Batman carries on beginning in ... The Dark Knight

Oh, I liked the Burton franchise. I thought M. Keaton was a great choice for Batman (and, these days, unfairly maligned for his work in the role). C. Bale is v. good, too, obv.

the Riddler is so goddamned silly, there's no real way you can make him genuinely frightening or compelling. definitely a holdover from campy 60s Batman (which I love, but he wouldn't fit at all into this current incarnation)

I read someplace that he's in the film, but "if you blink you'll miss him."

good enough for me.

re Two-Face: the most interesting aspect of the Two-Face as a villain is really the fact that Dent and Wayne were friends before his disfigurement and eventual fall. The animated series (seriously best batman ever) did really well with this, I hope the movie does as well.

Some feel that the Riddler's elevation by the 60s series was never truly deserved, and in recent years he's been treated by some writers as little more than a joke. The 90s cartoon version of the character was great though.

I've never come across any reference to the Joker being responsible for Harvey becoming Two-Face. It's usually attributed to Sal "the Boss" Maroni, a mobster.

Robin: (pointing toward the sky) That crazy missile! It wrote two more riddles before it blew up!
Batman: (reading a skywritten message) "What goes up white and comes down yellow and white?"
Robin: An egg!
Batman: (reading another skywritten message) "How do you divide seventeen apples among sixteen people?"
Robin: Make apple sauce!
Batman: (thinking out loud) Apples into applesauce - A unification into one smooth mixture. An egg - nature's perfect container. The container of all our hopes for the future.
Robin: A unification and a container of hope? United World Organization!
Batman: Precisely, Robin! And there's a special meeting of the Security Council today.

the riddler is some bullshit

The animated series (seriously best batman ever)

^^^realness

they did an amazing job with Clayface too

I've never come across any reference to the Joker being responsible for Harvey becoming Two-Face. It's usually attributed to Sal "the Boss" Maroni, a mobster.

yeah you know I may have just mixed this up with advance stuff I read about the new movie

I agree with Esq: Joker, Penguin, Riddler are the top 3

riddler would be way more compelling if he was a murderous sphinx played by will shortz

from wikipedia:

The Riddler's criminal modus operandi is so deeply ingrained into his personality that he is virtually powerless to stop himself from acting it out. He cannot simply kill his opponents when he has the upper hand; he has to put them in a deathtrap to see if he can devise a life and death intellectual challenge that the hero cannot solve and escape. However, unlike many of Batman's themed enemies, Riddler's compulsion is quite flexible, allowing him to commit any crime as long as he can describe it in a riddle or puzzle. He often has two female assistants, named Query and Echo. His name, Edward Nigma, is a pun on the word enigma, which means riddle or mystery (Edward Nigma: E. Nigma).

In his very first appearance, Nigma was depicted as an employee of a carnival who enjoyed cheating his customers out of their money with his bizarre puzzles and mindgames, most of which were rigged in his favor. He soon finds himself longing for greater challenges and thrills, and dons the guise of the Riddler to challenge Batman, whom he believes could possibly be a worthy adversary for him.

Some notable writers, such as Alex Ross and Shane McCarthy, have suggested that the Riddler's compulsion stems from parental abuse that he endured as a child. After scoring high on some important tests in school, his father, unable to grasp the fact that his son was brilliant, beat him out of envy. This, in theory, left him with a strong internal desire to tell the truth, and prove his innocence. This desire manifests itself in the form of his obsession with riddles.

sounds fuckin lame

The animated series (seriously best batman ever)

I agree. I can't remember all the episodes but I do remember Scarecrow being seriously badass, which left me a bit upset with the last Batman movie because the scarecrow didn't do half the scare tactics he did in the tv show. (he gave batman the fear of heights when he was fighting on a balcony at the top of a stadium (with a bomb), and I think he made people see giant bugs and shit).

Anyone remember the episode where batman is at a graveyard and he gets trapped in some lethal tomb as a trick. And there are like tons of traps in the graveyard. Who was that villain?

Also, the tv show had the stupid villains that were just big tough guys that knew shit. I remember an episode where one of these guys is playing poker with all the great villains. I found the pairing to be quite funny.

they did an amazing job with Clayface too

Who is this Clayface of whom you speak? Is he the D.C. Comics version of Marvel Comic's The Sandman?

Pretty close, yeah. He's got some extra powers, too - chameleon stuff, mainly.

Clayface a bit more fucked up psychologically than the Sandman

this one in particular is who I was thinking of:

The third Clayface, Preston Payne, first appeared in Detective Comics #478. Suffering from hyperpituitarism, Payne works at S.T.A.R. Labs searching for a cure. He obtains a sample of the then-living Matt Hagen's blood, and isolates an enzyme which he introduces into his own bloodstream. Although he is briefly able to shape his own appearance, this effect is short-lived: while on a date, his flesh begins to melt, and when he touches his horrified girlfriend, she completely melts. Payne builds an exoskeleton anti-melting suit to prevent himself from touching anyone, but he learns that he needs to spread his melting contagion onto others to survive (he feels pain if he doesn't melt anyone). During this time his mental health starts to slip as he falls in love with a wax mannequin he names "Helena", (appearing in Batman Annual #11) thinking she is the only woman immune to his touch. After another breakdown, he thinks Helena enjoys watching men "fighting over her" when he battles Batman yet again in front of the wax doll. Although he doesn't give her up, he keeps her in Arkham Asylum, saying "we're both too polite to admit divorce, but she can't live forever".

