Reliving An Old Habit.

Met up with my two besties Jia and Eileen yesterday for lunch. Jia just got back from Aus and gave me stuff she got for me while she was there. I'm now the new proud owner of a genuine kangaroo scrotum pouch(nyuk) and a really cool book on sci-fi film critique by philosopher, Stephen Mulhall. Got a few goodies like potato chips and chewing gum too. Thanks loads for the awesome gift, Jia!

After lunch and lengthy chats about our vacations, Jia and Eileen accompanied me on my quest to relive an old, secondary school habit. Buying and reading comic books... =p It turned out to be a walk down memory lane of sorts. We went to a store at bras basah that I used to frequent as an adolescent and man, was I overwhelmed by the stacks of comic books with displays of action figures and posters that virtually cover the walls. While I was hungrily scouring the racks of my favourite, the X-Men, Jia chanced upon a box of newly released 20th anniversary Care Bears soft toys and they're so cute! We miss 'em since Care Bears was like the thing during our collective childhoods being '81 babies, the 3 of us. Jia bought Bedtime Bear(very adorable) and I spent my dough for the day on 3 X-Men comic books. Then we went to town to visit a small toy store at Wheelock Place(where Eileen bought her tiny poohs) to check if they've got a stock of new Care Bears too. They got the same ones as the comic book store and they told us new stock/characters will be coming in over the near future. So Jia left her number and she'll keep me informed cuz I'm quite determined to get some of 'em to make up for the ones I lost years back. It really isn't as dramatic as it may have sounded. =p Anywayz, went home after that to read X-Men and I'm still pondering about how and why comics still poke at my interests. This isn't exactly the first time I had wanted to know what's up with my fave mutants an since I've quit collecting like 5 years ago, I still go back once in a while to look 'em up. I guess old habits just die hard. =p

Speaking of which, X-Men made it in vogue again to make movies out of comic books after Schumacher hacked the Batman franchise with its fourth horrific installment. Being a fan of the X-Men books, I had mixed feelings toward the movie. I like the way Bryan Singer approached the whole matter about prejudice against mutants and the question of humanity but didn't like how his treatment of the characters. Anywayz, I'm starting to rant. Here's a list of movies that's on the Hollywood comic band wagon and will be coming to our town soon(for some anyway). Any of your favourites as a kid?

Road to Perdition

Absolutely have to, haveta, haveta, haveta watch this one. I ran a short description of this movie on one of my previous entries and have been watching its production progress. By a talented director(Sam Mendes) and a stellar cast (Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh), it's set to be one period piece with punch. Official Website

X2(X-Men 2)
Yeah, yeah I'm a sucker for this one. I just hope Singer does a better job handling the plot and characters. The cast returns together with some new characters. View Trailer

The Hulk

I'm not much of a Bruce Banner fan but maestro Ang Lee helmed this project and assembled a pretty impressive cast to join him with the likes of Eric Bana(Chopper), the beautiful and amazing Jennifer Connelly and Nick Nolte. Looks quite interesting. View Trailer

Daredevil
The comic didn't actually compell me to check it out but it's got a considerable fan following. I'm not much of a Ben Affleck(who's starring in this btw) fan either. The trailer only treaded lukewarm waters but I am quite curious about how Jennifer Garner(Alias) will turn out in this film. Michael Clarke Duncan and Joe Pantoliano(Memento) also stars. View Trailer

Hellboy
In the midst of production right now with a relatively unknown lead Ron Perlman. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro of the mui, mui excellent The Devil's Backbone. About a group of Nazis who dabbled in the occult and tried to raise a force of destruction during the world war in 1944 but were stopped by a group of Allies. A red skinned, horned child was indeed conjured and he grew up not into the evil entity he was meant to be but rather a champion of good. Looks like a potential if done right yah?

Spider-Man 2
The dream team of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are confirmed on a return. Recently Kirsten Dunst signs on. The villains for the film are planned to be Dr. Octopus(rumour has it Sam Neil will play the part) and the Lizard.

Batman:Year One
This is still in script stage. It has quite an interesting premise with the film exploring how Bruce Wayne started out as the caped crusader and how Commissioner James Gordon began his career as lieutenant in the poice force. But what got me into a frenzy about this project is that Darren Aronofsky is writing and slated to direct! Aronofsky!! The genius behind Requiem For A Dream and indie legend, Pi.

Superman vs. Batman
This one is still in development and has thousands of movie geeks in hype override. Script ideas have been bouncing around for a while now but no concrete details yet. But it has been said both the cities of Gotham and Metropolis will be in the film. Wolfgang Petersen(A Perfect Storm) will direct.

And this next film is not based on a comic book but is an indie that has some animated sequences to highlight the imagination of its lead characters. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is a coming of age drama about a group of friends(Kieran Culkin, Emile Hirsch) from a catholic school who were caught producing an obsene comic book. They then plan a huge prank to outdo their previous one hoping their deeds will go down in their town history. Jodie Foster(SisterAssumpta), Vincent D'Onforio(Father Casey) and Jena Malone(Margie Flynn) in the cast.

Official Website