This apparenly is the new Spider-man Costume.

Some on set pictures of the new Spider-man costume emerged from the rabbit hole today. Here is the clearest one.

Boy am I not impressed. First of all what is with the silver accents on the feet? I could possibly understand it on the wrists since they have made great hey out of the fact that Peter Parker is going to be using web shooters in this movie, as in the comic, instead of just growing spinnerets in his forearms. Does this indicate he'll be shooting webs out of his feet? Worse yet does it mean that he'll have some kind of technological amplification for his wall crawling abilities? Did the costume department get some kind of bulk deal on sonic welding? Either way I think it looks pretty bad. It looks too much like he is wearing some kind of flip-flop boot. I also dislike the way they have redistributed the red and blue parts of the costume. It recalls the worst aspects of Michael Bay's Optimus Prime. Red creeping in to the blue areas. Blue creeping in to the red areas. No logic to any of it. I see red stripes going up the legs. Fine. They could attach to the red belt area normally on the costume. Oh wait. The belt area is gone and in its place two dagger like points that don't even come around to the front. So instead of getting the "Han Solo, Blood Stripe" look you wind up a strange upside down u that serves only to contour his ass as he swings down 6th Avenue.

And therein lies the heart of the matter. This costume seems to me to be yet another hint at what is really going on with this Spider-man reboot. We may be witnessing the beginning of the twilightification of the superhero. In one of my first posts on this blog I let loose a rant about Superman: Earth One, and how it was not trying to make Superman in to Edward Cullen. While I stand by that I also know that it was marketed like he was and most of the bad criticism came from that. I hate to say it but what they did to Superman with marketing they may be doing to Spider-man whole hog. I mean look at this kid.

Does that look like the nerdy kid in your science class that you knew if you cheated off of him you were guarenteed to ace the test? Does it look like the kid who perseveres over immense hardship, always amazed at how much he has to deal with but never without a quip on the tip of his tongue? No. It looks like the emo jerk sitting at the back of the class wearing black eyeliner and whining about how no one will ever really understand him. I fear this new Spider-man may be designed to rope in the teenage girl demographic at the expense of its core audience. I hope I am wrong but as of right now I have a feeling like this Spider-man will be a major step down.

The Dark Kinght Rises: Anne Hathaway as Catwoman? Tom Hardy as Bane?

In 2005 when Batman Begins came out I was not overtly excited about it. I had seen Christopher Nolan's previous work and while I enjoyed Memento his next movie Insomnia left me a little cold. Also, and this is the real rub of it, I felt Hollywood would never get a better hold on Batman then it did in 1989 with Tim Burton's interpretation. Even that did not compare with Kevin Conroy and Paul Dini's work on Batman: The Animated Series which outside of the comics themselves has been, for me at least, the definitive version of the character. I thought that the true depth of the character was beyond Hollywood's grasp.

Then the movie came out. When I saw it I remember walking out of the movie thinking "Finally, they got it right." While Batman as a character is widely open to interpretation this was the first time that they had gotten the core of the character almost perfect. From Christian Bale's performance to Nolan's direction and script it was almost pitch perfect.

When The Dark Knight came out I dropped the almost. It was by far the greatest, deepest and most complex superhero movie that had ever been made. Growling Batman voices aside Bale brought the depth and pain of Bruce Wayne to the screen while maintaining an appropriately heroic demeanor during even the most gut wrenching of scenes. The interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker is in my opinion one of the greatest scenes ever committed to film. Which brings me to Heath Ledger. The greatness of his performance as the Joker can only be outweighed by the tragedy of his untimely death.

This gives The Dark Knight Rises an awful lot to live up to and with this casting call I am not sure they are up to the task. At least if the rumors I have heard are true. Both Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy are great actors and will bring the chops necessary to make this movie live up to its predecessors. I am not entirely sure about Hathaway as Catwoman. I know she has been in a variety of roles and has the chops to play Selina Kyle. She just feels a little too "Girl Next Door" to put out the heat required for Catwoman. I don't fear for that though. In fact I am sure she relishes the opportunity to do exactly that and prove me wrong. These are the things I do fear for. I fear for the script. I fear for the fact that The Dark Knight was left so powerfully with the set up for a continuing struggle between Batman and The Joker and now that obviously can't happen. I fear the rumors that Catwoman may be acting primarily as a hero filling in for Batman and not as a Jewel Thief. (Actually that rumor was so outrageous I don't believe it for a second) Mostly I fear that Bane, while badass is no substitute for the Joker. There is only one Batman villain that even comes close on that count. So for The Dark Knight Rises I hold out hope that one of these days soon a rumor will pop up that Liam Neeson has been secreted in to the set. Only Ras' Al Ghul can bring this series full circle.

I hope that Christopher Nolan has the foresight to know that. He has said this will be his last Batman movie. I hope that he finishes his story and sets up for a reboot instead of setting up the franchise to be passed on to another creative team. All great stories need a beginning, a middle and an end. That is rule number 2. I hope Nolan and his team know enough to follow it.

Just for the record. Rule number 1 is; Given any amount of time to prepare Batman always wins.

Tron: Legacy brings zen to computing.

First off let me say that for a movie whose first trailer came before its script this movie was still pretty freaking sweet. That is not to say that it is Shakespeare or even Alan Moore but its pretty great for what it is. So what is it? It's the 3D wizard of oz. Literally. The movie starts out in 2d and only goes to 3d when they get to the computer world. I had no idea that is how they would handle it but in retrospect it was a pretty cool idea. Their are references to the original movie aplenty and yes, we do find out what happens to Tron himself. He actually appears all over the movie although most of the time he is masked. We do get a pretty sweet flashback scene in which we see a de-aged Bruce Boxleitner do battle with the CGI Jeff Bridges that is Clu. The movies villain. Clu is a great villain in the tradition of Darth Vader and Sinestro. The villain who sees himself as the champion of order and because of that eradicates freedom. He even goes so far as to commit a genocide against the Isos. A new breed of program that spring spontaneously from the grid. They are the fulcrum of this story. Artificial Intelligence born from the system itself. Not created by the users. Kevin Flynn, the creator of the grid, sees them as its ultimate evolutionary end. Jeff Bridges brings some Dudeariffic zen to this role that was not in the original movie but I am cool with that. I can even forgive his over use of the exclamation, "Man!"  Clu, Flynn's creation also played by Bridges but digitally de-aged, sees the Isos as a corruption. Something to be cleansed from the grid. The story's protagonist is Sam Flynn. Kevin's son who has been left without a father while his has been imprisoned inside his own creation. We learn of this computer generated world thorough Sam's eyes as he is forced into many of the same scenarios his father faced twenty years ago. Tron: Legacy is original enough to stand on its own although it does owe a lot not only to its predecessor but also to The Matrix movies. Much of the style of this movie was borrowed from there. The story kept me guessing and although the ending was mildly disappointing in a few ways I am still really glad they made this movie. It builds wonderfully on my childhood memories. It does not just exploit them as a way to separate me from my fourteen bucks. Take note Mr. Bay.