Video, Film, and Television

The Age of the Dark Knight of Steel: Getting More Cynical About Comics Adaptions

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It’s no secret that I’m one of the people here at MuseHack who is expecting a Hollywood meltdown to happen (or the current one to get worse). There’s too much going on, too much going wrong, too many checklists trying to save the cat, and 2015 is loaded with Blockbusters. It’s a collision course with reality, and I’m expecting some pain.

Now that being said, I’ve also found some of the current releases quite good. I enjoyed “The Avengers” even if it was rather standard. I do need to see “Man of Steel” because Serdar, ever holding high standards, was impressed. But looking at the latest announcements, something has upped my cynicism levels even further.

Big Name Adaptions within existing properties, specifically, comics.

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Does io9 Get It Right About SF and “Competence Porn”?

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Well worth reading.  Rough summary, SF has diverged from “Competence Porn” – the joy of seeing smart and skilled people do smart and skilled things.  I agree with the thesis that this has happened, but not his explanations.  In fact I probably need to analyze this for awhile before I can coherently state my own theories.

However, I think there’s something here.  Maybe it’s just my age, but for me my SF heroes were always, well, competent.  Scientists and adventurers with names like Dick Seaton (oh, E.E. Smith . . .), Danny Dunn, Tom Swift, John Carter.  Even Luke Skywalker, a bit niave, was a fast learner – but then again *I* mostly wanted to be Han Solo or Obi-Wan, so maybe I don’t care.

Something to think over.

Also I am so using the term “Competence Porn.”

(Edit: I put in the wrong link.  Ironic that.)

– Steven Savage

 

Actually, I Suspect ‘Lone Ranger’ Just Kind of Sucks

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Between Bruckheimer’s complaints and Depp and Hammer blaming critics, it appears a lot of people are not taking the failure of “Lone Ranger” very well.  This is a reaction I’m not used to seeing since it sounds like it’ll only exacerbate the issue of the film just not doing well.

For those of us who follow the cultural and career issues of the Hollywood meltdown that we’re kind of expecting, I wonder if we’ll see more of this.

– Steven