Geeked about these flicks

So, here's 7 movies I can't wait to see!

1. The Avengers
2. The Amazing Spiderman
3. Men In Black 3
4. GI Joe 2
5. Prometheus
6. Battleship
7. The Dark Knight Rises

The 25 most anticipated movies!!!

Check out this list of IMDB's 25 most anticipated movies. I can't say I agree with all of these (Die Hard 5? The Expendables 2? Bourne Legacy?)
Some though have me seriously geeked - Bond, Indiana Jones (I had no idea this was possible), The Hobbit, Halo and many more.
Check 'em out! What are your top 5? Mine are:

• Hobbit
• Avengers
• Wolverine
• Superman (and The Dark Knight Rises)...okay, that is technically 2 movies
• Star Trek

I am excited about more that just those five, but those five leave me all tingly inside.

Summer selections

So, this month during my relocation, I read:

• The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan (Such a great series)
• Knight Errant - Anthony Reynolds (A great Warhammer series about Knights in the Old World. Very inspirational for my Arthurian saga)
• True Grit - Charles Portis (I love this book SO much. The dialogue is unbelievable)

I watched:

• The Eagle (I liked it, but most of my friends did not)
• Just Go With It (I thought this just sucked)
• Horrible Bosses (Hilarious)
• True Grit (2011) (I love both versions of this movie)

Ten Things That The Guys and I Are Excited About

Ten random things to be excited about:

1. Tron: Uprising (Animated Series from Disney)
2. Camelot (New series from Starz)
3. Game of Thrones (New Series from HBO based on George RR Martin's novels)
4. Red Riding Hood (Looks like a werewolf take on the Red Riding Hood story)
5. Sucker Punch (Awesome looking new flick directed by Zack Snyder of Watchmen fame)
6. Thor (the movie)
7. Captain America (movie)
8. Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (Animated movie)
9. Dragon Age II (Video Game)
10. Gears of War 3 (Video Game - Note: The BETA is starting in April for those who are interested)

Halloween Movie Selections

For the week of Halloween, GGE kicks off a weeklong movie marathon (7 movies at least, might watch more). The goal being to establish a good Halloween mood.
(On a side note, Green's commercial Haunt, Haunted Caverns at Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN has been selecting as the #6 Haunt in the nation by Rand McNally. Way to go Green and all the guys and gals at Fear Connection!)

Back to our Halloween movie marathon (I'll list 10 just to capture our 3 runners up in case we watch more than 7)

1. Bram Stoker's Dracula
2. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
3. The Exorcist
4. Halloween (the new Rob Zombie version)
5. Nightmare on Elm Street (the new one)
6. Resident Evil (Any)
7. Skinwalkers (Need a good werewolf movie in here)
8. Saw (3D)
9. The Monster Squad (if you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor and pick up this cult classic)
10. Van Helsing (Kat Beckinsale...need I say more?)

What are some of your favorites?

General News

Lots of random thoughts.

• The new Clash of the Titans is good, but not great. I like the 1981 version better. The new FX are amazing, but I miss the whimsical style of Ray Harryhausen FX.
• I am loving Batman Brave and Bold on Cartoon Network. Cool show and it shows some more minor DC heroes
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars continues to get cooler and cooler
• I am addicted to Smallville, but he needs to fly already!
• I am reading "Feast of Crows" by George RR Martin. The whole Ice and Fire series has been awesome, but I am almost finished with this book and I need the next one to come out! "Dance of Dragons" has been ongoing for like, 5 years! I need it in a bad way!
• How to Train Your Dragon was a great movie.
• I  played some MagicQuest with the kids over Spring Break. fun and immersive.
• I made a return trip to Medieval Times. My last visit was in 1986. It is still fun.
• I am feeling really inspired about writing some King Arthur stuff. George RR Martin will do that to me. I might read some Bernard Cornwell next. It does the same. In the meantime, I am playing Medieval: Total War 2. Cool game.
• On the writing front, Del is working on "Danger Guild" illustrations. I split "Warchitect" into a duology. I have been writing on "Rodentia" and "The Pendragon Chronicles" and "The Forsaken" is being considered by a publisher. If I get a rejection letter from this publisher, I have 2 more lined up who want to see it.

