Upcoming Films

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

Not me, though. I want to watch that video again.

Rosamund Pike. I like her. She was great in An Education and Made in Dagenham.

Lifetime is remaking the VC Andrews classic Flowers in the Attic!  And if that isn't a match made in TV movie heaven that gets you excited, they've also managed to cast Keirnan Shipka aka Sally Draper to play Cathy Dollangager.  Mason Dye (whoever he is) will be playing Chris and Heather Graham will be their mother.

I know I should not be excited about this, but my inner 12 year old is just squeeing all over the place. It's about damn time someone re-made that movie, and Shipka is a great choice for Cathy.

It's being discussed in the Publishing forum. Maybe when the movie is closer to air there can be a thread in the TV section? And wow, Kiernan as Cathy, it simultaneously makes me laugh (she found a character with an even more screwed up family than the Drapers) and breaks my brain!

whatthedeuce wrote:There are people who just refuse to ever be excited over anything and fully expect a shitshow no matter what. Maybe they just wanna setting their minds up for disaster so that they're never disappointed though? Oh, what am I saying? Some people just wanna be pessimistic assholes, plain and simple.

Ask Chris did his own take on what he thought a Superman/Batman movie "ought" to be, which is incredibly absurd in a crazy-fanboy way that Chris Sims kind of specializes in. And I don't mind Sims's little fantasy in a "this clearly would never happen Silver Age wackiness".

But then there's the comments along the lines of, "Yeah! This is the ONLY way I'd go see this movie!", and I can't help but think, "You are such a liar. You're seeing it opening night, regardless, so you can register your dislike on the internet as quickly as possible."

And it looks like Batman will be played by...Ben Affleck.

Yes, let's cast him as a superhero in a tentpole movie. What's the worst that could happen?

Note: I actually liked him in Daredevil, but I'm a bit confused by the thinking, here.

I'll be against hte grain and say I'm willing to see how he does. He is tall, I think he really has improved as an actor, and he might be a good choice for an aging Batman. Frankly its a Zach Snyder film, not much is going to be asked of him but to brood and grunt.

Kiran wrote:I'll be against hte grain and say I'm willing to see how he does. He is tall, I think he really has improved as an actor, and he might be a good choice for an aging Batman. Frankly its a Zach Snyder film, not much is going to be asked of him but to brood and grunt.

That's a good point. I'll also give him a shot, but then again, I've always had a certain fondness for the man himself, if not always for his choices in material. The fandom blowback on this is going to be spectacular, though.

Twitter is BLOWING UP.

I think he'll be better then people are giving him credit for. And frankly even if you hate him, they'll cast a new batman in a new reboot in two years so...

Eris Rising wrote:The fandom blowback on this is going to be spectacular, though.

That was going to be a given, regardless of who was cast and when. Bale? Blowback. Gordon-Levitt? Blowback. Seasoned character actor? Blowback. Action star? Blowback? Relative unknown? Blowback. If you're going to get crap regardless, go big with it. "Affleck, motherfuckers! Take that!"

(I think he could do a fine job, actually. Lord knows his JLo days prepped him for Bruce-as-Playboy...)

RiverThames wrote:

Eris Rising wrote:The fandom blowback on this is going to be spectacular, though.

That was going to be a given, regardless of who was cast and when.  Bale?  Blowback.  Gordon-Levitt? Blowback.  Seasoned character actor? Blowback.  Action star? Blowback?  Relative unknown? Blowback.  If you're going to get crap regardless, go big with it.  "Affleck, motherfuckers!  Take that!"

(I think he could do a fine job, actually. Lord knows his JLo days prepped him for Bruce-as-Playboy...)

That's actually a good point. And despite my uncertainty, I've found myself defending the choice against the more...vehement responses over on Facebook.

Because people are going way hyperbolic. Like I get people that aren't happy with the casting. But some more dramatic edges of the interwebs are acting like they cast that squirrely child from Once Upon a Time.

