The burning question for most DC Comics fans wasn’t will there be more Batman or Superman films, the real question was would the two ever appear in the same movie? Would Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight ever team up with Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel?

The Dark Knight Rises writer David Goyer was recently grilled on the red carpet and had this to say about Nolan’s Batman and Snyder’s Superman joining forces:

“The ‘Dark Knight’ films do not exist in the same universe. Zack [Snyder] has gone on record. The fact that we have Wayne Industries on the satellite, Bruce Wayne exists in this universe. Lex Luthor exists in this universe. Other metahumans do exist in this universe, so the hope is, depending on how the film does, that we’ll be able to roll into some other films.”

Goyer also goes on to hint at what other heroes might pop up, mentioning Star Labs and Cyborg. One interesting note was when asked if he was interested in taking up the script writing duties for a Justice League movie Goyer said:

“If I were offered it, I wouldn’t say no. Well, what are you going to do after Batman and Superman? How do you top yourself? I can’t go back to Metamorpho after this.”

Goyer would be a great choice to script the Justice League movie, he’s got the experience of bringing the two big tent-pole Justice League characters to the big screen already.

Let’s face it though, trying to fit Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy into the Man of Steel and Justice League continuity would be a twisted affair. Better to take the spirit of Nolan’s Batman and not the specific storyline.

Now we get to start figuring out how they introduce a new Batman, not to mention who might play the role.

Via: MTV

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In keeping with Christopher Nolan‘s tradition of hiring actors from one project to the next (see: everyone from Inception in The Dark Knight Rises), it seems that Anne Hathaway is in talks to come aboard Nolan’s next project Interstellar, according to Deadline.

Not much is known about the project except that it will be a “ambition is a film that will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the farthest borders of our scientific understanding.” Matthew McConaughey confirmed last week that he’s intending to sign on the dotted line after the rumor that he was in the running as the film’s leading man leaked.

Hathaway herself is coming off a big year that culminated in winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables. She also appeared in Nolan’s Rises as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.

More casting news as it develops.

Source: Comic Book Movie

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Nerdy flicks didn’t get much love for this Sunday’s Oscars, but nerd love is implied when the Saturn Awards nominations are announced. Of course this is an award specifically designed and set-up to celebrate achievement in sci-fi, fantasy, action and horror, but maybe we’ll just take what we can get.

In the film categories, the winner was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The first chapter in Peter Jackson‘s prequel opus is the easy front-runner with a total of nine nominations, including Best Fantasy Film, Best Direction for Jackson, and Best Actor for Martin Freeman. The Hobbit will face off against Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi, which also scored a Best Fantasy Film nomination as well as a Best Performance by a Younger Actor nomination for star Suraj Sharma, as well as seven others nods for a total of eight. Coming in third was the 23rd James Bond movie Skyfall, which was nominated Best Action/Adventure film as well as additional nods in acting categories for Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Judi Dench. In all, Skyfall received seven Saturn nominations followed closely by dualling superhero flicks The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises with six apiece.

In TV, the dearly departed Fringe was the big winner with six nominations including Best Network Series and acting nods for series stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble. Serial killer drama Dexter secured five nods, including acting noms for star Michael C. Hall and guest stars Ray Stevenson and Yvonne Strahovski. And it’s a three-way tie for third with Breaking Bad, Revolution and The Walking Dead each nabbing four nominations.

For the complete list of categories and nominees scroll down. As to when the hardware will be handed out, that’s TBA.

Best Science Fiction Film

Marvel’s The Avengers (Marvel / Walt Disney Studios)
Chronicle (20th Century Fox)
Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
The Hunger Games (Summit / Lionsgate)
Looper (Sony Pictures)
Prometheus (20th Century Fox)

Best Fantasy Film

The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony Pictures)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Ruby Sparks (Fox Searchlight)
Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal)
Ted (Universal)

Best Horror/Thriller Film

Argo (Warner Bros.)
The Cabin in the Woods (Lionsgate)
The Impossible (Summit / Lionsgate)
Seven Psychopaths (CBS Films)
The Woman in Black (CBS Films)
Zero Dark Thirty (Sony Pictures)

