Comic Book Movies

I have always been fascinated by movies based on comic books and graphic novels. There are several coming out soon that I am particularly excited about. Batman Begins is opening on June 17th and should be a much better interpretation of the character than the past few movies have been. (Anything after the first Michael Keaton movie was just a waste, in my humble opinion.) Christian Bale is playing the Dark Knight and I can't wait to see what he does with the character. Check out the website if you're interested -- www.batmanbegins.com

Batman has always fascinated me as a superhero because of the fact that he doesn't have any superpowers. I love that. No flying, no invisibility, no super-strength. (Although he does have the coolest toys...) He is driven to fight crime and evil and that is where the story lies. Why does an ordinary man become so obsessed? Ahh, the angst. And when it comes to a good angsty story - the darker, the better for the most part. A truly conflicted hero is so much more interesting than a squeeky clean one...

Which leads us to Superman. I confess that sometimes Superman seems a little boring to me. I am so excited that Brian Singer has taken the helm for Superman Returns. I loved what he did with the X-Men movies, esp. X2. The actor that he has cast for Clark Kent, Brandon Routh, certainly looks the part. I have confidence that Singer hired someone who can act, so this should be quite the movie. I only hope that Routh can do justice to the utter dorkiness of Clark. That is one facet of Christopher Reeves' performance as Superman that was brilliant. He was just a complete dork! He didn't seem to hesitate in looking truly idiotic at times. Yet, you never lost sight of the fact that Clark had to put on that character as a disguise. Hopefully, Routh can pull it off. It's tentatively scheduled for theaters on June 30, 2006. Anyone want to wait in line with me?

As for other comic book movie news - there is the Fantastic Four coming out on July 8th. I'm not sure what to think of this one. I have never followed the Fantastic Four, so I don't have any pre-conceived notions. I must admit that I have fairly low expectations, although I do like Jessica Alba. We'll see.

The movie in development stage that I am most looking forward to is Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman. Although I am sad that he apparently passed on X3, I can see why Wonder Woman is the perfect choice for him. He certainly has experience with girls who kick butt and take names! (Buffy, Faith, Illeria, Zoe, Ripley, etc.) Joss' genius is in his character development and voice. If he is given free reign to tell the Wonder Woman story that he wants to tell -- it could be amazing.

Honestly though, the movie that I am looking forward to most overall is Whedon's Serenity. I don't know if it's going to change the face of film making as we know it -- but I am pretty sure that it is going to knock something off my Top Ten Movies of All Time list. :-) September 30 everyone! September 30!! Here's a few sites to keep you interested...

www.serenitymovie.net
www.serenitymovie.com
http://whedonesque.com

Well, that's it for me for today. Take care!