Summer Cinema: Wonder Woman

We checked out DC's latest flick, Wonder Woman, on opening Thursday a couple of weeks ago. Decades in the making, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was a highlight of the uneven Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and will have a key role in the upcoming ensemble Justice League. And compared to Man of Steel, BvS and Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman is the most effective, even tempered and exciting film yet for DC's burgeoning cinematic universe. We start off on an island of female Amazonians that is separate from the world we live in and meet young princess Diana. Her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) objects to Diana becoming a warrior but soon daughter defies mother and trains with her aunt, the greatest warrior on the island, Antiope (Robin Wright). In her teens, Diana discovers that she has the latent powers of a god, thanks to her absentee father Zeus. Soon, the sins of man invade their peaceful existence when pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crosses the dimensional threshold along with a pack of pursuing Germans from the Great War happening next door. Diana travels to the world of men to find and kill Ares, the god of war that Diana believes has infected mankind. A sweet yet dramatic fish out of water story ensues as Diana joins Steve as he heads to the front to face the evil Ludendorff and Dr. Maru.

Going in with no real expectations, the Patty Jenkins directed, Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs scripted Wonder Woman was an excellent time at the movies. A nice mix of fantasy, action and war film with some terrific production values, a great cast and well done action sequences with all the slow motion jump spinning you can shake a sword at. The film does remind you of other things though, with the beach locales and armored warriors at the start evoking a bit of Troy, then getting Captain America with the war setting and some men on a mission, Sgt. Rock vibes from the ragtag crew Steve rounds up to go on their mission. The film is doing gangbusters, having already grossed over $435 million worldwide in two weeks with one of the smallest week to week drops at the U.S. box office for the genre. The success is well deserved for such a wholly satisfying flick, bring on the sequel!

WonderCon! Saturday & Sunday

This was a very chill con for us as once you've been to 22 shows in a year and start putting on your own events, seeing the same vendors and panels just doesn't carry the same can't miss cache. It's more about seeing con-rades, soaking up the energy and having an excuse to hang out somewhere you usually don't. The weekend was more of an in town vacation, a stay-cation if you will or in our case, a con-cation. WonderCon was just a gateway to live the Happy Hour and Hotel life as we didn't focus on the show but it was just a part of the long weekend. Starting with dranks, pizza and Batman V Superman in 4DX to the show, to video games at 82, more show and over to Hollywood for Silent Rage then our final day at the Con before heading home. Walking around sold out Saturday, WonderCon only felt crowded at certain intersections and in one case when a bunch of Star Wars cosplayers stopped traffic to parade through. I wanted to crash straight into their little ego trip but the lady requested I didn't. Another attendee next to me said something along the lines of "they're cosplayers, not f*cking royalty", exactly my friends, exactly!

Looking at the map I thought we only covered about half the floor Friday but I was wrong and we had taken in about 2/3 already. So we checked out Artist Alley, Small Press and more vendors. Capcom had Street Fighter V tournaments going on and I talked to a guy working the floor who should have been in Ken costume as he had semi-long blonde hair and was in shape. We flipped through more graphic novel boxes that were 60% off cover price and picked up some Ka-Zar and more Captain America. Cosplay wise there was an excellent Hellboy walking around with plenty more Reys, a couple of them men, along with Deadpools and Disney princesses galore. Like Friday we had oh so many panels lined up like Spotlight on John Romita, Jr., Star Wars VFX and more but like Friday, didn't attend a single one. Timing just didn't line up for us and we didn't feel like sitting around the convention center waiting. So it was back to the hotel for some relaxing and Captain America: The First Avenger on FX. I cracked up that with BatsSupes in theaters, cable had Man of Steel, Batman Begins, Spider-Man and more in rotation for the weekend.

It was another late night as we ventured to Hollywood for Cinematic Void presenting Chuck Norris flick Silent Rage and Dammaged Goods co-presented. Coming back to L.A. Live I was feeling ravenous but Yard House was jammed and most of the other joints had closed the kitchen at 10:00 PM. We ended up at the overpriced Mexican spot but it hit the spot before crashing out at 1:00 AM. Looking out the hotel window we soaked up the neon soaked view where you could see a Jesus Saves sign as well as the Eastern Building, you know, from Predator 2?! I woke up at 7:00 AM Sunday and contemplated taking a swim to get loosened up as I was creaky and sore from working out, walking and not getting a ton of sleep but opted to stay in bed and watch YouTube videos instead. Including an episode of the not good 90's USA Network Street Fighter cartoon set in Final Fight's Metro City. After an all star breakfast that included coffee, bites of a croissant and protein bar, it was back to the convention center for Sunday, which sold out as well.

It was still pretty easy to navigate without much of a crowd so I played some Street Fighter V, redeeming my horrid performance at 82. V has vibrant design and color along with pretty smooth gameplay, lots of new moves and specials that I had no clue how to execute. But my days spent at the arcade in the 90's served me well as I won two matches and stepped down to do some more walking around. Right next door was the Capcom booth who had a deal too good to turn down, two soft tees for $15! We saw a guy get turned into the purple faced, big chinned Thanos at a cinema make up school booth and did a little people watching out in the main lobby. Outside, an Easter Egg hunt was supposed to start but the little plastic shells were already out so we picked up a few that had candy and Halloween style trinkets inside. The J.W. held on to our bags after check out and we watched security shoo away some little punk kids trying to sell candy. I say punks because they were warned that they couldn't sell on the premises, started cursing then walked up to us acting like angels. A suit clad official walked them off and told them it wasn't worth it when you could tell they wanted to try and be punks. Our last Uber ride for the weekend took us home and back to reality as con-cation aka our new age version of summer vacation for pop culture loving adults came to a close.

WonderCon! Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

To really kick off the Comic-Con spirit of the weekend, we took in DC Comics cinematic slugfest BatmanVSuperman: Dawn of Justice at L.A. Live's 4DX theater. If you'll recall, 4DX is a 3D projection with seats that move, vibrate, punch you in the back, spit air at you with wind and water effects to give you a more immersive experience. BatSupes has been fighting bad press since it was announced as it just seemed like a less thought out cash grab of Marvel's connected cinematic universe. Warner Brothers is guilty of only seeing films as franchises and products but hey, you're getting a $250 million adaptation with two of the most popular superheroes in the world with A-list stars and resources. So let's just remember we've come a long way. Affleck's casting as Batman was a surprise, I like the guy but saw someone like Josh Brolin in the role since he's physical and a little crazy in real life, like Christian Bale and Michael Keaton which the character needs. Early fan reaction was positive while reviews have been eviscerating. I went in with low expectations, anticipating a wall to wall action fest with bad CGI and lofty self serious drama.

