1) Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy - Curatorial Talk - Part 1 of 3

For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here>>

Read the rest of this entry »

Screening Liberally Big Picture
by Seth Pearce, Living Liberally

Of the countless movies made since 9/11, this new Batman film might have the most accurate depiction of the political and social climate of the world as it is today. A world largely uncontrolled by law and order, instead run by criminals, who are in turn pursued by vigilante heroes who stand in for a largely ineffective law enforcement. This leads to feelings of great fear and insecurity among the people of Gotham.

In The Dark Knight, Gotham is faced with its most treacherous villain yet: The Joker. Heath Ledger’s brilliant and maniacal anarchist clown should be remembered one of the finest movie villain performances of all time. Ledger’s Joker eschews all order, whether it is the power of the state or the invisible hand of capitalism. He appeals to a side of humanity more disordered than even the basest most animalistic parts of our minds. His complete unpredictability becomes a power that he uses to control the population of Gotham, much like the specter of terrorism has dominated the American psyche since 9/11.

Batman, our hero, who, in the time between the first movie and this one, has fought to put most of Gotham’s big villains behind bars. He’s done so as a vigilante and without much support (and a little disdain) from the people of Gotham City. While much of the film focuses on Batman’s trying to reconcile the good that he’s doing with the hate he incurs from the public and it’s elected officials, the film’s true protagonist is the people of Gotham City, whose mood, almost like that of a Greek Chorus echoes throughout each scene.

The political side after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the 3 day weekend, Batman : The Dark Knight broke all box office records to make 155.4 million dollars. It climbed ahead of Spider-Man 3’s 151.1 million to become the biggest opening ever. While I know that the main reason this happened is because the film was put in a ridiculous amount of theaters thus allowing people more opportunity to see it, I’m still pretty happy, as The Dark Knight is pretty amazing.

I’ve always had a soft spot for a good super hero summer extravaganza (the X-Men series being my favorite) but The Dark Knight goes beyond this.. It goes beyond convention and archetype to create a film that is part super hero, part noir, part horror. Ideas of corruption, redemption and how one can work to make their city (or any environment) better give the film it’s guts and allow it to transcend the normal morals of good vs, evil - the villains here go beyond greed and attack the fundamental problems that define society today.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Sudan Leader Charged with Genocide: What Are the Reactions? by Wendy Cohen

Inconvenient Truth of the Day: Al Gore Speaks on Climate Change by Joshua Tremblay

* * *

Nicole Hughes:

“Farms in the Sky” a Solution to Global Food Crisis?

Wal-Mart Launches Eco-Bling Project

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

NYC To Bring in 300 Hybrid Taxis Per Month

Coolio To Educate Students On Climate Change

* * *

Jon Popham:

Pickens’ Plan for Energy Independence

On “Rent” Closing, the East Village, and Gentrification

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Batman Morals: Top 5 Lessons from the Capped Crusader’s Films

Emmy Nominations Kick “The Wire” to the Curb

The Dark Knight is finally here! I’ve been waiting for this film ever since the ridiculous sequel indicator at the end of Batman Begins. The cast is full of some of my favorite people, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and of course Heath Ledger. And of course Batman has always been one of the more interesting and dark comic book heroes and ever since Tim Burton transported that darkness onto the big screen (back in 1989!) we’ve all been watching Batman evolve on the silver screen.

Below are 5 Worldly Lessons From Batman Films - so go see The Dark Knight and take notice to the darkness in humanity that Batman is always trying to fight - and do the same!

1) Do something! Batman becomes who he is because he doesn’t like the world around him and he wants to change it. So if anything Batman should inspire us to do the same, maybe not in costume (but maybe in if you prefer) but do something nonetheless. Making the world a better place is no joke!

Read the rest of this entry »

First, I should admit a startling fact, I’ve never really seen any of the Terminators! (eeek!) I think I’ve seen parts of the first and second though.. Regardless, this trailer looks pretty great and the film stars the man of the hour, Batman himself, Christian Bale, who it seems can do no wrong.

Read the rest of this entry »

Heath Ledger’s untimely death has left Warner Brothers Studios with the challenging tasks of both doing the necessary post-filming voice overs, and marketing the summer Batman blockbuster in the wake of last month’s tragedy. The studio still intends to release “The Dark Knight” in July 2008 as planned, but rumor has it that Ledger didn’t finish all of his lines before he died. The studio will probably have to hire a voice artist to fill in the gaps during necessary voice looping sessions, although they’ve been reluctant to admit it as they don’t want audiences listening for small voice variations in the film. In terms of merchandise sales, studio officials have been in meetings this week deciding what to do with t-shirts and toys depicting images of the late actor. They don’t want to be seen as exploiting Ledger’s image, but also don’t want piracy getting too out of hand. For the full article on Slate.com, click here.

Ledger was involved in a number of charities including LIFEbeat, the music industry’s charitable organization dedicated to reaching America’s youth with the message of HIV/AIDS prevention. An excellent way to honor Ledger’s memory would be to and get involved with LIFEbeat’s Outreach and Hearts & Voices program.