Search Results for: batmobile

1960’s Batmobile Recreation Available

Over the years, I’ve always said if I was a very rich man, I’d commission a recreation of the Batmobile used in the 1960’s tv series.

Although I’m not a rich man (so I won’t order one) Hammcher Schlemmer has a recreation that you can pick up for $200,000.  Here’s what you’ll get for your dough:

Built on a custom Lincoln chassis, this crime-fighting cruiser comes standard with a 430-horsepower, 383 Blueprint Crate engine and a Monster TH350 automatic transmission. Though equipped with neither atomic batteries for power nor turbines for speed, a rear-facing propane tank creates the same afterburner effect as the original. The vehicle’s cockpit honors the gadgetry of the TV series with a blinking Batphone, switch-operated electric actuators that open the hood and trunk, and a rotating red beacon to alert citizens while in pursuit of fiendish criminals. Other intriguing, if less functional, accessories include a glowing detect-a-scope screen, a Batbeam ray that raises from a hood-mounted antenna, and empty rear parachute packs. The vehicle’s exterior bears all the hallmarks of its namesake, from bubble-canopy windshields to chrome “rocket” tubes behind the rear windshield…

So, if any of you decide to pick up the Batmobile, how about giving me a ride sometime.  I’ve always wanted a chance to say “Atomic turbines to power…”

Source: CBR.com and Time.

Original Batmobile Sells for $4.62 Million

Back on December 5, 2012, I let everyone know that the original Batmobile from the 1966 tv series was going up for auction.

I also dropped a strong hint…

If you were wondering what to get me for Christmas, this would be a good place to start.

Well, I guess no one had an extra $4.62 million to buy it for me.  Other than Rick Champagne, that is. That’s what Mr. Champagne paid and since he hasn’t contacted me, my guess is he’s keeping it for himself.

I can’t blame him.

Thanks and an extra “turbines to speed” to CBR.com for the post.

“Batman” (2022) / Z-View

Batman (2022)

Director:  Matt Reeves

Screenplay:  Matt Reeves, Peter Craig, based on Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, John Turturro  and Andy Serkis

Tagline:  Unmask The Truth

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A sadistic, extremely intelligent psycho killer is murdering political figures in Gotham City.  At each murder scene, the killer who has been dubbed The Riddler, leaves a message for Batman (Pattison).  Meanwhile Selena Kyle aka Catwoman (Kravitz) is investigating the disappearance of one of her friends.  When Batman and Selena realize that their investigations overlap, they form an uneasy alliance.  As the Riddler’s body count goes up, it becomes clear that the corruption goes deep… perhaps all the way to the Wayne Foundation and Batman’s father.

The Batman doesn’t feel like a super hero movie.  Instead it plays out more like a mystery or a noir thriller.  That’s a good thing.  Even the music doesn’t scream SUPER HERO.  Let’s break it down…

The Story: I liked the story and was surprised that Bruce Wayne’s dad was shown in a different light.

Batman:  Robert Pattison makes an excellent Batman.  I liked that they played up the “strike fear into the hearts of criminals” aspect.  Criminals would hear Batman’s heavy footsteps coming closer in the dark before they could see him.  This is a more violent Batman but not (usually) excessively so.

Bruce Wayne:  The way they portrayed Bruce Wayne threw me a bit.  A times I thought he looked like a young John Cazale or  Cesare from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Having Bruce Wayne as a recluse does help to explain why he isn’t seen in public more often.

Selina Kyle aka Catwoman:  Zoë Kravitz owns this role.  She’s tiny but believable as a tough woman.  The screen loves her and she stole every scene she was in.

The Riddler:  The new take on this character is money.  He was smart, frightening and crazy.  The Zodiac Killer on steroids.  Paul Dano deserves an ovation!

The Penguin: Colin Farrell is unrecognizable under the make-up and latex, but his character doesn’t look made-up.  Farrell did a fine job.

Carmine Falcone: John Turturro was amazing.  He had the crime boss / godfather part down pat.  Turturro’s role was one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Alfred:  I like the new direction they took with Alfred.  No longer the old man with amusing quips, this is the Alfred that served as Bruce Wayne’s bodyguard and mentor from childhood to adult.  Andy Serkis nailed the part.

