Mark Harris explains the current state of the superhero movie genre.

Author Mark Harris (PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION, FIVE CAME BACK) has some interesting comments on the Grantland site about superhero films--a genre still locked in by Hollywood, though shaken by the failure of Fox's FANTASTIC FOUR reboot.

Here's a key quote from Harris:
There is, I think, an increasing sense that every mark the comic-book genre is forced to hit — origin stories, Easter eggs, big-picture continuity, action beats, fan service, world-stakes battles, potential sequels, post-credit sequences — is obstructing them from being movies. It certainly seems to be keeping their makers (“architects” feels like a more accurate term than “creators”) from any sense of joy — directorial joy, cinematic joy, authorial joy, or even the obsessional joy that allowed Peter Jackson to commit himself to living in Middle-earth for 15 years or that has sent James Cameron off to whatever solar system in which he is currently purporting to make Avatar sequels. These comic-book movies are, first and foremost, assignments. Directors and writers try to get through them with their souls and spirits intact. They pat themselves down afterward, the way you do when you get off a roller coaster, to see if they’re still all there. Some end up less all there than others.

Link to the complete article:

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/the-fantastic-four-fallout-the-future-of-comic-book-franchises/

On seeing GREEN LANTERN in 2-D in a mostly empty theater.

Random thoughts on GREEN LANTERN 2-D (I try to avoid movies where 3-D is only added in post-production) in no specific order:
1. Blake Lively should be campaigining to be part of Warren Beatty's just-announced Howard Hughes project; believe me, she needs the career boost.
2. Ryan Reynolds tries for a fusion of his old frat-boy persona, his newer twinkly/bemused romantic leading man persona and a bit of the old Tom Cruise-circa-TOP GUN schtick.  Bradley Cooper could have given a better performance with one hand tied behind his back and dragging around an anvil chained to his left foot.
3. No, GREEN LANTERN's not as terrible as some reviews indicate  But for an alleged $200 million superhero franchise-starter apparently shot in Louisiana to Save Money, it's pretty underwhelming--particularly so when you consider that Martin Campbell (who revived James Bond with both Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig) directed it.
4. Some quick shoutouts to Peter Sarsgaard (doing a fusion of John Waters and John Malkovich), Tim Robbins, Mark Strong and Geoffrey Rush (imitating Alec Guinness-as-Obi-Wan) for doing professional, keep-the-ship-sailing work.