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Missing collection found, wife was the culprit The country's second-largest Batman memorabilia collection which was stolen from South Florida warehouses last month has been found, and it wasn't the Catwoman. It turns out the wife of slain millionaire Ben Novack Jr. took the collection herself, and she says the toys aren't going anywhere. "It belongs to Narcy Novack. She was married to him for 19 years," lawyer Howard Tanner told the Miami Herald. "It was purchased during their marriage. Wouldn't you rightfully assume the property belongs to you?" The collection, enough to fill two Batcaves, is at the center of...

Resident cracks bat on fleeing intruder 11:11 AM Sunday, September 6, 2009 SPRINGFIELD — A resident in the 1600 block of East High Street reported that around 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 he arrived home to find his back door standing open and a blue racing bike lying on the ground. The lock on the door was on the ground and the door frame was damaged. The resident told police he went into his garage to retrieve a metal baseball bat. As he returned to the back door a man walked out carrying the resident’s DVD player. He got on...

Megan Fox is set to take up the role of Catwoman in the next Batman flick, it has emerged. Also, actors Christian Bale and Michael Caine will reprise their characters from "The Dark Knight'.

Chris Nolan Makes More Room For Batman 3 By Leaving The Prisoner Batman 3 may have just gotten a little closer to happening. Director Christopher Nolan is currently working on Inception, but also on his schedule was a The Prisoner, a sci-fi movie based on the short-lived 60s television series of the same name. With Warner Bros. eager to fill their coffers with more fat nerd cash, doing yet another movie before following up The Dark Knight might have been too much waiting for them to handle. Luckily, it’s no longer an issue. Cine Fools recently spoke with one of...

In the realm of street art, the posters portraying President Barack Obama as the Joker, as played by the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, aren't high art. They aren't like the iconic images of "Hope'' that sprouted during the Obama camapign. But then, these are the post-campaign portraits of discontent in some quarters. And, like their predecessors, the newest posters are becoming an Internet sensation among those for whom a picture is worth 1,000 words--or one word, in the case of this poster campaign: "socialism." Looking at the anonymously created posters that started on the streets of L.A....

Have you seen this poster? Apparently, it's beginning to appear in odd places in Los Angeles, but nobody seems to know who's responsible for it. Radio host Tammy Bruce posted some pictures of this odd creation at her blog Saturday morning (h/t Pamela Geller) leading me to investigate further. At this point, all I could find on the subject was an April 25 article from Bedlam Magazine: A poster of Barack Obama in Heath Ledger-style Joker make-up with the legend 'Socialism' beneath it has been popping up recently on surfaces around L.A. It does not appear to be in the...

What is the difference between art and entertainment? There is, obviously, some overlap: Not all art entertains (though some does); not all entertainment is art (though some is). At bottom, it seems, the difference is one of intent - the artist seeks to connect us with larger meanings, larger truths about the world, about ourselves. The primary focus of art is therefore to illuminate, with any entertainment had in the process merely a bonus. The goal of the entertainer, on the other hand, is perhaps less sublime, though no less worthy - to distract, to tickle, to stimulate the fancy....

Johnny Depp has expressed interest in joining the cast of Batman 3 as The Riddler. During an interview with MTV Depp said that he is willing to take the role of the puzzling villain. When asked about the likelihood of him portraying The Riddler, Depp simply said, “If the opportunity came, I’d definitely juggle it.” He went on to profess his admiration of both The Riddler character and Frank Gorshin, the actor who originally played The Riddler in the 60’s TV show. “I always liked the Riddler,” he explains. “I always liked Frank Gorshin. Frank Gorshin was brilliant. I always...

With the success of Batman Begins and the even bigger success of The Dark Knight, one can’t help but ask the question…when will we see a third installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films? With Nolan currently in pre-production of his film Inception for a 2010 release, it is most likely that fans will not see a third Batman film until 2011 if not even 2012. In the meantime fan-boys, fans and the media a like will have fun speculating over the plot for the film as well as which villains may or may not be making an appearance.

