Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle

Today, Warner Brothers released/leaked the first image of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises. I was none too impressed with the costume choice, until I read on one blog that perhaps this character is purely Selina Kyle, before she transforms into the feline femme fatale that we all know and love (forgetting about Halle Berry, and remembering purely Eartha Kitt and Michelle Pfeiffer). Hathaway has proven that she is an actress to be trusted in almost any role, so I hope, for every fanboy out there that she brings to the role what she has brought to countless others.

The release of this photo comes on the heels of other set photos being leaked, as the film continues to be shot in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

There was originally much speculation as to whether Hathaway would be playing just Selina Kyle, as well, but she put those rumors to rest after confirming to Oprah back in February that she would indeed be playing her feline alter ego as well.

Other new additions to the the Christopher Nolan-directed film also include Tom Hardy as Bane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake and Marion Cottilard as Miranda Tate, in addition to returnees Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Liam Neeson.

I would trust Christopher Nolan with my life after seeing what he did with The Dark Knight, so understandably my expectations are quite high for the film. We shall wait and see, however, as The Dark Knight Rises will be released in theaters on July 20, 2012.

**Picture courtesy of Warner Brothers/TheDarkKnightRises.com

What is so great about twitter?

I woke up this morning knowing full well the Golden Globe nominations had been announced a few hours earlier. I was too lazy to find the remote, and WAY too lazy to get up to get my laptop. Instead, i picked up my phone, clicked a few buttons, and voila, the golden globe nominations appeared. (In case you haven't seen them yet, they are here). The Golden Globes are never taken quite too seriously, in both film and television. I mean, I love Halle Berry as much as the next guy, but its fairly obvious at this point that she will NOT be getting an Oscar nomination for Frankie and Alice. In terms of television, just ask Angela Lansbury if she would trade in her six Golden Globes for one of the EIGHTEEN times she was nominated for an Emmy, and I don't think she would hesitate. Nevertheless, the Globes have always been this way though. Always choosing star wattage over the performance, which probably includes some pressure from the execs over at NBC to boost ratings and get stars on the red carpet (see Gwyneth Paltrow being nominated for Proof). Last year, interestingly, they went 4/5 in choosing the Best Actress nominees at the Oscars, with only Emily Blunt (who should have been nominated for The Young Victoria) not getting that coveted Oscar nomination. [Meryl Streep, who got the fifth slot at the Oscars, was in the Musical/Comedy category that year for Julie and Julia)].

As someone who loves film, loves reading about film and getting the latest updates on upcoming films, trailers, movie deals, etc, it's tough navigating the internet to find what you are looking for. And this is why twitter is so great. I have everything i need, right in a small newsfeed. Between Peter Knegt & Anne Thompson over at indieWIRE, Guy Lodge over at inContention, Scott Feinberg, resident film scholar Matt Mazur, or one of my all-time favorites, Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience, one of them will surely have what I need. If they don't, they probably retweeted it from someone else. I no longer have to stalk Apple Trailers, although sometimes I still will, as trailers are constantly being tweeted by different sources (usually i will see, for the most part, the same tweet over and over again). Twitter is also a great place to get free screening tickets, if that's the kind thing you are into and you like to save a few bucks (I know I do). Every single screener I have gotten tickets to this year (Love and Other Drugs, 127 Hours, The Fighter, Unstoppable, The Next Three Days) all came from someone tweeting an RSVP code. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out Gofobo.

Twitter isn't just great for the film lover though. Following the New York Times, New York Post, CNN, Gawker, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, etc, I am rarely ever behind the eight ball (though it does happen). For instance, what did I do last night when my friend told me that Bobst library at NYU was on fire? I knew if I googled it no one would have anything on it yet. I searched on twitter, and found people tweeting things to the effect of: "ALERT: Someone threw a burning book into the Book Return receptacle at Bobst. FIIIIIIIIRE!" As I am writing this, I have now learned that the Kimmel Center at NYU has been evacuated due to fire as well. NYU kids love to do crazy shit, but two days in a row? Must be finals time.

And, for those of you still looking for that ultimate job, twitter has an app for that too (Funny? No? Ok, moving on). Seriously though, most companies have a twitter for their human resources department, in which they tweet when new jobs open up, where you can apply for them online, and even when their internship program begins accepting application.

Like I said, no matter who you are or what you are interesting in, you really should be on twitter.

Morning Glory

Hello all. I have no idea why, but after seeing Morning Glory today, I decided to blog about it. There are so many things that go right with this movie; unfortunately, there are also a few that go wrong. First of all, Rachel McAdams is nothing less than sensational as Becky Fuller (what a name, eh?). This is McAdam's first time really headlining a movie on her own and truly getting it right (although I did thoroughly enjoy Red Eye). She is funny, sincere, quirky, cute and you can't take your eyes off her. It's hard to imagine that she hasn't made it to that next level yet in her career. She's done romantic drama (The Notebook), thriller (Red Eye), Sci-Fi (The Time Traveler's Wife), adult drama (Married Life), romantic comedy (Wedding Crashers), teen comedy (Mean Girls) and even action (Sherlock Holmes), all to mostly good reviews. She has pretty much done it all in terms of film genre, but she has never made the growth she needs to make it to full-fledged movie star (a la Julia Roberts or Angelina Jolie). Can she do it? Perhaps. She needs to find her niche, and stick to it. Julia and Angie pretty much found it, although they might diversity every now and then. She can perhaps take a pointer from Natalie Portman, who is finally getting the best reviews of her career as a haunted ballerina in Black Swan. With the right direction, we can hopefully expect greater things from McAdams in the future. She is still young, and has enough time to show us the real thing.

In terms of other actors, Diane Keaton was severely underused, though I cant really blame them considering what her film choice has been like lately (Perhaps a starring-role in the HBO comedy, TILDA?). Patrick Wilson is, well, Patrick Wilson. He is there to look pretty, and he has always played that role well, for the most part. He is another actor whom I am not exactly why he hasn't taken that next step in his career either. Not quite sure where he goes from here. He has to eventually get tired of playing these roles. At least that is the impression I get from interviews and other articles that I have read about him. Harrison Ford is funny and he plays off well with both Keaton and McAdams. I would love for him to go back to typical Harrison Ford fare though, which he seems to be doing with COWBOYS AND ALIENS, coming out in July 2011. Some nice work from Jeff Goldblum, who has been having a career resurgence of sorts, with both this and The Switch, which I haven't seen yet, but have heard great things about his role in that.

Overall, the film is less about a morning show (like Today and GMA, but less successful) than it is about a woman's career ambitions and struggles, with everything in between. As someone who has worked in production on a television show before, it is a great "behind the scenes"film in how it represents what its like to work on a show like that. Morning Glory succeeded in what it set out to do, and is entertaining, cute and enjoyable to the fullest extent.