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February 18, 2014
“Man of Steel” follow up creates more skepticism with Eisenberg casting
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kevin garcia staff writer
In what initially looked like another big-budget superhero sequel, the follow-up to last year’s “Man of Steel” has turned into quite the hero extravaganza. The movie now looks more like a “Trinity” film featuring the iconic three DC heroes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. But on Jan. 31, 2014, one of the most anticipated films received heavy backlash when news broke that Jesse Eisenberg had been casted as Lex Luthor. Eisenberg is one of many unusual casting choices, but the sequel to “Man of Steel” might still be worth anticipating. Eisenberg, though an unusual choice, might have the potential to create a Lex Luthor we have never seen, a Luthor that has the same smarts and goals but approaching and acting upon them in untraditional ways. At least Eisenberg knows how to play an intelligent, snobbish, arrogant, and mischievous person, all of the things that make Luthor great; that was apparent in his role in the “Social Network.” You could even argue that the way he plays Mark Zuckerburg could be considered a modern day Lex Luthor. Even though this version of Luthor will be much younger than Superman, it will be interesting to see what they do with him. The possibilities are infinite, but let’s not be so quick to judge. But the casting of Ben Affleck landing the role as Batman pre-
Tyler Kerr cartoonist
Look at that smiley guy on the left. The perfect choice to play a conniving, diabolical supervillain, right?
ceded the news of Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and was just as controversial. Many people are familiar with the Ben Affleck of the early 2000s, who was dating Jennifer Lopez and starred in some lame films like “Gigli” and the awful “Daredevil.” But Affleck has improved over the years with roles like George Reeves in “Hollywoodland” and not to mention several Oscar nominations in films like “The Town” and “Argo,” which won Best Picture of 2012 plus two
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other awards. With seniority in the acting business, Affleck can bring assistance with dialogue and direction to the “Man of Steel” follow-up. It would be nice for Snyder to have a right hand man who has a role to help other actors who are perhaps less experienced. One of the biggest surprises still might have been the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, given that she is a relatively unknown actress. It is, however,
still a good chance for Gadot to show diverse talent, since she hasn’t been seen in much outside the “Fast and Furious” films where she has a one-dimensional role as an attractive woman driving cars. With the role of Wonder Woman, however, Gadot has the opportunity to portray a dynamic superhero character than the one she played in the “Fast & Furious” series, where she was underplayed. Gadot will have to deal with comic
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book fans and shallow criticism from being too thin to not being chesty enough to play wonder woman. It might be worth it to kill the sexism and put the skepticism aside, and give Snyder and company a chance; the film is still two years away. I have faith in DC and as long as Zack Snyder relaxes on the fireworks, David S. Goyer writes a dynamic script, and Christopher Nolan still has his influence, this movie could be a great success. Just
Politics boring you? Sick of hearing about #thirdworldproblems? Tired of seeming like an ignorant slob? Off The Wire compiles the worlds’s quirkiest news to help avoid that uncomfortable lull in conversation.
Shia LeBeouf’s String of Plagiarism Continues For nearly a year now, LeBeouf’s apparent boredom has pushed him to commit some serious acts of plagiarism. The little runt even had the gall to blatantly steal the work of Daniel Clowes and use it as the basis for a short film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The character allotment in this blurb simply isn’t enough to list the victims of Shia’s behavior, much less the following info. After having what seemed to be a complete break of sanity, Lebeouf spent the last week “performing” a piece titled #IAMSORRY. Shia sat in a studio for seven hours a day donning his “I am not famous anymore” paper bag mask while the viewers were given the opportunity, along with a table full of torture devices (no joke) and Shia paraphernalia, to do or say whatever they wanted to the poor little bitch. According to multiple sources, all he did was cry, which is enough to leave us all a little Disturbia(d). Costas’ Eye Infection Ruins Streak Bob Costas’ super fucking intense Russian-grade eye infection has costa [sic] lot: a 157 night run as NBC’s Olympic prime-time host, to be exact. Though Rapping Roberto made a few feeble efforts to maintain his post (i.e., ripping shots of vodka and switching from contacts to glasses), he sadly had to pass the torch (lol) to “Today’s” Matt Lauer on the Feb. 11 broadcast. NBC lists Costas condition as “day to day,” but by the time this catches your (hopefully NOT infected) eyes, ‘ol Bob’ll be back at the helm. At least we can rest assured knowing that Costas got more air-time than Shaun White this go-round.
Flappy Bird Flies the Coop “Flappy Bird was designed to be played in a few minutes when you are relaxed,” Dong Nguyen, Flappy Bird creator, told Forbes last week, “but it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem...it’s gone forever.” This is probably old news to most, but it’ll make for some good bird puns. The world’s gone raven mad over the disappearance of one of the biggest app store downloads since, well, another game of the avian variety. Owl sparrow the details and just say that the fate of many FlappyBirders’ phones faced an unpheasant demise due to the toucan-play-at-this-game nature of the app. Fortunately, Nguyen’s little jaunt through gaming fame hasn’t left too fowl of a taste in his mouth; he promises to keep developing more time-wasters.
Cartoon by Tyler Kerr
Dumb Starbucks not L.A.’s Cup of Tea Dumb Starbucks, an artistic parody of the real daily grind, was raised and brought to life in a matter of days. Nathan Fielder, Canadian comedian and protégé of Tim & Eric of Adult Swim fame, was the brain behind the brawn that was L.A.’s biggest trend for, like, four days, maybe? Dumb Starbucks was pretty much Starbucks (from décor to drinks to douche baristas corralled on Craigslist) except everything was preceded by the word “dumb” and the drinks were free. Fielder’s new Comedy Central series “Nathan for You” is based on the canuck lending not-so-sound advice to small business owners, but it seems that Nathan needs to stop listening to himself if Dumb Starbucks is to reopen. The L.A. Health Department shut down the operation after a brief four days. Seems that this grande [sic] idea wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.