For me, the only real downside to Hollywood’s current love-affair with superheroes is that along with the “official” adaptations it seems like everyone is pulling their “revisionist take” retreads out of mothballs to try for a greenlight. Every post-“Watchmen” variation on “what happens when they retire??” “What if they weren’t as a good as we thought??” “What if they lived in the REAL world??” was done and re-done five times over by about 1998, but tell that to the geniuses who thought “Hancock” or “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” were a good idea.
But “Golden Age,” unofficially “announced” on Deadline as a Matthew Vaughn project based on a yet-to-be-published Johnathan Ross comic, actually sounds worth being cautiously-optimistic about…
The idea, as described by Vaughn, refers to retired WWII-era heroes who’re drafted back into service when their children’s generation of heroes “screw up the world.” So… “Kingdom Come,” basically – but with an added element that makes me take notice: The rest-home supers will fight their children’s mistakes alongside their superhero grandchildren – The Greatest Generation and Generation X versus The Boomers.
I’m kind of a sucker for “elderly/kid” teamups to begin with, but the potential for something uniquely “zetigeisty” in this intrigues me. There’s a strong undercurrent with a lot of my generation (and the generation directly behind us) of feeling like we “relate” more strongly to our grandparents than our actual parents. Some of it is the mythologizing effects of media (“grammy and grampy defeated Hitler and were awesome, mom and dad were smelly hippies who couldn’t win ‘Nam”) and some of it is probably the dramatic rise in two-income families and with them extended-grandparent-babysitting… but whatever it is it’s there. Heck, it’s not even ENTIRELY new to the genre – Carrie Kelley’s whole arc in “Dark Knight Returns” was quite-directly about young teenager rejecting her Boomer parents – still getting stoned and musing about old rock songs well into parenthood – for Old Man Batman.
I want to see where they go with this.
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
Well, definitely sounds interesting, to say the least. Here's hoping Vaughn takes the premise in a new bold direction.
I'm sure you've already heard they want to cast Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson. Now that sounds like something I'd love to see.
In case you hadn't here's the link;
http://movies.ign.com/articles/115/1150480p1.html
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Speaking of superheroes Bob, I'm afraid there's some troubling news: the big guys over at Warner Bros. apparently want Zack Snyder to rush his Superman movie so he can direct a sequel to 300. Also, there have been test screenings for Sucker Punch and word has it that i…gulp…sucks
http://movies.ign.com/articles/115/1150367p1.html
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Before someone points it out, I know the Superman thing also has to do with Warner Bros. not losing the rights to the character.
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So, is this a metaphor for current events, where the Boomers are getting blamed for the current economic crisis?
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There's a reason why reports of a production being “in trouble” are treated like a big deal – their rare. And their rare because studios keep a RIDICULOUSLY tight lid on bad internal buzz. 9 times out of 10, when you stuff like this it's an orchestrated “leak” meant to adjust expectations.
In the case of Superman – yes, EVERYTHING you hear good bad or otherwise is 100% related to the need to get the movie finished before the rights transfer back over. Literally, that's the ONLY reason a Nolan-backed, Snyder-directed Superman movie is in-production right now. You'll hear a million and one reasons why it's going ahead this fast and without a “polished” script, but the real reason is a ticking clock, simple as that.
The technical “word” on Sucker Punch is that test-audiences aren't into it – again, not a huge shocker. SP is a movie Warners is letting Snyder make in order to keep him happily on the reservation; they're expecting it to be a niche movie but you can't just come out and say “hey, our expensive movie isn't for everyone!” so instead you let it slip that test-audiences (generally chosen on a lowest-common-denominator level to begin with) aren't going for it and train the press not to expect a big hit.
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I'm glad to hear you're still optimistic about both projects Bob, I'm still very excited about both.
And most critics didn't like Watchmen either, so I see no reason to stop expecting Sucker Punch to deliver on all of the awesomeness promised in its trailers.
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I must say Bob, you sure have a way of making things better with words.
For the sake of staying relevant to the big point at hand, they say that the people behind The Golden Age are interested in casting Clint fuckmotherin' Eastwood. Yes, please.
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Hey Sucker Punch might not be a 'great' movie, but it can still be a REALLY FUN movie. 🙂
Like Transformers. (Bitch all you want, but there were still giant robots fighting.)
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Kind of makes me think of a comicbook I have here, called The Twelve. About 12 superheroes from the golden age waking up today and how the modern world reacts to Golden Age heroes and heroics.
1 is arrested for murdering villains, 1 is locked up because he is insane, etc. etc.
Not great, but worth skimming through.
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What about my generation? Us late 80s, early 90s kids have GREAT-grandparents who fought in WWII, and only our grandparents ever really sat around for Nam. How come 40-somethings have to team up with 80-somethings to fight 60-somethings? Where's the 20-somethings? I feel profoundly left out here.
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