As a young boy touchingly sings “The Star Spangled Banner” at that most American of events, a football game, the new trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises” cuts to scenes of impending mayhem and violence as Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) menacingly whispers the following into Bruce Wayne/Batman’s (Christian Bale) ear:

You think this is going to last… There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends had better batten down the hatches. Because when it hits you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

That not only sounds like a threat (notice how Wayne backs away in shock) but an awful lot like the direction in which Barack Obama is taking his re-election campaign. Obama is all about Occupy Wall Street, class war and envy, and pitting the haves against bitter and, at times, violent have nots.

Is that what “The Dark Knight Rises” is about?

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In 2008, Nolan’s blockbuster and unqualified masterpiece, ”The Dark Knight,” was openly embraced by conservatives who saw the film as a thinly veiled, intelligent, and very welcome allegory sympathetic towards America’s and George W. Bush’s role in the War on Terror.

Andrew Klavan:

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ALEC BALDWIN IS A SAD AND MISERABLE MAN:

From 2008:

Alec Baldwin, who stars in “30 Rock,” the NBC sitcom that has revived his career and done nothing to lift his spirits, has the unbending, straight-armed gait of someone trying to prevent clothes from rubbing against sunburned skin. He is fifty years old, divorced, and lives alone in an old white farmhouse in the Hamptons and an apartment on Central Park West—feeling thwarted, if not quite persecuted. In conversation, he lets out an occasional yelping laugh, but he is often wistful, in a way that is linked to professional and romantic regrets, and to a period of tabloid notoriety last year, when an angry voice mail that he left for his daughter, who was then eleven, became public. He is very conscious of what is lacking in his life—a spouse, for example, and a film career something like Jack Nicholson’s, and the governorship of New York—and his rhetoric can sometimes bring to mind a scene from “30 Rock” in which Baldwin, in his role as Jack Donaghy, a shameless but astute TV executive, stares at an equestrian painting by Stubbs and, in a growled whisper of longing, says, “I wish I were a horse—strong, free, my chestnut haunches glistening in the sun.” According to Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” and an executive producer of “30 Rock,” Baldwin “guards against enjoyment.” (Michaels is a friend of Baldwin’s and was a model for the Donaghy character.) “I’ll say, ‘Alec, you have one of the best writers in television’ ”—Tina Fey—“ ‘writing this part for you. It’s shot in New York, where you chose to live. You work three days a week, you get paid a lot of money, you’re getting awards. It’s a great time in your life. It’s an all-good thing. And, if you were capable of enjoying it, it would be even better.’ ” Or, as William Baldwin, one of Alec’s three younger brothers, said recently, “There’s always something for him to fucking whine about.”

The price of being a narcissist is that happiness is an impossibility. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

THE 10 BEST CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD TOUGH GUYS

Nothing to disagree with here, especially the “special mentions.”

PIERCE BROSNAN FINDS NO COMFORT WATCHING HIS BOND FILMS

Shame, really:

Pierce Brosnan doesn’t mind leaving the James Bond-watching to his sons these days.

“I never go near them,” the actor tells Zap2it about his four rounds as Agent 007 that began with “GoldenEye” (1995) and ended with “Die Another Day” (2002). “I’m badly criticized by my boys that I will not sit and watch them with them, but I just don’t have any desire to see them. I find no nourishment in them.”

At the same time, Brosnan maintains he’s “deeply proud” of the work he did as the Bond predecessor to Daniel Craig, who will mark the movie franchise’s 50th anniversary in “Skyfall” next year. “I just don’t find any comfort in watching them. I’ll cast my eye over them, but I have to move away and say, ‘Go ahead, boys. It’s all yours.’”

Brosnan was a very good Bond. Sometimes the films let him down, but I was sorry when he left the franchise,  and after “Quantum of Bourne-ShakyCam,” I was real sorry.

In related news….

DANIEL CRAIG ON WHAT WENT WRONG WITH ‘QUANTUM OF SOLACE‘

Blame the writers strike:

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The comic industry can lay claim to being part of the left-leaning mainstream media.

