If you want to get Christopher Nolan to come to your party, then giving him an award and having your party in Santa Barbara are probably two good strategies to utilize. Sunday night, Nolan showed up at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival to pick up an award for Inception and ended up fielding some questions about the third film in his Batman franchise. When asked about how he came up with the film’s title, Nolan joked, “I banged my head against the wall.” After pausing for some laughter, he went on to continue, “We’ve worked on it a long time, David Goyer and myself. We’re about 12 weeks away from shooting. We start in May.” When asked why he finally signed on to doing a third film after some much publicized hemming and hawing, he stated simply, “It was about finishing the story.” But when questioned about whether the newly cast Anne Hathaway would actually be playing Catwoman or if she would just be appearing as her civilian alter ego Selina Kyle, Nolan just flashed a smile and refused to comment. There are four important bits of information that fans of Nolan’s Batman films can take away from these comments. 1) Anne Hathaway may or may not don a cat suit in The Dark Knight Rises. 2) This seems to definitely be Nolan’s final go around with the franchise. 3) Shooting starts in a mere 12 weeks. 4) When Christopher Nolan makes a joke, the room laughs: period. Source: [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]

With the casting announcement of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle and Tom Hardy as Bane, the speculation begins on how these two pieces of the Batman universe will come together to create the puzzle that Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan have brewing in their minds. It’s a puzzle now confined to paper, but it’s a puzzle that demands solving nonetheless. The way to solve it? Pure speculation. The intriguing element to the casting has nothing to do with the actors or the fact that the characters have shown up in previous Batman movies. It has to do with the comic book history of Catwoman and Bane – and the minimal interaction they’ve had over the years. Catwoman is a classic villain, created in 1940. Bane is a modern creation born in 1993. So which comic book storylines will the Nolans draw from to bring them together?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

The speculation is over. Eddie Murphy is officially out of the running to play Catwoman for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises because the role has gone to Anne Hathaway (who can be seen looking cat-like to the right). Joining her in the casting news is Tom Hardy (who has long been known to be involved in the movie) who will play Bane. Catwoman is an uninspired choice, and even though Bane was featured in the worst Batman movie of all time, he’s the most interesting piece of the next puzzle. It’s a bit uninteresting to see Selina Kyle again (unless Nolan takes her back to her roots of prostitution and gangster clan heckling), but seeing Tom Hardy play perhaps the most intelligent and most physically formidable villain Batman has faced is definitely a concept worth the price of admission (to a movie everyone on the planet is already planning on seeing). Some odd choices, but by this point, shouldn’t we be placing our faith in Nolan? [Hero Complex]

Every week, Landon Palmer and Cole Abaius log on to their favorite chat client of 1996 as WaitingForGodard and FincherFan1984 in order to discuss some topical topic of interest. This week, the alleged story crisis in Hollywood. James Cameron thinks it exists, and the presence of a half dozen board game-based movies supports his theory, but are the studios really at a loss for words when it comes to infusing their spectacles with good stories?

This year, someone who has never won a DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement will win a DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement. The filed includes three first-time nominees – Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan; Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech; and David O. Russell for The Fighter – as well as two returning nominees – David Fincher for The Social Network (who was previously nominated for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and who has won several commercial directing awards from the DGA) and Christopher Nolan for Inception (who was previously nominated for The Dark Knight and Memento). None of these directors has won the award, which means the Director’s Guild of America’s pattern of celebrating new talent (even talent that’s been around a decade) will continue. In the past 25 years, the DGA has only had 4 repeat winners – Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood and Oliver Stone. With this list of nominees, it’s guaranteed that yet another new name will join their ranks.

It’s that time of the year again: that brief span of time in between Christmas and New Year’s when journalists, critics, and cultural commentators scramble to define an arbitrary block of time even before that block is over with. To speculate on what 2010 will be remembered for is purely that: speculation. But the lists, summaries, and editorials reflecting on the events, accomplishments, failures, and occurrences of 2010 no doubt shape future debate over what January 1-December 31, 2010 will be remembered for personally, nostalgically, and historically. How we refer to the present frames how it is represented in the future, even when contradictions arise over what events should be valued from a given year. In an effort to begin that framing process, what I offer here is not a critical list of great films, but one that points out dominant cultural conversations, shared trends, and intersecting topics (both implicit and explicit) that have occurred either between the films themselves or between films and other notable aspects of American social life in 2010. As this column attempts to establish week in and week out, movies never exist in a vacuum, but instead operate in active conversation with one another. Thus, a movie’s cultural context should never be ignored. So, without further adieu, here is my overview of the Top 10 topics, trends, and events of the year that have nothing to do with the 3D debate.

