Christian Bale celebrates the success of a record breaking box office weekend by beating up his mother and sister...Allegedly!

"The Jimmy Finger"

"The Jimmy Finger" is for the nervous hand that grasps the remote control for the television. The finger that is used to push the button that changes the channel. Sometimes this finger twitches and behaves almost as if it has a mind of it's own. This guidde will help scratch that itch!

• The Family Feud (Al Roker edition) - NBC - "Name something with two wheels that a person may ride" (crickets chirp). It's a battle of the nitwits this week on The Family Feud. This time around joining the always jovial Al Roker on the survey game will be Alums of Vh-1 reality shows. Look for Christopher (Peter Brady) Knight and his weirdo wife bicker back and forth as they air their dirty laundry publicly. Joining the competition later this week, will be none other than the gang from Orange County Choppers and TLC's American Chopper. Keep in mind as you watch, that Poppa Paul Sr., Jr., and Mikey and Co. are as dumb as a box of rocks. Prior to the taping of the show, the whole group had to be sat down and briefed about what the game show was all about. In other words, the siblings have never seen nor heard of it. Rumor has it that they still struggled throughout the game scratching their heads. Ah yes, now this is what television is all about. Verrrry interesting!
• My Life on the "D" List -BRAVO-/ Larry King Live-CNN - Everyone just loves the quirky, "in your face" style of comedy that comes out of Kathy Griffin's mouth. She's such a hoot and is so popular this year that it makes Sarah Silverman wish she'd have hung onto Jimmy Kimmel a few more months... Maybe she wouldn't be playing the Horseshoe Casino. Watch Kathy shoot from her lip as she comments on homosexuality, who she's slept with this past week, and why it's such a bitch being Irish and having naturally red, curly hair. See her on BRAVO and then for another appearance on Mr. KIng as they both schmooze it up together. Watch as Larry asks her silly questions and doesn't bother to wait for her answer. Also, see Larry roll his tongue back into his mouth when a caller from Jupiter, Florida asks Kathy Griffin if "the carpeting matches the curtains". Kathy may also turn up on The View while making her rounds, while she tap dances around the issue of her own sexuality to a nervous Barbera Walters who has her finger poised on the panic button.
• Beverly Hills 90210 (marathon) -The "n" - See the weak and often repetative storylines as they were back in 1990 BEFORE DeGrassi: The Next Generation took the idea to Canada and recycled everything over again. Gearing up for a revival of it's own, 90210 is responsible for the successful careers of.... of.... exactly. See Shannon Doherty as she was back in the day when she'd still keep her mouth shut as Brenda. As you watch, keep in mind that behind the scenes of that show, Doherty thought she was too good to be there and had her agent working hard to cast her on a new WB show called "Charmed". Also keep in mind that after Doherty left the cast of both shows fighting amongst one another in real life, she already moved on to host "Scare Tactics" on SCI-FI. This marathon is perfect timing as she announced her plans to do an old friend a favor by returning to 90210 on CW. Not too surprising is the fact that after her announcement at a press conference just last week, several members of the cast of the new show have already had a change of heart and decided to take a pass rather than work with her.