Warning, naughty words. One of the best animated spoofs ever !!!!

The bat, seen clinging to the external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery before its launch on Sunday, apparently clung for dear life to the side of the tank as the spaceship lifted off. And what a ride. The shuttle accelerates to an orbital velocity of 17,500 milers per hour, which is 25 times faster than the speed of sound, in just over eight minutes. That's zero to 100 mph in 10 seconds. Did it make it into space? No one knows yet. But photos of Discovery as it cleared the launch tower showed a tiny speck on the...

On March 6 audiences will experience Watchmen, the most political comic book movie yet made. The film, based off of the acclaimed graphic novel, considers superheroes in the “real world,” and imagines a 1980s Cold War world in which the presence of superheroes has given the United States an edge over the Soviet Union. The film is not the first to consider the superhero in a political context. As the genre developed especially since when Watchmen was first published in the mid ’80s stories and characters have gone well beyond simple escapism. And as superhero films started being adapted more...

Actor Val Kilmer says he is strongly considering a run for governor of New Mexico in 2011 when term limits force Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson out after 12 years. Reports that Kilmer is serious about making a bid for his home state’s highest office have been circulating for months. In November, Kilmer told the New York Post, "There's sort of a rumor around that I'm maybe thinking about running to be governor of New Mexico? Well, it's sort of true. It's been my home for 25 years. I really love my state. Poor, hardworking, decent people — Native Americans, carpenters,...

FUNNYMAN EDDIE MURPHY will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie, The Sun can reveal. The Beverly Hills Cop star, 47, has been signed up by British director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN to reprise the role played by JIM CARREY in 1995’s Batman Forever. The surprise move follows speculation linking Pirates of the Caribbean star JOHNNY DEPP to the part. The film, set for a 2010 release, is being developed under the working title Gotham. Execs have also signed up rising Transformers star SHIA LABEOUF, 22, to play Robin. CHRISTIAN BALE will return as Bruce Wayne, while MICHAEL CAINE will again...

FUNNYMAN EDDIE MURPHY will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie, The Sun can reveal. Gotham villain ... Eddie Murphy The Beverly Hills Cop star, 47, has been signed up by British director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN to reprise the role played by JIM CARREY in 1995’s Batman Forever. The surprise move follows speculation linking Pirates of the Caribbean star JOHNNY DEPP to the part. The film, set for a 2010 release, is being developed under the working title Gotham. Execs have also signed up rising Transformers star SHIA LABEOUF, 22, to play Robin.

'Batman RIP' will see "the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman", according to Grant Morrison. There are rumours that Batman will suffer a gruesome end when his sidekick Robin goes over to "the dark side" and destroys him in a terrible betrayal. Batman, alter ego of Bruce Wayne a wealthy industrialist, operates in the American Gotham City. Others speculate that Wayne may either retire from his duties or be killed by a mystery villain known as the Black Glove. His fate will be revealed in the latest issue of DC Comic's Batman, published on 26 November. Either way, his demise...

So, today I went and saw the new Batman [again] with a couple of friends. It struck me about how there are certain analogies to the characters within politics. For Example: The Joker In his own words, he describes himself as an agent of chaos [chance], which is the only fair thing in the world. He says that he makes no real plans, doing whatever ‘feels good’ at the moment, living [from day to day] only to throw the wrench in others’ plans. He is of course, lying. It is shown that his plans for Harvey Dent were to bring...

Batman has a new adversary: Batman. The mayor of an oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, which has the same name as the Caped Crusader, is suing helmer Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from mega-grosser "The Dark Knight." Huseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of Batman, has accused "The Dark Knight" producers of using the city's name without permission. "There is only one Batman in the world," Kalkan said. "The American producers used the name of our city without informing us." No one from the town of Batman has explained why it took so many years to...