I enjoyed the film, it wasn't an overwhelming action or video game looking spectacle. The action was actually surprising subdued and the CGI looks a lot better on the big screen than in the commercials. Ben Affleck is solid as Bruce Wayne and Batman, disconnected, calculating and brooding while poor Henry Cavill's Superman/Clark Kent isn't given nearly as much to do and does most of his acting through his furrowed eyebrow. Going in, I was on #TeamAlfred as you just knew Jeremy Irons would bring some class to the proceedings which he delivered on. Gal Gadot was excellent as Wonder Woman and a highlight of the film. Amy Adams is her usual spunky self while Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor got a little Joker for me. Both leading men get to show off all that time in the gym as well. Being a 3D film, director Zach Snyder really missed some opportunities to take advantage of the format. With so much driving, flying, sliding and crashing, a few POV shots would have been awesome. The final battles are excellent as Batman takes on Superman then they team up with Wonder Woman to fight the giant Doomsday. I found it funny they made a point to announce the city streets were mostly empty after many a complaint have been leveled at tentpoles like Man of Steel and The Avengers for their wanton destruction of populated cities. I appreciated the more intimate fight scene with just a few figures instead of having them battle an endless army of faceless Storm Troopers.

I'm not chomping at the bit to see the film again but I dug it and would experience it on the big screen again before it goes out of theaters. 4DX wise the wind machine element was way overused and you felt a little beat up during fight scenes with the jostling and back pokes. But it does put you into the movie more and as soon as you think it's going slowly, boom! Bats fly out and your seat jerks you back to attention. But poor Superman, he's never really been done well in a film as his character is just too bland and a supporting character in his own sequel. He's supposed to be invulnerable yet he's brought to his knees by both Lex and Batman. While Bats' suit is practically indestructible as he's thrown through walls, shot in the head and stabbed but keeps on kicking. Ah well, bring on more Batfleck, we all knew he was the more interesting character.

Batman Prep: The Dark Knight Returns Animated

After much internet smack talk and fanboy outrage, Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is nearly here. Hoping to rake in some of that connected universe moolah Marvel is sitting on, Justice introduces Ben Affleck as an older, semi-retired Batman who battles then teams up with Superman and Wonder Woman against alien bruiser Doomsday and Lex Luthor. While Affleck seems like a cool guy, my vote for a post Christian Bale Batman still goes to Josh Brolin. The film looks polished and serious and hopefully director Zach Snyder can tell a story as strong as the visuals. To prep, we randomly watched some Batman animated movies as DC continues to excel on the small screen. Starting off with 2012's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, based on Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's seminal mini-series from 1986 that finds Gotham City Batman-less for a decade, being overrun by a vicious gang dubbed Mutants and sees a 55 year old Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement to mete out some bloody justice. In this alternate universe tale, a young woman named Carrie Kelley becomes the new Robin and you get Joker, Harvey Dent, Superman and Ronald Reagan in the mix.

The animated films follow the still yoked Bruce Wayne as he tries to help rehabilitate Two-Face Harvey Dent to no avail and becoming increasingly bothered by the state that Gotham is in. Commissioner Jim Gordon is on the verge of retirement and the Mutants are killing innocents left and right. Donning the cowl and cape, Wayne once again hits the streets in these action packed 70 some minute chapters. The action and fights are really well done with hand to hand combat scenes packing more punch, pain and cringe worthy moments than most live action stuff. It was reminiscent of the fantastic animated scrpas from Street Fighter: The Animated Movie but not quite as good. Robocop's Peter Weller voices Wayne and Batman with his usual gusto even if there's no differentiation between the two characters. After Batman defeats the Mutants' leader via well placed cuts above the eye and broken limbs, the gang disperses and become The Sons of Batman, using their violent tactics on criminals instead of innocents.

Batman's resumed war on crime results in the resurrection of his greatest foe, The Joker, who's been catatonic since the dark knight retired. Ending up on a talk show to try and make amends, Joker kills everyone with poison gas and slashes animated Conan O'Brien's throat with a shattered coffee mug. Brutal stuff you're just not used to seeing in a cartoon. All of this catches the attention of the president who enlists Superman to take care of the job. This leads up to a showdown between the two former friends where Bats uses a metal suit, smarts, technology and a synthetic krypotnite arrow shot by Oliver Queen to take the big boy scout down. Seemingly dying of a heart attack, Bruce Wayne's identity and exploits as Batman are revealed to the public, Wayne Manner burns down, trusted confidant and butler Alfred dies of a stroke and the family fortune disappears. But beneath the family abode, down in the caverns and Bat-Cave, a still alive Wayne has amassed an army that includes Robin, Queen and the former Mutants that he will train to fight and take back the city.


While current animation is computer driving and makes for some slick visuals, the animated films do a good job of distilling the look and feel of the comics with solid design and great action. Including making every male in good shape while all the women, like Lana Lang and Selina Kyle, into fat old hags. Maybe Miller doesn't like women? As a 90's kid you expect Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to be present as Batman and the Joker but Peter Weller and Michael Emerson fill in just fine and bring their own pastiche to the roles. With reported budgets of $3.5 million each yet still delivering entertaining, enjoyable and violent adaptations, let's see what Snyder and company do with a couple hundred million bucks.

Con-Man: San Diego '15 Friday

 
Phew, another fun yet long and crazy day at San Diego Comic-Con 2015! Checked out the floor and found some amazing Predator themed Mini-Mates where you can get plastic versions of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover and Carl Weathers as Dutch, Harrigan and Dillon respectively. Crappily, they were coming soon and not yet available...It was off to the 75th Anniversary of The Shadow and Doc Savage with artist/publisher Anthony Tollin and writer/producer Michael Uslan. The duo discussed their early encounters with Shadow and Savage and how the two pulp heroes have influenced their lives and careers since. Tollin's Sanctum Publishing has republished nearly 200 Shadow novels and almost as many of Savage. Uslan's first writing job at DC Comics came when The Shadow was canceled but retroactively revived after final sales numbers came in. With no script, Uslan saw his opportunity and pitched a Shadow tale that saw him fighting smugglers using barrels going over Niagara Falls to move drugs across country lines. The two also discussed just how much Batman ripped off The Shadow in the 30's as writers back then thought comic books and pulps were so disposable they figured no one would notice. An attendee was dressed in a terrific Shadow costume that looked straight from the 1994 flick while the Shane Black scripted Doc Savage in development was teased and producer Uslan was visibly excited at the progress. As an added bonus, we got a copy of some collected The Shadow stories along with new issues of the Doc Savage/Shadow/The Avenger team up Justice, Inc. from Dynamite that Uslan is a writer on.

