Bradley Cooper as "The Crow," Joss Whedon's "Wonder Woman" and Other Comic Book Movies That Never Were

Nick Nadel is a comedy writer and blogger living in Brooklyn, NYWe're in a golden age of comic book movies right now, where even the most obscure comics (ahem, Cowboys & Aliens) can become blockbusters. But while fans have gotten movie versions of everything from Ghost Rider to Kick-Ass, there are still plenty of comic book movie properties that fall through the cracks. Recently, filmmakers like Joss Whedon and George Miller have spoken up about their failed would-be comic book franchises. Let's take a look at Whedon's Wonder Woman, Bradley Cooper's near performance as The Crow and other comic book movie "might-have-beens." Fans of DC's Amazonian warrior princess had their hopes dashed when Joss Whedon's proposed Wonder Woman flick fell apart several years back. Recently, Whedon revealed some details about his take on the iconic hero. "[Wonder Woman] was a little bit like Angelina Jolie ... she sort of traveled the world," Whedon said. "She was very powerful and very naive about people, and the fact that she was a goddess was how I eventually found my 'in' to her humanity and vulnerability. ... She would look at us and the way we kill each other and the way we let people starve and the way the world is run and she'd just be like, None of this makes sense to me." Whedon added that in his original screenplay, Wonder Woman's romance with Steve Trevor would also help to humanize her. An interesting take on a character that DC has so far failed to get a handle on for the big screen. Of course, Wonder Woman fans' loss is Avengers fans' gain. 
The Crow RebootRecently, concept artwork was released from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's failed reboot of James O'Barr's enduring goth icon. The planned update was to have starred The Hangover's Bradley Cooper in the role made famous by the late Brandon Lee way back in 1994. But, as with many projects related to the seemingly cursed Crow franchise, Fresnadillo's reboot fell apart once Cooper dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. As evidenced by the concept art, the new Crow would've had something of a Western punk rocker thing going. Diego Latorre's grim drawings (which originally appeared on Shock Till You Drop) are also proof that the jovial Cooper was completely wrong for the Eric Draven role. With The Crow, casting is everything. (Didn't the producers learn anything from Edward Furlong's over-the-top performance in the dreadful fourth film The Crow: Wicked Prayer?) Justice League Remember when Warner Bros. was working on a Justice League movie? Well, director George Miller (Happy Feet) talked to Superhero Hype recently about what happened to Warner/DC's answer to The Avengers. Turns out the 2007 Writer's Guild strike was only part of the problem. "There [were] a whole bunch of complex events," Miller said. "It was the middle of a writers' strike. There was Australian rebate legislation that was required to get the film going. ... It was no one particular's fault that it didn't happen." At one point, the film was ready to go with Adam Brody as the Flash, DJ Cotrona as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Common as Green Lantern, and the then-unknown costar of The Social Network Armie Hammer as Batman. After the project fell apart, Miller went on to work with Common in the upcoming Happy Feet 2. As for Justice League, it's sadly still languishing in development hell while Avengers rockets toward the big screen.
Throughout the '90s, Avatar guru Cameron tried for years to get a Spider-Man film off the ground, only to face a protracted legal battle between defunct studio Carolco and various other parties that was more epic than a Green Goblin-Peter Parker face-off. Last year, Cameron's illustrated script treatment surfaced, providing a peek at what might have been. Featuring Electro and Sandman as the primary villains, copious profanity, and a racy Peter-Mary Jane sex scene, Cameron's take on Marvel's wacky wallcrawler was far more mature than Sam Raimi's 2002 film. One element that remained from Cameron's treatment? Those divisive organic webshooters. So feel free to blame James Cameron for that one.  Before bouncing back with Superman Returns and Batman Begins, DC's top superheroes floundered throughout the late '90s and early '00s. Everything from a third Joel Schumacher film (tentatively titled Batman Triumphant) featuring Scarecrow and Harley Quinn to an adaptation of the Batman Year One comic helmed by Darren Aronofsky was considered for the Caped Crusader, while Superman projects were tackled by the likes of Tim Burton and McG. (Who could forget Nic Cage's bizarre Superman costume that leaked a while back?) At some point, Warner Bros. just gave up and decided to combine the two franchises for the ultimate superhero smackdown. Director Wolfgang Petersen was attached to the project but eventually left to make Troy. The story found Superman battling a Batman who was driven to the edge by the deaths of Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon. (Of course, they eventually team up to take down Lex Luthor and Joker.) The strange project, which also involved Joker killing Batman's fiancée and Clark Kent dating Lana Lang, ended up being referenced in the least likely place -- as a fake movie poster in I Am Legend's post-apocalyptic Times Square. (Legend screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also worked on Batman Vs. Superman.)

