Christian Bale

Latest update: Monday, May 9, 2011 at 4:45 p.m.
CHICAGO (potential spoiler alert) – This weekend, three news gems surfaced on the highly anticipated “The Dark Knight Rises”. First, filming officially began on May 6, 2011 in Jodhpur, India. Second, fan spies have already snapped and leaked the first official set image: an enigmatic green pool.

CHICAGO – One of the strongest ensembles of 2010 worked together to create the crowd-pleasing “The Fighter,” a film with multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, that walked home with two major trophies for Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale) and Best Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo). Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a film will stand the test of time (the jury is still out on how history will judge “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech”) but there is little doubt that “The Fighter” will be satisfying audiences for decades. A great Blu-ray release from Paramount doesn’t hurt.

CHICAGO – Have you filled out your Oscar pool ballot yet? Let us guide the way. The film think-tank at HollywoodChicago.com (Matt Fagerholm, Patrick McDonald, and, myself, Brian Tallerico) has convened to break down the major eight categories with their picks for who will win, who should win, and who should have been nominated.

CHICAGO – The nominees for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, Jan. 25, 2011 and “Inception,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Social Network,” “True Grit,” “The Fighter,” and “Black Swan” led the way with a majority of the nominations.

CHICAGO – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will finally announce their nominations for the Oscars tomorrow morning, January 25th, 2011. But why wait? Want to know the nominees now?

CHICAGO – With shooting expected to begin in May 2011 for “The Dark Knight Rises,” Warner Bros. is currently busy scouting filming locations. While rumors have been running rampant for the last six months about which cities make the lucky cut, we now have two confirmed: Los Angeles and somewhere in the United Kingdom.

CHICAGO – David O. Russell’s “The Fighter” is an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser with one of the strongest ensembles of 2010 and the kind of underdog story that’s easy for an audience to embrace and adore.

CHICAGO – It started with the best lead performances of 2010 yesterday and now we naturally move on to many of the stars who made those lead turns possible. For what is a great lead performance without the supporting ones that got it there? These were the MVPs of 2010 who may have allowed others to take the spotlight but also made it shine so much brighter.

CHICAGO – In our latest boxing edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to “The Fighter” with Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg!

CHICAGO – Six strong female contenders are up for two leading female roles in “The Dark Knight” follow-up film “The Dark Knight Rises,” according to Deadline New York on Thursday.