Superhero Movies

This year has another run of superhero movies and I just wanted to update anyone interested about the pallete of colorful characters making appearances this year.

First off is the long awaited sequel to Batman Begins.  The new entry, The Dark Knight, features the long time caped crusader of DC comics Batman.  Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine all reprise their roles.  New faces include Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face.

The first to appear this year however is none other than Iron Man, Marvel's latest hero to get big screen treatement.  Not too much is known other than it will cover the origin and creation of the Iron Man armor.  Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man and supposedly Samuel L. Jackson will make an appearance as another Marvel name - Nick Fury.

Another Marvel hero, the hardest hitting of all, is The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton.  Hulk faces off against his arch-nemesis Abomination.  Rumor is that Robert Downey Jr. will make a cameo appearance as Iron Man in this.  Sounds like it should be serious action.

The Punisher also returns this year in Punisher:  War Zone.  I don't know as many details on this other than it is supposed to be based deeply within the comics.

The last big name I will mention is that of Hellboy.  Hellboy and the whole cast return for another romp with director Del Toro's vast creature filled Earth.  This one looks like a promising follow up to the well done first.

Other names that are not superhero rank but still big names in adventure include:  Speed Racer - the movie based on the hit cartoon series and brought to us by the creators of The Matrix.  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrystal Skull - Indy is back and World War II has ended.  Now, in the Cold War, Indy faces off against the Russians.  Many familiar faces will return and a familiar environment too (the room that the Ark of the Covenant is put in at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Hope that these all turn out good.  It looks like a promising year for superhero movies and I am sure there are more to come.  I already have heard of a Superman sequel, Wolverine movie, Captain America film, and another Spider-Man. 

The Academy Awards

Welcome to the Academy Awards.  I do not know who all watched them but it was the first year I have watched where I was pretty satisfied with the winner.  I enjoyed the restrospective videos they played of past awards and award winners and I found the opening intro very entertaining where Arnold Swartzenegger (governor of California) drove a truck full of Oscars down the streets of L.A. with clips for Award winning movies all around including Spider-Man swinging buy overhead, Lightning McQueen from Cars driving by, a battle between a T-Rex and King Kong, the Back to the Future delorian zipping past, the Hulk busting out of the street scaring a North by Northwest image of Cary Grant, and on and on I can go.  So anyway, the best picture was No Country For Old Men.  I was glad out of the choices to see this one win.  (I do wish Ratatouille had been nominated for best pic but oh well).  So what are your thoughts on the Awards and what do you think should have won?