Make Mine Marvel

Ahhh, Hollywood is so predictable sometimes.

It always amazes me that whenever a major blockbuster film hits, the studios fall all over themselves trying to make "the next "  We see it every once in a while with disaster movies - remember the summer of Volcano AND Dante's Peak?  Genres get it by the boatload - after Scream, how many horrific (no pun intended) teen horror movies did we get?  

Over the past few weeks here on the B-Spot, we've talked about various comic book properties that would do well to follow in the footsteps of this summer's amazing Iron Man and The Dark Knight runs.  We even discussed (I think) Warner Bros. decision to push on with the Green Lantern and Superman flicks.  Now, it's time for Marvel to get in on the fun with the folks at Fox.

A small excerpt from today's Variety...

Though Fox has no plans for a major overhaul, the studio has scheduled a strategy meeting to assess the status of its superheroes, a group sorely missed this summer. On the agenda, Fox will mull the possibility of more "X-Men"spinoffs, including a young-X-Men project as well as "Deadpool," based on a character played by Ryan Reynolds in "Wolverine." The studio is even considering reviving the "Daredevil" property.

Hrmm.  More X-Men spinoffs.  I'm reserving judgment on more X-Men movies until I see Wolverine.  X-Men 3 really killed my love for that series so... yeah.  I'll hold off on being excited by the idea of more X movies.  However, I think a Deadpool movie could be a lot of fun.  It's too bad that Cable/Deadpool would translate really poorly, IMO, on the silver screen.  And more Daredevil movies?  Make it so!  Daredevil is badly in need of a franchise.  

A few other comic book movie related notes...

Someone left a comment on this blog today about a black Captain America being "racist."  I think it was a joke - maybe... sorta.  Marvel has obviously set a history in place for race-changing their heros [see: Nick Fury] when the mood strikes them so I'm not opposed to a black Captain America.  What I am opposed to is the friggin' Fresh Prince playing Captain America.  Oh, and if you're really curious, Marvel did an interesting [but horribly drawn] mini-series a few years ago called "Truth" which told the story of a group of black soldiers who were experimented on with the Super Soldier Serum before they gave it to Steve Rogers who then became Captain America.  It was actually a fantastic premise for a story that I think was poorly executed if my memory serves me right.

Michael Caine stirred the shit today when he told MTV that Warner Bros execs had told him that Johnny Depp would be playing The Riddler and Phillip Seymour Hoffman would be playing The Penguin in a third installment of the Bat-Movies.  Of course, these are both now long-standing rumors that have been tossed around online so there's no telling if Mr. Caine really knows something we don't know, is mistaken, or is just jerking the chain of the Internet en masse.  Here's hoping the former because that's a movie I'd like to see.

The final thing was a Yahoo piece going over The Dark Knight's chances at an Oscar nod.  Besides the technical stuff, they seem to agree that the only shot is Heath for a supporting acting nod.  I... just can't see it.  I would love to see it but as Kate Winslet summed up so perfectly in her guest spot on Extras... you only win Oscars for movies about the Holocaust or if you "play a mental."  Hrm... I guess The Joker is kind of a mental.  We'll see!

  

These Words Are My Own

I saw The Dark Knight last night. I plan on doing a full review in a few days but until then, there's only three words needed to describe it.

HO. LEE. SHIT!

Easily my favorite movie of the year and I can't wait to see it in IMAX.

I saw the Anderson Silva fight last night.

HO. LEE. SHIT!

The man is so much fun to watch. Now I know what Tyson fans during his streak of quick KOs felt like. Easily my favorite MMA fighter to watch right now.

The Dodgers are back in a tie for first place after scoring five runs in the ninth to win today. Wait. The Dodgers scored 5 in the ninth? My Dodgers? The ones who've been 0 for infinity with RISP most of the year?

HO. LEE. SHIT!

Taking 2 of 3 from the first place team is an awesome way to start the second half. Let's hope they can keep things going.

Fedor puts his name back in the debate of the best fighter in the world with a 36 second demolition of former two-time UFC champ Tim Sylvia.

HO. LEE. SHIT!

The man is no mere mortal. He was sent back in time by John Conner to dominate the world of MMA with his cybernetic strength and Skynet-influenced mind and skillz.

Shannon Doherty's back for the new 90210!

HO. LEE. SHIT!

Well, okay, that's not as exciting as the rest but I wanted a nice even five. And it IS pretty exciting, right? Oh, come on. You know you're gonna watch it. Even if it's because it has the chance to be so bad it's good.

Random Comments About Random News

It's one of those days where I haven't a clue what to write about so I'm going with the cheap route and picking some news stories from the Google Reader thing to the right and sharing my views on them.

LATEST HULK MAY NOT SPAWN SEQUEL
That's disappointing to hear. I figured that it would get lost in the waves between Iron Man and The Dark Knight but it was a solid flick and I'll hold out hope that a Director's Cut DVD with all the extra footage will be such an amazing seller that they have no choice but to greenlight a sequel.

FAVREAU NOW ON BOARD IRON MAN 2
Awesome news. I would have been supremely disappointed in Marvel if they had gone with another director after Favreau absolutely tattooed Iron Man out of the park for them and launched what could be an awesome franchise [or two if you count the Avengers lead-in.] Now all they have to do is figure out if they can really get the movie done by Marvel's already announced 2010 release date. The plot thickens.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. IS SHERLOCK HOLMES
Speaking of Iron Man, it's amazing how many high profile roles become available to an actor that just rocked the cinematic world in a big picture. It's like Entourage come to life. I bet Robert Downey Jr. could even make Matterhorn watchable.

THE ROBIN DEBATE
So, basically - Christian Bale dropped a comment in a recent bit of press for TDK that he never wants to see Robin appear in a Batman movie again. An easy-to-understand statement after the atrocity that was Robin in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. When I first read his comment, I agreed wholeheartedly and wondered why anyone would even consider it. And then...

Amazing Batman comic write Jeph Loeb had this to say in response to MTV News:
"Take the time to tell the story properly. There is a story of Dick Grayson and how he becomes Robin that is extremely moving and very helpful.”

In the events of Loeb’s “The Long Halloween,” which preceded “Dark Victory” and served as a partial inspiration for “The Dark Knight,” the main characters are all left alienated and alone, bereft of even a little hope. It’s Robin’s presence that can change that for Bruce, Loeb argues, creating a father/son dynamic that can mirror Wayne’s relationship with his own dad. In short, Robin can teach Bruce how to be more human, Loeb insisted.

“It’s all about building the relationship between Bruce and Dick. Dick hates Bruce. He doesn’t understand why it is that he needs to do this and Bruce doesn’t understand why he’s doing it either because he’s not a parent. He doesn’t know how to be a parent,” Loeb said. “And together, they make each other better people. So that for me would be the next step.”

But for all the fans already crying out in horror just at the thought of it, Loeb isn’t actually talking so much about Robin as he is about Dick Grayson. In fact, the best Robin story might not actually have “Robin” at all.

“I wouldn’t let him become Robin until the third act, if that. I think that’s the other problem when you tell that story is that there’s this rush to put him in a costume by the end of the first 20 minutes and in that case I think it’s a disaster,” Loeb said. “So if you look at ‘Dark Victory’ Tim and I went nine out of twelve chapters before you even started to talk about putting him in a costume and he doesn’t put the costume on until the last chapter of that book.”

Alright, I think I'm sold. You?

The Dark Knight

BREAKING NEWS!

A clip from the Batman movie just leaked out that might just prove that this franchise has, once and for all, jumped the shark.

Comments are welcome.

Crikey!

Just saw this and had to share with the class. I soooooooo can't wait.