You might be familiar with the AFI Top 100 list. Every year they publish a top 100 list of movies as well as produce a TV show that goes over the list. The best thing about it though is that it can be a great way to get arguments started among movie fans. This year, there will be more arguments then ever.
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Thanks to a Christmas stocking full of horror DVDs I began thinking about public domain movies. If I can get copies of public domain movies, I could offer ‘em up on FanaticSpace. Yeah, a lot of public domain movies are crappy, but there are some that are great. Even a few genre classics like Night of the Living Dead have fallen into the public domain.

While looking into finding some decent movies in the public domain I found at least 4 of the movies that were in my stocking on Christmas morning. No wonder they can sell 16 movies for $15, they’re using movies they don’t need to pay for. I’m not complaining, there are some good movies there. Which makes me think that offering movies on FanaticSpace could work. Read more

I was looking forward to seeing Rob Zombie’s version of Halloween. I even wrote a post about how excited I was.  I thought Rob Zombie was good enough to take on a classic slasher flick and do it justice. Boy was I wrong.

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I really need to stop reading RevolutionSF. I’m sure it’s a contributing factor for geeks with high blood pressure. Ah, who am I kidding? That wouldn’t help. It’s not RevSF’s fault, mostly. They’re just reporting the screw ups made in Hollywood.

This is the trailer for the new Iron Man movie.

Abandon all hope, all ye who buy a movie ticket.

Once again the people behind the Iron Man movie have screwed up. You may remember my rant on comic book movie casting. I had very little hope for Iron Man turning out well. The only hope I had was that the scenes in the Iron Man armor would be abundant and awesome. Now I have even less hope.

Why would they make trailers and commercials with stuff that’s not in the movie? That makes no sense. Sure it’ll make people want to see a movie. What happens when they find out it’s a trick? A lot of people will just skip it. Hollywood shoots itself in the foot like this and then wonders why fewer people are going to the movies. To quote Kelly Bundy, “The mind wobbles”.

Here’s a tip for filmmakers.

If you film something for the trailer that turns out to be unbelievably cool, put it in the movie. It’s bad enough when people see a movie and find out all the best parts were in the trailer. When you see a movie and all the best parts are in the trailer, but not the movie that’s even worse. That is what people outside of the movie industry call a “lie”. You might want to look that word up. You probably know it better as “promotion” or “marketing”.

I’ve tried to avoid comic book movie news. I’m a fan, why would I do that? Simple. I can’t cast the movies myself. There’s nothing I can do to change the minds of casting directors. It’s just better if I try to avoid any news about it. I just can’t seem to stay away though. I have to find out if the right choices are made and I have to prepare myself for the wrong choices.

Much like Newton’s third law of motion which states.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

There is a comic book movie law.

For every good casting choice, there is an equal and opposite bad casting choice.

For every Hugh Jackman cast as Wolverine, you have the opposing Halle Berry cast as Storm. I’m not saying these people are bad actors. They’re just not right for the part they’re cast in.

The most frustrating part is not knowing which side of the line a particular casting choice will fall. Most of the time you can’t tell which choices are inspired and which are just stupid until the movie comes out. Michael Keaton as Batman was inspired. George Clooney as Batman was horrible.

The universe must maintain balance.

There are some choices that are obviously right. Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier for example. I can still remember the swelling of giddy fanboy bliss when I read that news.

The equal and opposite reaction.

There are choices that are obviously wrong. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. I’m still not completely over the crushing depression of that news.

The only way I can console myself when I hear horrible news like that is to tell myself that at least an Iron Man movie is being made. When I hear about Heath Ledger playing The Joker, I focus on the fact that another Batman movie is being made. Bad casting or not, I’m glad more comic books are coming to the big screen.