DC Media (DCEU, DCU) 5 | ***Dave Does the Blog

DC fleshes out its movie schedule

DC and WB are filling in the gaps and blanks in the movie schedule they previously announced.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 25th, 2016
Suicide Squad – August 5th, 2016
Wonder Woman – June 23rd, 2017
Justice League – November 17th, 2017
The Flash – March 23rd, 2018
Aquaman – July 27th, 2018
Shazam – April 5th, 2019
Justice League 2 – June 14th, 2019
Cyborg – April 3rd, 2020
Green Lantern – June 19th, 2020

(from http://screenrant.com/dc-movies-justice-league-wonder-woman-release-dates/)

A few interesting things here. First, no solo Superman or Batman movies scheduled. Second, a rebooted Green Lantern. Third (and biggest), we finally get a Wonder Woman movie (even if it will be New 52 demigodhood in her origin).

(Indeed, that ups the pressure on Marvel to get a woman-leading movie onto their schedule. Ditto a minority-lead film, with Cyborg now on the schedule, too.)

It’s fascinating watching both sides here lay out such elaborate plans over such a long period of time. All are subject to change if the market changes (or certain films tank), but it’s still highly ambitious for both corporations.

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Three fine TV shows

This week has been tight on watching TV shows on the evening (even by DVR), but we've watched three shows — one new, two returns — that were firing on all cylinders.

Gotham – Somewhat gritty yet still heroic crime drama that (after a somewhat dodgy first 15 minutes) did a fine job blending the DC Universe and decent cop show. Ben McKenzie does a solidly idealistic but intense Jim Gordon. The Bruce Wayne parts were nicely done. The only flaw, to be honest, was sense that the producers wanted to squeeze every single proto-villain they could come up with into the premiere episode. Each was good, but the overall result was a bit of a forced feeding.

Sleepy Hollow – A successful return to a series that already had an overly-complex backstory but still managed to be approachable and enjoyable. Bits of humor, lots of drama, decent action, a very nice twist, and a great cameo for Ben Franklin.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD – The first season was logy the first two-thirds of the series, but began to pick up once The Winter Soldier freed up the whole Hydra plot, at which point it became suddenly gripping. The new season picks up a bit after where we left off, but the level of action remains solid. The team dynamic has shifted a bit, with new members, Coulson a step removed, Ward unfortunately still lurking, and Fitz-Simmons … ah, well, that was nifty. But we've got some great action, a good super-villain, a shout-out to the past, and enough excitement to carry on to the next ep.

So, all three winners, as far as I'm concerned, and three things I'll need to fit into our weekly TV-watching schedule for the indefinite future. Oh, darn.

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Or perhaps a "Legion of Super-Heroes" film?

Doing the LSH right would be an interesting challenge. There's a deep seam of Silver Age cheer and adventure in them that would be a tough sell, and an intrinsic nature of being a huge cast of characters that would also be tough to make work in a 2.5 hour flick.

I'm not sure I trust WB/DC these days to do an LSH film that would be worthy of the name (they certainly fell on their face with their New52 edition. The direction of making it all grim-n-gritty has never worked very well with the Legion.

Rumor of the Day: Warner Bros. has another superhero team film in the works
The Justice League might not be the only superteam coming to the DC Comics movie universe.

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A … live-action Teen Titans?

I'm intrigued, though Akiva Goldsman being associated with the project does not fill me with confidence.

Originally shared by +The Mary Sue:

Hold on to your butts, #Titans

The Teen Titans Are Getting Another TV Show, This Time It’s Live Action

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When Kal-El of Krypton Wears His Mighty Shield

A neat little history of the emblem on Superman's chest over the years.

The "S," of course, was for Superman for host of his history — at least until it became a Kryptonian symbol (crest of the House of El, initially, in the first Christopher Reeve movie, later the symbol for "hope").

The other thing I always remember is that when John Byrne was drawing Supes in the late 80s, he always said he thought of it as "negative space" with two yellow fish in a field of red.

Originally shared by +Loc Nguyen:

Evolution Of Superman’s “S” Shield

It's Super-Thursday! yeh?! Anyway, here's a cool infographic on the "S" symbol on the Man of Steel suit.

#superman #manofsteel #infographic

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The Best Superman Movie Moment

Ironically, it doesn't include Superman. I love everything about this, from the intoned "GUILTY" verdicts, to Brando's righteous contempt, to the simple majesty of it all (helped by the John Williams' faboo Krypton fanfare). And, of course, Terence Stamp as Zod is utterly kneel-worthy.

If it were shot today, it would all be CG rather than practical and video effects. But I don't think it would be any better.

