Ben Affleck Edition

The other night Warner Brothers' Studios reported that they have signed the next Batman. As I stated in a previous blog, everyone from Josh Brolin to Orlando Bloom was rumored for the role. But in the end the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman went to Ben Affleck.

I have been thinking a lot about this since the announcement last night and the more I think about it, the more I like it. He has played a super hero before in Marvel's Daredevil in 2003. The reviews of the movie are not great, but that can hardly be blamed on Affleck. I am a big Daredevil fan and I have always respected Affleck. There are things about that movie that I would change, but is Affleck one of them? No. The writing itself was not that good. It took awhile to get into the story. Yes, I know origin stories can be like that, but I thought the script itself was bland.

Ben Affleck has been around Hollywood long enough to see his share of ups and downs. He was written off in Hollywood following a string of bombs that most men would not be able to recover from. He reinvented himself as a director and all of a sudden, he is back on everyone's good side again. And now he gets to play one of the most iconic characters in film. Can he do it?

I believe that he can. He has the acting chops to make it as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. I personally think he is more fitted to play Bruce, but I have a feeling that the script won't call for a lot of screen time for him without the cowl. I could be mistaken; I mean, I haven't seen the script. Time will tell on that matter.

Affleck has seen his share of action films from Armageddon to Paycheck to Reindeer Games and even Pearl Harbor. So we know he can handle the action that he will be required to do as Batman as well. He has about 2 inches over Henry Cavill, and from my comic books, Batman is supposed to have a few inches on Superman. Affleck is also 11 years older than his Superman counterpart, which fits into the reported vision for the film. He is young enough that he can do multiple movies as Batman, if this one is a success, and there is no reason to believe that it won't be.

I saw this picture on the Marvel Movies Facebook page. Granted it came from another site so it might not be exactly how Marvel feels about this. But may I remind you that there were skeptics that said Robert Downey Jr. would make a horrible Tony Stark in Iron Man. I think that worked out pretty well.

In fact, the reviews have been pretty mixed on the internet about this. Earlier this week, #BetterBatmanThanAffleck was trending. But I have a feeling that they just might change their minds when the movie comes out.

In closing, I say that Ben Affleck is a good choice although he has some pretty big shoes to fill. Christian Bale was a great Batman (also met with some resistance from the Internet of Fan Boys, if I remember correctly, by the way). But because he will be sharing the screen with Superman, I think it will make it easier on him. And if this is the beginging of A Justice League movie that fans have been craving, I think it is a very good start!

And in honor of the internet trashing a movie before it comes out (and Ben Affleck as well) I am in the mood to watch Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!

Special thanks to my lovely editor and wonderful fiancée.

Bruce Willis Edition

Welcome back to another edition. Things in the entertainment world have been really quiet since the end of Comic-Con. But there are a few things worth talking about.

First, returning to host the Oscars next year will be Ellen DeGeneres. I think that is a safe pick after the mixed reviews of Seth McFarlane from this year's show. She can be very funny and is well respected in the entertainment world. And like I said, she is safe. She will have song and dance numbers, but they most definitely won't be as offensive as McFarlane's were. Plus she has experience hosting, so that is always a plus in my book.

The other big news stories of the past few weeks are all wrapped around one person. Bruce Willis. He has certainly been on a roll of late. Most people want to clean up their name, on the other hand Mr. Willis seems quite content to sully his. First he conducted in an interview to promote Red 2 with co star Mary Louise Parker. From my understanding, a lot of press in the area gets five or ten minutes to do short interviews with the stars. This can go on for a few hours. I am sure it must not be enjoyable sometimes to be a movie star, but what he did to Magic 105.4's Jamie Edwards is inexcusable. If you haven't seen the interview, here it is. I know stars are allowed to have bad days and I have never met Bruce Willis personally, but everything I have read indicates this is what he is like in real life. Which seems to be a deplorable human being.

But wait! There's more! Bruce Willis was set to reprise his role as Church in the third installment of The Expendables movies. It has been revealed by several entertainment websites that he was to film for only four days. That's not much, right? He was offered three million dollars for four days of work. Who wouldn't jump at such an offer? The correct answer? Bruce Willis. He said that he would only work for a million dollars a day. So he wanted four million dollars for what would most likely only turn out to be around fifteen to twenty minutes of screen time. Does that seem logical to you? Me neither. So fellow Expendables actor and writer of the series Sylvester Stallone fired him publicly via Twitter. And then to replace Willis they got an actor you may have heard of. I believe his name is Harrison Ford! That's a huge upgrade if you ask me!

I admit, I like Bruce Willis. I own several of his movies on DVD including four of the Die Hard movies (I believe in completing sets of movies, but don't have to if I never admit another movie came out. I am, of course, referring to Good Day to Die Hard. Not a real thing. La la la), Armageddon, Red and Cop Out. He is an enjoyable actor. But the fact remains, over the past month, I have lost a considerable amount of respect for him as a person. Can he recover from this? Yes, of course he can. But in this case, I wouldn't hold my breath...

There is other news that came out of Comic Con 2013 that I have not addressed yet. It's the sequel to Man Of Steel 2 which will be Batman vs. Superman. No word on casting of Batman yet, but there has been some interesting rumors. Pretty much every actor regardless of age has been rumored for the role, including a fifty million dollar offer for Christian Bale who has repeatedly said he wouldn't do it. I have heard everyone from Josh Brolin to now Orlando Bloom's name has been rumored as well. Thankfully, there is no rumor I have heard that Bruce Willis would play the role!

As always a special thanks to my lovely fiancée and editor for helping me make this page readable for the fans!