Christopher Nolan: 2D's caped crusader?

When reading the big news about Christopher Nolan's third Batman movie, I got the distinct impression that he could have walked into Warner Bros. and told them he was going to make it an animated musical called "The Dark Knight Prances," and they would have simply said "OK."

After all, when your movie makes almost as much as "Titanic," I suppose you have at least a bit of pull. And thankfully, Nolan is choosing to use this as a force for good, and hopefully putting the final nail in using 3D for anything beyond children's movies.

Along with the title, "The Dark Knight Rises," the only other thing that Nolan revealed about the 2012 flick this week was that when asked, he indeed told Warner exactly where they could stick their 3D. Beyond this being simply great news, it also just makes perfect sense, since Nolan already uses a unique technology for his cameras, and therefore has no need for such useless gimmicks.

That's all he's really revealed so far, except for that the Riddler won't be the big bad this time around, but on both of those counts I'd say so far he's off to a great start.

In other actual movie news today, Wendell Pierce, aka Bunk from "The Wire" and Antoine Batiste on "Treme," has somehow landed a part in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn." I have no idea what part he will play, and even less about what's going on in the "Twilight" movies, but I just had to laugh at that.

And before we move on to something even sillier involving Mad Man Roger Sterling, there's also a good bit of news about a movie that will come out in at least some corners of the world very soon, and it sounds like a potentially great one.

Who doesn't like a good kung fu movie? Well, I do, so "Bruce Lee, My Brother" sounds tailor made for me. Drawn from the memories of Lee's siblings, the $4.6 million Chinese production will take a look at his life growing up in Hong Kong. Someone named Aarif Lee, no relation to the kung fu master, will play the young Mr. Lee when this comes out Nov. 27, so keep an eye out for it if you can find it.


After I stopped laughing at the idea of Roger Sterling's memoirs actually being published, I had to think to myself, yeah, I'll probably buy that. After all, when you're feeling down, what could possibly be a better pick-up than some words of wisdom from "Mad Men"'s best character?

The book, to be called "Sterling's Gold," will hit bookstores in November. And though John Slattery's picture will appear on the cover, the book itself springs completely from the mind of "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner.

So, what will you get if, like me, you spring for this bit of silliness? Here's a sampling from the preface:

The book consists of “a few things overheard, a few things to live by, and hell, a few things I’ve apparently said and had repeated to me the morning after a party when I called to make amends."

Instead of a straight forward memoir, it will instead be a collection Sterling's "witticisms," divided into chapters with very basic names such as “On Clients”, “Things to Say to Creatives”, “On the Art of Seduction… and What to Say to Close the Deal”, and “On Some Memorable Colleagues.”

And just in case you doubt that Roger Sterling can be an inspirational figure, here are some examples of his accumulated pearls of wisdom:

You want to be on some people’s minds. Some people’s you don’t.

The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.

Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons and eventually they hit you in the face.

Don’t you love the chase? Sometimes it doesn’t work out. Those are the stakes. But when it does work out — it’s like having that first cigarette. Your head gets all dizzy, your heart pounds, your knees go weak. Remember that? Old business is just old business.

When a man gets to a point in his life when his name’s on the building, he can get an unnatural sense of entitlement.

Remember, when God closes a door, he opens a dress.

I certainly don't think I can add anything wiser than that, so with that, I'll just wrap it up and wish everyone, with the help of Roger Sterling, a perfectly bearable Thursday. Peace out.

Sam Raimi to enter the "World of Warcraft"

You know, I probably shouldn't admit it, but just about my entire knowledge of "World of Warcraft" comes from that fantastic "South Park" episode. It's certainly not that I think I'm too old or above it to play video games, it's simply that I've never, ever been terribly good at them.

With Sam Raimi attached to this, however, I can still deliver it as only insanely good news. One of the real mysteries of this summer is why more people didn't turn out for Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell," which was a really solid return to form. Granted, a woman vomiting up a dead kitten is one of the movie's milder scenes, but it was still the most fun I've have had watching a movie this summer.

And now, Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have handed him the reins for what should be a boffo budget to make a movie from the epicly popular game, and I can guarantee this will be the first (I really can't think of any others I've seen) movie based on a video game I'll definitely see in a theater.

And if you're a fan of Bruce Lee (and really, who the heck isn't?), there's even better news out there this morning. I had heard there was going to be a biopic on the kung fu master, but had no idea it was going to be on the scale of this.

Apparently, a Chinese company called J.A. Media is making a three-part biopic on Lee, with the first chapter to begin shooting in October. The part of Bruce Lee has yet to be cast, but his father will be played by Tony Leung Ka-fai, and though no director has been picked yet either, Zhang Yimou has apparently expressed interest. Nothing but awesome there.