OBAMA SAYS IN TEXT: "In Albuquerque, before a massive crowd, Obama moves away from the (politically incorrect?) Lone Ranger and Tonto analogy to a new one: "It’s like Robin getting mad at Batman," he says of McCain's recent efforts to distance himself from Bush""

I wish someone would print bumper stickers that say "I Believe in Sarah Palin" like the DA Harvey Dent's slogan in the latest Batman movie I would make me a happy man to put one on my truck

Again and again we see Mr. Ledger's Joker pulling off the most fantastically conceived acts of evil which, in real life, would require a virtual army of assistants, many of whom would have to be almost as clever as he is. Yet the movie shows us not even one. We do see the Joker lording it over some fellow criminals on a couple of occasions -- not the best way to gain their cooperation, one might have thought. And, in the bank robbery with which the film opens, he casually murders all his assistants, which is even less likely to...

British prosecutors said there is insufficient evidence to build a "realistic prospect of conviction" following the incident at Park Lane's Dorchester Hotel on July 21. It had been reported that the Dark Knight star's mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, told police he had assaulted them at the hotel a day before the European premiere of the international smash hit. The Crown Prosecution Service has ordered the police not to take any further action in the matter. A CPS spokesman said: We can today confirm that we have advised the Metropolitan Police Service that the actor Christian Bale should...

In the middle of an armed robbery of a Tulsa, Okla., grocery store by a man wearing a Batman mask, one customer leaped into action, charging, wrestling and subduing the gunman until police arrived. A surveillance video captured several minutes of the struggle as the customer, Craig Stutzman, single-handedly wrestled the robber across the store before finally pinning the phony Batman to the ground in the store's parking lot. Stutzman, 44, an American Airlines mechanic, had stopped at the Food Pyramid store to buy some dog food before leaving town for a family reunion, according to a Tulsa World report....

Dark Knight Shift: Why Batman Could Exist--But Not for Long Q&A with movement researcher E. Paul Zehr Batman is the most down-to-earth of all the superheroes. He has no special powers from being born on a distant world or bitten by a radioactive spider. All that protects him from the Joker and other Gotham City villains are his wits and a physique shaped by years of training—combined with the vast fortune to reach his maximum potential and augment himself with Batmobiles, Batcables and other Bat-goodies, of course. In the 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins, vengeful Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale)...

At last there's a liberal who's tough on terrorism: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). Too bad it's make-believe. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a man who's done everything in his power to obstruct President George W. Bush's efforts to fight Islamofascist terrorism, has a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight.The Hill reports that in the movie Leahy confronts Batman's nemesis, the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. (See screen capture above from a clip of the movie on youtube.com.) "We're not intimidated by thugs," Leahy says. "You know you remind me of my father. I hated my father,"...

Bat-lash By Sharon McGovern The Dark Knight is a box office phenomenon, having beat the following records: • Biggest single day gross (66.4 million).• Biggest opening weekend (155.34 million).• Broke the record for days taken to reach a 200 million dollar gross.• Broke the record for days taken to reach a 300 million dollar gross. And it’s on track to tie Titanic, the biggest blockbuster in history. Now, the sheer profitability of a movie doesn’t necessarily speak to its merit (see Titanic), but TDK’s continuing box office appeal does seem to indicate it’s touched a nerve. Some have proposed (with...

Would Barack Obama be willing to take an unpopular action because he believes it is the right action? Would he sacrifice his popularity for his country? Batman would. The Dark Knight is not merely an extraordinary movie and an excellent final performance by Heath Ledger. It is the story of America, its people and its leaders. And it brings forth serious questions about Obama’s presidential fitness, or lack thereof.

The most striking thing about the new Batman movie, now smashing the all-time box office records, is its emphasis on sado-masochism as the animating element in American culture these days. It must appeal to the many angry people in our land who want to hurt others, even while they themselves feel deserving of the grossest punishments. In other words, the picture reflects the extreme depravity of the current American sensibility. Seeing it all laid out there must be very validating to the emotionally confused audience, and hence pleasurable, in all its painfulness. The rich symbolism in this spectacle represents the...

