So its that time of year again: Christmas time!

But its also the time of year where Hollywood releases it annual Black List: a list of not-yet-produced scripts floating around Hollywood waiting to make their big debut. This year, there are a whole lot of good ones out there.

Number one on the list is The Imitation Game, a screenplay by Graham Moore about the famous Alan Turing. The screenplay is produced by Nora Grossman and Ido Ostrowsky.  Turing was a WWII cryptographer who killed himself after being prosecuted for being gay. I’m actually surprised this hasn’t been picked up yet, but that explains why it’s grabbed number one by a long shot. In the right hands, this could be great. By the right hands, I mean someone who’s not afraid to be both edgy and truthful. There’s a lot of important and sensitive material here, so we expect a lot from this one.

There are plenty of compelling stories on the Black List but there are two that, for me, stand out from the crowd. The first is called Chewie by Evan Susser about seeing Star Wars being made through the eyes of Peter Mayhew aka Chewbacca. Anything Star Wars related and I’m in. Make it comedic? I think we could be dating…Weird. This is a satirical look from the eyes of a (and don’t kill me) second tier character that has little plot involvement. Don’t get me wrong: big time Chewie fan here, but a look at everyone else going crazy sounds fascinating.

My personal number one: Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses by Matthew Aldrich. If the title itself doesn’t win you over, you’re wrong. But the story of a father and eleven-year-old daughter going on a “crime spree” sounds PHENOMENAL. In the post Kick-Ass world we live in where kids say the darnest and most vulgar things, the possibilities here are endless. This one sounds fun and original and like a lot of people will have issues with the content. It’s great to see people pushing limits and expectations and this is one that could really do that!

For a full list head here. Although some people consider this list a way for certain agencies to push their own agendas. However, it often results in some excellent films: Juno, (500) Days of Summer, and The Social Network. Here’s to 2013′s Oscar race looking more exciting than this year’s. Uh oh. Can I say that?

This news has me torn. In one sense I hate sequels, remakes, etc. They are usually to make a quick buck on an already tired idea. On another, I’d rather see a sequel to something as fun and original and Kick-Ass than another Transformers. Or would I? Maybe not. It’s not that easy.

The Hangover was a breath of fresh air when it first arrived in 2008; that cannot be said about its 2011 sequel. Would Kiss-Ass have fallen into a trap like that? You still may get to find out.

The 2010 film hasn’t lost all it’s hope yet, just most of it. The likelihood of Matthew Vaughn directing again is on the absolutely no way side of slim to none. Mark Millar the creator of the Kick-Ass comic book says he hopes that Vaughn will possibly co-write and maybe produce? I don’t see this as a problem, unless of course it involves more than just a name attachment, then Vaughn will probably be too busy. Apparently he and co-writer Jane Goldman have a lot on their plates right now, leaving no time for the movie that gave them a career.

There is also the problem of working with young actors. The 21-year-old Aaron Johnson is busy with his 44-year old babies’ mama. (Yup.) Chloe Grace Moretz looks like she went from 12 to 25 in a little over a year. (She’s fourteen.) And McLovin is…

Maybe this thing will actually get made? It was pretty successful for what it was, but the demand really isn’t there. Whereas The Hangover 2 grossed sixty thousand million and a half dollars, a movie about regular teenage superheroes may have lost its charm after one go around. Sometimes it’s better that way. To look at it from another perspective, in fifteen years they’ll probably remake it anyway. Why not wait until then?

As you fellow Movie-Banterers know, both The Social Network and Let Me In are premiering this weekend. I know we’re all thinking it so I’ll just say it-Does Let Me In stand a chance??? Let’s think about this…

I think it’s safe to say that they’re both culturally American films—Let Me In is basically the American version of the Swedish horror film Let the Right One In, and Facebook, well…duh. It’s also a good time for both films to “attack.” Facebook has evolved more than ever—there isn’t a single person who doesn’t know what it is. And the fact that Facebook has every possible audience member at its fingertips means the film will probably have the best publicity in the history of filmmaking. On the other hand, the vampires are making their comeback, what with Twilight, True Blood, etc. Even the actors make it a tough call—The Social Network’s Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake will be pulling in fans from all directions. Then again, we have Chloe Moretz, our fellow Kick-Ass superstar, and Richard Jenkins vying for Let Me In.

One thing I’m in favor of is Let Me In’s kick-ass female protagonist (pun intended). Unfortunately, it seems customary for movies with strong female protagonists to fail unless Angelina Jolie is the star, or there is good promise of sexual display, not unlike with the Charlie’s Angels films. I kind of doubt Let Me In can do this with a creepy underage girl as the main character… Because of the protagonists’ young age I would have expected the target audience to be of the same age (what is up with creepy children and the horror genre?), but the horror genre and R rating obviously indicate otherwise. To put it one way, the two films won’t really be stealing too much of each other’s target viewers. On the other hand, the story the film is based on is very highly esteemed and the Swedish film adaptation made back in 2008 got amazing reviews, being voted onto more than twenty five critics’ top ten lists of the best films that year. Therefore, we can hopefully expect no less from this one.

