Twilight

OK, I feel almost stupid writing a post about this, but I am now officially a Twilight-aholic. Nope, I've never read any of the books, but I've seen the movie three times now. Loved it. The first time I saw it, I wasn't totally sucked in, but I kept thinking about the story of Bella and Edward, so I saw it again...and again. And I'll probably see it yet again. I suppose there is still a 14-year-old girl still living inside of me, after all. (Please, no jokes :->).

I've got to read the books. Which one is your favorite?

Another Superman/Wonder Woman rant

I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to post this since Superman dominates this blog enough, but I just need to vent a little. Okay, I need to vent a lot.

With all of the rumors and news floating around regarding “Superman: The Man of Steel,” the film sequel or reboot or whatever you want to call it, I’m so glad actor Brandon Routh has gone on record with his opinion. See, I knew I loved that man for a reason other than his complete and total hotness. Routh absolutely echoed my sentiments — and the sentiments of a lot of Supes fans — by disagreeing with this stupid idea Warner Brothers execs have for making the next film “darker.” Superman is not a dark character! Superman is a symbol of hope and good! Just because “The Dark Knight” made globs of money doesn’t mean people will pay to see an angry Superman smashing down bad guys just because he’s pissed off. That’s not who he is. It never has been. If you must, make the villain darker, but leave Clark/Superman alone already! Geez.

While I’m on the topic, I’m so sick of Mark Millar trying to generate support for his pitch for an “epic” Superman film trilogy. I mean, have you heard the basics of his idea? A Godfather-style epic on Krypton then on Earth? I think seeing Krypton would be cool, but that’s about all I can agree with. His idea to have Superman end the film series as the last man on earth when the sun turns red and he loses all his powers is way too depressing. Even if the meat in between is decent, I don’t want to pay money to see that! I don’t get why so many fans are excited by his idea. Why? Why? Why?

If Warner Brothers had any sense at all, they’d hire Geoff Johns to write the screenplay. No one seems to know Superman better right now, and if he were to use Brainiac as the villain in the next sequel, I’m 99 percent confident that he’d do it right. Also, bring back Routh as Superman if you don’t bring back anyone else. I mean, he NAILED the role last time, and obviously, he gets the character if he’s jeopardizing his chances of keeping the role by publicly stating his opinion on what a bad idea Warner Brothers has for the next movie. That alone means something to me as a fan. Routh’s brownie points went way up in my book — even if they were pretty high to begin with.

And another thing…

It’s cool they’re making a Captain America movie, but I had to scream, “Nooooooooooo!” when I read that recent interview with Beyonce Knowles. You know the one I’m talking about. You know the one — where she pushes for the role of Wonder Woman in the forever rumored Wonder Woman film. First of all, I have to say one thing. I greatly admire Beyonce. I have three of her albums and thought she was hilarious in that Austin Powers sequel, not to mention she’s one of the few mega-celebrities you never hear anything bad about. She’s awesome. But she can’t play Wonder Woman! No, no, no, no!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (see the posts below if you don’t believe me). The actress who plays Diana Prince needs to be pale, white, dark-haired, and at least 6’1 or it’s not the same character at all. I’m a total purist when it comes to the actors who play my favorite superheroes. Adopt the look or lose the role — and some people just aren’t born with the physical characteristics to play certain characters. Sorry, Beyonce, but that’s the way I feel. Will Smith understood that. Didn’t you see his feelings on playing Superman? I wasn't too crazy about the Megan Fox hoax either. I mean, physically she fits the part better than most I've seen, but I'd prefer the role to go to someone who can act, too.

Okay, I feel better now. Thanks. :)

Spidey 4, Iron Man sequel and silly ideas

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so a lot of the news I’m excited about is probably old news to many of you.

First of all, Tobey Maguire has signed on for Spider-Man 4 and 5. Gee, did he finally realize Spidey was his bread and butter and the best role he’s ever played? Since I love these movies so much, I’m excited by this. I know not everyone liked Spidey 3, but I actually loved it, Gwen Stacey’s character aside. I’d like to see more Spider-Man movies on the big screen.

Robert Downey Jr. has also signed on for Iron Man 2 and an Avengers movie. How awesome is that? Once again Marvel will be beating DC to the punch by putting its superhero league on the big screen first. Last I heard, the Justice League movie is pretty much dead in the water.

On a personal note, I’ve decided to hone my skills as a screenwriter by doing my own take on Wonder Woman, a movie that has been in limbo for as long as I can remember. If I had to guess, I’d say the reason we haven’t seen a movie for Wonder Woman yet is because, let’s face it, she’s not an easy character to modernize. Based on everything I’ve heard, anyone who has touched the project has tried to do just that. Then the problem becomes how do you make her character relevant today? How can you modernize her in a world that already has Buffy, Charlie’s Angels and Sarah Conner battling bad guys? Wonder Woman might be the first female superhero but she’s not the only one anymore.

I think it’s possible to bring her into this century, but I also don’t see why she can’t just stick to the WWII era fighting Nazis. Keep it simple. Then again, I might just pen a manuscript and try to do a book instead. Kevin Anderson is one of my role models, after all. Yeah, maybe I need to write him for advice on breaking into the genre. Wonder if he’d reply? I’d love, love, love to write a Supergirl story. I really have an idea that I think would be fantastic for her, but alas, who am I? Plus, Supergirl has always been the problem child of DC, it seems. No writer has yet found his or her niche with her like Gail Simone has with Wonder Woman. Too bad. I’m bursting with ideas and see a lot of potential with the character. In my opinion, Supergirl’s identity has never been clearly defined as anything other than Superman’s cousin. Her backstory and personality has been rewritten so many times, it’s hard to get a good feel for the character. However, I like how Geoff Johns is using her in Action Comics right now.