We could almost start a brand new daily column for this, thanks to the crack staff at MTV. They are quote-unquote reporting today that Angelina Jolie will not play Catwoman in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises. When asked about the rumors/speculation that she’d make a great Catwoman, Jolie responded to MTV with the ever-cryptic script “I haven’t heard anything about it…” What?! You haven’t heard of Christopher Nolan’s next Batman movie? How dare you, Mrs. Pitt. Stop doing charity work and get your ass to the internet. The important stuff is happening right here. As for the casting of Chris Nolan’s next, the saga continues. And if MTV has anything to say about it, perhaps we’ll finally know whether or not John Stamos is ready to confirm the rumors of being cast as The Riddler, or not. Stamos! [MTV News]

Do you dream if you pass out from drinking? I’m sure you do, but you’ll be less likely to remember the experience. And that makes you even more vulnerable to attack from people like Dom Cobb and his dream team. Still, that’s not going to stop us from knocking back a few with one of the more mind-bending releases of the year, new on DVD and Blu-ray this week. Enjoy Christopher Nolan’s Inception with your drink of choice and see where your mind goes.

There’s been a sort of noticeable calm about the prospect of The Dark Knight Rises being the last time Christopher Nolan will tackle Batman. Christian Bale has already stated that he’s done professionally with the character, and Nolan has made it clear that he is too. However, there’s no uproar from fans, meaning that maybe everyone from both sides of the production are realizing that too much of a good thing can ruin the fun. Maybe it’s because movie fans have been burned by quadquels and quintquels and sexquels, or maybe by the reboots and part twos that come two decades too late, or maybe because we want to see original material from Nolan. Whatever the reason, there’s more than a natural acceptance of Nolan calling it quits after three. In a recent interview with EW, the director stated that he’s done after Rises, and that the film will most definitely not include The Joker in any form. No CGI Ledger, no new actor, no seance. These two facts are encouraging on many levels. Nolan has greater work to do outside of Gotham, and there’s no reason to electronically bring Ledger or the character back for another curtain call. It seems that finally someone in the big Hollywood game has realized when to go out on top. Now, it’s just a matter of making sure that the Dark Knight rises to it.

This is non-news, dear reader. You know it and I know it. The only people who don’t seem to know it are the other 99% of movie bloggers in the world who are treating this as if it doesn’t serve as some logical conclusion. Christopher Nolan has made it no secret that The Dark Knight Rises will be his last Batman film, a likely perfect bookend to a trilogy that has set a new standard in the world of comic adaptations. There’s no reason why his star, Christian Bale won’t retire from the franchise, as well. That said, I really wanted to write that title.

Looks like people can stop photo-shopping Tom Hardy into green costumes. Per Hero Complex, Christopher Nolan has confirmed three pieces of information that may be of interest to film fans… The third Batman film will not feature The Riddler as the main villain. Granted, that doesn’t mean Edward Nigma won’t make an appearance of some sort, but we’ll take Nolan’s word for it because British people don’t lie. But this means means speculation can begin anew as to who the real feature baddie will be? Can’t be Two Face because Harvey Dent is dead. (Deal with it people.) Can’t be The Penguin, Mister Freeze, or Calendar Man because Nolan isn’t an idiot. And it can’t be Catwoman, Poison Ivy, or Harley Quinn because everyone knows women are too weak to be truly threatening. So who will it be? And who will Hardy play? It will neither be filmed in 3D nor will it be post-converted. Nolan is clearly one of the few Hollywood directors with the weight to tell a studio “no” when it comes to the 3D bandwagon, and it looks like he has done just that. His preference instead will be to focus once again on various high definition and IMAX approaches. And lastly, the final part of Nolan’s Batman trilogy will be called The Dark Knight Rises. Clearly this means Batman will finally get to become the hero Gotham deserves, needs, and wants. But is a hero to all people truly a hero? The Dark Knight Rises [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]

