Tag Archives: Movie

Flash Movie Back From the Dead? Dan Mazeau Rumored on Script

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Hot on the heels of Warner Bros. producer Charles Roven telling Sci Fi Wire that the Flash movie is “shrouded in mystery” but not actually dead, IESB reports that Dan Mazeau, writer of the upcoming Jonny Quest film, is writing a script.

IESB spoke with Roven, who would not confirm the news, but did talk about the character:

I was always a big fan of the comics. I was around for… Gosh, this is embarrassing, you know, the last two Flashes. The Flash that was the policeman and Kid Flash, Wally, and his uncle. Those are the two Flashes that I grew with, so I was excited to have the opportunity to try and see if I could actually translate those characters to the screen.

When the Flash movie was originally announced in 2004, David Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) was going to write and direct. He finished the script, but Warner Bros. thought it was too dark, and took him off the project. Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) was brought as the new director early in 2007, then replaced later that year by David Dobkin (Fred Claus), and the movie was re-positioned to spin out of the planned Justice League film.

Of course, all that fell apart, the Justice League film is basically on hold, and now Warner Bros. actually wants dark films. But rather than resurrect Goyer’s script, they’re apparently going back to the drawing board.

My cynical take: The original script probably featured Wally West as he took over from Barry Allen. With DC repositioning Barry Allen as the primary Flash, they probably didn’t want to muddy the waters with his successor.

Read up on the sordid history of the Flash Feature Film.

Speed Reading: Best-Of, Classics, Kerschl and Waid

And the year-end round-ups keep coming!

At Comic Fodder, Tpull’s Top Ten Mini-Series of 2008 counts Rogues Revenge at #4.

CBR’s When Worlds Collide lists Geoff Johns among its 15 Creators to Watch in 2009.

Geoff Johns makes iFanboy’s list of The Top 5 Best Things About Comic Books in 2008.

Also:

Bags and Boards looks at Flash v.1 #309 (May 1982), pitting the Flash against a man from the future who would, by the end of the issue, become the first future Flash

According to David S. Goyer, all DC movies at Warner Bros. are on hold while they figure out how to get them right. (via The Beat)

The Montreal Mirror profiles artist Karl Kerschl, who penciled Teen Titans Year One and one issue of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive. The article focuses on his work with the band Ragni and his webcomic, The Abominable Charles Christopher.

Major Spoilers has some preview pages from the upcoming The Incredibles comic written by Mark Waid.

Speed Reading: Movie, Geoff Johns and DCUO

Geoff Johns talks to MTV about DC Universe Online, saying that the massively-multiplayer game is likely to ship in early 2010 or late 2009. He also says he’d love to tackle a Flash or Superman movie.

And speaking of movies, Variety reports that the film industry is starting to take super-heroes seriously, and looks into which characters are likely candidates for the big screen.

Michael Doran, co-founder and senior editor of the comicbook news site Newsarama, sees the most movie potential for DC Comics’ the Flash.

“Superspeed just is so elemental,” he says. “The character, especially the Wally West version — the fast-talking, quick-witted type — his personality almost matches his superpowers.”

Back to the fan perspective, Comix 411 has a wishlist for the Flash movie, and Siskoid looks at “The Human Race”.

Review: Stan Lee’s Lightspeed

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I recently decided to try out Netflix’s instant streaming service by watching Stan Lee’s Lightspeed, the made-for-TV movie about a government agent turned super-speedster. It’s been on my queue for a while, and I figured I’d free up the slot for something else.

Ultimately, I was really impressed — with the service. The image and sound were very clear, even with the window playing fullscreen. I’m annoyed that it’s Windows– and Internet Explorer–only. Aside from that, the only thing I really missed was fine control over fast-forward and rewind.

The movie itself? Cheesy. And what’s worse, dull. I took a break halfway through and wasn’t sure I really cared about coming back to finish it. Heatstroke was better — and I mean that.

The structure’s fine. It starts with the villain, a man with snake-like skin called Python, and a firefight between the villain’s gang, the people in a building, and a SWAT-team–like group called the Ghost Squad. Then it flashes back to the villain’s origin, then jumps forward to the aftermath of the battle and weaves the hero’s origin into the tale of Python’s master scheme. Like many classic stories, the hero’s and villain’s origins are linked.

The effects are decent, if no more exciting than those that appeared on The Flash a decade and a half earlier. Though they do spend more time in daylight. The suit is goofy, but they at least hang a lampshade on its goofiness: he picks it up at a sporting goods store to help protect himself from windburn.

But the movie just isn’t compelling at all.

I started taking notes during the film, but they quickly turned into snarky commentary. So rather than writing a full review, I’m attaching them below the cut. There could be spoilers, so beware.

Continue reading →

Speed Reading: Kolins, Johns, Morrison

IGN is running an interview, the Geoff Johns Marathon, in which the writer talks about just about everything he’s working on, including Flash: Rebirth (via trmnlvlctyyy at Comic Bloc). Among other things, he writes:

Right now I’m looking at the Flash with Rebirth, and I want to see how I can make this mythology even bigger. It’s already huge. The Flash has an awesome base, so cracking it open even more has been an incredible challenge.

and

The Flash has always been my favorite character since I was a kid. And it’s fun to get back to writing Wally West. I wrote him for five years. To get back to him and then write Barry Allen. Like I said earlier, I get to take what I’ve learned over the last several years writing comics and apply it to the Flash. Because I started writing the Flash almost when I started writing comics, and now I get to look at everything I’ve done to this point and see how I can apply that onto my original work on the character. I want to continue to elevate my writing, and hopefully I’ll achieve that.

Newsarama interviews artist Scott Kolins on Faces of Evil: Grundy, which reunites him with Flash and Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge collaborator Geoff Johns.

Finally, MTV’s Splash Page wonders why Grant Morrison can’t talk about a Flash movie, given the number of NDAs he’s signed in connection with various film projects. [Edit: Since the original page has vanished, I’m attaching a quote from the Google cache so you can have a little context. Thanks, Rockin’ Rich.]

“Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I can’t talk about,” Morrison said. “Yes, I have talked to them. I’m deeply involved in those discussions. I know what’s going down with all of that, and it’s actually really exciting. But beyond that, I can’t say anything. I wish I could tell you. I’m sure announcements will probably be made at some point, but I can’t say anything.”

Fan “Flash” Movie Trailer Making Rounds

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I’ve seen several mentions today of a supposed teaser trailer for the long-delayed Flash movie — the one that, just a few days ago, we were told had no momentum.

Get the Big Picture has the clip, supposedly recorded on a cell phone during a Watchmen screening, and analyzes why it’s probably not the real deal, but a fan creation. Among other things, the story about how the recording was made just doesn’t add up.

I haven’t watched it with sound yet, but I’m inclined to agree.

Update: Thanks to Brandan, I’ve found a similar post at Slashfilm. No one knows who did make it so far, but it’s obviously not official.