"My turn at Bat" part II

Don't believe everything the critics say...not all critics speak for me...hell, some like Ebert don't even speak at all! Before last night's opening, this movie was already a hit, mostly in thanks to Heath Ledger. Now, I'm not familiar with all of his work prior to this movie, but I will say this: Heath Ledger was a troubled soul and yes, perhaps a brilliant actor. The young actor's method was classic "old school". Give the guy a script and he'd study, and study, and study day and night. He'd do research nonstop and "live" the character throughout the film's completion on and off camera. If the character he portrayed was a dope addict, Heath would walk around for several months experiencing all the highs and lows of drugs for himself. Such was the case with his final role as "The Joker". Caesar Romero portrayed "The Joker" as did Jack Nicholson. Nickleson, by the way, wasn't too impressed with what he saw Ledger bring to this role. It's dark, disturbing, and chemically imbalanced and many say this is the role that Ledger took too far. Watching some of Ledger's work on film is like watching a person's desperate plea for help. That's why enough is enough. Time to put this story to rest. True, the blurry line between cinematic roles and real life are what define brilliant acting, but this was more like a suicide note left behind. Can't wait to see "The Dark Knight"? Don't have the tickets yet? There's a two week wait! You're S.O.L.! And you thought the economy was in bad shape! People are bitching about $5.00 for a tank of gas but yet, the tickets sell like hotcakes. The bottom line is that taking the family to the movies is getting as expensive as a week's vacation at Disney World in 1970. All the frenzy as folks camped out for days to get their mitts on tix... crazy ain't it? Well, the critics say this movie is now the benchmark of modern cinema and moviegoers from last night agree. As one person said upon leaving the theater at 3 A.M., "It's like The Godfather Trilogy, The Star Wars Trilogy and Indiana Jones to the tenth power!" Wow! This IS only a movie isn't it? I don't think it's worth all the hype and to be honest, is quite ridiculous to compare a big clump of films to this. Movies are missing one thing that they can't get back... that is, longevity. Like all the movies this guy mentioned, there was a time where a dilm had a long shelf life and would sit in a theater (or two or three) for six months. Not anymore. You'll see this movie on Blu-Ray and DVD just in time for Christmas if not sooner. Keep in mind when you take the kids to see this that Heath Ledger left the iconic "Batman" series a mess. Where can it go from here? Oh yeah, who's the dope that settled on a "PG-13" rating for this?

"Taking my turn at Bat"

"...The Joker's Wild", or "Where's Wink Martindale?" My thoughts on America's latest obsession with the "Caped Crusader". See the "Bat Signal" in the sky? It's a desperate last attempt to revive this dying franchise. Don't worry though, long before the movie hits theaters in the next few hours, this movie has already been granted immunity because the entire saga is counting on a villain to rake in the bucks: The late Heath Ledger, who goes in the books as "Joker #3" in movie history. That's the irony here. Actors have come and gone with their own takes on characters in Gotham City, and many of these people have also found that their life afterwards wasn't all too "Super". Adam West was the original 1960's Batman. The first motion picture happened after the tv series ended, and didn't do so good either. West was typecast and forced to do bit roles in film and television where he remains a regular "voice" on Fox's, "Family Guy" cartoon. In the early 1980's when talk started about making a different kind of Batman remake, actor Michael Keaton got the role as Batman and much of the other cast agreed to be in it to jot down as work on their resume'. That was the only time in cinema history that you will ever see Keaton and Jack Nicholson together...EVER! "Mr. Mom", "Gung Ho", and the success of "Batman" made Keaton go crazy. He turned down the second film a few years later and went on to such forgettable flicks as "Jack Frost". Too bad! For some reason or another, Val Kilmer was called upon to play the role for another film. This role was not too long after his portrayal of Jim Morrison in "The Doors". Where have you seen him after that? Bit roles and cameos in independent films where he continues today. ...And then there was George Clooney. Ahh yes, while mulling his future in the middle of a successful "E.R.", George decided it was time to up and leave the ABC drame to play Batman. The plot thickened everywhere except the silver screen where the watered down storylines gave the franchise a last gasp until a few years ago. Note how many long gone, and forgotten films of Clooney's were made between "Batman" and "Ocean's 11". Finally, there's the current Batman... what's his name? Exactly. That's the point. "Gotham City Nights" was supposed to be a big flick but turned out to become only a "critically acclaimed" movie that failed at the box office. Well, "what's his name" is back again. Ironically, the latest movie which continues from where we left off a few years back, was made to be an "artsy" film. Thanks to Heath Ledger's death earlier this year, the film has become a "Summer Blockbuster" before it even opens. There's already all kinds of rumbles about Oscars here... which makes me wonder. Is it a good movie or is it Heath Ledger that makes this a must see? That' why I'm doing today's post in two parts. Okay, I'm not actually going to camp out tonight to see the movie, but tomorrow I'll be critical to what the critic's say and why I think this should be the final film for the "Caped Crusader".

Continued Tomorrow