Once a bastion of patriotism, personified by Marvel’s Captain America, comics now reveal a leftist agenda by having the Tea Party as villains worthy of Captain America’s hurled shield. So it is refreshing when one of their own breaks ranks.

Frank Miller, the writer/artist most responsible for returning Batman to his dark roots, lambasted the Occupy Wall Street movement on his blog over the weekend. His opening sentence was a barn-burner:

“Everyone has been too damn polite about this.”

His description of the OCW movement–”a pack of louts, thieves and rapists, an unruly mob”–could have applied to one of his supervillains.

The response from his industry has been instantaneous and true to the groupthink of the Left. The unifying theme, apart from the standard fascist labeling, is that Miller has lost his way, both from his creative roots, and reality (“I think Miller saw them filming the giant fight scene for Dark Knight rises in NY and confused it for OCW,” writes comic book writer Cully Hammer).  All of them point to Miller’s groundbreaking Batman comics as proof of Miller’s former leftism.

Before turning to their citation, it should not come as recent surprise that Miller is a supporter of the War On Terror.  His recent graphic novel, “Holy Terror,” depicts a vigilante (originally to be the Batman) taking on Al-Queda.

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Batman has bested such fiendish villains as the Joker, the Riddler and the Penguin. But his next enemy could be a gaggle of incoherent protesters clogging the fine streets of Gotham City.

‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ the anticipated third chapter in director Christopher Nolan’s Bat-saga, is expected to start shooting in New York City at the end of the month. And, if the Occupy Wall Street crowd isn’t dispersed by then, Nolan might find his meticulously planned sequel held hostage by the movement.

Under its code name “Magnus Rex,” the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures production will arrive in the nation’s biggest city for 14 days starting Oct. 29, according to a casting notice recently issued by producers. And, according to a person briefed on actors’ schedules who requested anonymity because production details were being kept confidential, cast members have been told the shoot could include scenes shot at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Some actors have been all too eager to support the OWS movement. But will their attitude change if the group starts affecting their precious product?

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Come July 3, 2012, Andrew Garfield will be forever known as either the Amazing Spider-Man or the sap who ruined a perfectly good reboot.

Can the British actor, who previously appeared in ‘The Social Network’ and ‘Never Let Me Go,’ spin a web, any size, that catches thieves, just like flies? And what about Henry Cavill, another relative unknown tapped to play the lead in ‘Man of Steel’ hitting theaters in 2013?

Sometimes looking into an actor’s past can reveal plenty about their future prospects. And, in the case of those cast in superhero franchises, there’s a lot riding on just how heroic they can appear on screen.

So let’s recall how other actors prepared for their super close-ups and what happened once they tugged on those unforgiving tights — or, in the case of George Clooney, poured themselves into an uncomfortable cod piece.

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Was it so long ago? In 2004, there was incredible optimism in the film business. “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy had arrived to thundering conclusion. The third installment of the series, “The Return Of The King,” had just swept the Oscars and grossed over a billion dollars in worldwide box office.

A billion!

The future for other such projects was unending. Think of the possibilities. You could have very successful films that were also vast award winners. But alas, it was not meant to be.

Through a combination of factors, many of the decision-makers in Hollywood developed a small panic. Many felt that films should be used for political advocacy and not just entertainment, while others feared all films would turn into what they called “hollow epics,” without any real narrative direction. They didn’t want to see every film become a “Troy” or “Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World.”

So sadly, because of a combination of these two factors, decisions came fast and furious in Hollywood to stop this perceived menace. Films were scaled down and many films were turned into more “self serving” modules where filmmakers could create infomercials that covered political issues, social issues, and anything else they felt was needed to change what they perceived as evil in the world. And why stop there? They even went so far as to create characters based on real-life people they despised. (“Day After Tomorrow’s” infamous Dick Cheney character come to mind).

Wow. So creative…

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Ed. Note: Part two of this excellent series runs tomorrow at the same time. — J.N.

