The most purely deserved award of the night. Tomorrow, I'll watch The Dark Knight on blu-ray and reflect on the awesomness that is the Nolanverse Joker, and how lucky we Batman fans are to have such a wonderful performance to savor forever. But tonight, I will dream of an alternate reality where Heath was up on stage accepting his award, thanking Christopher Nolan for guidance and Alan Moore for inspiration, and teasing us all with hints about his part in the next movie. Wish you were here, HL.
Unless you have a serious aversion to LedJoker impressions and/or disturbing Santa Claus iconography, this video is a virtual lock for Geek Christmas card of the year.
This is an off-shoot from the fanvid series Batman: The Joker Blogs, which, despite a terrible title, is startlingly good and will probably get it's own post eventually once I've had time to collect myself. Seriously, even if you're not feeling the Xmas vid above (dude kind of falters at the deep 'n' scary Joker voice, I know), you'll probably still want to check out The Joker Blogs. As fan tributes go, TJB is an extremely well written, well acted, and dare I say insightful piece of work, and when he departs from Heath's line readings and starts inhabiting the character on his own, dude's Joker impression is something special.
HUGE SPOILERS FOR TDK! But if you haven't seen Dark Knight yet, you probably don't even know what a Batman is and got here by mistake, so we shouldn't have any problems.
1. What are we meant to assume happens once the smoke grenade in the bank manager's mouth goes off? Will he die of asphyxiation? Will all the hostages die from some sort of toxin in the smoke? Is it just a hilarious non-lethal Joker gag? Let's scratch that last one off the list.
2. Despite the fact that the Joker is characterized in this movie as a knife-aficionado, he uses a huge variety of weapons, and only uses a knife about three times. His arsenal includes: shotgun, machine gun, rifle, bazooka, lead pipe, poison (by proxy), car bomb (by proxy), high explosives, and most memorably, a nice sharp pencil.
More thoughts and questions after the jump...(the best one is the last one)...
*Also more TDK icon samplers after the jump...click them to link to the creator's page. 3. Harvey is the second DA Rachel Dawes is seen having a relationship with (it's heavily implied in Batman Beyond). Considering she barely seems to know what a RICO case is, one might question what exactly they're keeping her around the office for.
4. At the fundraiser, Harvey asks Alfred if he's known Rachel for her whole life, and he charmingly replies, "Not yet, sir!". Oh Alfred. Just give it a day.
5. As Gnerd contributor Degan first pointed out, after Batman jumps out of the window to save Rachel, the rest of Bruce's guest are pretty much screwed, as they all are still stuck in a penthouse full of recovering thugs and, uh, THE JOKER. Anyone care to guess what happens next to Gotham's high society elite? "As long as I'm hee-rre...I know this KILLER party game." Haw. I suck. Anyone else got a better line? Come on, I know some of you write fanfic.
6. Heath Ledger must have had so many more incredible performances in him. Of course I realized this on my first viewing, but every viewing cuts a little deeper. 7. I didn't see that Joker had an I Believe In Harvey Dent sticker on his nurse's uniform until my third viewing. I'm dumb. But this is an important detail for anyone planning a Nurse Joker Halloween costume. Not that I am.
8. Given the fact that the murder of Bruce's parents is public knowledge, Harvey and Natasha must think him extraordinarily nihilistic to flippantly remark, "I grew up here, and I turned out okay."
9. Batman seems to have forgotten his loophole on villain deaths from the last movie, namely: "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you". And yet he saves Joker from a high altitude death, thereby sealing the fate of, if DC comics are to be believed, THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION SEVERAL TIMES OVER. Maybe Bats was trying to pull a Gwen Stacy finishing move, but didn't count on The Joker's insanity-powered indestructibility.
One short of a proper top ten list...I can only hope some other helpful multi-viewer will help me out with another observation/nitpick/question.
Please excuse our lack of updates this week. I couldn't think of writing anything before addressing the obvious news of Heath Ledger's death, but seeing as how I didn't have anything other than wild speculation to add to the public discourse I couldn't get any post of the sort off the ground. Heath was one of my favorite living actors and seemed destined for legendary status.
In the Sandman comic series, Dream has a library full of unwritten masterpieces. If Dream has a video collection, I like to think it includes a career's worth of Heath Ledger films you and I will never see.
Caine's High Praise for Ledger's Joker: "He's Not Jack"
To all you thinking that Heath Ledger will be doing a Jack Nicholson impression for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight (I won't name names, but believe me, there are some within the G'nerd halls), take these words straight from Michael Caine's mouth: "He’s fantastic. He’s gone in a different direction than Jack… Jack was like a really scary old, nasty old uncle with a funny face. Heath is like the most murderous psychopath you’ve ever seen on the screen... [he] frightened the bloody life out of me… It’s amazing and it’s so different from Jack."
Hit the jump for a first look at Astroboy, Kevin Smith getting shot down, Frank Miller getting more ladies and Warner Bros getting rid of 'em.
First Look: Astroboy
I must admit I've never read the manga nor seen the animated series, but this little robot boy is a big deal in his home country of Japan and don't be surprised if his CGI movie is the big crossover success he needs to take over America as well. First time director Colin Brady says he is "being faithful to [Astroboy creator Osamu] Tezuka's original story arc and at the same time bringing out elements needed for those unfamiliar with the story." From the image they just released, it looks like they've done a pretty good job maintaining the look of the 2D incarnation, though perhaps with slightly drabber colors than the original. Slated for a 2009 release.