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In the Beginning, there was the Origin Story

Every super-hero tale starts with it, right? Spider-Man and the spider (and the bandit and Uncle Ben). Superman and Krypton and Ma & Pa Kent. Tony Stark. The Incredible Hulk. The Shadow. Captain America. The Dark Knight. Green Lantern. The X-Men (First Class). Star-Lord.

But it's not essential, if the story is told right. Tim Burton's Batman had some flashbacks to his parents' death, but that's not how the movie started. The Brian Singer X-Men movies didn't start with how Professor X called together his original heroes. Yeah, we got Peter Quill as a kid, but we didn't actually see how he became Star-Lord. And we didn't have to see Li'l Thor to understand who he was or where he came from. Indiana Jones didn't get an origin story until the third movie.

The Origin Story is a classic super-hero trope, and understanding how protagonists arrive on screen (or in the initial written tale) is perfectly natural. But you can handle learning where a character came from in a variety of different ways, and learning as one goes along is a perfectly legitimate way to tell the story. Indeed, hinting at origins and letting the mystery unfold (to some degree) as you go along is sometimes even more effective (see: Black Widow).

So, yeah, do we need a Doctor Strange movie to tell how Stephen became the Sorcerer Supreme? Do we need to see the Tony Stark-esque arc from false arrogance to legitimate arrogance? Do we need the Ancient One, and rival Mordo? No. It would be a fine story. But it can also be dispensed with, or referenced to in passing, or flashed back upon, or … whatever.

Find a story. Tell the story. Don't feel like you need to begin with the Prolog.

Reshared post from +Curt Thompson

I am so behind this idea. If the character/concept is strong enough, people who don't follow comics will pick it up and run with it. And Doctor Strange isn't about his beginnings. It's about his funky life sealing off threats from the outer planes and training his apprentices.

Then again, I'm still holding out for the adventures of Wong (Dr. Strange's manservant, which isn't nearly as dirty as it sounds), Jarvis (the Avengers butler) and Danger (the X-Mansion's AI), so I may not be the best one to ask.

Rumor Has It Doctor Strange Won’t Be an Origin Story | Tor.com
Will the Doctor Strange movie not bother with telling his origin story?

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Sony beats Marvel and DC to a super-herione movie

What with DC still dithering about how difficult it is to work with Wonder Woman's background, and Marvel's Kevin Feign complaint Marvel's calendar is already too full, kudos to Sony for beating both of them to the punch.

The point not being that a female superhero film will necessarily be a success, but that there's no particular reason to think one can't be.

Frankly, if it's a Spidey spin-off, I'm not sanguine over the characters available. But I'm hoping this announcement will ratchet up the pressure to compete for Disney and Warners.

Sony Planning Female Superhero Movie for Spider-Man Universe
After dating The Sinister Six for 2016 and pushing back The Amazing Spider-Man 3 by two years, Sony is turning its sights on creating a female superhero movie to add to its Spider-Man Universe.
Lisa Joy has been hired to work on the script for the female-centered story. While we don’t know exactly what crime-fighter Sony plans to center on, a few that come to mind are Black Cat, Silver Sable and Spider-Woman.

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RT @sriramk: DC/WB has said fo…

RT @sriramk: DC/WB has said for years Wonder Woman was too hard to make a solo movie. Marvel just had a $100m weekend with a racoon and a t…

Definitely planning on giving "Gotham" a try

It looks fun (in a creepifying way), and. I didn't see much I didn't think seemed interesting.

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RIP, Bob Hastings

Bob Hastings was a face that nobody who watched TV in the 60s and 70s could fail to recognize (check out his CV at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0368561/). But I had no idea that he was the long-time voice of Commissioner Gordon in "Batman: The Animated Series" and subsequent video renditions. He did a great in the role. Thank you, sir.

(h/t +Chris Dee)

Reshared post from +Cat-Tales

Batman: Remembering Jim.

Remembering a great James Gordon:
Bob Hastings, April 18, 1925-June 30, 2014
Batman: The Animated Series

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Movies, movies, movies!

And their reviews.

The whole family watched The Sting (1973) last weekend. http://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/the-sting/

During Father-Daughter Movie Week, we've watched:

Batman (1989) http://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/batman-1989/
Die Hard (1988) http://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/die-hard/
Thor: The Dark World (2013) http://letterboxd.com/three_star_dave/film/thor-the-dark-world/2/

Not a bad way to pass the time.

A ★★★★★ review of The Sting (1973)
While The Sting didn’t invent the caper / con film, it revitalized it for decades to come. Remarkably high production values, an all-star cast, a tight plot, and just the right blend of cynicism and sentimentality — not to mention a lovely soundtrack — all make The Sting a cinematic classic, and one that holds up very well forty years later. It’s fun, it’s tense, it’s heartstring-plucking, and it all works.