Next it was time for From Novel to Comic to Film: Turning Books into Other Forms of Pop Culture that had a stacked panel including author Hugh Howey, comic book writer and artist Jimmy Palmiotti, Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman, Book of Eli scribe Gary Whitta and literary agent Kristin Nelson. This was a fun and very informative panel as everyone was very versed in the comic book, novel and movie worlds. Lots of talk about studios being risk adverse and everything needing to be based on something existing and successful. Mention of defunct Radical Entertainment where writers could pay to have their scripts turned into comic books and plunked into stores in order to use to pitch to studios. The most famous result being the high watt yet uneven Cowboys and Aliens. Surprisingly, no mention of Whitta's work on upcoming Star Wars flick Rogue One but I did snag a copy of his first novel, Abomination. The panel reiterated writing whatever because you want to, not because you think it will sell to Hollywood. In a bit of insider sharing, apparently Los Angeles comic stores Meltdown and Golden Apple organize their titles by what has been optioned and what hasn't so producers can find properties faster. Howey is in the midst of a career high with Wool becoming an international best seller that's been optioned by Fox and Sand that will hopefully become a TV series. Some interesting talk about translating a property for the media and not being shackled to the source material finding success with Game of Thrones veering from the novels or lackluster with too faithful Watchmen or in Palmiotti's Jonah Hex case, 100 + issues a not a thing made it to the screen. Hollywood!

Again I meant to tackle more panels but ended up walking around the floor and going over to schedule my annual volunteer shift of directing traffic at 6:00 AM. After a little break at the Comic-Con'do, it was back to the show for the best time to walk the exhibition floor, the final hour before closing. It's empty so you can see everything and get to what you want. Well except Funko who closed their booth early because they sent their staff to work an event...great business plan...And MTV who had a shaved headed Manu Bennett signing to promote new show The Shannara Chronicles. I ran into artist and now friend of Dammaged Goods William Stout and checked out more great art, statues and comics. Fox was hosting a game show on the floor asking if you could Beat the Geek at movie trivia. After answering a few questions from the sidelines contestants couldn't, I was put in for Cult Classics, not knowing Edward Scissorhands and Fight Club trivia but winning out thanks to my knowledge of Speed and Commando! My prize? My choice of digital download of several Fox titles, I picked Aliens. Because you know, James Cameron, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen! After dinner plans fell through I walked over to Petco Park where an interactive zone with Peanuts and Point Break were set up among others and a zombie themed run had taken over the stadium. Up several blocks was Skeletor's Lair Pop Up Shop from Mattel with Convention exclusives like tee shirts, Chia Pets, figures and more. The place was decked out with Skeletor art, felt like villain wall paper and a bust of Battlecat!

It's an early morning tomorrow filled with volunteering, more floor walking and panels so no partying tonight. Have fun and see you Saturday!

Grudgement Day: Whiplash

Being a movie lover people assume I follow the Oscars but I actually think they're kinda bullshit.  Why?  Because I don't have the tastes of a 70 year old white man, the presiding demographic in the Academy.  Of course their choices for Best Picture are usually easy to spot in the sense of a movie having some social merit, being based on a true story, being about stuffy British people or an underdog fighting for a cause.  Men lose weight or change their image to play against type and women get fat to ugly themselves up.  Blockbusters are usually left in the cold and if you want any chance of winning, you've got to hit the campaign trail attending special events, taking out ads and making sure there's suitable heat to your project.  In 2008, The Dark Knight made a mint at the box office and won critics over but the superhero film via Michael Mann's Heat was left without a 2009 Best Picture nomination.  Why?  Because it was about Batman and the Joker.  In a bid to make it look like they weren't entirely out of sync with the movie going public, The Academy opened up the number of Best Pic nominations from 5 to 10 in 2010.  While a movie about long established comic book heroes in costume wasn't celebrated, James Cameron's tall blue aliens would as Avatar picked up 9 nominations.  Go figure.

This year I enjoyed Birdman and The Imitation Game but one extremely undeserving Best Picture nominee really ruffled my feathers, the music drama Whiplash.  Made for a few million bucks by usual horror and genre label Blumhouse, Whip follows young wanna be drumming prodigy Andrew Neimann (Miles Teller) and his physically and emotionally abusive instructor Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).  We see Neimann try to balance life, love and his drive for greatness as he's berated, slapped and pushed by Fletcher.  Pretty typical underdog stuff, right?  Suffice to say, I thought this movie was bullshit.  I didn't even want to finish it. First off, I don't understand the appeal of Teller.  Some compare him to a young John Cusack because they're white and have the same kind of chin but Cusack at least had a quirky likeability in Say Anything, Better Off Dead and later Con Air, Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity.  Teller just comes off as blank and forced to me.  Simmons, the likeable supporting actor from films like Juno, Spider-Man and I Love You, Man gets the showy role as the loud, abusive teacher.  He insults students for being fat, homosexual and stupid but strangely doesn't go racist.  If you're going to make him a total asshole why not have some balls and make him an asshole to EVERYONE?  Remember The Departed where all Boston cops and crooks were racist, homophobic and misogynist?  It won Best Picture.  Why exactly is playing an outright prick that impressive?  Because Simmons is usually a nice guy and here he plays an asshole?  That's notable?  Please.

Then don't get me started on how uneven this film is.  SPOILERS.  From Teller's character being this driven young man who practices long into the night, literally bleeding for his passion but then can't wake up on time for his big break.  Or the competition scene where he puts down the music folder to buy a drink and it gets stolen.  Who the fuck stole the folder?!  It's oh so convenient as it gives him the chance to step up but give me a fucking break.  At least show one of the other competing bands stealing it or reveal that Fletcher took it to teach someone a lesson.  But nope, nada.  Bullshit.  Then there's his uneven character who starts out as quiet, meek and awkward for the first act.  Then all of a sudden turns into The Social Network's Mark Zuckerberg and has a stinging one liner for everyone at the dinner table who minimizes his musical aspirations.  We never see that version of the character again.  How about the next competition where his bus gets delayed, he rents a car, forgets his stuff at the dealer, goes back then gets hits by a semi?!  Fletcher keeps harping about not letting the students fuck up his chances of winning competitions but he certainly puts them into compromising positions every chance he gets.  And how about that ending where Fletcher sets Neimann up during a prestigious show by giving him the wrong music, thus making the young drummer look foolish in front of an audience that could make or break his future career.  You're telling me that Fletcher is willing to risk the futures of the ENTIRE band to take his revenge on one kid?  Then of course Neimann picks himself up and goes into a show stopping drum solo that earns Fletcher's respect.  Just what the fuck man.  END SPOILERS.

