Cuppacafe

Batman Busted

This just in!

Tell me that you want to be in the cell with this guy:

Batman star Christian Bale arrested by London police on suspicion of assault

By Nico Hines

Christian Bale, the actor who plays Batman, was arrested today for allegedly assaulting his own mother and sister before last night’s premiere of The Dark Knight.

The Welsh-born actor was in custody at a central London police station today being questioned over the incident which is thought to have taken place in his Dorchester Hotel suite on Sunday night.

Bale’s mother and sister, Jenny, 61, and Sharon, 40, made a formal complaint against the Hollywood actor yesterday.

The two women, who live in Dorset, went to a Hampshire police station to make their allegations. The complaint was then passed to the Metropolitan Police for further investigation.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “A 34-year-old man attended a Central London police station this morning and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault. He currently remains in custody.”

Bale is alleged to have lashed out in his suite on Park Lane two days ago but police allowed him to attend the European premiere of the latest installment of the Batman films in Leicester Square last night. Bale, who also starred in American Psycho and Empire Of The Sun, joined co-stars Sir Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart on the red carpet.

This morning he voluntarily attended a police station in London, where he was arrested and questioned.

The new Batman film has already attracted a great deal of interest because it contains the final complete performance by Heath Ledger. The 28-year-old Australian actor gave an Oscar-tipped performance as The Joker before he died from an accidental drugs overdose in January.

(Via Times Online)

I’m totally sure that this is the kind of press that Warner Bros wants the film to attract, eh?

The Perfessor

Batman Rules

Personally, I think that this is very cool, as it will ensure that more funnybook films will be made, and that the producers of the film will (hopefully) be faithful to the mood and design of the comics themselves (no more “Pow!” “Bam!” “Zap!” of the Batman TV show. No more bat suits with nipples and codpieces, and no more stunt casting of comedians because these are “funny” books.

In spite of my Spider-Man leanings, I am a fan of The Batman (especially when he is done right), and this time he is is done very right. For my take on the film, check out Suspension of Belief, my film column.

The Perfessor

More movies, more comics

The Summer of funnybook movies continues with the release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, this past weekend. While I know that many critics panned the first Hellboy. Personally I liked it (granted, I had to see it a couple of times to fully get its rhythm, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as some make out).

Anywho, as stated, back for a second bite at the cinematic apple is Mike Mignola’s demonic WW II hero with an attitude and a mean right cross, Hellboy. To be sure, while this reviewer has long been a fan of the Dark Horse comicbook series, and did enjoy the red monkey’s initial film, I wasn’t so sure that we were ever going to see him onscreen again, especially after his initial outing. I mean, it was fun and all, and (as stated) I enjoyed it, this reviewer seemed to be in the minority.

Anyway, as with the first film (and comic) Hellboy (Perlman) and his crew of misfits — including Abe Sapien (Jones)>, Liz Sherman (Blair) — His boss, Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) and the rest of the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) are the chaps who keep the world safe from the beasties who go bump in the night. Yeah, yeah it sounds — and looks — a little bit like Men in Black, but that’s not only OK, but it is to be a little bit expected, as the two comics and films are essentially drawing on similar source material.

Having said all of this, the film is a fun ride, and is a testament to the scathingly brilliant vision of Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is simply wonderful to behold, and truly needs to be seen to be believed.

The Perfessor

Let’s all go out to the lobby

While our good buddy Walt has been out diggin’ in in the dirt (and cow tipping), I’ve been spending my time (drinking, carousing, and spreading the seeds of insurrection), doing what I enjoy most (blowing crap up), going to the movies.

Here are some of the flicks that I’ve recently seen:

Baby Mama: This is a modern-day, formalistic screwball romantic comedy-lite; complete with hidden agendas, oddball characters, and a fair dose of random silliness, all of which contributes to a very enjoyable evening out at the movies. Cute, fun, and lighthearted, with a little bit of social commentary; what more could you ask for from a romantic comedy?

