POISON SCOOTER

Real Superhero Movies...

The new Superman appeals to me the same way a prostate check does. I always thought the story of the man of steel was cheese, he's basically a nerdy space man right? And casting a total unknown to play him, putting Kevin Spacey in a skull cap and making my girl from Blue Crush dye her blonde locks just turned me off even more. Besides, how played out is Superman? We had Lois and Clark, Smallville, the Chris Reeve broken neck drama, it's like Superman never left us and therefore I have no interest in re-visiting his plight. (Which by the way is oh so repetitive....look! Lex is going to destroy humanity! And he's got that green stuff!!!)

With the news I heard today, I can tell you who I am juice about seeing continue his crime fighting ways. Batman. People who know me probably think I'm nuts, since I have stated openly on many occasions that Batman with Micheal Keaton and Jack Nicholson is the only movie I ever fell asleep to in the theater. (The Village doesn't count! I was drunk as hell, so I was passed out which is totally different.) And I don't think I even bothered with the rest of that Batman series because I hate when they switch lead actors in sequels (no offense Val and George) and over the top celebrity villains are distracting to me. Mr. Freeze didn't have an accent according to my memory from childhood. But...

Christopher Nolan made some very solid choices when making Batman Begins. From casting to costumes, the film seemed fresh and really distanced itself from the prior films. Christian Bale was a very unconventional choice for a superhero and brought some real humanity to the role. And now, today I heard that Mr. Bale will be facing off against the Joker in The Dark Knight, a sequel again co-written and directed Nolan. Oooohhhh....and, here's the rub, Heath Ledger is signing on the play the Joker. Whoa. That's what I call thinking outside the box. And I like it.

This model for success has worked well for the Spiderman franchise; Tobey Maguire is your odd leading man choice, villains like Dafoe and Molina, acclaimed director Raimi at the helm. And from the posters I've seen, Raimi is at it again casting goof balls Topher Grace and Thomas Hayden Church as villains in the third installment.

The future looks promising for these two franchises, but as always in the film industry the moguls never when to say when. That Nic Cage as the Ghost Rider thing is beyond words. I'll take Spidey and Batman, you can have the rest.

posted by Scooter @ 6:45 PM