This might be the most frightening nerd news I’ve heard in 2012. According to Variety, Warner Bros. has approached Ben Affleck to direct the upcoming Justice League movie. While I enjoyed his performances in Mallrats and Chasing Amy, as well has the directing job he did in The Town, the “Ben Affleck + Superheroes” equation scares me. His performance in Daredevil was atrocious and I worry about what goes on in his head when he thinks about comic-book superheroes. Anyway, here’s the skinny:
With Christopher Nolan declaring himself out of the running for “Justice League,” Warner Bros. has approached another of its go-to directors in Ben Affleck, who’s expected to discuss the project with studio brass in the coming days, multiple sources tell Variety.
Since guiding WB’s “The Town” to commercial success and critical acclaim from both sides of the camera, Affleck has ascended high on the studio’s list of filmmakers who can be trusted with prime properties. Thus far, Affleck is the only candidate who’s been sent Will Beall’s “Justice League” script, which the “Gangster Squad” scribe was hired to write last summer.
This is the man that portrayed Daredevil/Matt Murdock as mentally disabled instead of blind. At least, that’s what it seemed like he was doing. Unless Justice League is set in Boston, I have a mountain of doubts about Affleck’s ability to successfully direct this movie. I’m scared. Somebody hold me.
I personally thought that Avengers wasn’t a good movie. I don’t think JL would be either no matter the director.
Pity. I think it was the best comic-book-based movie this year. The movie, while simplistic in plot and story, felt like it was taken almost directly from the pages of a Marvel book. Some people may take that as a negative comment, but it’s a big plus as far as I’m concerned.
-M
It felt too kiddy and had to many ppl needing screen time. I think my screen time complaint is a function of all of the prior movies being such huge successes that it seemed necessary. I felt Avengers was on par with Xmen 3.
Ok, I get the “kiddy” comment since the movie was made for kids, but to compare it to X-3 is just a slap in the face. X-3 was WORSE than Batman & Robin because that movie was at least trying to be stupid on purpose to recapture the cheesiness of the old Adam West series, so it at least didn’t insult your intelligence.
X-3, on the other hand was just a jumbled, incoherent mess of a huge steaming pile of putrid feces. They took about 300 different mutants and 300 different stories and decided to put them all together in a blender and put what came out on 35mm. It failed as a movie on every conceivable level. Bad story, bad cast, bad screenplay, bad acting, bad directing, bad special effects, bad jokes, bad casting, bad plot, bad costumes, bad editing you name it, and it was horrid.
The Avengers plot actually made sense. It was very simple and straightforward. The “too many heroes and not enough screen time” thing was supposed to be addressed by their respective previous movies. It is true that having too many superstars on the screen at once makes it impossible to develop each character the way they need to (which is what most X-Men movies suffered from). That is why we got the origins movie for each character first.
It’s like the Harry Potter books. If you start reading the 5th one, you are going to be a little lost. You have to read the first 4 in order for the 5th one to be more enjoyable. Same thing with the Avengers movie.
-M
I guess the old saying is true. Those who can do, do. Those who cant teach. I’ve never seen the town because of my hatred of him. I dont like the trailers for gangster squad, so it’s already going downhill badly IMo.
The Town is pretty good. I think he’s better at directing certain kinds of movements than he is at acting. A friend of mine mentioned that Gotham City Police Department would be more up his alley than spandex and superpowers.
I looked the screenwriter up on imdb he’s only wrote for “castle.” is there a reason why WB doesnt hire one of the writers from DC comics? Who better to write a script than a writer familiar with DC JL lore.
Comic-book writers don’t always make the best screenwriters. I’m sure Warners will use a bunch of consultants from DC though. I’m not familiar with Castle. Is it any good?
Im not familiar with it either. I think it’s on Netflix; BSU liked that show. Comic writers cant do worse than the people who wrote GL and that was with Geoff Johns overseeing it.
Green Lantern was a travesty. Thankfully The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises more than made up for that Ryan Reynolds piece of crap this year.
Castle (with Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, who did the voice of Talia in Batman: Arkham City) is a pretty good show. I haven’t seen the fourth season yet, but seasons 1-3 were well written and very fun to watch. Don’t know about it being on Netflix, but some episodes from seasons 1-3 could be placed in DB if anyone wanted to view. I love the show, but if that’s all the screenwriter has written for than I would be worried, as JL and Castle should be on completely different wavelengths.
You really should watch The Town; It’s a very well done movie. Can upload to DB if you want.
Like I mentioned in the post, I enjoyed The Town…but I SO don’t understand Jeremy Renner. The ladies find him amazingly handsome. He looks like someone that would be fun to have a beer with, but I’m surprised that so many women I know think he’s “hot”. I’m not seeing it.
I don’t see it either. It must just be a rugged look thing. Personally I think he is a fun actor to watch, but I don’t like how he is currently the face of the Bourne series and also supposed to take over the Mission Impossible series. That’s mixing up two separate continuity’s and I don’t like it!