Best Action/Adventure Film

The Bourne Legacy (Universal)
The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)
Django Unchained (The Weinstein Co.)
Les Miserables (Universal)
Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Taken 2 (20th Century Fox)

Best Independent Film Release

Compliance (Magnolia)
Hitchcock Fox (Searchlight)
Killer Joe LD (Entertainment)
The Paperboy (Millennium)
Robot and Frank (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Safety Not Guaranteed (FilmDistrict)
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Focus Features)

Best International Film

Anna Karenina (Focus Features)
Chicken With Plums (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Fairy (Kino Lorber)
Headhunters (Magnolia)
My Way Well (Go USA)
Pusher (Radius)

Best Animated Film

Brave (Pixar / Walt Disney Studios)
Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Studios)
ParaNorman (Focus Features)
Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney Studios)

Best Actor

Christian Bale, The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Craig, Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Martin Freeman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables (Universal)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper (Sony Pictures)
Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe (LD Entertainment)

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty (20th Century Fox)
Ann Dowd, Compliance (Magnolia)
Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks (Fox Searchlight)
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games (Summit / Lionsgate)
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock (Fox Searchlight)
Naomi Watts, The Impossible (Summit / Lionsgate)

Best Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem, Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Michael Fassbender, Prometheus (20th Century Fox)
Clark Gregg, Marvel’s The Avengers (Marvel / Walt Disney Studios)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)
Ian McKellen, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained (The Weinstein Co.)

Best Supporting Actress

Judi Dench, Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Gina Gershon, Killer Joe (LD Entertainment)
Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables (Universal)
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy (Millennium)
Charlize Theron, Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal)

Best Performance By a Younger Actor

CJ Adams, The Odd Life of Timothy Green (Walt Disney Studios)
Tom Holland, The Impossible (Summit / Lionsgate)
Daniel Huttlestone, Les Miserables (Universal)
Chloe Grace Moretz, Dark Shadows (Warner Bros.)
Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)

Best Direction

William Friedkin, Killer Joe (LD Entertainment)
Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Rian Johnson, Looper (Sony Pictures)
Ang Lee, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)
Joss Whedon, Marvel’s The Avengers (Marvel / Walt Disney Studios)

Best Writing

Tracy Letts, Killer Joe (LD Entertainment)
David Magee, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths (CBS Films)
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained (The Weinstein Co.)
Joss Whedon, Marvel’s The Avengers (Marvel / Walt Disney Studios)
Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods (Lionsgate)

Best Production Design

Hugh Bateup, Uli Hanisch, Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Sarah Greenwood, Anna Karenina (Focus Features)
David Gropman, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Rick Heinrichs, Dark Shadows (Warner Bros.)
Dan Hennah, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Eve Stewart, Les Miserables (Universal)

Best Editing

Stuart Baird, Kate Baird, Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Alexander Berner, Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Bob Ducsay, Looper (Sony Pictures)
Jeffrey Ford, Lisa Lassek, Marvel’s The Avengers (Marvel / Walt Disney Studios)
John Gilroy, The Bourne Legacy (Universal)
Tim Squyres, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)

Best Music

Mychael Danna, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Danny Elfman, Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Studios)
Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina (Focus Features)
Thomas Newman, Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Howard Shore, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)

Best Costume

Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina (Focus Features)
Kym Barrett, Pierre-Yves Gavraud, Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Sharen Davis, Django Unchained (The Weinstein Co.)
Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Paco Delgado, Les Miserables (Universal)
Colleen Atwood, Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal)

Best Make-Up

Heike Merker, Daniel Parker, Jeremy Woodhead, Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)
Gregory Nicotero, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, Julie Hewitt, Hitchcock (Fox Searchlight)
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater, Tami Lane, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
David Marti, Montse Ribe, Vasit Suchitta, The Impossible (Summit / Lionsgate)
Naomi Donne, Donald Mowat, Love Larson, Skyfall (Sony Pictures)
Jean Ann Black, Fay Von Schroeder, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (Lionsgate)