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I was there, at the dawn of the Modern Super-Hero Movie

By which I mean 1989's Batman, directed by Tim Burton, starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Opening day, twenty-five years ago, baby.

Why Tim Burton’s Batman Is Still the Best
The man behind the bat, and Gotham, were weirder and more interesting

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The Best and Worst of Cinematic Super-Casting

Vote on who your best/most favorite super hero and super villain castings have been in cinematic history (from a lengthy but somewhat idiosyncratic list).

I had two problems here:

1. There's a difference between the best and my favorite. Julie Newmar as Catwoman is fabulous … as Batman '66 Catwoman; as an expression of Catwoman as a character, not so much.

2. I voted for (but won't mention) the worst / least favorite, because in a lot of cases I think the problem was as much with the writing and direction as with the actor themselves.

So my votes for favorites/best casting as Super Heroes:
1) Robert Downey, Jr, as Iron Man
2) Patrick Stewart as Professor X
3) Ron Perlman as Hellboy

My votes for favorite Super Villain castings:
1) Tom Hiddleston as Loki
2) Julie Newmar as Catwoman
3) Terence Stamp as Zod

Committed: Survey – Vote for the Best & Worst Super Hero / Villain Movie Casting – Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources
This weekend I got together with a group of old friends and asked which superhero had been cast most egregiously, and which were the best embodiment of the heroes and villains depicted. The impassioned discussion went on all evening, everyone had their own nominations for the title but no one was able to agree, and …

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The Plans for the DC Cinematic Universe

Everyone I've read is treating this list as solid as it gets, given the source. The reported schedule:

May 2016 – Batman v Superman
July 2016 – Shazam
Xmas 2016 – Sandman
May 2017 – Justice League
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern
May 2018 – Man of Steel 2

There are some very close releases here — Shazam a couple of months after BvS, and _Wonder Woman_ only a few months after Justice League? Gutsy moves, if they can keep to the timing, but that's going to be a heck of a shooting schedule for Gal Gadot. Ditto for having Flash and Green Lantern both (presumably) in Justice League and in their own team-up movie.

It seem like WB/DC are trying to saturate the years in question, perhaps to make up for the perception that Marvel has the market locked up.

Also interesting: the tacit admission that BvS really isn't the sequel to Man of Steel.

The real kicker in here is Sandman, the one of the bunch I'm most looking forward to and most dreading. It's the only one of the films that's not part of the general Justice League mold; I imagine it will be only tangentially tied, if at all, to the rest of the movies. That's something Marvel is just getting around to at this point (if you can make that argument about Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant-Man), and is potentially a useful expansion for "comic book movies" into non-super-hero-slugfests.

I remain moderately skeptical that they'll be able to hit this schedule and maintain quality, but I'm willing to wait and see.

Reshared post from +Geeks are Sexy

First off: If you don’t know who Nikki Finke is, let me fill you in real quick: Finke is Hollywood reporter. She was also the founder and editor-in-chief of Deadline.com until 2013, when the website announced her departure. Aside from a journalism resume…

RUMOR MILL: A List of DC Movies to be Released Over Next 4 Years
First off: If you don’t know who Nikki Finke is, let me fill you in real quick: Finke is Hollywood reporter. She was also the founder and editor-in-chief of Deadline.com until 2013, when the websit…

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Well, that's a darned clumsy title

The next Superman movie is … well, it's a Batman movie (in terms of who gets top billing). Vs. Superman. With a Justice League-teasing subtitle. Which really comes across as a title chosen by a committee.

Which doesn't bode well.

Reshared post from +Laurence Almalvez

Official Title what do you guys think?

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Will "Gotham" be on my watch list?

This really does look pretty good. I mean, yeah, it's a "Smallville"-class reboot, but it the look and sound and feel of it makes me think it will be a satisfying thing in and of itself, even when continuity gets bent out of shape.

Of course, it being on Fox, I expect them to show all the eps out of order and then cancel it mid-season, but, what the hell, might as well get in on the ground floor (again) before everyone starts complaining about it.

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Will "The Flash" be on my watch list?

This "extended trailer" looks like it gives you 90% of the first episode in a fraction of the time — ironically appropriate — but, except for a few FX bobbles (none serious), this looks pretty good.

The question is — what's it about? Just super-villain catching? Or will there be something beyond the Rogues Gallery Entry of the Week?

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RIP, Ephram Zimbalist, Jr

While he was a faboo Alfred on "Batman: The Animated Series," I grew up with him for many years as Lewis Erskine on "The FBI" ("A Quinn-Martin Production! ").

Thanks for the good times, sir.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Star of The F.B.I., Dies at 95
The TV, film and stage actor became a household name in the ’50s with 77 Sunset Strip before landing his signature role as G-man Lewis Erskine in The F.B.I.

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