Bat News

So, here's some news all you movie geeks already know: Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy have officially been announced as the villains in Christopher Nolan's third and final entry in Warner's Batman franchise, The Dark Knight Rises. Hathaway has been cast as Catwoman (or at least, Selina Kyle) and Hardy as Bane (via).

These are two actors I like a lot. Hathaway is always amazing, even in sappy treacle like The Princess Diaries and Hardy is just a sexy bear who could recite the phone book, as long as he has his clothes off at some point. 

Yikes. That sounds awful. Still, Hardy was quite good in Nolan's Inception and I have no doubt he'll be terrific as the hulking Latino villain who actually broke Batman's back in in DC's "Knightfall" series. Not that I am all that familiar with the comics -- I do have Internet access, though and know he's much more important to the storyline than than the idiotic character in Joel Schumaker's reprehensible Batman and Robin.                                                                                 

Now, it seems that lots of folks have problems with this casting, particularly when it comes to Ms Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Michelle Pfieffer was quite an amazing Catwoman in her pleather catsuit and smoky eye makeup. But Hathaway is tall and sexy and will bring her own take on the jewel thief who manages to steal Bruce Wayne's heart. .And since Nolan has proven himself to be quite the genius when it comes to this particular franchise, I have total faith his casting choices. If anyone can turn Hathaway into Catwoman, it's Nolan. And I, for one, can't wait to see a bulked-up Hardy flexing and strutting his way through Gotham City.

Of course,Catwoman has been played by more actresses than any other female character in the franchise, starting with Julie Newmar in the campy 1960's TV series, followed by Eartha Kitt; Lee Meriwether; Michelle Pfieffer and (most lamentably) Halle Berry. Bane's only appearance on film was in the aforementioned Batman and Robin, portrayed by the late wrestler Jeep Swenson simply as a grunting minion of Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). I'm very interested to see how Nolan uses the character in the new movie, especially given his rich history in the DC Universe. 

Nolan has yet to disappoint with this franchise, and I have all faith that his 2012 Birthday Present to me will stand up to his previous Batman movies (though finding a performance like the late Heath Ledger's as The Joker may prove a rather daunting task). Still, I am excited to see where Nolan will take the story next.

More, anon.
Prospero

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I Beg to Differ

It may be a little hard to read, but in lower left corner of the poster for Robinson Crusoe on Mars there's an official-looking seal thingy with the following quote:
"This film is SCIENTIFICALLY AUTHENTIC..." I truly do beg to differ, because even in 1964 when this ridiculous Sci-Fi version of the DeFoe novel was made, they knew Mars was not on fire!

Starring manly Paul Mantee as Cmdr Christopher 'Kit' Draper and future Batman Adam West as Col. Dan MacReady as his co-pilot on a Two Men and a Monkey space mission gone awry, resulting in a crash landing on the Red Planet. With MacReady no longer ready for anything, Draper and the monkey must try to survive the hostel planet.

Remember how I said Mars wasn't on fire? (I'll prove it, if you want me to) Well, this "SCIENTIFICALLY AUTHENTIC" movie says Draper lands on "the fire-swamp that is Mars!" (I always wondered where Goldman got that name), and thus its atmosphere must contain oxygen, so the monkey and the space cowboy can at least breathe. They even find water and primitive seaweed to eat. Then it gets even less Scientifically Authentic when the ships from War of the Worlds show up and laser blast their own damned planet to mine some rare element. Of course, one of the aliens' humanoid slaves escapes and Draper names him Friday, just to see if they could get DeFoe to spin in his grave a little faster.

Now, I read a few really positive reviews of this movie on various sites and blogs, but I was dubious, because even as a kid I thought it was cheap-looking, so I went back and watched parts of it again on YouTube. I'm sorry to say that my memories of this Byron Haskin film are all correct. Haskin did lots of TV for Disney and would later make The Power, an interesting thriller about telekinesis, ESP and mind-control. He was also an FX man on Pal's War of the Worlds. The matte paintingss are quite beautifully rendered, until they stick real people (or worse - 2D rocketship landings) in front of them, and you realize how fake they actually are.

