The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight ( from newmovietop.blogspot.com)

                                         The dark knight is a 2008 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, co-written, produced and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film is the second part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins followed by “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).Nolan inspired by the comic book character “The Joker” whom debut appearance in comic book in 1940, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, which retold Two-Face's origin. He Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. Nolan used IMAX 70 mm film cameras to film some sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film.

On January 22, 2008 and six months before the film's release, Heath Ledger died due to drugs. It leads to intense attention from the press and movie-going public. Warner Bros initially created a huge marketing campaign for The Dark Knight highlighting screenshots of Ledger as the Joker.

                                        A co-production of the United States and the United Kingdom, The Dark Knight was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom. Considered by film critics to be one of the best films of the 2000s and one of the best superhero films ever, the film received highly positive reviews and set numerous records during its theatrical run. The Dark Knight appeared on more critics' top ten lists (287) than any other film of 2008 and more critics (77) named The Dark Knight the best film of 2008 than any other film released that year.

• Some mind blowing facts about The Dark Knight

With over $1 billion in revenue worldwide it becomes the 4^th movie ever to pass $ 1 billion and gained universal acclaimed from critics well as the audiences. The film received eight Academy Award nominations; it won the award for Best Sound Editing and Ledger was posthumously awarded Best Supporting Actor for the 1^st time for comic book character. The dark Knight followed by The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.Argubaly film’s major success due to Heath Ledger’s character as joker.

                                       Christopher Nolan done his duty as a director, producer (with Emma Thomas and Charles Roven).With his brother Jonathan Nolan he wrote screenplay for this movie. David S. Goyer  supported Nolan for the story. Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard supported with music and it was distributed by Warner Bros;. ;. Film released in July 14, 2008 New York, July 18, 2008 United States, and July 24, 2008 in U.K with 152 minutes running time, which grossed over   $ 1.000 billion.This is the official trailer for The  Dark Knight.  
Plot

                                       Film started with The Joker and his accomplices rob a mob-owned bank in Gotham where Joker kills his crew one by one and escapes alone with all the money. Batman and Lt. Jim Gordon decided to include the new district attorney, Harvey Dent who is dating with Rachel Dawes, in their plan to eradicate the mob.

 Bruce is impressed with his idealism and offers to throw him a fundraiser. Mob bosses hold a videoconference with Lau, a Chinese accountant who has hidden their funds and fled to Hong Kong. Joker interrupts the meeting and offers s to kill Batman for half their money but they refused. Gambol puts a bounty on Joker but Joker kills Gambol and takes control of his men. Meanwhile Batman captures Lau and delivers him back to Gotham to testify against the mob.

 The Joker announces that people will die each day unless Batman reveals his identity. He then kills Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and targets Dent at the fundraiser, but Bruce hides Dent.  On Mayor  Garcia, Gordon apparently sacrificing himself investigations with Joker. Dent names himself as Batman to protect the truth. Dent is taken into custody and pursued by the Joker across the city, where Batman and Gordon, who faked his death comes to the aid. And Gordon is promoted to Commissioner.

In that night batman discovered Joker’s crew kidnapped Dent and Rachel placed them in 2 separate buildings filled with explosives. Joker  reveals their locations but batman realize realize that the Joker has tricked him because he went to Rachel But he found Dent in that location. But both buildings explode, killing Rachel and scarring half of Dent's face. The Joker detonates a bomb in the police station and escapes with Lau.

                                                Coleman Reese, at Wayne Enterprises, deduces Batman's true identity and plans to reveal it. The Joker kills Lau and The Chechen, then threatens to bomb a hospital unless Reese is killed. Gordon and Bruce protect Reese, who changes his mind. The Joker visits Dent in the hospital and convinces him to seek revenge. The Joker then blows up the hospital and escapes with hostages. While  Dent starts to seek revenge  people who responsible for Rachel's death it is revealed Joker rigged two Ships with explosives to escalate chaos , one ship is full of citizens, the other full of prison inmates and guards.

He then gives the passengers of each ship the choice to blow the other up before midnight — otherwise, both ships will explode. The passengers ultimately refuse, however. Batman asks Lucius Foxto use a city-wide tracking prototype device to find the Joker; wich  Fox agreed, stating he will resign immediately afterward. The Joker dresses up hostages as his men, luring Gordon's SWAT team to strike them. Batman fights off the SWAT team and the Joker's men, then rescues the hostages.

 Batman apprehends the Joker, but the Joker gloats that he has won, as Gotham will lose hope once Dent's rampage becomes public. The SWAT team arrives to take the Joker into custody. Dent lures Gordon to the building where Rachel died and holds Gordon's family hostage. Batman confronts Dent, who judges the fates of himself, Batman, and Gordon's son with three coin flips. However Batman survives from a shot wearing body amour and saving Gorden’s child. He tackles Dent off the building, killing him and Batman convinces Gordon to frame him for the murders so Dent will becomes the symbol  of the city. Gordon launches a manhunt for the Batman and Alfred burns a letter written by Rachel to Bruce announcing her engagement to Dent.

