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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

THE DARK KNIGHT: Walt’s Quick Review - Spoiler Free

Having part of the day off today, I figured I’d take in the midnight showing of THE DARK KNIGHT and after getting out at the lovely hour of 3AM this morning, figured sleep was the better part of valor and my initial thoughts about the movie got lost in slumberland. The result of all this being that this quick review isn’t quite the “first impression” that my other Quick Reviews were.

You know how the website RottenTomatoes will come up with a stellar review for a movie and you’ll discover that you didn’t agree with the consensus of movie critics as to whether the movie was good or bad? That’s the way I am with this movie.

THE DARK KNIGHT was a fantastic movie that I did not enjoy. Well, certainly as much as I should have.

For obvious reasons I won’t go into details as to why I wasn’t thrilled with this movie, but I do think you should give it a watch.

Film school students will write term papers about this movie. Psychologists will pen their thoughts on this movie, comparing the events in this to those in real life. In short, this will end up being an important movie, and it’s one that will easily stand the test of time. It will be remembered as one of the more memorable super-hero movies ever made, right up there with the first Superman movie.

The movie isn’t cheesy. Dragging in parts, but only if you think movies should be no longer than 90 minutes. This movie is long, and deservedly so. If you do go see this, there’s not any real good slow spot to leave to go to the bathroom, so be warned. Not because there’s non-stop action — no, it’s because you won’t want to miss what’s going on up on the screen. (EDIT: I take that back, the scene with the Police Van being chased underground is five minutes too long, and you can time a break then.)

Do not take your children to see this movie. It’s not a super-hero movie for them. It’s not the visuals that will frighten them. It’s the theme of death and honor that they just won’t understand.

Do not see this movie if you didn’t really pay attention to the previous Batman movie. The plot and motivations are completely based on BATMAN BEGINS. This movie simply expands most of the concepts and takes them to their next phase of development. Psychologically, the movies are joined.

I went with a jazzed up crowd that were ready to hoot and holler at the screen, and it turns out very few did.

The movie is serious, and the characters in the movie know this, and make a point of telling you this. At the end of the movie, a group in one corner figured they had to start applauding, but the applause did not catch on.

A lot of folks will talk about various performances, and this movie will certainly be up for an Oscar nomination or three.

It’s probably the best movie I ever saw that I wish I could un-see.

Waiting for The Bat

Here’s my first blog post written from my blackberry. I’m writing this while waiting for the Batman movie to start. Instead of the theater for this midnight show being filled with comic book geeks, it’s instead filled with the “cool” crowd, and I the old fart sitting and listening to … Youth.

Superman never could pull this off.

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

A night in the dark

No, there isn’t anything that weird (or unsafe) about this post. It is just my coy way of telling you all that I’ve been to the movies again and I want to wax eloquent about it here in this space.

This time out we are going to talk about Hancock and Wall*E. So if you are up for spending a couple of hours in the dark, then you’ll want to spend some time watching both of these films. The first is an adult (stereocomic) take on superheroes while the second is the latest outing from the folks at Pixar (the folks who gave us The Incredibles).

Read the rest of this entry »

Whipping it out on Inside The Actor’s Studio

How many Summer movies have I seen so far?

None.

What movie am I going to make a special effort to watch in the theater?

THIS