Well, that's this weeks random musings

The Wolfman

Just saw The Wolfman today and I must say I loved it! In the interest of complete disclosure, I don't remember the original Wolfman all that well, but this one was great. The effect rocked and Anthony Hopkins was perfect (as always).
I like Benicio pretty well. Sometimes more than others, but in this movie, he definitely had the cool factor ratcheted to high.
Lots of good action and Hugo Weaving stole the show for me.
This is a great monster movie with spectacular visuals, awesome effects, but an old-school flavor. It fits well with any Victorian error horror movie and will definitely be purchased and placed right beside my Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

My Halloween Movie List

Here's the list of movies we are screening at GGE between today and Halloween:

1. Sleepy Hollow
2. Blade
3. American Werewolf in Paris
4. Skinwalkers
5. Phantom of the Opera
6. Bram Stoker's Dracula
7. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
8. Underworld
9. Resident Evil
10. Van Helsing
11. The Lost Boys
12. The Monster Squad
13. Halloween (the new version)
14. Friday the 13th (the new version)

So pick some good spooky movies and enjoy. Get in the Halloween spirit!

The Comic Book Movie Problem

Here is an issue I struggle with routinely. When making a comic book movie, how much should the movie be like the comic book?
Here is an example.
The original "Punisher" movie with Thomas Jane (not the first "original" with Dolph Lundgren...ugh). was made for 33,000,000. Not a bad budget. It grossed, worldwide, 54,600,000. Yay! A profit. The Punisher is a success.

So, they made a sequel.

The Punisher: War Zone, starring "that guy from the HBO Rome show" was made for 33,000,000 - hey, we made it for less! It grossed 8,000,000. A huge loss. I guess in Hollywood, that would be "a flop".

The first movie, however, disappointed fans. It was not exactly true to the original character and made several key departures disappointing hard core fans. It also made a profit.
The Punisher: War Zone was very much in line with the comic book. It was like watching a live action verion of The Punisher comic. Hard core fans loved it. It flopped.

So, you can't float a movie solely on us comic book fan boys. It has to appeal to more people, I assume, because it costs a bunch to make a movie.

It goes back to the axiom that you have to know your audience. Watchmen followed the graphic novel very well, but by all accounts, Watchmen is not a "typical" graphic novel and the movie was even a bit more graphic and was filmed in a style of photography that was nothing short of breathtaking. The 300 was done in a similar fashion.

Know your audience and make your product accordingly. Would Star Wars have been a mega hit if it were a novel first? Would The Simpsons be a household name if it had started as a movie? The right place to launch your project is out there whether it is indie publishing, online comics, finding an agent, selling a script. The only way to find it is to reach for it.

A list of cool metahuman movies with no spandex anywhere

I love superhero movies. I collect superhero movies. Some of my favorite movies about superheroes are not really about "superheroes". What the heck does that mean? Well, obvious superhero movies are Batman, Fantastic Four, X-men, Spiderman, Blade, Iron Man, Superman, Hancock, Watchmen...all of these are awesome, in my opinion, but there is another genre of superhero movie. I'll let the list be my example.
Here we go...
Jumper (Teleportation)
Push (Telekinesis)
The Matrix (The awakened people have all kinds of superpowers)
Next (PRecognition)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Kind of a standard superhero movie...cool nonetheless)
Star Wars (Jedi Knights are like Knights, Wizards and Superheroes all rolled into one)
The Transporter Movies (Martial arts and mad driving skills. Almost seems like hyper reflexes)
Fire Starters (Pyrokinesis)
The Shining (Telepathy)
Eragon (Dragon Riders are like super heroes in a fantasy setting)
Harry Potter (Magic and superpowers seem pretty similar sometimes)
Terminator (Terminators are like superheroes gone bad)
Dracula (Same comment as Terminator)
Frankenstein (The monster has mega superpowers)
Van Helsing (He's like an older version of Batman)
Underworld (All of them)
Resident Evil
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I could probably come up with more by going to my movie cabinet, but my point is this: For those of us who love the superhero/metahuman genre, we don't always have to wait for the next comic-inspired film to find superheroes. Sometimes they are right in front of us just disguised as something a bit different.

Peace!