I will come right out and admit it. I am a geek. I am a hardcore geek. I revel in many different realms of geekdom. Amongst the fields where I am most comfortable with my geekdom is in comic books. I’ve been reading comics books since, well, I could read. During my early childhood, comic books were just entertainment, something to do when waiting at the supermarket whilst my mother shopped or to pass the time in line at the barber. There were the piles of Archie and Richie Rich comics that my grandparents stocked up on for the times a dozen grandkids would descend upon their house for summer vacation. In the end, I didn’t really care about comics themselves, just the ten minutes it would take me to read through whichever one was at hand. There was no appreciation of story arcs or pacing, art work and coloring, dialogue and continuity, all of these things were foreign concepts.

It wasn’t until I was about thirteen that a classmate of mine showed me that comic books were a world of their own. He had boxes and boxes of carefully stored books, each one in an individual bag with a cardboard backing to keep the spines straight. He was able to tell me about which stories were worth following, why Marvel characters were better than DC, and showed me where to go to get the best deals. I was hooked. From then on, I spent every spare penny of pocket money and any other money I earned on comic books. Throughout my high school years, I bought thousands of books, all still in their individual bags with cardboard backs, alphabetized, and organized by publisher.

The genre has changed dramatically since I started following it back in the 80s. It is, to some extent, still dominated by the two major players, Marvel and DC, each of which has its own diehard adherents, but there is now a plethora of thriving independent publishers, each one pushing the envelope in both art and with storytelling. More importantly the consumers have evolved. The geeks who grew up in the 80s, downtrodden and ridiculed by the jocks are the engine that drove the technological revolution of the 90s. They now find themselves hitting middle age flush with success at being the new arbiters of cool and that cool is the geekdom that they grew up loving; comics.

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Ed. Note: Please welcome longtime commenter Andrew Price to the front page. — JN

It may sound strange to assert that many conservatives don’t understand what makes a film conservative, but the evidence is all over the web.  More and more conservative websites are listing their top conservative films, but few of the films they list can actually be considered conservative.  It’s as if they just picked films they like and then struggled to find something. . . anything they could call conservative within each film.

Indeed, you’d be amazed how many people identify leftist propaganda as conservative because “that film rocked” or because it has a tough guy or advocates revenge. When was conservatism ever about revenge?  And many are mistaking errant lines of dialog for conservative themes. . . a serial-killing, eco-terrorist Marxist does not become a conservative hero just because he spouts off that he doesn’t trust the federal government to provide quality health care.

“I’m just not sure ObamaCare will work?”

So what are conservative values?

Well, surprisingly, this is where people get lost.  Many simply want to attribute everything good to conservatism and everything bad to liberalism.  Others claim things like patriotism, bravery, and even religious belief as conservative values.  But these aren’t uniquely conservative values. Indeed, many liberals have fought bravely and died for this country, and there are even leftist churches, and the truth is that both sides claim to believe in these things. . . they just see them differently. It’s in that difference where we need to look to decide whether a film is conservative.

To bottom-line it, conservatives believe in the individual over the collective but temper their belief in individuality by requiring people to act according to a code of conduct based on traditional morality.  Liberals believe in the collective over the individual and, where they allow individuality, they disdain traditional morality or personal responsibility.  Thus, uniquely conservative values tend to be centered around:

(1) faith in individual rights over collective rights,

(2) an acceptance of cause and effect, and a willingness to let people bear the good and bad consequences of their actions,

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If you’re hip to the movie news, by now you know that British actor Henry Cavil has been cast as Superman in Zach Snyder’s upcoming reboot.  That’s right, a man born and raised in the British Isles will be portraying an American icon.  When it was announced, many in the blogosphere assumed that we “wingnut fascists” would be outraged at the thought of an non-American playing the Man of Steel.  They assumed that our narrow-minded jingoism would prevent us from endorsing a solid actor nabbing the lead role in a highly anticipated film.  As usual, they were wrong.  We true film buffs could care less where the actor hails from, we just want a movie that is true to the character and kicks some ass.  Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns” had an American Superman, but failed miserably in the aspects that mattered most.  It wasn’t true to the character and didn’t really kick any ass.

But the casting does reveal a couple of interesting things.