Best Special Effects

Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick, Marvel’s The Avengers (Marvel / Walt Disney Studios)
Grady Cofer, Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Burt Dalton, Battleship (Universal)
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros.)
Chris Corbould, Peter Chiang, Scott R. Fisher, Sue Rowe, John Carter (Walt Disney Studios)
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer, Donald R. Elliott, Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)
Cedric Nicholas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Courbould, Michael Dawson, Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal)

Best Network Television Series

Elementary (CBS)
The Following (Fox)
Fringe (Fox)
Once Upon a Time (ABC)
Revolution (NBC)
Supernatural (CW)

Best Syndicated Cable Television Series

American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Dexter (Showtime)
Leverage (TNT)
The Killing (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
The Walking Dead (AMC)

Best Television Presentation

Breaking Bad (AMC)
Continuum (Syfy)
Falling Skies (TNT)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Ken Follett’s World Without End (Reelz)
Mockingbird Lane (NBC)
Spartacus: War of the Damned (Starz)

Best Youth Oriented Series on Television

Arrow (CW)
Beauty and the Beast (CW)
Doctor Who (BBC America)
Merlin (Syfy)
Teen Wolf (MTV)
The Vampire Diaries (CW)

Best Actor

Kevin Bacon, The Following (Fox)
Billy Burke, Revolution (NBC)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Joshua Jackson, Fringe (Fox)
Timothy Hutton, Leverage (TNT)
Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead (AMC)

Best Actress

Moon Bloodgood, Falling Skies (TNT)
Mireille Enos, The Killing (AMC)
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Charlotte Riley, Ken Follett’s World Without End (Reelz)
Tracy Spiridakos, Revolution (NBC)
Anna Torv, Fringe (Fox)

Best Supporting Actor

Jonathan Banks, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Giancarlo Esposito, Revolution (NBC)
Todd Lasance, Spartacus: War of the Damned (Starz)
Colm Meaney, Hell on Wheels (AMC)
David Morrissey, The Walking Dead (AMC)
John Noble, Fringe (Fox)

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter (Showtime)
Sarah Carter, Falling Skies (TNT)
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Laurie Holden, The Walking Dead (AMC)
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Beth Riesgraf, Leverage (TNT)

Best Guest Starring Role in a Series

Blair Brown, Fringe (Fox)
Terry O’Quinn, Falling Skies (TNT)
Lance Reddick, Fringe (Fox)
Mark Sheppard, Leverage (TNT)
Ray Stevenson, Dexter (Showtime)
Yvonne Strahovski, Dexter (Showtime)

Best DVD/Blu-ray Release

Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike (Atlas Distribution/Fox)
Chained (Anchor Bay)
Cosmopolis (Entertainment One)
The Possession (Lionsgate)
A Thousand Cuts (Lorber Films)
Touchback (Anchor Bay/Starz)

Best DVD/Blu-ray Special Edition Release

Jaws (Universal 100th Anniversary Edition) (Universal)
Lawrence of Arabia (50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) (Sony)
Les Vampires Classics Edition (Kino International)
Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut (Warner)
Stanley Kubrick’s Fear and Desire (Kino International)

Best DVD/Blu-ray Collection

Alfred Hitchcock (The Masterpiece Collection) (Universal)
Battle Royale (The Complete Collection) (Anchor Bay)
Bond 50 (The Complete 22 Film Collection) (MGM)
Dark Shadows: The Complete Original Series (MPI)
The Ultimate Buster Keaton Blu-ray Collection (Kino Lorber)
Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection (Universal)

Best DVD/Blu-ray TV Series

In Search Of: The Complete Series (Visual Entertainment)
Logan’s Run: The Complete Series (Warner)
The River: The Complete First Season (ABC Studios)
Shazam! The Complete Live-Action Series (Warner Archive)
Spartacus: Vengeance (The Complete Second Season) (Starz/Anchor Bay)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Seasons 1 & 2) (Paramount)

Source: Blastr

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It’s quite possible there’s no organization – religious or secular – more controversial in America right now than the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. The group is perhaps known for their protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers, the deaths of whom they consider punishment by God for America’s sinfulness, but they attracted new levels of scorn in December when they pledged to protest the funerals of the children that died in the Sandy Hook massacre for the same reason.

