Results tagged “batmanbegins”

Yesterday afternoon the world learned of Heath Ledger's untimely death. Both old and new media gossiped, rumor-mongered, and pitched their circus tents outside of his building on Broome Street the moment word spread. Sadly, most of his close friends and relatives, including his parents, heard about the tragedy through the newswire.

The latest in the Batman canon, The Dark Knight, is poised to be next summer's blockbuster hit, and ex-Brooklynite/current Manhattanite Heath Ledger seems to be stealing the show. A trailer recently came out with plenty of focus on Ledger's Joker character, and you can watch it below (MTV also has a shot-by-shot analysis). Does he outshine Jack Nicholson's 1989 Joker? We're excited to see this new take on the crime clown.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Batman Begins is awesome and War of the Worlds is better than expected. But if you want to experience a part of New York City many don't usually get to and want to feel appreciate your apartment (go Schadenfreude!), Gothamist recommends Dark Water. We had been curious about this film for a while, and though we fare poorly at even slightly scary films, we were too tempted by seeing how Walter Salles would film this forgotten part of the city.

So, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are dating. Or "dating." They are "something." Surely, this is an upgrade for Katie, whose former fiance was Chris "Rollerball" Klein and whose alleged recent NYC street smooching partner was Josh "Bedhead" Hartnett, but how much an upgrade, we're not so sure. And who knew that former stars of The WB could travel in such lofty circles? For Cruise, it's almost like he's veering into yucky old man territory: Think Kevin Costner and Don Johnson with their much younger ladies (he may be Tom Cruise, but he's no Jack Nicholson or Warren Beatty). Was Katie worried about her post-Dawson's career - like, did her manager fritter away all his money? Did she feel the need to trump Michelle William's pregnancy? Did Tom's manager say, "Next time you date, date an American"? Questions questions questions! Expect this relationship to last at least through the premieres of War of the Worlds and Batman Begins.

Because of yesterday's strange and ultimately hilarious for us - since we're not a recognized government or royal figure in Britain - stunt that involved a man dressed as Batman staging a protest at Buckingham Palace, Gothamist thought it a great opportunity to look at the meaning of Gotham City. Wikipedia's definiton:

Gotham City is a fictional city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. At one point, DC placed Gotham City in the state of New Jersey, though its features and location have been altered at times due to the capricious nature of the writers, editors and storyline. Gotham is known to be architecturally modeled after New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but with more exaggerated vices. It has been said that, metaphoricaly, Metropolis (home to Superman) is New York during the day, and Gotham is New York at night. This comparison is helped by the fact that Metropolis is more often seen during the day, and Gotham more at night. Longtime Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil has also said figuratively that Metropolis is New York above 14th St., and that Gotham City is New York below 14th St.

Gothamist loves the idea that Gotham City and Metropolis are two sides of the same coin or the yin and yang of the city, but we'd like to point out that Spiderman is a New Yorker, as is Daredevil.