Superhero Movies

[nacho]

Blake's 7 was great.

I love how everything always goes wrong and everyone, eventually, dies.  Avon and Villa are the only two who make it... Only to get machine gunned in slow motion in the finale.

Also:  Best finale on TV.  All that shit for nothing and Avon doing his Butch and Sundance thing. 

[Matt]

I love how everything always goes wrong and everyone, eventually, dies.

Also:  Best finale on TV.  All that shit for nothing and Adama doing his F. Scott Fitzgerald thing. 

[RottingCorpse]

I love how one bad "Blake's 7" joke can derail a whole thread.

[nacho]

I love how everything always goes wrong and everyone, eventually, dies.

Also:  Best finale on TV.  All that shit for nothing and Adama doing his F. Scott Fitzgerald thing. 

No, no, Matt.  The B7 finale actually had a point.  It was all for nothing...in a good way. Because the villain became the star after Blake died and didn't care about anyone.  He let all of our main stars die one by one, shrugged it off, even joked about it, and eventually got pulled into a suicide mission to find Blake (who was rumored to be alive) just so that he could gun him down... And he does.  So we get our hero back only to have our anti-hero murder him. Then the anti-hero, who we all felt really uncomfortable identifying with for three seasons, stares certain death in the face, grins malevolently, and commits suicide by cop.

[RottingCorpse]

On the X-Men: Wolverine 2 front, 20th Century Fox is between David Slade and Darren Aronofsky, I'm told. Slade, who just directed the summer hit The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, met over the weekend with Hugh Jackman on location where he is shooting Real Steel for DreamWorks. Aronofsky has also been talking with Jackman, and they have a good relationship that dates back to The Fountain, when Jackman stepped in after Brad Pitt dropped out. Jackman holds a lot of clout in the decision and while Aronofsky has some momentum of his own because of Black Swan, I'd say Slade has the edge. He is coming off a big summer movie with large-scale effects, which makes the studio comfortable. Fox went with Gavin Hood on the first Wolverine, and while he came from the Oscar-winning South African film Tsotsi,  it was quite an adjustment moving into a tent pole sized undertaking, and Aronofsky has a similar prestige film background. Robert Schwentke, who created Comic-Con buzz for his film Red, had been in the mix -- he was going to meet Jackman in Detroit along with Slade last weekend -- but he opted out of the competition. Instead, Schwentke is eyeing projects that include Robert Ludlum's The Osterman Weekend and Universal's Ryan Reynolds-starrer RIPD as possible next pictures.

[Cassander]

does Aronofsky have a blog? cause I'd love to just know what his mind-state is at any given time.  ten years ago we were ready to call him Kubrick II and now he's doing sequels for franchise spin-offs.

also:  JUST FUCKING DO WEAPON X.  how does hollywood not grasp this?

[RottingCorpse]

But they covered the Weapon X stuff in the Wolverine movie.

They need to do the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller Japan story. To me, that's the ultimate Wolverine story. Though they'll likely fuck it up.

[Cassander]

Well, I didn't see the Wolverine movie.  it probably wasn't advertised correctly!

To switch gears, ever since Marvel started churning out the movies I've been waiting and waiting for Deadpool.  But now that I think about it I don't think they could possibly make one that would make me happy and still attract a wide audience.

[RottingCorpse]

Deadpool is in the Wolverine movie too. You should check it out. The first half hour is quite good. Then it dive bombs downhill in way that's tragic.

[nacho]

You'll love the opening credits!

[Cassander]

dammit.

[RottingCorpse]

I think we have a Superman thread somewhere, but I'm lazy.

"KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!!"

Zack Snyder at helm of new Superman movie

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Zack Snyder has been chosen to direct the new Superman movie, which Christopher Nolan is producing for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.

Snyder had been on the list of filmmakers ensconced in meetings with Nolan and Warners executives, who in recent weeks have talked to Darren Aronofsky, Ben Affleck, Matt Reeves and Tony Scott.

The job was so coveted that even Robert Zemeckis, retired to the world of performance-capture animation, considered returning to live-action filmmaking in order to nab the gig.

The Superman movie is one of the studio's top priorities, not only because it serves as the linchpin for its line of films based on DC Comics superheros, but because Warners needs to be in production on a new Superman movie by 2011 or risk losing certain copyrights to the heirs of creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Seigel. (That litigation is still pending.)

Nolan, who revived Batman for the big screen with 2005's "Batman Begins" and the 2008 hit "The Dark Knight," teamed up with David Goyer for a new a way to revive the last son of Krypton. Despite grossing $200 million domestically, the last movie about the Man of Steel, 2006's "Superman Returns," was considered a disappointment, and a hoped-for franchise launch never flew off.

Part of the problem stems from Superman's origins: The character for decades was a beacon of positive qualities, and his stories usually were painted in black-and-white. So from the point of view of a certain audience segment, Superman isn't hip enough for a time that prefers its heroes more morally ambiguous.

Goyer is writing the script, which is rumored to have, like "Superman Returns," a connection to Richard Donner's Superman films of 30-odd years ago. In this movie's case, it's a villain connection: General Zod, who was played by Terence Stamp in "Superman" (1978) and "Superman II" (1980).

Snyder has become one of Warner Bros.' favorite filmmakers since he directed the surprise smash "300," the adaptation of the Frank Miller comic book. He followed that with "Watchmen," the adaptation of the seminal Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons miniseries, and is now putting the final touches on his original work "Suckerpunch," which is slated to open March 25.

Snyder just made his animated feature debut with "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole." The movie opened softly but is generating strong word-of-mouth, with box-office receipts having fallen only 32 percent in its second week.

[nacho]

Zod's awesome!

[Reginald McGraw]

Yes!

[RottingCorpse]

This is from Ain't It Cool, which just about everybody here dislikes for all the right reasons. However, it seems to sum up everything going on with the Wolverine and Superman sequels.

Paul over at JoBlo caught a fascinating little tidbit in THIS Vulture piece about political machinations leading to Zack Snyder's selection as director of the new SUPERMAN film.

Vulture says that Darren Aronofsky, who now looks to be closing in on WOLVERINE 2, was initially far more interested in SUPERMAN than Fox's upcoming X-MEN ORIGINS movie. In their evaluation of the matter, there's a brief descriptor offering what may be our first hint at the nature of the new SUPES picture...

"Until last weekend, though, Aronofsky was far more interested in directing WB's original take on Superman — in which Clark Kent is a journalist traveling the world trying to decide if he should, in fact, even become Superman —"

The same Vulture assessment goes on to indicate that (as we knew before from THESE REPORTS) Warners is under the gun to get a SUPERMAN movie made before they (potentially) get blasted by the estates of Superman's creators. One significant reason Snyder was hired is because The Powers That Be felt he could move faster than Aronofsky when getting David Goyer's SUPERMAN's script ready to shoot (Goyer's script was evidently rushed to completion and remains a bit unrefined at the moment).

Snyder. I don't hate the choice - I'm sure the new SUPERMAN movie will look fantastic. My big issue with Snyder is a pervasive dullness that runs through his work. Lots of visual flare and tremendous sense of beauty and design, but it all feels energetically flat and uninvolving to me. Which makes me concerned that this new SUPES film might end up feeling a little closer in vibe to Bryan Singer's version than some of us would like.