Shooting in downtown Chicago for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel will begin on Wednesday, and local rag Chicago Business has scoops on some of the locations that will be used and what they will be doubling as. More specifically, while they’re not sure of the locations of any street shots, they know what building Snyder plans to use as the headquarters of Metropolis’ number one newspaper The Daily Planet. Apparently Chicago’s Board of Trade building will serve as the Planet building exteriors (with digitally inserted globe atop, I’m sure) and the interiors of the newspaper office will be filmed inside of the Wesley Willis Memorial Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). These choices make a lot of sense, because the Board of Trade is a big imposing building that looks nice standing at the end of a street, and the Willis Tower is huge, so there’s probably plenty of room inside to be converted into movie sets. Eagle eyed Chicago enthusiasts or great big super hero nerds might have noticed that there’s a sweet little bit of trivia created by Snyder’s choice though. The Board of Trade looks so good as a big imposing building that it was also used as the headquarters for Wayne Enterprises in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise. Using the same building twice for two big superhero movies shouldn’t be a big deal; you slap a big W on it the first time, you put a big globe on it the second time, [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Last week’s discussion on the sex appeal of animated characters sparked a little offline controversy. Why did we forget to include sexy villains in our list, when everyone knows they can be just as mouthwatering? Now we could spend an entire novel talking about the awkward crushes we have on certain animated villains, just as we could in the opposite direction, however I’m more interested in the modern rejection of Hollywood’s traditional “uglying up” the bad guy. See, this is where movies have always lost me. A true villain, one who is charming, relies on henchmen, and has a bevy of beauties would never be a disgusting, rotted, warted-up mess. In fact, no matter how determined a villain is to get his or her way, their tinge of crazy (read: psychotic levels) often makes them more attractive to those sharing screen time.  This is probably why you feel the need to shower after watching anything starring Vincent Cassel. But recently mainstream films have taken a page out of the indie playbook and started making their villains just a touch more delicious. Movies.com’s Jenni Miller wrote earlier this week about the sexification of the rapist in next month’s Straw Dogs remake. She discusses her discomfort with the film’s marketing decision to highlight the sexiness of the gang of deviants and how the film’s “down home” feel will get lost with such good looking villains. I have to disagree. Although Alexander Skarsgard (Charlie) has made a career of playing a hot Viking [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Every week, Landon Palmer and Cole Abaius log on to their favorite chat client of 1996 as TheManFromWaco andTeenWlf2 in order to discuss some topical topic of interest. This week, the pair questions what separates the wheat from the shit when it comes to reboots, prequels and movies capitalizing on name recognition in order to get ahead in the marketing game. What makes a prequel great? How can a reboot really succeed?

There’s a lot going on in Christopher Nolan’s (wonderful) Inception. One of those things: Cillian Murphy’s Robert Fischer. If you’ve seen the film by now then you already know how truly sympathetic Robert Fischer is. In fact, he’s arguably more sympathetic than the main character, Cobb. Cobb’s problems come from his own undoing while Fischer’s come from his father. Ironically, Fischer and Cobb are extremely similar. They are both looking for catharsis and to let go of someone from the past. The closings to the arcs are parallels. They both, arguably, go through the same change. Fischer raises a big ethical question that really isn’t delved into the film all too much: isn’t Cobb going to ruin a man’s life to save his own? His whole team seems cool with that, oddly. But then again, Cobb is never truly played as a “likable” type of guy. He’s selfish in more ways than one. Fischer is the one that comes out looking good through this whole ordeal, not Cobb. I got plenty of time to speak to Mr. Murphy recently about this as well as throwing possible theories his way.

With all the invention, intriguing plot webs, and overall solid cinematic storytelling that Christopher Nolan’s films are credited for, yet another innovative characteristic of his signature narrative approach is often looked over: his own special brand of antihero. A thread that has connected Nolan’s films (scripted often in collaboration with his brother Jonathan) is the presence of a central male character who possesses some combination of destructive egotism, desperate selfishness at the risk of others, aggressive self-righteousness, willful delusion, or even the first signs of a messiah complex (“asshole” is used in the title of this post simply as an umbrella term for all the negative traits connecting these protagonists). I credit this aspect of storytelling and character development to the brothers Nolan, for filmmakers who work so successfully in Hollywood aren’t often able to bring to the screen characters who contain so many obvious flaws, and further credit goes to them for actually immersing us in their characters’ subconscious (figuratively in the case of all their films not titled Inception), making us give a damn about these characters to the point that sometimes these otherwise obvious personality flaws are only visible upon reflection after the film has been experienced. Nolan’s characters are often complex and intelligent, but beneath any confident exterior resides a deeply troubled psychology – some more obvious than others.

There’s a musical quality when Hans Zimmer speaks. Sometimes stammering his way through sentences, the native German sounds equal parts Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Jeremy Irons in Die Hard with a Vengeance. All of that is lifted by a sunshine sense of humor that seems to get out in front of him and lead the way. Over a three decade career, Zimmer has built a reputation for quality in film scoring. It could easily be said that he’s had the privilege of working with some of the best directors in the business, but it could just as easily be said that it is they who have had the privilege of working with him. His most recent work can be heard through the booms, haunting piano keys, and ever-present synth modulations that support Leonardo Dicaprio as he steals around the dreams of Inception. Yesterday, it was I who had the privilege of speaking with the composer about the fear inherent in every new job, the connective tissue between Japanese electropop and Russian choirs, and what he’s trying to say with his music.

Great. The hype surrounding The Dark Knight lives on as Gary Oldman announces they will definitely be filming the third installment next year. Start your engines!

This week Culture Warrior asks, just how ‘new’ is the new Star Trek, anyway?

If you enjoy and follow genre films then you’ve most likely seen David Goyer’s work. The question is, will you enjoy his directorial work on The Unborn?

It’s okay to admit you cry once in a while guys. As long as you beat a gorilla to death immediately afterward, you can still be considered manly. Luckily, there’s a few flicks out there that let us cry at will – here’s ten of ‘em.

Quite simply, when you see The Dark Knight, you’re going to realize how truly awful the first wave of Batman films were.

The year’s most anticipated summer film is still weeks away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t give you a first-hand account of its brilliance. Yeah, that’s right — we said brilliance. Behold, the epic spectacle that is The Dark Knight.

Brian Gibson loves to buy DVDs. Come with him on his weekly journey into the depths of credit card debt as he tells you what to buy, rent and avoid.

Christian Bale expresses his plans to leave the series if Robin, the boy wonder, was ever forced upon the Batman franchise.

Take a trip to Wizard World in Chicago, where FSR’s Josh Radde was among a few other press people who got to sit down and talk with some of the masters behind Batman: Gotham Knight.

It isn’t even July 1 yet and all the web can seem to talk about is The Dark Knight. And now, thanks to some statistics from the world of online movie ticket sales, it is time to start questioning whether that interest might just turn into box office records.

Our friends at Slashfilm have delivered on 40 new images that are a mix of old and new. The new, a lot of which include more of The Joker, are pretty cool. The old… well, those are cool, too. As if you need another reason to be excited…

Robert Fure is fed up with crappy comic adaptations. Can Iron Man lead the way to a new age of awesome?

With the release this weekend of Marvel Studio’s Iron Man I can be certain of two things: Comic book movies are here to stay and Iron Man is among the best of them. Thus, it is time to see just how well it stacks up.

A friend of FSR comes swooping in with great first-hand knowledge of Heath Ledger’s demonic Joker!