The actors are game enough (like the bird many of us will be eating in four days) and they all manage to get through the thing without sniggering at the complete inanity of what they're doing. They were contract players and they earned their checks, went home at night and envied really big stars. At least Mona the Woolly Monkey had no idea she was making such a bad movie. Or did she? After the trailer, we'll talk about the DRS* (Drumstick Rating System).

Pee-yew! "Scientifically Authentic" my Aunt Fannie's ass! Three out of Five Drumsticks.*

*For the next four days, leading up to the Big Bad Movie Spectacular, I'll be rating the movies I discuss sort-of in reverse of my usual star system. I am, despite what one might think, a breast man. I don't like (nor have I ever liked) thighs or drumsticks. In fact, you might say I really hate drumsticks. So, the DRS works like this: The more Drumsticks, the worse the movie. In other words, One Drumstick is: "Eh - that wasn't so awful" and Five Drumsticks is "Oh dear God in Heaven, who fed that old dog beans?!" Got it?

And if you haven't already, don't forget to check out my new weekly blog Prospero's Zombie Zone.

More, anon.
Prospero

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Song and Dance Man

I don't exactly remember the first time I saw the often brilliant Christoper Walken on screen. Probably it was in 1977's The Sentinel, a horror flick about the guardian of the Gates of Hell in a New York City Brownstone. It starred a slew of folks whose names everyone knew in the 70's, but are completely unknown by the Twilight generation. Walken played Detective Rizzo. I remember being completely freaked out by it's combination of special effects and actors who had real birth defects and deformities. The scenes in the clip below really don't do it justice, but you get the general idea:

I remember him next in Michael Cimino's 1978 Vietnam flick The Deer Hunter, in which Walken portrayed Nick, a POW forced to play Russian Roulette by his captors. I didn't really appreciate this film when it forst came out - it was a war movie, after all (and someday we'll talk about my aversion to war movies), but Walken is brilliant in this intense scene with Robert DiNiro:

We'll skip Cimino's infamous and ill-fated Heaven's Gate and move on to Herbert Ross' 1981 bizarre Depression Era musical Pennies from Heaven, where he lip-synchs to an old recording of Fats Waller's "Let's Misbehave," and in which he finally gets to display the dance training he received as a child:

Then there was Douglas Trumball's 1983 Brainstorm, infamous as Natalie Wood's last film, about a machine designed to record dreams which ultimately ends up recording Louise Fletcher's character's death experience:

That same year, he played Johnny Smith in David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone:

Skipping through Walken's 1985 Bond appearance (A View to a Kill) and 1988's Neil Simon memory play, Biloxi Blues in 1988, we come upon 1989's Communion, based on author Whitley Streiber's semi-autobiographical alien abduction novel. It's probably the movie that cemented Walken as a weirdo, but it remains one of his most interesting performances:

Four years later, Walken played Max Schreck in Tim Burton's Batman Returns. Named for the actor who first played Dracula (albeit unofficially), Schreck is an evil department store owner who is planning on taking Gotham City down with the help of Danny DeVito's Penguin:

Walken's career just goes on and on. From his many appearances on"Saturday Night Live"

to his amazing dance routine in the 1997 video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice"

and his hysterical turn as Wilbur Turnblad in the movie version of the musical Hairspray:

So, what made me go on this Walken spree? Well, this clip from a BBC "chat-show" in which Walken gives a dramatic reading of the lyrics to Lady Gaga's hit "Poker Face" (via):

I'm the first to admit that I've glossed over dozens of Mr. Walken's performances on film and TV in a decades-long career most actors would kill to have had, but a post talking about all of them would take far longer to write than I can do without spending an entire day researching and commenting. Someday, I'll probably talk about his other movie, video and TV appearances than I was able to mention here. Needless to say, I am in awe of the man's versatility and staying power in an industry which routinely shews up and spits out performers with the regularity that rivals my own digestive system's (Oh, gross! Did I actually just type that sentence?) Anyway - here's to CW! Long may he rule our screens!

More, anon.
Prospero

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