Cinematical

With The Dark Knight and Watchmen on everyone's mind, we are going to get a lot of dark and edgy "superhero" movies, centered on stories that tear down the myth of the caped crusader and show them to be the flawed individuals they truly are.

Capeshooters is the latest to tear off the Spandex. According to Variety, it's based on an upcoming comic book by Rob Liefield, cofounder of Image Comics, and will be produced by none other than Bryan Singer. After filming so many good superheroes Singer is apparently interested in exploring the "darker side of the subject." The timing, coming so soon after Tony Stark graced the screen, is probably coincidental.

So, what is particularly dark about this deconstruction? The TMZ angle! Capeshooters revolves around two slackers turned paparazzi, who specialize in shooting covert videos of superheroes. (And speaking of Stark, he probably would have loads of those videos. Wolverine, too.) They find themselves on the run after they stumble onto evidence that one particularly beloved hero is, in fact, a villain. (Harvey Dent, say it ain't so!)

It all depends on the upcoming comic book, of course, but it sounds like Watchmen already did this. And better. Still, you can't blame writers for trying to walk a mile in Alan Moore's shoes, can you? Perhaps the book will be more unique than it looks from this angle.

Top Cow is on a roll! I never actually thought a week would come in which I would have two stories about that publishing company -- but here it is. Who thought sexy, weapon wielding chicks were such a draw for the movie business? Not I! (Yes, that's sarcasm.)

The latest book to be optioned is Magdalena. It's rather similar to Witchblade except with a much more distinguished lineage. The Magdalena is descended from Sarah, the daughter of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. She's the supernatural defender of the Catholic Church, and can look into the human heart to show people the error of their ways. And because no heroine is complete without a weapon, she wields the Spear of Destiny (the spear which pierced the side of Jesus at the Crucifixion) against the forces of evil. Luckily, nothing in the Magdalena's Catholic contract stipulates that she dress conservatively, so she's allowed to wear the crop tops of a Top Cow heroine.

And according to The Hollywood Reporter, it's already further along in production than Witchblade. No director has been set, but the leads have been cast. Jenna Dewan is currently in talks to play Patience, the spear-wielding holy heroine. (There's been a few, it looks like they're going with the most recent incarnation.) Luke Goss is set to play Kristof, an agent sent by the secret organization that protects the lineage. In the comic, these are cardinals, but somehow I bet Kristof won't be one because that would require way too much chastity -- and the stars are way too hot. Both actors are going to be at Top Cow's panel at ComicCon this weekend. If you're going, you can ask them all sorts of pressing Magdalena movie questions.

There's finally one name to tack onto that Witchblade promotional poster. According to Variety, Michael Rymer is taking the director's chair. He'll also be co-producing, alongside Arclight, Platinum Studios, Havenwood Media, and Top Cow.

If you're a fan of Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica, you undoubtedly recognize the name, as he's directed 20 episodes and is filming the series finale. His last feature film was the widely panned The Queen of the Damned, but we won't hold it against him.

Rymer will be fresh off all those tough Battlestar chicks, so Witchblade seems like a good fit for him. Will he be the director to break the Top Cow trend and give poor Sara Pezzini some pants and a nice top? Even if you wield the power of the Witchblade, it seems very dangerous to be running around in your bare skin and bits of armor. The girls of Battlestar Galactica know this and dress sensibly. Here's hoping Rymer takes a page from their costume designer.

The big question still remains: Who will tackle the lead role? Filming is reportedly set to begin in September, so they need to get casting. I'm expecting a total unknown, but with comic books being such hot properties, who knows what actress could be inspired to wield supernatural powers?

I say this with just about every comic book movie that gets green-lit -- but I am always surprised at which characters kick into super high gear while others languish. Are we actually going to see a few Top Cow movies before DC and Warner Bros. get some other character franchises going?

Magical trends just never end! According to Variety, Walden Media has hired Karen Janszen to adapt Ingrid Law's book Savvy, which only just hit bookstores a few months ago. The rights have been optioned at least that long, but it looks like Walden is really racing it into production.

Savvy follows a family called the Beaumonts, who all boast remarkable superpowers. The hero of the story is young Mibs, who is quickly approaching her thirteenth birthday and the discovery of her own superpower or "savvy." Unfortunately for the Beaumonts, disaster strikes right on the fateful day, and Mibs finds herself in the midst of an adventure, where she will have to try to hide her new "savvy" when it makes itself known.
It sounds like The Incredibles, with a dash of Harry Potter and X-Men for color.