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Pretty Woman (1990) - DVD Review

While trying to find his Beverly Hills hotel, a tycoon corporate raider, Edward Lewis, played by Richard Gere, accidentally meets Vivian Ward, a Hollywood prostitute. Vivian Ward, played by Julia Roberts, is hired by Edward Lewis as a date for a whole week.

Julia Roberts portrays Vivian Ward brilliantly as a prostitute suddenly taken into the world of the ultra rich where anything you could desire is just a call away. Normally, she has been able to get just enough clients to survive with her drug-using roommate. Since Vivian does not even have a high school diploma, she chose prostitution as the only higher paying alternative to working in fast food restaurants.

Now, Vivian is staying in a hotel suite that has a bathroom about as big as her whole apartment and an unlimited number of people to wait on her. As a date for Edward Lewis, she is swept up in the snobbish, Hollywood culture on Rodeo Drive. After being asked to leave an exclusive boutique, Vivian is desperate to learn how to dress and eat at a high class restaurant. She finds a sympathetic hotel manager at the Beverly Hills Hotel who has his own boutique manager work with Vivian personally from hair to shoes, giving her a stunning and elegant appearance.

Both Edward Lewis and Vivian Ward come from extreme ends of society and could not be more different. However, they do share one thing in common; they both use their clients in a cold, unemotional manner. But later on, what begins as a business contract quickly evolves into to much, much more.

Richard Gere is very convincing as Edward Lewis, showing a cool, calculating manner, totally involved in winning his business deals. He spends almost all day and night on the phone, planning his next move and meeting with his lawyer, never taking a day off. But that changes when Vivian enters the picture.

Over the week, the poor prostitute escorts the rich industrialist to a client dinner, a polo game, and is flown on his private jet to San Francisco to hear an opera for the first time. As can be expected, there are a few twists and turns when things do not go smoothly at each of these events, causing both Vivian and Edward to reconsider who they are and what they should be doing in their lives.

This movie is a delightful romance that will have you guessing what will happen next with this bizarre mix of these two fascinating people.

Pretty Woman is rated R. Parents need to know that this film contains adult themes, strong sexual references, and sexual imagery.

Tom Straub is a successful author, and webmaster of the Game Center web site, where you can see more of your favorite DVD releases.

A Good Woman - DVD Review

This movie is an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde Play. Oscar Wilde wrote the play, Lady Windermere's Fan, to be a psychological study, and with its quips and clever dialogue, the play's first performance brought the playwright instant fame.

The premise of the original play aims directly at the narrow-mindedness and vanity of the high social class in London in 1892. Its cinematized version, however, takes the story to a more modern place and time, thus doing injustice to what Wilde had in mind.

Wilde's play was written as a social commentary; this movie is made for entertainment. The movie succeeds only because human emotions do not change with time, place, and social mores. If one has not read or watched the original play, the movie entertains somewhat effectively with its scenery, costumes, and the startling nature of the plot twist at the end. Except for the opening scene in New York, the setting of the movie is in the Amalfi coast, Italy, during the 1930's.

Used to living off married men and being finally rejected by the New York Society, Mrs. Erlynne, with not-too-lofty intentions, arrives at the Amalfi coast where the rich spend their summer vacations. Here, her scandalous past makes the gossip flourish, and when she is sighted with Robert Windermere, the tongues begin to wag.

Robert Windermere is a happily married man, and on Mrs. Erlynne's suggestion, he buys his wife a fancy fan for her birthday. He also asks his wife Margaret Windermere to invite Mrs. Erlynne to her birthday party. By using the gossip about her husband and Mrs. Erlynne, the womanizing Lord Darlington tries to seduce Lady Windermere, while another rich man, Tuppy, who is quite impressed by Mrs. Erlynne asks her to marry him. The emotional twist at the end comes just in time to show to the audience--if not to all the characters in the movie--that, in reality, Mrs. Erlynne is a good woman.

The movie, rated PG, is directed by Mike Barker, and produced by Alan Grenspan, Jonathan English, Steven Siebert and Howard Himelstein. Howard Himelstein has also adapted the screenplay and Neil Farrell has edited the film. The movie casts Helen Hunt as Mrs. Erlynne and Scarlett Johannson as Lady Windermere, with Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Mark Umbers, Milena Vukotic, Diana Hardcastle, Roger Hammond, Jane How, Giorgia Massetti, and John Standing in major roles. Other credits are: cinematography by Ben Seresin; production design by Ben Scott; and music by Richard G. Mitchell.

