Amazing superhero movie news: Director Christopher Nolan, the guy who directed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, is set to “mentor” a new Superman film, while working on the next Batman movie!

Nolan is extremely well respected in Hollywood, as well as beloved by nerds and fanboys, so this is pretty much win-win all around. It looks exceedingly unlikely that Bryan Singer or Brandon Routh will return, as this new Superman will not be a sequel to Superman Returns, but a new take on the Man of Steel. Now, I have already discussed at great length why I think a reboot is a dicey proposition, and why I love Superman Returns. But the fact of the matter is that the Last Son of Krypton is in excellent hands with Nolan, and hearing news that he will have his hand in a new Superman movie AND the inevitable follow-up to The Dark Knight is amazing news.

I have a small amount of fear that they will try to make Superman too dark, to match the formula that worked with Batman. And dark isn’t a dirty word, I just hope that they stay true to the character, and make things gritty just for the sake of making them gritty. But again, I have faith that Nolan will steer the ship in the right direction.

Oh, and PS – The Deadline Hollywood article I linked to appears to have been updated; when the story first broke, it made a reference to “four mediocre Christopher Reeve films.” That has since been amended to reflect the awesomeness of the first two movies.

And PPS – Yeah, I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that James blogged about this yesterday on his site…

Every December, a ton of “Best of the Year” lists pop up everywhere, and they can get old pretty quick, but I’m digging the “Best of the Decade” lists that I’ve been seeing lately. So I figured I’d jump on that particular bandwagon, and so I now present my list of some of the best pop culture trends of the past ten years.

Funny Music from Artists Besides Weird Al
Don’t get me wrong – my obsession with Weird Al Yankovic, the king of parodies and musical comedy, is still strong as ever. And he had a great decade in his own right, with the fantastic albums Poodle Hat and Straight Outta Lynwood, as well as his several Internet Leaks songs and videos. But he also had some competition in the funny music department. Tenacious D’s first album is side-splittingly funny. Though the movie and its soundtrack were less hilarious than they could have been, the genius of their first batch of songs more than makes up for it.

Then there’s Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island crew. The videos for Lazy Sunday, D*ck in a Box, I’m On a Boat, and others are brilliant in their lyrics and their visuals, and the digital shorts have been some of the best stuff on Saturday Night Live in recent years.

And who could forget the brilliance of Flight of the Conchords? Their two seasons on HBO, their two albums, and their EP were full of catchy, quotable, fantastic, and hysterical songs. I cried a little bit (on the inside) when I heard the show was officially done. Hopefully they’ll keep putting out music into the next decade.

The Renaissance of the Serialized Drama
The aughts may be remembered as the decade when hour-long, serialized dramas came back with a major vengeance. The best of the bunch has to be Lost – a show that not only blows your mind every week, but it has you obsessing in between episodes, talking over theories and trying to guess what it all means. The season 1 and 3 finales are two of my personal favorites in a standout series.

While the writing may not be as strong at 24 as it is on Lost, it’s still an extremely entertaining show, and it’s made Jack Bauer an instant kick ass pop icon. Sure, it’s cheesy when he screams “Dammit, we’re running out of time!” yet again, but it’s hard to resist the show’s real-time Die Hard feel. Then there’s Smallville, which has gotten much better at telling long stories over multiple episodes instead of just relying on freak-of-the-week episodes. And Fringe straddles the line of stand alone episodes with a greater mythology, and so far has been doing a great job of both. I also have high hopes for FlashForward and V, but it will remain to be seen how well those shows pay off long arcs, but they’re both off to good starts.

Even when theses kinds of shows haven’t worked all that well (Dollhouse, Terminator, Heroes) or when they were good concepts that were canceled too soon (Eli Stone), it’s still good that network executives are giving their audience some credit, understanding that we have patience, and can appreciate the kind of story-telling where everything isn’t all wrapped up in a tidy package in 42 minutes.

There is a great, albeit very long article about this topic at GQ.com with the guys from Bad Robot – I recommend it if you have a half-hour to kill.

Sit-coms Are Amazing Again!
It wasn’t just hour-long dramas that rocked the decade; the sit-com was reintroduced as a medium of clever comedies, and not just full of pratfalls and one-dimensional characters. Arrested Development was able to use bad puns, sight gags, kissing cousins, and The Final Countdown to great effect for powerful belly laughs. The British version of The Office gave us an amazing new brand of painful and awkward humor that would live on in the American series, as well as Ricky Gervais’ show Extras. 30 Rock is written so brilliantly and the jokes come so fast I find myself having to constantly rewind back to listen to jokes again. How I Met Your Mother gave a new twist to the story of urban singles looking for love. And we got 8 great years of Scrubs – even if Season 9 leaves a little to be desired.

