The Dark Knight

CHICAGO – Is it possible that not all comic books are ones that can be adapted? Couldn’t some of them only really work on the page where the reader can fill in the grit and grime of a dark story like Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” in ways that a literal reading in animated form just can’t do? You see what i’m getting at. I love the source material for “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns — Part 1” and there are enough interesting ideas that survived intact the journey from page to screen but the adaptation of Miller’s work doesn’t hold a candle to just reading the original.

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Batman calls his vehicular beast the Tumbler.

CHICAGO – Along with our exclusive video of the official “The Dark Knight Rises” Tumbler being revved to the max at the film’s Tumbler Tour in Chicago on May 25, 2012, feast your eyes on HollywoodChicago.com’s exclusive photos of the Tumbler and Bat-Pod!

CHICAGO – Holy Batgasm! Exclusive! Photos schmotos. Sure, we have those of the official “The Dark Knight Rises” Tumbler and Bat-Pod at Chicago’s Navy Pier on May 25, 2012 as part of the film’s Tumbler Tour. What you really want, though, is to hear that beast of a machine rev its freaking brain out.

Update at 10:36 p.m. on May 24,2012: Start time changed from noon to 10 a.m.
CHICAGO – In 2012, one of the undisputed movie champions will be Christopher Nolan’s (final) Batman trilogy film: “The Dark Knight Rises”.

CHICAGO – The games have begun, and the box office numbers are ever in “The Hunger Games” favor. The new film, an adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy, set box office records all weekend, and has been estimated to earn $155 million at the box office when Sunday’s showings play themselves out. That total is good enough for number three all time at weed box offices, just behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” ($169.2 mil) and “The Dark Knight” ($158.4 mil).

CHICAGO – If you weren’t sure “The Hunger Games” was going to be as big as predicted, the news this morning may change your mind. Midnight showing totals for the new film are estimated to be $19.7 million. This record breaking number lands just above “The Dark Knight” at number seven in all-time midnight showing totals, and sits behind six other films with the words “Harry Potter” or “Twilight” in their titles.

CHICAGO – There’s some incredible alternate universe in which Darren Aronofsky directed “Batman: Year One,” John Boorman made “The Lord of the Rings” (with The Beatles!!!), James Cameron filmed “Fantastic Voyage,” and Frank Darabont wrote the fourth “Indiana Jones” movie.

CHICAGO – For just a few minutes and to just a petite sampling of Chicago uber fans, Bane has risen. And if it were solely up to Nolan, he’d do it this way 20 more times.

CHICAGO – Gary Oldman is a living legend. He’s just as fascinating in person as one would hope after seeing him dominate his craft in films like “Sid and Nancy,” “JFK,” “The Professional,” “True Romance,” “The Fifth Element,” “Hannibal,” “Harry Potter,” “The Dark Knight,” and much more.

CHICAGO – After a few releases that felt like perhaps the DC Universe line of straight-to-video animated films were in decline, they recently released what is arguably their best installment and a work that deserves to sit on the shelf of any Batman fan — the often-brilliant “Batman: Year One.” So remarkably loyal to one of the most influential comic books of all time that it sometimes recreates it verbatim and including some of the best voice work in the entire DC Universe line, this is a great animated film and possibly the best Blu-ray gift you could buy for a comic fan this season.