Tag Archives: joseph gordon levitt

Celestial Foritude

Steel Logistics

Man of Steel released a new trailer this week and it looks like Zack Snyder is still bad at making movies:

Warner Bros. has high hopes for the project however as they reportedly may be throwing in a post-credit “team up” scene with Joseph Gordon Levitt tying in Nolan’s Batman Universe and opening the door for a Justice League of America.  Nothing is official of course and some fans are nerd-raging about JGL donning Batman’s threads in a JLA film, because it would disrupt the continuity of Nolan’s Trilogy.  Regardless, DC/Warner Bros. knows it is now losing an arms race against arch-nemesis Marvel/Disney in Hollywood, and is brainstorming furiously to even the playing field.  A key piece of this puzzle of course is Big Blue himself, as even Warner Bros. CEO Jeff Robinov called him a “flagship character”.

WHO IS the cornerstone of the Justice League, the #1 comicbook superhero of all time?   Let’s take a look.

Continue reading Celestial Foritude

Tactician’s Cataclysm

The final trailer has dropped for The Dark Knight Rises and I literally just got goosebumps.  Ya.  I’m a nerd.  Christian Bale will be reprising his role as the caped crusader while bloody brit actor Tom Hardy will be playing primary villain Bane.  Other newcomers include: Anne Hathaway as a mysterious Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman, while Joseph Gordon Levitt plays John Blake or a possible Robin, and finally the beautiful Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate or a potential Talia Al Ghul.  Big Boss Man Christopher Nolan has indeed done a good job keeping most of this stuff underwraps, as the film is his swan song to the Batman franchise.  The film’s reportedly epic ending is on the utmost of DL, to the point that only Nolan and four other people know what it is.  Why does this movie look so frikkin cool you ask?  Because it’s about a good ol’ fashioned Artisan dogfight.

Continue reading Tactician’s Cataclysm

DC/Warner Bros. Strikes Back

DC/Warner Bros. launched a bit of a news counter-attack this week no doubt in an attempt to ‘one-up’ it’s rival Marvel/Disney as the epic battle between the two stellar organizations rages on.

The highly anticipated console game Batman:Arkham City hit counters yesterday and was met with rave reviews across the board (97/100 on Metacritic).  The game is extremely well done, has a great story arch, hosts a slew of bat-villains, and allows you to beat the sh*t out of people as Batman.  Need we say more?

Warner Bros. Studios also got a reasonable amount of free publicity last night at Spike TV’s Scream Awards as it took home several trophies.  The Dark Knight Rises took home the ‘most anticipated‘ award beating out it’s bitter rival the Avengers.  Ralph Phiennes won ‘best villain‘ for his phenomenal portrayal of ‘he who must not be named’ (Lord Voldemort).  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 2 also took home several other (6 total) awards last night including the top honor (‘Biggest Scream‘), culminating a series of relatively irrelevant victories for the good folks over at Warner Bros. Pictures.

In related bat-news The Dark Knight Rises is reportedly set to occupy Wall Street starting October 29th for 14 days, which very well might overlap with the on-going Wall Street protests currently taking place.  Being the film-making gangster that Christopher Nolan is, the protests apparently will not interfere with his plans, as he will “simply be using the protests as a back-drop or stand-in for something that already exists in the film”.  And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you turn a frown upside down.

Given this slew of bat and bat-related news, let’s take a look at The Dark Knight Rises’ primary villain, the hard-knock bad-ass known as Bane.

Bane spent his childhood and early adult-life in prison, serving a sentence for his fathers crimes.  Bane’s ‘natural abilities‘ allowed him to develop ‘extraordinary skills‘ within the prison walls: reading all the books he could get his hands on, building his physique in the prison gym, and picking up a plethora of martial arts.  Bane has since evolved into a ‘super intelligent world-class fighter‘ and a ‘tactical genius‘.  Bane indeed turned out to be a truly brilliant tactician, as he is most known for causing a prison break to overwhelm Batman, and infamously breaking the Bat’s back while he is weak and tired.  Impulsive, fearless, and ridden with brute strength, Bane is undoubtedly a Crafter Artisan.  Indeed Bane utilizes a variety of different ‘tools‘, including the super-drugVenom‘, a reported army of mercenaries, a couple of ‘tumblers’, and evidently a ‘doomsday machine’.  Bane like all Crafters communicates primarily through his actions: bringing his prison mentality to Gotham City, Bane decided to go after the man that everyone feared: Batman.  Indeed a physical specimen, actor Tom Hardy packed on 30 pounds of muscle to play the role.  Like his fellow Crafters, Bane is ‘fascinated by weapons of all kinds‘ and wields them with ‘lethal virtuosity‘, taking ‘pride‘ in his ‘prowess‘.

Quote1.png You know nothing of strength, little boy. I know strength. Such as the strength that comes from numbers. And the strength one gains from knowing his enemy’s weaknesses. Checkmate. Quote2.png

Bane (DCAU)

Without getting too spoilerish: it seems Bane will indeed break Batmans back in the The Dark Knight Rises, as evidenced by Christian Bale limping out of a Lamborghini.  This is supposedly when the Dark Knight will take a break, and a valiant young man named Joseph Gordon Levitt will temporarily step in as Batman’s sidekick, Robin.

As shooting on Wall Street will no doubt beget a new wave of on-set spy photos and footage, stay tuned for more bat and bat-related temperament news.  Same bat time, same bat channel (blog).

UPDATE: Warner Bros. Pictures will release an 6 minute IMAX prologue for The Dark Knight Rises that will be attached to the IMAX release of Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol.  This also strongly suggests that Warner Bros. will also give us a new TDKR trailer with their big holiday release Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Full story here.