Jim Gordon:  Jeffrey Wright  makes a great Jim Gordon.  Wright is such an under-rated actor, I was glad to see him in The Batman.

The Batmobile:  Batman’s car didn’t look like any of the previous Batmobiles.  It looked like a built up car that could do what needed to be done.  I liked that and the fact it was never referred to as “the Batmobile.”  I also loved the scene where the criminals could hear the monstrous motor revving, before they saw it.  Again playing up the strike fear into the criminals.

The Batcave:  I loved the brief look we got at it.  All of those bats flying around was a great touch.

The Batman exceeded my expectations.  I hope the entire team returns for a sequel.  The Batman earned 4 of 5 stars.

50+ Years of Hollywood’s Coolest Cars

History.com presents 50+ Years of Hollywood’s Coolest Cars.   Here are three of my favorites and some thoughts at the end…

1963 ASTON MARTIN DB5
Goldfinger (1964)

James Bond’s bespoke British grand tourer wasn’t just suave. It was also menacing, which likely had something to do with all that supercool spyware: pop-out machine guns and tire slashers, rotating license plates, and a smoke screen and oil-slick sprayer that (temporarily) foiled the baddies in hot pursuit.

Most memorable? Its fully functional passenger-side ejector seat, activated by a button hidden on the gear-shift knob—an audience favorite despite the fact that the villain flung from it barely cleared the top of the car. In 1964, Corgi made a toy die-cast model complete with machine guns and ejector seat and a little toy bad guy to launch from it.

The DB5 went on to appear in Thunderball, Casino Royale and many other Bond films, becoming synonymous with 007. Of the two DB5s actually used in the film (two others were used for promotion), the one originally kitted out with all the gadgetry has disappeared, stolen from a Florida airplane hangar in 1997. The other, used in road scenes and later retrofitted with the spy goodies, sold at auction in 2010 for $4.6 million.

1967 SHELBY MUSTANG GT500 FASTBACK ‘ELEANOR II’
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

When it comes to leading cops on a chase, few scenes can match the climactic one in Nicolas Cage’s star vehicle Gone in 60 Seconds. Eleven cars were custom-made for the film, only three of which were driveable. One of those three, the “beauty car” Cage drove in that infamous chase (sporting a not-too-shabby 400 horsepower Ford V-B engine and its much copied “Go-Baby-Go” shifter knob), sold for $1.07 million at auction in 2013. A few years earlier, the other two fetched roughly $200,000 and $100,000 respectively. A cottage industry has emerged selling replicas.

1976 LOTUS ESPRIT
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

James Bond’s Aston Martin may have helped him defend Queen and country with an impressive collection of spy gear, but could it … swim? The 10th Bond film featured a funky disco soundtrack, a leggy Russian spy and a villain with mouthful of metal. And if that wasn’t enough, it showcased “Wet Nellie,” a futuristic, wedge-shaped Lotus best remembered for the shocking moment when it dove into the water, sprouted fins and retracted its wheels—essentially transforming into a submarine. (Reportedly, the bubbles it left in its wake were created with a cache of Alka-Seltzer tablets.) When it motored back up on the beach, it morphed back into a proper car.

The Lotus earned its spot in the 007 sports-car pantheon in a distinctly sneaky way: Lotus’s PR manager, on hearing of a new Bond film in the making, strategically parked the striking vehicle outside the office of franchise producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, hoping to catch his attention. Apparently, it worked.

Two of the three coolest cars were James Bond vehicles.  Not much is cooler than cars with weapons, ejector seats and that can go underwater.  The Shelby Mustang is also a favorite.  I had a Mustang in high school and my uncle owned a Shelby Cobra.  Gotta love those muscle cars.

Two cars that didn’t make the list that would have made mine –

  1.  The original Batmobile from the 1960’s Batman tv series
  2.  Stallone’s ’50 Ford Merc from Cobra

30 Things We Learned from James Mangold’s “3:10 to Yuma” Commentary

Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 30 Things We Learned from James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

17. His second feature, Cop Land, was viewed by him as “a western, but setting it in the context of the suburban tri-state area.” The original 3:10 to Yuma served as an inspiration of sorts, and he extended that film a nod “in the sense that Stallone’s character is actually named Freddy Heflin and I named him after Van Heflin, the actor who played Dan Evans in the original.”

