The only fault I found with Dark Knight was the a bit over the top Clint Eastwood style gruff whisper that Christian Bale uses for Batman’s speaking voice. Seems I wasn’t alone.

via Newsarama

Check out this trailer Beyond Gay - The Politics of Pride a very moving and powerful documentary about what it is like to be gay in various countries around the world. I thank my lucky stars to live in the United States and more specifically, in San Francisco.

via WayOutWestTV and BigGayMovie

When you have a big budget summer blockbuster out, you have to bite the bullet and make the rounds. Checke out Hellboys stint on American Gladiators, the Actors Studio, a PSA and Chuck…

Hellboy in Real Life

via LuckyLegendary

2008 has been THE year for Summer comic book movies!

According to figures on boxofficemojo.com, sometime on Friday, the combined box office might of the comic book-inspired The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, eclipsed the $1 billion dollar mark for 2008, standing roughly at $1.01 billion.

I think we can safely say there will be a deluge of silver screen adaptions of more comic book properties from DC, Marvel and even independent publishers in the next few years. Here’s hoping DC can use the momentum from Dark knight and map out a feasible strategy to getting us a blockbuster-level Justice League of America movie in the next 10 years. First we need a well received Superman movie, then Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman movies (with minor cameos for Martian Manhunter and Aquaman in one or two of those movies). Finally, you get the stars of those movies to do the JLA movie and you have a DC equivalent of what Marvel rolled out after Iron Man came out strong.

via Newsarama

Everything old is new again. Warner Brothers has released seven movie posters for The Watchmen. These are directly based upon a series of full page ads that DC Comics ran in their August 1986 issues to tease the then-upcoming 12 issue maxi-series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Some are commenting that the staging of the drawing is incomplete in that there are small details in the drawings that are clues that foreshadow some important events of the story, but these details have been left out of the photos.

Here are 6 of DC Comics’ original house ads by Dave Gibbons to which the movie posters pay (apparently incomplete) homage.

via Blog at Newsarama

The first issue of this slipped past me so I’ll have to pick it up. I’m a longtime fan of H.P. Lovecraft and his stories of madness and doom, so checking out this 3 issue mini is a no-brainer.

you gay Lovecraft fans out there should check out the movie Cthulhu if you haven’t already…

via CBR

The cast of Watchmen sat down at SDCC for a Q&A. Thank IFC News for the footage!

via IFC News

If you saw Batman: Gotham Knight, then you likely saw the exclusive sneak peek at DC Universe’s Wonder Woman on Disc 1. ComicsContinuum had some news about that movie and a few other animated gems planned from DC Animated. They mention a February release date at a to-be-announced convention and that Wonder Woman is an original story from Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic. The official site has also launched.

Red Sonja that is. Check out the teaser poster for the new Robert Rodriguez Red Sonja movie starring the raven-haired homewrecker Rose McGowan. Looks like Rose has developed a taste for blood.

via Rotten Tomatoes

Stan Lee and Perry Moore have announced an official partnership. The exact nature of what the partnership is to produce (Feature Film, TV show, Comic Book, Graphic novel) has yet to be revealed, but Stan Lee waltzed into the Comic-Con International: San Diego panel “LGBT Portrayals in Comics and embraced Perry Moore. Moore’s novel, “Hero, published by Hyperion in August 2007, won the Lambda Literary Award in 2008 for best LGBT Children’s/Young Adult novel. Moore is also executive producer of Disney’s Narnia film series.”

Be sure to read Moore’s EXCELLENT article “WHO CARES ABOUT THE DEATH OF A GAY SUPERHERO ANYWAY?: A HISTORY OF GAYS IN COMIC BOOKS” which lists the many strong LGBT characters in comics needlessly maimed, depowered or killed for no reason.

via Newsarama and PerryMooreStories

Apparently someone at SDCC asked John Barrowman (Torchwood’s Captain Jack Harkness) if there was a chance of him taking on the role of Steve Rogers in the upcoming Captain America feature film (First Avenger: Captain America). Barrowman said he would love to play Cap as he is a longtime fan of the character. He even admitted he’d been in meetings with his agents about the role.

I was pleasantly surprised that most of the fanboy commentary on the article seems not to mind that he is an openly gay actor. They seemed to have a bigger problem with him being Scottish (he was born in Scotland, but raised from age 8 in Illinois - hence his excellent American accent). Don’t they know Christian Bale is Welsh? I hope he gets serious consideration for the part, or at least some adoring attention from Hollywood. I think he’s a great actor (I TOTALLY love Torchwood - have just the last episode from Season 1 left to watch) and a very sexy man. Plus it would make a great statement on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” to have an openly gay actor portray Captain America.

The only problem with it is, I just don’t see Hollywood taking that casting risk for an actor who is “big in the UK,” but still relatively unnoticed in the US. Maybe the SciFi channel will pick up Torchwood and make him more of a household word.

