What kind of maniac would drag a steamship over a mountain?: Klaus Kinski stars in "Fitzcarraldo."

Last week, my esteemed buddy/colleague/self-confessed music nerd Troy Reimink hopped on the latest blogging trend, and listed a favorite album for every year he's been alive.

Being a 21st-century journalist means being a compulsive list-maker, so I made my own yearly heavy metal compendium (check the comments section at the link above), and decided to explore the same utterly pointless, but fun, concept for my own little corner of reportage: film.

So, 34 years, 34 movies, a couple hours of deliberation (that is, some cheating via a few ties) and voila: Another completely unnecessary list. If you feel the need to waste some of your own precious time, please, add your list to the comments section.

Would "The Dark Knight" have opened so big if not for the Heath Ledger-as-James Dean factor? No, but lost in the ghoulish curiosity over Ledger's posthumous performance is the fact that his Joker is simply one great villain.

The facepaint-smeared freak is made every bit as distinctive by how he's conceived by screenwriters Jonathan and Christopher Nolan - the latter also the director of this excellent superhero flick - as by Ledger's manic, cackling interpretation.

File Photo"The Dark Knight," the latest Batman film, set a record for highest first-weekend haul after opening with a gross of more than $158.4 million, beating out last year's "Spider-Man 3." The movie has its sights on a new target, highest second-weekend gross.

GRAND RAPIDS -- When a movie performs steadily at the box office, it's said to have legs. This one has wings.

"The Dark Knight," the latest Batman film, set a record for highest first-weekend haul after opening with a gross of more than $158.4 million, beating out last year's "Spider-Man 3."

The movie has its sights on a new target, highest second-weekend gross.

Tracking numbers released earlier this week -- sometimes accurate, often not -- predict about $70 million for the coming weekend, which would put "The Dark Knight" near the record of $72.2 million set by "Shrek 2" in 2004.

Even the biggest movies usually see a large drop in their second weekends, especially in the summer, when the schedule is full of potential blockbusters. "The Dark Knight" will next go up against another buzzed-about film with a built-in audience, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," opening Friday.

The winner? "Dark Knight," hands down, said Steve VanWagoner, vice president of marketing for Loeks Theatres.

"I can't look into the darkness anymore, Mulder: I cannot stand what it does to you, or to me," Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) declares in THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE. In this postscript to the long-defunct TV series, Scully and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) have left the FBI and the world of the paranormal behind to live mostly mundane lives in rural West Virginia.

Nothing bizarre could ever happen in West Virginia, of course. Except the disappearance of a FBI agent and the appearance of a suspicious psychic who cries tears of blood. And the discovery of a huge chunk of ice that contains horrifying secrets. Whether Scully can handle it or not, the darkness is settling all around her.

Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate a kidnapping in THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE.

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly played arch-rivals on the NASCAR circuit in TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY. Now they resurface as fussy, 40ish underachievers who are roaring down the road to Loserville in STEP BROTHERS.

Life is one long sleepover for bunk bed buddies John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in STEP BROTHERS.

AP PhotoAccording to a British media report, Batman star Christian Bale was arrested Tuesday over allegations of assaulting his mother and sister.

LONDON - Batman star Christian Bale was arrested Tuesday over allegations of assaulting his mother and sister, police and British media said.

British media had reported that Bale's mother and sister complained they were assaulted by the 34-year-old actor at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night, a day before the European premiere of his latest film, "The Dark Knight."

Saginawians heading out to see the latest film in the Batman series, "The Dark Knight," may spot a familiar face or two in the blockbuster hit.

Two graduates of Saginaw Valley State University are in the movie.

Justin Berkobien and his wife Julie (Bland) Berkobien appear as reporters in a scene featuring a news conference.

Where does he get those wonderful toys? "The Dark Knight" races to a record box-office gross.

It broke the weekend box-office record and topped the single-day sales mark. And -- this just in -- the final tally is $158.3 million, even more than the Sunday estimate of $155 million.

It's meeting near-universal acclaim -- a rare occasion when critics and moviegoers can share the joy, holding hands and skipping through the daisies. And it lived up to the hype of being not just the next Batman movie, but Heath Ledger's (sad, celebratory) final performance.

Amazing, isn't it? I had seen "The Dark Knight" in advance (in order to write my review, pluggity plug), but didn't want to miss out on this electrifying pop(corn)-culture event -- so my wife and I saw the film a second time on Sunday. This occurred despite the constant crashing of the Celebration Cinema Web site on Friday, as everybody and their dog was apparently trying to buy tickets online; it was a near-miracle that we nabbed a highly coveted pair of tickets for an IMAX screening, considering every single one of them sold out over the weekend, and tickets for evening shows this week are moving briskly. (My advice: see a matinee. Take a sick day, leave early, play hooky -- whatever you want to call it, it's time to skip work. I mean, it's Batman!)

The movie "Youth in Revolt," currently being shot in the Detroit area, is seeking extras to work July 28, 29, 30 and 31 in Ann Arbor.

Applicants must be able to commit to all days. The look is typical Ann Arbor townies in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Auditions are this Wednesday in the afternoon at the "Youth In Revolt" production office in Madison Heights. Details: e-mail kathy_mooney@mac.com

Besides Michael Cera ("Superbad," "Juno"), the movie's cast includes Justin Long (he's the Mac guy in the Mac vs PC commercials), Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Fred Willard and Jean Smart.

Christian Bale stars as Batman in a scene from "The Dark Knight," took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007.

LOS ANGELES -- Batman has sent Spidey packing as king of Hollywood's box-office superheroes.

"The Dark Knight" took in a record $155.34 million in its first weekend, topping the previous best of $151.1 million for "Spider-Man 3" in May 2007 and pacing Hollywood to its biggest weekend ever, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"We knew it would be big, but we never expected to dominate the marketplace like we did," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released "The Dark Knight." The movie should shoot past the $200 million mark by the end of the week, he said.

Hollywood set an overall revenue record of $253 million for a three-day weekend, beating the $218.4 million haul over the weekend of July 7, 2006, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

"This weekend is such a juggernaut," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, whose musical "Mamma Mia!" debuted at No. 2 with $27.6 million.