The Dark Knight Rises
Back in 2005 when Batman Begins was released, I didn't have high hopes for this franchise and figured this was going to be just another Batman movie. Director Christopher Nolan proved everyone wrong by rebooting the franchise with Christian Bale as Batman and returning the franchise back to it's original dark roots. Begins got people excited about Batman films again and The Dark Knight was one of the most incredible sequels ever produced. These two films had fans asking for more and this will be Nolan's final installment in this series.
The Dark Knight left fans wondering what will be in store for The Dark Knight Rises and we do have some clues. Anne Hathway, Marion Cotilland and Joseph Gordon-Levitt join the cast and Christian Bale will reprise his role as The Caped Crusader. Michael Caine will play Alfred again and Gary Oldman plays commissioner Gordon. With any Christopher Nolan film, you can expect to have a good cast that is believable and help carry a film.
With any Nolan film, don't expect just a simple plot in this film. Sources say the movie takes place after the events of The Dark Knight and Batman is forced to resurface after being in exile. Bane, who will be one of the main antagonists in this film, pushes the Gotham Police far enough to the point that Batman is forced to return.
As a director in this franchise, Nolan is very careful which characters he picks and Bane may have been a surprising choice. Bane, who was introduced in the mid-90s in for the Knightfall saga in the comics, was not portrayed well the last time he was in a Batman film. The character of Bane was used in the Joel Schumacher Batman and Robin, which still makes Batman fans cringe (including myself). Bane was portrayed as being cartoonish and a minor character in that film, however, it appears Nolan has returned the character to it's original intended purpose. Bane has always been a dark character that Batman has trouble defeating and Tom Hardy, who has worked with Nolan before, will portray the character.
Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the film. How big of a role Hathway will have is still in question but knowing Nolan, the character will probably play a significant role in the film. Marion Cotilland has been cast as Ra's Al Guhl's daughter and rumors of the Ra's Al Guhl character appearing again have surfaced. Josh Pence has been cast as a younger version of Ra's Al Guhl but it has been rumored Liam Neeson could be showing up in this next installment.
Nolan has stated this will be his final Batman film and there is no doubt he will probably incorporate several different ideas and concepts into the story. You may have to pay close attention to what is happening, however, Nolan does manage to tie everything together and will not want to leave fans saying he could have done better.
The Avengers
Marvel Entertainment has dreamed of putting The Avengers on screen for a long time and finally put the pieces in place with the first Iron Man movie. Iron Man did much better at the box office than anticipated and rebooting The Incredible Hulk after the horrific 2003 Hulk was one of the best decisions Marvel has made to set up this movie.
Thor and Captain America also did a great job creating excitement and interest around The Avengers. Director Kenneth Branagh took a different approach when directing Thor but created enough background on the Thor and Loki characters to stir interest for The Avengers. Captain America, a film that Marvel had hoped to successfully make after a failed attempt in the early 90s, accurately portrayed what the character is all about and left fans wanting more at the end.
There is no doubt The Avengers will have an incredible cast. Jeremy Renner, who made a brief appearance in Thor (and had a larger role in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) will play Hawkeye, Scarlett Johansson will return as the Black Widow, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Helmsworth as Thor, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man make for what will be a fun cast. Mark Ruffalo will replace Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, the alter ego of the Hulk, however, Ruffalo has proven to be believable in other roles.
The Amazing Spider-Man
This will be the first Spider-Man movie produced that will not have Sam Raimi as the director or Tobey McGuire playing the famous web-crawler. Not too long after the Marvel characters were purchased by Disney, Raimi decided to move on from the franchise and so did McGuire. As a result, a reboot was decided upon with a new cast and direction.
This movie will not feature the character of Mary Jane, however, it will feature another famous character in Gwen Stacy. Emma Stone, who is making headway as one of the top actresses in Hollywood, has been cast as the character. The character was only used as a minor character in the last Spider-man film, however, it will be used as a major character in this flick.
Choosing a successor for Tobey McGuire was not easy and Marvel settled on Andrew Garfield to play the role. Garfield will have big shoes to fill and is best known for playing Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network. Garfield showed lots of emotion and anger in The Social Network and will need to use those same talents to portray Peter Parker/Spider-man.
The villain will be The Lizard/Dr. Curt Connors. The Lizard never made an appearance in any of the Sam Raimi Spider-man films and it is clear Marvel is not ready to reboot The Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus or any of the other villains used in previous films.
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