Contrary to the propaganda coming from the Hate-America crowd, we are far more open to such things than other cultures, especially the British.  There was a lot of snark when Gwyneth Paltrow and Renee Zellweger applied their best British accents to their portrayals of Emma and Bridget Jones.  Plus, I doubt that the producers ever entertained the idea of casting an American Harry Potter or a Dr. Who born in Iowa.  What about James Bond?  Not only have they never considered Americans for the lead role, but they’ve turned down both Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino as directors.  Every Bond director has hailed from a Commonwealth nation.  Apparently, it’s okay for other countries to maintain “national treasures” and “cultural icons,” but for Americans to suggest doing the same means we’re racist, nativist, and generally close minded.  You see, to the rest of the world, we don’t actually have a culture.  How can we?  We are a nation made of other nations, a population of hyphenates who lack a common identity.

Well, this Prussian-American filmmaker calls foul.

Not only is Superman a Brit, but as NBC points out, so are Batman, and Spiderman.  NBC mistakenly lumps Wolverine into the group, but any geek worth their salt knows that Wolverine a.k.a. Logan is Canadian.  And Hugh Jackman who plays Wolverine is Australian, not British.  Oh, well, more quality fact-checking from NBC.  We should be used to this by now. (more…)

The venerable Marvel comic book character Captain America has been, well, “Captain America” since 1941. But as of the 2011 release of the new movie “Captain America: The First Avenger,” he won’t be Captain American anymore. At least as far as the film’s  title goes for its overseas release, anyway.

Apparently, Hollywood thinks a character called “Captain America” is too gauche for foreigners to handle. And so he’s to go nameless in such places as Russia, Ukraine, and South Korea. Once again, Hollywood shows that it’s ashamed of America, its traditions, and culture.

This film already raised eyebrows for patriots when the director said that his Captain America wouldn’t be that into America.  Last July, director Joe Johnston claimed that the Captain America in his film would not be a “jingoistic American flag-waver.” Johnston’s anti-American sentiment foreshadows the dropping of the character’s name from the title for overseas distribution. (more…)

We, the editors of this fine website, confess to having many flaws, but among those flaws you will never find the second-guessing of geniuses such as Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder.

Anne Hathaway is womanly, a fine actress, and — if you’ll forgive the expression — stacked. Most importantly, her sexual heat was the only thing memorable in the otherwise forgettable “Get Smart” remake. And if she can bring smoke to that fluff…

Catwoman must be sexy, intelligent enough to credibly come off as a formidable foe opposite Batman, and look good crawling around in tight leather.

Check, check, and double-check.

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Reality isn’t always very fun. Because of that many people turn to comic books for a little escapism. But there’s escapism and PC indoctrination. Sadly, it appears that DC Comics’ Batman is angling for the latter and not the former. You see, Batman has decided to hire a Muslim to “save France.”

First the reality. The country of France is having serious domestic problems between its immigrant Muslim community and those natural-born, European Frenchmen. Immigrants have been rampaging across the country for several years now. Clashes between police and large groups of rioting Muslim youth have wreaked havoc on the Gallic nation. Violence is all too common — it is woefully common for hundreds of cars to be lit afire in these riots and dozens of arrests to be made. It has the country split and frightened.

It has gotten so bad in France that in some parts of its cities, those parts controlled by marauding gangs of Muslim youths, whites never enter for fear of their lives. Not only that but not even police dare enter these areas. This dangerous situation does not seem anywhere near being solved. In fact, it’s just getting worse.

Now for the fantasy: enter The Batman.

DC Comics recently launched a series called “Batman Incorporated.” Essentially, Bruce Wayne (well-known as Batman’s alter ego to comics fans) is cruising the world setting up a “Batman” for major cities across the globe. These Batman figures, though, will not be vigilantes. They will be sanctioned by whatever local police force is in charge of the area in which the new Batman is operating. In the case of Detective Comics number 12 (Part one) and Batman Annual number 28 (Part two), Bruce Wayne has come to Paris, France to find a “French savior.” (more…)

When times get tough, the unsettled among us turn to fictionalized superheroes to vicariously battle the world’s uncertainties. They can even provide an example for turning the lemons in our personal lives into lemonade just as Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Tony Stark (Iron Man) did by turning to crime fighting careers after the deaths of their parents. Because however impotent we may be against reality, we can project our helplessness into an all powerful avatar for a temporary feeling of control or revenge.