Can you imagine if The Dark Knight was the last Batman film for actor Christian Bale? Clearly no person plays more into the monumental equation of a trilogy starring him than director Christopher Nolan. Bale recently spoke with EW about a second sequel to Batman Begins, or as the odd interviewer incorrectly called it, Batman “film number six”(I counted seven, Peter counted eight with the Adam West film)… Interviewer: So do you think there will be a part 3 of Batman? Christian Bale: Um, look, let’s wait and see… Interviewer: Or, I guess it’d be part 6. Christian Bale: No,...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Brian in Battle Creek, Michigan. Brian, thank you for waiting and welcome to the EIB Network. CALLER: Yeah, thank you. RUSH: Go right ahead, sir. CALLER: Megadittos. RUSH: Thank you very much. CALLER: I've got two here. First, I had to go to your website to find a phone number and now I finally understand when you say the Messi-uh, what you actually are getting at with the uhs that he says. RUSH: Right. The Messi-uh. CALLER: Very clever. The other thing is I was wondering if you had a chance to see the new...

At least one reviewer has noticed the symbolism that compares Batman to President Bush in the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight". As one who has greatly admired the understanding and foresight that President Bush has shown in comprehending the threat to free societies everywhere presented by Islamofascism and its record of murderous terrorism, and also admired the courage he has shown in the face of unbelievable threats, obstruction and vitriolics from the left-wing cowards and ostriches who can't and won't understand this threat, I am greatly encouraged that President Bush's great character and steadfastness is being recognized in a...

A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . . Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W." There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the...

Who would have guessed that the latest Batman movie would have a conservative point of view?

The Dark Knight has no use for FISA By Sharon McGovern This is not a review, though I submit The Dark Knight kicks a** so very hard. Instead, this will be a brief look at themes employed in TDK; a sequel to Batman is a NeoCon. If you haven’t already contributed to the movie’s astonishing opening weekend take, you might want to decide right now if you want to read something that gives away a number of its plot points. The Dark Knight begins with “the bat man� having become a fixture in Gotham. He inspires resentment for the toll...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- He may be known to many children as a comic book friend, but a Purdue University professor warns the new "Dark Knight" Batman is a much more violent reincarnation of the classic character. Glenn Sparks, a professor of communication, studies the effects of scary movies, particularly on children. "The danger with a film like this is its history in the Batman comic book series and cartoons. People think of this hero as fun and entertaining, so parents may even take very young children to see what they believe is a family film. Instead, they may be...

'The Dark Knight' actor allegedly lashed out while staying at London's Dorchester hotel on Sunday, where he has a suite. His mother Jenny (61) and sister Sharon (40) lodged a formal complaint against the star at a police station in Hampshire, Southern England. Bale (34) was permitted by police to attend the European premiere of 'The Dark Knight' - in which he plays superhero Batman - last night but will face questioning over the claims.

By Chris Irvine Last Updated: 2:12PM BST 22 Jul 2008 Bale, 34, attended a police station after it was reported his mother and sister had reported him to police. The alleged incident was believed to have taken place on Sunday night at Park Lane's Dorchester Hotel where Bale is staying. His mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, are said to have gone to a police station in Hampshire to make the allegation, which was subsequently referred to the Metropolitan Police. A Met Police spokesman said: "A 34-year-old man attended a London Police Station on Tuesday by appointment and was...

The Dark Knight Review There has never been a movie quite like “The Dark Knight,” Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated sequel to his reboot of the Batman franchise, “Batman Begins.” While that first film was certainly a great picture, this movie may forever change the genre. It is nothing like the hoards of generic comic book movies that come out this time of year. And unlike so many typical comic book films, it actually produces something for everybody. Spectacular action sequences? Check. A gripping storyline? Check. Heartbreaking romance? Check. Oscar-worthy acting by an A-list cast? Check. Gorgeous visuals and cinematography? Check. Bottom...