24. The cave where they huddle against a nighttime assault of bullets is in Los Angeles and is actually the same one featured in the Batman TV series where the Batmobile exited. It had gotten “so cold” in New Mexico that they returned to Hollywood to film the scene.

“No one should be playing a villain. Everyone should be playing a fully-realized person… No person in the world including Hitler or Osama Bin Laden walks around believing they’re a bad guy.”

The Ultimate TV & Movies Car List

One of the fun things about movie and tv shows is that the characters in them (usually) get to drive the coolest vehicles.  I’ve always said I’d drive the ’66 Batmobile or the ’50 Merc that Cobra drove if I had the extra cash.

The folks at autoacessoriesgarage.com created The Ultimate TV & Movies Car List.  There are 114 vehicles on our list and a fun factoid about every single one.  Click over and enjoy!

Batman 60’s TV Series Available for Pre-Order!

It has taken years but the Batman TV series from the 1960’s will finally be available on DVD and Blu-Ray starting November 11, 2014.

The Blu-Ray will be a limited edition with the extras listed below:

    ALL 120 Original Broadcast Episodes Fully Remastered In HD

  • Highly Collectible Premiums

Hot Wheels® Replica Batmobile

The Adam West Scrapbook

44 Vintage Trading Cards

Ultraviolet Digital Copy

32-Page Complete Episode Guide

  • OVER 3 Hours Of ALL NEW Extras:

o   Hanging with Batman – A true slice of life in the words of Adam West

o   Holy Memorabilia Batman! – A journey into the most sought after collectables through the eyes of 3 extraordinary collectors

o   Batmania Born! – Building the World of Batman – Explore the art and design behind the fiction.

o   Bats of the Round Table –  A candid conversation with Adam West and his celebrity friends, chatting all things Bat ’66.

o   Inventing Batman in the words of Adam West (episode 1 &2) –  A rare treat for the fans as Adam discusses his script notes on bringing Batman to life in the first and second episodes

o   Na Na Na Batman! — Hollywood favorites stars and producers recount their favorite Batman memories

Need a Ride?

Ridelust.com charts their picks for the 50 Most Famous Cars from Movies and TV. Looking at the list I’m surprised that my #2 choice didn’t show up anywhere! How in the world could Marion Cobretti‘s custom 1950 Mercury not make the list?Oh well. Using just their choices here are my top ten:

10. 1970 Dodge Charger from The Fast and The Furious film. Fun movie and a fun car!

09. 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 fastback from Gone in 60 Seconds. I didn’t care for the movie at all. I am a huge fan of Mustangs though. In fact I owned a sweet little 72 Mustang back in high school. I did love that car!

08. 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and The Bandit. It seemed that everyone wanted a Trans Am back in the late 70’s. They were cool for a while, but then kind of went the way of disco.

07. 1981 DeLorean DMC 12 from Back To The Future. Who wouldn’t want a car that could be cleaned with a brillo pad?

06. 1973 [heavily modified] Ford Falcon XB GT from Mad Max. Hey, the year 2012 will soon be here, so I may need that car!

05. 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 from Miami Vice television series. Heck, I’d even push my jacket sleeves up when driving it.

04. 2054 Lexus CS from Minority Report. All of my previous choices have been heavily influenced by the movie/tv show that the car appeared in, except for #9 and this one. This car is just too cool looking not to want… despite the movie just being okay.

03. 1974 Ford Gran Torino from the Starsky and Hutch television series. There was a time when everyone wanted one of these. People with other makes of cars had the Starsky and Hutch stripe painted on them. I believe that John Beatty would have even given up his beloved Charger for this bad boy.

02. 1966 Chrysler Crown Imperial from The Green Hornet television series. Who wouldn’t want a car that Bruce Lee used to drive?

01. 1955 Lincoln Futura Concept Car from the Batman [1966-1968] television series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now, If I was a rich man, this would be my ride.