Former SNL Alum, Tina Fey (30 Rock, Mean Girls) plays Kate Holbrook, a 37-year-old, successful VP of a large organic food company run by a very restrained Steve Martin —her new-age, California-style loopy boss). Up until now Kate hasn’t wanted kids, but apparently her biological clock has just kicked into overdrive. Everywhere she looks, she sees the cute, adorable faces of cherub-faced infants. Now she wants one, but can’t (she has defective girl parts) so she chooses instead to hire a surrogate mom who turns out to be the very unrestrained Amy Poehler. Way a lot of fun, go and enjoy.

The Happening: This yet another creepy film from Wunderkind M. Night Shyamalan (The 6th Sense, Unbreakable, Signs) who cut his cinematic teeth on delivering us films with a (usually subtly telegraphed) “twist” Here he is doing something similar, only not so much. The Happening is a well-paced, heart-pounding paranoid thriller about a family on the run from an inexplicable and unstoppable event. Is it the work of Terrorists? Has the U.S. Government targeted it’s own citizens? Or has the Earth itself decided to strike back in its own form of eco-survival? This “Event” is something so subtle and mysterious that it terrifies everyone and threatens humankind’s very survival.

This film is different than other Shyamalan’s films in that it doesn’t so much wrap everything up neatly, as is his wont, but leaves a bit of an air of mystery around what is occurring. Quite a good film, and much better than The Lady in the Water (which was both too confusing and predictable at the same time.

The Hulk: This is so NOT the film that we saw in 2003 where we spent the first half of the film waiting for Bruce Banner to turn green and hit something and the second half of the film no longer caring. This one jumps right in with Banner already the Hulk and on the run form the U.S. Government — in the form of General T-Bolt Ross — that wants to turn him into the ultimate weapon (much in the same fashion that “The Company” in the Alien flicks wanted to turn those nasty beasties into bio-weapons). In fact, in some fashion (with all of the origin material recapped under the opening credits, you can consider this to actually be the follow-up to that first, forgettable, flick).

This one hits all of the numbers right, combining action, angst, and a big, angry green Goliath with equal amounts of drama, humor, and lost love to form a more well-rounded product. Plus, there is the requisite amount of back-story in this film to (loosely) tie it into not only last month’s Iron Man, but into foward-looking projects (including 2011’s highly-anticipated Captain America.

Get Smart: now, here is the best of the lot. In it’s day, Get Smart was the coolest, smartest, hippist TV show on the air. Written by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, this show lampooned everything from “modern day” culture to the then-current spate of Spy films. (Think I’m exaggerating? Tell me another prime-time, family-friendly show that can spin off a film titled The Nude Bomb which carries a “G” -Rating!). Here the same can be said. this is a true tribute to the TV show without being silly, demeaning, or, well just plain goofy.

If you ever watched the show, you will love this flick as it delivers everything you want it to deliver, from Agent 13 hiding in a tree, to Steve Carrell’s dead-on, blank-eyed Maxwell Smart stare and delivery of likes like “I Missed it by that much,” “Sorry about that, Chief,” and “…would you believe…” This film has the perfect cast, a solid script, great pacing, as well as people healming it that have an obvious reverance for the source material. Always a sure winner.

Whelp, Kiddies, that’s it for this installment of Films at the Café. catch you in the funnypapers!

The Perfessor

Funnybook Films in your Future

With the funnybook red&gold/green “One-Two” punch of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk knocking on the Summer blockbuster door to kick off the Summer season, I just wanted to look down the road a bit to see what we can expect for the rest of the funnybook year to come, because, unlike this guy, I’m actually looking forward to this year’s slate of funnybook films.

First of all, June is going to be rounded out by Wanted (which began life as a creator-owned comicbook mini-series, by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones which was published by Top Cow in 2003–‘04. This one is an action-packed adventure staring Angelina Jolie as a killer assassin who is schooling a young man James McAvoy in the art of the kill. The trailers look very cool (but then again so did those of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and we all know how that one turned out, eh?).

