It’s no secret, that here at the The Movie Mash, we are big fans of Christopher Nolan. Barrett and Mike each have The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Inception among their top ten movies of all-time — I have Batman Begins amongst my ten favorites. Nolan is a cinematic genius, and has yet to fail as a blockbuster filmmaker. Many montages have been made showcasing the director’s work, but I think this latest rendition is definitely one of the best. Hit the jump to watch it.

Kees van Dijkhuizen is the man behind the video. He has worked this year on creating a video montage of his favorite directors which include: (my personal favorite) David Fincher, Tim Burton, Ridley Scott, Wes Anderson, Pixar, and more. After creating the previous entries, van Dijkhuizen said he got, “hundreds, literally hundreds of requests” to mash up the work of Nolan. Well, why wouldn’t there be hundreds of requests? Nolan is a visionary with strengths in structruing breathtaking beauty in all his shots — especially his landscapes. We all want to see a man with van Dijkhuizen’s editing talents praise our favorite snippets from Nolan’s films. Without further ado…

What Did You Think Of The Video?

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I stumbled across these funny videos that are inspired by Hollywood’s most disrespected filmmaker, Christopher Nolan. Of course, anyone paying attention to last night’s Oscars saw Nolan lost Best Screenplay for his imagined masterpiece Inception. He was dissed months earlier by not even being nominated for Best Director. But, we all know he is the man and doesn’t need some gold statue and the adoration from a panel of aging critics to be a success. As they always say, “Imitation is the best form of flattery.” The three videos posted after the jump prove Nolan makes films people want to parody, mimic, and digest.

First up, the hilarious website How It Should Have Ended uses animation to give a funny take on how certain films in Hollywood “should have ended.” When you see the animations you will easily be able to tell the short videos are just jokes and not meant to be a suggestion for how the film really should have wrapped up. But the videos are hilarious, and there are so many different endings to many of the films we all love like Avatar, Twilight, Top Gun, The Empire Strikes Back, and so many more. First check out how Inception should have ended, and then below that check out how The Dark Knight should have ended.

Inception:

The Dark Knight:

If you liked those videos, spend some serious time browsing their site and checking out their other very comical content. You definitely need to check out the Iron Man video, it is one of my favorites.

Lastly, another parody of Inception, but this time done by the minds at Rooster Teeth. While this video is no where near as great as the work from How It Should Have Ended, it is worth your time checking it out. The video combines Inception with a very popular television show. So check it out.

Which video was your favorite?

I’ve had a stupid grin on my face all day. Did I just get back from a date with Evangeline Lilly? No. Did I win a free iPad? Nope. Did some concrete casting news surrounding possibly one of the most-anticipated movies ever finally break? Yup. Deadline has the exclusive scoop (via Nolan Fans) that Inception‘s Tom Hardy has been tapped by Christopher Nolan to appear in his sequel to The Dark Knight, currently labeled Batman 3. Is he going to play The Riddler? Maybe Black Mask? Perhaps Deadshot? Or possibly some mysterious new character that Nolan & Co. have cooked up? Find out after the break.

Sorry about that. We actually have no clue who Hardy is set to be in the next Batman blockbuster, other than he snagged a “lead role” in the film. Deadline’s insider at Warner Bros. wasn’t even able to confirm if he will indeed be playing a villain. But knowing Nolan’s knack for casting and Hardy’s intense, chameleon-like acting ability, I think it’s a safe bet.

Those of you who might be raising you eyebrow at my high praise of Hardy, probably haven’t seen his brilliant performance in Bronson from 2008. It’s one of the most insane, disturbing, tour-de-force performances I’ve seen in the last 10 years. Just watch the trailer for Bronson below, and you’ll see what I mean.

Yessir. That bald, psychotic maniac is Tom Hardy; the smooth-talking standout from Inception, whom you’ve come to adore as Eames. Just imagine if he can harness half the intensity and insanity from Bronson, and pour it into a Batman villain. Now, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can ever top what Heath Ledger did with the Joker in The Dark Knight. That will go down in cinematic history as one of the greatest villain performances of all time. But Nolan knows what the hell he’s doing, and Hardy’s character, whatever it may be, will surely be something special to behold.