I was quite surprised at the backlash Christopher Nolan's Interstellar received this year.  For some reason people thought it was going to be some kind of defining documentary on space travel when it's still a frigging movie that preserved the history of cinema and had ambition to spare.  Perhaps it reached too far and wasn't quite successful in blending the science and cinema but you had to admire the effort and the experience.  Did you see Nightcrawler?  What a terrific performance by Jake Gllynehaal as a creepy, funny and driven young man in the world of shock journalism.   Even that crazy Korean flick Snowpiercer was an unsettling, off the wall yet oddly charming observation of class told in a unique way.  With films like that overlooked for shit like Whiplash, it's just another reminder as to why I don't get into the Oscars.  Movies are supposed to be at their best entertaining, educational, emotional, enlightening, intriguing and/or inspirational.  I got none of those from this flick. Frustrating, man.

Science Screen: Interstellar IMAX

Home of the space shuttle Endeavor, a Pompeii exhibit and much more, the California Science Center is a beautifully modern piece of architecture in the middle of a rundown part of town.  Housed across from the main hall is the $8 million dollar IMAX theater opened in 1998, complete with full snack bar offering candy, nachos, Coke and Icee's.  Ironic that the actual theater has no cup holders.  Remember when IMAX was for educational films to give you a giant, up close look at space, animals and nature?  Now it's hocked at every theater to give you a more immersive experience while ripping you the BLEEP off.  A true IMAX theater is uncomfortable.  The seats are far from the padded, reclining lounge chairs of stadium cinemas and the aisles are usually quite narrow.  The screen is so large that sitting in the front row would mean missing part of the picture.  AMC touts the IMAX experience, converting existing theaters with improved sound and picture quality.  The real IMAX screen at CSC is something like 90' wide and 70' tall.  Around town, the giant screen in the Arclight Cinerama Dome is 85' x 32' so you just know some 1990's built AMC ain't coming close to that.  In fact, a typical large auditorium screen runs 40' x 20' or not even half a real IMAX yet you're paying an upcharge.  While IMAX quickly points out that it's not just about screen size, let's be honest, it kind of is.  The huge image and sound is the point.  Then again, movies need to be shot in the format to really take advantage otherwise you're just getting to see imperfections on the flick like I did on Iron Man III where some fuzzy something or other kept popping up.

Since Christopher Nolan is a huge supporter of film, he decided to shoot space opera Interstellar on 70mm and partially in IMAX.  Nolan had already shot portions of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX which require a huge camera and less movement from actors and the scene.  Watching Interstellar, the picture would go from rectangle a la widescreen for dialog scenes to square a la IMAX for outdoor, space or flying segments.  Seeing the corn fields, water planet, space vistas, station destruction and the ice planet on the big, big screen was amazing.  The lack of sound in various dramatic scenes works incredibly well as does the use of the organ on Hans Zimmer's score that hits you in the heart.  I know everybody is aiming for this immersive experience thing but I wasn't sitting dead center and could still see people around me.  Guess they'll just have to perfect that Oculus Rift thing sooner or later to really put people into the action.

I enjoyed Interstellar upon first viewing, harkening it more as an experience than a movie.  There's some very ambitious ideas regarding mankind, science, technology and exploration as well as excellent performances from the cast including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and the voice actors playing the helpful robots.  There's been a lot of jabs thrown at Interstellar since it's release, picking apart the science, it's theme of love and an ending that goes a little bonkers with extra dimensions and future, future living.  Then there was the whole sound issue when people complained they couldn't understand what McConaughey was saying in a dream during a turbulent flight or when a character is mumbling on their death bed.  When I first saw it, I figured it was done on purpose as the dialog had no bearing on the story, you didn't miss anything and someone clarifies it later.  Do we really need to be able to hear every little thing or have it broken down in childlike terms?  I say no.  For a near 3 hour flick, Interstellar kept me engaged, even on a repeat viewing with it's mix of exploration, science, space and human drama.  While steeped in real science, Nolan and company had to create a film.  Interstellar isn't touted as a documentary so I'm not sure why it's being treated as such.  Just because you had fun watching Guardians of the Galaxy means you overlook glaring plot holes where thousands of innocents are killed off screen, the comedy negates any type of drama and that there are no risks taken, at all.  I appreciate Nolan and company telling a story that asks it's characters to yearn for more as individuals and a community even at great cost.  It's a firm reminder to the viewer to look up and keep reaching.

Fight Friday: Who Would Win?

Who would win in a fight, Batman or Darth Vader?  Chuck Norris.  "Who would win in a fight?" has long been a question sought to be answered by popular entertainment.  In the 90's nary an interview with Jean-Claude Van Damme would be missing the query, who would win in a fight between you and say Steven Seagal or Mike Tyson?  Hypothetical match ups like those are the excited small talk of school yard children and 40 year old businessmen alike.  The original UFC pitted fighters from various disciplines against one another to see which style reigned supreme.  Dark Horse Comics licensed sci-fi movie staples Aliens and Predator in the early 90's, producing several well received comic runs and eventually studio Fox released two films in the early 2000's.  A 1996 mini-series crossed the Marvel and DC universes where Captain America fell to Batman, Superman bested The Hulk, etc.  In 2003 Stan Winston studio veteran Sandy Collora forever changed the fan film when his Batman: Dead End featured the title character, nemesis The Joker then inexplicably an Alien and Predators locked in rain soaked, dark alley combat. 

