Lights, Camera, Action!

"They're gonna put me in the movies
They're gonna make a big star out of me
We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely
And all I have to do is act naturally

[CHORUS]
Well, I bet you I'm gonna be a big star
Might win an Oscar you can never tell
The movie's gonna make me a big star,
'Cause I can play the part so well

Well, I hope you come and see me in the movie
Then I'll know that you will plainly see
The biggest fool that ever hit the big time
And all I have to do is act naturally."

-Buck Owens's Act Naturally.

Hey Folks.

So I was wondering what the hell I could talk about today without blowing my load(ha ha, see what I did there?) of action figure pics I've already taken, and then I thought about the current hot trend in Hollywood; Superhero movies.

Yes sir, the superhero genre as far as movies go, couldn't be any hotter, especially with two of the biggest superhero blockbusters of the year representing the genre, in Avengers and Batman: The Dark Knight Rises respectively. Now as well all know, any trend goes through moments of being hot, peaking, and then cresting, and this is no different with the superhero genre. I'd say just based off my own opinion, superhero movies look like they were starting to peak last year with that horrible abortion of a movie, Green Lantern, and then the Avengers hit, and the genre got a boost in the arm. This too shall pass, as it does with any fad.

So with that in mind, I figured I'd take a quick stroll through some past and future superhero franchise movies, and see how they'll stack up in later years.

First up is the current hot hit( I guess) The Amazing Spider-Man:
Since Sony owns the rights to make Spider-Man movies, and Disney/Marvel wants to make their superhero movies in house now, it makes sense for Sony to keep pumping out Spider-Man movies while they retain the rights. And trust me, they know what a cash cow and recognizable icon they have in the Spider-Man franchise, so I don't expect them to let the license lapse anytime soon. Thus why we have the reboot 12 years after the first successful Sam Rami hit.
Personally, I have no interest at all to see this. Not that actors Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone aren't good at what they do, but based off the trailers and reviews, from both my fellow bloggers and other websites, I'm not really missing out on anything. It seems to me the current movie's style is done more in the current 'Twilight' fashion, and that's never a good thing for us true comic fans. I don't want to watch Twilight, I want to watch Spider-Man, and aside from the cool special effects and excellent cast(Who would have ever imagined Dennis Leary playing a cop....in a superhero movie. Think about that one for a second)
and cool chose of villain in The Lizard(well because he's just about the only left not used) you have just another tween movie. Good or great for movie studios and the box office, bad for us loyal and adult comic fans.

So what does the future hold for this franchise?

You don't have to be Peter Parker to know a sequel's already in the works. And if the current cast, with the exception of Martin Sheen, signs on for more movies, then expect more of the same, but with a different villain next time.

I'm sure Disney/Marvel would love to have the rights back, but would they be willing to pay out the ass to get them?

Back to Emma Stone for a moment. Brycy Howard was fine and all, but Emma Stone? Ummmm. Too bad she's not more padded in the front. What? I like my women to be at least C-cups; high B's if they look good.









Next up is sure to be one of the most anticipated films of 2013, that is everything stays on schedule. I'm talking about Superman.

Now I personally had no problems with the last Superman movie. I thought Brandon Routh portrayed a very believable Superman, and it didn't hurt that he kind of looked a little like Christopher Reeve. But according to the box office, and the opinions of Warner Bros., the movie was deemed a failure. Why? I don't know. I thought Kevin Spacy was awesome as Lex Luthor, as he was the perfect combination of part Silver Age goofy w/some Gene Hackman thrown in, and the other part Modern Age ruthless badass. 

I guess when it comes down to it, the only thing I can think of that probably killed the movie in the hearts and minds of fans and studio execs, was the whole Super-Kid thing. Yes, the dreaded super-kid, who was supposed to be a holdover from the last franchise, and the possible offspring resulting from Superman and Lois's one night in Bangkok.(Think about it, and you''ll get it if you already don't)

I guess that was one time the kid shouldn't have stayed in the picture.

Other than that, and maybe the choice of Lois(but that's just me) I don't see what the problem was, as the story was really good, the acting was also really good, and so were the special effects.

But now here we are, with a fresh new start for next year in actor Henry Cavill. I readily admit I've never seen him before, and don't know him from adam, but he looks decent enough. He sure does look like he's built like a brick shit-house though. Fuck, he's big! I don't know who the villain is this time, nor the rest of the cast, but my suggestion would be to bring back Lex. And another big bastard; Doomsday. Yeah I know, I know, maybe that's setting the bar too high, and they should save him for a sequel. But what if this one tanks too? Then what? So they might as well use ol' Doomsy, and if not, Warner Bros. could always say a big "fuck you" to Marvel, and go with Thanos' DC equivalent, Darkseid. Now wouldn't that be interesting?

Also, there's the small issue of the costume. If you notice, they didn't go with the traditional one, and instead opted to go with the current rebooted look. I don't care for it myself, or the reboot, but as far as on-screen translations go, this one does seem to fit the big screen more. Yeah I know, I miss the red underwear on the outside too, but what are you going do right?

