Wasp Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Back in September, the oddest paparazzi picture ever taken of Eva Longoria-Parker surfaced. She was snapped leaving Marvel Studios (arguably the heart of geekdom on Earth) with a nice stack of The Avengers.

The natural assumption was naturally that she might be up for a part in the future Avengers movie, with the most popular guess being Wasp. No one has managed to ask her until Ryan Seacrest trapped her on the Golden Globes' red carpet. If there was something more surprising than seeing Longoria with a stack of Avengers comics, it might have been that Seacrest had done his research, and knew his Wasp from his Wonder Woman.

According to MTV, Longoria said the rumors weren't true, but that she'd love to take be an Avenger if the oppertunity presented itself. So, to those who didn't want to see a Desperate Housewife battling the villains of the Marvel Universe, you can breathe a sigh of relief. For now, anyway. Remember, no one but Robert Downey Jr. is set to be an Avenger right now, so all bets could be off by next year.

But you do have to wonder ...what was she doing with that stack of comics? I will happily believe she might be the comic reading type, but traveling all the way to Marvel Studios for some new issues seems a little extreme. But hey, maybe that's where Hollywood fans have their hold slot -- although I can't believe Marvel HQ wouldn't bag and board for such clients.

For a few years now, Cinema 16 has been packaging great short films on Region 2 DVDs for European release, but as far as I can tell, this new "European Short Films" collection, with 16 short films on two discs, is the first to get the Region 1 treatment. This new set culls shorts from various previous collections; I'm not sure why they just didn't re-transfer the European DVDs for American release, but no matter. What we have here is a wide selection of shorts from many decades, by filmmakers both famous and unknown. Probably not too surprisingly, the best shorts come from folks you've never heard of. Most of these folks provide commentary tracks for their work (almost all of it in English).

Like many authors, filmmakers sometimes try the short form in order to "practice," which ultimately shows a kind of lack of respect for the medium; it's seen as a stepping stone to features rather than a form in itself. But it also sorts those filmmakers that are good at the short form from those that aren't. Ridley Scott's first film, Boy and Bicycle (1965), starring his little brother Tony as a young boy, is a particular example of a failed attempt. Scott admits a fascination with John Schlesinger (Billy Liar) at the time, and his endless attempts at arty realism are painfully dull. This film was also released on Paramount's The Duellists DVD, and both times I sat down to watch it, I couldn't make it through. It's a pretty long 27 minutes.