Nolan is currently putting the finishing touches on the Batman 3 script, with production to kick-off sometime in April of next year. Batman 3 bursts into theaters on July 20, 2012. Let the speculation commence.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

Not a bad standard to strive for. Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is busy at work writing the script for the still untitled sequel to 2009′s smash success Star Trek reboot. Lindelof joined the dynamic writing duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to help his Lost buddy/Star Trek director J.J. Abrams create the best, most imaginative sequel possible. And they already have a goal set in terms of the scope and story progression for their sequel, as they hope to emulate the success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

By no means are they “going dark,” which seems to be the automatic assumption when anything is ever compared to Nolan’s Batman. Rather, Lindelof has a better explanation:

“We’re looking at a movie like The Dark Knight, which went one step beyond Batman Begins. It was really about something, and at the same time it was a superhero movie. We don’t want to abandon all the things that made the first movie work and have it be fun and emotional, but we also really want the movie to thematically resonate.”

Can’t wait to see what they come up with. The Untitled Star Trek Sequel is set for a summer 2012 release.

[Sources: Cinema Blend, E!]

What Do You Think? Discuss.

After the eye-popping second teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Inception hit theaters in front of Sherlock Holmes on Christmas day and then the web on December 28th, I thought I’d have to wait another couple months before hearing any news about the film. Bloggers and fans have been going crazy over the last two weeks speculating and providing theories on what they think Inception will/could be about. That type of mystery hanging over an upcoming blockbuster can drive a movie geek insane. Now, the man behind it all, finally speaks.

In an interview with the LA Times’ Hero Complex Blog, writer/director/producer of Inception, Christopher Nolan, spoke candidly (to a point) about the the vision for his first post-Dark Knight movie:

I think we’ve put a lot of different things into the pot with this one. I grew up watching James Bond films and loving those and watching spy movies with their globetrotting sensibility…. We get to do that here, not just geographically but also in time and dimensions of reality as well. We get to make a movie that’s expansive, I suppose you’d say, in four dimensions.

4-D? I don’t even know what that means physically or scientifically, but…take that James Cameron!

Another interesting dynamic revealed from the interview piece came via Nolan’s wife, business partner and co-producer of  all his films, Emma Thomas. Although Inception has a rumored $200 million budget, boasts one of the best young casts ever assembled,  and features an epic mind-bending plot, the film is, apparently, personal to Chris. Thomas explains:

It’s something that we had been talking about on and off for seven or eight years. Coming off of the ‘The Dark Knight,’ the only thing we really knew is that we wanted to do something more personal. It seemed like the right time to do this. The fact that it’s really just an enormous movie — that wasn’t ever really a factor in the decision. This story lends itself to a movie of this size.

So its going to push the boundaries of like 30 dimensions and is a very personal project, but how does it’s size, scale and scope compare to The Dark Knight? Which was only the 3rd highest-grossing film of all time, received eight Oscar nominations and re-defined a genre… Answer:

This is the biggest challenge I’ve taken on to this point. We’re trying to tell a story on a massive scale, a true blockbuster scale – the biggest I’ve ever been involved with. We tried to make a very large-scale film with ‘The Dark Knight’ and with this one we wanted to push that even further.

So there you have it folks, straight from Oz himself, Inception is going to be BIGGER than The Dark Knight.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

As the New Year approaches and the decade comes to a close, many websites, blogs and news outlets are compiling countdown lists for various things, recapping the past 10 years. Peter Sicretta from SlashFilm.com, has been busy compiling several different countdown lists re-capping the top movies of the decade, based on several different sources of data. The first list that Peter compiled was of the “best reviewed” films of the decade, via the data provided by metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. Yesterday Peter shared another countdown list that he compiled, this time via the data found on IMDB.

The list is based one three elements present in the Internet Movie Database: 1) IMDB rating 2) # of votes and 3) Ranking on the Top 250.  The Dark Knight tops the list, of course; it was the highest-grossing movie of the decade ($533 million domestically). Christopher Nolan is the only director with four films making the Top 25; TDK, Batman Begins, The Prestige and Memento, making him the director of the decade. Although it’s only been out for a week, Avatar cracked the top five, coming in at #5. All three Lord of the Rings are there. Pixar makes a strong showing with Wall-E and UP making the list. Check out the list below.