Too cheesy for this dark Batman franchise, I think. But I'm not too hopeful about Two-Face, either (Tommy Lee Jones really soured me on that villian).

Anyone remember the episode where batman is at a graveyard and he gets trapped in some lethal tomb as a trick. And there are like tons of traps in the graveyard. Who was that villain?

I'm not sure, but I think you're talking about "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy", which featured a one-off villain who was good with traps. Adapted from a 70s comic story.

thanks

Animated Series was definitely the best until this new series of movies.

maybe still

Clayface is in this?!
I'm way too excited but I'm not so excited that I'm gonna spoil it and watch the first five minutes. Wooh I appreciate that someone has that but I'd rather wait, I think it ruins the anticipation although to be fair, I'm going to watch it for free anyway...

Yeah Burton did great work with what he had for Batman Returns, it brought it back from the brink a little. I LOVED Walker in that, I think he was miscast tho, he needed to have been placed as a more theatrical villain or someone with more of a development. Penguin was artfully done. Does anyone feel Walken could have been Two-Face?
http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Michelle-Pfeiffer---Batman-Returns-Photograph-C10038637.jpeg No one's hating on this either...
http://images.google.co.uk/url?q=http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_brothers/batman_returns/christopher_walken/batmanreturnsdvd.jpg&usg=AFQjCNFxIkyE7a0mb5CvfWEPQfCcf4dLMg

speaking of which, Batman Returns is on Film4 tonight.

it could have been so much better:

We pan to a beautiful woman: platinum blonde with a huge rack. She is the hottest woman in the world, but she wears glasses because she is also the smartest woman in the world.

http://img.skitch.com/20080706-pb7dsjcd7n983js8nd6bybdeyg.jpg

fake btw, but just imagine

that's funny but c'mon, the joel schumacher batman flicks already happened. doubt bay would make it any worse.

maybe more explode-y

An American flag (CGI) flies proudly in the central courtyard.

An American Flag (CGI) flies proudly in the central courtyard

excellent

xp

now i really wish there was an alternate universe video store where i could rent this

I have my tickets for the BFI IMAX. Good times.

For the Nolan one, not the Michael Bay one.

if only ;_;

batman at imax, holy crap.

why am i not allowed ;_;

Booked for IMAX at Manc Filmworks, am already in an unseemly state of excitement for this. IMAX hype fuelled here:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37285

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/07/dark-knight-rev.html

Finally, I would have preferred to see The Dark Knight in 35 mm, not IMAX. (I will go see it again when it opens July 18.) While the sequences that were shot with giant cameras were stunning at the IMAX venue--especially the deep detailed helicopter shots over Gotham and the amazing car/truck chase filmed in Chicago's freeway tunnels--I found the movie overwhelming. My brain starts to shut down when it gets over-pixillated, and this film goes on for two and a half hours.

I am going to see this after three days in screening rooms watching awful short films at Soho Shorts festival. Big mistake.

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/1163920509-1163875108213.jpg

i have walked into my office today to find an anominous dvd left on my desk labelled 'Batman', ooooh

I got this awesome Dark Knight t-shirt at the weekend!

http://www.frenchconnection.com/stormsites/fcuk/images/products/enlarged/large/56M8M/56M8M_2.jpg

leaked two-face origin scene!

the shot of two-face on the official site is... interesting
http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/media/images/tdk-dent.jpg

wait
http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/media/images/tdk-dent.jpg

tdk-dent.jpg

u motherfucker

lol

roffle

<3

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080709/en_movies_eo/30c380360188_4d68_93b8_e631a6db4a87

The service says "many" of those 12 a.m. screenings are sold out in cities both expected (New York, the model for Batman's troubled Gotham City) and not (Boise, Idaho; Council Bluffs, Iowa; etc.). MovieTickets.com, another online ticketing service, reported a total of 140 Dark Knight sell-outs as of today.

In a summer led by the $311 million-grossing Iron Man, The Dark Knight has been regarded as the blockbuster to beat. A sequel to Christopher Nolan's hit franchise reboot, Batman Begins, the new movie is receiving ecstatic early reviews—Variety called it "enthralling"—and Oscar buzz for the late Heath Ledger for his performance as the seriously unhinged Joker.

As early as two weeks ago, three weeks before the July 18 debut, Fandango was reporting "dozens" of premiere-night sell-outs. As of 10 a.m. this morning, still a good eight days before B-Day, The Dark Knight was accounting for 51 percent of all tickets sold by the service. At MovieTickets.com, the film was doing more business than six of that company's Top 10 all-time hits, including The Passion of the Christ and the second Star Wars prequel, Attack of the Clones.

Says Hong: "All indicators point to [next Thursday] as a very busy night at theaters across the country."

when is slock1 seeing this?

I just won tickets for a July 15 premiere this morning WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!