DVD Giveaway - Solitary Man
Ends Sep 12, 2010
Enter to win this DVD release starring Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandan, and Mary-Louise Parker.
Rating: Country: USA Release Date: October 18, 2005 Distributor: Warner Home Video Director: · Christopher Nolan Cast: · Christian Bale · Michael Caine · Katie Holmes · Liam Neeson · Gary Oldman · Morgan Freeman · Cillian Murphy Related Sites: ·IMDb ·Movie Review ·Cinema Spider: Batman Begins
Grade: A+
Comic book heroes have a sort of hit-and-miss record when it comes from making a leap from the panel to the big screen. If they hit, they hit hard. If they miss, they splat loudly.
After a short run of splats, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer made Batman hit, and hit hard. "Batman Begins" finally gave comic book readers what they wanted out of a Batman movie: a true-to-story, true-to-character envisionment of the Caped Crusader's obsession as well as a realistically acceptable superhero for the non-fans. When you left this movie, you almost believed that a man could wage a one-man war on crime, if (and this was a pretty big "if") he had the resources and training of a man like Bruce Wayne. It was physically possible.
Making it physically possible was Nolan's job, as well as his visual effects, stunt, and production crew. From the cape to the cowl to the car, it all had to be believable, and how that was achieved is documented in painstaking detail through all the special features of this DVD. Watching the featurettes, I became very impressed with the car, which outperformed even the driver's expectations, functioning flawlessly at speeds of 80 to 100 miles per hour! "I finally understood men's fascinations with cars when I saw this thing," Katie Holmes comments. And Christian Bale, the man behind the mask? "You can get to play Batman, but unless you're the stuntman who's driving that car, you don't get to have the coolest job."
Bonus comic book contents:
The Man Who Falls Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano
The Bat-Man Bill Finger and Bob Kane
The Long Halloween: Chapter One Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
The fabric of the cape is an entirely new development for costumers; it had to be flocked, but it also had to be water resistant. The entire body molding and costume development is covered in excruciating detail, and Gary Oldman attests to how intimidating Christian Bale became when he put on the suit. And no mistake, Bale definitely got the character. "You just couldn't pull it off properly unless you became a beast when you were inside of that suit.
The bulk of the featurettes are on the second disc of this two-disc collection. The interface is a fourteen-page comic book, inside the panels of which the viewer can arrow around and find highlightable areas -- not all of which are obvious -- and access featurettes and videotext information pieces. Don't worry if you miss an easter egg here or there -- the entire set of featurettes is indexed when you come to the last page, but it's more fun to get to them through the comic (and the index doesn't include the easter eggs that all get introduced as "Finders Keepers.")
The most visually impressive featurette of this set is found on the first disc. "Tankman Begins" is an MTV spoof in which Jimmy Fallon hitches a ride from Batman to get to the MTV Music Awards. Pursued by Andy Dick as a policeman, the characters become superimposed onto real "Batman Begins" footage flawlessly, rivalling the prior MTV spoof on "Lord of the Rings." The scene wraps up with a hilarious unmasking, revealing Jon Heder's Napoleon Dynamite instead of Bruce Wayne.
Packaged with a collectable digest-sized comic book, published with a sturdy cover, and all fitting snugly into a thematic cardboard slipcase, this edition of "Batman Begins" is the perfect addition to any Bat-fan's collection.
