Deadline reports that my girl Kat Dennings has been confirmed to return as adorable political science major/real science intern Darcy (with her 47 layers of adorable desert sweaters) in my most anticipated Marvel movie sequel, THOR: THE DARK WORLD.
Darcy served zero purpose in the first one, but every time she was on screen, I was happy she was there.
We’ll find out if she ever got her iPod back on November 8, 2013!
Great to see you back blogging again, John.
I think Thor 2 is my most anticipated Marvel sequel too; It’s nice to see some fantasy on the big screen that’s not Tolkien.
(And FWIW, I saw “Episode 81” of the MMM Podcast and I’m in agreement with you about “The Dark Knight Rises”. Sadly.)
Thank you, Alexander — you’re my best comment leaver and quite possibly my only remaining reader! I appreciate it. Haven’t had time to write, and then I get so overwhelmed about how much I haven’t written about that I don’t even know where to start!
I agree with you about the fantasy elements being such a big draw for Thor. Let Thor return to Earth for Avengers movies so he has more time to explore the other realms in his own films!
One of these days I’ll write a review of Rises, but I just haven’t had the drive to do it. As much as I like the performances, I still can’t believe how sloppy its execution is, or how many big character moments it fumbles. I still love the other two and doubt they’ll ever be topped by Batman on film, but the third one just didn’t do it for me. A little more time spent on the script could have made a world of difference. I’ll write more about it someday.
Yeah, at this point I’m kinda fatigued by it all. I’ve heard every criticism of the film, every response to every criticism of the film, every response to the responses, etc. … It’s all a little too fresh right now.
I look forward to your review whenever you get around to doing it. How’s that Hercules film coming, by the way?
Thanks, Alexander. I’m not going to trash it. I just want to talk about the reasons why it doesn’t work for me. On paper I have no problem with Bruce Wayne pulling off some awesome chess move that allows him to have a life while still ensuring the immortality of Batman. It’s the execution that didn’t work for me.
And thanks for asking about Hercules! They haven’t taken us off the IMDB page yet, but unfortunately I’m no longer a part of it due to circumstances above and beyond the control of my co-writer and me. A writer with more credits was brought in. So even though it’s a bummer, at least I feel good that losing the gig had nothing to do with anything I wrote or did or didn’t do. It’s just the nature of things. The movie is still moving forward and I look forward to seeing it when it comes out; I have no hard feelings against the producer.
I do have another script that came THIS CLOSE to being made earlier this year, but it fell apart because of a Spanish investor backing out. Again, it had nothing to do with the actual script. That one is on the verge of finding a new home and will be produced by an actor you’ll recognize when it happens. And if it doesn’t, I’ll just keep on plugging away at my day job and be happy that at least I got THIS CLOSE to realizing a dream. We’ll see.
Yeah, it seems like a pretty fickle industry, but I don’t doubt you’ll get to realize the dream. :) Is there anything you can say about what type of film the project is, or is it all hush-hush?
Amongst all my busy-ness and myriad different personal projects I’m trying to set up a superhero/geek-related YouTube brand for reviews and rants and discussions. If that ever comes to pass I’d love to have you on for a podcast discussion sometime, if you’re interested.
I can probably say, but I don’t want to do or say anything that would possibly endanger anything, so I’ll keep my mouth shut until I don’t have to.
I’d absolutely be interested in joining you for a discussion when you get that up and running. Thanks for thinking of me!
I can’t believe you haven’t written a Dark Knight Rises review. Though now that I read your comments, I can see why. I admit I only recently saw it. And John…quite frankly I was bored. There were too many people in it, and it was too hard to follow. I admit that I loved Bane, but the twist at the end that everyone raved about wasn’t all that surprising to me.
Anyway, I’ll leave the review to you to write some day.
On this topic, I love Kat. She can be in every movie from now until the end of time as far as I’m concerned. :)
Oh, and I can’t wait for Thor 2!
KERSTIN! You have NO IDEA how happy I am to see your comment. Feels like old times, doesn’t it, when we had more time for things like blogging?
How are you? How’s Joey? I’ll send you an email later today. We need to catch up.
Bane was amazing. Hardy brought it. I loved all the performances, in fact. The movie as a whole just didn’t tick.
First, it was predictable. Alfred says he always wished he’d see Bruce happy with a woman at the cafe. Twice in one scene, Selina asks Daggett for the Clean Slate, and twice Daggett describes it by name and explains that it erases a person’s identity from every computer on the planet. And then every time Bruce is alone with Blake, he’s telling him how to be Batman. Wear a mask. Anyone can be a hero. Meanwhile, Bruce says his mom’s pearls look beautiful on Selina.
So it was obvious from the beginning that it would end with Blake as the new Batman and Alfred seeing Bruce and Selina (wearing Bruce’s mom’s pearls) at the Italian cafe.
Meanwhile, Marion Cotillard was SCARY AS HELL as Talia when she finally revealed herself, and then a couple of minutes later she’s dead. I wanted more of her in full evil mode.
The stock exchange scene killed me. Two guys are getting their shoes shined on their lunch break. Another stockbroker is arguing with the sandwich delivery guy about rye bread. It’s lunch time! Then Bane takes over and is told the software needs eight minutes to download. And then the chase happens outside and it’s 10 o’clock at night? How it is pitch black eight minutes after lunch time?
I loved, loved, loved, loved that Bruce acknowledged to Gordon that Gordon was his hero first. But then Gordon is completely shocked that Bruce Wayne could possibly be Batman, while Blake figured it out from meeting him one time as a child. Gordon deserved better.
I think of all the adventure and promise from the first two movies, and it’s all wasted here. Gordon loses his family. Bruce Wayne falls apart. The Joker really does rot in a padded cell forever. Bruce begins the film crippled and depressed and spends a huge chunk of the movie in a prison, and Gordon’s in a hospital bed, while John Blake runs around and does all the detective work and action stuff I wanted Gordon and Batman to be doing.
I really do love the performances. But it’s just so poorly paced, and the editing is so sloppy, and the writing is many, many, many notches below the first two. It broke my heart in half. I’m still sad about it!
I’ll save the rest for my review. :)