Interestingly, the story behind Savvy's publication is reminiscent of J.K. Rowling's. Law hails from my home state of Colorado, and all kinds of press outlets are making much of the fact that she resides in a mobile home with her daughter. That's not a bad thing! My grandma lived in one, and I have very fond memories of it. Anyway, if the success of Savvy has allowed her to move on to a grander home, that's cool, and I wish my fellow Rockies resident continued fortune.

If you're interested in reading the book for free, Penguin has released it online. Unfortunately, this freebie ends today, so I hope you're a fast reader. And if you've read it already, please sound off on its movie potential below!

There has been talk of a sequel to Boondock Saints since 2002. But if Troy Duffy is to be believed, it's going to actually start filming this August. This past St. Patrick's Day Duffy claimed, via his YouTube account, that Boondock Saints: All Saints Day had been given a green light by Sony. The video was removed within hours, and the news was never confirmed elsewhere.

But Duffy isn't daunted. He gave a long interview to Washington D.C.'s WJFK insisting that, barring a SAG strike, filming would indeed begin in August. He actually gave away the entire plot, so no one actually needs to go see it should it actually be made. The film will find the brothers in retirement in Ireland, living off the land, until a priest is murdered in Boston. They're framed for the murder, and they quickly fly off to America to seek retribution. Lest you think it's all wishful thinking on the part of Duffy, Geeks of Doom got their hands on the first production diary.

I'm still very skeptical this will actually be made -- and if it is, that it will be anything other than a direct to DVD thing. Between litigation and a bad reputation, I have a hard time believing any studio is really willing to back Duffy at this point. And while it's a fun movie, hasn't the time for a sequel come and gone? Even the Hot Topic t-shirt revival is over. What about the plot? After all the events in the first film, would the MacManus brothers really up and retire to Ireland to live off the land? Feel free to answer all or none of these questions, my readers.

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Djimon Hounsou's "dream project" has finally been confirmed in the trades. Variety reports that Hounsou is pairing up with Dynamite Entertainment to star in and produce a movie about Thulsa Doom, nemesis of King Kull and Conan the Barbarian.
The character originally appeared in Robert E. Howard's story Delcardes' Cat, and is getting his own comic book series (courtesy of Dynamite) next year.

You probably remember Thulsa Doom as being played by the incomparable James Earl Jones in the classic Conan the Barbarian movie. But if you're a fan of Howard's work, you know that Jones' character didn't resemble the literary one very much. The original Thulsa Doom is an undead sorcerer with the face of a skull, with eyes of fire, and all kinds of scary powers.

So, unless Hounsou is going to bury his handsome face behind make-up or CGI, the new Thulsa Doom will be more in line with Jones' character, and another departure from Howard's original pulp stories. Already, they are looking to make a demonic villain more inviting, as Hounsou's film will show how the once heroic Doom went all mean and nasty. Just once, wouldn't it cool to have a movie about a demonic sorcerer who happily eschewed the straight and narrow? Thank goodness J.R.R. Tolkien left no such wiggle room with Sauron or Morgoth, eh?

One of the most wonderful things about geekdom on the Internet is how fast it sets to work. The Watchmen trailer hasn't even been out for 24 hours, and already folks are analyzing its every second -- with one dedicated fan comparing its frames to the panels of the original book. The hardworking one is Brad Brevet over at Rope of Silicon, and he really has done a great job. If you decide to look, and are unfamiliar with the source material, beware of spoilers.

As he did with 300, Zack Snyder has really managed to bring the frames to life. His eye for this is uncanny. There are few comic book adaptations where one gets goosebumps, or jumps out of their seat and says "It looks just like the book!" Of course, Snyder has tweaked it -- he's changed the costumes, and he's given it his own style -- but it's still better than I ever thought it would be. Whether he brings the book to life is, of course, the million dollar question. I'm happy just being entertained by the possibility, though.

For me personally, the money shots were the funeral, Jon being ripped apart into particles, and Archie the Owlship. Even my sister, who loathed the book, is in love with the faithful rendering of Archie. The shot of it flying out of the water is actually enough to convince her to buy a ticket. (I'm not sure why, but let's just leave that up to her.) And surely if she can be sold on it, the rest of us can be too.

Watchmen opens March 6th, 2009.

UPDATE: Warners sent us over a whole new crop of Watchmen photos. Check them out in the gallery below ...