Cut to 2014 where the fan film has gone professional thanks to advances in technology and distribution.  Collara himself was already a seasoned pro in the world of special effects and intended for Dead End to become a calling card for directing features.  Even with the fan approval of Dead End and it's follow up, World's Finest, which saw Batman take on Superman, Collara has yet to direct a mainstream film.  Collara did lay down the groundwork for others though.  Music video and feature director Kevin Tancharoen's $7,000 self funded Mortal Kombat: Legacy was picked up by Warner Brothers and given two seasons online.  Martial artist, stunt man and Street Fighter aficionado Joey Ansah co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in 2010's fan film Legacy which led to securing the rights from Capcom for a web series.  Said web series debuted and was reedited into a feature recently released on home video with a follow up is in the works.  Then there was the curious case of The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, an unsanctioned fan film featuring Thomas Jane in a vague sequel to the 2004 Marvel movie he starred in.  Accomplished  movie and music video director and former Steven Spielberg protege Phil Joanou helmed and again, an experienced crew was behind the scenes.  More of a way to say goodbye to the role after departing the lackluster sequel, Jane proved he was a true fan of the character while gaining some internet heat and rejuvenating Joanou's career.  The two recently teamed up on a feature for low budget genre maestro Jason Blum for a yet to be released thriller.

Today I just caught wind of a new kind of "who would win?" format that harnesses all the powers of comic conventions, fan films and YouTube: Super Power Beat Down.  The brainchild of father-son team Aaron and Sean Schoenke, SPBD asks audiences to pick who would win in a fight between two pop culture icons. Once the votes are tallied, the team goes to work writing and producing a short film where characters from various universes of movies, video games and comic books collide.  They've produced 14 episodes so far with the likes of Captain America VS Master Chief, Casey Jones VS Kick-Ass, Wolverine VS Predator and the latest, Batman VS Darth Vader.  It's an interesting package as we start in a comic shop where passionate fans discuss the match up followed by footage shot on location at various comic conventions where attendees and celebrities alike offer their opinions.  Then it's show time and we get handsomely produced but still very fan film feeling fight scenes.  Cap and Master Chief face off in a rocky and dusty canyon, Casey Jones gets dropped off by an awkwardly costumed Michelangelo in a funny bit before facing Kick-Ass under a bridge by the train tracks, Wolvie and the Predator throw down in the woods and in a creek then Batman attempts to rescue Superman but runs into Darth Vader on the Death Star.

The latest episode is by far the most polished of the half dozen I skimmed through today.  The ambition is immense as Batman jets to the Death Star, we get Storm Troopers, officials and of course a knockdown brawl utilizing The Force, Batman trinkets, explosions and frigging light sabers.  In this day and age of cosplay and replicas, the outfits for Bats and Vader were pretty impressive yet functional.  All of the episodes suffer slightly from stiff or forced acting from stunt men types but deliver pretty well choreographed scraps with each episode having a clear winner, usually by way of violent death.  It will be interesting to see where the Schoenke's go from here as their backgrounds are more in the fan film world versus professionals looking to branch out.  Until then, I'm putting my money on Ryu, Green Ranger is going down!

Captain America Two-sday

Get it?  Cause Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits home video today?  You don't get it...Amazon sent me a note about the release, looks like they patched things up with Disney as the two companies had been fighting about something so Cap wasn't available for pre-order.  I used to be a real stickler for bonus features and it seems like every outlet has some exclusive special feature.  I remember Best Buy including an extra disk of interviews for Inglorious Basterds while Target always has exclusive content as well.  For Cap, Target is offering an additional making of with their 3D/2D Blu-Ray and Digital Copy while Amazon has the standard edition for $5 more.  Looks like I'll be taking a trip to Target during lunch...Remember when Star Trek: Into Darkness had exclusive content spread across Best Buy, Target and iTunes releases?  Yeah, pretty bullshit if you ask me.

Anyways, Winter Soldier ended it's theatrical run with a spectacular $260 million take in the U.S. and over $700 million worldwide.  Marvel announced they would release part III on May 6th, 2016 which put it head to head with DC's Batman VS Superman/Justice League movie primer.  DC finally relented and moved giving Cap the lucrative first weekend of summer to himself.  After Winter Soldier's well executed if not wholly groundbreaking story of a political thriller with comic book heroes, rumors are swirling that the third installment will continue in the same vein with returning directors Joe and Anthony Russo.  The guys at Marvel are the smartest dudes in the room right now so I hope they'll remember how Iron Man II turned out when they just gave audiences more of what they liked in the original, i.e. their worst film to date that.  I always refer to it as Iron Man 1.5 since nothing new in terms of scope, storytelling or tone was really introduced.  At the time Marvel was still chasing DC's unexpected success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  While BB was like a ninja movie meets detective story, it's sequel was more or less a serious, character driven take on Heat, the classic 90's Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro flick about professional cops and thieves.  The sequel was bigger, darker, more detailed and dramatic.  Meanwhile, Iron Man II gave us nothing new stylistically and again pitted Shellhead against a variation of himself, this time with sparkly whips and some drones to destroy, yawn...

With SHIELD more or less destroyed in part II, here's hoping that Cap III doesn't get stuck being the vessel for the further adventures of a bunch of random ass characters and TV show.  Sure Nick Fury, Black Widow and The Falcon all fit in quite nicely but you don't see Thor or Iron Man having to share their movies with so many other characters.

Shot on the streets in my home state of Ohio's Cleveland, I got kind of giddy in the theater when I thought Fury's car was actually going to take off like it does in the comics...

San Diego Comic-Con 2014: Preview Night

Here we go boys and girls, it's officially time for Comic-Con!  Got down to San Diego early and walked around town seeing crews set up Vikings, Assassin's Creed, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more exhibits outside the convention.  Lord of the Rings' Sean Bean's face was plastered on the side of the Marriott hotel to hype new show Legends and while Boromir is probably a cool guy, it would have been cooler to see Michael Biehn's face blown up to 50 feet...Checked in for volunteer duty and then picked up badges over at the Town & Country.  Preview Night was a bit crowded at the start but an hour in the herd started to thin.  Right away I saw Rob Liefeld walking the floor, his Image compatriot Jim Lee being interviewed at the DC booth then old school badasses like Walt Simonson and Jim Steranko meeting the fans.  Of course my phone decided to crap out just as I was walking in so photos will be at a minimum until tomorrow.  You always notice certain things at Cons and tonight it was an abundance of women dressed as Nintendo's Mario and Big Trouble In Little China!  Picked up a Lo-Pan Express themed shirt as well as some issues of the new comic series by BOOM!  The Goon artist Eric Powell was selling #1 at his booth and was super cool as I grabbed a quick signature.   Lionsgate was handing out posters for Divergent, Hunger Games and of course, EXPENDABLES 3!  Stars Dolph Lundgren, Wesley Snipes, Kellan Lutz and others will be signing tomorrow at 4:00PM.  Think I'm just gonna rock my custom Dolph shirt, get to the front of the line, get a fist bump and move on. 