During a 2010 Tribeca Film Festival talk on the future of film distribution, a very experienced panel agreed that social networking ultimately doesn’t matter if the film isn’t good enough, one of their examples being Four Eyed Monsters (if you’ve never seen the film, then the point is made). However, The Social Network director David Fincher, being an Academy Award nominee and all, has a pretty good reputation, and all of the above in his film’s favor. If what the Tribeca panel said is true, Let Me In stands a chance overall, but not particularly for this weekend.

Which will you choose?

I don’t think I’m alone in saying X-Men: The Last Stand is among the worst superhero film exploitation ever made. Potential was completely wasted on pointless special effects, and a dazzling source story was ignored on top of that. Last summer’s blockbuster of X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t even seem to be on the map of where the two radically different directors of the original trilogy took their individual movies. It felt lost. We’ve been left to wonder whether an X-Men Origins: Magneto is happening, a spin-off on the frontrunner for the mutant school Charles Xavier, played by Ian McKellen, after Xavier was so hilariously butchered in the conclusion of Wolverine. Honestly I’d much rather see Hugh Jackman humiliate himself onscreen over the marvelous Sir McKellen.

Bryan Singer, director of the enjoyable X-Men and its sequel X2, was in talks to direct X-Men: First Class, a series of comics that primarily ran from September 2006 and ended in April of 2007. Basically a paper reboot of the original X-Men publications, though introducing new characters such as Lizard, Scarlet Witch, Man-Thing, Gorilla-Man, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman, and, most interestingly, Thor. Singer would have been a great choice, hopefully able to scrape the X-Men franchise from of the piles of cash and golden glitter bigwigs in L.A. have covered it in. However that’s no longer the case.

After Kick-Ass yielded amazing backlash among the people who actually saw it, its Matthew Vaughn (who also did Stardust and Layer Cake) was rumored as the replaced director. That was later confirmed. Now just a few days ago it was announced co-writer Jane Goldman (Vaughn’s wife) was currently rewriting the film’s script by Jaime Moss (Street Kings) and Josh Schwartz (Chuck). I’ll admit to being skeptical about this at first. Yet more writers and a director that aren’t Singer. X-Men is an extremely experimental property that nobody seems quite capable of hitting in the head. But if you’ve seen Kick-Ass you know how awesomely unconventional it turned out to be, and how the same can be said of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s off-the-wall graphic novel.

Not having read the comics, X-Men: First Class looks to be strangely opaque. It can be taken in multiple directions, as the past three movies were as well, and without consistently jerking it left and right a great movie can be squeezed out. Vaughn and Goldman were able to expertly transfer Kick-Ass onto the screen; even adding personal touches that gave it a sense of humor and a soul. If they’re able to do the same with X-Men: First Class it could mean the beginning of a fantastic franchise stepping out of the shadows. Should you hold out much hope? Vaughn and Goldman could have gone anywhere after Kick-Ass. I’m hard-pressed to believe they’ve succumbed to the evils of Hollywood this early in the game, as Kick-Ass had a torch of fierce ambition you couldn’t hold to much else. Though coming off Wolverine, a kick in the head could be a vital wake-up.

Kick-Ass is an adaption of the great graphic novel of the same name, about a dorky kid named Dave (Johnson) who creates this persona Kick-Ass to fight crime.  With no powers or skills at all, he ends up getting his ass kicked, but through viral videos, becomes a sensation.  He then teams with real hero’s Hit Girl (Moretz) and Big Daddy (Cage) to fight crime against the D’Amico crime gang in a funny and violent manner.  This movie is not for the faint of heart and the trailers may be a bit misleading.  For those new to it, they may think the movie is a comedy or a standard comic book movie.  If you don’t understand what its all about, you will be shocked by the actions, especially from Hit Girl where Chloe Moretz, the new up and comer plays a little girl who curses and kills.  This may offend some, but it’s 2010 and if that offends you, you are not someone who should see this movie.

This is a hard “R” and clearly deserved.  For the shock and awe alone most people will like this movie, add on top the very likeable characters, this is one for the ages.  Fans of the graphic novel will be happy, they stay true to the novel for about two thirds of the movie, and then things are different.  Not in a bad way, but filming began when the first series of the novel was not concluded yet.  Either way, depending on the success of this movie, a new series could be in the works.  This movie “Kicked-Ass” and in all the right ways.  This movie is definitely a Must See!!!

Snap Review of Kick-Ass

Click here to view the embedded video.