But drowned out in all that controversy is a recent and surprising defection from the church, the Rev. Fred Phelps’ own granddaughter Megan. Megan and her sister Grace officially severed all ties with WBC and their Topeka-based congregation last November after Megan, admittedly, began having doubts over the beliefs and dogma expressed by the church and her grandfather.

Megan has largely been quiet since parting ways with her old life. This is unusual because Megan was very much a force in the WBC, spearheading its social media outreach and often acting as a spokesperson for the church. Many even thought that she might even be a leader in the church someday. But her surprising departure is not so surprising once you hear her reasons why. In fact, an article found here by Jeff Chu, author of Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America, spells them out pretty good. The reason this comes to the attention of Nerd Bastards today is this quote here:

“There’s no fresh start in today’s world. Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what you did. Everything we do is collated and quantified. Everything sticks.”

The line was said by Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) in The Dark Knight Rises, her justification for continuing to make a career as a thief rather than try to get out of the business. Megan opens a blog post quoting the line in an online comment posted today. In it, Megan talks about her and her sister’s difficulty in making a clean break from the only life they’ve ever known, and their anticipation looking forward at the unknowable road ahead.

“Up until now, our names have been synonymous with ‘God Hates Fags,’” she writes. “Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what we did. We hope Ms. Kyle was right about the other part, too, though – that everything sticks – and that the changes we make in our lives will speak for themselves.”

I wish I had  a “Clean Slate” to give Megan, but I think she’s going to turn out fine. In the meantime, this is the latest round of bad news for WBC, which recently had to cancel their planned “Obama is Antichrist” Inauguration protest and has suffered repeated cyber attacks by Anonymous. I’m sure Westboro and Phelps have a conspiracy theory about all this, but maybe God just hates them.

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We like to think that it’s a nerds’ world at the movies, and certainly there’s been a lot of press in the last few years to back that up, but in 2012 it seemed especially true.

Developing a Top 10 List of the best of the nerdiest films this year was no easy feat, even with high-profile disappointments like Prometheus, John Carter, and The Amazing Spider-Man, but we were still able to do it. Some of these titles maybe obvious, but they all have one thing in common, they prove that in the genres of sci-fi, horror, fantasy and action, the year 2012 was far from the end of the world. Cinematically speaking, at least.

Here’s the Top 10 Nerdy Films of 2012.

1. The Avengers

Can we take a minute and appreciate the mere fact that this film even managed to exist, let alone be as good as it is? First of all there’s the logistical feat of getting all these characters and actors co-ordinated onto a single soundstage. Then there was the Hail Mary hiring of Joss Whedon, a man known more for his TV work and his one movie based on one of his TV shows than for blockbuster filmmaking. And finally, there was the shattering weight of expectations; billions of dollars and a decade of work all riding on The Avengers not just being done, but being done well and then doing well at the box office. The result was not just the third biggest box office hit of all time, but the closest thing a major summer tentpole flick can get to being an auteur work. Every inch of this film had Whedon’s fingerprints on it, and his voice never gets lost amongst the action and effects. So complete was Whedon’s influence on the film that Marvel bucked its own trend and hired him immediately, not just for the sequel, but to be the overseer of the entire Marvel Movie Universe on the Disney end. Forget the Whedonites! Hollywood, Joss is your master now.

2. Skyfall

It was a long time waiting for the latest Bond movie, and while I’m not sure I’d stamp Skyfall as the best Bond movie of all time, I think we can all agree that it sufficiently washed the taste of Quantum of Solace out of our collective mouths. On the occasion of the character’s 50th anniversary of his big screen adventures, the franchise’s producers, and director Sam Mendes, managed to put together a Bond flick that was strangely familiar while continuing down the bold path set by Casino Royale. Bond himself is treated to a complex arc that questions his abilities and his dedication, and M becomes the most unusual Bond girl as Her Majesty’s finest tries to keep his boss’ sins from coming back to kill her. A charismatic villain in the person of Silva played by Javier Bardem, as well as the addition of new supporting players like Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw as the stalwart new Q, and you have the rare Bond movie where you’re just as engrossed by the non-action scenes as you are by the action. Even the fact that film’s climax bears a little resemblance to a more lethal Home Alone scenario does nothing to diminish the greatness of the Skyfall.

