Month: June 2014

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First reported by This Is Infamous and confirmed by The Wrap, “We’re The Millers” and “Dodgeball” director Rawson Thurber has passed on “Ant-Man.” There’s no official reason why Thurber moved on, but this is not an easy project to get someone to agree to.

Rawson Thurber passed on having “He’s no Edgar Wright“ written about him for the rest of his career. He’s coming off a hit— why would someone coming off a hit subject themselves to the scrutiny?  Just hire someone who directed some Suburgatory episodes and get it over with it.  Suburgatory looked pretty good sometimes.I don’t know— watching the Ant Man corporate flailing is more interesting to me than watching Ant Man ever would have ever been.  With Thurber, it was just interesting to me how dismissive people were of the guy because he made We’re the Millers— I didn’t see that movie because man, I don’t like Jason Sudekis and Jennifer Aniston is wretched to watch in all things.  But that guy made Dodgeball— I remember that movie as being funny. 

It just all seems like such a bad idea— it sounded like a career ender with Edgar Wright who I like quite a bit. A Paul Rudd ant-sized semi-comedy superhero movie? I like Wanderlust as much as a reasonable person could, but man, I was almost all by myself in that theater— people like Rudd in theory way more than in practice. (My guess is he burned a lot of goodwill with Dinner for Schmucks, which I didn’t see— people who I talk to have seen it get this look on their faces…).  I don’t know— the Ant Man finagling is like watching a slow-motion car accident where the people in and out of the car are all operating in normal speed and yet the slow-motion car accident is still happening…?  It’s a bad idea, with a wobbly star, a movie title that really invites insults from the audience, and Marvel doesn’t pay their directors a lot of money…?  Who’s saying yes to that? Answer: guy who directed two or three Suburgatory episodes (not the good ones, not the Thanksgiving episode).  

(via twiststreet)

Abhay, as ever, gets it right.

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Any thoughts on this Ant-Man movie stuff? Or that rumor about the Fantastic Four comics being canceled? Also books – what are some of your favorites and what are some you want to read in the future?

bigredrobot:

I’m not at all surprised that Wright walked. I’m actually surprised it didn’t happen sooner, as Marvel has increasingly become a blockbuster factory and, I mean, you can’t argue with the methodology when there are stacks of cash being flown into the DIsney Vault, right? As great as it would be for a director like Wright and a screenwriter like Cornish to do a “Marvel movie,” A) They sort of tried that with Ang Lee’s Hulk and, well, we all know how that turned out, and B) Why would they need to let Wright off the leash when they can get somebody cheaper/more willing to connect-the dots?

Honestly, I’m a little bummed Adam McKay’s out of the running, because he knows how to direct comedic actors, and really, that’s all Marvel needs at this point, somebody to photograph the actors. The other two names sound a little blah, but The Marvel Blockbuster Machine sort of takes care of a lot of those movies, so who cares? I mean, they made Jorts Wheaton look like a halfway decent director (!!!) with The Avengers, when he really just showed up and shot coverage of already-charming actors being charming. I mean, the guy who directed You, Me & Dupree directed 2 Cap 2 Furious: The Winter’s Shoulders, and that was a pretty great little action movie. They’re not looking for visionaries because they don’t need visionaries.

This piece from Alex Pappademas at Grantland breaks it down pretty well. At one point, Marvel needed this sort of thing to look legitimate and cool, but then they literally made billions of dollars using much less-talented/-fussy directors, so why bother?

As far as the Fantastic Four rumors go, I actually think it’s a good idea to maybe let them chill out on the bench, drink some Gatorade or something, until somebody can figure out how to make them work in the Year of our Lord 2014? The idea of them trying to freeze out Fox is a little much (nobody reads comics, bro), but after trying, and failing, twice in the last few years to get a “fresh look” at the FF, once with Fraction’s Fantastic Four/FF combo and now with James Robinson’s relaunch, maybe they need to go away to come back, you know?

As far as books go, like real books? Cat’s Cradle. The Crying of Lot 49. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Pattern Recognition. Cannery Row. Dune. Anything by Roald Dahl.

I have a big “to-read” list, but I have become very bad at reading real books over the last few years. I’ve been 47% through Al Ewing’s The Fictional Man since I red it on the plane to and from ECCC. I am a complete failure at life.

Re: Adam McKay and Ant-Man. I really don’t get why McKay would’ve taken the gig, outside of the obvious “Hey, money!” gig. As is obvious from the Wright situation, there’s no true creative freedom with this role, and any conflict with the studio will be one you’d lose. The script and cast are set, and the movie is already behind schedule from the moment you sign on. McKay has a pretty successful career as is; signing on for Ant-Man feels like something he’s well past by this point, to me.

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If X-Men is analogous to ANYthing in reality, it is a metaphor for the entitlement to private gun ownership.

From here.
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It’s pretty obvious that you could talk for hours about your favorite Jack Kirby creations. On the flip side, are there any Kirby creations that have just never really clicked with you?

bigredrobot:

graemem:

bigredrobot:

Probably the Kirbyverse stuff he did for Topps in the 90s. It feels a lot like stuff he tossed off/didn’t really develop because, well, it’s exactly that.

Did you ever check out the KIRBY series Busiek, Herbert (and Ross kinda) did for Dynamite?

I picked up the first … 3 issues or so, but it was so slow-moving and thhat the main kid looked waaaay too much like Jay Baruschel kind of killed my interest in it. I mean, I like Marvels and Astro City and also Jack Kirby — and it felt a little too much like Marvels + Astro City + Jack Kirby at times — but there wasn’t enough there to keep me plunking down $4 a pop every month. I have a feeling it would read a lot better in chunks. Did it end up being good?

Yeah, I dug it, but I also liked the opening issues so maybe it just wasn’t right for you…? I’m sure there’s a trade out there by now, so you could probably check that out.

There were a bunch of spin-offs that, to be blunt, didn’t work for a variety of reasons, but the core book was pretty good.

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What are some comic runs/series/etc. that you think are under-appreciated/not talked about enough?

First one that springs to mind is Gerard Jones’ Green Lantern in general, and particularly Green Lantern: Mosaic; he did a bunch of things that have been retconned, replaced and just outright ignored, but in many ways he was Geoff Johns before Geoff Jones, and arguably a smarter version of same.

Bill Mantlo’s Micronauts is kind of forgotten/cult because it’s been out of print for so long, but it’s really fun space opera Marvel during the late ‘70s and early ’80s that informs a bunch of what’s going on now in both Marvel comics and movies, I feel. It’s due some kind of critical re-appraisal.

Hmm, what else. Philip Bond’s Wired World (Philip Bond in general, in fact). Ilya’s End of the Century Club. Eddie Campbell’s Alec, which maybe is talked about enough but I’d like it to be talked about more anyway? I’d love to see people talk about Faith Erin Hicks more, too. Hmm. I need to think more about this…