How does latest superhero team-up stack up against "Superman," "Batman," "The Dark Knight," and other classics?
'Dunkirk' director Christopher Nolan on obscuring Tom Hardy face again: "This is a guy who gave an amazing performance with just a couple eyes and a scalp"
Some superhero sidekicks are so good that they need more screen time of their own, such as Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman, Idris Elba’s Heimdall, and more.
One triumph of The Lego Batman Movie is its ability to simultaneously satirize and celebrate the legacy of the Dark Knight, a rich history spanning eight decades of comic books, TV shows, and, especially, films. From Will Arnett’s Christian Bale-inspired gravelly growl to callbacks to the 1940s serial, The Lego Batman Movie is overstuffed with cinematic references and inside jokes. The pilot immediately calls out the Joker, pointing out how his previous big-screen endeavors were thwarted by the Caped Crusaders, alluding to both 2008’s The Dark Knight and 1989’s Batman.
Tom Hardy is a busy man: He’s currently headlining TV period drama Taboo (which he co-created with his father and his Locke director Steven Knight); he’s about to star in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming World War II epic Dunkirk; and he’s also contending with rumors about a sequel to 2015’s stellar Mad Max: Fury Road as well as a possible desire to take the reins of the James Bond franchise. It’s a lot for any actor to shoulder, and as Hardy recently revealed, it’s been made more difficult by the physical toll that some of his prior roles have taken on his body.
When I was growing up, one of the highlights of summer was seeing movies with my parents and brother. Whichever one we chose — Willow, Sister Act, The Lion King, Back to the Future Part III — was carefully selected from the available options, of which there were many. Now I’m the mother of a six-year-old boy who loves movies just as much as I do.