The Dark Knight shattered records over the weekend. The second installment in director Christopher Nolan's Batman series grossed $158.3 million, which flew past Spider-Man 3, the previous (and undeserved) gold standard with $151.1 million. The Dark Knight also hit the sales record books for single-day ($66.4 million), midnight screening ($18.5 million) and IMAX debut ($6.2 million). I couldn't be happier. It's satisfying when a comic-book movie this compelling and complex touches a universal chord. Success, as always, also inspires mucho bitching. Parents fear that the PG-13 film is too dark for their little ones (duh?) and what with brutal scenes like the pencil in the forehead they wonder if it's really not a popcorn movie for the whole family (double duh?). And then there are questions actually worth the asking, such as:

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In this week's video review, Peter Travers gives his endorsement to the highly anticipated The Dark Knight, the Batman movie featuring Heath Ledger's much-buzzed-about final performance as the Joker. Click above for the Rolling Stone film critic's full review.

• Review: The Dark Knight (3.5 stars)

The big news, actually the only big news, on DVD this week is the Two-Disc Special Edition of The Bank Job, a juicy, fact-based caper movie that drew a decent cult following when it was released in February. For you slackers, here's a chance to catch up. In 1971, a robbery took place at Lloyds Bank in London that involved a royal sex scandal. The thieves, played here by Brit athlete and model turned credible actor Jason Statham, seductive Saffron Burrows and the cream of Brit character actors, are hustled into robbing the place by higher-ups who are using them just to get their hands on incriminating photos in a deposit box. Director Roger Donaldson keeps the suspense crackling. In my original review, I wrote that after seeing this movie you'll want to know more about the bank job that literally did shake the empire. Thanks to DVD my wish has come true. On both the standard DVD and Blu-ray editions, you get a fifteen-minute (it's not enough) featurette that focuses on the real-life crime, using historical footage and comments from historians and the original cops on the case. Yes, the movie exaggerates, but it's too much fun to bitch about. And watching it again got me thinking of my favorite bank robbery movies. Here's my Top 5. Let me know if you disagree or if I've left anything out, and whether you think The Bank Job belongs in their classy, larcenous company.

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During the walk up to this week's highly anticipated opening of The Dark Knight and presumably the shattering of a few box-office records, Hellboy II: The Golden Army managed to take the No. 1 spot with $35.9 million. That's chump change compared to Iron Man, Indy 4, Hancock and Wall-E, but the victory must taste sweet for Hellboy II director Guillermo del Toro. Sony, the studio which released the original Hellboy in 2004, passed on the sequel, perhaps put off by the modest $23.2 million Hellboy opening in 2004. Bad decision. Hellboy was a hit on DVD, and del Toro's career is soaring thanks to Pan's Labyrinth and his upcoming job directing The Hobbit. Universal, going with talent (always a smart move), went to bat with del Toro on Hellboy II and saw the opening grosses nearly double, pushing it toward the $100 million blockbuster mark. The first Hellboy grossed only $59 million. Look out for a second Hellboy sequel. Up for discussion today, other than the Eddie Murphy issue—Is his his career tanking what with the laugh-free Meet Dave taking in a pitiful $5.3 million or is he just suffering a temporary setback—are these hellish questions:

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This weekend brings two new effects-heavy adventures to your local cinema in the form of Guilermo Del Toro's monster mash Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the kid-friendly 3D romp Journey to the Center of the Earth. Which one deserves your rapt attention more, and is either one better than WALL•E? Click above for the Rolling Stone film critic's take on this weekend's offerings.

• Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

• Review: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

Batman Begins makes a spectacular debut today on Blu-ray, not that the 2005 blockbuster looked shabby on HD (the loser in the HD versus Blu-ray war) or even on standard discs. But the Blu-ray package is killer good, and would be even minus such tasty extras as mini-comics, five Batman postcards and a discount coupon worth $7.50 towards a ticket to The Dark Knight, opening July 18th. The new DVD is clearly meant to psych you hard for the sequel by featuring the first six minutes of Dark Knight. It involves a bank heist led by Heath Ledger's Joker and some homicidal clowns. As I said before, Ledger's acting in his last completed screen role is worthy of an Oscar and a time capsule. But don't let the Ledger dazzle blind you to the rest of the film's power, especially Christian Bale's performance as the Dark Knight himself. Here's the best reason why the new DVD edition of Batman Begins couldn't come at a better time:

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Damn, if he hasn't done it again. Will Smith put his star power behind Hancock, helping the movie gross a humungus $107 million to become the third-biggest Fourth of July opener of all time after Transformers and Spider-Man 2. That's Big Willy for ya. He's the first actor in Hollywood history to have eight consecutive movies top the $100 million mark. (Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise suffered breaks in their winning streaks.) Hancock is also the most successful of Mr. Smith's five July Fourth movies—1996's Independence Day, 1997's Men in Black, 2002's Men in Black 2, and 1999's godawful Wild Wild West. Speaking of godawful, most reviewers saw Hancock that way. Except for David Denby in The New Yorker, Manohla Dargis in The New York Times, Roger Ebert and yours truly, reviewers coldcocked Hancock. Why, you ask?

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This 4th of July weekend is just like any other 4th of July weekend: there'll be barbecues, fireworks and a big-budget blockbuster starring Will Smith. This year's entry is Hancock, in which the former Fresh Prince plays a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed superhero. Is it worth heading to your local cinema during your long weekend? Click above for the Rolling Stone film critic's full take.

[Video: Pete Maiden]

The DVD of the week is definitely Mad Men. I know it’s a TV show—cable TV even—but it’s eons better than any new movie released on DVD for the Fourth of July weekend. That is unless you harbor some perverse affection for Owen Wilson’ roaringly unfunny Drillbit Taylor, the thrill-free Vantage Point, or misfires from Wong Kar Wai (My Blueberry Nights) and John Cusack (War, Inc.). Your time can be more excitingly spent with the first season of AMC’s Mad Men—all thirteen episodes collected in a smashing DVD package, the better to capture the look, sound and atmosphere of Manhattan’s Madison Avenue advertising world, circa 1960, where the show is set. If you haven’t seen Mad Men yet, get busy. The Emmy nominations, to be announced on July 17th, will surely be heaping praise upon it, to go along with the Peabody award and Golden Globes for Best Drama and star Jon Hamm. The DVD set is your best chance to play catch up. If you have seen Season One, a DVD refresher course will only reinforce the show’s quality and whet your appetite for Season Two which starts on July 27th with a stunning new episode that leaps ahead a bit in time. Here are five reasons why I think Mad Men is the best new drama series on television If you disagree, fire at will:

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I can't wait till next week's box-office report so I can see how Pixar's Wall-E holds up with audiences. Early reports struck dire ticket-selling notes for this futuristic tale of a garbage-compacting robot, WALL-E (for Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth class), who was left on Earth to clean up the mess we made of it. Words like gloomy, sorrowful, dystopian and dull filled the air. And yet this groundbreaker in the art of animation swept in with $62.5 million to hit the No. 1 spot. That's puts it behind only The Incredibles ($70.5 million), Finding Nemo ($70.3 million) and Monsters, Inc. ($62.6 million) in the Pixar pantheon of nine consecutive opening-weekend winners. Second place went to the R-rated Wanted, taking in $51.1 million to show that some trash (the sexy, jolting, fun kind like Wanted) also has a place at the multiplex and should be spared being tossed in the dumpster by the G-rated WALL-E. It's quite a weekend when two non-sequels representing the scariest word in Hollywood—originality—can rack up such huge numbers. But here are the questions of the day for those of you've seen WALL-E:

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