Flying bat-vehicle! Also, the kid singing: is that the actor who played 8-year old Bruce Wayne in Begins?

The Dark Knight Rises already has a teaser out, and since it’s been posted all over, let’s do something different: let’s ask a simple question.

Who’s that guy in the background? (Click to enlarge!)

Who do you think it is? Will this turn out to have a deeper meaning (which is how most Nolan teasers work) in the actual film? Is it a misdirect? Let the wild speculation begin!

More Batman-related things — here’s the Dark Knight Rises poster:

Nolan’s really stuck with the crumbling-buildings-as-posters theme in the last few years, hasn’t he? Not that I mind at all. It’s always like this with Nolan movies anyway, ambiguous teasers a year away.

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Arkham City Riddler trailer:

October!

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Since I’ve been playing way too much Team Fortress 2 lately, here’s the month-old trailer for Gotham City Impostors, the class-based FPS centered around the Batman universe. (Which is still a dumb idea. Batman isn’t exactly known for his gun-carrying. Or encouraging citizens to take up arms. Except old-TDR-Batman, if you so choose to correct me on the last statement.)

If you were wondering what kind of movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon is gonna be, it’s secretly a ballet:

Now SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR AWESOME

A film by Richard Ayoade. Also, according to the IMDb page, Gemma Chan‘s going to be in there — not that it would matter to you, but she makes me happy like a dog with two dicks.

I am petrified of crossing streets due to a little accident when I was in the third grade, which makes the potential of a wheel-death doubly scary for me. Anyhow, hide your children — here’s the trailer for Rubber.

Watched Batman: Under the Red Hood again — only to realize that there aren’t that many animated Batman films (not counting the Superman/Batman ones) — and making a top 5 list is only a matter of selecting the ones that really stood out.

So here goes my list:

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm – The one that started it all — coming out straight from the (then on-air) fantastic animated series, this one had all the elements of a good Batman story: action, mystery, romance and tragedy.

Batman: Under the Red Hood – The most recent Batman animated film is action. Just action. Based on the story arc “Under the Hood,” it is the culmination of that Jason Todd cameo from the “Hush” storyline, 7 years ago. While many didn’t like how Jason was even brought back in the first place, this animated feature had enough great action sequences, double (and triple) crosses and the occasional banter between Batman/Nightwing, to make this direct-to-video feature highly entertaining.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker – Okay, so I cheated a little. While not featuring the Bruce Wayne version of the character, this Batman animated feature still has enough action, mystery and humor to make it stand on it’s own. If you watch it enough times, you’ll recognize that this is secretly Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie wrapped in Batman Beyond awesomeness.

Batman: Gotham Knight – Tying in to The Dark Knight, Gotham Knight is an anthology of Batman stories set in the Nolan-verse. Sitting nicely in between Begins and The Dark Knight, these stories explore several themes of “Batman in the real world.” Animated by various Japanese animation studios with Batman voiced by Kevin Conroy, it surprisingly works.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero – If you think about it — SubZero wouldn’t have happened at all if Mr. Freeze just learned how to ask nicely. Life lessons all around.

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For now this list will remain like this until maybe a Batman: The Brave and the Bold (oh for this episode alone!) movie comes out, or if the Batman: Year One direct-to-video turns out great later this year.

While you were fangirling about Tron: Legacy, the Transformers 3 teaser showed up just under the radar:

Desire is creation energy.  Even out of spite.  Some of the world’s greatest innovations surely must’ve originated from some genius trying to get it on with a girl.  At least this is one thing you’ll pick up from The Social Network.  A tale of getting more, and finding out how more sometimes isn’t enough.  Wait, is that desire or greed?

In front: Jesse Eisenberg delivers a performance not seen since — well, Zombieland.  Although this time around, the awkward/”I’m-eating-my-words-to-force-you-to-listen-to-me” is augmented with the “follow-me-or-die-poor/I’ll-show-you-all” depiction of Mark Zuckerberg in the film, and it works.  His performance defines the movie, much in the same way that the person he’s based on has defined how, even from under the covers we are defining social structures with laptops in hand.  Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin is also something to take note of — he’s trying his best to do the right thing, but ultimately falls short of his friend’s vision.  Or desire.  Or greed.  Also — J.T. — oh, when he acts, he should act in more roles like this: slick, seductive and just a hint of darkness — like that snake in that tree in that one origin story.

While everyone fills their status updates with quotes from the movie, I will say: Brenda Song is hawt when she’s playing loopy and, Rashida Jones is, and always will be, adorable.

From behind: the slick direction from David Fincher helps turn this “computer-guys-making-something-that-made-it-big” story into a truly engrossing drama.  The quotable lines of dialogue, courtesy of Aaron Sorkin.  Told in-between two big depositions, one involving the Winklevoss twins and one with Saverin disputing over who came up with what, and who is owed what.

What makes it ultimately relatable is how recent these events are.  (Though told in hyperbole.)  While at times it would seem that these underdogs are “trying too hard to be assholes,” the direction and the dialogue make us sympathetic to their plight: desire.  Or greed.  Whichever one of it that was.  It is also the little touches, such as the question, “why is your relationship status set to single?!” which adds a little humor and realism to the idea that social networks mirror our real-world, actual lives — and how things truly are like this in the present.

It also asks questions about genuises: where do their loyalties lie?  Is it where the money is, or is it where their friends are?

See it, because it is brilliant, and not because you’re friends-of-friends with the friends of people who told you that you should see it.

Oh, hey, I made it through without even saying the word, “Facebook’!

Oops.  Truly the f-word of the 2010s.

(The sneak preview ended yesterday, and the regular screening will be on the 27th.)

How cult films work: you hear it from a friend — you reply in disbelief — and pretty soon, you end up hunting the damned thing.  — And then, and then — you tell your friends.  You even show it to them.  That’s The Human Centipede for me.

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Out of curiosity, you will want to see how they do it — how they pull off the human centipede.  It’s not the best film in the world, but it certainly got me wondering about the next one.  This is Dr. Heiter’s (played by Deiter Laser — his last name is LASER!)  movie.

Dieter Laser remained in character as Dr. Heiter during filming. He stayed away from the other actors and crew between scenes to preserve a level of separation, and only ate food he had brought onto the set himself. Laser contributed dialogue for his character, and selected many of his character’s outfits from his own personal clothing.

-From the Wiki

I like it.  I want to see the next one.

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Also, I’d like the following designs turned into shirts: