What’s the best course of action should you ever find yourself a boring married person who’s hesitant to cash in “movie favors” due to the fear that your return favor will come in the form of the next four Katherine Heigl movies? Align yourself with like-minded boring married people and schedule yourself a significant-other-free triple feature. This advice comes directly from my own playbook and is the reason why this week’s Top 5 is arriving a little earlier than usual; so that I can make time to check out Gangster Squad, Zero Dark Thirty, and Django Unchained all in one glorious day. While you likely didn’t come here for relationship advice, as an added bonus to an already robust palette of content, I’m confident that you’re getting your time’s worth and then some.

All creative thinking pertaining to movies and how we can watch them while in a relationship aside, this week saw the announcement of the 2013 Oscar nominations, a little Evil Dead remake set visit coverage, Gangster Squad interviews with Ruben Fleischer and more, a healthy portion of posters and images from Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers, and developing news regarding Christopher Nolan potentially taking on Interstellar as his next directorial effort. All of the above resides in brief recap and link form after the jump.

News regarding Steven Spielberg’s Robopocalypse wasn’t the only “mega director” story to hit last night, as we also learned that Christopher Nolan is in talks to direct the sci-fi film Interstellar as his next project.  There’s a link between the two filmmakers, as Nolan’s brother Jonathan Nolan originally wrote the Interstellar script years ago for Spielberg to direct.  Details on the film are understandably under wraps, but the story is inspired by the work of physicist Kip Thorne and involves a group of explorers traveling through a wormhole, where they encounter time travel and alternate dimensions.

Now a few more details have surfaced regarding Interstellar, chief of which is that Christopher Nolan will be writing the script himself in order to incorporate an original idea of his own.  Hit the jump for more details.

While you might know him from his directorial efforts in a little thing called The Dark Knight Trilogy, Christopher Nolan is set to tee up a new sci-fi picture which his brother Jonathan Nolan has written.  Titled Interstellar, Christopher Nolan will reportedly direct and produce the picture.  The basics of the plot involved a group of explorers traveling through a wormhole and deals with time travel and alternate dimensions.  The script is said to be inspired by the work of Kip Thorne, a physicist at Caltech.  Steven Spielberg was previously in the mix to direct the picture, but it looks like the Nolan brothers will reunite once again.  Hit the jump for more.

A rumor surfaced late last month that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in serious negotiations with Warner Bros. to take on the role of Batman starting with Justice League—maybe even earlier, with the hint of a Batman cameo in Man of Steel this summer.  Gordon-Levitt’s representation was quick to deny the rumor, and “no” will be the official word for the near future regardless of the truth behind the rumor.  Movieline decided to ask Christopher Nolan—caretaker of the Batman franchise and producer on Man of Steel—directly if Gordon-Levitt or any actor might appear as Batman in Man of Steel.  Nolan smiled and responded:

“I can’t talk about that.  You know that.”

Nolan didn’t flat out say no like Gordon-Levitt’s reps.  Make of that what you will.

In the meantime, if you’re in the mood for something more tangible from the greater Batman universe, watch a fan recreation of the Dark Knight Risestrailer in Lego after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill as Superman.  Rather than focusing on the action, the trailer tries to sell us on what would happen if Superman really existed on our planet and would people really accept someone with God like powers.  Of course towards the end of the trailer, we get a good look at some of the big action set pieces and Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as the villain Zod.  But the fact is, every big budget Hollywood movie has action.  Without a strong story and characters you care about, the action means nothing.  Thankfully, everything I’ve seen thus far on the Man of Steel tells me Snyder has crafted a great Superman film that will deliver everything the fans want and more.  It’s easily one of my most anticipated films of 2013.  Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and then be prepared to start counting down the days to June 14.

Man of Steel also stars Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, and Russell Crowe star.  Man of Steel opens on June 14, 2013.

As lame as it may sound, I used this weekend’s Friday night to take in my second viewing of The Dark Knight Rises. Moreover, while the last thing a picture that made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office needs is a voice in its corner, I have to say that I enjoyed TDKR more the second-time around. While some aspects still bothered me (the final mix on Bane’s voice, why Jim Gordon would carry around in his coat pocket a confession written on giant-sized paper that he knows will have dire consequences, etc.), I found other elements to be better than I remembered (scenes between Bruce Wayne and Alfred, the brutality of Bane and Batman’s first fight, etc.). While it’s not without its problems, I stand by my belief that TDKR was the best superhero movie of the summer and a fitting end to a historic trilogy.

Random Batman thoughts aside, on tap this week is the first teaser trailer and poster for director J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, a plethora of The Hobbit coverage including Dave’s review of An Unexpected Journey, a new poster for Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel, first reactions to Django Unchained, and what could very well be one of the final Top 5 entries for the oft and aforementioned The Dark Knight Rises. A brief recap and link to each awaits should you choose to pursue it after the jump.

