guys of this acting caliber. Can’t stress that enough.

(And while we’re at it, a guy who’d make an awesome Superman was nominated for his work on television’s Mad Men, and after the work he did this past season, particularly in the episode “The Suitcase,” he deserves it).

AND!

Batman movie architect Christopher Nolan is nominated for Best Director for the fabulous Inception.

(Seriously, how awesome is The Dark Knight Rises going to be? Very. Maybe the most.)

Best wishes and congratulations to all the nominees. Click here for all of my coverage of The Dark Knight Rises and here for all the latest Spider-man news.

Wes Anderson’s potential Moon Rise Kingdom cast

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News on Wes Anderson’s next movie began to trickle out at the end of September, and Russ Fischer at /Film has followed up his original report with some interesting details about the story and some of the actors Anderson is looking to cast.

A space has also made its way into the title, originally reported as Moonrise Kingdom and now listed as Moon Rise Kingdom. Not that it probably matters. But what if it does?! DUN DUN DUN.

Bill Murray’s name is on the list, which isn’t surprising at all (and always good news for me). Also rumored to be under consideration are Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand.

The story synopsis, originally reported on Deadline, goes a little something like this:

[The film] is set in the 60s. Two young adults fall in love and run away. Leaders in their New England town are sticking the idea that they’ve disappeared and go in search of them. Norton will play a scout leader who brings his charges on a search. Willis is in talks to play the town sheriff who’s also looking, and who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mother, the role McDormand is in talks to play. Murray, a regular in Anderson films, will play the girl’s father, who has his own issues.

There’s a lot to love in that paragraph. None of the casting is final, but hopefully we’ll hear something soon — Moon Rise Kingdom is scheduled to begin shooting sometime this spring. Anderson is one of my favorite filmmakers, and I can’t wait to see how this one comes together.