A few excerpts from “The Making Of Me,” a recent BBC documentary on the origins of homosexuality that was viewed by 3.8 million people.

And John Barrowman and Kevin Kline singing “Night and Day” from De-Lovely.

via ComingSoon

It was only a matter of time before comments from the peanut gallery (that’d be me) and the rest of the jokers out there started sprouting up everywhere. Once the story broke that Christian Bale, star of the movie of the year had been arrested for allegedly assaulting his Mother and Sister before the London premiere of The Dark Knight, you had to know it was going to be big. Apparently his mother is a part time clown so perhaps Bale simply has some leftover Joker issues due to method acting? Already out on YouTube is this “exclusive audio tape.” By the way, in case you didn’t know, Bale’s step-mother is Gloria Steinem.

No word on whether his mom had her clown make-up on at the time of the assault.

here is Websters is My Bitch’s hysterical albeit purely hypothetical reenactment of just how the altercation may have played out…

So, let’s read between the lines here, OK?

So, Jenny was like, “I need some grocery and cigarette money. Just a loan. I’ll pay you back. I swear! Can you help a sister out?” And Christian was probably like, “Fuck you. Where were you when I was making movies nobody ever heard of, like Metroland and The Secret Agent.” And she was probably, like: “We’ve always stood behind you, in our hearts!” And then he said, “I earned this money wearing a rubber suit for 12 hours a day. You chose to be a circus clown. I’m not going to pay for your bad decisions.” And then Jenny probably said, “Your wife is a whore.” And Christian probably got up in her grill and went all apeshit on her, “Do you know who I am? I’m Batman, bitch. I will cut you.”

via LATimes and WebstersIsMyBitch

With an opening weekend box office of $158.3 million, The Dark Knight is already well on the way to surpassing the entire gross of Batman Begins (the Christopher Nolan relaunch of the franchise only grossed $205m domestically). I’m not one to buy the hype hook line and batarang, but in this case I must admit I was REALLY psyched to see this movie. And I want to see it again.

The Dark Knight transcends being a “Comic Book Movie” and draws the viewer into a psychological battle for nothing less than the very soul of Gotham City. (I’m keeping it cryptic so as not to spoil anything.)

Christian Bale returns to bring deeper pathos to the early years of Batman’s fight illuminate the dark streets of Gotham city. I love his Bruce Wayne and his presence as Batman, but his over the top billy goat gruff Bats voice bugs me a bit - that is my only criticism of anything in the movie. Well that and that I think the GCPD would do a better job recognizing and avoiding being corralled by Joker.

Heath Leger’s deeply disturbed Joker is an amazing update of Jack Nicholson’s 1990 far more manic interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime. I knew from the previews that I approved of the direction the movie was going in, but I have to admit I was surprised at just how good Heath was at being bad. My heart goes out to his family, friends and costars who see this performance in a very melancholy light - I’m sure they expected to see it with him by their side. His Joker is far from your ordinary madman. In addition to being a vicious and completely demented homicidal maniac, he’s a brilliant strategist with a taste for the perversely unexpected.

Aaron Eckhart’s performance as Gotham’s tragic white knight, District Attorney Harvey Dent is as compelling as his later visage is frightening. With only 1/2 a face, Eckhart powerfully expresses the anger and hatred that birthed Two-Face.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is lovely as Rachel Dawes. Screw all the mean spirited alpha bloggers who need to make themselves feel superior by slamming anyone who isn’t a Barbie doll poster girl for plastic surgery. Maggie is a charming actress and a beautiful woman. And for all those who keep asking why Katie Holmes didn’t play her. Katie has been married to/ leased to a religious zealot who probably didn’t want her kissing anyone onscreen who might remind her what a man kisses like.

Veteran actors Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman’s portrayals of Alfred Pennyworth, Lt. James Gordon and Lucius Fox respectively are as every bit as brilliant as you would expect from consummate professionals of their caliber. Caine brings power and emotion to the smallest gestures. With the fate of one small envelope, Alfred shows just how much he cares.

See it today dammit!

via Newsarama

The eagerly anticipated Watchmen trailer at last! “From the visionary director of 300″ comes the silver screen adaption of the “most celebrated graphic novel of our time.” Damn they know how to sling some hype. But it is deserved.

The trailer is just enough to give you a taste of the richness of the world that has been created here. I haven’t looked forward to a movie this much since I heard X-Men 3 was the Dark Phoenix story - but this time I don’t think there will be soul crushing disappointment.

and be sure to check out amazingly well-designed Official Watchmen Site. It is also a thing of beauty.

Can you tell I’m excited for this movie?!

Fun action, but I had to drop it down a whole gem due to the lame loom of fate lynchpin the whole plot revolved around.