People are already lining up for Hall H which makes no sense as tomorrow's offerings are pretty not once in a lifetime with DreamWorks animation, The Giver, Paramount, TV Showrunners and 1966's Batman TV show on deck.  I made a $10 bet that I would be able to walk in to Hall H at 2:00PM for Paramount's showcase of what I'm sure will be Ninja Turtles then maybe this weekend's Hercules starring The Rock and maybe Interstellar and/or The Terminator reboot?  Panel wise I'm looking at a day full of randomly awesome topics like music in film and tv, pitching, science fiction in media, Dark Horse's Predator and Aliens comics, everything 90's and movie trivia!

Now time to buy a Lamborghini and call it Michelangelo!

Straight Netflix'ing: Arrow

It all started at WonderCon during a panel on writers and showrunners.  One of them worked on Arrow and during the sizzle reel I spotted action hero/martial artist/bodybuilder/Black Dynamite  Michael Jai White as a member of the Suicide Squad.  I know Smallville ended up doing a TV version of Justice League but I hadn't kept up with it's 10 year run and just felt it was too late to jump back in.  But Arrow had only been on the air a couple years I thought and I kept seeing it on Netflix.  Byron Mann, an actor I've tried to keep up with since seeing him Van Damme's Street Fighter, The Corruptor and Michael Biehn's American Dragons, had a recurring role on the show so that was a plus.  I was unfamiliar with Manu Bennet's work or existence until seeing him at Calgary Expo where he seemed like a cool yet macho kind of guy, a rarity in today's era of skinny leads and lady boys.  I haven't seen him in Spartacus but found out he plays Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke on Arrow so it seemed like I had enough reasons to check out the show between the three action actors.

One thing I really didn't realize was that Arrow has full seasons.  I figured CW only did short, 13 episode arcs a la cable to save money but nope, Arrow is full on with 23 frigging chapters.  That gave me pause because I think that's one of TV's problems, the seasons are too long so you just get filler.  I still haven't checked out an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because it looked so boring and lackluster.  Who gives a shit about that smirking bland-ass Agent Coulson?  Where's the actually interesting men of action like Dum Dum Dugan, Jimmy Woo, Clay Quartermain or Gabe Jones?  I don't want to see a bunch of boring, unknown actors solving Podunk mysteries on a weekly basis.  I want to see interesting characters working for a super secret para-military/international police force using fancy toys and kicking ass!  Maybe I'll go back and check out the Bill Paxton episodes because, bro, Bill Paxton...  Dude, Bill Paxton.

Luckily, Arrow has been pretty interesting through the first half of the season and is only getting better.  The story of Oliver Queen; a rich, vain, thoughtless playboy who is cheating on his girlfriend with her own sister.  On a leisure cruise somewhere in China, the yacht sinks and Oliver is left on a life raft with his father Robert, a powerful businessman who admits to his son that he's failed their city and helped destroy it.  Father Queen gives his spoiled son a list of all the names of people who helped poison Starling City and instructs him to survive.  Washing ashore on an unknown island, Oliver is taken in by the mysterious Yao Fei (Mann) and later comic based character Slade Wilson (Bennett) who teach him to fight and survive.  Turns out the island is actually a former prison and through flashbacks we see Oliver adapting and escaping. 

5 years after the sinking of the family yacht, Oliver is rescued and returns to Starling City where he's reunited with his mother, sister, former girlfriend and best friend.  The show does a good job of mixing in the family and former lover drama like any CW show should with Oliver's vigilante antics as he dons a hood and uses a bow and arrow to fight those who have helped destroy his city.  At first, it all smacks deeply of Batman.  The rich kid, big house, unlimited resources, inspired by his dead father to take revenge, etc.  But slowly, Arrow differentiates itself as he deals with his affluent family, his sister's despondent fall into drugs and trouble and the fact his mother had something to do with the sinking of the yacht.  More tinges of Batman come out as Oliver taps resources from his father's vast business empire and of course, the "Applied Science" department helps him out a la Morgan Freeman's Lucious Fox in Batman Begins.  The pinches aren't blatant enough to make your eyes roll, they just help keep you in the right frame of mind of the show's story and world.  The show's action is pretty solid with lots of hand to hand, parkour infused mayhem happening each episode.  Production values are high as Vancouver looks great with locales for the 1% style luxurious, woodsy natural and seedy urban aspects of the show.

I had seen Stephen Amell on the last season of Hung, where he played a nice yet shallow rival gigolo to Mr. WeirdCool Thomas Jane's.  On Arrow, his Abercrombie & Finch handsomeness and action figure physique are put to good use as the rich kid façade and for the shirtless training scenes.  In the first half dozen episodes, Amell's lack of a dignified hero voice a la Michael Keaton or straight Christian Bale growl was really jarring in the Arrow scenes but now seem to be modulated to give him a kind of monotone, ominous motif instead of the gee whiz, nice guy quality his voice naturally has.  Since superheroes and villains are all the rage right now, Arrow hasn't shied away from using colorful characters like revenge seeking The Huntress, assassin China White, eye patched super gunman Deadshot and so on.  A drug dealer known as The Count gets a syringe full of his own supply and is carted off at the hospital so you know he's gonna come back looking all freaky and cray cray in the head.  I'm unfamiliar with the comic book version of Oliver Queen beyond knowing The Green Arrow shared a title with The Green Lantern at one point and was praised when sidekick Speedy was depicted as a drug addict so I have no idea if this is paying homage to the panels.  That's not a bad thing because there are no preconceived notions and if anything will inspire me to pick up a few issues to expand my comic knowledge since I've always been a Marvel guy.

Apparently the show is doing quite well, being CW's highest rated new show in 5 years and receiving positive critical reception along with garnering award nominations from The Saturn Awards, IGN, The Leo Awards and more.  I wonder if interest in bow and arrow shooting has risen in the last 10 years what thanks to Legolas in Lord of the Rings, Thomas Jane's throwback to Rambo in The Punisher, Arrow, Hawkeye in The Avengers and of course, Katniss in The Hunger Games.  Season 2 has just wrapped up while a 3rd year was green lit.  Spin-off The Flash was picked up recently along with Fox's young Commissioner Gordon series, Gotham and Constantine on NBC so while Marvel is winning the cinematic battle, DC can claim victory on the small screen.