When the first footage from director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot Man of Steel debuted at Comic-Con, one of the first things on everyone’s mind was how similar the film felt to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.  It had a naturalistic and, well, “gritty” quality to it that felt distinctly Nolan-esque.  This didn’t come as a huge surprise as Nolan is producing Man of Steel and handpicked Snyder for the directing job, and with Warner Bros. attempting to bring together its DC properties into a cohesive movie universe with Justice League, many were wondering if this was the direction that future WB comic book movies would take.

Nolan has been doing some press recently for the release of The Dark Knight Rises on Blu-ray, and during a recent interview he addressed the Man of Steel/Batman comparisons head on.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

I’m surprised it’s taken this long to happen, but the folks behind those “honest trailers” have finally tackled Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.  The trailer takes aim at a few of the larger criticisms of the trilogy closer, some more warranted than others.  They sharply tackle how weak of a Batman/Bruce Wayne story the film is and have their go at Bane’s dastardly plans.  It’s all in good fun, though, and there are a couple of solid jokes to be found thanks to the guys at Red Letter Media (famous for their brutal reviews of the Star Wars prequels).

Hit the jump to watch the “honest trailer” for The Dark Knight Rises.  The film is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

We previously brought you 45 images of the epic fight scene between Batman (Christian Bale) and Bane (Tom Hardy) in The Dark Knight Rises, but now you can see them in action in this new behind-the-scenes Blu-ray extra. Featuring commentary from director Christopher Nolan and editor Lee Smith as well as Bale and Hardy themselves, the clip shows just how much physicality went into making the fight look realistic and an explanation behind the decision not to use stunt doubles.

The Dark Knight Rises, also starring Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Marion Cotillard, is available on DVD/Blu-ray and VOD starting December 4th. Hit the jump to watch the clip. 

Now that The Dark Knight Rises has made its way through its theatrical run, Christopher Nolan has eased up on being so vague about the film, and has done a fascinating interview with Film Comment where he looks back on his history with the Batman franchise.  Moving through Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, he talks about the influences of each film, his approach to the stories, how he envisioned Bruce Wayne’s behavior throughout the trilogy, and much more.  He also touches on the political elements of The Dark Knight Rises, its propulsive final hour, and the “open-ended” conclusion, which he doesn’t see as open-ended.

Hit the jump for more.  The Dark Knight Rises hits Blu-ray/DVD on December 4th.

Just this morning, we posted 45 images of Bane (Tom Hardy) beating up on Batman (Christian Bale) in The Dark Knight Rises. Now, a new featurette found on The Dark Knight Rises DVD/Blu-ray discs is available that explores the physical transformation Hardy underwent in order to bulk up to Bane size. Bale, no stranger to undergoing drastic fluctuations in weight for movie roles, is also featured in the clip reflecting on Hardy’s achievement. We’ve also got concept images for earlier imaginings of Bane’s mask. Hit the jump to check it all out. The Dark Knight Rises DVD/Blu-ray hits stores December 4th.

It takes a lot of hard work to break the Bat.  While I had issues with the plot, The Dark Knight Rises excelled when it came to crafting its action scenes.  One of the most memorable was Bane’s painful beatdown of Batman in the Gotham sewers.  Even though the scene didn’t rely on high-tech martial arts, it still required a significant amount of fight choreography, and 45 images have been released showing what went into Bane punching the Dark Knight into oblivion.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The sequence will also be part of the special features on the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD of The Dark Knight Rises, which hits stores on December 4th.

A new behind-the-scenes featurette on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray features an extensive look at concept art, marketing materials, time-lapses of set constructions and more. If you’re into: watching sets being built really fast, images of fake documentation, computer-generated graphics of comic book heroes, seeing all of the above while listening to an epic orchestral score on loop, then boy do we have a video for you!

That Dark Knight Rises, starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, will be available on DVD/Blu-ray starting December 4th. Hit the jump to watch the featurette.

As we move closer towards awards season, studios are busy finalizing which of their films to push in which categories in order to give them the best shot at winning.  Given that the Best Picture snub for The Dark Knight in 2008 is widely considered a large reason why the Academy subsequently expanded the category to a larger number of nominees, we knew Warner Bros. would be launching a campaign for The Dark Knight Rises.  Alas, the “For Your Consideration” campaign for Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy closer is off and running, and we’ve got a look at which categories WB is pulling for.  Hit the jump for more.

Everything we’ve seen thus far from director Sam Mendes’ James Bond film Skyfall has been incredibly promising, and just recently the first reviews hit and they were wildly positive.  As such, Skyfall looks poised to be a very, very big entry in the long-running Bond franchise, with a great deal of credit due to Mendes.  A number of the film’s first reviews noted the similarities between the sensibility of Skyfall’s and that of The Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan.  As it turns out, that wasn’t exactly by accident.  During a recent interview, Mendes talked about how much Christopher Nolan’s films—specifically The Dark Knight—influenced his approach to Skyfall.

Hit the jump for more.