When I was six years old, my dad took me to see a movie that made a lasting impression in my life. That movie was Batman. If Superman gave us the quintessential superhero in Christopher Reeve, then Batman gave us his counterpart in Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Batman’s nemesis, the Joker. After almost twenty years, nobody has been able to top Jack’s performance, until last night.

The Dark Knight, the latest installment in the Batman movie franchise, returns us to same conflict between Batman and the Joker, with a Joker that makes Jack Nicholson look like Cesar Romero (look it up if you don’t get the reference). Read more

By all accounts Heath Ledger’s performance in Dark Knight is nothing short of amazing–and the chatter that he could be in line for a posthumous Oscar is turning into an all-out battle cry. But that doesn’t mean he’ll win.

From LATimes.com:

Just after returning from a screening of “The Dark Knight,” KTLA reporter Sam Rubin declared on his blog that Heath Ledger gives such “a blockbuster performance” as the Joker that he’ll “absolutely be nominated for an Oscar, and at this point in the year, Ledger is also a hands-down favorite to win it posthumously.

Read more

Heath Ledger, the Oscar-nominated actor (Brokeback Mountain) who plays the Joker in the upcoming Dark Knight, was found dead by a housekeeper in his Soho apartment.

He leaves behind his two-year-old daughter, Matilda.

Police have yet to confirm the reason of his death, though pills were found near his body.

Like Brandon Lee (The Crow) before him, the 28-year-old star has left us with a fitting, parting adieu - a feature film. Rest in peace, Heath.

Story developing…

Earlier this evening I was invited to a hush-hush, six-minute teaser of The Dark Knight at AMC Loews Lincoln Center in New York.

Being the nice guy that I am, I’ll break down the not-so-breaking details (the six minutes of Dark Knight glory have been previously shown at various locales throughout the week) of the entire affair.

Spoilers start here:

After an opening shot of Gotham City in the daytime, the pace picks up with clown-masked robbers in the midst of a major bank heist. The Killer Clowns bust through the bank’s doors, creating chaos out of order as they take control of the room, save for one unnamed employee (William Fichtner) keeping his cool, plotting against his newly-made adversaries.

Emerging from his desk Fichtner wields a shotgun, shattering the glass around him and emptying shots on the clowns, who safely duck behind a service area. “Do you really know what you’re getting into?” he says, hinting towards the bank being controlled by the mafia. After he runs out of ammo one clown jumps up and shoots his side, dropping him.

Throughout the hail of bullets in the bank lobby the other clowns in the operation, knee-deep in cash, are double and triple-crossing each other. With loads of money on the line, each clown’s motive is to kill the guy they’re next to, hoping to flee with all the earnings. Read more