Flash Acting: John Wesley Shipp

It's been a good week for DC Comics on television as Fox's Gotham has cast it's young James Gordon, Alfred, The Penguin and more while CW's Flash just announced that former television Barry Allen/Scarlet Speedster John Wesley Shipp would be joining in an unspecified but important role.  If you'll recall, CBS ran an awesome adaptation of The Flash back in 1990 which only ran for one season when it collided with the deadly combination of juggernauts The Simpsons and The Cosby Show on Thursday nights.  I don't watch much television now but grew up on 80's and 90's fare like The Flash, Knight Rider, Miami Vice, Home Improvement, Lois and Clark:  The New Adventures of Superman and The Magnificent Seven so to see the star of one of my favorite shows getting some recognition in a new adaptation is a treat.

In the mid 80's, writers Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo were working on a film adaptation of The Rocketeer with creator Dave Stevens while also pitching a superhero television show to CBS that would have involved The Flash, Green Arrow's daughter, Dr. Occult and Legionnaire Blok.  Set in a future where superheroes are outlawed, Unlimited Powers would have been just a little too much for audiences used to the campy Batman series with Adam West or the more serious but still two man show, The Incredible Hulk.  After a change of management, a show based on a single character was developed and The Flash was off and running.  Produced by CBS and Warner Brothers for a cool $6.5 million, The Flash would be one of if not the most expensive pilots ever produced by the two studios hoping to ride the cape-tails of 1989's massive hit, Batman.  Out of over 60 hopefuls, stage and small screen actor John Wesley Shipp was selected to don the red boots and hood.

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Shipp was a theatrical youth who sang and played the piano, dropped out of drama school and headed to New York.  By the late 1980's, Shipp had appeared on several soap operas and picked up a Daytime Emmy Award.  As Barry Allen, Shipp brings a determined yet nice guy charm as well as a strong physique to the role.  The signature costume was molded over his own musculature (sweet traps!) and the suits cost in the neighborhood of $100,000 for the season.  Described as like wearing two wetsuits, the Flash costume didn't breathe and would soak up sweat causing Shipp to easily lose 6 pounds a day.

After the pilot was picked up, production ramped up on the Warner Brothers back lot and the 22 episodes were shot on a grueling 9 day schedule over 9 months.  Influenced by Batman and The Rocketeer, The Flash doesn't overly ape either property but instead takes the best bits from each to make an enjoyable blend of action and drama with some light humor and superhero excitement set in a stylized yet grungy pulp world.  The big, Batman/40's style orchestral soundtrack punctuates the action and gives the show a grander feel.  While not exactly a documentary, the creators and actors built their own reality within the show's universe where Allen's family dynamics and simmering romantic subplots share time with special effects driven superheroics.  The pilot finds police scientist Allen on the revenge trail after his older brother and stalwart police officer, Jay, is killed.  After a bolt of lightning sends Allen into a shelf full of chemicals, the once cerebral Allen is now also super fast.  With the help of STAR labs scientist Tina McGee (Amanda Pays), Allen dons a suit that can withstand the tremendous pressure and wind of his newly acquired speed and sets out to catch the crooks who greased his big bro.

As the show progressed, comic book style villains emerged in the forms of The Trickster, Captain Cold and Mirror Master.  Ally The Nightshade and his violent counterpart The Deadly Nightshade would add additional pulp flavor to the series and were some of my favorite episodes.  One of most memorable bits from the show was Allen's constant need to feed in order to keep his metabolism up.  Whether it was giant bowls of cereal, stacks of pizza or a vending machine's worth of candy bars, Barry Allen just Gotta Eat!

CBS decided to slot their expensive new show on Thursday nights against NBC's family favorite, The Cosby Show.  Fox then decided to get into the fight and moved animated champ The Simpson's to Thursday as well.  Having already spent millions on advertising, CBS didn't flinch and was now going head to head with two of TV's biggest performers.  Ratings for The Flash were good but the show couldn't fight off the Cosby or Simpson clans.  The Flash was then moved to the odd spot of 8:30PM to avoid the fierce competition but things did not improve.  The subsequent move to 9:00PM did little as well.  All in all, The Flash averaged over 9 million viewers for the season compared to The Simpson's 13 and The Cosby Show's 17.  Given the series' stiff $1.5 million per episode cost, The Flash would not sprint into a second season.

It will be interesting to see what direction the new Flash show will run and how Shipp will be used.  I didn't get into Smallville much with it's freak of the week redundancy and Arrow just seems to be about it's star running around shirtless in a dark and serious manner.  It's nice to see Shipp's inclusion in the new show that will hopefully be a nice wink to the fans and provide a little generational continuity between characters since unlike Marvel, DC heroes tend to have more than one man behind the mask over time.  It also highlights what a bunch of poseur bullshit The Big Bang Theory is since all of them are supposed huge fans of The Flash yet Shipp has somehow never appeared over it's 7 bullshit seasons as a recurring, guest or even a cameo.

Cinema Showdown: DC vs Marvel

Booked my tickets to the Thor/Avengers/Thor:  The Dark World marathon and yesterday watched the Captain America:  The Winter Soldier trailer half a dozen times.  It's a great age to be a comic book and film fan.  Marvel has been knocking it out of the park since they launched their own studio and carefully constructed an interwoven cinematic universe of safe and entertaining if not daring movie fare.  Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor have all been given big budget, semi faithful adaptations on the big screen culminating in mega hit, The Avengers.

Meanwhile DC has struggled outside of the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale Batman universe to capitalize on the thousands of characters at their disposal under Time Warner's vast multinational media network of film, television, print, video games, etc.  Justice League?  Scrapped.  Catwoman?  Please.  Green Lantern?  See ya later Ryan Reynolds.  The casting of Ben Affleck as the new Batman rankled more than a few movie going and comic book reading patrons but hey, never forget that Michael Keaton did a great job.

Why?  Because for Marvel it's all or nothing.  After years of selling off their titles and seeing cheap adaptations like 1990's Captain America (ehhhhh) and 1989's The Punisher (still best adaptation to date!) the stars finally aligned when Fox and Sony put up decent cash and directors for X-Men and Spider-Man in the 2000's, showing audiences that superhero movies could be equally exciting and dramatic.  Marvel Studios was formed to corral the remaining unlicensed characters and voila, 2008's Iron Man hit the mark and now we're moving into Phase II and Phase III of Kevin Fiege's legacy.

