Well a bit of good news is always a nice way to start the week. And to that end is the news that Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson got married. The couple was engaged recently, and thankfully their wedding was not the usual circus of paparazzi and media and rumors that tend to occur these days.
I wish the 2 of them the best. I hope that they can have a marriage like that of Paul Newman and his wife Joan Woodard.
In more potentially good news Marvel Comics is moving forward with their movie empire. With the success of the Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man (to say nothing of the success found in Spiderman’s and the X-Men’s 3 films) Marvel closed a deal top have Paramount distribute 5 of its next films. Those films will include the sequel to Iron Man, a film on Captain America, The Avengers and Thor.
Now I am happy to see that Iron Man will not only get a sequel, which we knew would be coming, but that Marvel is looking to get one of it’s biggest titles out – Captain America - even though they recently murdered him. It is interesting that in a time of war, and national conflicted emotions over these wars, Marvel has decided to highlight a character that was created by war and symbolizes the absolute belief that America is the greatest good in a bad world. Captain America is hardly a liberal, and considering how liberal Hollywood is their choice stands out.
Thor though is a movie I expect will do poorly. He just isn’t an interesting character by himself. Norse god, ancient misogynistic beliefs, and macho pig might all be terms that would easily describe him. And those are all elements that would prevent his acceptance by a wide portion of the movie audience. But given the right script and actor anything is possible. Though I think this will rank right up with the first Hulk movie.
Also a potential letdown is the choice of The Avengers. This team of super heroes could be like the first X-Men movie, and be good. But more likely is the failure of the movie and its ultimate similarity to the Fantastic Four movies. There are too many characters, with too many abilities to describe to an audience that has no clue about any of that. There is no theme that drives the plot for movie-goers without necessitating a big back-story. It’s just too much all at once. And most of the members of the Avengers just aren’t interesting enough.
The big secret may be that the 5th choice of Marvel will likely be the SHIELD movie. There have been 2 prior versions of Nick Fury so far, both have been abysmal. But they say the 3rd time is the charm. This could be the film that breaks Marvel’s back, or guarantees that future scriptwriters will give up on new ideas altogether.
Actually what am I saying? There really haven’t been any new ideas in Hollywood for almost a decade. Virtually every movie made in that time has been a retread of a book, comic book, television show or prior movie. Looking forward we have more Batman, Watchmen, Sin City, video games, television shows and such on the horizon. It’s really a shame that Hollywood has lost the last few brain cells they had.
Still I am looking forward to the Watchmen, Iron Man 2, Captain America, and HALO.
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