Two more lovely ladies have joined the lady train also known as Frank Miller's Will Eisner's The Spirit. Now we have Jamie King (Sin City) as phantom siren Lorelei and Paz Vega (Spanglish) as the knife-wielding Plaster of Paris. For a guy whose comics have such a misogynistic bent, he sure has a way of rounding up hordes of women to do his bidding. The full roster now, in addition to these two, is Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, and Stana Katic.
After disappointing returns from Jodie Foster's The Brave One and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion, Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new decree that "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead." Snap! Apparently he doesn't even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position. Sounds like somebody is looking for a scapegoat for all the shitty movies he's been signing off on.
The guy whose name you've seen at the beginning of every Marvel movie you can remember has been away from the House of Ideas for about a year now and is trying to make some waves. His first flick, Bratz, didn't go over so well with a meager $22mil in box office, and after his next toy "adaptation" Robosapien he will be taking on the computer MMORPG Everquest. 300 screenwriter Michael Gordon is on board, and he has a lot of work to do... Taking a generic fantasy setting with no central character and making it interesting to a bunch of fans that have long moved on to World of Warcraft? Unpleasant job.
Possibly feeling a bit burned from their last attempt at concept horror (Grindhouse), the Weinstein's (who have been behind every Smith film but Mallrats) have decided not to have a hand in Kevin Smith's Red State. Smith says: "It’s the first time Harvey and Bob have passed on anything I’ve wanted to do, but if they were gonna pass on anything, this’d be the one to do it on... I get excited thinking about having to raise financing for our hot potato of a flick." Smith also posted the initial e-mail response he got from Harvey, who says "Your new script is quite disturbing and challenging, a departure from what I’m used to reading from you." I don't know about you guys, but all this talk makes me much more interested in the flick.
Distraught that he isn't involved in either of the Knight Rider movies and sick of eating hamburgers off the ground, David Hasselhoff is looking for a paycheck from two made-for-TV sequels to the revered Anaconda series. He'll be playing a "mercenary-for-hire who accepts a mission from a billionaire to capture a dangerous snake that could possibly help cure a terminal illness." MmHm.
Ooh! So a bunch of studio stills from The Dark Knight have shown up online, supposedly via some Flickr account, but let's put aside that odd mystery and concentrate on two very exciting developments - our first real up close and personal look at the newest incarnation of DC's most murderous rouge, and confirmation of the Cillian Murphy cameo!
First, is this or is this not Cillian Murphy, second from the left? I say - proof positive!
They appear to be in a garage, which would link up with this fan video:
Yay, more Cillian! Hope he isn't there just to die! Probably is!
After the jump, it's Joker time! Via Solace In Cinema This is certainly the most "realistic" version of the Joker I've ever seen. The lack truly green hair shows how they're really trying to avoid going over the top in these movies. Also, only J-Man's face appears to be white, which to me says that either A) Just his head gets dunked or B) The white face is make-up, and maybe his only real physical transformation is the cut up smile. That scarred smile sure doesn't look like the result of an acid bath, perhaps his origin story will be completely different in this movie.
Check out the chair barricaded against the door - hardcore, Bats. I can't believe we have to wait a year for this movie.
Well, I can't attest that the site is new, only that I haven't seen it before. It has some goodies including pics of Joker wannabes and a police report detailing some recent disturbance they were involved in. Can't say I know what the heck that's all about, but the site also has a big teaser trailer that doesn't have much to recommend it other than the first taste of Heath Ledger's Joker voice. Sounds aight! In other Dark Knight news, here is Heath himself showing Maggie Gyllenhaal his knife: Looks aight!
1. What are we meant to assume happens once the smoke grenade in the bank manager's mouth goes off? Will he die of asphyxiation? Will all the hostages die from some sort of toxin in the smoke? Is it just a hilarious non-lethal Joker gag? Let's scratch that last one off the list.
Please excuse our lack of updates this week. I couldn't think of writing anything before addressing the obvious news of Heath Ledger's death, but seeing as how I didn't have anything other than wild speculation to add to the public discourse I couldn't get any post of the sort off the ground. Heath was one of my favorite living actors and seemed destined for legendary status.
Caine's High Praise for Ledger's Joker: "He's Not Jack"
First Look: Astroboy
The Spirit Gets All the Ladies...
And Warner Bros Hates All the Ladies
Avi Arad Bringing Everquest to the Big Screen
Weinsteins Pass on Kevin Smith's Red State
The Hoff Signs Up for Anaconda 3... And 4!
They appear to be in a garage, which would link up with this fan video:
This is certainly the most "realistic" version of the Joker I've ever seen. The lack truly green hair shows how they're really trying to avoid going over the top in these movies. Also, only J-Man's face appears to be white, which to me says that either A) Just his head gets dunked or B) The white face is make-up, and maybe his only real physical transformation is the cut up smile. That scarred smile sure doesn't look like the result of an acid bath, perhaps his origin story will be completely different in this movie.
Check out the chair barricaded against the door - hardcore, Bats. I can't believe we have to wait a year for this movie.
Well, I can't attest that the site is new, only that I haven't seen it before. It has some goodies including pics of Joker wannabes and a police report detailing some recent disturbance they were involved in. Can't say I know what the heck that's all about, but the site also has a big teaser trailer that doesn't have much to recommend it other than the first taste of Heath Ledger's Joker voice. Sounds aight! In other Dark Knight news, here is Heath himself showing Maggie Gyllenhaal his knife:
Looks aight!
