JLA is Not Looking So Good

Hey, at least that Superman can fill out a suit...

It appears WB's ineptitude with it's superheroes knows no bounds, as recent reports in both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter are now suggesting that the much ballyhooed film has been put on hold until at least the end of the WGA strike or it possibly could even be joining Singerman II in the scrap heap. It looks like the project encountered a myriad of issues from casting, to the inability to do rewrites, to a lack of necessary tax incentives from the Australian government.

But my friends, that is just the tip of the iceberg! Wait until you hear who they were going to cast in this film. It appears that the "WORST CAST LIST EVER!" that was posted on Superhero Hype! a few months back was pretty spot on. The Hollywood Reporter details the carnage:

The decision to put the project on hold now frees up the actors who had been cast in the roles of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash. D.J. Cotrona, Adam Brody, Anton Yelchin, Common, Teresa Palmer and Megan Gale had been cast in the movie in November, with their holding deals extended at least once as the studio tackled the script problems. The extensions expired Tuesday, after which a pay-or-play situation would have taken effect.

"Justice's" delay is considered good news for Christopher Nolan's camp. Nolan is in post on "The Dark Knight," the sequel to "Batman Begins," and is said to have been unhappy with the "Justice League" movie because its version of Batman (to have been played by Armie Hammier) clashed with his (Christian Bale).

Holy shit on a stick does that list suck! Sure the delay is good news for Nolan's camp.. and anyone who hasn't ever wiped their ass with a JLA comic. What the hell is WB thinking? They were going to make a gazillion dollar film and have a nickel and dime cast? The only name on that list that doesn't make me cringe is Common, but he's a decent supporting actor, he's not good enough to carry a cast of soap opera rejects. Please tell me the man who gave us Mad Max is not responsible for this and that some suits foisted them upon him? Otherwise I've lost a ton of respect for George Miller. D.J. Effing Cotrona was going to be their Superman??? He's 5'9" for Christ's sake! The Baking Soda kid who was to play Batman is 6'5", Cotrona would've looked like his god damn side kick and together they've got the acting resume of Paris Hilton. The "casting issues" the article speaks about have to have something to do with someone in the studio with at least a modicum of common sense looking at this cast list and saying "WTF? Are you serious?"

Regardless, for anyone who thought that WB was starting to come around and get any kind of handle on their superhero properties, if Singerman wasn't enough then this should convince you that Batman Begins was a complete fluke occurrence.

Now on to something I feel I need to address: the whole "Uncle Bingo" fiasco. As I've always said to you, be careful to ever believe ANYTHING you read on internet messagboards. Someone ALWAYS has some kind of agenda. And once again I was proven correct as Uncle Bingo's was either to mess with people or spread false hope. It's clear now that he, and those who were singing a similar tune, were DEAD wrong. I was really surprised by some emails I'd gotten showing me just how far it had spread too.

The thing that does piss me off about it is not so much that he came on here and did that, its because since his comments were posted in the comments section here, some people (a few even with their own websites) have attributed them to this blog. Why? Hell if I know. Another chance to badmouth the blogosphere and make themselves feel superior perhaps?

Miller's Justice League Sucks?...Or Not?

Wonder Twin powers ACTIVATE! Form of... a giant piece of shit!

Yeah ummm, I'm just at a loss for words here. Apparently Clint over at Moviehole got a hold of a sizeable portion of the JLA script that was set aside for the effects guys and let me tell ya, it ain't good. Well, at least it won't be for those of us who are out of the 6th grade. For those of us who were expecting something along the lines of Bruce Timm's animated series or something out of the many epic JLA comics, we're going to be SORELY disappointed. Clint reads through the carnage:

"So what are they working with? Well, not a lot. Not to say the film reads terrible, it doesn’t, it’s just that it reads more like a Saturday Morning ‘Superfriends’ cartoon than anything else – like, say, something that’ll appeal to the over twenties crowd - and basically, WETA need only look at the old cartoons to seek inspiration for their whizbang dressings. Having said that, maybe that’s exactly what they’re going for – a family-friendly toon-esque romp; like say “The Rocketeer” or “Sky High”.

The film introduces the main characters very quickly – as if they’re a 42-minute TV show and have to get it done quickly. You don’t get to know much about any of our central heroes before they all unite."

Sounds great doesn't it? Clint then goes on to briefly explain the introduction of the main characters which seem so utterly cheesy, I expect them all to be winking into the camera. He then finishes up the awful news with:

"Look, the film seems pretty underwhelming, sure, but what I think might’ve been their motivation here is to distance themselves from any of the “Superman” or “Batman” films already in existence – which is something the fans will be thankful for – and as this is merely light and fluffy cartoon adventure-stuff, without any of the dark undertones of those other films (largely “Batman”), they’ve definitely succeeded in that. This will definitely appeal to a much younger crowd than those that say, loved “Batman Begins” – it’ll be one the twelve-years-olds go ga-ga for.

Great! Sounds like a 2 hour toy commercial that will sell many a happy meal and action figure.

"So all-in-all, “Justice League” won’t be our film – and when I say ‘our’ I mean, commonly anyone considered of adult age – but it will probably be right up the kids’ alley. It’s essentially a live-action version of “Superfriends” – in terms of pace, story and set-up."

Well, there you have it. Part of me thinks it funny that this type of schlock is whats going to be replacing Singer's franchise at WB. Another part of me wants to once again run up to Singer and punch him in the nuts for screwing the pooch so badly that he scared the studio so shitless that they've gone completely off the other end of the spectrum in terms of the balance between action and story.

Christian Bale, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh should be thanking their lucky stars that they won't be involved with this thing. (We think.)

But dont push the panic button, just yet. Like most other things with this movie we could find out tomorrow that this is all really bullshit, but Clint at Moviehole is pretty good with this stuff so this is more than likely the case.

Looks like we may have our next crusade on our hands. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 10/18: Well it appears, as I mentioned a few paragraphs up, that yesterday's "news" from Moviehole was yet another in a long line of the total clusterfuck of rumors that surround this project. Apparently Clint was sent a bogus script, according to Dirty Sanchez over at IESB, although given his recent track record who the hell knows if he's right? The Moviehole article has since disappeared and we're seemingly back to no one knowing much of anything. How fun!

UPDATE 10/19: So it looks like this rumor may be true again now? Someone stop this AWFUL ride. I want off.