Humor District

After much speculation, Christopher Nolan has finally announced the villains that Batman will be facing in The Dark Knight Rises. Apparently Christopher Nolan is a fan of Humor District, as he has taken my advice and chosen Bane as one of the villains Batman will match wits with. Of course I fully support this decision, as I believe Bane is one character who has not been given his due recently. He is a villain who struck one of the most decisive blows against Batman in history, using his wits and considerable muscle mass to break not only Batman’s back, but his spirit as well. More recently he has been portrayed as a brainless heap of biceps, and don’t even get me started on the portrayal of Bane in Batman and Robin. Christopher Nolan has kept the Batman franchise grounded in reality, so it will be interesting to see his take on Bane. Will we see Tom Hardy bulk up like he did in Bronson? The one thing I feel confident saying is that we will see Bane’s more intellectual side.

The other big villain announcement was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. It has long been rumored that Catwoman would be involved in The Dark Knight Rises, mainly because there needs to be a female interest for Bruce Wayne. This is Hollywood after all. Anne Hathaway seems to be a good choice for Catwoman AKA Selina Kyle. She is quite attractive and, more importantly, a good actress. Best of all, she is not Shia LaBeouf being cast as Robin or Eddie Murphy as Riddler. This news definitely indicates The Dark Knight Rises is moving in a very good direction. If Mr. Nolan needs any more ideas for The Dark Knight Rises, I am always willing to help.

Gemma Arterton has joined Jeremy Renner on the cast of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters as a very attractive Gretel. I also like to think she has made a mortal enemy in Hollywood in Eva Green, as this is the second role in a short time that Arterton has beaten Green out for. It is only a matter of time before those two settle their differences in the most epic mud wrestling match ever. But that is neither here nor there, the important part is we now know who will be doing the witch hunting as Hansel and Gretel.

As of now, Gemma Arterton has really just been an above average looking lady who has had bit roles in movies where she pretty much just stands around and looks good. Hopefully Hansel and Gretel will show off more of her actual acting skills. At the very least, she should be getting some more screen time. I don’t think it will take too much quality acting from Arterton or Jeremy Renner to make this an entertaining movie though, as the premise itself is already awesome. Basically the story is Hansel and Gretel decide if they can kill a witch when they are kids, why not choose the easy career path of killing witches as adults? It’s an interesting idea, and I expect a quirky movie to result. The only problem here is that there is a limited window for filming as Jeremy Renner has other projects going on, including the all important Avengers movie. This movie will really be the “wait and see” kind, it sounds interesting but who knows how it will actually turn out.

Do you love seeing movies as soon as they come out? Do you hate sitting with strangers to watch movies and having your feet stick to the floor? Most importantly, do you have at least $20,000 burning a hole in your comically large pockets? If you answered yes to all three of these questions, Prima Cinema has something for you. For a mere $20,000 installation fee and for $500 per movie, you can get movies streaming to your television on the same day that they come out in theaters. Now you can truly enjoy having your own home movie theater!

While it would be nice to enjoy new movies from the comfort of your own home, the price of this service severely limits the potential customer base. I mean sure, handsome internet writers can afford something like this, but for most people that price is outrageous. I suppose you could invite people over and charge them to watch movies at your place, but soon enough your floors will be as sticky as a regular movie theater unless you want to spend that extra money on a cleaning staff. While it is a very cool idea, it is definitely aimed at a high income market. Maybe if it catches on there will be more affordable options, but for now I will have to wait for all the super rich readers of HumorDistrict to try this service out and report back how well it works.

Leslie Nielsen is one of the funniest men Hollywood has ever seen and will definitely be missed. His death leaves us without one of the most entertaining actors of our generation. Nielsen’s deadpan style of humor has appeared in a ridiculous number of movies, many of which are classics that everybody should see at least once in their lifetime. While Leslie Nielsen is best known for his comedic routines, he actually started his career as a more dramatic actor. Let’s take some time to look back over Nielsen’s career.

Leslie Nielsen in Forbidden Planet

The beginning of Leslie Nielsen’s career involved a lot of work on television shows and doing narrations for documentaries. His first big role was in Forbidden Planet in 1956, a sci-fi thriller that landed Nielsen leading roles in a number of other serious movies. Some of the highlights from his early career in movies included The Vagabond King, Ransom!, and Hot Summer Night. Nielsen spent many years as a respected actor, but it wasn’t until 1980 that he became the comedic icon that he is today.