The DVD--of closed-captioned, widescreen, color format--has been released in 2006 by Lions Gate as one disc with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Its run time is 93 minutes with subtitles in English and Spanish.

After enjoying the movie first, I read the play later, which is offered free on the internet. Had I read the play first, I would have said a few serious things against the movie for not being loyal to Wilde. Still, the DVD is pleasant enough to watch, and I recommend it to those who like the movies for entertainment only.

Joy Cagil is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/joycag

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (Season 5) DVD Review

Nominated for 19 Emmys and 5 Golden Globes, including Best TV Series - Drama, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman experienced the rare double victory of audience loyalty and widespread critical acclaim. Premiering in mid-season (January 1993), the hour-long CBS original series illustrated American frontier life like few other shows before it. Like the smash hit Little House On The Prairie, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman vividly portrays the hardship, struggle, and community kinship endemic to the era. One of the first Western-themed shows to cast a female doctor (as the star of the show nonetheless), Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman enjoyed a successful five-year run, marked by two highly-touted made-for-TV movies...

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman follows the exploits of Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, a female doctor living in 19th Century America when that sort of thing was unheard of. Working for years as an assistant in her father's New England medical practice, the death of her father prompts Dr. Mike to answer a want ad for a doctor in the thriving American frontier town of Colorado Springs. When she arrives, the town is taken aback, having expected she was a man. But Dr. Mike quickly endears herself with the townsfolk and expands her family by adopting three orphan children - Matthew (Chad Allen), Colleen (Erika Flores/Jessica Bowman), and Brian (Shawn Toovey). As the show progresses, she eventually marries local Byron Sully (Joe Lando), and the final seasons focus on the lives of their nuclear family. Sporting an assorted cast of loveable, and sometimes eccentric, characters, the town is never short of excitement or drama...

The Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (Season 5) DVD features a number of dramatic episodes including the season premiere "Runaway Train" in which Dr. Mike is preparing to go back to work after recently giving birth to a baby girl. However, she is distraught to hear that Sully and Cloud Dancing were taken hostage when the train they had boarded was taken over by robbers... Other notable episodes from Season 5 include "Remember Me" in which a prospector wandering through town is recognized as Jack Slicker's deadbeat father, and "Hostage" in which Sully, despite being wounded, struggles to free Dr. Mike, Brian, and Katie when they are taken hostage by two bank robbers...

Below is a list of episodes included on the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (Season 5) DVD:

Episode 101 (Runaway Train) Air Date: 09-21-1996

Episode 102 (Having It All) Air Date: 09-28-1996

Episode 103 (Malpractice) Air Date: 10-05-1996

Episode 104 (All That Glitters) Air Date: 10-12-1996

Episode 105 (Los Americanos) Air Date: 10-19-1996

Episode 106 (Last Dance) Air Date: 10-26-1996

Episode 107 (Right or Wrong) Air Date: 11-02-1996

Episode 108 (Remember Me) Air Date: 11-09-1996

Episode 109 (Legend) Air Date: 11-16-1996

Episode 110 (The Tempest) Air Date: 11-23-1996

Episode 111 (Separate But Equal) Air Date: 12-07-1996

Episode 112 (A Place to Die) Air Date: 12-14-1996

Episode 113 (Season of Miracles) Air Date: 12-21-1996

Episode 114 (The Dam) Air Date: 01-11-1997

Episode 115 (Farewell Appearance) Air Date: 01-25-1997

Episode 116 (The Most Fatal Disease) Air Date: 02-01-1997

Episode 117 (Colleen's Paper) Air Date: 02-08-1997

Episode 118 (Between Friends: Part 1) Air Date: 02-15-1997

Episode 119 (Between Friends: Part 2) Air Date: 02-15-1997

Episode 120 (Hostage) Air Date: 02-22-1997

Episode 121 (The Body Electric) Air Date: 04-05-1997

Episode 122 (Before the Dawn) Air Date: 05-03-1997

Episode 123 (Starting Over) Air Date: 05-10-1997

Episode 124 (His Father's Son) Air Date: 05-17-1997

Episode 125 (Moment of Truth: Part 1) Air Date: 04-26-1997

Episode 126 (Moment of Truth: Part 2) Air Date: 09-27-1997

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie review site [http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com] where you can find more reviews like this one of the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (Season 5) DVD Review [http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/dr-quinn-medicine-woman-season-5-dvd_28.html].