It's a different story for DC and Warner Brothers though, WB is only interested in the properties as brands and franchises, fodder for toy and tee-shirt deals and product in the company pipeline.  Harry Potter, Ocean's 11 and Nolan's Batman have run dry while Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit only has two more entries.  That's not a bad thing, they have to run their business.  But how else could you quantify the disjointed efforts of Superman on television, Shaquille O'Neal as Steel, the expensive mess of Green Lantern and Halle Berry as Catwoman?  Oh and it doesn't help they have David S. Goyer as their in house authority, remember when he was handed the keys to his own franchise then drove it into the fucking ground and gave us Blade:  Trinity?  The white-washed, slow motion fest sitcom?  Didn't think so.

Warner Brothers may have started the conversation with Superman and Batman but now they can't keep up because they're making the movies for all the wrong reasons.  How else can you explain Batman's inclusion into the rebooted Superman sequel?  A)  It shows how desperate they are to start their cinematic comic book universe and B)  Shows you how boring Superman is as a character.

Just like the comics, Make Mine Marvel!  With these mash up Hulk credits!

Workout of the Day: The Dark Knight Rises

Watching The Dark Knight Rises while sick inspired today's workout.  In the flick, Batman has just been pummeled by Bane and had his back broken.  Now locked away in a remote prison to suffer, an inmate punches Bruce Wayne in the spine to reinsert a disc.  Fueled by anger, Wayne begins to mend and starts a prison regimen of pull ups, push ups and sit ups to get back in fighting shape.

Technically a Pull Up uses an overhand grip (knuckles facing you) and work more of your back/lats and shoulders while Chin Ups are underhand (palms facing you) and use more bicep.  I think it's a pretty stupid distinction to make because variety is a spice of life and training.  If you're only doing Chins with one grip, you're hurting your own physique.  Pulls are a smidgen safer since there's no pressure on your wrists like a Chin.  But you only have to worry about that if you have sloppy form and are flaring your elbows out.  Hands Parallel is the ultimate no wrist impact position though.



So why not do all three?  That's what my session entailed, hands wide, shoulder width, close with an overhand grip, then the same three repeated with an underhand grip, finally it was two sets of parallel grip wide and narrow.  If you make the effort to pull to your chest, the pecs and delts get more involved as do your abs.

They say the average male cannot do one chin, that's not surprising because how often do people even think of doing them?  They probably harken back to some kind of bad high school memory of gym class.  But chins are one of the best exercises you can do as they work your forearms, biceps, shoulders, core and chest.  If you can't do one yet, no biggie.  I started out struggling to do one as a sophomore in high school and built my way up to doing 135 in one workout.  It just takes time and persistence, if you can't do a full chin, then use a chair and step into the top position and lower yourself down, controlling the movement.  In college, I installed a chin up bar in my apartment and took Arnold's advice and did 50 chins on a given day.  No matter if it was 50 sets of 1 or 5 sets of 10, I just got to 50.

Push Ups can have the same variety, hands wide, shoulder width and close, fingers facing each other, fingers out, hands staggered, on knuckles, etc.  You can work your chest, shoulders and triceps with just a changing of hand position or putting your feet up on a chair.  Keep your elbows tight to avoid shoulder strain and to keep the pressure on the muscles you're working.

The brawl that started it all:

The Way We Weren't: Josh Brolin as Batman

During Warner Brothers' panel at this years San Diego Comic Con, it was announced that the sequel to Man of Steel would feature fellow DC hero and big screen icon Batman.  With Christian Bale firmly retired as the Caped Crusader, the rumor mill worked overtime speculating who might fill the cowl and boots opposite Henry Cavill.  WB and MoS director Zack Snyder had already mentioned wanting an older, gruffer Batman who would be influenced by Frank Miller's work on The Dark Knight Returns.  Following a most likely exaggerated rumor that Bale was being offered $50 million for 20 minutes worth of screen time came a short list of names that included Ryan Gosling (too young), Joe Manganiello (too bland) and Josh Brolin.

Brolin, whose profile has risen in recent years thanks to solid supporting roles in Grindhouse:  Planet Terror, No Country For Old Men, American Gangster, Wall Street 2 and Men In Black 3 but faltered as a leading man in W. and WB's own comic adaptation Jonah Hex as well as the star studded Gangster Squad.  Brolin would have been an excellent choice for a grittier Batman, he has the ability to clean up and be charming as well as get dirty and demented.  His onscreen physicality is convincing and his troubled off screen run ins with the law and alcohol suggest some deep rooted chaotic tendencies.  His work in the upcoming remake of Oldboy by Spike Lee looks equal parts physical, dramatic and plain badass but his poor track record as a box office draw was probably his undoing in the Batman race.  Unless he wasn't interested, there's always that.

Today it was announced that Ben Affleck would be donning the cape.  On one hand it makes total sense as Affleck is a great actor, has portrayed physical types and is in the good graces of Warner Brothers as his films The Town and Argo have brought big box office and Oscar gold.  But is he a good choice?  Is he an inspired choice?  Not particularly.  In fact, he is the uninspired and quite frankly, boring, choice.  I understand he's done well for WB but casting Affleck brings no excitement to the film.  Comic fans will probably make endless comparisons to his portrayal of another masked superhero from comic lore, Daredevil, the less than well received adaptation of rival Marvel's blind lawyer by day, ninja vigilante by night.  I actually liked the flick in it's original and Director's Cut form but Affleck didn't embody the role in an unforgettable way like Bale did for Batman or Robert Downey Jr has for Iron Man.  Well, nobody's embodied a role as well as RDJ...

I dunno, Michael Keaton was a totally unexpected choice for Batman and WB received something like 50,000 protest letters but he was great in the role; odd, dark and captivating.  Val Kilmer seemed like a decent choice, handsome, a solid actor and physical.  George Clooney seems like an Affleck choice; in with the studio thanks to his work on hit TV show ER and a hot name at the time.  Bale was an obvious choice from an acting and physicality standpoint, he has depth, darkness and that sociopath charm but was far from a household name at the time.  That foresight seems to be missing here.  I went in to Man of Steel with low expectations and found it quite enjoyable.  Hopefully the same thing happens for the sequel.

P.S.  Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms.

Here's a great episode of Dinner For Five featuring an all Daredevil table: