Hello Bat fans! I have a couple items of news the first being an announcement of the new animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold which is scheduled to air November 14, 2008 at 7:30pm, on Cartoon Network.
Ok, so this is hardly new information, but hey it's just around the corner, so here it is.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold is going to be a series of several Batman team up. The fun part about this series is that it nods it's head at the retro campy Batman of old. So Bats isn't gonna be the dark, brooding character we all know and love, but the tone is fun and light hearted, and who doesn't love that?
Here's a link to an Interview with creators James Tucker and Andrea Romano on SuperHeroHype.com That also includes footage shown at ComicCon.
The other bit of news I have is that Christopher Nolan seems to have some doubts about continuing with the Batman films. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times he gave some fairly ambiguous answers on the subject:
"GB: Could you see actually yourself not making the third Batman film?
NOLAN: Well ... let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story? Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer."
However, when talking about Warner Brothers he does seem to enjoy working with them:
"GB: You've said you aren't sure what you next project will be. But clearly Warner Bros. looks at Batman as a core part of their movie business, perhaps now more than ever, and there are marketplace pressures on them to schedule the next installment of the franchise. Are you getting a lot of pressure to make a decision?
Nolan: They’re being extremely gracious. I have a very good relationship with the studio. They know that I really needed to go on holiday and take some time to figure what I want to do next. They’ve been very respectful of that, which is terrific and one of the reasons I enjoy working with Warner Bros."
"Brave and the bold" looks like it will be good, but a couple of years ago I thought "The Batman" was going to be good sooooo...
If Warner started trying to do what Marvel is doing (i.e. movies that are true to the comics and will eventually lead to The Avengers) they would have a bigger audience, more so than the people who love The Joker, and by next year they will love whichever role Johnny Depp stars in in hip-cool movie of the summer.
Honestly, I didn't mind The Batman. You gotta think who the target audience is with these types of shows. For this one it's boys ages 6-15, so I don't expect anything real epic (I also love the Adam West Batman). The main purpose is to sell toys (bread and butter of the industry), so I'm taking the attitude of just sitting back and enjoying it for what it is, cheese.
I always look at comic films with a bit of skepticism. It is my opinion that the Marvel films up until, well, only Ironman were utter crap (I heard the new Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton was pretty good, but I haven't seen it yet). They made me laugh, but for all the wrong reasons. Origins looks good, but I've been wrong before. I'm going to see it because I've liked Wolverine since grade school, and it has Deadpool. He's probably minor, but he's still there!
You are right about the Joker thing. Gaggles of teenage girls went to go see it simply because it was the last film Heath Ledger finished. When Guilliam's new film comes out, it just might sell more than TDK because it's Ledger's final role "AND IT HAS JOHNNY DEPP! EEEEK!" *rolls eyes*
But I actually like Nolan's take on the series because he doesn't treat it like a comic book, he treats it like a damn film! He adds an element of realism to it. Yeah, that means his Batman couldn't exactly join the Justice League, but it does make it accessible to grown ups that don't live in their mother's basement.
I've tried to watch it and merely enjoy it, but the "edgy" character designs look way too ridiculous for me, for example, Bane looking like a ninja turtle. The plots and stories are weak, but like you said, its about the toys, so as much as I like Batman toys, its not really my demographic.
The first two X-men, the first two Spider-mans and The Punisher are some of my favorite Marvle films. Blade, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Elektra and the Fantastic Four movies have all been hit or miss, I believe they were done just to get more money, as opposed to Ironman and the latest Hulk that actually try to appease the fans while making millions upon millions of munnies.
Deadpool will be played by Ryan Reynolds of "Just Friends" and "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" fame. I love Deadpool, but putting Reynolds as him is like putting Ledger for The Joker, lots of teen girls equal lots of money.
Gotta disagree on the "making a comic book film less about commics and more about film" argument though... Batman has almost 70 years of comic book history, not all good of course, but thats a lot of time and effort. Its like making a movie about your grandparents and tweaking a couple of things to make it either more sellable or more relatable to the common walker-by-er, like the time our grandparents fought those aliens while they disarmed the bomb and then had a romantic tender moment before they jumped down the escape chute.
I've heard they were working on Wonder Woman and The Flash to try and get the cogs for Justice League moving, and also a Batman/Superman one, you can see the logo on a billboard on 'I am Legend."
I bet I have more in common with 40-year-old losers than anyone other than grown-ups who live in their mother's basement.
I think Watchmen is going to be just like V. It'll be flashy and have some elements of the original story, enough to make John Doe think he saw an intellectual comic book movie but way too much will be cut to satisfy anyone who has actually read the book.
You do have a point about the "edgy" designs. Marlyn Manson Riddler? Oh please. I get that he's supposed to be a computer hacker and all that, but it is rather silly. But everyone has taken a stab at redesigning the Batman characters and Matsuda is an industry giant, so he must know something.
I was annoyed with X-Men for the fact that they decided to fuse Jubilee into Rogue. I didn't even watch the third one because of the clue at the end of the second one that it would have Phoenix. God I hate Phoenix. I don't remember Spiderman and Punisher too well, which is bad. It means the films were forgettable. Yeah, yeah Spiderman broke all sorts of records but the staying power is only because it's such an iconic character. Though I did laugh my butt off during the third film because they kept in the whole wearing all black and acting "cool" thing. But that's it. That's all I remember.
You could be right about Ryan Reynolds being used because he’s a name. That’s how Hollywood works. If the producers see that you want to cast a star, they’re more likely to give you the $50 million needed to make your film then if you cast a no body with talent. I’m actually not too familiar with him, but there is also the chance that, maybe, just maybe, he had a good reading. As annoyed as I am about the new trend of “Joker is my bishie!” I simply have to admit that Heath Ledger was an excellent Joker. The very first moment we see him on screen, it was an instant read. I immediately knew who he was. The way he moved and his gestures were flawless. How do you make a sociopathic clown work in the real world? I don’t know, but he did. I mean, he actually made the Sir Michael Caine miss his cue!
And yes, Batman does have a very long history, and it’s important to honor that history. But I do think that Nolan manages to uphold the spirit of Batman as well as making it believable. A man dresses in a bat suit to go fight crime and his arch nemesis is a clown? It’s silly! No matter how you look at it, it’s silly! Not everything that works in comics and animation works in film. Don't get me wrong, I love camp, but I also like good film making. Tim Burton kept the silliness of Batman in, and was fairly successful with it. But Batman and Robin also kept in that silliness and that has got to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. But Nolan manages to take something silly and make it dead serious, and you buy it. He’s taking more from the contemporary comics then the early ones. There is nothing fun and mirthful about Lovers and Madmen, or The Killing Joke, or Hush, or the Long Halloween.
You’re probably right about Watchmen. Alan Moore says he wants nothing to do with it, which is a pretty good cue to run and hide.
M.J. from the Spider-man movies had too much Gwen and not enough Mary Jane, but like all comics made into movies or books made into movies, they will make it so that it fits the "movie world."
I don't like Ryan Reynolds, he's basically Dane Cook or any other big name "romantic comedy" go-to guy. He's also in Blade 3, he's the "funny guy."
I'm not to fond of people trying to make Batman "real." He isn't. And while he may be silly, it doesnt have to be campy. I liked what Burton did, it was silly, but it had dark humor, the new franchise takes itself too seriously, but if they didnt then it would be another "Batman forever" and "Batman and Robin."
I've grown to get sick of the modern Batman. Not too long ago I had a conversation with another Batman enthusiast [Robber Baron]
I don't like hoe he's ALWAYS pissed off now-a-days. He's ALWAYS edgy and "completely uncontrollable" and finally reaching his limit and going out and punching people. People love it for some reason, but I cant see how long a story like that can go on... It was good when it happened in "Dark Knight Returns," it was the first time that Batman had acted like that. Now he must always run over police cars with a tank-car and so on and so forth.
Alan Moore didnt want anything to do with V either, and look how that turned out. All it did was inspire internet people to de-mote scientology or something.
Just have to wait and find out. In the trailer I've seen there's only an extremely brief shot of him, so there is no telling.
I love camp. And fun. And Humor. But serious, edgy, and uncontrollable doesn't bother me. I like the stories. They're interesting. Some brain required (not saying you don't have a brain, just saying there's thought put into it). And yes, it can get tiring if the characters are so high strung all the time (Bruce seriously should have had a few heart attacks by now), there needs to be down time, balance. I think Batman's so successful because his supporting characters are still quirky and fun. I think I remember you saying you're not too fond of Harley Quinn, but one of the issues in her solo is a great example. Harley and Riddler's gangs try to rob Wayne manor at the same time resulting in a gang fight. The only person Barbara could get to respond to it was Barda, who she told to protect the grandfather clock that leads to the Bat Cave. Half the mansion gets destroyed, but Barda assures Barbara that the clock was intact. It was hilarious.
Movie and contemporary Batman are serious Batman. The trend of the contemporary Batman is delving into what it means to be human. Which started with The Dark Knight Returns. Batman becomes an old man, how very human. I don't particularly like Frank Miller, but I have to respect his storytelling and reasoning. Bruce's story is not a happy story. In fact, the lighter aesthetic doesn't make sense for the character's motivation.
Put quite simply, I am particular about what I like, some stuff I do like and some I don't.
I prefer The Dark Knight Returns story over The Dark Knight movie. I wouldn't say I am a Frank Miller fan, in fact, I don't like most of his stuff, but that particular Batman story sticks out among my favorites, while Batman Returns is my favorite Batman movie, The Dark Knight and Batman Returns are very different, and while The Dark Knight is a good movie, I prefer Returns, personally.
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