Leslie Nielsen in Airplane

Leslie Nielsen’s career took a drastic turn in 1980 with the release of Airplane. Airplane was not only a great comedy in general, it also perfectly displayed Nielsen’s amazing deadpan comedic abilities. His response to question “surely you can’t be serious?” has become one of the most well known lines in movie history. Even people who haven’t seen Airplane know the line “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.” His success in Airplane landed Nielsen a role in the police movie parody The Naked Gun. Somehow Nielsen’s performance in The Naked Gun and the various sequels is still more entertaining than seeing OJ Simpson make an attempt at acting. After 1980, Leslie Nielsen cemented his place as one of the greatest comedic actors of all time.

Leslie Nielsen in Scary Movie 3

While Leslie Nielsen’s later movies didn’t have the same impact as Airplane or The Naked Gun, he still managed to make us laugh. Later in his career, he basically just did parody movies. While the quality of these movies weren’t always impressive, Nielsen still managed to make us laugh. One of his best later roles came in Scary Movie 3. It was so good that he was asked to come back for Scary Movie 4. One of his last roles was as a spoof of Spider-Man’s uncle Ben in Superhero Movie. While the parody movies themselves might not be missed, Leslie Nielsen most certainly will.

In a recent interview with E! Christian Bale revealed that he does not currently have plans on reprising his role as Batman beyond The Dark Knight Rises. Before you start crying into your pillows, there are several things that need to be looked at here. First off, it appears that Christian Bale’s connection to Batman will only last as long as Christopher Nolan’s connection to the Batman franchise. As of right now it appears that Christopher Nolan is only planning on doing the three Batman movies, with The Dark Knight Rises being his last. Then again, Christopher Nolan is famously secretive, so who knows what his real plans are. For all we know, Nolan is planning on doing ten more Batman movies with Christian Bale. While that is unlikely, it is possible.

Secondly, the Batman franchise has been ridiculously successful, especially The Dark Knight. That means that no matter what happens, you can be fairly confident in betting there will be multiple Batman movies in the future. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Nolan and Bale will be involved. They have been great in the first two Batman movies, but they don’t seem like the types to continue working on a franchise just to churn out sequels and make money. Basically I am saying they actually have integrity. If they don’t feel like they can put out a quality movie, they most likely won’t do it. This is excellent news for the Batman movies they do make, but poor news for those who want to see continual installments in this franchise. Overall, it looks as though this could very well be the last Batman movie we see with Christian Bale in the suit and Christopher Nolan at the helm, but only time can tell.

Ryan Reynolds has basically become synonymous with comic book movies. He played Hannibal King in Blade Trinity, was rumored to be the Flash, played Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and is Hal Jordan AKA Green Lantern in the upcoming film of the same name. Oh yeah, he is also married to Scarlett Johansson, also known as the Black Widow. In case you forgot, she looks like this:

But enough about Scarlett Johansson, the amazingly sexy wife of Ryan Reynolds. We are focusing on Ryan Reynolds newest movie, Green Lantern, which DC is hoping will be as successful as the Batman franchise under Christopher Nolan. Fans were given a first glimpse of the movie at San Diego Comic Con 2010, but in all honesty that glimpse really didn’t reveal much of anything. Entertainment Tonight has a preview of Green Lantern coming up that will show some more scenes from the movie with completed special effects, and Ryan Reynolds using his power ring. They have also been kind enough to give us a preview of their preview. You can watch the full preview November 16th, but until then enjoy this preview of a preview. It’s entertaining, I promise.

The previous installments in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise haven’t had much focus on female characters. The only female of any importance has been Rachel Dawes, who has been portrayed by Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal. I don’t think we will be seeing either of them as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight Rises considering the many pieces she was in after The Dark Knight, courtesy of the Joker. It seems that Christopher Nolan has decided that there needs to be more of a woman’s touch in his next movie to compliment the sheer manliness of Christian Bale as Batman. It also seems like Commissioner Gordon might be getting a new lady friend.

According to Comic Book Movie, the script for The Dark Knight Rises features twice the number of women than seen in previous Batman movies. That brings the total for the next movie to two female characters! These ladies in question are Detective Sarah Essen and Julie Madison. Those of you who are familiar with the comics may remember Sarah Essen as Jim Gordon’s love interest, but he is already married with children in the previous Batman movies. Will Jim Gordon be having some extracurricular activities going on? It is rumored that Charlize Theron has been approached for the role of Sarah Essen.