Cast

·         Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman

·         Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth

·         Heath Ledger as the Joker

·         Gary Oldman as James Gordon

·         Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face

·         Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

·         Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawe        

       

 Production and filming

  After much research, Nolan's brother and co-writer, Jonathan, suggested the Joker's first two appearances, published in the first issue of Batman (1940), as the crucial influences. Warner Bros. chose to film in Chicago for 13 weeks, because Nolan had a "truly remarkable experience" filming part of Batman Begins there. Production of The Dark Knight in Chicago generated $45 million in the city's economy and created thousands of jobs. In September 2007 technician Conway Wickliffe was killed when his car crashed. So film is dedicated to both Ledger and Wickliffe.it also filmed in London and Hong kong. Nolan sometimes uses IMAX camera for shooting the film. Designers improved on the design of the Batsuit from Batman Begins. It was constructed from 200 individual pieces of rubber, fiberglass, metallic mesh, and nylon. It was constructed from 200 individual pieces of rubber, fiberglass, metallic mesh, and nylon. During the filming Chicago police received numerous complain about batmobile  due to is’ strange shape and other filming sequences. After the death of Heath Ledger on January 22, 2008, Warner Bros. adjusted its promotional focus on the Joker, revising some of its websites dedicated to promoting the film and posting a memorial tribute to Ledger on the film's official website. And Online, ticketing services sold enormous numbers of tickets for approximately 3,000 midnight showtimes as well as unusually early showtimes for the film's opening day. All IMAX theaters showing The Dark Knight were sold out for the opening weekend.

Reception and Box office

                                                             The movie was met with very positive reviews from all over the world. It has a IMDB rating 9.0/10 which is the highest rating movie in this decade. By Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 94% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 8.5/10. By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating in the 0–100 range based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 82, based on 39 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was "A" on an A+ to F scale, and that audiences skewed slightly male and older. The Dark Knight was ranked the 15th greatest film in history on Empire's 2008 list of the "500 Greatest Movies of All Time," based upon the weighted votes of 10,000 readers, 150 film directors, and 50 key film critics. Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker was also ranked number three on Empire's 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. In June 2010, the Joker was ranked number five on Entertainment Weekly‍‍ '​‍s "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years". A pirated copy was released on the Web approximately 38 hours after the film's release. BitTorrent search engine The Pirate Bay taunted the movie industry over its ability to provide the movie free, replacing its logo with a taunting message.

                                                             The Dark Knight earned $534.9 million in North America and $469.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1 billion and the fourth film in history to gross more than $1 billion. In order to increase the film's chances of crossing $1 billion in worldwide gross Warner Bros. re-released the film in traditional and IMAX theaters in the United States and other countries on January 23, 2009. Before the re-release, the film's gross remained at $997 million but following the re-release, the film crossed the $1-billion-mark in February 2009. The Dark Knight is the highest-grossing 2008 film. The Dark Knight's biggest territory was Australia, where it grossed $13.7 million over the weekend, setting a record for the largest superhero film opening.

Awards

                                                         Most notable among the nominations were Heath Ledger's almost complete sweep of over twenty awards for acting, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. It was nominated for Best Film at the Critics Choice Awards and was named one of the top ten films of 2008 by the American Film Institute. The Dark Knight was nominated for eight Academy Awards for the 81st Ceremony. The Dark Knight won two awards: Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger and Best Sound Editing. It’s other nominations were being Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Film Editing.

Reference

1.       Wikipedia. “The Dark Knight”

Batman Begins

Batman Begins (From newmovietop.blogspot.com)

Batman Begins is a 2005 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film reboots the Batman film series, telling the origin story of the character from Bruce Wayne's initial fear of bats, the death of his parents, his journey to become Batman, and his fight against Ra's al Ghul’s plot to destroy Gotham City. Director Nolan and David S.Goyer began to work on the film in early 2003 and aimed for a darker and more realistic tone, with humanity and realism being the basis of the film.

 The film opened on June 17, 2005, in the United States and Canada. It eventually grossing over $374 million worldwide against it’s budget $150millions. The film received positive reviews and has been considered by many as one of the best superhero films ever made. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and three BAFTA awards. The film is followed by The DarkKnight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012) later known as “TheDark Knight Trilogy”.

Batman begins directed by Christopher Nolan, produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Larry Franko. David S. Goyer with Christopher Nolan wrote screenplay for this movie. Hans Zimmer ,James Newton Howard supported with music and it was distributed by  Warner Bros;. Film released in 10 june in Russia, 15 June in U.S.A and 16 June in U.K with 140 minutes running time, which grossed over  $ 374 milion.Here is the movie trailler for the movie, Batman Begins.