4/19/10 Update: Kick-Ass actually led the weekend with $19.8 million, How to Train Your Dragon at #2 with $19.6 million. Lionsgate could be counting Thursday night grosses for the superhero film, bringing it to #1. What follows is my reaction from Sunday.

You read that title correctly: DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon came in first place this weekend after hanging in the top five ever since its #1 debut the weekend of March 26^th. It made a quiet $20 million. Here’s my guess as to why: the only two wide releases opening last Friday were the R-rated Kick-Ass and the R-rated Death at a Funeral. What’s a parent with children to do on a Saturday afternoon? Why, go to a PG movie of course. After Kick-Ass rocked Friday with $7.5 million (I’d like to consider that a win) it fell prey on Saturday to HTTYD’s $9.2 million as well as Date Night’s $7.7 million. The movie’s total is up to $158.6 million in about four weeks.

I was really rooting for our anti-hero Kick-Ass to shock everyone with a first place bow. Sadly, that was not the case. Matthew Vaughn’s hyped epic managed to rally only $19.8 million in the long haul, less than even Watchmen’s $55.2 million debut last year. Much as I enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon, I loved Kick-Ass even more. Maybe not even for the movie’s story, but the story of the movie. It’s amazing this thing was even put onto screens in the first place. I wanted Kick-Ass to become a profitable success as to encourage more film studios to take risks. Not play it safe with Clash of the Titans or The Last Song, obvious money-makers, but a movie so over-the-top and indifferent it actually got people excited to see it. The restricted rating must not have helped 14-year-old fanboys get into a showing any more than it did make middle-aged couples plan a date night around it. In more positive news, it did beat director Vaughn’s last effort Stardust, which opened to $9.2 million.

Date Night fell 31.4% to third with $17.3 million, a $49.2 million total so far. On a $55 million budget Shawn Levy’s action-packed rom-com is sure to make back its budget, and maybe even a little more in shear profit, and then quickly fade away. The other big release this weekend Death at a Funeral, Nail LaBute’s American remake of a burial gone very badly came to mediocre reviews (39% on Rotten Tomatoes) and started off with $17 million. Not surprisingly, it conquered Frank Oz’s original’s debut of $1.3 million in 2007, as well as defeating LaBute’s previous film Lakeview Terrace, which opened with $15 million in 2008.

In hopefully Clash of the Titans’s last weekend in the top five, Louis Leterrier’s reboot dropped 40.8% to #5 with $15.8 million. The movie’s domestic total is now $133 million.

Out of the top five-

• First time writer-director Derrick Borte’s The Joneses, about a product placement disguised as a suburban family and starring Demi Moore, began with $554,000 playing on 193 screens and garnering $2,870 per.
• William Dear’s long-delayed mini-league sports flick The Perfect Game opened with $494,000 on 417 screens.
• Oscar-winning foreign language film The Secret in Their Eyes, following one man’s investigation of a past murder, had a $176,000 debut with an impressive $17,600 per-screen average.
• A movie I’m dying to see, Banksy’s street art doc Exit Through the Gift Shop grossed $166,000 on only eight screens. The Sundance favorite also had an awesome $20,750 per-screen average, the highest of a movie playing in more than one theater. I can’t wait for an expansion so I can finally check this out!
• James Ivory’s drama The City of Your Final Destination, starring Anthony Hopkins, made $22,000 on a single screen.
• Boston Film Festival prodigy Handsome Harry managed $13,500 at four theaters.
• Public school education documentary The Cartel began with $4,100 on two screens.

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday-

1. 1. How to Train Your Dragon…$20 million
2. 2. Kick-Ass…$19.8 million
3. 3. Date Night…$17.3 million
4. 4. Death at a Funeral (2010)…$17 million
5. 5. Clash of the Titans (2010)…$15.8 million
6. 6. The Last Song…$5.8 million
7. 7. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?…$4.2 million
8. 8. Hot Tub Time Machine…$3.5 million
9. 9. Alice in Wonderland (2010)…$3.5 million
10. 10. The Bounty Hunter…$3.2 million

Currently at 74% and Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, here are some positive and negative critical reviews for Kick-Ass –

Positive:

• “A particularly timely story about civic-mindedness and the pursuit of fame.” – Jonathan Joe, Chicago Reader
• “Doing for superheroes what Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels did for gangsters, Kick-Ass is colorful, irreverent, Tarantino-ish fun, especially when the brilliantly oddball Cage is on screen.” – Nicholas Barber, Independent on Sunday
• “Kick-Ass starts with a big laugh and they don’t stop coming for two hours. The script is sharp; there are clever comic book graphics, a cool soundtrack and a satisfying ending.” – Roz Laws, Birmingham Post

Negative:

• “Let’s say you’re a big fan of the original comic book, and you think the movie does it justice. You know what? You inhabit a world I am so very not interested in.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• “I started hating this movie around the midpoint.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
• “Never as shocking as it thinks it is, as funny as it should be, or as engaged in cultural critique as it could be.” – Karina Longworth, Village Voice

Here’s to Vaughn and the rest of Kick-Ass. I haven’t been this excited for a book-adapted movie since Watchmen.

