Wonder Woman

Wednesday Comics!
Originally uploaded by antonkawasaki

There is a list, at least in my head, of Hollywood projects that should have happened and didn’t. Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman is one of those; while this err in judgment is being somewhat corrected by the fact that he is going to helm The Avengers, like so many DC heroes the Amazon princess has still never gotten a fair representation of herself on screen.

Other than Nolan’s Batman the one consistent way DC characters come to screen is through the DC direct to DVD animation division, which produced an origin story titled only Wonder Woman. While this story fit into the less cheesy frame of Dianna’s character than Linda Carter’s TV series, Wonder Woman still lacks everything a big screen version of the tale could bring her – namely reality and emotion.

This is the Batman Begins of Wonder Woman only it’s missing the glorious connective thread David Goyer wrote into Nolan’s tale. Instead, we begin Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazon’s defeating Ares and being granted a sanctuary for her Amazons. Since this great war of the gods the Amazon’s have been living in secrecy in a completely man-free environment until Capt. Steve Trevor crash lands on the Amazon’s island – an event that coincides with Ares escape into the real world. Dianna, princess of the Amazon’s is then sent to return Taylor to his country and find Ares, while Dianna secretly hopes to find a way to reconnect the Amazon’s with the outside world in the process.

While this plot sounds pretty concise and connected let me assure it is not. The main thing missing is any development of Taylor or Dianna themselves and the natural move of Dianna from being an Amazon princess to a super hero reluctant to return home. It all just happens.

Also, while I love the voice talent in this movie, I can’t help but feel that animation is not the way to connect with the Amazon’s. The DC animation lacked the heart and feeling I wanted to get behind the lines that were being said and the animation felt like a barrier leaving me wondering if it was the actors or images that were leaving me unable to connect to the characters.

All in all, while Wonder Woman was enjoyable it left me wanting a big screen version with a killer script that only Joss Whedon could have provided.

Director: Lauren Montgomery
Writer: Michael Jelenic
Wonder Woman: Keri Russell
Steve Trevor: Nathan Fillion
Ares: Alfred Molina
Artemis: Rosario Dawson
Hera: Marg Helgenberger
Hades: Oliver Platt
Hippolyta: Virginia Madsen

Advisor: Mr. President, the threat has been neutralized.
President: How?
Advisor: It seems by a group of armored supermodels.

Frost/Nixon

I do love Ron Howard, but for some reason I was not super excited about the prospect of seeing Frost/Nixon, but I still intended to see it because I know Ron Howard makes movies worth seeing. Well, I saw Frost/Nixon today and I can safely say that I was not at all disappointed in it, in fact I was enthralled by the film.

Frost/Nixon is the tale of David Frost who is a British television personality who decides it would be good TV, and exposure for himself to get an interview with Richard Nixon post his abdication of the presidency and the difficulties he faces when he succeeds in getting that interview. For me I think that this movie fell in the same category as The Queen and I was uninterested because I felt no need for another political history lesson. However, just as The Queen surprised me in its ability to entice me Frost/Nixon grabbed me and kept me rooted to my seat without ever feeling like I was watching a history channel dramatization; instead Ron Howard managed to make me feel like I was in the room with Frost and Nixon and their associates watching a game of tennis or a tug-of-war that neither personality could afford to lose.

What I did find delightful was Frank Langella’s portrayal of Richard Nixon. I’ve had the experience of visiting the Nixon library several times as it is remarkable close to my house and have therefore seen way more of Nixon than I ever wanted to; I believe due to this when I watched Langella in the Frost/Nixon trailer I couldn’t help but feel like he was a Nixon imposter, and it bothered me. However, between the talents of Langella and Howard when I was actually watching the film in its entirety Langella became Nixon for me. I am not sure that Langella deserves an Oscar for the performance, but he definitely deserves the nomination as he somehow captures the essence of Nixon’s stubborn ruthlessness and still manages to make him empathetic and slightly likeable.

So far out of all the films that actually scored a best picture nomination this year I’d have to say that Frost/Nixon would get my vote, but I do think they Oscar’s are a forgone conclusion this year and Slumdog Millionaire will be taking home the gold.

Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan
Richard Nixon: Frank Langella
David Frost: Michael Sheen
James Reston, Jr: Sam Rockwell
Jack Brennan: Kevin Bacon
John Birt: Matthew Macfadyen
Bob Zelnick: Oliver Platt
Caroline Cushing: Rebecca Hall
Pat Nixon: Patty McCormack

James Reston, Jr.: You know the first and greatest sin of the deception of television is that it simplifies; it diminishes great, complex ideas, trenches of time; whole careers become reduced to a single snapshot.