At the end of the day fan expectations can be wrong. I remember the screaming fits that greeted both Anne Hathaway and Heath Ledger and while I'm sure I'll get responses from people who weren't fans of their portrayal, its generally agreed upon that they were really good.

I mean he could very well suck. But who knows. Its too early to call. And again there will be a reboot as soon as they decide to do a solo Batman movie in 2015 or something. As it is in the last twenty years there have now been six live action versions of Batman on film.

Ooooooooookay.

I... don't hate it. He's one of those guys who I generally enjoy whenever he shows up on screen. I think he does brooding leading man really well. And... let me just consider the prospect of a movie with sexy Henry Cavill AND a buffed-up Affleck.

People also flipped out when Michael Keaton got the part in '89 and he did a great job.

My son just yelled, "NICE! I don't think that's bad at all!"

So there's that.

I like Ben Affleck okay. I think he's a pretty good actor, and an even better comedic actor. I just cannot see him as Batman. Bruce Wayne, yes. But when I picture Batman, I think of someone deeply troubled and driven and frankly, dark. That to me is not Ben Affleck. I just don't think I would be able to buy it. But, if there are any movies of his out there where he plays a good broody character, I would be happy to be proven wrong!

The Town and Hollywoodland.

I hope he has his Argo hair.

Wait, didn't he play Superman in a matter of speaking in that? So that's Superman, Batman, and Daredevil? The Big three. When will your hunger be sated Affleck.

I'm more sorry Affleck is in such a hurry to spend the credibility he got back, since like, everything about the production sounds like a mess.

My favorite thing about this is that now I get to see all the fandoms who were really convinced that their guy was going to get the gig. I mean, who knows? Maybe they all were. But based on this casting, I'd say that people like Tyler Hoechlin, Jensen Ackles (hee hee hee), Stephen Amell, etc., were probably never very close to getting the job.

I frankly wish they had gone for someone more like that, because Henry Cavill is/was a C-List guy before this role and I'd sort of prefer to see him against another relative unknown. It would give the series (?) more of a chance to make its own mark. Personally, I'm going to see this as Superman vs. Ben Affleck. And I like the guy! It's just that he's too big of a star for me, and I prefer him in quieter, more down-to-earth roles.

This is my favorite response:

Since when is the internet ever pleased? They could created a stargate to the DC Universe and find the actual Batman to play Batman in the Batman movie, and the online nursery that is Geekdom would bitch and whine about it.

Skyblade wrote:I'm more sorry Affleck is in such a hurry to spend the credibility he got back, since like, everything about the production sounds like a mess.

I don't really understand why they cast him, but Hollywood seldom makes sense, so that's fine.  I think he'll probably be fine as Batman, and I have no attachment to the Batman character so even if he sucks, it'll just be another Batman movie that I saw that wasn't good.  What I REALLY don't get is why he's willing to do it.  It took him SO LONG to get from Gigli/Bennifer to Argo.  He worked really hard and earned his current darling position in Hollywood.  If this goes bad, (and of course, it might not), it'll probably go spectacularly bad.  If it goes well, people will probably just be like, "Hey, Ben Affleck didn't suck as Batman.  That was a close one.  Okay, so when does the next Avengers movie come out?"  I don't see how the rewards outweigh the risks here.  If I were Jennifer Garner right now, I'd be curled up somewhere in the fetal position going "NoNoNoNoNoNoNo".

It'll probably make a lot of money, and like, I wasn't the hugest fan of Zach Snyder's superman (I thought the first two thirds were really good, and then the last third was giant fight that lasted too long) but it wasn't embarrassing and it did very well. So while I don't think this will be a critical slam it will probably be financially really successful. And I think ...Ben Affleck did start out as an actor and he was a leading man for a very long time. And he works a lot now as an actor still, but...I imagine he probably misses that leading man adulation that you get when you star in a giant superhero film. Actors be vain.

For some reason, I thought it would take awhile for them to cast the latest Batman. I kinda was looking forward to more endless speculation.

My favourite was Orlando Bloom. God bless him. I would have wanted to see that for ...just...it'd have been entertaining.