Poor Edward Norton just can’t catch a break. Per Deadline Fort Calhoun, Tom Hardy has joined the cast of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Batman film. The role is unknown, as is the sequel’s actual plot, and this is far from an official confirmation… but reporting this now saves us from having to link to an obnoxious “Toldja!” post later on down the road. Hardy worked with Nolan on Inception, a film that many people see as one he stole from his more recognizable co-stars, but his critical breakout came in the fairly brilliant and original biopic Bronson for director Nicolas Winding Refn. He’s currently in production on the John Le Carre adaptation Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for director Tomas Alfredson and McG’s romantic comedy This Means War, but his next film to hit theaters should be the mixed martial arts flick Warrior. The opportunity to join the third Batman film came about after Hardy’s next project, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, saw it’s production start date moved back by a year.

The news that Natalie Portman might be in the running to play Lois Lane in the new Superman is a glimpse of hope for the franchise in a weary world. Sure, it would be fantastic. Portman can do just about anything and stands out as the rare movie star that can actually perform. The question is whether it’s worth it to get Darren Aronofsky to direct the film in order to make sure Portman takes on the role. Of course it’s not. In analyzing the possible directors, Aronofsky meets the dark criteria. However, he’s a talented but mercurial director who delivers movies that are only considered mainstream when compared to David Lynch, and he’s already proven that he can’t quite get a strong grip on an enormous scope or an enormous budget.

Just like any actor working in Hollywood, England, Canada, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and every single aspiring actor (and a few plumbers) – Edward Norton is interested in playing the main villain in Christopher Nolan’s Batman 3. Source: Common Sense

The Superman movie Warners is contractually obligated to make by 2012 is still a ways off, but now that Christopher Nolan is involved, there’s even more attention being paid to it. That attention turned this week to the possible directors in line to take on the famous superhero – Tony Scott, Matt Reeves, Zack Snyder, Duncan Jones and Jonathan Liesbesman. Some are denying they know anything about it, some are saying they’ve already turned it down, and none of them are dressing up as Superman and running around their offices pretending to fly. That’s all well and good, but there are some pros and some cons to these names.

Do yourself a favor and blow this video up to full screen, throw it on HD and let the combination of intense visuals (courtesy of some insane time-lapse photography of our own planet Earth) and the mammoth, sweeping score that Hans Zimmer put together for Christopher Nolan’s Inception (specifically the track “Dream is Collapsing”) wash over you. The video, assembled by Mike Flores, presents some stunning landscapes of our fair planet with an awe-inspiring eye. And when the score is mixed in, it feels as if we’re watching the birth of life itself. That Hans Zimmer, it’s as if he were meant to score the great moments of humanity or something. Or maybe just every Chris Nolan movie. It’s about the same. [via Gizmodo]

Now you’re looking for the secret. But you won’t find it because, of course, you’re not really looking. You don’t want to work it out. You want to be fooled. In the late 19th century, the magician Alfred Borden, “The Professor,” is on trial for the murder of rival magician, Robert Angier, “The Great Danton.” What the prosecution is trying to prove and what the consensus seems to say is that Borden, furious that Angier had stolen Borden’s “The Transported Man” trick, drowned Angier in a Chinese water torture cell on the evening of his final performance.

Alain Resnais is one my favorite filmmakers, and it’s largely because of his early work. Between Night and Fog (1955), Hiroshima mon amour (1959), and this week’s film, Last Year at Marienbad (1961), Resnais’ late 50s-early 60s work represents a sort of trilogy meditating on the themes of trauma and memory. While these first two films address these subjects specifically in regard to resonating painful memories of WWII (the subject of Night and Fog being concentration camps, and Hiroshima mon amour clearly being Hiroshima), Marienbad’s narrative avenue towards this subject isn’t rooted in globally relevant history. Rather, Last Year at Marienbad switches gears to tell a story of memory loss between two socialites at a baroque hotel, one of whom (the man, played by Girgio Albertazzi) remembers a brief but passionate affair from the previous year, while the other (the woman, played by Delphine Seyrig) doesn’t.

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.