3. The Cabin in the Woods

Finally freed from bankruptcy purgatory, The Cabin in the Woods came out this past spring and gave us a new cult classic from director Drew Goddard and officially kicked-off what was to be the year of Whedon. More than that though, The Cabin in the Woods is perhaps the most effective deconstruction of the horror genre since the first Scream, and if it had been more successful at the box office, it would have been just as significant a game changer. Instead, Cabin will have to stand as a bizarre, though effective, reboot of The Evil Dead. Five pretty young people go into the woods where they awaken an ancient evil from beneath their dilapidated cabin. But the gag is there’s a second story running concurrently, a secretive group of some kind of instigators both controlling and observing the action and fate that befalls our young heroes. Or are they the heroes? Really the stars of the film are the Statler and Waldorf-esque Hadley and Sitterson played by Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins, and where as in different hands these two would definitely be played for villains, in Whedon and Goddard’s script they’re the unsung, under-appreciated heroes of the story. Ultimately though, Cabin may have been undone by marketing; if you went into the film cold it was a joy, but the trailers and the ads gave a lot away. And you scoff at J.J. Abrams for his secrecy…

4. Django Unchained

Yes, I will cross Spike Lee – who’s films I enjoy immensely – in order to include Django Unchained on this list, after all, if it’s a year with a Quentin Tarantino movie, it’s probably going to end up on a couple of lists like this. Continuing to cut a bloody swath of revenge and historical revisionism across cinema, Tarantino takes us to the final years of slavery in the American South prior to the Civil War, and like his previous film, Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino cares not for meandering asides, or anachronistic music selections, but is instead focused on getting us to the blood curdling – and blood spilling – finale. Of course, he makes us earn that visceral violent thrill by navigating a slew of quirky characters and silver-tongued dialogue scenes, which is all part of that QT-charm. Tarantino veterans like Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson hold up their end, while Tarantino rookies Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio look like they’re having a ball, DiCaprio in particular seems to be relishing the role of the villainous Calvin Candie. And like most of Tarantino’s past endeavours, Django is an Easter Egg filled treasure trove of call backs, homages and cameos that require more than one viewing in order to catch them all. But of course you’re going to see this again and again because it’s Tarantino and you wish you were half the movie nerd he is.

5. Indie Game The Movie

Much has been said – and written – about independent musicians and filmmakers, but what about independent game makers. This documentary focuses on three different stories, each offering some kind of insight into the struggles, creativity and commitment of these bold few who shirk the big gaming houses to strike out on their own. One surprising aspect of the film is the way it peels back an industry that the mainstream still doesn’t really understand. The average guy on the street has at least a basic knowledge of the Hollywood studio system and the functioning of big record companies, but gaming? Well it turns out the difficulties translate across media. The other thing that translates is the passion. Even if you’re not the world’s biggest gamer, the subjects speak the language or art, whether it’s trying to maintain some semblance of artistic license, battling your former d-bag partner to be allowed to preview your game at a trade show, or simply working 16 hour days and apologizing to your wife with a promise that when you’re done it will all be worth it. It’s an inspiring tale of creative pursuit and the incredible effort to beat the competition and get your game in front of the most eyes. And they say there’s nothing artistic about video games.

6. Chronicle

It’s strange that in a year with so many big budget superhero movies in theatres that one of the best should be a low budget job starring a bunch of unknowns in a 90 minute film stylized to look like a home movies and CCTV footage. But there it is, and there is was. Chronicle, although late to the whole “food footage” trend, which this year alone included The Devil Inside, Project X, The Chernobyl Diaries, V/H/S, and Paranormal Activity 4, had the benefit of being one of the few none-horror offerings in the genre. On top of it all, it offered compelling character drama, a realistic spin on superhero archetypes, and blockbuster action on an art house budget. So complete was Chronicle’s impact on the genre that star Dane DeHaan was recently cast to play Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man sequel, and director Josh Trank was hired to direct Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. But none of that would matter if Chronicle didn’t click on a basic level. It comes down to a question that’s plagued fanboys since the dawn of super-powers, would you use your powers for your own ends like Andrew, or would you use them to help others like Matt?

