Movies

Despite reviews which ranged from pleasantly amused to fuming accusations of being one of the worst movies of all time, GREEN HORNET managed to lead at the box office with $40.5 million over the four-day holiday. That was doubtless inflated by the 3D conversion, so, sadly, studios will keep doing it and keep making movies less watchable.

Poor Emma Stone. As lovely and charming as she is, she did not know that by answering some nerdy question on the red carpet she was stepping into a hotbed of fannish research. While everyone went all Zapruder inspecting the bulges on Andrew Garfield's wrists in the recently released look at him in Spider-garb, she innocently answered the burning question:

He's done launching social networks, and has moved on to climbing walls. The first photo of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man has been released; he...

This grainy scan from tomorrow's EW is running around the internet. We smell something, and it smells like THE ROCKETEER.

We caught a screening of GREEN HORNET last night, and despite all the dire forebodings of a superhero movie starring Seth Rogen , it was charming, very funny and worthy of repeated viewings. As I tweeted last night, the mix of Rogen, director Michel Gondry and scripters Rogen and Evan Goldberg (SUPERBAD) should have aroused no worry whatsoever as long as they were allowed to play to their considerable strengths -- which mostly involve comedy. And in fact GREEN HORNET is an action comedy -- quite goofy in spots, visually inventive in others but always putting its characters first. It has the deliberately awkward mise en scene of all Gondry films, but way more propulsive action.

So, as happens frequently in America, we treat History like a Cassandra, reading and studying, but choosing not to believe or remember the lessons it teaches us. I know Cassandra's fate, and thus the dangers of saying "I told you so". So instead, I'll quote Gene Wilder in " Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory": Oh, you should never ever doubt what nobody is sure about. So, what can we expect in 2011?

Our thoughts? Man, this looks like a Marvel movie. Same blue/grey/tech, same sinister doctors/feds, same heroine helping the hero find his place/use his powers in the world.

While comics and graphic novels being optioned for film are practically a daily occurrence around here, there's one movie that we would REALLY like to see get made, and that the planned BRAT PACK film from Ars Nova (BLACK DYNAMITE). A stunningly dark look at the superhero universe, it's one of the most disturbing — and pointed — takes on the genre ever. Now, we hear from the grapevine that the adaptation has a director -- Tarik Saleh is on board to direct a live action version that is faithful to the tone of the source. Saleh, whose background is as a graffiti artist, is known for Metropia, an innovative animated Swedish film with a script by Saleh, Fredrik Edin and the late Stig Larsson.

A viewing of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Part One the other night allowed a viewing of the big trailers for 2011. Although they've all been linked online, there's nothing like seeing them on the big screen.

http://flash.sonypictures.com/video/universalplayer/sharedPlayer.swf The Michael Gondry-Seth Rogen-Jay Chou disaster experiment has a new trailer that looks more coherent than past, unsure models. We never thought we'd say...

Daniel Clowes is no stranger to the movies, with his GNs GHOST WORLD and ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL having been produced, and several screenplays under his belt. Now, it looks like his recent hit WILSON may be headed to the screen. Alexander Payne is set to direct with Josh Donen producing for Sam Raimi's Stars Road shingle.

The first GREEN LANTERN trailer debuted on Entertainment Tonight this evening. The full HD version is viewable on Apple.