It's not a comic book movie. That's the first thing you should know when your kids ask to see "The Dark Knight," this summer's biggest blockbuster. The film is vastly more true to Frank Miller's famous alternative view of The Batman than to the zap-pow camp of Adam West's TV portrayal and sanitized DC comics that filled our childhood. So how do you answer? Should your children see "The Dark Knight?" We turned first to our resident film fanatic and visual designer, Chuck Kim, the first of the Yahoo! Kids team to see the box office smash. "I would not...

Ok, after all the hype and reviews, I went to see Dark Knight yesterday. I go to the movies to be entertained and, like Ghoshbusters, I'm probably the only person out there who wasn't as entertained as all the hype suggested. The movie was too long and too intense. Too much needless violence. The movie should have ended when Two-Faced was revealed (and the coin flip thing grew old pretty quickly) but instead it went on for another 30 or 40 minutes. Bottom line, the Jason Bourne flicks still out do this one. Share your thoughts if you've seen the...

KAPOW! The new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" smashed the weekend record set by "Spider-Man 3" last year, selling an estimated $155.3 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday. The hotly anticipated film, co-starring late actor Heath Ledger as the anarchic Joker, surpassed the $151.1 million haul for "Spider-Man 3" during its first weekend in May 2007.

Holy blockbuster, Batman! The Dark Knight grossed a behemoth $155.3 million from Friday through Sunday, according to early estimates, to score the biggest three-day opening in box-office history, while leading the way on a weekend for the record books. The second Batman movie from star Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan finished at No. 1 (as anticipated, duh!), and, assuming the early estimates hold, it set new standards in just about every category imaginable. It scored the biggest three-day opening weekend of all time (beating Spider-Man 3's $151.1 mil bow). It achieved the best opening day and single day in...

I think St. Paul would have approved of Batman: The Dark Knight. The story is chock-full of christology and soteriology. That is, Batman represents salvation by faith and grace, succeeding in redeeming Gotham where the law failed. The Queen Consort saw it as good versus evil and therefore representative of all religions, but I disagreed vehemently (in a rare moment of self-control, though, I didn’t escalate the argument). Christianity is alone in having not just a way in which man is saved, nor in having a generic messiah who effects our salvation, but in ascribing our redemption to a particular...

Batman is a neocon By Sharon McGovern In conservative circles there is a tradition of wailing and gnashing teeth over American movie culture. It’s well deserved. There is much about the industry that is despicable, movies are dauntingly complex to make, and most of what passes as film criticism—which might serve as a corrective or guide—is degraded and lame. It’s a near miracle that decent movies are made at all, let alone any that would please the notoriously fussy and uptight Right. The folly of the war in Iraq has been a defining theorem in Hollywood for the past few...

FR Reviews? The critics seem to like it.

(Don't worry. There are no spoilers in this review.)I sat down scared that I had hyped this movie too much, that there was no way that it could be as good as I thought it was going to be. I was right. It was better. The movie takes place after Batman has been operating for a while, and Harvey Dent, along with Jim Gordon have been cleaning up the streets. Things are going the law's way for once. Then comes The Joker.

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked,...

Everyone’s talking about politics these days, and in September, that will come to include the heroes and characters of the DC Universe. The place for the discussion: DCU Decisions, a four-part miniseries shipping every other week in September and October, written by Bill Willingham and Judd Winick, with art and covers by Stephane Roux. The heroes…they’re drawn into the political arena both by circumstance and by the actions of one of their own. A look at the art to the right makes that latter part pretty clear. We spoke with DCU Executive Editor Dan DiDio about the story, the idea...

(Click "Download Now" if the page seems confusing). http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails You can also see the new trailer on the official website, which has finally been updated. http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/ This trailer is awe-inspiring; even moreso than the last one (which I also thought was spectacular).

Excerpt.... And bloggers like Scottykazz on Superman homepage says "I hope his reportedly insane work as the Joker didn't put him over the edge." A blogger named Ojacko points to The Internet Media Database's Batman Returns entry: “Ledger found the role extremely difficult, and suffered insomnia as a result.” 'It is a physically and mentally draining role (his Joker is a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy”......“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” he said. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.”