IMDB’s Top 25 Movies of the Decade:

1. The Dark Knight (2008)
2. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
3. City of God (2002)
4. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
5. Avatar (2009)
6. Memento (2000)
7. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
8. WALL-E (2008)
9. Amélie (2001)
10. The Departed (2006)
11. The Pianist (2002)
12. Spirited Away (2001)
13. The Lives of Others (2006)
14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
15. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
16. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
17. Up (2009)
18. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
19. The Prestige (2006)
20. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
21. Downfall (2004)
22. Gran Torino (2008)
23. Sin City (2005)
24. District 9 (2009)
25. Batman Begins (2005)

Some people may be skeptical on the legitimacy of the list, noting that a significant amount of “fanboys” comprised the voting, but IMDB is the largest voting system for films on the internet, which should give it a decent amount of credibility. A few notable omissions that I’m curious about are No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood,  Juno and Gangs of New York; four Oscar heavy weights that are all great films. I am also very surprised that Iron Man and Star Trek failed to make the cut because of their massive commercial and critical success. Whether you agree or not, it’s fun to debate.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

There is no script (that we know of), there has been no announcement by Warner Bros., and yet the rumors surrounding the inevitable third installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise continue to persist. A big reason for this is most definitely because the amazing teaser trailer for Inception that was released a few days ago. Everybody wants a piece of Chris Nolan. First I’ll get the ridiculous out of the way. Megan Fox is NOT going to be cast as Catwoman in Batman 3, despite recent reports confirming that the actress has already been signed to play antagonist Selina Kyle. I honestly don’t know how the London-based gossip rag, The Sun, even cooks up this stuff. Remember a few months back when they claimed that Eddie Murphy had be cast as The Riddler? Yeah, I know.

What’s even more ridiculous than the thought of Christopher Nolan casting Fox in one of his films, is the absolute certainty of The Sun’s reporting. It’s not like they labeled this as a rumor, they flat out “report” her casting as fact; as well as claiming that Batman 3 is set to begin shooting in 2011. So instead of having a press conference to make a this anticipated announcement that the entire world has been waiting for, Warner Bros. and Nolan decided to leak the news to The Sun? Yeah right. I think it’s safe to say that any story surrounding the entertainment world that comes from this publication is utterly and completely false.

Fox’ reps were contacted about the rumor and immediately denied the claim, though they did say that Fox loves Nolan, saying:

“Megan is a huge fan of the Batman movies and of director Christopher Nolan, but these discussions have not taken place.”

And not that Megan Fox is absolutely terrible. She’s a decent actress and I think receives a lot of unjustified criticism for her supposed lack of acting ability. But lets look at the actresses that Nolan has chosen to work with thus far:

-Scarlett Johansson, The Prestige: Four-time Golden Globe nominee (Lost in Translation, Girl With a Pearl Earing, A Love Song for Bobby Long, Match Point)
-Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight: Two-time Golden Globe nominee (Secretary, Sherry Baby)
-Ellen Page, Inception: Academy Award nominee (Juno)
-Marion Cotillard, Inception: Academy Award winner (La Vie en Rose)

Nolan seems to choose actresses that have proven dramatic ability and credibility for each of his films. Not the eye candy of the Transformers franchise. But hey, Megan Fox would look super hot in black leather, right?

So now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the Batman 3 rumor that could prove to be true, as well as really awesome. Harry at Ain’t It Cool News posted an interesting article a couple days ago, claiming that one of the reasons Christopher Nolan chose to make Inception before delving into Batman 3 (besides the creative break from the Bat universe) is because it would allow he and his team time to develop rigs  and newer, smaller cameras to allow him to shoot the third Batman entirely in IMAX format. You may recall last summer sitting in an IMAX theater watching the breathtaking visual crispness of The Dark Knight. That’s because Nolan used IMAX technology to film about 25 minutes of the film. Those 25 minutes were all action sequences filled with car chases and explosions because the IMAX cameras are extremely loud, heavy, large and can only shoot 2 minutes of film at a time; so it would be nearly impossible to film a scene of dialogue with a roaring camera engine as background sound.

Back in 2007, Nolan mentioned to USA Today that he had always dreamed of making an entire film with IMAX technology, saying:

“There’s simply nothing like seeing a movie that way… I wish I could shoot the entire thing this way.”

Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net said that an IMAX rep told him, regarding Inception, that:

“Inception is definitely one of the titles that we are looking at for 2010.”

So that would mean that Nolan is definitely using IMAX technology on Inception; to the degree of how much of the film will be shot that way or if he has officially developed new cameras, has yet to be confirmed. So at this point it’s all speculation and hearsay. But this is a very positive sign for all you Bat fans who are concerned that Nolan has not “officially” signed on to Batman 3. As I’ve claimed for months now, the fact that Nolan hasn’t given Warner Bros. a definitive “No” answer, on top of the fact that they have not hired a new director, means that he will be back. For a studio to not immediately get the ball rolling for a sequel to the second-highest grossing movie of all time, means that they are bending to the will of the creator of that film.

What Do You Think? Discuss.