7. The Dark Knight Rises

I’ve heard a lot of people call this movie the Return of the Jedi of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and I think they meant it as an insult. I know a lot of people were disappointed that despite the hype, Rises didn’t change their world forever, but following the unprecedented heights of The Dark Knight how could it? Of course It couldn’t, and also not helping the situation is this false, Highlander-ish beef between Rises and The Avengers, as if there can only be one film to rule the nerds for all time. If you read Drew McWeeny’s two-part analysis of the film, I think it’s pretty much spot-on. What Christopher Nolan did, and I think fantastically to his credit, is take the Batman mythos and re-purpose it to be a realistic and human three-act epic. Sure, Bane and Talia’s revenge plot disguised as class warfare was perhaps overly complicated, but how often do movie crime plots revel in simplicity? Have none of you seen The Usual Suspects? So let’s focus on the positive: the film’s compelling emotional beats, all the comic book Easter Eggs worked in by the Nolans, and honestly, wasn’t Anne Hathaway the Catwoman of your dreams? In the end, what we got with Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was a competent, compelling, and artful cinematic telling of the Batman story with a thoroughly well-thought out beginning, middle and end. Besides, don’t we all know the alternative?

8. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

What was really unexpected about The Hobbit was the split between critics and fans; the former appraising the film with a collective sense of ennui (and serving it a 65 per cent “fresh” Rotten Tomato rating) and the later eagerly enjoying the return to Middle Earth after a long, 11-year wait. I concede I found myself somewhere in between while watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Any point that deviates from the main thrust of J.R.R. Tolkien’s first book is difficult to wade through, but whenever the story focuses on Bilbo and the dwarves’ journey to the Lonely Mountain is golden. So much so that I was disappointed by the time we get to the end and realizing I’d have to wait another year for part two. Technically, the film is brilliant. The photography, the effects, and the score are all amazing, and how awesome was it to have Gandalf back in grey mode (and essayed perfectly by Ian McKellen)? New players like Martin Freeman as the young Bilbo and Richard Armitage as would-be dwarf king Thorin are fine additions, and Andy Serkis owned as Gollum once again. In a case of the good far outweighing the bad, The Hobbit definitely leaves you wanting more, and Peter Jackson’s command of Middle Earth lore is indeed unquestionable. I think though there’s still a question of whether or not three movies is too much of a good thing. I guess we’ll see next Christmas.

9. Dredd 3-D and The Raid: Redemption

For me, it’s hard to separate these two movies, so they make the list together (which technically makes this a Top 11 list, and I know that, don’t bother pointing that out). Both are about cops who enter a building to bust a drug kingpin only to have it turn into a multilevel battle royale for survival. In Dredd, the cop just happens to be Judge Dredd, and in a feat of resurrection nearly impossible, director Pete Travis washed away the memory of Sylvester Stallone’s ill-fated attempt to turn the comic into a film back in 1995. As for The Raid, the Indonesia/US co-production was hardcore in a way that Hong Kong used to do best. The visceral bone-crunching fight scenes plus the various personal stakes amongst the cops and gangsters make this a bloody, claustrophobic and an all-too satisfying action flick that U.S. filmmakers are rarely capable of. As for Dredd, the 3-D makes this look like a big Hollywood effort, but it can be as rough and raw as any indie action effort. Like Chronicle, Dredd proved there’s a lot that can be done on a small budget, and certainly you don’t need a big budget to make the ultra-dystopia Mega City One a reality. Sometimes, when it comes to action movies, getting more bang for your buck gets you more bang for your buck.

