NewEnglandGothic

If John Hughes was still alive, would he have given us a unique teenage superhero movie? Didn't he work on Adventures in Babysitting? That was my introduction to Thor before the Hulk TV movie as a kid.

I cannot wait for this show. It knows who the "true" star of the Batman franchise is... the villians of Gotham. In every Batman reboot, Batman resolves his inner conflicts by the first movie to become "The Batman". Further movies (starting with Batman Returns) aren't so-much about his downward spiral pychosis, but introductions of new villians for him to "react" to in "his" city. This is like Superman without Superman (Smallville did last 10 years). I think staging this from Gordon's perspective of an untouchable cop in that kind of chaotic enviroment to "eventually" allign himself with a dude dressed like a flying rodent speaks volumes of the kind of evil this city is gonna create for the seasons to come. I am so thrilled that this show is gonna exist outside the regular movies continuity, yet show how Affleck's Bat was shaped into the grizzled crimefighter he becomes. My only hope this show is given a proper chance (the mainstream will undoubtably ask... where's the Batman?) and can last longer than Birds of Prey.

That is pretty much how I thought the so-called rivalry between DC and Marvel was. It's cool he acknowledged how careful they have to be when making these too. I'm beginning to think these franchises are here to stay (allowing they continue to make money).

It was VanDamme's finest (imho). He resembles Heath Ledger's Joker more now in his new direct to video release Enemies Closer (decent b-movie with a fetching actress named Linzey Cocker in it). I see Warner Brothers distributes it now on DVD/Blu Ray.

That's why Universal distributed The Golden Army, I guess.

But I really had no idea how little these two movies made at the box office. It is the DVD and Blu-Ray sales that really made them a hit. I think sometimes it doesn't matter when a truly artistic director tweaks a genre with an game cast. It's just a market experiment that has been bringing in enough cash to justify finding a potential audience. If the Hellboy flicks flopped like say "Dark City", then yeah they would be considered bombs. I say, third time's the charm! 'Dark City' is an outstanding film. What a cast. And it has Jennifer Connelly. Nuff said! The soundtrack by Trevor Jones was equally outstanding as well. Track #14 "You Have The Power" was used in the first X-Men trailer even. No disrespect to Michael Kamen's X-Men score (the mutant reveal scenes with the cello were so haunting), but Jones would have been a better choice to score the more action oriented scenes. They could have been a great tag team like the way Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard was in The Dark Knight trilogy. But as I said earlier, after the unique success of The Crow, director Alex Proyas was given a chance for another dark gothic movie to release in the mainstream.

Holy Tilda Swinton! That looks interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

But I really had no idea how little these two movies made at the box office. It is the DVD and Blu-Ray sales that really made them a hit. I think sometimes it doesn't matter when a truly artistic director tweaks a genre with an game cast. It's just a market experiment that has been bringing in enough cash to justify finding a potential audience. If the Hellboy flicks flopped like say "Dark City", then yeah they would be considered bombs. I say, third time's the charm!

That's too bad. Both the Hellboy films were among the finest funnybook movies ever made. Would love to see a trilogy.

That's funny .

I remember when Brad Pitt was almost attached to the early planned Darren Aronofsky reboot, they were gonna go with a low budget approach and use a basic grey cloth costume for year one. That would have been awesome! http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_Year_One_(Darren_Aronofsky) A Lincoln Contientinal batmobile. I ran into one of those with my bike, the both of us recieved dents.

If done right, it will be a neat way of opening up the DC Universe, if done wrong it will feel bloated. A lot of it will definitely depend on editing and storytelling (obviously). I enjoy most funnybook movies, but I still have reservations on a stunt like this for a solo hero's franchise. In my opinion, it's gonna be a lot of awesome imagery, but too much at once too. I'm hoping for the best.

The original Transformers movie did survive the Rachel Taylor curse. Everything she stars in is doomed to fail (Man-Thing, TV's new Charlie's Angels, 666 Park Avenue, Crisis, etc.) It's interesting the international revenues proceed downward with each installment after the original. Was it making it to all the territories?

But, remember, it could drop 70% next weekend. It is a fourth installment afterall. If it doesn't have legs, it might struggle to get to $200 million as well.

+1 I had fun watching this. My expectations were exactly what this movie was...a modern day Godzilla-esque flick. Killer CG instead of a guy in a suit mashing up a miniature city playset. Would love to see a sequel...I hope they take it up a notch. Yeah, in a sequel we need not suffer through a story. Just jump into the suits and give me two solid hours of fighting monsters. Characters like the marines in Aliens and a "theme" would suffice, if a story was jettisoned. I still haven't watched the original yet, but I'm getting interested in seeing it now.

:facepalm: But, it's the Director's Cut.

Just couldn't see myself getting into it (as I am watching Ghost Rider right now, ).

Sony had two of the two grossing movies last weekend, that kind of sucess (modestly budgeted movies) seems to be how they are gonna have go for now until the next Bond movie opens. My

I'm not saying this to rile you up, because I really do enjoy superhero movies, but this is just a Hollywood trend built on a strong foundation. People will get sick of the same programming (if not already-thus weakening WW numbers). It really be the studio's fault not giving the mainstream enough variety, when we start getting Punisher: War Zones or Catwomen. Despite huge pricetags they really do gravitate towards high concept projects for maximum world wide box-office. To "us" (on this board) it's a lot variety, but don't be surprised to hear some moviegoers during previews, sigh and go "Another one?". I wish they would spread them out more myself, but with the sleeping giant DC awakening, it's gonna be a cluster- of funnybook movies to frontload on their opening weekends.

I hope so I'd BUY that for a dollar! Perv!

I hope so I'd BUY that for a dollar!

Which is disappointing because of all the movies Shane Black has worked on having his offbeat characters use keen detective work on seroius crimes (Lethal Weapon, Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) to better further the plot.

I see the bubble bursting on these books myself. Bob Kane died in what? 1995? So, what's that? 51 years before Batman might fall into public domain? The crash is coming folks!

I would consider this a step forward for Ben Affleck,and not backward. The Batman paycheck will set him and his children and grandchildren financially up forever. You can`t really be disappointed in his decision. This goes to show it`s about money. He could go make three more Oscar winners like Argo, and none of those will set him up financially up for life like one Batman paycheck will. Jack Nicholson earned 60 million to play the Joker. JACK NICHOLSON got 60 million to play Joker. So Ben Affleck made a wise decision. Consider it a "step forward" when there's years of associated press reported bad-behavior at casinos then. Ben was a better Hollywood person behind the scenes as he entered his 40's and you know what? He was pretty dang good at it for his past credentials. But, he had to bust his azz to get our repect for him again. He's gonna be a great Batman/Bruce Wayne, but he's gonna get painted in a corner by being typecasted for popcorn roles, like Kevin Costner did after following-up Dances With Wolves with Robin Hood. Your never gonna see an Oscar campaign "Now an important movie experience from actor who played Batman". You also cannot compare him to Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is/was a Hollywood entity, that it gravitates to. He had to play the Joker. It was custom made to him. He took a chance in taking a pay cut to at the time also, because the movie was so dark, no one really knew where it was gonna go. Nicholson and company were pleased with the dailies, but there was a chance it would fail. I just see him cashing out* of Hollywood after finally getting some quality Matt Damon kind of respect. But... Nicholson did get the gold for "As Good As It Gets". ...so you never know. *I was going with a Paycheck movie reference in last night's post.