Of course Batman can’t go without a damsel in distress to save, so Julie Madison makes sense as a character. She is basically a rich girl who falls in love with Bruce Wayne and seems to get captured by villains a lot. She has actually been in comic books and a previous Batman movie, just not one of Nolan’s. This gives Batman something to do in the evenings, and allows Christopher Nolan to cast some eye candy for the male masses. Of course this is still all rumor at this point, but it sure would be nice to see some more ladies with a prominent role in the Batman franchise.

Personally, I think the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been sliding since The Curse of the Black Pearl. One of the few things I found really enjoyable about the third installment was the casting choice of Keith Richards as Johnny Depp/Captain Jack Sparrow’s father. It takes a certain kind of man to spawn such an eccentric character as Captain Jack Sparrow, and Keith Richards is exactly that kind of man. For those of you who are unaware, Keith Richards is a legendary guitarist for The Rolling Stones. He is also quite legendary for his drug use, ranging from marijuana to heroin. This drug use probably got him the role as Captain Jack Sparrow’s father. He certainly looks like a dirty ass pirate who has never seen a decent meal in his life. The probable brain damage his drug use has caused also helps when portraying the father of a character as crazy as Sparrow. All in all, he was the perfect choice.

Now there are rumors that Disney is doing an about face and giving old Keith Richards the boot. It seems that the execs don’t want a known drug user to be involved with two of their family oriented movies, one is their limit. If they let him into the next movie they would obviously be sending the wrong message. Drudge Report says that this has to do with the release of Keith Richards’ new book, in which he explains how to do drugs safely. Disney does not want a book about doing drugs to be in any way connected to their movie, so they consider doing the thing that will bring the most attention on themselves and Keith Richards by abruptly cutting ties with him.

What really makes this interesting is the recent backlash about the cutting of Mel Gibson from The Hangover 2. Apparently there was some sort of cast uprising against Mel Gibson having a cameo in the movie because Mel sometimes has issues, loud drunken issues, with people of Jewish faith, women, and African Americans. On the other hand, they were fine with Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist, having a cameo. People called them hypocrites and looked past the fact that Mike Tyson has a very funny voice. How will people respond to Disney giving Keith Richards the boot after he has already been in a previous installment for the franchise? Will they rise up in anger? Lounge around in apathy? Nothing has been announced for sure about whether Richards will stay on the cast or not, but I will be curious to see what Disney does after word of this spreads.

When most people think of comic book or anime conventions, they think of hairy overweight men who are socially awkward and enjoy wearing costumes that make the people around them uncomfortable. While this is true of most conventions, they are also a place for people with similar interest to gather and discuss said interests like normal human beings who happen to be dressed like Klingons. There are also booth babes. So it comes as no surprise that indie film company Monkey Kingdom Productions has been working on a mockumentary following the convention scene. This movie, Con Artists, will give a new look at the world of conventions from the perspective of Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal, two well known anime voice actors best known for their work on Naruto. You will be able to see conventions from their viewpoint and count how many awkward male fans can build up the courage to actually say something to Tara Platt.

Con Artists also features appearances from some other big names on the convention circuit, such as Wil Wheaton, Vic Mignogna, and Aaron Douglas. Wil Wheaton, as you of course remember, was none other than Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. That alone should tell you that Con Artists is going to be kind of a big deal. If you enjoy indie films, documentaries, or nerd stuff, then you will definitely want to check out Con Artists. You can learn more about the progress of the film at the Con Artists Twitter page and at the Monkey Kingdom Productions website.

Iron Sky is an independent film project by Blind Spot Pictures and Energia Productions, with support from 27 Films and New Holland Pictures. You could also support the creation of Iron Sky with donations, purchases, and volunteer work. Iron Sky is the kind of movie you would want to support, as the description is awesome with a little sprinkle of amazing. The premise of the movie is that some Nazis launched themselves to the dark side of the moon in 1945 and have been living there ever since. In the year 2018 the Nazis return to earth, more evil than ever! Who wouldn’t want to help this science fiction comedy reach DVD players everywhere?

It isn’t quite clear where the comedy is going to fit into the movie from the trailer, but there are plenty of ways to fit it in considering this is a movie about Nazis from the moon. I assume they are going to be in for a bit of a shock when they see the values of a 2018 world. What is really surprising is the quality of the trailer. The special effects seem to be up there as far as production values go. Really, the combination for a good movie is there. If you want to help support an indie movie that actually looks promising, you can buy “war bonds” to support Iron Sky here, or donate your time to the actual production of the movie here. Spread the word and make Iron Sky a reality.