10. Looper

Time travel is hard to pull off, but in director Rian Johnson’s first foray into genre filmmaking, he proves that he can cram a lot of ideas and inspiration into a single, two-hour film to create what maybe the best time travel thriller since 12 Monkeys. Now I’ve been a big fan of Johnson’s work for a while now, from the high school-noir Brick to the fanciful con-comedy Brothers Bloom, so maybe I can see past the logical fallacies because the filmmaker knows how to spin a good yarn. But I prefer to think it’s because Looper is a brainy, twisty and fun sci-fi film that, granted, isn’t as concerned with the snake eating its own tail minutiae of time travel as it is being a compelling character piece. For instance, some found the Bruce Willis-ish make-up worn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt to be kind of creepy, but I choose to believe that’s a compliment, like, “It’s creepy how much Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks like Bruce Willis.” But JGL’s spot on impression of Willis is just one aspect of one great performance that includes good work by Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels, Noah Segan, Garret Dillahunt, newcomer Pierce Gagnon and Willis himself. If you sat there counting the paradoxes you’re missing the point because Looper is The Terminator masquerading as Goodfellas. Or vice versa.

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Jonathan Nolan is definitely one of the nerdy elite, and if you don’t get that impression from his collaborations from his director brother Christopher (like co-writing the Dark Knight movies and The Prestige), or the weekly adventures of Jesus and Ben Linus on Person of Interest which he created, then maybe the below interview will convince you. Or no. Whatever.

So these excerpts come from an interview in Empire, who asked Nolan about such tantalizing fan queries as sneaking Robin into the end of The Dark Knight Rises, the Batman villains they couldn’t use, his thoughts on the upcoming Justice League movie, and what he really thought of Dark Knight competitor for best superhero movie of the year, The Avengers.

First things first, just how did they sneak “The Boy Wonder” into the Nolan Bat-universe?

It is a little hard to imagine Robin working in that universe, so the idea had to be limited to that gag at the end. But Joe’s character is very important to the story. In any movie you need a character looking at proceedings the way you see them, and Joe’s character is that character for this film. One of my favourite scenes is when John tells Bruce how he knew he was Batman. It’s like that scene in The Prestige where the little kid sees through Christian’s trick. Little kids, they don’t have any illusions, they just see the truth of the situation. I feel there’s a kind of spiritual connection between the two movies there.

So let’s talk Bat-villains now. Are there any that Nolan wishes he could have penned into the series?

Yeah, like Clayface or, indeed, The Penguin. Part of what’s compelling about Chris’s take is the naturalism of it and I think that’s one of the things I loved about the Frank Miller comic books was that they were sort of urban, gritty vigilante stories first and formost. So everything had to stick within that universe. It’s hard to imagine [in these movies] any of the rogue’s gallery characters who have sort of a more supernatural or science-fiction bent to them. And I think that’s one of the aspects of Batman which are fascinating: in 70 years, the character has been sort of fully laundered. Because of writers and artists having every month coming up with a different story to tell with this character, there are often different genre aspects to it. You have your science-fictions, you’ve had fantasy elements along the way, horror, camp comedy… I mean there are so many different versions.

And while his big brother has been pretty clear about his future intentions with DC Comics-based movies, the littler Nolan says that he’s looking forward to the eventual Justice League film.

I’m incredibly excited. I was a big Batman fan when I was a kid. In fact he was the only comic-book character I really liked. I went through a brief spell where I was reading Captain Britain, because I was an English kid living in the States, and Wolverine for 30 seconds, Spider-Man too, but really Batman was the one. And I love that there are different versions of the character. I love that in the context of The Justice League, he’s kind of the black sheep of that family.

Currently, Justice League is scheduled against the sequel to The Avengers in 2015, which is going to be a pretty epic box office match-up if it ends up going down, perhaps even bigger than this summer’s showdown between The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. But seriously, what did Nolan think about the efforts of the other team?

I did. To me Joss Whedon is a god, I’m just a huge fan of his work, I love his work on TV. And I thought The Avengers was just an incredible achievement.

Nice of Jonah to be so giving to the Marvel side of life.

Source: Geek Tyrant

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Every day the internet produces an astounding amount of goodies and gems. Most hilarious, some amusing, but all worth at least a few seconds of your time. We here at Nerd Bastards try to bring you the best bits of news and nerdery the webz has to offer, with a bit of snark thrown in. But sometimes not everything makes the cut. Monday through Friday we’ll be bringing you our inbox leftovers, our forgotten bookmarks, the nerdy bits that simply slipped through the cracks. You can submit items to Nerdy Bits by emailing us at nerdybits@nerdbastards.com.

