WB the Whedon Slayer? Night at the fucking Flash Museum?!

Joss Whedon is off the Wonder Woman movie as a result of "creative differences," and a new script has been bought instead. Personally, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I don't really care for Whedon's style (as most of you already know, his particular brand of snark and humor makes me want to tear my own head off), but on the other hand, even I can see that he does damn good work and could have made a great WW movie, even if it wasn't to my particular tastes.

On the magical other other hand, he's frequently stated how he likes the "idea" of WW more than the actual character. For one thing, he wanted to do away with the star-spangled panties... which I can understand, sure, but... but it doesn't seem like WW to me! He never did say what she'd be wearing instead... I always always a fan of the Kingdom Come loincloth, personally. But my point is that he basically had no intention to too much of the source material, seems to me. If you have so much disdain for the actual source material, why the hell do a movie in the first place? It's not like Whedon is exactly short of strong female characters.

But then again, WW's source material is... spotty, shall we say? I mean, she certainly lacks the number of instantly memorable solid arcs that pop into a DC fan's head. As kkglinka said, WW lacks a definite modern myth. Anyone could tell you the general story of Superman or Batman, but how many, aside from probably justcomeinalone, could do the same about Diana? Hell, even I'm hard-pressed to give you a solid story! And again, Whedon might really have understood the *potential* for Wonder Woman, capturing the real spirit of the character better than most comic writers over the past 60 years!

That said, the new script that the WB bought is set in WWII, the original era for the character. Now, honestly, I am intrigued by that idea. Between the setting and the character, it has the distinct potential of being decidedly different from the typical superhero origin movie. Plus, it would have Nazis. So we'll see.




Speaking of talented filmmakers getting booted from comic movies and my mixed feelings, David Goyer is off the FLASH movie. Goyer wrote 75% of BATMAN BEGINS (but I get the feeling he's the one to blame for ZenuDrone McBobblehead's character being created), all three BLADE movies (and directed the third... *shudder*) and co-wrote much of JSA (which I loved when it came out, but upon rereading, is total shit for the first collection or two... at least when read side by side with STARMAN).

Goyer's been talking about this for years and has said that his script is excellent, that he's very proud. He also wanted Ryan Reynolds for Wally West, which is bloody perfect. Reynolds is one of those actors like Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott who honestly have crazy tons of acting potential and charisma and so desperately need a good script. You may scoff, but do did many over Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell. Reynolds as the Flash would have been fantastic, and here's hoping whoever takes over the movie will cast him.

Which reminds me, who *is* taking over the FLASH movie? I'm sad that Goyer's gone, even though he's got almost as many flaws as strengths, but I'm sure that whoever the studio hires for their next big superhero movie must be tal-- oh my god, Shawn Levy, director of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, and the motherfucking PINK GODDAMN FUCKING PANTHER remake?

NOOOOOOOOOO! KHAAAAAANNNN!!! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRICHARRRRRRDSSSSS!!!!! CLANCYYYYYYY!!!

As Devin on CHUD.com put it: "We’ve been lucky with superhero films thus far – most of the major ones have been handled by legitimate talents. Even if you didn’t like the movies they turned out, there was no denying that real work and effort went into making these films, that they were treated like real movies. Now we’re entering the next phase of superhero films, where monstrously talentless wanks like Levy get to come play in the sandbox because they can guarantee the kind of box office returns the studios drool for."

Has the bubble burst so quickly? Couldn't we have at least gotten a few more great movies of, like, THE FLASH, GREEN LANTERN, or maybe, like, DR. STRANGE, NAMOR, THOR, or even AQUAMAN (it could be so good... god, it really could) before the inevitable creative backlash? Then again, superhero movies survived CATWOMAN, and there's no way Levy's FLASH could be worse, right? Right?

Oh god. Between this and the current FLASH comics, it's a bad time to be a Flash fan. Pity the Flashers!

On a mountain of skulls, in the castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood!

Two more things.

First, someone took the liberty of scanning one of my very favorite single comic book stories of all time, the criminally out-of-print HULK: THE END, aka "The Last Titan".

If you haven't read this, I beg you to check out that link. It's essentially the last Hulk story, as the title implies, as only Peter David could write it. A wonderful and chilling story, and those last three words will haunt me for a long time to come.




In other news, Dan Aykroyd has announced that there will indeed be a GHOSTBUSTERS III, but Bill Murray's only agreed to do it if it's to be CGI.

Now... ok... *deep breath*

Immediate response by many will be disgust and dismay. But there are many factors to consider here, and let me try to address them in as orderly a fashion as possible. Sure, I'd prefer it live-action... but the entire cast is now old and bloated, so there's that to consider. Which, of course, might have worked perfectly on its own, but whatever, now it's moot.

And y'know, so what if it's live-action? I grew up watching the animated Ghostbusters series, and most folks agree that the first season or two (much written by J. Michael Straczynski!) were honestly excellent. I mean, seriously great stuff, much better than one might expect from Saturday morning fare. So I would be deeply hypocritical to be averse to an animated Ghostbusters movie, especially if it involves the actual original cast. AND, might I add, the original script.

Because apparently that's what this movie is going to be. Aykroyd's original script and concept, which couldn't have gotten made because the budget would have been too huge. It also would have starred John Belushi too. Here's what Aykroyd just said, as quoted on CHUD.com:

"We go to the hell side of Manhattan, downtown, Foley Square. It's all where the cops are--they are all blue minotaurs. Central Park is this huge peat mine with green demons there, surrounded by black onyx thousand-foot high apartment buildings with classic red devils, very wealthy. We go and visit a Donald Trump-like character who is Mr. Sifler. Luke Sifler. Lu-cifer. So we meet the devil in it.”

CHUD's Devin Faraci countered with saying, "Here’s the thing about Aykroyd’s original Ghostbusters script: it’s supposed to be a mess. The Ghostbusters traveled across dimensions and fought a succession of huge ghosts, of which Stay-Puft was only one. Ivan Reitman worked with Aykroyd to turn the script into something not only filmable, but something classic, one of the all-time great comedy movies. A huge explosion filled CGI movie doesn’t initially sound like a return to the greatness of the original.

"And then there’s the second film, which proved that you can’t always catch lightning in a bottle twice. Ghostbusters II is passable, and for fans it even has moments, but it pales in comparison with the first. Do we need a movie that pales in comparison to the second?"

Everyone's "favorite" curmudgeon critic Devin brings up some good points, but in his rampant cynicsm, he is very wrong about GHOSTBUSTERS II. Everyone gives it shit for not being the original, but I've revisited it in recent years and have come to adore it. I love it because of its decidedly darker, subversively creepy tone, for one thing.

In fact, i-mockery.com as compiled a wonderful list that serves as a perfect defense for an underappreciated film with Ten Things I liked about GHOSTBUSTERS II. I mean, all it's missing from that list is the Scholari Brothers. Honestly, the only major flaws that come to mind are the rap version of the theme music and the fact that Jeanine goes off with Louis instead of her one true love Egon.

Sorry, Devin. This is my childhood here. When I was little I was obsessed with all things Egon, growing into a love for the smartassery of Peter, then admiring the down-to-earth straight-man detachment of Winston, and finally accepting the sad truth that I am Ray. There are so many ways this could go wrong, but I think (and I didn't feel this way when I started writing this entry) that I'm actually kinda excited here.