"Link, I Am Your Father"

This doesn't need an entire post to itself but if you haven't heard you should know that SHAME, the eagerly awaited Hunger follow up from visionary Steve McQueen will open on December 2nd. That's the one that stars the naked raw talents known as Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. Yay! I'd tell you that I'm seeing it this week but the press screenings at NYFF this year have been more difficult than in past years... so I plan to see it this week.

LINKS
Rope of Silicon has first pic of Russell Crowe as Superman's father in Man of Steel. I get why the capes are that muted color but it's still weird to think of SuperPeople with muted color palette costumes.
Movie|Line Awesome inimitable director/personality Werner Herzog will play the villain in the Tom Cruise vehicle One Shot. As TFE's unsung hero Michael put so well on twitter "The only thing that would make that Werner Herzog news cooler is if he's playing Werner Herzog."
Hollywood and Fine  on the shifts of star generations and how that plays into The Ides of March with Ryan Gosling vs. George Clooney. It's a smart piece though some of the claims are suspect (like DeNiro and Pacino still having great work in them...uhhhh)  
MNPP Luke Evans Seven Times 

The House Next Door Jaime N Christley is a dissenting voice on Mexico's critic's darling Miss Bala 
Frankly My Dear.... War Horse newbie Jeremy Irvine already has his follow up picture. He'll be in the umpteenth Great Expectations adaptation. This one for director Mike Newell.

Vanity Fair Johnny Depp is the new cover boy and apparently he hates being photographed (uhhhh) and he says yes to all the stupid money for his kids (Uhhhh... what kids need $300 million dollars? Isn't becoming  a hack really for your kid's kid's grandchildren at this point? $300 million for the Pirates franchise alone.) Unsolicited advice: Take a challenging role soon, maybe by a new visionary writer/director who nobody would think to bankroll without you, do it for scale and rediscover your gift. Just sayin'. 
Antagony and Ecstasy Mr Brayton, one of the best critics on the net and a twentysomething cancer survivor, reviews the twentysomething cancer comedy 50/50.

Today's Recommended Watch
The making of that infamous nippley The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo poster set to the film's score. 

Superman and the Spit Curl

Another week, another "first look!" at another superhero. This is Henry Cavill as Superman in Zach Snyder's upcoming film Man of Steel (2013). Cavill looks fine but for the lack of eyebrows. I don't remember Cavill or Superman being eyebrow free in previous incarnatians. And of course I miss that dangly lock of Super hair that Kal-El is always rocking. There are some classics you just don't mess with... like spit curls. I can't prove it but I think that if you lop off the spit curl that's as good as making his cape out of a polykryptonite blend. He'll be down for the count in no time.

Spit Curls forever! Is what I'm saying.

Shouting, actually.

Curio: Bubblegum Card Oddities

Alexa here. Everyone knows that there is a whole universe devoted to sports trading cards, with stories of someone selling their Mickey Mantle card for thousands.  Of course a similar form of geekdom revolves around sci fi films, with Thor and Star Wars trading cards produced by the truckload.   But occasionally I run across some vintage film trading cards that I find a little unexpected.  Here are some I've enjoyed.

Yes, I bought this complete set of Saturday Night Fever trading cards about 15 years ago.  You'll be happy to know that I didn't spend all that much; apparently a card of Tony Manero in his black briefs isn't worth much in the open market.  The unopened packages still had gum!  My favorite part was being able to assemble the poster image from the back of the set.

Although it makes sense that they produced Alien trading cards in 1979 (in a feeble attempt to ride the Star Wars sci fi wave) I find it hilarious that this means there are trading cards out there of Veronica Cartwright and Harry Dean Stanton!

But wait there's more: Marlon Brando, Mia Farrow and...

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Superboyfriend

may flowers bloom daily at noon

Kal-El is not just Superman, he's  Superboyfriend.  All Lois Lane needs to mention is "woman's touch" and "dinner" and he's not just ordering out, he's flying to far off continents to fetch her munchies and exotic florals to improve the mood.

After dinner, a little suggestive banter...

"I thought we might, uh..." [cork popping]

He's also got Super Bedroom Eyes (x-ray vision, don'cha know).

Lois is a goner.

voila...
Super Dessert!

Superman II is so 1980. Could you imagine a superhero plot now in which a superhero must renounce all his powers to have sex? Although, come to think of it, the most promiscuous heroes -- billionaire playboys Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne -- don't actually have super powers so maybe this plotline is telling.

Gotta Rant! Men (and Women) in Tights.

Gotta Sing....
A few days ago I read over at A Socialite's Life that Hugh Jackman is talking to Bollywood producers about work. You know... I like Bollywood just fine, sometimes quite a lot more than that, and I don't mean this as a slight but Hollywood is a crappy crappy please if one of its biggest stars has to actually leave our movie industry for another to show off his skillset. Grrrr. And, also: grrrl. (I'm fuming). I guess Hollywood only wants him to Wolverine but he has so much more in him.

Where is his big screen musical? If ever a modern male star could be a big deal singing and dancing on the screen it's him. He was amazement in The Boy From Oz on Broadway and he was thisbig. I saw him from the last row of the house with my head touching the wall in the far left corner (truth), the worst seat I've ever had for a show, and I was totally mesmerized. I think seeing him blown up on the big screen doing that same thing might kill me. But I'd die happy.

Amy Adams is another huge bankable star whose musical talent is in danger of being wasted. Lois Lane? Really? A role that any feisty actress could do in her sleep and also another "girlfriend" part to the true star. You'd think after hit movies and multiple Oscar nominations, she could get another good leading role.

The only way I want to see Amy Adams, who is so dynamite in comedy (Enchanted) and dramedy (Junebug) and in the right dramatic role (The Fighter), in a superhero movie is if she's the superhero.

The rest of the negativity must be confined to the jump. Click ahead for more on superheroes, Batman's eventual reboot and that weary-limbed Natalie Portman dancing controversy.

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