Up next month we have Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Batman: The Dark Knight, both of which also look good. Batman, as you all know is a character from the DC stable of heroes, but you might not know that Hellboy hails from Dark Horse an upstart Left Coast comicbook company that has found it niche in successfully linking up with a number of Hollywood Studios (either by adapting their movies to comics (Aliens, Terminator), or by having characters that began life in their comics go the other way and make the jump into movies (Barb Wire, The 300, Sin City). Much has already been written about this Batman Returns follow-up and the unfortunate and tragic death of Heath Ledger. From what I’ve seen of the trailers and how spectacular the previous film was, this one is going to be the one to beat this Summer.

Further out we can expect Punisher: War Zone this December, and (from what we’ve heard) this one will be better than either The Thomas Jane/John Travolta film or the original Dolph Lundgren version. Again, I’m holding judgment on this one until I see some more. Also scheduled for a December release is the Film Whiteout, Based on the comicbook. Whiteout follows U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko as she uncovers the first murder ever in the Antarctic just as the sun is about to set for six months. She must catch the killer before he leaves the ice or be stuck there with him in the dark for six months. I read one installment of this comic (I think it was something I got on Free Comicbook Day) and it read real well. Glad to see it is being made into a film.

There actually might be more, but this is what I know of right now.

Oh yeah, I’m formally issuing a “WTF” Alert for our Imperious Leader.

The Perfessor

Eating my way through the Movies

Yep, You all know by now (or at the very least, you should know) that I love fast food toys (and not only did I write a book about them, but still pen a column about them). Not only was I written up extensively about the book, but it was even featured on an episode of The Food Network’s program, Top 5). Well, I’ve recently acquired a few new toys that are tied into some of the Summer’s (potentially) top grossing films.

Yeah, sure, they are funnybook films (Hulk, Iron Man — still not sure if Batman The Dark Knight will have toys as well, given it’s dark nature and the death of co-star Heath Ledger, but I’m hopeful). Most recently, both Burger King and 7-eleven have been the source of my newest toy acquisitions, and the toys themselves look like this…

(Pardon me for the somewhat blurred nature of the photos, I took most of the shots with my cell phone camera, and well, it isn’t really what you would call top of the heap picture-taking device. Needless to say, it actually works better as a phone, but that sort of goes without saying.)

I do have more Fast food toys coming (that I bought via ebay or acquired through a friend), but I hadn’t posted in a couple of days, and considering that Walt recently fell into a volcanic fissure, so I figured that meant I had to post something. Perhaps tomorrow I can find something interesting to post.

Needless to say I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you all.

The Perfessor

Funnybooks for the Geek on the Go!

That’s right little ones, soon you will be able to get your comics on the go, as Marvel is apparently toying with the possibility of making their line of digital comics available for delivery to your cell phone.

According to a recent post on Gizmodo, this is the new mad-cool app for your phone.

Marvel Comics wants to port their comics to mobile phones. Seems like a perfect thing to read while you’re supposed to be paying attention to what’s going on around you, but sure how you’re going to get through full page spreads while maintaining text readability on 3-inch screens.

Read the rest of this post.

Interestingly enough, the fellow that posted this doesn’t feel that “$5-$10 a month” to subscribe to Marvel’s online digital comics “isn’t something to complain about.” only, there seems to be some dissension on that particular point. Briefly:

why can’t I take smaller bites at the apple? Your monthly subscription model looks fine, it’s one I’ve tried and liked on various music services, but you know what? Sometimes I just want a song, and sometimes I just want a comic. Think about it: Do you think everyone wants to take a $10 bite right out of the gate? Or that everyone wants a full-blown subscription plan, paying yet another monthly fee for yet another service? … Let me access the single issues I want for a quarter or 50 cents. Let Joe High Schooler check out that comic his friend told him about without having to sign up for a full blown plan. Let people get comfortable with paying for digital comics in small, easily-digestible doses.

There’s more, but you can use the link and see for yourself. Personally, while there are way-cool sghts for digital comics on the Web, me personally, I’m still patched into the dead tree versions.

The Perfessor