As for what the future holds, that's too soon to tell. But if the movie's a success and well-written, then DC's got their other franchise player back, while giving poor Batman a rest. I think after tangling w/Bane, he's due for one don't you?

Next up is the rumored reboots of the Fantastic Four and Daredevil from Fox. Again, Fox is bring smart by putting out new movies of these franchises in order to hold on to the rights. Personally, again if Disney/Marvel are that serious about wanting the movie rights back, then they'll have to pay up. Trust me, they have the money, and they'll make it all back in no time.

Now the FF would look nice again. I know I enjoyed the last two, so I'm curious as to who's going to be cast in the remake. Don't look at me for suggestions, but I rather liked the old crew myself, even if I didn't care for the Dr.Doom revision part. Good luck to whoever braves the makeup chair for the Thing, as Michael Chiklis was a fucking champ for undergoing all those hours of of prep work just to look like the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing. And trust me, he pulled it off!

As for who they should face this go around? Maybe the Mole Man? Yeah I know he doesn't scream big name like Doc Doom, but he was the 1st villain they faced as a team, and think of all the monsters that you could throw against them on the big screen. Animators and special FX crews will have a fucking field day with that shit.

If not, maybe another go at the Silver Surfer, and maybe Galactus this time? Throw in the Watcher and you'd have a movie I'd be very much interested in seeing.

Then there's old horn-head himself. I liked the last one, although I would have personally preferred to see Ben Affleck's buddy Matt Damon as DD. And hey he's already named Matt, so he wouldn't have to pretend too hard.

And the villains du jour? I guess since Daredevil doesn't really have that many big name, recognizable villains, they could recycle the Kingpin and Bullseye again. But if they do, this time I want the appropriately white, rotund version of the Kingpin. Nothing against Michael Duncan Clark or anything because he was pretty entertaining, but I like my characters to look as closely to the comics as possible.

If not those two, then maybe a triple threat. How does Mr.Fear, The Owl, and The Jester sound? Or replace Jester w/ the Gladiator played by Bill Goldberg and I'm all set.

Then there's the Avengers.
















You don't have to be Bill Gates or even Mark Zuckerberg to know Marvel's not wasting time in preparing to make the sequel. Now I don't know if Joss Whedon's up for making another one, as Goo and I have discussed, but if he does, and yes that would require Marvel to back up the money truck to Whedon's house, then I have no doubt a sequel would be just as good, if not maybe better than the original. Now I think Thanos is supposed to the next big bad. That'd be cool. And if there were cameos by the Skrulls and/or the Kree, that'd be even better. But then I thought, isn't Thanos suppose to be in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie too? Maybe not, but then I have no idea who'd they fight then. Maybe the Magus or Korvac I guess.

I guess the choice of director is really moot, if the script's good enough, so we'll see on that one. Personally I hope to see Hank Pym and the Wasp this  time, or even if Marvel was sneaky enough and the stars were all aligned, Spider-Man. Nawww, he's stuck in pseudo-Twilight tween land for that to happen.

Finally, there's the goddamn Batman.

I'm so damn excited to see this bad boy that I'm breaking one my commandments, and braving the theaters to see it. I'll have to pick a morning/early afternoon Sunday time-slot to do it, but damnit it's going to happen.

Director Christopher Nolan has done such a damn fine job guiding and shaping his cinematic version of the franchise, that I'll truly miss the crafty Brit as soon as the end credits start. Lack of Robin aside, Nolan set out to make moviegoers feel as though Batman really could exist, but cutting out or skipping entirely, the more sci-fi and 'super' aspects of the batman mythos. He grounded this set of movies in gritty realism, and for that I thank him.

Although personally, I'd have loved to see his take on the Riddler, the Penguin, and Mr. Freeze. Except Mr. Freeze isn't a realistic enough concept, so no go on him.
Ahh well.

Who or whomever is entrusted with the bat-franchise next time better follow Nolan's guide to a well put together movie, but they should feel more than free to re-insert the super element in future movies. It seems DC's already wanting the next Batman movies to do this, since they're gearing up to finally make a Justice League live-action movie. Those poor bastards are so far behind marvel, it's not even funny. But what they lack in quantity, they should more than make up in quality. Now since Nolan's declined DC's offer to make or oversee the making of a JL film, I wonder who they're going to find to step up. Wouldn't it be both funny and fucked up if Warner Bros/DC stole Joss Whedon from Marvel? Oh how the shit would hit the fan then!
Not only would there be legitimate heat between the two companies, but the renewed, all too real rivalry would really kick things up a notch or two. Trust the war between those two would be....wait for it.....LEGENDARY! And something we haven't seen since the early days of Joe Quesada's tenure as EIC.


So that's how I see things as far as these fanchises go. I'm very interested to see what lies in store for us comic fans in the future, and hopefully it doesn't involve Ryan Reynolds near any of them.


I guess since I missed Monday, I'm morally(not orally) obligated to post tomorrow. I don't what it'll be; maybe a puff article eh Dan and Shlomo;) but I'm sure it'll be good.

Take us out Buck!