Smallville, Supernatural, and Sarah Conner Chronicles

It's been a while since I posted, but WOW, how could I not post about the new season for these three shows.

Smallville has been much better than I expected it to be. I'm loving the first two episodes. The Lois-Clark interchange in the second episode of the new season was so much like the first few episodes of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman that I literally had chills watching it. And seeing Clark free from the clouds that are Lex and Lana has actually been pretty nice. Not to mention the Justice League scenes in the first episode were pretty cool too. More Green Arrow, please. He's yummy.

Supernatural has been frakking amazing! Each year I brag to my friends about how much better it was than the last, but these first two episodes have been the best of all so far, and that's really saying something. I mean, WOW. I puzzled all summer over how they would play the whole Dean going to Hell scenerio in a way that would make sense and come across as entertaining, and I never once thought about them bringing God into it. Genius, and inspiring. Not to mention I'm loving this new direction the show's taking. Right now this is my favorite show on TV.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a close second though. I didn't think they could top last season, but from the moment Shirley Manson started singing Samson and Deliah over the opening scene montage, I knew I was in for a fun ride. All the episodes so far have been excellent. I'm amazed a TV show like this exists. It's like watching a top quality movie every week. I can't recommend it enough.

Comic Con, Dark Knight and Lost Boys

After reading and hearing all the feedback from this year's Comic Con, it is now my life's goal to go to Comic Com at least once before I die. I missed, apparently, an amazing Smallville panel and a highly entertaining Supernatural panel (not to mention a chance to get an in-person autograph from my future husband, Jensen Ackles, but, you know. That's life, I guess). I also missed the Wolverine trailer premiere and cool news from The Sarah Conner Chronicles and T4. I'm not far from Atlanta, so I'd originally hoped to go to Dragon Con this year, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Bummer.

I did see "The Dark Knight" and wow, what an intense movie! It was an amazing movie-going experience, and Heath Ledger was creepy and fantastic as the Joker. However, it was such an intense movie, it's not one I'll see over and over again. I'm still digesting it from the first viewing. They don't call it "The Dark Knight" for no reason.

Since this is a "fangirl" blog, I am going to veer off and admit this: I also saw "The Lost Boys: The Tribe." "The Lost Boys" was one of my favorite movies as a teen. When I heard they were actually, finally doing a sequel, my gut did a nosedive. As with any sequel, it could go either way - really good or disgustingly bad. I didn't see how it could be really good given the few things I'd heard about it. Well, I was right. However, it wasn't as horrible as I was expecting. I suppose since my expectations were so low, I was pleasantly surprised at how so-so I thought it was. It certainly didn't have the coolness or the style as the original. The casting was uggh, but it could have been worse.

Does anyone know if they're going to release the full Smallville Season 8 trailer anywhere? The ones on YouTube are atrocious.

Bye-bye, Moonlight; Flash Gordon - really?

By now, if you’re a fan of the show, I’m sure you’ve heard that “Moonlight” has been cancelled. My favorite new show of the season, cancelled! At least “The Sarah Conner Chronicles” will live to see another year. I’m not sure I could have handled both of my favorite new shows biting the dust. I applaud the “Moonlight” fan base for taking action to try to get the show on another network. I sent off a few letters, but I haven’t mobilized with much of the enthusiasm they are showing. I became cynical of such movements back when my all-time favorite show, “Dark Angel,” was cancelled. I wrote numerous letters, signed every petition, donated money for an ad to appear in numerous trade magazines, talked to friends to recruit them for the cause, and so on. It didn’t make one bit of difference. Now that “Jericho” has left a bad taste in CBS’s mouth, I doubt similar fan campaigns ever have a chance of succeeding again. But, this is one I hope does. I can’t imagine life without Mick St. John now that he’s ensnared me with his dark, good looks and vampy style.

Apparently, a live-action “Flash Gordon” movie is being made. What?! You mean, the first one was considered a flop? I loved the campiness of the Sam Jones, 80s flick, but it might be nice to see a new version on the big screen. Whatever happened to the Sci-Fi series, anyway? Cancelled? Renewed? I stopped watching about halfway through the season.

X-Files trailer FINALLY, Iron Man rocks, and Smallville news

I felt like my birthday had come when I realized the X-Files movie trailer was now online. FINALLY! My goodness, I felt like I was unwrapping a gift as I watched it the first time at www.xfiles.com. I must admit, I was slightly disappointed with it simply because I can't quite figure out what the movie is going to be about. I had to watch it six times to develop my theory - that it involves a psychic helping Mulder search for a kidnapper/killer/monster? who may or may not be holding a woman against her will, and there's a lot of snow involved. I think it took me so long to develop this theory because I kept trying to bring aliens into it. I don't think aliens are involved though. Who knows? I'm probably wrong.

I did see Iron Man on opening weekend, and it totally rocks! Best movie of the year so far. Robert Downey Jr. is amazing in it. Is it sad to admit I've already seen it twice? Yes, I liked it that much. Stay for the ending credits to finish, by the way. I saw something the second time I didn't see the first time.

Finally, "Smallville" has finished its season, and I am both anxious and nervous about the next season. No Lex? Wow. I can't imagine it after the way this cliffhanger was presented. Thank God Chloe is hanging around. I probably would have stopped watching if she hadn't been. I'm a little bummed by the reports that Kara won't be coming back either as a regular. That girl kinda grew on me after a while.