During the 1930s and early 40s, the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Captain America where on the comic pages defending honest working stiffs against common crime in the streets, corporate crime in the suites and crimes of political corruption.

Superman even foiled a plot by greedy Wall Streeters and cash-craved Capital Hillers to crash the stock market a second time to cast America into a another depression they could exploit. (more…)

Other than this has to be too good to be true, there’s nothing to comment on. To make suggestions or to give advice or to create some kind of wish list regarding these upcoming films, as though anything anyone could come up with will surpass the genius of Christopher Nolan, is foolish. So carry on, Mr. Nolan. See ya, opening day.

More of this, please…

Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Warner Bros is trying to ready its DC Comics stalwart Superman to soar again on the Big Screen, and the studio has turned to Chris Nolan to mentor development of the movie. Our insiders say that the brains behind rebooted Batman has been asked to play a “godfather” role and ensure The Man Of Steel gets off the ground after a 3 1/2-year hiatus. Nolan’s leadership of the project can set it in the right direction with the critics and the fans, not to mention at the box office. Besides, Nolan is considered something of a god at Warner Bros and has a strong relationship with the studio after the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Though he wasn’t obligated to do so, he gave the studio first crack at his spec script Inception, and Warner Bros was able to buy it before other studios even got a sniff. While Nolan completes that Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer for a July 16th release, he’s also hatched an idea for Warner Bros’ third Batman installment. Now his brother and frequent collaborator Jonah Nolan, and David Goyer who co-wrote Batman Begins and penned the story for The Dark Knight, are off scripting it.

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Just before Christmas rumors began to leak out of Hollywood that Sam Raini’s Spider-Man 4 had run into trouble.  Nonsense, came word from Sony; the production is only on “holiday break,” all is well in Spidey-Land, and your favorite web-slinger will be swinging into your local multiplex on May 6, 2011 as planned.  

What a difference a new year makes.  Apparently, those rumors were true after all:  Variety is reporting that sources from Sony confirm that the production is on hold, perhaps indefinitely, and that a May 2011 release is now unlikely.

The reason?  It seems there are deep and perhaps intractable differences between Raimi and the studio regarding the quality of the latest script, the structure of the proposed plot, and even the choice of villain for this fourth outing.  Raimi is said to be keen on the Vulture, with John Malkovich to fill the bald baddie’s bird suit.  The studio, however, reportedly fears that the Vulture – an elderly character in the comics – is a poor choice of villain for a tent-pole, summer franchise film.  It’s unclear whom the studio would prefer, but clearly they are angling for more ‘hip’ than ‘hip replacement’ to bedevil Peter Parker’s alter ego. (more…)

Editor: This is the second part of a two-part series. You can read part one here.

The 1970s showed the once-invincible comic book super-heroes to be losers, in attitude and sales. Watergate had disillusioned the super-patriot Captain America with a storyline implying Nixon was the head of a terrorist group. The Captain trashes his outfit and becomes Nomad, The Man without a Country. My 11-year-old mind thought this was ridiculous, as Cap was originally a Depression-era 98-pound weakling until given a Super Soldier serum to bulk up and fight Nazis. It was unlikely that one of the “Greatest Generation” would bail on his country so readily. Even then I realized that this development merely mirrored a hippie writer’s attitude more than staying true to a character’s origins. 

Super-heroes became bleaker and even homicidal in the 1980s. The Punisher, a murderous vigilante, has become a top Marvel character. The Dark Knight Returns, a re-imagining of Batman, introduced an elderly caped crusader fighting the corrupt U.S. government represented by a stoogish Superman. Watchmen was set in a dystopic alternate reality where Nixon is still president and the super-group is made up of, among other miscreants, a rapist and mass murderer. It was a transmutation of established super-heroes from the 60s with Steve Ditko’s Objectivist hero The Question recast as the psychotic Rorschach.  (more…)

Super-heroes are uniquely American in origin and reflective of the “Greatest Generation” that created them. Their progenitors can be traced to ancient myths though their direct foundation springs from American legends like Paul Bunyan and John Henry. Pulp literature fermented these heroes from the 1800s with Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and on to Doc Savage. By the 1930s super-powered and costumed characters showed up in the newspaper comic strips including Popeye and the Phantom. 