Plot

                             In Bruce Wayne’s childhood he falls down a well where he is attacked by a swarm of bats where he develops a fear about bats. While watching an opera his parents were killed by Joe Chill and Alfred Pennyworth raised Bruce.

 Fourteen years later Bruce decided to take revenge from chill. There Bruce's childhood friend Rachel Dawes, slapped him for attempting to go against the law. Bruce travelled around the world and learns to fight to confront injustice. He meets Henri Ducard who offers to train him as a member of the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul in Buthan. After he learns the League intends to destroy Gotham, he rejected it causing to a fire burn down the league’s temple where he saves unconscious Ducard.

                           Bruce returns to Gotham city and takes interest in family company Wayne Enterprises. Lucius Fox who is the top scientist they have introduce various items which Bruce uses to take up the vigilante identity of "Batman". As Batman he helps honest Sgt. James Gordon to arrest the previously untouchable criminal. During investigating Crane, Batman is exposed to the drug where he was saved by  Alfred. Rachel found Crain is pouring the drug into Gotham's water supply who eventually saved by “Batman”. Batman cures Rachel and leaves her with two vials of the antidote; one for Gordon, and one for mass production. After Crane is arrested, Gordon learns that the tainted water supply is only harmful if inhaled.

                         During his 30th birthday celebration at the manor, Bruce is confronted by Ducard where Bruce expels his guests so they will be safe. Ducard reveals that he employed Crane, and stole a powerful microwave emitter from Wayne Enterprises that will be used to vaporize the tainted water supply, making the drug airborne and causing mass hysteria and violence that will destroy Gotham. Ra's' men set fire to the mansion, and Bruce is saved by Alfred. As the League's plot commences, Batman rescues Rachel from a drugged mob and indirectly reveals his identity to her. Then he began to pursuing Ducard  who carrying the emitter toward Gotham's central water source.

 After a fight Batman over powers Ducard but refuses to kill him,while also refusing to save him,he leaves Ducard to die in the train crashe due to Gordon who uses the Tumblers cannons to destroy a section of the  train’s track. Batman becomes a public hero,but loses Rachel. Bruce buys a controlling stake in the now publicly traded Wayne Enterprises,fires Earle,and replaces him with Fox. Gordon — now promoted to Lieutenant of the Gotham Police Force and reveals about criminal Joker.  

Cast

·         Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman

·         Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth

·         Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon

·         Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

·         Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane

·         Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard

·         Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes

·         Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone

·         Rutger Hauer as William Earle

  Production                                           

After Warner Bros. hired director Christopher Nolan to direct an untitled Batman film and after 2 months later David S. Goyer hired by them to write script. olan stated his intention to reinvent the film franchise of Batman by "doing the origins story of the character, which is a story that's never been told before".Goyer said that the goal of the film was to get the audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne.

                                           As with all his films, Nolan refused a second unit he did this in order to keep his vision consistent . Filming began in March 2004 in the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland (standing in for Bhutan). The crew built a village and the front doors to Ra's' temple, as well as a road to access the remote area. Mentmore Towers was chosen from twenty different locations for Wayne Manor, situated in northwest London, England. Crowley started the process of designing the Batmobile for the film by model bashing. Crowley used the nose cone of a P-38 Lightning model to serve as the chassis for the Tumbler's turbine engine. Six models of the Tumbler were built to 1:12 scale in the course of four months.It have a speed of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) in 5 seconds, possess a steering system to make sharp turns at city corners. For the design and development process took nine months and cost several million dollars.
 With the design process complete, four street-ready race cars were constructed, with each vehicle possessing 65 panels and costing $250,000 to build .One version was the jet version, in which an actual jet engine was mounted onto the vehicle, fueled by six propane tanks. The filmmakers intended to create a very mobile Batsuit that would allow the wearer to move easily to fight and crouch. The score for Batman Begins was composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.

Reception and Box Office

                                                 Film received positive reviews where Rotten Tomatoes reports that 85% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 263 reviews, with an average score of 7.7/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system .At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 70, based on 41 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
^[ Additionally, the film was a success with audiences who, when polled by CinemaScore, awarded the film an A grade. Batman Begins opened on June 17, 2005 in the United States and Canada in 3,858 theaters,^[ including 55 IMAX theaters. The film ranked at the top in its opening weekend, accumulating $48 million, which was seen as "strong but unimpressive by today's instantaneous blockbuster standards". Batman Begins went on to gross $205 million in North America and had a worldwide total of $373 million. And by its sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, both of which have grossed over $1 billion.

Reference

·         Wikipedia “Batman Begins”