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The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises were this year’s tent pole films of the comic book super hero genre. (Sorry, Spider-Man.) They’re tough to compare because there couldn’t have been two more different super hero movies, but compare them we did, and I’m sure there’s one you prefer over the other. Turns out Kevin Smith likes one more than the other, too, and it might surprise you which.

In an interview with Indiewire the writer, director, podcaster, and all around fanboy tears in to why he likes The Avengers a little more than The Dark Knight Rises,

The Dark Knight Rises’ I have a weird relationship with – it’s like a chemical romance with a toxic ex-girlfriend where I love her to death but there are some things about her that are just fucking wrong. ‘The Avengers’ I loved so more than I thought I would. I’ve written for Marvel but I was never an Avengers guy. I’m more DC,” Smith elaborated. “But I’ve become obsessed with Favreau’s ‘Iron Man’ movie because I think it’s very nearly a perfect film. So when I saw Favreau wasn’t doing it I thought, Well what do I care? The first time I saw it was in Australia and it opened a week before it opened here and we were traveling for the ‘Jay and Silent Bob Go Down Under’ tour and we had just done a show and we went to a midnight show. And the first time I saw it I could not get past the Loki poke-y stick in the beginning. Because Loki sticks something in somebody’s chest and it’s like ‘WAAMP, you’re a bad guy.’ What the fuck? Is this the level of discourse we’re going to have? But you can’t deny that flick.

By the middle of it I was like, ‘The Hulk is amazing.’ The next time I watched it I was totally into it. You can’t watch that movie and be like ‘I object to the Loki poke-y stick’ when there’s a motherfucker who turns into a green giant. In my mind Marvel science is okay because we were raised on it. As someone who looks for realism in comics, you can say, ‘Well, you could get belted by gamma rays and turn into someone else.’ But you can’t say, ‘A stick from outer space that makes you a bad guy is bullshit!’ So I got past that and embraced the whole thing,” Smith continued. “I’ve now watched ‘Avengers’ about eight times, twice on a plane back-to-back. It just keeps giving. That’s 10,000 across the board! Whedon in the driver’s seat, 70-80 years of Marvel, and the charm fucking factor of Robert Downey Jr. It runs like a golden machine. I never imagined that I would love ‘Avengers’ more than ‘Dark Knight Rises.’ Not only would I have never imagined that ‘Dark Knight’ would underperform (based on other mitigating factors of course). But I would have never thought ‘Avengers’ would make more than ‘Dark Knight Rises.’ But I never would have thought I would have liked ‘Avengers’ more than ‘Dark Knight Rises’ but I really did like ‘Avengers’ more. And I’ve watched them an equal amount of times. ‘Avengers,’ I’m not going to say it’s the better movie, but it puts a smile on your face. It’s magical cinema.

Bottom line, you have more fun watching The Avengers than you do Dark Knight Rises. I still really enjoyed TDKR, but its got some big flaws that will pull you out of the flick. Not saying The Avengers doesn’t have flaws either, but you’re having too much fun to care.

What’s your call? Come the end of the day, Avengers or Dark Knight Rises? Are you surprised such a giant Batman fan as Smith liked Avengers more?

Source: CBM

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Yet another year is coming to a close.  This means we’ve got yet another Top [insert number here] list of [insert year here].  In this case, it’s the American Film Institute‘s awards for the top 10 motion pictures and the top 10 television programs of 2012.

The list includes many of the expected film titles like The Dark Knight Rises and Les Miserables.  Same goes for the TV series; we’ve got Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Modern Family and The Walking Dead to drop some big names.  Fun fact for y’all: Mad Men is now the most recognized AFI Awards TV honoree in history after 5 straight years on that list.  I guess everybody loves themselves some Hamm, eh?  Eh?

Anyway.  Jump the chasm for the full list! (more…)

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Why read about one comic-to-film story when you can read about four? That’s our motto! So for this Superhero Round-Up feel free to peruse stories about Nick Fury’s next film appearance, Sir Patrick’s next X-Men appearance, and a couple of Dark Knight bits for good measure. (DVD release date plug!) Let’s start the round-up… (more…)

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