The characters we now recognize as super-heroes crystallized with the debut of Superman in 1938. Representative of the American experience, Superman was the ultimate immigrant. Not merely from another country, the Man of Steel came from a whole different planet! With his success, publishers released a myriad of titles featuring crime-fighting patriotic adventurers who all fought for “truth, justice and the American way.” That included those who were born on an all-female island (the star-spangled Wonder Woman), from Atlantis (the Sub-Mariner), robots (the Human Torch) or even dead people (the Spectre and Kid Eternity)! Gaining super powers even reformed criminals as in Plastic Man’s case.  (more…)

So posters of President Obama made up as Heath Ledger’s Joker with ‘Socialism’ written below it have been showing up around L.A – and it’s being greeted with the usual outrage you’d expect from people who get outraged. Some are calling it racist, others are calling it “mean spirited and dangerous,” while I call it boring, boring, and oh yeah: boring.

The website Newsbusters points out the silliness behind the outrage – after all, President Bush has been depicted as far worse – he’s been portrayed as everything from a bloodsucking vampire in the Village Voice, to the Joker in Vanity Fair, to God forbid, a Republican- everywhere else. No one seemed to mind then. And while people like Bill Maher point out that Obama has been only at this job for six months (whereas Bush earned the bile over eight years) and therefore any criticism is unfair – that’s pure batpoop. Hatred for Bu$hitler began the moment he took office, and the vile lefties only knew Sarah Palin for a few weeks before they were wearing t-shirts with her face and a vulgar word (begins with ‘C’ and rhymes with bunt) beneath it. (more…)

I’ve packed my car with books and posters to sell at the San Diego Comic-Con. As a comic-creator this is a mandatory part of the business that’s both fun and productive. It’s our journey to Mecca without all that obnoxious stoning and calls to the end of Israel.

In case you’ve been in an Afghanistan cave for the last thirty years, comics are big business. Comics to film projects are in demand at least partially because of the pre-visualization aspect of the medium. Fantasy is an expensive and risky genre and comics offer the cheapest glimpse into the depiction of on-screen events before one dime is spent on production.

Though the medium is gaining visibility, comics aren’t new. They’re simply words combined with pictures that communicate a sequence of events. They’re actually very similar to the silent film where an actor speaks, then his words appear onscreen to read. We’re Chaplin like that. But my favorite part of the medium is due to it’s power, and I love me some power.

What took James Cameron 200 million dollars to communicate on film with “Titanic” or his up-and-coming “Avatar” one could do for 20k in comics. You don’t get the sound, movement or music but the actual story, lighting, acting, character development the logos could be depicted by one man on the cheap. Can’t get your “Star Wars” made for 150 million? With a small group comprised of one writer, one artist and one colorist, we could depict events from the desserts of Uncle Owen’s vaporator farm to the Death Star without resorting to overseas funding. That’s power. (more…)

What is the difference between art and entertainment?

There is, obviously, some overlap: Not all art entertains (though some does); not all entertainment is art (though some is).  At bottom, it seems, the difference is one of intent – the artist seeks to connect us with larger meanings, larger truths about the world, about ourselves.  The primary focus of art is therefore to illuminate, with any entertainment had in the process merely a bonus.

The goal of the entertainer, on the other hand, is perhaps less sublime, though no less worthy – to distract, to tickle, to stimulate the fancy.  Entertainment is at bottom diversion, and I say this without a trace of disdain – often it is the quality and quantity of our diversions which makes the difference between a joyful life and a merely bearable one.

One year ago this weekend, a beating black heart pulsed in summer’s midst: The Dark Knight.  It was big-budget, comic book based franchise movie, made for popcorn eaters seeking suitable summer diversion.  And It delivered beyond the filmmakers wildest expectations – the masses were so entertained that they lifted it up into the box office stratosphere in grateful recompense. (more…)