And finally, to close an admittedly short post, here's the best video I could find today, which is a four-and-a-half-minute clip from the upcoming flick "9," for which I've seen the trailer what seems like 500 times. Each time I do, I can't help but laugh every time I hear the phrase "visionary director Shane Acker," since I can't for the life of me name one thing he's ever directed. It does, however, feature the voice talents of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover and even Martin Landau, and the animation (which I assume will have to, by force, be 3-D) does look really cool, so enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Where's Bruce Lee when you need him?

If he were here, I'm sure he'd put an end to this madness quicker than you could say "this remake reeks."

There are surely better movies than "Enter the Dragon," but I'll challenge anyone to come up with one that's cooler.

This was supposed to be Bruce Lee's ticket to the big time, and it certainly would have been if he hadn't died during post-production. Rumor has it he had a big but uncredited role in writing and choreographing the fighting sequences in this, his first and only big Hollywood flick.

In it, of course, he's hired by the British government to infiltrate an underground fighting ring run inside an island fortress (of course!) It never gets much more complicated than that, but for anyone who loves kung fu, this flick simply contains some of the best fight scenes ever filmed. And without Mr. Lee, they will obviously be impossible to re-create, so why even bother?

Especially when it's obvious you can do a whole lot more. The "noir-style" remake to be called "Awaken the Dragon" (wow, even the name is creative) is to be written and directed by Kurt Sutter, who has made his name so far as the executive producer of "The Shield." Now, I don't watch "The Shield," and after watching the simply flawless "The Wire" I fear cop shows are spoiled for me from here on out, but surely with that on his record he can do a whole lot better than this for his breakthrough to the big screen.

And, worst of all if I have this right, the plot so far sounds like they've take just the shred of "Dragon" (and, of course, the name) and just perverted it completely. The lead will be an anglo (I assume, though maybe not) FBI agent who "pursues a rogue Shaolin monk in the bloody world of underground martial arts fight clubs." Excuse me while I take a short break to vomit.

If you want to watch a new movie about underground fight clubs (and, given the right one, I certainly would), I'd put my money instead behind what David Mamet's currently cooking up with Chiwetel Ejiofor as a mixed martial arts instructor who's lured into the world of competition. "Redbelt" is in post-production now, and even if it does also star Tim Allen, it's simply got to be tons better than whatever comes of this craptastic project.

So, you wanna be a rap movie star?

One of my former co-workers, entertainment writer Greg Fields, came up with a rather memorable lead when asked to write about a local "American Idol"-style competition that took place when Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken were in the real "Idol" finals.

I'm paraphrasing here a bit, but what he actually wrote, and what appeared in The Telegraph, was something very close to "Are you fat, black, sweaty or ambiguously gay? If so, Southern Idol is for you." Needless to say, the organizers of the event weren't amused, but I sure was, and it's the first thing that came to mind when I read this crazy story today.

It seems that Voletta Wallace, mother of the late and very great Notorious B.I.G., is taking part in the search for an unknown person to play her son in an upcoming Fox Searchlight movie to be directed by George Tillman of "Soul Food" fame.

So, if you're a black man of a certain build who thinks he can rap, this is indeed your shot at the (somewhat) big time. Beginning at 3 a.m. Sunday, anyone can submit an audition video to BiggieCasting.com.

On the serious side, Biggie was indeed a great M.C., and if I can make a suggestion of one black man who not only fits the build, but can also rap and actually act, how about David Banner? The best Southern rapper around was just about the only good thing in Craig Brewer's "Black Snake Moan" playing well, essentially himself. I'd probably just hand the role to him now, but it should be fun to watch all the silliness that unfolds until they come to any such decision.

Two faces of Haynes' Dylan

Iwatchstuff.com had these two new stills from Todd Haynes' upcoming Bob Dylan flick, "I'm Not There," which I'm holding out hope will have enough star power to make it even to my rather remote corner of the world when it finally opens in September.

In the flick, Dylan will be played by at least six people: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Wishaw. As these photos show, some will have more luck in pulling it off than others. I'll buy Heath Ledger as a young Dylan, but Richard Gere just looks like he's been huffing in an alley for six days straight. Feel free to pile anymore hate on Mr. Gere, or add anything else that comes to mind.



And finally, just in case anyone's still thinking it really is possibly to re-create any Bruce Lee movie without, well, Bruce Lee, please enjoy this clip of him putting an enormous ass-whupping on Ohara (Robert Wall) from the one and only "Enter the Dragon." After all, what day, even a Friday, isn't just a little bit better with a little Bruce Lee? Peace out.