The Superhero Is Cool Again
It seems like ages ago, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past that superhero movies weren’t really anything to get that excited about. Then in a single decade, we got four fantastic films in the genre: Superman Returns, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man. (I know I’m going to get mocked for making those the ones I single out… but I just can’t get behind Spider-man. I tried, really, I did. And I enjoyed X-Men and X2, but I don’t know if they were amazing.) Too often, superhero movies were considered formulaic drivel, and could be released, hated, and forgotten about quickly. But the aughts made them not only bankable hits, but films that both nerds and critics agreed were actually good. I’ve defended Superman Returns so many times I’ve lost count, so I’ll just make this quick – it had its fans, and its share of people who hated it, but I loved it, so it goes on *MY* list, OK? The rebooted Batman films were also incredible, and they made that world so dark and believable it’s hard to not be foaming at the mouth for more sequels. And even though I knew nothing about Iron Man, I thoroughly enjoyed that film as well. Sure there have been some bad superhero movies in the past ten years, but the good ones were so great, it almost doesn’t matter.

The Apatow Movie Method
If some strange pop culture villain put a gun to my head and demanded I name the funniest movie of the past ten years, it’s a safe bet that I’d answer Superbad. I was laughing out loud a lot when we first saw that flick, and every time I’ve watched it since, I have the same reaction. That’s impressive considering I know the jokes that are coming. I also feel similarly about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year Old Virgin. And Anchorman and Talladega Nights and Walk Hard and any movie that had Apatow’s name attached to was guaranteed to be at least funnier than your average comedy. Of course, Judd himself didn’t always have much to do with every all of the above movies, but his influence can be felt in them – and others where he had no involvement whatsoever, like I Love You, Man; there are outrageous moments, painful moments, and things that are ridiculous enough to make you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, but they still keep themselves grounded in such a way that you buy what’s happening. Movie comedies will probably continue to evolve, but these movies will always make me laugh.

The Pixar Streak
So much has already been said about the brilliance of the Pixar movies, but here it goes anyway: The folks at Pixar are geniuses, and each and every one of their flicks have been funny, beautiful to watch, and full of great characters and stories. Two of the greatest films of the decade in my humble opinion are WALL·E and Up, neither of which sounded like a home-run concept, but were both executed flawlessly. Sure there are other companies doing similar kinds of animation, but those movies always just fail to impress me with their stories, and often times they are so full of timely references that the jokes will be out dated in a few years. Courtney and I have been watching a DVR’d collection of Pixar shorts, and even the company’s short films are crafted with amazing precision and humor. I sure hope my kids love these movies, because I know I’ll enjoy watching them too.

Nintendo Changes Video Gaming
I’m a Nintendo fanboy – always have been, always will be. And I loved the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance. But what Nintendo pulled off with the Wii and the Nintendo DS is truly incredible. Video-gaming is no longer just associated with nerds playing alone in dark basements – it’s now something that the whole family can do together, something that parents don’t dread if their kids want to do, and it’s even something that women actually enjoy. (And are not just pretending to enjoy for the sake of their boyfriends or husbands.) Wii Sports isn’t my favorite game personally, but I love watching people who have never held a game controller pick it up and play with ease. Wii Fit is a really fun way to exercise at home. The latest iterations of the classic franchises have all been fantastic: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii are all incredible games, as are their counterparts on the DS. (I just beat the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks this morning – it’s really fun so far!)

Sure Nintendo has room for improvement – better online capability, HD graphics, etc. But the fact of the matter is what they are doing now works, and it works well, and it works well for a huge chunk of the population.

Better, Clearer, Faster
High definition television. DVR. Portable players that let us watch movies, TV shows, and carry tons of music and photos, too. It’s pretty amazing that when we started this decade, those things weren’t common, and now it’s hard to imagine life without them. It sounds like a sweeping statement, but it isn’t, really. Try to go through a week without using your DVR. Or switch back to a standard definition TV. You’ll be going out of your mind in a week. What are you going to do, record your favorite shows with a VCR? Seriously.

And remember when you had to carry a discman with you to listen to music on the go? You looked strange wearing headphones, and you could only listen to one album at a time! Now you can carry thousands of songs in your cell phone.

And remember dial-up? When it would take a half hour to load a 30 second video clip? Now you can watch entire episodes of TV shows or whole movies on your laptop – or even on your TV – that load in seconds.

It’s hard to imagine so much has happened in ten years, and it’s even crazier that in December 2019, we’ll be looking back at all of this stuff as quaint and old-fashioned.

Now, I’ve made my feelings about Super Mario Bros. 2 known before – in a nutshell, the “it was all a dream” ending traumatized me. But this video is still damn funny – if a bit long – mainly because of the narrator’s intense enthusiasm for the game. And the fact that he gets mad at the ending doesn’t hurt, either.

I also came upon this whole series of “How They Should Have Ended” videos, that basically takes movies and provides them with an alternate ending. Some of them are hit or miss (and yes to anyone who’s seen them before, they’re not new), but I really enjoyed this take on Lex Luthor and Superman’s confrontation at the end of “Superman.”

