Bat-mania

Remember when Warner Bros. announced plans to release an Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set of the Dark Knight trilogy? If you don’t, you’re not alone. Its been months since that bit of news broke, and we haven’t heard anything since.  My feeling is Warner Bros. wanted people talking about “Man of steel” and not Batman.

But now that Superman is a hit, we may be getting our first look at the Batman collector’s set.  According to TheBatcave.PL (a Polish Batman site) this is what The Dark Knight Trilogy Ultimate Collector’s Edition will look like:

According to the site, and translators, the set will include nine discs, 2 Blu-rays and 1 DVD per film. The set also includes a book, and three prints featuring one of the trilogy’s central villains. There’s also a poster and three toy models of the Tumbler, the Batpod and The Bat. The Ultimate Collector’s Edition will reportedly be released on October 2, 2013, but nobody at Warner has confirmed any of this as far as I know.

The set sounds cool and all, but I wanna know about the special features. Hopefully the Blu-rays are loaded with goodies we haven’t seen before. Although hoping for director cuts of the movies may be wishful thinking on my part. Nothing wrong with dreaming I suppose.

And I wonder how much this bad boy will cost?

Snub city, Population: Too many

What a bizarre morning. Never before have Oscar nominations pissed me off so much. As I posted earlier, the Oscar nominations were announced this morning in Hollywood. In hindsight maybe I should have stayed in bed and caught up later, then I wouldn’t be so mad. Regardless, to those lucky enough to have been nominated, congratulations. Your nominations are well deserved, I just wished there was room for more.

In this post I’m focusing on those who got a big middle finger from the Academy. I’ll try to keep this short, but I make no guarantees. Here we go…

Samantha Barks

This was a huge year acting snubs. In my other post I mentioned Javier Bardem, Judy Dench, and Samantha Barks. All three deserved a nod, but they weren’t alone.  Richard Gere in “Arbitrage,” Leonardo DiCaprio in “Django Unchained”  and John Hawkes in “The Sessions” are also worthy of nominations. In Best Supporting Actress Marion Cotillard in “Rust and Bone” was also left out. By the way, all four actors I mentioned were nominated for Golden Globes.

We forgive you for Daredevil.

Ben Affleck’s “Argo” nabbed seven nominations, including Best Picture, supporting actor Alan Arkin, and adapted screenplay. Yet Affleck himself was left out of the best director category. Joining him is ” Zero Dark Thirty” director and Oscar winner  Kathryn Bigelow, despite her film’s five nominations — among them Best Picture, actress Jessica Chastain, and original screenplay. The directing category is also missing Quentin Tarantino for “Django Unchained”  and “Les Miserables” director  Tom Hooper. That’s an impressive list if you ask me.

Kathryn Bigelow

In best picture land, the James Bond film “Skyfall” I thought could be a dark horse, but it was left out. Not that it had a chance at winning best picture, but a nod would have been nice. Over the years there hasn’t been much Oscar love for 007. However, the film did garner five nods though , including original song. Since the Oscar telecast is having a tribute to the Bond flicks, I expect “Skyfall” will win for best song. Oh, did you know Adele has a last name and its Adkins?

Meanwhile, the year’s biggest movie “The Avengers”nabbed a nomination for best visual-effects as did Christopher Nolan’s Batman swan song, “The Dark Knight Rises.” Like I said, a lot of snubs this year, but the Academy managed to find room for a Seth MacFarlane nomination. I wonder though, if he wasn’t hosting, would he have been nominated?

 

My Top 10 Movies of 2012

2012 was a record-breaking year for movies. As of December 27, domestic box office grosses passed $10.6 billion, making it the highest-grossing year ever. Even more impressive, three films crossed the $1 billion threshold. Earlier this year both “The Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises” broke $1 billion, earning $1.51 billion and $1.08 billion, respectively. “Skyfall” is now the third film to reach this mark in 2012. The latest Bond film becomes the 14th film in history to break the billion dollar mark.

I did my part by going to several movies this year, which means studios will be sending gifts soon. Okay, maybe not, since I refuse to pay more for 3D flicks. Even so,  this was a good year for movies, and here are my top 10 flicks of 2012.

 

10. The Amazing Spider-Man

After 6 months of fighting it, I finally gave into the peer pressure and saw “The Amazing Spider-Man.” While there were certain things I did not like about this movie, I will say I enjoyed it more than any of the Sam Raimi films. Therefore, it deserves a spot in my top 10. Plus, I absolutely adore Emma stone.

 

 

 

 

 

9. Total Recall

Kate Beckinsale, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Beckinsale.

 

8. Snow White and the Huntsman

I think this movie would have been better off without Snow White. Let’s face it:  This was more about the evil queen than Snowy.  “Snow White and the Huntsman” is a decent movie, but unfortunately the only thing people will remember is the affair between the director and Kristen Stewart.

 

7. Moonrise Kingdom

Young love, first love, Filled with true devotion. “Moonrise Kingdom is the sweetest movie Wes Anderson has ever made. A wonderful cast and an excellent story, expect no less from an Anderson film. Highly recommended.

 

6. Prometheus

Between “Prometheus” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” I gotta say Charlize Theron  plays a great villain. The visuals in “Prometheus” are stunning, and the story was better than expected, despite all the bad stuff I’d heard. “Prometheus” is the first Alien movie I enjoyed, and that should tell you something.

 

5. Les Misérables

If you’d like to know why I liked this, check out my review here

 

4. The Hunger Games

I read the first novel before seeing the movie, and ended up enjoying both. However, I felt the movie left out some of the more emotional and important parts. “The Hunger Games” film even deleted some characters, and it should be interesting to see how that is handled in the upcoming sequel. The movie is still great though, and Jennifer Lawrence is great in the lead role.

 

3. The Dark Knight Rises

Any other year “The Dark Knight Rises” would be number one on the list. But 2012 wasn’t an ordinary year, which means DKR drops to number three. The final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s saga gave us everything we wanted and much, much more. I only wish the story had been split into two movie, because there was so much good stuff going on.

Oh yeah, Anne Hathaway looked really good as Catwoman.

 

 

 

2. Skyfall

The best Bond film ever. ‘Nuff said.

 

1. The Avengers

Seriously, did anyone out there expect “The Avengers” to be as good as it was?

I knew it would be good, but I wasn’t expecting the greatest comic book movie of all time. Let’s hope wave two of the Marvel cinematic universe is just as good.

 

I should add that there are a few movies I haven’t seen yet, which is why they’re not on the list. In other words, just because “Lincoln” isn’t on the list doesn’t mean I hated it, it’s just I haven’t seen it yet. I hope that made sense. That’s my top 10 list for 2012, what’s on your list?