David Dobkin to Direct 'The Flash' as 'Justice League' Spin-Off!

Nice, a spin-off before the main movie is even under way.

http://thefilmreviews.com

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This proves to be somewhat unsettling news in a few ways. Not for the director, I don't like Owen Wilson (outside of Wes Anderson films) and I hate Will Ferrell. But between Vince Vaughn, Isla Fischer, Rachel McAdams, Bradley Cooper (who was also brilliant as the head chef on Kitchen Confidential), Jane Seymour's turn to the provacative and of course Mr. Walken, Wedding Crashers was not a death sentence for me. Do I own it, no.... will I ever probably not but if it's on cable on Saturday afternoon... eh maybe...

I'm locking in to the more important aspect of this article, at least to me. The Flash spin-off movie will exist in the "Justice League" universe. What is going on here?

If this is true then we have a serious threat to Christopher Nolan's Batman series. I know that there are a lot of people clamoring for this Justice League movie. They want their Superhero Mashup... (cause that worked so well with Universal and their Monster Mash movies like House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein or their updated stab at it Van Helsing) Anyway, anyone keeping up with the news on these flix knows that Nolan and Bale are unhappy that WB is moving forward with this movie before they can finish their film trilogy. I thought it would be for a simple over-saturation of the Batman character.

Instead, WB is going to use this as a launching pad for their spin-offs and of course the necessary Superman reboot. So what of Batman? If they were going to keep Bats out of the whole thing then, no worries. Hell, you could get Christian Bale to cameo in it if he say "discovers" all the JL heroes and funds their headquarters then walks completely out of the movie before the rest of it starts. Saying things like I need to protect my city, I'll come join your fight some day. I bet Bale would even have some fun with that... but if we start spinning off movies from this new DC movie universe... and we bring the people that play the characters in JL into those spin offs what of Batman?

We have an active Batman Series that could easily become one of the classic film trilogies ever. Definitely, now that we've seen Spidey's third effort it could become the best Comic Book Film Series of all time. Batman Begins remains my all time favorite comic book film, followed by Sin City and a tie between Spiderman & Superman 2.

The Dark Knight looks to move even further into the fear motif, and we have our iconic Joker terrorizing Gotham City. We even have the unbelievably awesome Maggie Gyllenhal replacing Katie Holmes. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey "Not Yet Two-Face" Dent. Look at the talented cast list and the people who all seem to jump at the opportunity to be in this series.

Then let's look at who's getting into JL? We have a very nice looking Teresa Palmer, who hasn't done anything really. Or they could have chosen Mary Elizabeth Winstead... (I think they're both too young as is... but if we want to go young) MEW is a no brainer for the WW outfit and she's a definite comic book fan and she's worked with the likes of Quentin Tarrantino, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Campbell and I don't know Linda Carter.

I am ranting now but I think my point is valid, I think that fans of the Nolan Batman series should be afraid. I think that fans of DC comics should take a careful second look at this Justice League movie and what it means. We're not getting a big actiony fun movie to introduce us to the characters and remain self contained. This is the new nucleus of the DC comics world. They are going to do their best to bring everything into Justice League... and if this movie is the hit that it seems it will be then that is a mistake we're all going to feel the repercussions of for a long while.

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OMG I'd love to be a director peddling a Marvel movie to those guys. They say yes to any damn thing.

Me: Ari I'd love to make this movie about one of your heroes.
Ari: Which one?
Me: Any one will do.
Ari: BAM! How much startup will you need?

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But Ellory, do you really want the reality-based Batman of BATMAN BEGINS to exist in the same world as Green Lantern, Aquaman and Wonder Woman? I think even Superman would be stretching it. I would like to see an older actor playing Batman, with an actual Batman costume (not the rubber armor), and that way it'll be easier to separate in our minds from the excellent Bale version. But the character, as portrayed by Bale, would not work in a world of colorful super powers. I do not want to see that happen.

I'm looking forward to Justice League only because it's George Miller. I think he will make it great. David Dobkin, however, is a hack who made a hugely overrated comedy that wasn't even particularly well directed. I would be very surprised if he made a Flash movie that did not suck. Sadly, he is a step up from their last choice. If they had stuck with Goyer it might have had a shot. At least his script was probably interesting.

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Ellory, I couldn't agree more. As a Batman fan-boy (not 24-7, but I do read the boards every few days and keep current, I also am very familiar with the current plot)I'm really upset with the JLA movie. WB just HAS to cut the golden goose here. Marvel has exactly 3 great movies out of the 8-10 they've made (X-Men 1, Spidey 1 and 2)and 7 unmitigated stinkers. Although I do profess to enjoying Ang Lee's Hulk more than most. I don't see how they pull this off without destroying the solidity and value of these characters and their potential for carrying their own movies.

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