The official Batman Begins trailer.

2004 was almost better for movies than it was for games; at least we think it was, since this was the year that was distinguished by potentially entertaining movies we didn’t see. This list isn’t the Oscars - it’s what we saw in 2004 and talked/laughed/cried about later, regardless of the film’s critical merits.

Favorite Films (2004) | 2003 | 2002

12 (tie). Mean Girls
12 (tie). Troy
11. Team America: World Police
10. The Bourne Supremacy
09. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
08. Blade: Trinity
07. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
06. Shrek 2
05. The House of Flying Daggers
04. The Incredibles
03. Spider-Man 2
02. Hero
01. Kill Bill: Volume 2

Before you ask, “hey what about [insert film name here]?” I should point out that there are a lot of movies that we thought looked interesting that we didn’t get a chance to see. The films of 2004 that might have made our list, had we seen them (in alphabetical order):

• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• The Aviator
• Closer
• Collateral
• Eurotrip
• Finding Neverland
• Garden State
• The Grudge
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
• Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
• The Manchurian Candidate
• Ocean’s Twelve
• Resident Evil: Apocolypse
• Saved!
• Saw
• Shaun of the Dead
• Sideways
• Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

People’s Sexiest Man of 2004…

Jude Law

And how! rawr.

Bryan Singer is set to be in the director’s chair on the fifth Superman movie, rumored to be entitled Superman Returns.

Rather than a “reboot” of the franchise (which, in some cases, is badly needed) as had been originally planned, Singer’s vision is to pick up more or less where Superman IV left off. This will necessitate throwing all of the script and casting work done thus far out the window, but despite this Warner Brothers still seems intent on moving ahead with filming by the end of the year.

Only downside? X-Men 3 will likely be looking for a new director.

No, the Coen Brothers aren’t directing the next Superman film, but it seems like practically every other director in Hollywood has been attached.

Maybe that’s a bit of hyberbole, but the director’s chair has been somewhat of a revolving door. Latest victim: McG, who cites budget disagreements and Warner Brothers’ lack of support for using New York as a stand-in for Metropolis as the reasons for his departure.

I suppose this means that the recent casting efforts are down the drain, too. *sigh*

Slate has posted a very thorough rebuke of Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, in which Christopher Hitchens exposes the film for what it is - morally and intellectually bankrupt.

If you don’t share Moore’s beliefs, then you bristle at the thought of the contradiction and hypocrisy involved in Moore’s exploitation of the death of a woman’s son within minutes of accusing the President of exploiting the death of those who were lost in the events of 9/11.

If you agree with his sentiments, then you are exasperated by his self-serving, systematic destruction of the credibility of your beliefs by associating them with his incoherent, paranoid, and intellectually lazy “arguments”.

Either way, Moore is detestable. Give him and his film what they deserve - a big “who cares”. Spend the money that you would have spent on a ticket to his film on a history book or a political contribution. Spend the time you would have spent in a theater being bombarded by his baseless sense of self-righteousness by having an intelligent conversation with someone with whom you disagree politically. These are the things that make America healthier, not rewarding an attention-craving imbecile for whom juxtaposing incongruous images passes for exposing the truth and taking words and events out of context to ridicule people constitutes political satire.

Well, Comic Book Resources, Dark Horizons, and Superman-V.com are all reporting that the field of actors to play Superman has been narrowed to six, almost all of whom reportedly screen-tested for the part over the past few days.

Here are the candidates:

Henry Cavill	Jason Behr	Jared Padalecki
Brandon Routh	Mike Vogel	Hayden Christensen

Rumor has it that Christensen, now famous for playing Darth Vader, has dropped out. Personally I like the look of Cavill and Routh, but I guess it remains to be seen if they can act…

Ack! No! Where the hell is Hagrid’s hut? What the hell did they do to Flitwick?
Ahhh…I can’t stop thinking about Hagrid’s hut! It’s a good thing I grew to care about these characters in the last two movies because this one ain’t doing the trick. Hagrid’s hut!

That’s right folks: me…no…likey.

More photos from Batman Begins at the official site.

Saw the exclusive in Entertainment Weekly, too… my only question was, “where is the Bat-symbol?” Black on black is fine, but it almost looked like it was off to the side like some sort of Izod logo.

Who says Bruce Wayne can’t have some fun with the ladies?

Now I’m thinking that the new coat I’ve been looking for should be a SeV, which the manufacturer claims (scroll down a bit until you see the Batman logo) may be the basis for the new on-screen utility belt.