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All of the best films center around some sort of conflict, but it seems like most of this week's releases center around gratuitous conflict. It's like at some point in the creative process, someone stood up and shouted really loudly, "Let's get these people to fight!" ...Not that we're necessarily complaining, of course. We shout that all the time, usually in inappropriate situations.
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The Casting Conch, You Got Comic Book in My Movie
Will Someone Cast Justin Timberlake as a Superhero Already?Justin Timberlake must be some kind of mutant. The man can sing, dance and act (if his recent Emmy nomination is any indication), and he was recently in the running to play superhero Green Lantern, before he lost out on the part to superhero hog Ryan Reynolds, who has already played Hannibal King in Blade Trinity and Deadpool in Wolverine, and was recently given a Deadpool spin-off. If JT is interested in playing a superhero -- and Reynolds will give someone else a frickin' chance (Double-R backlash!) -- we think he should keep trying. In fact, we've come up with a batch of comic book characters that we think Timberlake would be perfect for.
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Reviews of Movies We Haven't Seen Yet, The Casting Conch, The Kongs of Comedy
God Bless America Ferrera, Because She Clearly Needs Some Heavenly GuidanceWhen we heard that America Ferrera's TV show Ugly Betty was getting cancelled, we were happy for her, because that meant the talented actress would be able to go off and do something a little more challenging and less goofy than Betty. At the very least, the beautiful Ferrera would no longer be saddled with braces, big glasses and garish clothes. But her latest movie doesn't give us a lot of hope for the future. In the snoozingly titled Our Family Wedding, Ferrera plays a bride-to-be whose impending marriage is threatened by her father's rivalry with the father of the groom, who is Black, and also Forest Whitaker. Hilarity ensues, grandmothers faint and Whitaker and Regina King have a cake fight. Basically, the movie looks like a rehash of several other terrible films (Guess Who?, The In-Laws), and we had hoped that Ferrera was better than that. Here are some things we'd like to see her do in the future, all of which we might actually be interested in watching, unlike her latest movie.
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Pros and Controversy, The Casting Conch, You Got Comic Book in My Movie
Why Anne Hathaway Might Be a Great CatwomanThe press release is only a few hours old, but already Batman fans are divided over Anne Hathaway getting cast as Selina "Catwoman" Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. (Note: Although the release only says "Selina Kyle," I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that she will, at some point, put on a black jumpsuit and rob an apartment.) Tom Hardy is getting less flack for playing the normally Hispanic criminal Bane -- Hardy's muscles in Bronson and Bane's awful part in Batman & Robin help a lot -- but Hathaway is getting hit on all sides from people criticizing her looks, her acting ability and her personality, saying she's all wrong for the sultry cat burglar. While many are equally quick to defend her, I thought I'd throw in my two cents as to why she's perfect for the role. And no, I don't mean "purrr-fect." I'm not Eartha Kitt.
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Director? I Hardly Knew Her!, Foreign Relations, We Call Do-Over
Why Aren't There More Asian Versions of American Films?Starting with 1960's The Magnificent Seven (a remake of The Seven Samurai) and culminating in the recent spate of adaptations of Japanese and Korean horror movies, Hollywood has often looked to Asia for new ideas. But rarely do we see it go the other way -- at least, not in any sort of official capacity. But Sony Pictures Classics will distribute the new film from acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), and it's a remake of the Coen Brothers' first film, Blood Simple.
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Foreign Relations, Legal Eaglese, You Got Comic Book in My Movie
Town of Batman Fights Crime by Suing Dark Knight DirectorOh my god, you guys. Did you know that there's a town in Turkey called Batman? If I'm ever in Turkey, I'm totally going to swing by and take my picture with the city limits sign if they have one. I'm sure everyone does. They probably have a statue in the town square of the Caped Crusader and sell T-shirts that say like, "I went to Batman and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." I bet they totally love the dark knight of Gotham! Wait a second... Huh. Turns out they don't. Turns out the mayor of Batman is suing Christopher Nolan and Warner Brothers for royalties from The Dark Knight. Damn. Now there's a different tack. I mean, come on, you don't see Metropolis, Illinois pulling that shit.
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Adventures in Fakery, Script From the Headlines!, Separate but Sequel, You Got Comic Book in My Movie
Dark Knight Screenwriter Calls B.S. on Batman Sequel RumorsLike much of the country commenting on the most recent Presidential debate, The Dark Knight screenwriter David Goyer is calling bullshit. Specifically on all the rumors swirling about Batman 3 (wouldn't that be Batman 3.2?). So, according to Goyer, that means:
- Christopher Nolan has not signed on.
- Pre-production will not start next year.
- Any and all of the casting rumors you've heard, from Cher or Angelina Jolie as Catwoman to Johnny Depp as the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin, nothing you've heard is true. Furthermore, there hasn't yet been talk of villains for the next film, much less casting work.
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I Want My DVD, Legal Eaglese, Little TV Shows That Done Hit the Big Time, We Watches the Watchmen, You Got Comic Book in My Movie
Holy Unexpected Watchmen Developments, Batman!We here at the Moviefile been following the Fox vs. Warner Bros. Watchmen legal drama for the last few weeks, holding our collective breath and hoping the March 2009 release date doesn't get pushed back. Or wiped off the calendar completely. Zach was waiting for a "massive, shocking resolution to this conflict" -- I don't know how much of a resolution this is yet, and I don't know if it's massive or shocking, but Comic Book Resources has reported on a pretty surprising development. According to the exclusive, Fox doesn't want to scuttle the project, or make its own Watchmen movie, or even to "[hold] up a rival". As it turns out, what Fox reportedly wants is... the 1960s Batman TV series. See, I told you it was surprising.
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Although in many parts of the country it's still sweatier than a sumo wrestler in a sauna, the U.S. summer box office will be wrapping up the season as we head into Labor Day weekend. How did things go over the last few months? Better than expected, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Going into this weekend, "Nielsen EDI data showed domestic tallies of $3.96 billion that are sure to rise to beyond $4 billion by the Monday holiday." The box office was surprisingly strong "thanks to unsurprisingly robust sequels and a shockingly lucrative performance by the latest installment in a 19-year-old superhero franchise." The latter refers, of course, to The Dark Knight, although I have to wonder why its success is considered so shocking. Was anyone expecting, say, Meet Dave to siphon off some of the Bat's profits?
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So, we only have one day left (unless you're going to the midnight showing tonight, which I am not because I am old and can't stay up that late anymore) before we all get to find out whether or not the X-Files movie is going to suck. For those of us who are hardcore fans, it's a bit of a sticky wicket. On the one hand, I've heard from an X-Phile friend "if it sucks or does badly in theaters, it serves them right for beating the show into the ground its last two years." On the other, I think, are the rest of us who really just want to see the franchise do well against everything else that's currently in theaters. (And I don't know if you've heard, but that Batman movie's doing pretty okay.)
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