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A loose collection of big and small screen tidbits




Today is the opening of the The Dark Knight, the critically-acclaimed Batman Begins sequel that already has Oscar talk surrounding it. The film got four complete stars over at Christianity Today and is called a “powerful” and “solid superhero film” at Crosswalk. We hope to see it this weekend (if our babysitter comes through). Attached to The Dark Knight is the intriguing Watchmen trailer (above). I must admit, I don’t know much about the film or the Hugo-award-winning limited-series-comic-book-turned-graphic-novel on which it’s based. (Heh, in fact, I didn’t know anything about it until Peter Chattaway started posting on it). If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that comic book films are of special interest, but this one is adapted from a series that takes a, urm, rather dark and unique view of the genre. Anyway, after watching the trailer, I ordered the graphic novel out of curiosity—but it’ll have to wait, however, until I can get around to reading Babylon Babies, the novel from which Vin Diesel’s Babylon A.D. was adapted. Also, check out Peregrin Pages, where Joe liked Hancock—but he didn’t like Hellboy II: The Golden Army as much as I did, heh. That’s okay. I forgive ’im. Also James McGrath muses on Robin Williams’ License to Wed at Exploring Our Matrix and Barbara Nicolosi praises Wall-E at Church of the Masses.


On the small screen end, there’s a new Heroes teaser out for next season (above). And lest this post become entirely bogged down in comic book topics, there’s the news that Sam Raimi’s Wizards First Rule miniseries (which this blog’s been following) now has an air date for it’s two-hour premiere—November 1—and is cleared for 22 episodes for the 2008-2009 season (hat tip AICN). Exec producer Rob Tapert says of the series: “Everyone on the production team is committed to making a mini-feature film each and every week. The combination of a talented cast, incredible special effects and stunning locations has given us all the tools we need to create a truly memorable television series” (hat tip Futon Critic). Sounds good to me, but then I’m a fan of fantasy stories, especially for the God-talk they tend to elicit. Speaking of fantasy style television, SciFi announced plans for four-hour knights-and-quests miniseries Mirabilis (hat tip again to AICN). While I’m usually more fond of SciFi’s television series (Battlestar Galactica, Eureka (which starts a new season next week) and its borrowed BBC Doctor Who, for example) than their miniseries, last year’s Tin Man (which brought some God-talk into these open spaces) just got mentioned in the recently released Emmy nominations. And speaking of the Emmys, how the heck did BSG get passed over again? Yeah, I know, they got some writing and tech nominations, but what about writing and acting?! Next year, guys, pay attention. Oh, and before I forget, C-Orthodoxy takes a good look at the God-talk themes in Lifetime’s Army Wives—check it out.

For other collections of tidbits, head over to FilmChatBlog and Looking Closer or you can sift through those mega-sites, AICN and ComingSoon.