And even though you’ve probably seen it before, here’s the baby dancing to “Single Ladies” – he’s just so damn cute!

Despite my best efforts, the powers that be at Warner Bros. have decided that Superman Returns wasn’t Superman-y enough, and the franchise will be re-started in a new, darker direction.

Sigh.

I already said all I have to say on this matter in my unbelievably long articles on this (that you all already read – right? RIGHT???), but to recap in just one post, I really think this is a terrible idea. I mean, if the new movie comes out and is awesome, I’ll be stoked, because I love the character of Superman and always have, but I just don’t see Superman needing the reboot treatment.

Just in case there are any non-nerds reading, a “reboot” is what they did with the Batman, Hulk, and James Bond franchises – they basically took all of the old movies, pretended that they don’t exist, and started over with the character. It made total sense to reboot Batman, because it had been eight years since the last Batman movie, and 13 since the last GOOD Batman movie. And James Bond had been through so many incarnations over the years, giving him a fresh start also was a wise move.

But it doesn’t make sense with Superman. Superman Returns wasn’t universally loved, but it wasn’t as universally despised as Ang Lee’s Hulk. That movie was so panned that it was given the reboot treatment this year, and though The Incredible Hulk fared better with critics, fans, and at the box office, it didn’t do MUCH better than the last film. I am sure that had at least something to do with the fact that there was only a five year gap between the two movies, and a lot of people were put off by the concept of such a recent movie being ignored.

But Warner Bros. wants every movie to be as big as The Dark Knight, so they’re going to throw away Superman Returns, and we’ll have another, totally new and separate movie in 2011. For those keeping score, that will be just five years after Returns, the exact same time difference between the two Hulk movies.

They want Superman to go in a darker and grittier direction, similar to what Christopher Nolan did with Batman.  That’s all well and good in theory, but what they fail to understand is that Superman is a fundamentally different character.  Batman, despite undergoing some pretty silly incarnations over the years, is at heart a really dark and gritty character, a human being who is fundamentally flawed and driven by vengeance.  Superman is not.  He is a beacon of hope, an alien with unwavering moral fibers who is virtually indestructible, and for better or worse, almost unrelateable.  Some people just don’t like Superman because of these differences, but I personally think they are what makes him interesting.  Superman is constantly trying to save everyone all the time, and the struggle in the way he balances his quest for truth, justice, and the American way by his life as a humble reporter, his love of Lois Lane, and the times he is unable to save people make him, in my humble opinion, a fascinating character.

Superman Returns showed how the world, and Lois specifically, reacted to having, losing, and then regaining Superman, and it made for a powerful story with TONS of sequel potential; Jason growing into his powers, the island of kryptonite hurtling through space, and even a possibility of what really kept Supes tied up for five years – was he attacked by Zod?  Captured in the Phantom Zone?  Enslaved by Darkseid?  We’ll never know, because the story is starting over from scratch.

Whoever ends up making the new movie and whatever direction they go with the story, I just hope they treat the character with the respect that he deserves.  Like I say, if the new movie is amazing, I’ll be thrilled, because Superman deserves to have fantastic big screen adventures, just like his Gotham City chum.  But for whatever it’s worth, Superman Returns was a phenomenal movie, and it will always have fans like me who cry foul over the reboot.

FOUL!

I love the character of Superman, and was long a fan of the original two Superman films. (We won’t get into the atrocities that are III and IV, naturally.) When Superman Returns came out, I was ecstatic, and I loved the movie. For some reason that I don’t totally get, there are people out there who didn’t like it, and one of those people is apparently comic writer Mark Millar, the man behind the film Wanted. Recently, he announced that he has plans in the works to reboot the Superman film franchise. To me, the thought of restarting the Superman franchise after such an amazing installment that was so long in the making should be a crime. To my friend Bruce, this sounds like a wonderful idea. So what happened? We had a debate about it, naturally.

This debate has been turned into a week-long series of posts over at The Comic Collective as a new feature called Geek-Fu. Get it, as in two geeks battling over something?  It was Bruce’s idea, but I think it’s a damn catchy title.

Now if you’re up for it, I highly recommend these articles (even Bruce’s – though he may  be all turned around on this subject, he’s still a good writer and a good dude.) But I am issuing a fair warning: these posts are loooooooooong. As in, “Wow, you guys need to go get lives. Fast. Like, really. No, I mean it. Seriously.” That kind of long. But if you’re into nerdy debates, the Superman movies, or the Man of Steel in general, this should keep you occupied for awhile.

Without further ado:

First, there’s this little introduction to the concept of Geek-Fu.

Followed by:

Round 1 – My initial thoughts on the subject

Round 2 – Bruce’s rebuttal to my argument

Round 3 – My rebuttal to Bruce’s rebuttal

Round 4 – Bruce’s rebuttal’s rebuttal’s rebuttal

Round 5 – Closing arguments by both myself and Bruce

Enjoy!