I can see why there are often two sets of reviews for this film. One for those who read WANTED, the original six issue mini series it was based on, and one for those who didn’t. I’ll try to combine them. Long story short, I liked it as a summer popcorn movie but was severely disappointed in it as a castrated adaption of one of the most original comic concepts I’ve seen in my 24 years of comic reading. The story had balls and the movie cut them off.

I’m not guaranteeing no spoilers, but I’ll try to keep a lid on the big twists.

WANTED is a fast paced summer blockbuster with special effects, stunts, eye popping action and a great cast. Its the story of a 1000 year old league of assassins that choose their targets based on binary codes from a loom. I actually find this LESS plausible than the story of the original… a world where super villains killed all the superheros, made the world forget them and rule unopposed to do what they will… murdering, raping, robbing whoever they want. If you are a member of the Fraternity, the cops can’t and won’t touch you (basically owning the authorities and being in control was one element they SHOULD have kept - and still would have worked with the story as reimagined).

The only elements the film and the series REALLY have in common are… Number 1: the characters: James McAvoy is Wesley Gibson - the beat down loser son of the wold’s greatest hired gun, Angelina Jolie bounces back and forth between creepy killer and vampy vixen as an ultra sexy female assassin - The Fox (in the book lover to both Wesley AND his father - and was hinted to have been a Catwoman” type that was seduced away from a “Batman” type when the Villains won), and Wesley’s apparently now dead but long absent father - the best assassin in the world. Number 2: a few scenarios - Fox and Wesley meet in a drugstore, there is still a twist to Wesley’s fathers death (not the same twist though), there is a rogue element within the Fraternity, and finally this IS still very much the story of Wesley’s journey and evolution as he finds himself. But the journey in the book is the villain’s journey and the journey in the movie is the heroes journey. the big bad of the original story was Mr. Rictus and he is just seen as an early casualty of the internal struggle within The Fraternity.

As I see it, the FUNDAMENTAL changes that were made to this amazing story were made for 2 reasons.

1. Cost must have been a significant factor. It would have been incredibly expensive to create the story as told with its cast of dozens of costumed characters, their amazing powers and high tech sets. The special effects alone would have at least doubled or tripled production costs if not increased it tenfold.

2. Morality. Even though we Americans love our media violence, we like it with consequences. The bad guy has to get it in the end, and if we are supposed to root for the bad guy, he needs to be an anti-hero. As written in the original story, Wesley Gibson’s Evolution into “The Killer” is truly a villain’s journey: Wesley exchanges post coital musings with Fox about how “this being evil all the time crap is starting to feel a little forced” after he slaughtered a Police Station FULL of officers. ALOT more innocents got cut down in the comic. The shoot out in the drugstore when Fox finds him was just her blowing away patrons to prove she wasn’t afraid of security camera or the cops.

Without giving everything away, the ending of the movie definitely shows consequences for most of the characters.

Here is a review posted by GayComicGeek about Hancock. He seemed to like it OK as a popcorn movie and didn’t mention Hancock’s “homo, homo in red, Norwegian homo” comment while looking at costume designs that GLAAD is up in arms about.

A gay friend of mine saw the movie and thought that the moment was funny… i’m waiting until I see how gay the costumes look before I decide if its funny or offensive.

Starring Sarah Brightman Anthony Head, Paul Sorvino and… Paris Hilton? Really? Lets hope we get to see Paris get something repossessed.

GeneCo, a multi-billion dollar biotech company emerges from a global epidemic of organ failures. GeneCo provides organ transplantation, but if you don’t keep up your organ payments, they send “organ repo men”, skilled assassins ordered to recover GeneCo’s property by any means necessary.

Organ repo man, Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head) has kept his a 17 year-old daughter Shilo (Alexa Vega) who has a a rare blood disease locked away from the outside world. While Shilo struggles with her wish to leave the house and experience the outside world, Nathan struggles with his job as the repo man, and more specifically, his next target is Shilo’s godmother, a woman named Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman).

At the heart of GeneCo there is the Largo family, company president Rotti and patriarch (Paul Sorvino), daughter Amber (Paris Hilton) and sons Luigi and Pavi (Bill Moseley and Nivek Ogre, respectively). Rotti is dying, and the three siblings bicker about who gets to run things.

I recently saw the first 2 episodes of Sordid Lives, a new TV show prequel to the movie Sordid Lives. I loved the show so I had to run out and buy the movie and I’m sooo glad i did. I’m going to show this movie to everyone I know. I may even show it to my mom.

Check out this great interview with Wanted creator Mark Millar. He even explains where his original villains killed the heroes idea came from. when he was a kid, his older brother convinced him that superheroes used to be real, but the villains teamed up and wiped them out. Talk about having a story handed to you.

For those who read the comic… do you think the gay sex that precedes The Killer’s (Wesley’s dad) assassination will make the final cut?