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

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).

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From the Shadow of the 14th Row

Years and Years ago, I wrote a film column for a local publication. The column was titled From the Shadow of the 14th Row (which, by-the-by) is the title of a song by Styx). While I still write a film column (that shows up in both print, as well as a couple of places on the Web) I no longer use that title. Anywho, I saw a couple of films last night with my son, and here is what I thought of them. (If you wait a couple of days and visit my column, Suspension of Belief, you’ll be sure to find them there — one day eventually, I’ll probably wind up having all my web content posted in one place, but for now it is where it is).

Continue on for mini reviews of You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and Wanted:

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More Movie Fun!

Well, I could have told you all (and perhaps I did), but this past weekend, Steve Carell and Get Smart (once hailed as the smartest show on TV) ruled the multiplexes while Mike Meyers’ lowbrow, tepid bit of sophomoric, frat-boy humor (which one critic pointed was nothing but a recycling of his Austin Powers material) bit the big one:

LOS ANGELES (June 22) - Maxwell Smart took control of the weekend box office in North America, while Mike Myers lost his mojo with his new comedy.

“Get Smart,” a remake of the classic television spy spoof, sold an estimated $39.2 million worth of tickets during its first three days, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said Sunday.

Moviefone via AOL Movie news

While I haven’t as yet seen The Love Guru, I could tell that it was going to seriously suck. Apparently all Meyers’ did was repackage his Austin Powers shtick and give him a bogus Indian accent rather than an annoying British accent. From what I could see, all the gags on the trailer could have come from Austin Powers, and I’m not the only person who thinks so, so does this guy over at Cracked.com.

To be sure, I will probably go see it (so you won’t have to), and then come back here and trash it (because that is how I get my fun).

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