Kick-Ass, the much anticipated graphic novel to be adapted into a full length movie, will be coming to theaters this April.  To say the comic book is “graphic” is an understatement.  Like most people who probably did not initially know of the comic book, when I heard the title “Kick-Ass” I just laughed at how stupid this will be and how I can’t believe Hollywood is really going to put out such a corny and obvious stupid movie that is guaranteed to fail.  But then I was turned on to the graphic novel by my brother and a friend, both who praised it not just for the writing and drawings, but also the extreme blood and guts that is combined with it.

Reading this I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I enjoy reading graphic novels every now and then, but wasn’t so sure about this, especially when I heard it was about some dorky kid who wanted to be a superhero.  When I started reading, I was turned on right away.  The illustrations are incredible, and the writing is down to earth and easy to relate to.  The author uses a very straight forward high school dialogue perfect for 2010.  Working in social media, I love the fact that the superhero became famous from Youtube and MySpace.  Maybe it’s a bit outdated with the MySpace, but you get the point.  The author played well to the language of the character and audience who would be reading it and did not hold back at all with offensive language, or offensive anything.

And like I said at the beginning, this is “graphic” beyond beliefs.  You want cursing…check.  Nudity….check.  Little girls cutting off the heads of mobsters….check.  The author leaves nothing to the imagination in this graphic novel and I’m happy he didn’t.  Now I can’t wait for this movie to come out next month, and early reviews have been positive.  They said they were true to the graphic novel and tried to work in the multiple story lines, and of course have the black humor and blood that you would expect.  Although this involves kids, this will not be a kid movie, at least I hope not.

The only potential downside is that the movie was made before the first edition of the graphic novel was finished, so the ending of the movie may be entirely different than the ending in the book.  I hope this is not because I actually liked the ending to the book.  The other potential downside is Nicolas Cage is one of the main characters.  Nic Cage was a beast for years in the late 80′s and 90′s and “The Rock” is one of my favorite movies of all times.  But he’s been terrible lately, and the fact that he is completely bankrupt scares me that he was desperate for a role, and is only looking for a pay check.  I know that might be a strange correlation but after Ghost Rider, how could one not be worried.  I hope I’m wrong and he fits the bill perfectly with this movie.  Either way, I cannot wait for this movie now and hope more people give it a chance past the silly name.

Are you excited for Kick-Ass?

With a title like that, do I even have to further convince you to want to see this movie? Kick-Ass centers on high school loser Dave Lizewski who, one day, up and decides he wants to be a superhero. Though he has no special advantages or even a need to become one. Like every other fanboy in the world, I’m excited to see what director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust) is able to do with the screenplay he co-wrote with Jane Goldman.

Kick-Ass isn’t just the mechanical superhero movie that studios incessantly spit out for profit. In fact, I didn’t even know that this was a superhero movie when it was announced. What could divide reactions for Kick-Ass is how it handles the raunchy humor seen in the trailers. This movie is a hard-R, by the way, thus able to get away with far more things than a PG-13 flick could. Take Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, for example. You think Matthew Vaughn could dangle a blue penis in front of you for two and half hours? It’s a marvel that this movie is even happening at all. Then again, I felt the same way prior to seeing Watchmen last year.

I’m going to stop myself from saying that the Kick-Ass marketing campaign has been great. I don’t recall seeing many trailers for Stardust or Layer Cake; Vaughn really has something big on his hands this time around, and he knows it as well as the rest of us that this movie could make or break him career-wise. I’m told the footage he ran at Comic-Con last year was pretty badass, but I have yet to see it. To me the green-band and red-band trailers released for this thing have induced goose bumps. The only thing wrong with them is that they don’t really have a target audience in mind. You could place the insane red-band Hit Girl trailer in front of either Youth in Revolt or Daybreakers and probably still get equal reactions from both crowds. Expect the ultimate audience clash on April 16^th.

Only two months since the first green-band trailer debuted online and Kick-Ass has already managed to piss off family value groups, Rupert Murdoch, and The Australian Daily Telegraph newspaper. Little do these highbrows know that the controversy they’re currently stirring up is only helping to spread the word around. My most-anticipated movie of 2010 has to be Kick-Ass. Even if it is a giant stinker, or if it starts big box office-wise then quickly deflates, I’ll be entirely grateful for Kick-Ass. In the movie cesspool of crap that is the winter months, there’s nary as talked-about a movie as this. For now, let’s just enjoy basking in the radiant glow of Matthew Vaughn’s work. It doesn’t have to be a giant blockbuster, but Kick-Ass has so far proved that it can be exactly that.

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