Batman Begins… Mixed Feelings

Let me start by saying that EVERYONE that I know that’s seen Batman Begins really, really likes it. Most everyone has even gone on to say that it’s the best Batman movie yet. They usually conclude by saying how much I’m going to love it.

Well, now that I’ve seen Batman Begins, I can say that they were partly right.

I’d agree that Batman Begins is the best Batman movie yet. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I loved it. Yeah, I liked parts of it a lot, but that still leaves some parts that I didn’t. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to check the rest of this post later because it will contain some SPOILERS…

Still with me? OK… let’s start of with what worked for me.

The casting was great. Christian Bale makes a very good Batman / Bruce Wayne. Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, and Morgan Freeman were also just right for their roles. [And I had had some doubts about Caine as Alfred.]

The soundtrack was fine. The sets were more realistic and worked well for the “new” direction. And speaking of direction, Christopher Nolan did a fine job, although I would have preferred a little more clarity during the fight scenes. Yeah, I know that he was trying to show how scary it was when you didn’t know where Batman was going to be next, and man, can he move fast… still, a little of that went a long way.

Now the things that bugged me…

Bruce Wayne as a kid is such a ‘fraidy cat. It’s because little Bruce‘s afraid that they leave the opera and his parents end up killed, and wow, won’t that be something to overcome. I did like how they handled Bruce’s dad though. He was caring and adventurous and understanding. [Heck, maybe HE should have been Batman.]

So Bruce decides to travel the world and hang with low-life criminals so that he can come to understand their minds. Huh?

The Ras Al Ghul League of Shadows was a cool idea. I liked the line where he talks about destroying Rome, London, and other cities when their decadance became too great. Ok, so now this sinister secret organization is going to take down Gotham. And they’re going to do it by releasing a poison in the water supply that has to be activated by a device that they have to steal from Wayne industries?!? That’s the best plan that this group could come up with?

And to make matters worse, they have to depend on a mentally ill doctor to hire henchmen to put the stuff in the water pipes? Why not send in a group of his ninja assassins and get the job done right?

And to make matters worse, as soon as Ras throws the switch on the Microwave weapon, the water for blocks on end IMMEDIATELY evaporates? I thought that this was going to be the more REALISTIC Batman?

And before we get to Batman’s actions… I didn’t like how Bruce Wayne was played as an idiot. Yeah, I understand that Batman is playing him that way so people won’t suspect that he’s really Batman. It just doesn’t work for me. Why not give Bruce some dignity. People aren’t going to think that the billionaire playboy is Batman. You don’t have to make him come off as a drunken jerk who burns down his own house.

Now for Batman’s actions… first of all, Batman shouldn’t be flying around Gotham. Swinging on his line I can live with. And don’t give me some guff and say, “Oh, but he was gliding.” I saw the movie. He was flying. LOL!

Batman is supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to be saving lives. There he was driving that “Batmobile” around destroying overpasses, riding across roof tops, knocking debris off buildings, causing car crashes, flipping police cars. He must have caused the deaths and injuries of dozens of innocent people.

And when Batman said, “I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.” Uh, Batman, you’re a hero… you’re business IS to save people… even the bad guys.

Batman is supposed to be smart. He’s the greatest detective alive. His brilliant plan to stop the train from getting to “the critical spot” where it would blow up everything was to give Gordon the keys to the Batmobile so he could get ahead of the train and blow up the tracks. That’s the PLAN?!? Meanwhile Batman “flies” up and on to the same train!?!

Huh? Did he somehow forget that Gordon is going to blow up the bridge? Hey Batman, why not just drive the Batmobile yourself and blow up the bridge? You have more experience at these things than Gordon… plus it’ll keep you OUT OF THE TRAIN!

A lot of people have been complaining about Katie Holmes‘ role. The only thing that bothered me is that she’s known Bruce since they were kids, and she had no clue he was Batman. She knew him longer than I’ve known most of my friends and I’d venture a guess that I’d recognize ANY of them in a Batman suit. Especially if they were two feet away from me and talking.

I did like the ending. Things have been set up sweetly for the sequel.

Overall, I know this review sounds really negative. You’d probably think that I hated the movie. I didn’t. I liked it. Didn’t love it, but liked it.

And my guess is that I’ll like the sequel even better.

“Batman Begins” rates a C