Why Justice League of America the movie won't work

In what is probably a smart move from a financial perspective but disappointing from a fan boy's viewpoint, Justice League of America (JLA) may be coming to the big screen as a motion capture CGI movie rather than a live-action flick.

Obviously, there are some issues with releasing a full, live-action JLA movie:

• It will be expensive
• If JLA is to feature Batman and Superman, a live action film would probably require some consistency among actors, namely Christian Bale as Batman and Brandon Routh as Superman
• Wonder Woman and other properties are potential other franchises coming soon

But a "real life" motion capture in CGI also has its drawbacks:

• So far, this technology has produced creepy crap (The Polar Express) and just doesn't look that good
• Why shouldn't Justice League of America try to compete with X-Men?
• The visuals suck

Personally, I have some issues with Justice League of America the movie anyway. It's not that I wouldn't have fun watching the movie, but here are some reasons why it won't be as good of a movie as fans think it could be:

• It will be compared to X-Men, a very good and very profitable franchise.
• Unlike X-Men, the superheroes who make up the team all have their independent comic books and stories. They are not a cohesive team because they were not designed to be on a team.
• For a movie, if all of the characters have separate costumes may cause a problem and will probably look cheesy.
• You can't give them all the same uniform like in X-Men, because you can't very well change Batman's costume or Superman's.
• Even as a CGI, won't there be some preference to have Christian Bale play Batman?
• For consistency's sake, let's through Brandon Routh into that argument, too.
• D.C. characters work better on their own.
• Batman was always a silly member of the JLA. Awesome character, but completely out of place.
• Justice League of America will likely be more sci-fi oriented than the more serious approaches the Batman and Superman franchises have been trying to establish.
• I'd rather see D.C. invest the movie in high quality individual superhero flicks than an extravaganza such as this.
  

New The Dark Knight photo, plus a teaser trailer

Thanks to Comic-Con (I really have to go next year, don't I?), all kinds of goodies are unleashing themselves, and the latest is some new stuff from The Dark Knight camp. The teaser trailer is nothing to scream about, but it does set the stage for what's to come. There's no footage involved... just a slowly emerging Batman logo with blue rays of light behind it. The highlight of the teaser, though, is the dialogue, which is quite impressive... and you get to hear Heath Ledger as The Joker, and he sounds surprisingly like Jack Nicholson, only creepier and more psychotic.

All in all, it's a good teaser, though it would have been cool to have a brief shot of The Joker in action. In the mean time, though, we get another picture, this time of The Joker taking on Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

The Dark Knight Images

Don't know if this is old news or not as I've been out of town for a couple weeks, but this picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker made me nearly pee my pants. I already had high hopes, but just this one shot is enough to have me stamping an "A+" on The Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie, right away. Doubters be gone!

Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes in The Dark Knight

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Maggie Gyllenhaal is set to join the all-star cast of The Dark Knight for Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures.

She'll play D.A. Rachel Dawes, the love interest to Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale), replacing Katie Holmes from Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan returns as director, along with actors Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman; Heath Ledger is the Joker, while Aaron Eckhart will play D.A. Harvey Dent, also known as the villainous Two-Face.

Jonathan Nolan wrote the script for The Dark Knight, which is scheduled to begin shooting in April for a 2008 release.

The Dark Knight movie info